A.—2

Appendix 1. —Report by the Superintendent of the Laboratory. Since the last meeting of the Managing Committee, Farnham House, Farnham Royal, near Slough, has been purchased for conversion into a parasite laboratory. This property is very conveniently situated, about two and a half miles from Slough, on the Slough-Beaconsfield Road. Burnham Beeches are only about one and a half miles distant, and a half-hourly omnibus service to and from Slough Station passes the gates. The price paid was £4,600, and the total cost in connection with the purchase, including legal expenses and surveyors' fees, &c., will be in the neighbourhood of £5,000. Messrs. Farebrother, Ellis, and Co., of 29 Fleet Street, negotiated the purchase on behalf of the Bureau, and a representative of that firm, Mr. E. C. BedwelL has most efficiently supervised the many and somewhat complicated alterations that have been necessary. Legal possession of the property was obtained on the Ist February, and immediate steps were taken to adapt it for its new purpose. The house comprises some fourteen principal rooms, besides numerous outbuildings, a cottage for the caretaker-mechanic, quarters for the head gardener, two garages, a stable, greenhouses, &c., and a large barn. There are about 6| acres of land, more than half of which forms the garden. The general and decorative repairs to the whole of the premises, together with the specialized work required to convert the house into a laboratory, are being executed by Messrs. John Deverill, Ltd., of Slough. Generally, the work comprises, apart from the decorations and repairs, the provision of special teak-topped benches with white glazed tiling over them in nine rooms. Each bench is fitted with a sink, triple laboratory-tap, three-way gas-taps, power and lighting plugs, necessary water-supply, sealed waste-pipe aiid drains. In one of the rooms, which has been transformed into a studio, the small window has been removed and the opening enlarged to about 8 ft. square. A girder has been inserted over the opening and a new steel-framed window, glazed with J in. plate glass, inserted. Five other windows have been removed above certain of the benches, and new frames have been inserted and filled with plate glass in a single square. A dark-room has been formed with a new mack partition, and a very large lead-lined sink provided with special photographer's tap, &c. A cloakroom and new W.C. have been formed on the ground floor with the usual fittings. New teak nosings have been fixed to the main stairs, and rubber nosings to the secondary staircase ; cork carpet treads have been provided, and all landings have been covered with the same material. A refrigerator-house has been constructed by throwing the larder and dairy into one and raising the roof, inserting the necessary girder, and providing a new concrete granolithic floor. A new timber and corrugated-iron enclosure with concrete floor has also been provided to accommodate the new petrol-gas plant, and the necessary steel gantry has been erected in connection therewith. Such drains as were defective have been removed, and new drains provided where necessary to pick up the various sinks. The filtering-medium to the filter-beds into which the sewage is pumped has been renewed ; the enclosing walls have been repaired, and the automatic apparatus put in order. The cost of the whole of the foregoing work is estimated at about £1,400. It was found that the electric-light cable had not sufficient capacity to supply the requisite light and power required to meet the new conditions. A new cable has therefore been laid by the Slough and Datchet Electric Supply Co., Ltd., capable of carrying a maximum current of 180 amperes. The cost of this work, after deducting the value of the existing cable, will be about £50. Considerable alterations have been made to the electric-light installation ; additional switch-gear has been necessitated in consequence of the installation of power as well as light: various defective circuits have been renewed, and many new points provided for both light and power, and light has been carried into the carpenter's shop and also the potting-shed. The total cost of this work, including the necessary fittings, is estimated somewhat to exceed £300, and is being carried out by Messrs. J. W. Gray and Son, of 91 Leadenhall Street, E.C. A petrol-gas plant is being installed by Messrs. McVicker, Morris, and Co., Ltd., of St. Albans, at an estimated cost of £216 10s. This plant is required to operate Bunsen burners on the benches in the various laboratories. Central heating has been installed by Messrs. Wontner-Smith, Gray, and Co., Ltd., of Sun Street, Finsbury, at a cost of about £300. Radiators are provided in the various rooms, hall, passages, &c., and these are heated by an independent boiler in one of the cellars. It is expected that by the time this report is in print the whole of the above work will be completed. In addition, two insectaries are being erected in the garden, one of which is being roofed with Vita glass, the probable cost of these being about £450 in all. The total cost of furnishing, including considerable quantities of shelving and covering the floors with cork carpet throughout the building, except in three rooms on the ground floor, which are provided with hair carpets, is about £650. The bulk of the scientific apparatus has yet to be purchased, but a refrigerating plant has been ordered at a cost of £165, and this will be installed shortly. The sum of about £140 has been expended in carpenter's and gardener's tools, including a motor mower. A carpenter's shop has been fitted up in one of the outbuildings, and Mr. J. Smith, our mechanic, is already at work making insect- cages, &c. A car has been purchased for the use of the laboratory, a shop-soiled 14-h.p. Hillman having been obtained at a very moderate price. A telephone, Farnham Common 187, has been installed, and the address, Entburlab, has been registered at the Post Office for cables and telegrams. Immediately on obtaining possession of the property steps were taken to provide somewhat better shelter for some of the future experimental plots, and an extensive privet hedge was planted, and also a wind-screen of Canadian poplars and other trees along the northern boundary. In view of the probability that work on insect pests of forest-trees would be necessary in the near future, some two hundred young larch, spruce, &c., have been planted in the paddock, and these will ultimately provide additional shelter for further experimental plots. These trees were obtained gratis from the Forestry Commission, through the good offices of Dr. J. W. Munro. Two of the research-rooms have been rented by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine from the Ist June, 1927, for the accommodation of Dr. P. A. Buxton and his staff, at a rental of £150 per annum. These rooms will be furnished by the Bureau, and the rent will include rates

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