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Bureau. A list of the chief research centres in the country in which scientific workers from the Dominions and colonies would be received is appended to this report.* It is recommended that the Universities Bureau be approached with a view to the incorporation of information regarding such of these institutions as are not already included in the Universities Year-book. Information with regard to the special facilities available for botanical workers of greater experience should be collected by the proposed permanent committee for communication to intending visitors. (C) The position in regard to existing funds which might possibly be applied for the purpose outlined above appears to be as follows : — (1) There are a certain number of university grants for research, for which botanical students, amongst others, are eligible, and which are available for study in the overseas parts of the Empire, though in practice rarely so used. Amongst these may be mentioned —The 1851 Scholarships ; the Carnegie Scholarships and Fellowships (restricted to graduates of Scottish universities) ; two travelling scholarships in the University of London ; the Mary Ewart Scholarship at Somerville College, Oxford ; the J. R. K. Law Scholarship at Glasgow (tenable in Canada) ; the Vans Dunlop Scholarship at Edinburgh ; the Kilgour Scholarship at Aberdeen. For the most part these are intended to be taken immediately or soon after the degree course, and would not ordinarily be available for more advanced workers. (2) There are a number of studentships in the sciences applicable to agriculture granted by the Empire Cotton-growing Corporation, but these again are given to recent graduates for the purpose of completing their training, are restricted to persons who propose to take posts in connection with cotton-growing, and the recipient is ordinarily required to proceed to the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad. (3) Amongst Government grants we are only aware of the following : — (a) Travelling research fellowships granted by the Development Commission through the Ministry of Agriculture, and restricted to members of agricultural-research institutions. (b) Grants from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research under the heads of maintenance allowances to students and personal payments to investigators. The maintenance allowances are for advanced training and may be held wherever the best training is to be had ; the personal payments are for investigations in England, but it is thought that an investigator would not be debarred from going abroad for field work, the collection of material and the like. (4) So far as we can ascertain, the fellowships awarded by the International Education Board founded by John D. Rockefeller, jun., in 1923, are the only really suitable type of grant for the purposes which we have in view. Details concerning these fellowships, which could, we understand, be held by British botanists proceeding to the Dominions or colonies, are appended to this report.f Apart from the Rockefeller Fellowships just mentioned, we are of opinion that there is at present no entirely suitable source from which grants could be obtained for the purpose under consideration, and we recommend that steps be taken to place the position before the Committee of Civil Research with a view to secure the relatively small grant required. We believe that an incontrovertible case could be made to show that interchange such as we propose would increase knowledge by promoting the exchange of ideas between representatives of different schools of thought and the introduction into the laboratory visited of methods that have been tested by the visitor. Such action would doubtless lead to reciprocity on the part of the Dominions, and would promote the flow of Dominion workers to England. We do not, however, recommend that any steps be taken by the Executive Committee to secure funds for the latter purpose, as this is properly a function of the Dominions themselves. We may mention, however, that the Australasian shipping companies offer twenty-two free first-class passages annually to Australian and New Zealand universities for graduates holding scholarships proceeding to Europe to continue their studies. (D) That a list be prepared, for the information of intending visitors, of the universities, colleges, or other bodies that are willing to offer fees for occasional lectures. IV. In order to give effect to these proposals we endorse the recommendation of the Imperial Botanical Conference that a permanent committee be set up, and we further suggest that a payment be made to the convener of that committee to enable him to prepare the necessary information and to communicate it to interested persons in the Dominions and colonies. Early steps should also, we consider, be taken to bring to the notice of the Dominions and colonies any action resulting from this proposal, with a view to the appointment of similar organizers, with whom the convener in this country could keep in touch. H. C.|l. GWYNNE-VAUGHAN. C. J. Russell. W. Bateson. E. J. Butler.
Appendix I. —Note on the Universities Bureau of the British Empire. The Bureau committee is composed of fourteen members, seven representing the universities of the British Isles and seven representing the universities overseas. Its headquarters are at 50 Russell Square, London, where there is a permanent staff, with Dr. Alex. Hill, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.S., as Secretary.
* Appendix 111. f Appendix 11, (N.B.—Not included with this copy.)
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