A.—6

On the recommendation of the General Economic Committee, the Conference adopted the following resolution : — " The Conference, recognizing that it is highly desirable that the various parts of the British Commonwealth of Nations should be furnished with the fullest practicable information regarding the mineral resources of the other parts of the Commonwealth, and the surpluses of mineral supplies in certain parts of the Commonwealth available to meet deficiencies in other parts, recommends to the favourable consideration of the various Governments that steps should be taken by each part of the Commonwealth to compile along the lines of a common plan existing information of its mineral resources and, where practicable, to make a survey of those resources with a view to completing such information, arrangements for the settlement of the form of common programme and for the correlation of results to be undertaken by a central committee, on which such Governments as so desire, the Imperial Institute, and mining and metallurgical institutions of the Commonwealth, would be represented." (c) International Institute of Agriculture. It was felt that an exchange of views on this subject would be of value before the meeting of the General Assembly of the Institute which opened in Rome on the 14th October. The Research Committee of the Conference, who were asked to advise, expressed the view that the value of the assistance rendered by the Institute to scientific workers in agriculture in the British Commonwealth was negligible. The Conference adopted the report submitted by the General Economic Committee, which recommended — (a) That the reform of the Institute should be pressed for at the General Assembly on every suitable occasion ; and (b) That in view of the importance to the British Commonwealth of Nations of complete and comparable information on world agriculture, and also in view of the limited financial resources of the Institute, it would be advantageous if the energies and expenditure of that organization were in future more concentrated on the statistical side of its work. (d) Cotton-growing. The General Economic Committee discussed the question of cotton-growing within the Empire with representatives of the Empire Cotton-growing Corporation. There has been a marked increase in the growth of cotton in the Empire in the last ten years, and there has also been a distinct falling-orr in the consumption in the United Kingdom of United States cotton as compared with cotton of other growths. Much expansion of cotton-growing in the Empire is, however, not to be expected unless prices improve. In India, in particular, at least one and three-quarter million bales of stapled cotton (I in. and over), suitable for the machinery of Lancashire, are produced annually. It appeared that Lancashire would be assisted in increasing her sales in Eastern markets if she used more Indian cotton, and it was suggested that the method of obtaining the best Indian cotton was to establish buying agencies to purchase direct from Indian growers. On the recommendation of the General Economic Committee, the Conference adopted the following resolutions : — " I. The Conference notes with satisfaction the increased production of cotton within the British Commonwealth of Nations in recent years, and recommends to the consideration of the Governments of the various parts of the Empire concerned that they should take all possible steps to maintain that increase, in particular (a) by requiring a sound and scientific foundation in the training and qualifications of their agricultural officers, and (b) by pursuing an agricultural policy which recognizes that cotton-growing can only be established as a permanent feature of the agriculture of any country if it constitutes one crop in an evenly-balanced rotation suited to local climatic conditions. " 11. The Conference notes with approval that the most careful attention is being given to the possibility of using in Lancashire a larger proportion of Indian cottons."

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