§ Mr. CHARLES BATHURSTasked the President of the Board of Agriculture what is the amount of the Government contribution to agricultural research in Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the United States, respectively?
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§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe particulars are as follows:—
England and Wales.—The Grants specifically allocated in aid of agricultural research by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1913–14 were as follows:—
£ Research Institutes 19,456 Special Investigations 3,731 Technical Advice and Investigation of Local Problems 7,347 Forestry Research, etc. 2,744 Research Scholarships 4,342 £37,620 In addition Grants, amounting to about £132,000, have been sanctioned by the Treasury from the Development Fund in respect of education and research buildings and for investigations into various crops. Further particulars respecting the above Grants will be found in the Annual Report of the Board on the Distribution of Grants for Agricultural Education and Research [Cd. 7450].
Scotland.—An account of the agricu—tural research in progress will be found in the Second Report of the Board of Agriculture for Scotland, 1913 [Cd. 7434].
France.—The Budget of the Ministry of Agriculture does not show the expenditure on agricultural research as a whole, and no definite figure can be given. The Estimates for 1914 provide for expenditure on the following items:—
£ Maintenance of l'Institut national agronomique 15,900 Sericultural experiments 2,000 Plant Disease investigations 7,600 Germany.—The expenditure on agricultural research in Germany cannot be satisfactorily separated from the expenditure incurred by the various States on agricultural education. The Imperial expenditure appears to be limited to a Grant of £15,000 to the Agricultural Biological Institute.
Belgium.—As in the case of France, it is not possible to separate expenditure on agricultural research from the administrative expenses of certain Departments of the Ministry of Agriculture. The expenses of the Station Agronomique de l'Etat and the State Chemical Laboratories amount to about £13,000, but this includes charges arising from laws relating to the adulteration of fertilisers.
377WItaly.—The information in the possession of the Board does not enable the expenditure on agricultural research to be stated.
United States.—According to the Report of the Secretary for Agriculture for 1913, about two-fifths of the total expenditure of the Federal Department or £1,875,000 are "available for scientific research, experiments and demonstration work directly affecting the farmer." Of this sum it is estimated that some £200,000 is devoted to purely demonstration work.