§ Sir R. Russellasked the Minister of Overseas Development if she will give details of the progress made by the research, totalling £1,612,267 in 1964–65, for the benefit of developing countries, 110W accounted for in Civil Estimates 1965–66 Class II Vote 10B.
§ Mrs. CastleThis provision is used to support research, both in this country and overseas, on problems impeding the social and economic progress of the developing countries. Much of the support is for long-term programmes at permanent research institutes where progress is persistent rather than spectacular. Recent examples of practical success are the control of cotton pests in Central Africa, leading to a large increase in production; the discovery in East Africa of improved vaccines for the control of rinderpest in cattle throughout the tropics; new fertiliser treatment leading to increased banana production in the Windward Islands; effective agronomic and pest control work on cocoa in Sabah, where it is now becoming an important crop. In medicine, progress has been made with field trials on trachoma vaccines; work on schistosomiasis in East Africa has opened up the possibility of a pilot control scheme; study of the epidemiology of a tumour prevalent among children in Uganda has aroused wide interest among cancer research workers. In the engineering field, studies by the Road Research Laboratory have led to an improved method for the design of roads in the tropics with a consequent saving of up to 20 percent. in construction costs.
I am placing in the Library copies of the annual reports of some of the more important research organisations supported by my Ministry.