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I wish that it had been possible for Bishops Silvestri and Stoppani to make the journey to Rejaf, and I much regret the absence through illness of several prominent Church Missionary Society representatives.

I think, however, that the Conference may be considered as very representative in a country where distances are so great and where all are so fully occupied.

I wish to take this opportunity of publicly expressmg my thanks to the Chairman and Council of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures, through whose good offices we were enabled to obtain the services of Professor Westermann, whose presence here we all so much appreciate. As the author of two valuable books on the language and ethnology of the Shilluk, Professor Westermann is not unknown in the Sudan, and in a wider field he is recognized as

one of the greatest authorities on African linguistics. I should be lacking in gratitude if I did not pay a special tribute to Mr. Hanns Vischer, the Secretary of the Institute, for assistance and advice so readily given. I had hoped that he, with his wide experience of educational matters in Africa, might have found it possible to be here with us, but he was unable to be absent for such a long period from his duties in England.

May I also thank those who found time to answer with such care the questionnaires circulated with my Memorandum in October.

The objects of the Conference are, I think, familiar to you all. I propose to refer to each in turn and suggest what our procedure should be.

_The first is to draw up a classified list of languages and dialects spoken in the Southern Sudan.

This Conference provides an unique opportunity of compiling such a list, but it must, I think, be realized that the attempt to make this list complete in every particular is an end in itself rather than a means to an end, because many of the languages recorded will not come within the orbit of any educational system owing to the paucity of numbers of people using them. The correct grouping of the main languages is, however, an essential preliminary to the second object of the Conference.

A preliminary list of languages and dialects and their distribution has been compiled from the replies to the questionnaire and other sources, I suggest that the Conference in full session should consider the main features of this list and discuss it, if necessary, on general lines. I would then ask Professor Westermann and Mr. Hillelson to revise this list in the light of information gained at the Conference, and to submit the result of their inquiries at a later stage.

The second object of the Conference is to make recommendations as to whether a system of group languages should be adopted for educational purposes and, if so, what languages should be selected as the group languages for the various areas.

In this connection the following considerations will arise :—

(2) Whether owing to their kinship two or more languages or dialects can share a single literature.