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Lta TCmONTO I THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE PROBLEMS OF CROWN COLONY ADMINISTRATION WITH HBCOKDS OP PBHSONAL BXPRglMNCM BV SIR CHARLES BRUCE, G.C.M.G. VOL. II n is broad in respect to its principles and its Uw. "latum •^ndatum tuum „.„U" , broad in acknowledging dtaUndly Bt Kshblm Hinrv DiCBV. miTH MAPS MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET. LONDON 1910 1017 GLAKSOW : rKlMTBO AT TH« UKIVBUITr MBM •» aoaciT MACLBHOM AMD CO. tTO. CONTENTS VOL. II CHAPTER XV EDUCATION IN CROWN COLONIES R^v^T'T,." ^ '^^ liberty-Mauritius- Royal College of Mauritius-System of Secondary ««| Insiruction-AjjricuUural and Industrial Education - pp.T-i6 CHAPTER XVI EDUCATION-CVwiftwMrf Ceylon-Races in Ceylon-Organisation of System-Government Rehg,ous and Nat.ve Agencies- Royal College i ColomboIs^SS SchT"!?' "'^ P^™^ education-Tmining SchZZ tiiS^ '^^""'^ education-Educa. tieaiu II B 24.500 6,500 i8 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Veddas. Of the origin and sociology of the Veddas but little is known. Professor Virchow, who some twenty years ago wrote a valuable paper on the subject, expressed a hope that before the utter extinction of this primitive race, their language and customs, their physical and mental constitution, might be firmly established. A scientific investiga- tion of their origin and history has recently been undertaken. Sinhalese. The Sinhalese community may be said perhaps to be the most compact and self-contained in the world. They occupy only a limited area confined to the Western and South- Western low- lands, and a part of the central highlands of Ceylon; and yet they have not only a language and literature of their own, but an alphabet peculiarly their own. The Sinhalese occupation was the result of an Aryan invasion from Northern India in prehistoric times ; and the process of centuries has evolved, even within this very limited area, characteristics that distinguish the dwellers in the plains from the dwellers in the highlands analogous to those that distinguish low- landers from highlanders in Great Britain. Ceylon contains innumerable monuments of a great political and religious past, and is still a centre of modern Buddhism. In Kandy, in the Dalad4 Mdlig4wa, or Temple of the Sacred Tooth, and on Adam's Peak, it has shrines visited and venerated by every com- munity of the Buddhist world. Tamils. The Tamil population of Ceylon includes two groups. The peninsula of Jaffna and an adjoin- ing area of northern and eastern territory are occupied by invaders or settlers of Dravidian origin, driven EDUCATIOxN 19 out of the mainland of India by an Aryan invasion at a period nearly coincident with the earliest records of history. The economic pressure of a crowded population has made them the most frugal and industrious people in Ceylon. The other group of Tamils is of quite recent origin. They have immi- grated, and are still immigrating as coolies to under- take the manual labour of clearing and cultivating the forest lands occupied by British enterprise. Though of Dravidian descent and language, the Tamils have long adopted the religion of Hinduism, Moormen. The origin of the community called Moormen is obscure. They are a trading community of Mahommedans, probably of Arab origin, and represent the commercial agents of a period long prior to the earliest European enterprises in the Indian Ocean. Thus we find in Ceylon the main elements of the Asiatic population representing the three great religions of the East, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Moslem. Eurasians. The Eurasians of Ceylon are chiefly of Dutch descent, and are generally known as Burghers. They include distinguished members of the legal and medical professions, and form a large body of the clerks in the principal Govern- ment Departments; but they take little part in the development of the material resources of the colony. Europeans. As regards the British population they exercise practically the same functions as in India; m the control of the administrative and legis- lative duties of Government, and in the control and supervision of industry and commerce. 20 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE In Ceylon, as in Mauritius, Government is based on the cardinal principle of the Proclamation of Queen Victoria to the people of India in 1858. My earliest concern was to visit the educational centres of the colony, and the experience of my first tour of inspection convinced me that by making inquiries in situ, coming into contact with district officers, missionaries, and native officials, 1 could learn rapidly and with certainty many things that could not be gathered from official reports. It was an experience that modified, I hope with advantage, the conduct of my whole subsequent official career. I returned from my tour satisfied that my first aim must be not so much to extend education as to systematise it by carrying out, with a view to secure the best possible application of the funds available, many sound recommendations which had repeatedly been made by the educational authorities, but never yet put into practice. There existed no code of instructions for regulating the duties of inspectors, teachers, or any of the officials connected with the department ; no geographical classification of schools, nor, indeed, any but a purely haphazard list of them ; no classification of teachers according to seniority, qualifications, and merit; no codification of the various changes which had been introduced in r';2 rules and regulations for aided schools. In -c. I found that I had to work in the dark, or in the perplexing light of arbitrary and often conflicting decisions. The first measure, consequendy, sub- mitted to Government was the organisation of the inspecting agency based upon a geographical EDUCATION 21 division of the island according to provinces ; the western and southern, the northern and eastern, and the central, north-central and north-western provinces being grouped into three districts under inspectors, assisted by a staff of sub-inspectors selected with special reference to their knowledge of the local vernaculars, local circumstances, and local partialities and prejudices. They were instructed to group the schools in their districts as soon as possible, in accordance with the KoraUs, Pattuwas, and other territorial subdivisions recognised in the census returns. This arrangement was necessary to facilitate a due relation between the extension of schools and the population. In a memorandum on the organisation of the inspecting staff the general duties were defined as follows : " The duties of an inspector of schools in Ceylon are much more comprehensive than those of an English inspector. He is the actual manager of all Government schools in his division. He must assure himself, for the information of the department, that the right proportion exists between the number of teachers and the number of pupils to be taught, that the available teaching power is disposed to the best advantage ; that there is a proper division of labour between teachers and pupil teachers; that every ubject is taught in the most approved methods, v/ith the help of the best obtainable books and the most suitable apparatus; and, above all, that the teachers are efficient in the work of instruction, and conscientious in the keeping of their records. It has hitherto been, and until other arrangements are made it will be, the duty of the inspectors to take li 22 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE part in the examinations of the Academy, in local examinations, and the examination of teachers and monitors. Should schemes, which I shall shortly submit for the approval of Government, for the support of training and industrial establishments, be accepted, it will be the duty of the inspectors to watch their operation with peculiar care. In the proposed geographical division of the island for the purposes of inspection, it will b^ the duty of each divisional inspector to act as inspector of returns for the district under his immediate supervision. This will relieve the Director of a portion of the routine work which now presses heavily on the department. Each divisional inspector will be responsible for the annual examination for result payments of all Government and Grant-in-aid schools in his district, and for the arrangement of incidental visits as fre- quently and unexpectedly as possible. It will be his duty to report upon all applications for new schools, and to provide for the extension of education in neglected districts and against the needless multipli- cation of small and feeble schools." To this memorandum were annexed detailed instructions as to the methods in which the duties of the staff were to be carried out. My experience has given me exceptional oppor- tunity of appreciating, and I have never ceased to appreciate the disinterested and self-denying lessons of Christian missionaries engaged in educational enterprises; but in Ceylon as elsewhere the in- spectors were met by formidable difficulties in the prosecution of their duties among the grant-in- aid schools. These difficulties arose chiefly from EDUCATION 23 two causes, the rivalry between the Christian Churches, and the tendency of all the Churches to resent the control of the Department of Public Instruction. The jealcjs rivalry of the Churches had led to an almost incredible over-multiplica- tion of schools in certain populous areas. This was particularly the case in Jaffna, where the agencies of the English and Scottish Protestant Churches and the Roman Catholic Churches were supplemented by an American Mission. But some idea of this multiplication of schools in other parts may be gathered from the following ex- tract from a Report submitted to Government in 1881 : "On the Galle road between Wellawatta and Moratuwa there are about sixty schools of which twelve are close to the high road within two miles of Wellawatta, twenty-four are clustered about Galkissa, and twentv-four others in the immediate neighbour- hood Moratuwa; the whole distance from Wella^ to Moratuwa railway station being about eight miles, and none of the schools lying more than half a mi'e from the main road. An analysis of other groups would probably show similar results." As an attempt to remedy this state of things led to serious opposition, I make no apology for reproducing a circular issued to the managers of grant-in-aid schools during the first year of my administration. The causes which had been at work in Ceylon have been and are producing similar controversies in many other fields of colonial missionary enterprise. 34 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE "Office of the Director of PuUic Inttruction. "Colombo, 25th October, 1879. "Sir,— The large number of applications for grants in aid of new schools, which I have recently found myself unable to recommend to Government, induces me to invite the attention of Managers to the following considerations : — "The almost unlimited readinessof this Department to open new schools within the last nine years has led to a multiplication of small and feeble schools, in districts where the interest of the inhabitantt would be much better served by a few good schools. This refers as well to Government as to grant-in- aid schools, and, so far as the former are concerned, active measures are being taken to close forthwith unnecessary schools. I appeal with confidence to Managers to assist the Department in restricting the number of schools to the necessities of the people. " It is a mistake to suppose that the duty of Government in regard to grant-in-aid schools is entirely limited by result payments. It is clearly to the advantage of the people, whose interests are the interests of the Government, that in schools aiaed by public funds instruction should be afforded in such a way that its acquisition is not rendered unnecessarily slow or laborious, that a child should not, owing to the incapacity of the teacher, spend tedious years in learning what, under a skilled and efficient teacher, can be acquired in a few months. The unnecessarily long time spent by boys in primary village schools, during the whole of which payments are made on their behalf by Govern- EDUCATION as ment, has been frequently and strongly pointed out by inspectors of schools in Ceylon. In short, if the quality of the instruction paid for is not as good as may be fairly and reasonably expected, a proper value is not received by Government, and the people are not educated up to their ability to receive in- struction. If a large school of two hundred children can be substituted for eight small ones of twenty-five children, — and this is by no means an exaggerated illustration— it is clear that a larger salary can be provided for the head teacher, and greater induce- ment held out to persons of worth and capacity to engage in the profession. I need hardly point the incomparably pjreater facilities afforded by large schools for grouping children in classes of uniform acquirements. " But if the multiplication of small schools is injurious to the speedy and easy acquisition of learning, it is still more prejudic to good dis- cipline. In one of the Administration Reports of the Department, it was asserted, — and I have no doubt accurately— that in many grant-in-aid schools it is the boy who determines the class in which he shall be placed, and not the teacher ; and more than one Manager has told me that, in the vicinity of rival schools, the Manager has almost no control either over the teacher or the students. " I am ready to presume that, as a general rule, the expense of setting up and maintaining schools which must always be thinly attended, is not without its effect upon Managers, and I am also ready to make every possible concession to the spirit of those who feel that an encroachment on civil and religious 36 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE liberty it involved in compelling children to attend schools in the religious influence of which the parents have no confidence, but in the great majority of applications received by this Department very few, and in many cases none of the students attending the school for which aid is asked, belong to the relijj[ion of the Managers. In such circumstances it is clear that the question of secular instruction is the only thing to be considered, and where an effi- cient school exists, it is surely unreasonable to ask the Department to support a rival establishment " In offering this explanation of the reasons which have prompted me to decline to recommend to Government a large number of schools, I beg to assure you of my desire to offer you every facility in my power in the way of supplying with efficient schools every district in the Colony in which the means of education are wanting." Simultaneously with the reorganisation of the inspecting agency, it was necessary to draw i\p a code of departmental rules for the guidance of the teaching staff of the Government schools whose work the inspectors were to supervise. It was based upon a mass of departmental decisions, instructions, interpretations, and modifications, some of which had to be ignored in practice, and which, as a whole, had never been made accessible to the persons they were intended to guide and control. In the preparation of this code, it was decided to adopt the custom of the Department wherever it had been adhered to with any approach to consistency, my object being to establish a set of fixed and EDUCATION definitt rulei, to serve as a Ptodus vivtndi until a larger experience might qualify me to deal with questions of reform. The code at the same time included a system of classification and payment for the staff. The reorganisation of the inspecting agency and thr code for Government schools having been completed, it remained to draw up a code of rules and regulations for grant-in-aid schools to teke the place of the provisional arrangements which had been in force. In the preparation of this code, too, the aim of the Department was not so much the immediate extension of the educational edifice as the laying of a solid and symmetrical foundation for the future superstructure. In the meantime, however, I had to remember that in all times and in all countries the higher education of the few has preceded the elementary education of the many, and that this must be accepted as the natural order of development. The present Director of Public Instruction in Ceylon has very well expressed himself on the subject in an article in Th$ Federal Magazine fo- April, 1907, on the education of native races, he says : " In a country where society has been organised for a long period there is sure to be an upper class, whom birth and material well-being have raised above the necessity of constant manual labour. The new- comer is apt to underrate the importance of such distinctions when they do not follow quite the same Imes as those of his own country, and those engaged in philanthropic and missionary efforts have some- times made the mistake of ignoring them altogether. Before a country is ripe for any general educational 1^ 28 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE system the way must be prepared for it by training a small number of the most influential class. It is desirable that this training should be accompanied by personal influence of a marked kind, by the cultivation of higher enthusiasms, of loyalty to institutions, and as much as possible of the esprit de corps which has been the leading feature of the English public schools. The existence of some- thing in the nature of an educated class with a public opinion in favour of education seems to be a necessary condition to the success of any general scheme for the elementary education of the main body of the population." The educational system of Ceylon may be called a system of three dimensions, working by three agencies, Government agency, native agency, and the agency of the Christian Churches. The three agencies dovetail into each other, the Government agency into the native agency by the legitimate and natural pressure of its position, the native agency into the agency of the Christian Churches by consent and persuasion. It will be convenient at the outset to illustrate the relation of Government to the native agency by a concrete illustration from a report of the Inspector of the Central Province : " Perhaps the most interesting and successful education experiment of the year in this province was the simultaneous opening, early in 1880, of six new vernacular schools in the district of Mitald North by Mr. Ellis, Assistant Government Agent. MataM North was never held to be a promising field for educational operations, and the one or EDUCATION 29 two vernacular schools we had in the district pre- vious to 1880 are even now perishing for want of scholars. Mr. Ellis invited candidates for the six new teacherships, and, r« ^ of a jproje number of applicants who came crward, seit- :»ed twenty-four as possessing influenc* , eiiher in th jir own persons or through their near retations, ir their respective villages. An examination, at ^vnich the Director of Public Instruction was present, was held of the twenty-four selected candidates at the Mdtale Kdchcheri, and eight of them were declared to have passed satisfactorily. The first six in the order of merit were at once appointed teachers on probation, Mr. Ellis taking care to send to each village the person whom he judged most likely, from local considerations, to succeed best as schoolmaster in that village. The bungalows for the new schools were, as usual, put up by the villagers, the Depart- ment providing the furniture and apparatus. All the six schools are under the general supervision of the Village Gansabhawas, the president of which, himself an educated gentleman, takes, even quite apart from his official position, a real interest in all efforts made for the instruction of the people." And in the same report, after explaining the difficulty of extending education in the Province, he concludes : " The selection of suitable places for opening new schools, and the taking of measures to get the villagers to put up bungalows, and to send their children to school, must in a great measure be left, and are best left, to local headmen acting under the different provincial and district Government 30 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Agents. Judging by the applications for new schools that are coming in, a very large increase in the number of Government vernacular schools in the Central Province may be expected within the next few years. The task of organising and supervising these new schools, and of introducing order and method to existing schools completely demoralised by long neglect, will provide a sufficiency of useful and laborious employment for the inspecting officers working in the province." The association, on the other hand, of the native agency with the agency of the Christian Churches is the result of two inHuences, — the spiritual influence which is the alpha and omega of their enterprise, and to a certain extent, it must be admitted, the influence of the temporal, but perfectly legitimate interests of the native community. The causes which had given strength to this agency may be briefly explained. In the year 1869 the admini- stration was centralised m a Department of Public Instruction under an officer, styled the Director, responsible only to the Governor. One of the first acts of the new administration was to remove existing restrictions in regard to religious teaching and the use of text books in schools. For a system under which some missionary agencies had found it impossible to accept aid from Government for their educational work, diere was substituted a system of payment by results to be made impartially to all schools for secular instruction only. With this concession to the Christian Churches the growth and development of their agency was rapid. In one year the number of aided schools rose from EDUCATION I twenty-one to 229, while the result of the new system during the decennial period preceding my appointment as Director is shown in these figures : i860. 1879. Government Schools, - - - . 64' 243 Aided Schools 2, Broadly speaking, it is enough to define Govern- ment schools as schools controlled entirely by the Department and maintained entirely out of public funds; grant-in-aid. or aided schools as schools under the limited control of the Department and maintained by limited aid from public funds. The system of result payments was not limited to the agency of the Christian Churches, but in 1879 all the aided schools, with rare exceptions, were under this agency', although in some of them neither teachers nor pupils professed the religion of the Christian denomination which had adopted tl .,m. organised them, and enabled them to fulfil the conditions entitling them to r. grant-in-aid. At the time the native agency had litde direct official recognition. It was recognised only when under the protection of the Government agency on the one hand, and of the Christian agency on the other. But outside the State system a large number of indigenous schools ^yith little pretension to organisation, and, for the time, with no desire to organise themselves so as to enter within the State system, were at work. Large numbers of these schools existed, attached gener- ally to the service of the Buddhist, Hindu, and Mahommedan religions. In many of them instruc- tion was given in reading from palm-leaf r.ianu- scripts, and in writing on the surface of the floor 32 11 iE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE strewn with sand. The general policy of the Government, starting with the introduction of the result-payment scheme, was to draw this native agency into the circle of Departmental influence with a view to its ultimate emancipation as an inde- pendent partner in the educational system of three dimensions. This policy was not in any way incon- sistent with the desire of the Government to recognise and encourage, in a spirit of mutual confi- dence, the work of the Christian Churches. The general opinion of the Missionary Societies hap- pened, while I was in Ceylon, to be very clearly expressed by a deputation received by the Marquess of Ripen in England at the time of his appointment as Viceroy of India. In the memorial presented to him, they said : " Your Memorialists beg it to be distincdy "nder- stood that they do not ask for any special favour or support for any Christian institutions, but desire that native institutions be equally encouraged and aided by the Government in a liberal spirit. While they openly proclaim their wish that all India may be brought under the beneficent influence of Christian institutions, they would deprecate any attempt by Government at proselytism or interference with the religious belief of the people." The Rev. E. E. Jenkins, of the Methodist Missionary Society, said : "We do not, as has been alleged against us, desire to commit the people of India to the alter- native of sending their children to mission schools, or remaining without schools altogether. . . . What we ask, my Lord, with all respect and sub- EDUCATIOxN 33 mission is this, that the educational poh'cy of the State in India should operate in the direction of drawing out the private resources of the people and stimulating, by every encouragement, private effort. That they are able ana willing to justifv the policy IS evident by the number and character of the institutions that are now under native management. ... M e do not ask, as Missionary Societies a monopdy of Government aid ; but in the lan.ruacre of the Despatch (1859) from the Secretary of Stale tor ndia. in reply to a memorial from the natives of Madras, that there may be 'orants available for schools mamtained by persons of all denominations indifferently ; provided that the education given be equal to the prescribed standard." ' Dr Underbill (Baptist Missionary Society) said • "If a Mahommedan or Hindu gentleman wishes V^'a"? Vt""""^ '° grant-in-aid offered by the Despatch (of 1854), we have no wish to preclude the grant of such assistance. On the contrary, we desire that favours should be shown to every party alike . . We only ask that in carrying out the Despatch, all parties should be impartially dealt with, and that the Directors of Education in all the Presidencies should show their interest in all pt'eed"^ "^"^^"^^ p^'-'y '^^y '"-y In addressing the deputation, the Marquess of Kipon expressed himself in these words • "We must bear in mind the peculiar circum- stances of our rule in India. It is. if J may use the expression, one of the fundamental principles of the constitution of India that the British 34 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Government will in no way, direct or indirect, interfere with the religion of the native races, or do anything calculated to arouse the slightest suspicion of such interfcience in their minds. To this our faith is pledged, and by this pledge honour and wisdom alike require us to abide. There is scarcely any question with respect to which it is of more importance to keep this principle steadily in view than that of education, and I rejoice therefore to observe that you re- cognise this fact in the memorial which you have presented to me." It would be impossible for me to select language which could express my own views more clearly than the language of these extracts ; and it was on this understanding that I felt justified in en- couraging to the utmost of my power the exertions of the religious societies in Ceylon. Of course, such a system depends on an ad- justment of religious difficulties, and in Ceylon an adjustment effective for all practical purposes has been found. No religious instruction is recog- nised by the Department of Public Instruction. In Government schools none is permitted ; in aided schools the Department takes no cognisance of it. A certain number of hours are required to be devoted daily to secular instruction exclusively. In the spirit thus indicated, I sought to make the Colombo Academy the sun or central force of an educational system on the principles I have exhibited in my review of the educational system of Mauritius. The Colombo Academy had been EDUCATION 3, established in ,he year ,836 by Governor Sir afford Ae .nhabuants of Colombo and the island A T™, "'"^""8 their children a su^or and hberal education on a permanent basis." The ;3-n<, ha. .he SeJ^t^r^^^^t 1869, had been do.ng good work on its classical s.de but on its n^odern side serious workTad hardly commenced, the first appointment of a science master havmg not long preceded my arnv" „ he colony. No time was lost in providing on the Esfmates for a laboratory; the necessary e^uip! aTapteHolf r ^-"^o's adapted to local circumstances, for the teaching: of botany agriculture, and other subjects Tat pu m hand; and I was able in my first' Ad;niZ ration Report to express a hope that beforeTn. scientific education would take a place at the Academy worthy of the nrem.Vr r fif c- • , premier Crown colonv of the Empire, and in accordance with the soirk of the modern world. P'"' The laboratory was opened in i«8o In iS«, by the Queens gracious'permission the L 'a yLm of h , '° educational enlarge the sphere of influence of the Academy 36 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE by making it the nucleus of a system of superior instruction on the lines I laid down in the following terms: " The Academy, representing the principle of en- dowments, as opposed to private enterprise, oujjht to offer the advantages summed up by those who support endowed institutions, as superior organisa- tion, fixed principles, and readjustment from time to time in accordance with the supreme intelligence of the community. But the more fully superior organisation and fixity of principles are secured, the more certainly will they tend to a rigidity of method which contrasts unfavourably with the greater elasticity of private enterprise. Endowed schools are apt to be like the bed of Procrustes, which exactly fitted very few of those who had to lie in it. For strongly marked inclinations, types of character, and sentiments, they can make but little allowance, and thus they cramp the juvenile mind in one case and unduly stretch it in another. The larger the school the more this is felt, because the less regard can be had to those eccentricities of character which remove individual boys from the hard and fast line of moral and intellectual development which must be drawn somewhere. In private schools it is otherwise; most {jrivate schools appeal to the wishes of in- dividuals, and these are regulated partly by the inclination of parents and partly by the tastes and aptitudes of their children. One school pays parti- cular and early attention to the rudiments of classical learning or to modern languages ; another to mathe- matics or to physical science ; another to moral EDUCATION 3- or social discipline. While this partiah'ty. if not exaggerated, often produces admirable resuhs. it frequently tends to onesidedness and implants or confirms prejudices. While one department of Z L\" ^'""'^'/^'^ ^''^h enthusiam and success, too I. le regard .s paid to the general adjustment of mstruction to the wants of the human mind. If vve could combine the superiority of organisation and greater fix.ty of principle of endowments with he elasucuy of private enterprise, we might hope to provide a system, which, carried on with ordinan^ care and moderate ability, would lead to largely beneficial results. ^ ^ In brief my purpose was that the Royal College re^orgamsed under the direct control of L Depa^: ment of Pubhc Instruction, should serve as a tTrto'rZ ''''''' 'heir work ot re-organisation. Up to this time the encouragement given by Government to private enterprise in the work of ^penor mstruction was limited to an open com- pet.t ve exammat.on. styled the Local Examination, a T\ T «'='^°J-«hips. tenable for three years awarded. This scheme had started with some prom.se of a success which was not realised. As a cnterK,n of the value of the higher instruction -parted in the high schools and ^colleges of h olony the evidence of failure was complete. In rom " '^"^ P^^^''*^"y ^''tWrawn from cornpet.t.on. while the Academy sent up onlv ia.Iure of the scheme mainly to three causes. 38 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE (i) The absence of direct inducement at a time when the bulk of the community was in that early stage of culture which measures the value of education by its immediate and ingible result : (2) The condition which required a successful candidate for the scholarships to leave his school and residence, it might be in a remote part of the Island, and continue his studies in Colombo. This condition debarred many who had no friends with whom they could reside in Colombo, and it made managers unwilling to co-operate in the scheme, because so far as they were concerned, the only result of success was to withdraw the very scholars likely to bring them satisfaction and credit : (3) The want of recognised and established authority and prestige in the examining board. In this respect no casual company of examiners, however eminent their ind; aal attainments may be, can ever carry the weignt of a University examination. The measures which I proposed to substitute for the existing system may be summarised thus. To introduce the examinations of the Cambridge Local Ex? nation Syndicate, with examining centres in ^olombo, Kandy, Galle, Jaffna, and in other places if required. To grant result payments to managers of aided schools whose pupils should pass under the various heads of examination, and to give prizes to every candidate for each subject in which he should pass in honours. To establish three exhibitions, to be awarded on the result of the Junior Local Examination, tenable for three years either at the Royal College or at any registered High School. To make the Senior Local Examina- EDUCATION 39 tion the examination for two English University scholarships, and to throw both open to public competition. Unfortunately, for financial reasons, my dfsire to offer two scholarsliips. one in arts and one in science, could not at the time be accomplished The managers of aided schools urged that the standards of the Cambridge Local Examination were beyond the reach of their students, and it was decided to adopt a system of grants for examin ition in specific subjects of higher secular instruction. I n view of the cost of this scheme, and in consideration of the para- mount importance of extending primary instruction, the Government decided only to throw open to public competition the University scholarship, till then hmited to scholars of the Royal College, without offermg for the time a second scholarship. My experience has proved the Cambridge Local Examination to be a potent factor in the encourage- ment of public instruction in the Crown "olonies. and I look back with grateful recollection to the time when it brought me into relationship with the Rev. G. F. Browne, now Bishop of Bristol, for many years secretary to the Syndicate for Local Examinations. Of the steadily expanding influence of the system in Ceylon. I find evidence in the annual reports of the Director of Public Instruction. In i8So there were presented four seniors, students of the Academy, and fifteen juniors, students of the Academy and two other colleges. In iS8i forty- nme presentations included five junior girls, students m a Government school. In 1907 there were pre- sented for examination 898 candidates. 325 senior 40 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE and 484 junior boys ; thirty-five senior and 105 junior girls. Of the boys 267 were presented by thirty-five col]e>jes and high schools, while fifty-eight had been privately educated ; of the girls 136 were presented by twenty-seven colleges and high schools incluiling six convent schools, while four had been privately educated. In the mean time, however, the award of the Uni- versity scholarship was transferred to the Oxford and Cambrid-c Schools Examination Board, under whose authority spt-cial examinations were held in Ceylon, in English, Latin, and Greek, and. in alternate years, in English, mathematics, and natural science. Reverting to the period of my own activity as Director of Public Instruction; in 1882, arrange- ments were made to extend the course of studies of the Royal College so as to include the matriculation and intermediate (first B.A.) examinations of the University of London, and the first matriculation examination was held in January, 1883. The intro- duction of the London University examinations was followed by the award of grants to the successful can- didates, and as the importance of meeting the needs of students, who wished to obtain locally as many as possible of the advantages of a university, came to be appreciated, steps were taken to place the higi.er education of the island in direct communication with the London University courses in arts and science. In 1902 the Senate of the University passed the following resolutions : "That the University arrange to conduct the examination for the English University Scholarship, EDUCATION ^, given by the Government of Ceylon, by setting papers of the matriculation standard; or. if neceJlnf of a more advanced character. to 'Dlovwi^'*"'^'^'"" Government will undertake to provide assistant examiners to supervise the pracfcal examinations, and report thereon to the In 1906 my ori^-i.uil intention to estaWish two Universuy scholarships was fulfilled, one behe awarded on an examination in En^riish. mathematics and scence held l.y the Oxford and Cambridge Board, and another on the results of the London In^rmed.ate Examination in arts. I„ the follou'n" year a new system adopted by arrar nt with he University of London came into op., n. and wo scholarships were awarded on the r'esults of the Intermediate Examinations, one for arts and one for saence. I he holders of these scholarships are a[ liberty to jom any university in the United Kinj^dom and graduate m arts, science, medicine, or law or " In his report for 1906 the Director of Public Instruction observed that the new syscem marked does not he said, "of course, terminate that question but it puts the «ork of the colleges which • ^is for the present, and begins what, it is hoped will be a period of developmenc on new lines t IS not suggested that the system now introduced is a final setUement of the question. The final settle! 42 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE ment, when the Colony is ready for it, must take the form of the provision of adequate University teaching in Colombo. Government has taken a step in this direction by providing science teaching in connection with the new laboratories at the Technical College. Two Professors were appointed in 1906 in Chemistry and Physics, who are to be Professors of the Medical and Technical Colleges. They will give theoretical and practical instruction in these subjects to students from the Colombo schools and colleges who take these subjects in the London Intermediate Examination in Science." Before leaving the domain of superior instruction, I may add that, during my tenure of office, Mr. Cull, then Principal of the Royal College, afterwards Director of Public Instruction, energetically asso- ciated himself with me in the formation of a cadet corps to be attached to the Ceylon Volunteers. In my last report, as Director, published in 1882, I was able to say that this proposal was approved at Headquarters, and that the nominal strength of the corps included nearly all the boys of the College of sufficient age. I added the expression of my hope that it might serve as a permanent school of physical training for the students of the Royal College. My hope was not immediately realised, but that the spirit that inspired it has lived is shown by the report of the Director for the year 1907, in which he states that drill is taught in all Government schools, and is encouraged in grant-in-aid schools by a small drill bonus. In 1907 the drill bonus was earned by ninety schools, as compared with sixty-six EDUCATION ^3 in 1906 ; and the strength of the eight companies of the cadet battalion was as follows : umce Royal College - . 3 Wesley College - - 3 St. Thomas's College 3 Kingswood College - 2 Trinity College - . 3 Richmond College - 2 Prince ofWales's Col lege 3 St. Joseph's College - 3 2 3 Non-Com. Officers. Cadets. Total. '3 39 S5 'S 46 64 »4 37 S6 II 32 4S 15 SO 68 IS 46 63 '5 34 Sa S7 60 Coincidently with the organisation, on the lines I have indicated, of superior education, having for its object the diffusion of European knowledge, and the use of the English language as a key to the arts science, philosophy, and literature of Western civilisation, it was my desire to encourage the study in special institutions, of the classical languajs which are a key to the understanding of the religions, arts, science, philosophy, and literature of the East. The chief seat of this learning was the Widyodaya College (Maligakanda). having for its Principal, Sumangala, the learned high priest of Adam s Peak. He had recently endowed the College with a library of Sanskrit. Pali, and Sinhalese manu- scripts, which was opened soon after my arrival in Ceylon. In the following year the College. includins peculiarly applicable to the case of women For- tunately the agencies of the Christian Churches in Ceylon had with one consent recognised the value 01 female education as a moral power in the home and m the principal centres of their relicrious and educational activity. They had established boarding 46 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE and convent schools, which had become powerful agencies to raise the tone and manners of the lower social strata. For their influence was not limited to the period of their pupils' residence. The career of the girls in after life was watched with affectionate interest by the managers, and left no doubt of the beneficial and civilising inflence they exercised. After my earliest visits to them I declared my belief that if the Government wished to pay for permanent and indelible rather than transitory results, the money paid for one girl educated in a Mission boarding school or convent school was worth ten times the sum paid for a girl taught in a day school. Girls everywhere, but more especially in the native com- munities of our Crown colonies, require education rather than instruction ; and it is only in a boarding school that a girl can be educated in habits of order and cleanliness, refinement of thought, delicacy of feeling, propriety of behaviour, and other qualities which we believe to be of the essence of female excellence. First and last, I thought it the duty of Govern- ment to extend to the Protestant boarding schools of the Anglican, Wesleyan. Baptist, and American Missions as well as to the Roman Catholic convents generous encouragement and aid. I have given a few figures to illustrate the success of the schools to which I refer in the Cambridge University Local Examination, but it would be a mistake to suppose that their work can be measured by this or any other standard of examination in art or science . By universal testimony they have effected a gradual but marked improvement in the social life of the com- EDUCATION ^7 rnunit.es within their sphere of influence, not only in morality, but in greater devotion to industrial habits. Household work and needle work, especially in the making of garments, have always been subjects of their intelligent attention, while in many districts they did much to give a high value to the embroidery and lace of the colony. In the recent development of the great industries of Ceylon, such as tea and rubber, the minor industries of lace and embroidery attract but scanty notice; but there seems to be no reason why, with encouragement, they should not occupy as considerable a place in the future of the Crown colonies as embroidery has taken m the industrial art of India. At this moment efforts are being made to restore the fortunes of bt. Helena by various agencies, among others, the lace industry. In June. 1907, Lord Crewe, in opening an exhibition of St. Helena lace, declared that the industry was worthy of every possible en- couragement, and expressed the hope that it might supply a large area of employment for the women and girls of the colony. While on ihe subject of female education, I may mention, incidentally, that in 1879 the Kindergarten system was introduced into a girls' school, and thus the first step was taken towards the establishment 01 infants schools in the colony. ^ In Ceylon as in India, it is the area of secondary instruction that presents the gravest difficulties, the area that has to be crossed by a road leading from the primary schools to the high schools and colleges of superior instruction, and through these to the service of the State, to the learned professions, to 48 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE profitable and honourable employment w. every domain of industry and commerct. In this area the question of language presents thf* ni*.st formid- able problem. So soon as I had organised the inspecting agency, I had to classify the schools, and I followed the general classification adopted in India of primary, middle, and high schools or colleges, both for English and vernacular schools. It was in the middle vernacular schools that the difficulty arose, the question being whether they might, at the option of the managers, be made bilingual from the lowest class, or whether English should be taught in them as an optional subject, only as a sequel to a fixed standard of instruction in the vernacular, and rigorously excluded from schools which could under no circumstances teach to that standard. It was the former system that had been adopted, or rather allowed to exist, and I was urged by a group of managers to give it the sanction of the Code. Another group of managers opposed it, and their objections were concisely stated by one of their number in the following terms : "There is such a craving for the acquisition of a knowledge of a few words of English among the people, that wherever there is a vernacular middle school, the master of which knows a little English, some boys will want to learn that language ; and the school will be registered as an Anglo-vernacular school. Consequently, other boys in the neighbour- hood will, in self-defence, be compelled to learn English, and the result will be that the country will be flooded with a lot of young fellows, too conceited for honest work, and having no desire to acquire a EDUCATION Aoro^h knowledge of Engli* i„ , Ugh «hool tL T ^ ^ ''""^ ^"^ of many " ubiveiy the justice of these observations and I was confirmed in my decision by the action of the Government of Bengal which h.^ . reconstituted their internfedia" Endlh IT^l' As the pnncples involved are and must remafn of separate class T ^ 7*^ ^ abolition, as a has followed w^^h r. ' J Government -dard of the University ^T^^'.^^^ZTl 50 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE return to the principles affirmed successively by Sir John Grant and Sir Cecil Beadon. According to those principles, the middle vernacular schools established by Government were to be regarded as model schools for the advancement of education among the rural classes, who must always remain strangers to the English language and literature. Side by side with, and attached to these vernacular schools, there sprung up, however, in many places English classes, whose object was to give those who read the full vernacular course some additional instruction in English. In course of time, the Eng- lish teaching, originally intended to be supplementary and subordinate to the vernacular course, assumed an unduly prominent position. History and other subjects were read in English, and the vernacular was proportionately neglected. It followed, there- fore, that all students in such schools, except those few who were afterwards to proceed to a higher English school, received from masters, themselves ill-instructed in English, an education which was imperfect, and in too many cases worthless, both on its vernacular and on its English side. The late orders of Government declare the necessity of re- adjusting the mutual relations of English and the vernacular by re-constituting middle English schools on a true vernacular basis." The immediate results of the new system were stated in a subsequent Order. Order of Government of Bengal, October 22, 1879. "The policy of placing the course in middle English schools upon a vernacular basis has been EDUCATION 5, discussed at considerable length in the Inspector's reports and though some officers regard the change with disfavour, the balance of opinion inclines to the view adopted by the Director, that the measure was sound m principle, and that it will be productive of good results. Mr. Bellett. Inspector of the Rajshaye circle, wntes thus : ' The measure was by no means a popular one. and its unpopularity was, I believe almost without exception, in proportion to the need which existed for it. The class of teachers which most hates to be obliged to teach in Bengali is the class m which the knowledge of English is the slightest and not only is it the case that the pupils m middle English schools now learn their other lessons more satisfactorily by far than they could formerly when they were taught in a tongue "not understanded of" either pupil or teacher ; but I have noticed during the course of my tours this past year less of that miserable parrot work than there used to be in the teaching of English itself " Sir Stewart Bailey has no doubt that the change of system will be found beneficial to the true interest of the pupils. It is entirely in accordance with the recommendation of the Simla Text-Book Committee hat in the lower stages of instruction substantive knowledge should, if possible, be imparted in the vernacular, a recommendation based upon the rational principle that students, who have had their nj.nds trained and developed by the acquisition of deas through their own mother-tongue are more likely to turn out clever men than those who have spent the best years of their childhood in the painful 52 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE acquisition of foreign words to which they are unaUe to attach any ideas." The views expressed in these Otders were con- firmed by a resolution of the Government of India upon the Report of an Indian Education Com- mission, in the following terms : Order of Governvient of India, October 23, 1884, " There is one matter regarding which no specific recommendation is made, but to which attention is drawn in the resolution appointing the Commission, and which is discussed in paragraphs 249-50 of their report, viz., the place which should be occupied by English and the vernacular in middle schools. The Governor-General in Council is disposed to agree with the Commission that, for boys whose education terminates with the middle course, instruction through the vernacular is likely to be the most effective and satisfactory. The experience of Bengal goes indeed to show that even for lads pursuing their studies in High Schools a thorough grounding conveyed through their own vernacular leads to satisfactory after-results. It is urged by those who take this view that many of the complaints of the unsatisfactory quality of the training given in the middle and high schools of the country are accounted for by the attempt to convey instruction through a foreign tongue. The boys, it is said, learn a smattering of very indifferent English, while their minds receive no development by the imparting to them of useful knowledge in a shape compre- hensible to their intellect, since they never really assimilate the instruction imparted to them. It has EDUCATION 53 been proposed to meet this difficulty by providing that Enghsh shall only be taught in middle schools as a language, and even then only as an extra subject where there is a real demand for it and a readiness to pay for such instruction. His Excel- lency in Council commends this matter to the carefui consideration of Local Governments and Educational authorities." I recall these Orders ail the more willingly because I understand from recent reports that there has been a tendency to revert to the old system. From an article in the Federal Magazine for April. 1907, by the Director of I>ublic Instruction, I gather that it has been reverted to in Ceylon, although he is not enthusiastic in favour of the change. 1 1 appears to have been made before the system it replaced had had a chance of working, in accordance, as he says, with the besetting sin of colonial Administra- tions, a tendency towards sudden and complete reversal of policy. In the same number of the same Magazine, the Director of Public Instruction in Burma disapproved the tendency to revert to the old system in the following terms : "The courses and systems respectively of ele- mentary and secondary education dovetail fairly satisfactorily, but English is begun too soon in Anglo- Vernacular Schools. Native pupils who de- sire to learn English should preferably go through four vernacular sta'^d, rds before going on to a school or department m which English is taught." It was exactly the four-standard test of proficiency that I adopted in niy Anglo- vernacular system. If I have given priority to superior and secondar) 54 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE education in my namtive of work in Ceylon, it it for the reason already indicated that the higher educHtif n of the few must of necessity precede the elementary education of the many. When my Code was prepared and submitted to (jovern- ment, I took the of^rtunity to declare, in my Annual Report for the year 1879, that "whil^ other branches uf t ducatiori had not been lo-'t sigur of. the fundanuntal idea at the base of its varioii provisions for standards of xamination, result pay- ments, pupil-teacher system and training of teachers had beca tlie extension of efficient primary ver- nacular schools throughout the Colony. ^ This policy naturall> involved three considera- tions, — the range of subjects to be taught, the educational agencies available, and the all-important question of ways anu mean The range of study in primary vernacular schools was not difficult to determine. The Code provided for five years' W( rk, and it was assumed that within tuat period a child of average intelligence and regular attendance might learn to read and write fairly, and know enough of figures to carry him through the calculations of ordinary life. In addition to this, he would learn something in the books he must read for prarti. and something more from the teacher without ' ks. Under an efficient teacher, with his heart in bis v -^k he might hope to leave school not altogethe ui equipped for the humble career which on'iruinly lies before him. He would read well enough to improve his acquaintance with books if ht ch ise; he would be able to make out a bill, to sign a receipt, and to write a letter ; he would be fam iar E DUCAT. ON 55 enough with figure not i., be cheated in paying an t' ount : md he vo ild have some general know- U e of I he i oIon\ ai J of the physical condition! oi le worl. tb.^ kind of knowledge uhich an intelligent tccxher giv e in conversational lectures with the help of )Uckboard, some maps, and dates. This pretty w Jl expresses the unambitious but prartical am of thf primary standards of the Ceylon Co.ie. and i ventuic to hink ''-u it fairly expresses what uist be the aim oi pri. ^ry schools in Crown c >k)i. gener lly. So nuch knowledge it was the desire of t, o De, Tien^ j place within reac' or ev< , child n the lor In order to re^ch the nu. Ml, , spa anc' leglected dis- ^""''^ ^1' >al -le-s ot a eral k, 1 were given for f . . t ainteiw e in them of schools known as "Z. s,ch is. and these were at the same time ^^^'P t the requirements of the immi- g*"' ' '^o e dtion of Tamils on the up-country est. 's. I h development of enterprise in e I Kiuction t • tea, cocoa and rubber led to t; TOous r -l of this population, simultaneous neressity or a revised system. The subject was for man years under discussion, and at last r* 'ted in the enactment of the Rural Schools '(ruinance, 1907, which provide ! ^eparate schemes or f itc schools and schools for the general indig us community of the rural districts of the interior. As regards estate schools the Ordinance with a outlyini i d ;mand for education in the other icts of the interior, for whose wants Js were intended, and enforced the th. C 56 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE imposed the following duties on the superintendent of every estate : (1) To provide for the vernacular education of the children of the labourers employed on the estate between the ages of six and ten, and to set apart and keep in repair a suitable schoolroom. (2) To furnish certain returns to the Director of Public Instruction. (3) To cause a school teacher to keep a register showing the names and ages of children employed on the estate between the ages of six and ten, and also an attend- ance register showing the presence or absence of each child on every day on which school is held. The Ordinance also provides for the inspection of estate schools and for the use of a common school by two or more estates, and gives powers by which Government can deal with cases in which no provi- sion is made by making such provision at the expense of the estate. As regards the general rural community, the Ordmance enacted the following provisions : School Districts. Every revenue district and every Province which is not divided into revenue districts to be a school district. District Schools Committee. Each school district to have its Committee, consisting of: («) A chairman, who shall be the Government Agent of the Province, or, in his absence, the Assistant Government Agent of the district. EDUCATION 57 The Director of Public Instruction, or, in his absence, an officer of the Department of Public instruction appointed by him. (c) One of the chief headmen of the district nommated by the Government Agent. (d) One or more school managers or other persons interested in education in the district nommated by the Governor. ScAemes Each District Committee to prepare a scheme for the establishment of vernacular schools for jhe education of all male children, and, if they think fit, for the education of all female children resident in the school district for whose education efficient and suitable provision is not otherwise made. The Ordinance gives detailed instructions ^hemes^"^ the Committee in making such By-Laws. The Committee have the power of making by-laws for the enforcement of regular attendance at grant-in-aid schools as well m at Government Schools. Reverting from this digression to the methods adopted to carry instruction beyond the elementary stage of the primary vernacular schools, the Code provided a scheme of bifurcation. A primary school might become a middle vernacular school by making arrangements to provide through a duly qualified teacher a three years' course of higher instruction in vernacular literature, and in general knowledge through the medium of the vernacular, the aim ot the middle vernacular school being to place a native boy or girl in a position to master all the existing resources of their own language Or a (Mi I 5 r » I. ''I \ 1 . I I' ■ » ;1 58 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE primary vernacular school might become an Anglo- vernacular school of the type I have described, having for its aim to afford to all who possess an aptitude for superior instruction the means of acquiring a knowledge of English as a key to the arts, science, or philosophy of Europe. An eminent authority England has recently declared that there is no ion affecting elemen- tary education in this coun.j^ of greater importance than the supply and training of properly qualified teachers. Thirty years ago the truth of this proposition was not fully recognised in Ceylon, and my proposals to make the employment of certificated teachers obligatory, in all vernacular and Anglo-vernacular schools maintained or aided by Government, met with some opposition, although they contemplated only a gradual enforcement of the rule and allowed a period of ten years before it should be brought into complete operation. As regards Government schools, the Department had not been unmindful of its duty, and a central training school in Colombo, called the Normal School, had for some years been maintained at considerable cost, and with energy and intelli- gence on the part of the Principal, but the re- organisation of the whole system of education made it necessary to re organise the Normal School, so as to adapt it to the requirements of the new Code. In the scheme of re-organisation it was steadily borne in mind that the intention of the school was to train students to be teachers in the vernacular and Anglo-vernacular schools of the Department, and that consequently its chief aim EDUCATION 59 must be to turn out scholars highly trained in the art of communicating to others the measure of know- ledge required in the schools in which they were to teach. The appointment of a head-master, qualified to teach science and art, was at once confronted by practical difficulties in the want of vernacular text-books. The difficulty had to be met by the dictation of notes in Sinhalese, and by the preparation of carefully edited lists of technical terms in chemistry, botany, and other subjects, pending the preparation of suitable books. As the question of vernacular text-books must for generations remain of importance, I may recall, to the credit of those concerned, the terms in which the Principal of the Normal School in 1881 reported on his work : " It has been my desire to identify the Normal School with the publication of reputable Sinhalese school books, which are urgently required, and I hope that the Normal Schoolmasters and old Normal students will devote some part of their spare time assisting in the matter. My • School Management for Pupil Teachers,' arranged according to the requirements of the new Code, is pardy published, and the remainder nearly ready. The Primer of Botany has been ready for the press some time, and I hope that my • Notes of Lessons for Vernacular Teachers', which is now being printed, will be found of great service. Mr. Johannes has a Physical Geography in Sinhalese in hand which he hopes to offer *o the Department, ard Mr. J. P. P. Samarase- h:\.. r.is published a usefi 1 httle work on Mental • .netic. Mr. H. D. Lewis is engaged on a 6o THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Geography book, which is urgently needed, and Mr. A. Senaratna is preparing an advanced Arith- metic. Mr. D. Gabriel has already prepared First and Second vernacular reading books, and I hope, with the assistance of the Normal School Assistants,' to be able to offer to the Department at no very distant date, a complete set of good Sinhalese reading books, consisting of original and interesting matter prepared on the English plan." The publication of vernacular school books had from the first engaged my attention, and was inti- mately connected with another question having a direct bearing on the success of the vernacular and Anglo-vernacular schools,— the question of re- quirmg the inspectors to possess a competent know- ledge of at least one vernacular language. While engaged in re-organising the inspecting agency, I submitted my views to Government in the foUowinir terms : ** " There are two other points touching the duties of Inspectors to which 1 wish to allude. It ought I think to be a part of those duties to superintend the preparation of school-books adapted to our needs In the domain of school publications— reading books, arithmetic books, maps, grammars, exercise- books, dictionaries-there is a great and almost untouched field before us. In view of this pressing necessity, and none the less that it is felt in the ordinary duties of school inspection and visitation 1 am of opmion that Inspectors ought to have a sound knowledge of at least one of the vernacular languages of Ceylon. * There is perhaps no educational question of EDUCATION 6i greater importance to our tropical empire, alike in India and in the Crown colonies, than the creation of a modem vernacular literature. In India the number of literates in English amounts to only one per cent of the population, and in Africa the per- centage is even smaller. It is evident that to many millions Of the Kings oversea subjects access to knowledge of the modern world is possible only through oral communication or vernacular literature My encouragement of Sinhalese literature was not therefore, limited to the preparation of school-books.' It aimed to enrich the existing vernacular literature by translations of European books, or by the original compositions of men whose minds were imbued with the spirit of European advancement, so that Euro- pean knowledge might gradually be placed through the vernacular within reach of all classes of the people. I am glad io learn from the Ceylon Admmistration Reports that there has never been any interruption or reversal of my policy in this direction. In 1907 one of the earlier Sinhalese books published by the Department had reached an issue of over 200,000, while upwards of 57,000 copies of a Sanitary Primer had been sold. This digression has led me away from the main line of direction in the re-organisation of the Normal School. Experience had shown that the success of the schools, which it was the business of the Norn:al School to supply with teachers depended, especially in a I the country districts, on the social position and local influence of the teacher. This will easily be understood from what has already been said on the subject of the schools of the Central Province. The 62 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE appointment of a teacher in a Colombo Normal School, without the necessary local qualification to complete his educational equipment, was found to be followed by almost certain failure. My own observations and the experience of the Government agents struck me so forcibly that at a very early period of my administration I suggested that it might be advisable to convert an Anglo- vernacular Government School in Kandy into a Normal School for the training of Kandyan teachers. In making this suggestion, I assigned my reasons in terms which I recall with pleasure as an expression of my desire to engage the interest of what I have called the native agency in the education of the community. I said : "It has been found that low-country Sinhalese trained at the Colombo Normal School, however superior their training and capacity, have been utterly useless in the Kandyan districts; they are never comfortable, often suffer from the climate, and with difficulty acquire the personal, or social influence upon which a good attendance in Kandyan schools largely depends. Except in the town of Kandy, missionary enterprise has not been largely successful in the Central Province, where the most effective influence is the pressure of the Government Agent and his Assistants upon the local authorities. To this pressure, judiciously exercised, the province is gradually yielding, and the Government schools, built and supported by the village tribunals and headmen, are beginning to be really national schools. There are signs that before many years the pressure of Government will no longer be necessary, and that EDUCATION 63 the stability of these schools will be guaranteed by a spontaneous national interest in the education of the community, not unaided perhaps by those personal motives, which may appear selfish, but which history shows to have exercised an important influence in the greatest, and even the most beneficent operationf. of humanity," For the time every effort was made to adjust the conditions of entrance to the Colombo Normal School with a view to secure the admission of teachers appropriate to the requirements and en- vironment of the different provinces, and to adapt the range of studies to the requirements of the new Code ; but in 1883 my suggestion was carried out, and three Government training schools were opened experimentally in three provinces, at Kandy, at Bentota, and at Udugampola. This measure was accompanied by the closing of the English depart- ment of the Normal School, for reasons which will be explained. The circumstances and the consequences of the new arrangement, which was adopted in 1886, were in 1898 concisely narrated by the Department, and form an interesting episode in the history of Public Instruction in Ceylon. It was found that provision could not be efficiently made to meet the peculiar conditions of the high- land, or, as they are locally termed, up-country districts of the island, between the inhabitants of which and those of the lowland districts marked ^fferences in customs and character obtain. Kandyans. as this highland population is usually termed, show a marked aversion to residence on the 64 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE sea-board. Similarly, low-country Sinhalese dislike work in Kandyan districts. As a result of this, the number of Kandyan recruits that could be beaten up for the charge of Kandyan schools always fell considerably below requirements, and the schools had in consequence to be officered largely by low- country teachers. Estranged from their country and their relations, these men failed to interest themselves permanently in their new sphere of labour, and failed, therefore, to make themselves acceptable to the people and to maintain well- attended schools. Although separated by no physical barrier and identical in customs and char- acter with the people of the Western Province, young men from the Southern Province, too, could not be induced to join the Normal School at Colombo. To ensure the first element in a ver- nacular teacher's success,— local influence — the Colombo vernacular training school was closed and three other schools, on a smaller scale, located in three separate provinces, were started in 1886. The best of the native teachers turned out of the old English Normal School were selected and placed in charge of these new schools. The period of training was reduced to two years, and the course of instruction made somewhat more elementary than before ; admission to them is open to pupil teachers and students of Government vernacular schools. These are the arrangements now in force for the training of teachers for Government ven^cular schools, with the only difference that the trai ng school :n the Southern Province has been closed, as with the rapid extension of aided schools, especially EDUCATION 65 in the maritime districts, only a small number of trained teachers for Government vernacular schools is required in these districts. In 1903, however, the eariier policy was reverted to, a Government training school with English, Anglo-vernacular, and vernacular classes was estab' lished in Colombo, and has become the centra! force of a system including the grant-in-aid training schools, the origin of which I must now explain I have said that the provisions of the Code which contemplated the eventual employment of trained and certificated teachers only was opposed by some of the Christian agencies. Naturally, they desired to have the future teachers of their schools educated m an environment dominated by their own influence, and I found that a reasonable solution of the diffi- culty, entirely in accordance with my own views, had already been suggested by the Roman Catholic Bishop Bonjean, Vicar-General of the Northern Vicariate, in the following terms: "As to the cause of the inefficiency of the teachers m the employment of the School Commission, I suppose It must be that they have neither been systematically taught themselves, nor have had any preparatory professional training. ... I do not know to what extent Government wouid be able to train teachers on principles acceptable to other denommations. But of this I am quite sure, that they are not fit to train Catholic teachers. They would be sure to train them either on the Protestant or the non-religious principle, and neither can suit us But if m addition to grants for our Catholic schools they were to make also adequate provision to en- 66 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE able us to train our own teachers in our own way, I shall have nothing to say against a Normal School for the benefit of those whom it suited. We should in that case get our teachers trained at home or here, as might seem more convenient to us. In t' e scheme proposed by me each denomination would of course train its own teachers." Accordingly the Code provided for the gradual introduction of certificated teachers into all schools aided by Government through two agencies, a pupil- teacher system and training schools or colleges under the direct control of the managers. At the same time provision was made for what are usually called vested rights, and ten years were allowed for the full development of the plan. The pupil-teacher system was based on the arrangements already carried out in Government schools, and provided for an annually progressive bonus to be paid to managers for the training of teachers. The method of assistance to training schools was an assimilation to local circumstances of the English system by means of Queen's scholarships. It provided for the support of students in training by a payment for each student who completed a two years' course with credit, but the number of Queen's scholarships to be competed for annually was for the time limited to five per cent, on the number of vernacular and Anglo- vernacular schools. The same limitation applied to the number of Queen's scholarships for girls The system of granting aid to training schools by the method of these scholarships wa^ suggested to me by the Rev. Mr. Brt)wn. the head of the Wesleyan Mission in Jaffna, so that EDUCATION 67 I had the satisfaction of carrying out a scheme suggested by a Roman Cathohc prelate by method* suggested by the leader of a great Protestant agency. At the first examination held under the new scheme, six training schools conducted by American. Church of England. Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan Missions, presented candidates, and I was able to report that all these schools seemed perfectly able to meet the requirements of the Department so far as tb^ standard of attainment demanded was concerned, although they had not all reached the same stage of advance. It was nor long before nearly every missionary body at all largely en- gaged in educational work was maintaining its own trammg school. With such modifications and improvements as experience has suggested, I believe that this system of aided training schools and colleges has been of every advantage to the colony • and I gather from an account of the system of education m Ceylon, published in 1898, that with sonie exceptions for cause assigned, my desire that withm ten years all Government and aided vema- cular schools should be in charge of certificated teachers was realised. I have now indicated the main lines of an educa- tional scheme desigi d to lead from the villaTc school to the highest range of study within the resources of the colony, and linked to the univer- sities of the United Kingdom. But I have always held ,t to be a cardinal principle of the requirements of our Crown colonies that primary education must be regarded as the instruction of the masses of the 6« THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE people in such lubjectt as will best fit them for their position in life, and not necessarily as a suge of instruction leading up to the university. It was my desire, therefore, to incorporate a scheme of industrial instruction into the general system of common school education. In an agricultural colony agricultural education naturally suggests itself as of the first importance. About eighty-eight per cent, of the population of Ceylon is rural, and the technical and indus- trial education really required is such as will fit them for an agricultursd life. I was not un- mindful of this, as may be seen by many refer- ences in my Administration Rei)orts, but want of text-books and want of funds, a subject to which I shall revert, prevented me from adding to my educational system a scheme of agricultural educa- tion. However, the work was taken up by my successor Mr. H. VV. Green, v/ho himself prepared a primer on the subject. When Sir Arthur Gordon (now Lord Stanmore) was Governor, Mr. Green established a school for instruction in agriculture, botany, chemistry, veterinary science, and book- keeping. The scheme worked well for many years, but in 1898 it was made the subject of inquiry by Commission as it did not attract a sufficient number nor the proper class of students. It was hoped to re-organise it on lines that would give more scope for developing the practical side of agricultural education, better means of reaching the agricultural population and lik - measures, but I gather that the school has been abandoned, as no mention is made of it in recent repwts. They EDUCATION 69 show, however, that the Goveroment has Mugrht to attain the object of the school by other meai a. Instruction in theoretical a^jriculture is L;iven fn n Mr. Green's primer in all Government scho ols above the fifth standard, and the teachers of th( >e achoolt are desired to make use of die {riocs of ground attached to their schools for purposes of ornamental gardening. The School Gardens Scheme, as n is called, has three distinct objects : to give the boys a taste for gardening, and some knowledge of the proper method of setting to work ; 10 encourage the study of nature as an essential part of school education; and to familiarise the rura' wpulation with useful products not grown so extensively as they should be. Through the agency of the Botanical Gardens, and from other sources, the exotic seeds supplied for the use of these gardens include contributions from India, Australia, and other parts of the Empire, and are of infinite variety. In 1907 nr less than 134 gardens were associated in the sclicme, which seems to be admir- ably adapted to the leqcirtments of the Crown colonies generally. During my tenure of office in Ceylon me qu tio of industrial education gave me no little anxiety. Industrial schools supported by Government in the western, southern, and ce* ;- -.- province.-, did not work satisfactorily. In ( r v ■ to promote manual instruction, my code for aided schools included a scheme of grants, in anticipation <^ a more elaborate system I had in preparation. T^ese grants were payable on the condition (i) that the school shall 70 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE teach a trade approved by the Department ; (2) that the workshops must be sufficiently provided with appliances for elementary instruction in the trade or trades to which the school was devoted ; and (3) that the master of the workshop must be duly qualified to teach his trai!e. As in the case of agricultural education, want of funds before my departure from the colony prevented me from carrying out a comprehensive scheme I contemplated, but my temporary scheme served to assist a number of schools managed by mission agency for instruction in carpentry, bookbinding, shoemaking, tailoring, and smith's work in boys' industrial schools, and in lacemaking, dressmaking, embroidery, and cookery in girls' schools. The scheme I contemplated had a different range, and as after a lapse of thirty years I still think that it meets requirements in Ceylon and in practically all our Crown colonies I have no hesitation in repro- ducing it with the general remarks with which it was submitted for the consideration of Government. " In the great educational movement of our time nothing has appeared so easy and been found so difficult as the education of manual labour. The old apprentice system has been generally rejected, and nothing has been found to take its place. When an apprentice was bound to a master for a term of years, it was understood that for the first years of the term the boy would be boarded, clothed, and taught at the expense of the master, while during the last years of the term he was to spend his time in labour which would remunerate the master. Now in any kind of voluntary industrial boarding school what EDUCATION 71 happens is this : As soon as a boy has picked up enough knowledge and skill in any trade to earn a living, he takes himself off to work on his own account. Consequently, industrial schools are charged with all the expense of a boy as long as he is incapable of producing marketable work, but they get no return when he has acquired sufficient skill to make his labour remunerative. Elementary mechanical schools are only possible with very simple trades, and the articles produced by the boys who are learning the trades are of insignificant value. Suppose, for instance, that watchmaking were to be taught in such a school, the education would be expensive and the produce unmarketable. " This is the great difficulty in which we are placed by what has been aptly described as ' the existing constitutional aversion of the race to being bound to anybody to do anything,' while at the same time there is an ever-growing demand that the elements of manual instruction should be incorporated into the system of common school education. " There exists in Boston, Massachusetts, an indus- trial school association, which has undertaken a course of instruction in the use of the common wood- working hand tools necessary to the trades of the carpenter, the joiner, the shipbuilder, and the cabinetmaker. A series of primary lessons has been drawn up, and they are undergoing a test of actual use in the school. The school-shop is pro- vided with work-btnches, allowing to each boy a space for his work four feet in length and two and a half in width. Each bench is furnished with a vise 72 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE with common wooden jaws and an iron screw, and a drawer with lock and key, in which the tools are kept. " The first eleven of the primary lessons cover the following points in the use of elementary tools : 1. Cross-cut saw — sawing to line. 2. Hammer — striking square blows. 3. Splitting saw— sawing to line. 4. Jack plane— smoothing rough surfaces. 5. Hammer — driving nails vertically. 6. Splitting saw— sawing u exact angles to upper surface. 7. Jack plane— setting the plane-iron. 8. Hammer— driving nails horizontally. 9. Bit and brace— boring in exact positions. 10. Mallet and chisel— mortising. 1 1. Jack plane— producing surfaces which inter- sect at exact angles. " Each lesson includes the aaslysis of every move- ment made in these processes. The first lesson, for instance, analyses the apparently simple process of sawing to line into measuring, placing of trestles and board, lining with try square, holding saw, placing saw, drawing strokes, pushing strokes! finishmg, with all auxiliary laMer. such as watch- ing the saw, pressure, and corrtctton of deviation. "A very notable part of the system I am describing IS an ingenious scheme for determining the progress and success of the pupils. In the analysis of every description of work, certain points are established which determine the several qualities of the student's execution, and these points are posted, that the EDUCATION 73 schdar may know what excellence he is to work up to. For example, in iron work the course in- cludes : (i), vise-work; (2), forging; (3), foundry- work ; (4), machine-tool -work. In vise- work the first piece of work given the class is a rectangular piece of cast iron, which is to be filed into line. Each scholar has for use a ten-inch bastard file, a ten-inch hand second-cut file, an eight-inch hand smooth file, and a four and a half inch try square. The design of the task is to teach the use of the three large coarse flat files only ; and at the same time not only the use of these tools is taught, but the utmost care and accuracy of finish are required : the excellence of the work is in its precision. The inspection of the work is based on this analysis : Point No. I. Filed to line on one side- - - 20 „ 2. Filed to line on other side - - jo ., 3. Filed straight lengthwise - - - 20 .1 4. Filed straight crosswise - - - 20 I, 5. No cross marks - - - 30 100 " This is the first step in a series of work-lessons. When the scholar has had fifteen lessons extending over five weeks he has passed from filing to line to templet-work, sawing and filing to free-hand filing, and has reached the fourth general division, that of fitting. Here he has a piece given him which will occupy him a week— three lessons of four hours each. Finally, the last e.xercise in the course, requiring five hours, is to make a screw from steel wire, and the tools given him are a 74 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE hand-vise and calipers and five files. The analysis IS made up of six points : Point No. I. Threads equal distance apart - a- Threads of equal depth - 3- Point in centre 4- Thread not to lean either way - 5- Sides of thread straight levelled 6. No bunches or grooves - 30 30 10 ao 5 5 100 ** In the selection of pieces of work regard is paid to a regular progression in elaborateness, each pro- cess built upon the previous series, and at the close the scholar has to show twenty-two pieces of work He knows the use and power of twenty-nine different tools of fundamental value, and by these analyses he has been steadily and scientifically trained in the perfection of parts and in the relative value of all the processes of his work. The same principles of a progressive series and an analytical inspecJion may be carried out m every description of work and by this means there is a concentration of educative force just where it is most required in fnd 7" r". ""^'"'"^ ^"^ 'he brain and the hand at one and the same time to patient intelligent, economical, and skilful labour "buch is an outline of the system which I hope to see introduced into Ceylon. I should have be^ glad to include in this report a cut and dried scheme ready to be put into execution at once, but I have not had tune nor have I at present sufficient know- ledge of the details of the system to prepare the necessary estimate of expenditure. In order to EDUCATION 75 cany out my proposals, it will, I am sure, be necessary either to secure for a time at least the services of a person who has a practical knowledge of the working of the system, or to send a person to America to learn it. A very small part of the money which has been spent in unmethodic, un- scientific schemes would have sufficed to cover this expenditure, which I do not think the colony will grudge." • Unfortunately, before my scheme could be carried out, a decision of the Colonial Office to the effect that the expenditure on my Department had reached the limits of finality was fatal to it. I hardly think that the measures for the promotion of technical instruction, on a higher plane, brought into operation by the Government since this plan was suggested, important as they undoubtedly are, satisfy the requirements my proposal was intended to meet. The principal measure adopted by the Government has been the establishment of an institution styled the Technical College, the object and working of which are thus officially described. " Under the appellation of the 'Ceylon Technical College,' an institution has been started at the public expense in the metropolis, and is worked on a syllabus avowedly designed to substitute for the more costly agency imported from England for the Railway, Survey, and the Public Works Department of the Colony, the less expensive skilled labour of the country. Classes in telegraphy and telephony are added to the curriculum to provide for vacancies in the Telegraph and Telephone Branches of the 76 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Postal Department. The Government Technical College may therefore fairly be called a Government Engineering College. And though it may at first be limited to supplying the needs to which it owes its establishment, yet it is hoped that as time goes on it may find a wider sphere of appreciation, and that those who have shown skill and promise in local factories and workshops may be attracted to it for advanced instruction. Obviously, all the students of this college cannot make sure of employ- ment under Government on the successful completion of their course. But for the special kind of instruction they have come under, the large number of mills and factories in the Island cannot fail to find profitable and remunerative scope for its exercise for at least some time to come. Looked at from this point of view, a vista of future usefulness opens up for this newly-created college, which justifies the foresight that decreed the organisation of the institu- tion on its present lines. Admitted that the industries are absent for the development of which technological instruction of a more comprehensive kind would have had to be undertaken, the departure that has been in the meantime decided upon seems for the present at least to be the most practicable means of advancing technical instruction in the country." The Technical College now includes classes in chemistry for students of the Medical College, and for the examination in chemistry and physics of the London University Examination, and in 1907 a new department in commercial education was opened. The institution appears in every way to justify the hopes of future usefulness entertained twelve years EDUCATION 77 ago, and may well serve as a model for imitation in other Crown colonies. I have referred to the want of funds for carrying out some plans I contemplated, and this brings me to the important question of finance. In 1882 a despatch was received from the Secretary of State limiting the educational expenditure of Ceylon to a maximum of 50o,cxx} rupees, an amount which it had nearly reached. In replying to this despatch, I re- corded that the policy of the Department had been for some years based upon the expectation of a moderate annual increase in the expenditure on education, until, in the words of Sir William Gregory's address to the Legislative Council in 1873, "vernacvdar education should be brought within reach of every native community large enough to support a school." I then pointed out that the limitation of expenditure would require a readjustment of the amounts voted for English education, and I proposed a scheme for handing over Government English schools to Municipalities or local government Boards, in towns where such institutions existed, on the con- dition that Government should pay the same grant to these schools as it would to an ordinary aided school, while the Municipality or Board should find the balance of the funds required for their maintenance. I advised that the funds thus set free should " be reserved for the extension of vernacular education in those parts of the island least favoured by the existing distribution." and I especially urged that a portion of the available funds should go towards agricultural and technical training. Unfortunately, owing to the financial exigencies of the colony at 78 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE the time, the proposed mnuure came to be treated simply as one of retrenchment, without the simul- taneous extension of vernacular, including agri- cultural and technical education for which I had proposed the retrenchment on English expenditure. This was after my departure from the colony ; had I remained in my office I should certainly have offered some resistance. The result of my proposals was that, in 1884, by special legislative enactment the Central Govern- ment was relieved of the responsibility of maintaining English schools in Municipalities and towns with local government Boards, on the terms I had proposed. For this purpose an educational rate in Munici- palities was included in the enactment This, however, had to be abandoned, as it did not prove acceptable, and the schools were ultimately handed over to the already existing Mission agencies willing to accept them. The Government, however, did not relinquish its unsectarian policy, and no grant was paid except for secular instruction. The responsibility of the Department for the entire maintenance of schools was thus narrowed to those teaching the vernacular of the masses and to half a dozen Anglo- vernacular or bilingual schools in the more important villages. The pro- vision of English education in towns was left to private enterprise. My narrative would be seriously defective were I to omit specific reference to the place of the native agency which at the outset I described as one of the three dimensions in the educational system EDUCATION 79 of Ceylon. I have described generally the influ- ence of the native headmen in the extension of schools in the rural districts, and I may add a few words as to their influence and authority in enforcing school attendance. Their position in 1898 was thus described by the Department : " In the various rural subdivisions of the several revenue districts of the Colony, rules making attend- ance at school compulsory are in force under the law which regulates the working of village communities: but such compulsion in respect of attendance at schools as these rules enforce affects only the vernacular schools entirely managed and maintained by the Department. No aided school, that is, a voluntary school receiving aid from Government — can claim the application of this rule in its favour. " One result of this feature of such local administra- tion of education as is undertaken by these village communities is, that departmental schools still continue to be the means of ensuring the instruction of the masses in the remoter and more inland districts in particular. "Speaking generally, the machinery by which these village committees enforce their rule of compulsory attendance is simple. The village schoolmaster sub- mits his list of absentees, weekly or monthly as the local rule may require, to the village headman, whose duty it is, under the rule, to secure the appearance of the parent? of the defaulting children at the com- munal court, to be fined or otherwise dealt with there according to the discretion of the President of the Village Tribunal." 8o THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Their status has since been more precisely regu- lated bv the Rural Schools O-linance, 1907, the pnii' ipal provisions of which have been already indicated. In the area of free enterprise aided hy Govern- ment grants, the native agency has not been idle. In 189S the Dt'partmc t recorded that perhaps the most encouraging feature in the extension of educa- tion in the country was the part taken by indigenous private enterprise in the establishment of schools. The Theosophist movement, started about 1882, led to thr formation of a Buddhist society, having for its object the establishment of Buddhist schools for Buddhist children, and in ten years' time sixty- three such schools were registered as grant-in-aid schools. By 1898 no less than 103 schools were working, some under the management of priests, others under the management of wealthy la> n n, all well attended and many admirably housed. In 1907 the number of English, Anglo- vernacular and vernacular schools managed by the Buddhist Society amounted to 178. I may add that a lay inemb^- representing Buddhist interests has a seat on an advisory Board of Education formed in 1896 to advise the Director on questions connected with the working of voluntary schools receiving aid from public funds. On the whole it may justly be said that the native agency is taking an honourable place in the Ceylon educational system of three dimensions. At the close of the year 1882 my tenure of office as Director of Public Instruction came to an end. EDUCATION 8, and with it my direct connection with the educa- tion department of the colonial service. It was a period of strenuous work, recognised by a special mark of the Sovereign's favour, and I hope there was at least some justice in the words of the Governor, Sir James Longden, speaking at a College ceremony, a few days before I left Ceylon : " I remember that three years ago, ... a native gentleman, himself of very great attainments, almost deplored that the education given in Ceylon schools was not wide enough, that so much of the time of the pupils was given to classics and so little to what is called the modern side, or natural science. I think if Sir Coomara Swamy could have listened to the report which was read just now by the Principal, and could have seen the distinctions that have been won by the students of this College in other subjects besides classics, he would have been satisfied. If he could have witnessed the thorough- ness of instruction given in chemistry, natural science, and the other sciences, side by side with classical training, he would have been satisfied. "In the administration of his department.— a department which is second to none in real impor- tance to the Colony— Mr. Bruce has ever shown that his single desire was to bring the best kind of education home to the mass of the people- to all the children of Ceylon. He took equal interest in the humblesi vernacular school and in this College, and throughout all his able and impartial management of the Department entrusted to him, his single aim was to bring the blessings of education to every child in the place, and to those ftuaiocorv iisoujtion tist chart (ANSI ond ISO TEST CHART No. 2) ^ /APPLIED ItVHGE Inc ^P" 1653 Cast Mom Street Rochester. New York 14609 USA (716) «e2 - 0300 - Ptiont (716) 288 - 5989 - Fq« 82 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE who could afford it a higher education to enable them to make their way in the world,— each accord- ing to his own mode of life, and according to his creed, with the advantage which education gives to every man and boy. That work has been carried on by Mr. Bruce for nearly four years now, and I venture to say that the work will not be forgotten, —like all good work that will endure— and, though he goes away himself, the Colony will still benefit by the results of that work." I may add that in 1908 the educational system I established in Ceylon showed its results in 2,430 schools with 260,915 scholars. Of these 648 were Government schools with 80,986 scholars, and 1,782 were aided schools with 179,929 scholars. About seven per cent of the entire population were at school. My transfer from the educational to the execu- tive branch of the colonial service did not diminish my interest in the work of public instruction. In 1883, as Acting Governor of Mauritius, I prepared a Memorandum on the educational system of the colony, based chiefly on my experience in Ceylon. I dealt mainly with the extension of the grant-in-aid system and of vernacular teaching for the children of Indian immigrants. On both points my views were approved by the Secretary of State, and con- tinued, I believe, to influence the local Government until my return to the colony as Governor in 1897. THE WEST INDIES In the meantime, I had ample opportunity in my offices of Lieutenant-Governor of British Guiana EDUCATION 83 and Governor of the Windward Islands to promote the cause of public instruction. When administer- mg the Government of British Guiana, in 1888 I drafted a revised Code which amounted to a complete reorganisation of the educational system It included a scheme for schools in sparsely populated districts analogous to the scheme I had mtroduced in Ceylon ; and a scheme for encour- agmg managers to give instruction in agriculture and in trades. In order that the Code might be carried out m the spirit in which it had been drafted. I advised and was fortunate enough to secure the appointment' as head of the Education Department, of Mr! Wilham Blair, who had been associated with me in Ceylon as inspector, and who had been appointed to act as Director of Public Instruction when I left the colony. In Grenada I re-organised the Education Department in 1895 by an Ordinance to consolidate and amend the law relating to primary education and m the following year drafted and passed a Code of regulations for carrying out its provisions. It was a work that called for much patience and for- bearance, and I shall ever remember with gratitude the support I received in this, as indeed in all other matters affecting the interests of the Wind- ward Islands from Archbishop Flood of Trinidad It was the aim of the Code to adapt to the circum- stances of the little island the principles that had guided me throughout my colonial career. In St Lucia and St. Vincent my educational actmi/ was limited to controlling in the same 84 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE spirit the operation of the laws and regulations affecting education passed under my predecessor, Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson. The St Vincent Ordinance of 1893, drafted by the Attorney-General, Mr. Oliver Smith, afterwards a Puisne judge of the Supreme Court in Mauritius, was a valuable enactment In 1897 I returned to Mauritius as Governor, and was able to close my long official career by carrying to their logical conclusion, a? described in an earlier chapter, the educational principles I had advocated at its commencement CHAPTER XVII RELIGION Sir Charles Lucas, in a chapter on the motives of colonisation in his Historical Geography of the British Colonies, has illustrated the motive power of religion in the three principal phases of coloni- sation,— exploration, conquest, and settlement. To promote Christianity Prince Henry the Navigator sent out the fleets which found the way to Asia. Columbus embarked on the voyage which led to the discovery of the West Indies and America and in our own time Livingstone explored new fields for missionary enterprise in Africa. The records of Christian crusades and Mahommedan mvasions have shown that the operations of con- quest have never been carried out with such terrible severity as when undertaken in the name of religion In the matter of settlement religion has been the most potent of factors in prompting men to leave their homes, not so much to escape persecution, as rather to find an environment in which they could secure the supremacy of their own religious convic- tions. Looking impartially at the net results of the 86 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE influence of religion in the establishment and main- tenance of the British Empire, we find that it has produced two distinct and almost opposite effects ; it has served both as a separating force and as a connecting link. And I am led to this conclu- sion, that when religion has been successful in dominating, and using to its own ends, the supreme secular authority, ;t has proved a separating force ; when it has kept itself aloof from all endeavour to usurp the functions of secular authority, satisfied with complete freedom of exercise in the domain of spiritual influence, it has proved a connecting link of irresistibi ; strength. I believe that the history of Canada illustrates the soundness of this conclusion in America ; I hope it may hereafter be confirmed in Africa; I know that in Asia and in all the territories included in our Crown colonies it has been the faith of the Victorian era. The self- governing colonies lie outside the scope of my work, and I confine myself to a few words on our Indian Empire and to the area of my personal experience in the Crown colonies. As in them, so in India, the Christian churches stand to the community in two relations separated by a broad line of demarcation. To the Christian community they appeal as an accepted and acknowledged influence; the non- Christian community they challenge as a missionary enterprise opposed to national prejudices deeply ingrained into religious convictions. I will speak first of the missionary enterprise of the Christian churches. RELIGION 87 11 I will not dwell on the period during which the mission of Christian Europe was held to be to bring the natives of Africa, Asia, and America within the pale of the visible Church on any terms; not to advance him in civilisation but to tame him to the utmost possible docility. During this period the Church overleaped the tedious difficulties of con- version, and received whole tribes as proselytes in a single day. But in the case of the proselytes, the Church exhibited a jealous dislike to the enlighten- ment of the nation by secular instruction or to the improvement of their physical condition. Obedience or death was the policy of the peric»d, prosecuted with such severity that it came to be asserted that when the Christians were brought into contact with savages, the Christians became savages instead of the savages becoming Christians. I pass on to the time when the policy of conver- sion by force had yielded to the policy of conversion by reason, by enlightenment, by instruction in the arts and sciences of Christian civilisation. In 1836 Lord Macaulay, the great advocate of conversion by study of the language, laws, and literature of England, wrote to his father : " The effect of this education on the Hindus is prodigious. No Hindu who has received an English education ever remains sincerely attached to his religion. Some continue to profess it as a matter of policy, but many profess themselves pure Deists, and some embrace Christianity. It is my firm belief that if our plans of education are followed up. there will not be a 8« THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE single idolater among the respectable classes in oengal thirty years hence." In an official Minute written by Macaulay in the previous year (February 2nd, 1835) and submitted to the Supreme Council, he had enforced his view by ridiculmg the history, geography, astronomy, and science of the sacred books of the Hindus. It IS curious now to note that at the very time when Macaulay was advocating the cause of Christianity by this argument. Darv n was forming an opinion hostile to It He wrr,. n his autobiography: "I had gradually come .his time. U 1835 to 1830 -to see that the Old Testament was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindus." An Indian gentleman. P. Vencata Rao, brought up in a missionary school, long resident in ' iglandl and acquainted by travel and study with .ne continent of Europe, has recently, in The Fortnightly Review, stated the reasons why he is not a Christian, but remains a Hindu. His reasons may be briefly "uTfi^^P- "'^ 'he incredibility of the Old Testament narrative, in respect of which he has come to the same conclusion as Darwin ; his second the incredibility of the New Testament in its narrative ; his third the incredibility of the creed founded on the Old and New Testament in respect of its fundamental dogmas and confessions of faith : his fourth, the incompatability of social customs dedared to be essentials of Christian civilisation with the social customs adapted to the nature and environment of the people of India by the process of ages. If we add to these reasons the net result of the profession and doctrine of Christianity for RELIGIOiN 89 nearly two thousand years in the national and social life of Christendom, we shall have no reason to wonder at the failure of Macaulay's educational system as an engine for the conversion of the people of India. While I willingly accept the declaration of Lord Lawrence, and of other hardly less distinguished admmistrators. that Christianity has done more for India than all other agencies combined, it is impossible to deny that it has been a separating force as well as a connecting link. The principle of Macaulays educational system, carried into the domam of Hindu and Mahommedan law. were a contributory cause of the Mutiny. And now. after years of an educational system carried on in strict observance of the principles of Queen Victoria's Pro- clamation of 1858, while missionary i iterprise still declares its belief that in conversion tc Christianity will be found the ultimate bond of union, recent statistics published by the Government of India show that the population includes only 81 per cent of Christians, with only one per cent of the adult male population literate in English, the standard of •teracy bemg ability to read and write it. Sir Harry Johnston, who may be taken as the representative of a considerable body of opinion, has recently declared his conviction that. "The missionaries of the Pro- testant Churches are at the bottom of the present 'native unrest in India and Africa, just as they were to a certain extent at the bottom of what was called 'negro unrest' in the West Indies during the begin- ning and middle of the nineteenth century, an unrest which it was prophesied (falsely) would lead to the extirpation of the whites in that part of 90 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE tropical America and to the creaUon of numerous imitations of Haiti out of the British West Indies." I will only express a hope that the future will vindicate missionary enterprise in India, as the present has vindicated its past activity in the West Indies. 1 have already dealt pretty fully with the services rendered by the Christian Churches as agents of secular instruction, and it is hardly necessary to point out that the value of their services has been in exact proportion to the influence they have acquired by other methods appropriate to their mission work. Generally speaking, the methods come under the two heads of preaching and practice. In the paper of a missionary of long experience read at a conference in Calcutta in the year 1876, it was stated that, " In the judgment of the great majority of Christians, direct preaching to heathen assemblies is the chief plan by which missions can be carried out," adding that, while this method of spreading the truth is almost exclusively employed by some societies, it receives little or no attention from others, and by some is even disparaged. Allied to preach- ing is the generally adopted method of influence by the publication of vernacular literature. But so far as my experience goes, if we accept the test that men believe a thing when they act as if it were true, permanent influence can only be gained by the methods that come under the head of practice. These methods, again, may be classed as two,— »he practice of a profession or trade, and the habit of life. Men are not easily content with the prospect RELIGION 91 of a happiness which they cannot now understand, and are not sure that they will ever enjoy, even when it is presented to them with the alternative of eternal suffering. The Catholic Church of the Middle Ages comprehended this, and to the motive of future happiness they added, as we have seen, the incen- tive of immediate and substantial good, a cradle for childhood, a career for manhood, an asylum for infirmity and old age, with the alternative of the immediate tortures of the criminal law. It is generally accepted as a truism that super- stition is the greatest foe of religion, and consequently of missionary enterprise. Let me, then, explain the principles by which I conceive that, to overcome the foe, all missionary enterprise should be guided, and the logical, because natural, order in which they should be acted on, following seven stages in the life of man. The first requirement of every child that is born into the world is the care of its physical health ; the next a material home, be it a hut or a palace; the next the means of earning a living. These three stages are stages of individual development; the next three are stages of social development In these the man is concerned with three stages of duty to his neighbour, his duty to his family, his duty to his country, and his duty to the constitutional authorities. There remains the seventh stage, in which man is concerned with the supreme end to which his life has been a means,— the mysteries of the relation of the natural to the supernatural worid ; in brief, his duty to God. In this order I proceed from the lesser to the greater, 9a THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE from the known to the unknown, from conuderationt of the positive present to contkierations of the possible future, from the phenomena of nature to their cause. By procedure in this order I conceive that missionary enterprise will best overcome super- stition by religion. Missionary enterprise conducted on these lines must, of course, provide appropriate educational agencies, which may be grouped as technical, poh'tical, and religious, appropriately co-ordinated,— technical education secular, political education secular but based on religious principles, religious education— all that the term implies. Let us, then, see how my theory h-- worked out in practice in what I conceive to be the most successful missionary enterprise of the Victorian era, that of the London Missionary Society and allied Protestant societies in Madagascar. It was an enterprise with which I was brought into frequent and close association during my many years of residence in Mauritius, during the greater part of which period there was an intimate connection between church work in Mauritius and mission work in Madagascar. The first promoters of mission work in Madagascar were treated as visionary counsellors. In a recent handbook of the London Missionary Society Mr. Sibree reminds us that ir was said to them : "Teach the Malagasy! You may as well try to teach the monkeys in their forests!" The early days of the Mission were disastrous. The first pioneers, Mr David Jones and Mr. Bevan, each with a wife and child, landed in November, 1818, and January. 1819 RELIGION 93 Within a few weeks they were all attacked with malarial fever, and befor the end of January t ley were all dead except Mr. Jones. But the experi- ence had itt use in making medicine the first auxiliary of religion in the enterprise. The next auxiliary was found in education, and the first result of technical training in the schools was the construction of a printing press. It had always been che custom of the Society to attach to its missivns in different parts of the world Christian workmen to teach uncultured people some of the arts of civilisation. Three or four of the first artisans s. nt to Madagascar died of fever, but others lived to instruct the Malagasy in carpentry, masonry, brick-making, building, blacksmith's work, tanning, and leather dressing, as well as in printing and book-binding. These artisans were the precursors and teachers in their turn of a large body of native workmen who were to carry on the arts of civilised life in the country. But this branch of mission work was not confined to the train-'-tg of artisans in skilled labour. Lnder the i irintendenre of missionaries with a com;»etent i.iowledge of engineering and chemistry, limestone, slates, and other minerab were 'r 1896 99 W 1890-97 [Broiulstone of Kmpire] extended from the seaboard to the highest cultivated 13* THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Mr. Chamberlain, in introducing in the Houie of Commons a vote for the supjwrt of the department, stated that the fjrrant-in-aid would have to be con- tinued, if the experiment showed a probable success, until the colonies should be placed in a self- supporting condition. The cost for ten years ending in March. 1908. was provided from Imperial funds. It was then decided that the department should continue to be maintained for a further period of five years with gradually reduced grants from the Imperial Treasury, the several colonies concerned having agreed to contribute from local funds. There can be little doubt that on the termination of the present arrangements the depart- ment will be placed on a permanent footing, and that the expenditure will readily be voted by the colonies. Much of its success has been due to the exceptional qualifications and the character of the first Imperial Commissioner, Sir Daniel Morris. He had held office in the botanical departments of Ceylon and Jamaica, and had been entrusted the organisation on a scientific system of work AGRICULTURE ,33 that had been carried on in the Crown colonies from very early period.. In Mauritius as early as 1766 the French government had recognised the ""PO''^'»"ce of methodical control over a^rriculture. Mr. Poivre, the Intendant, reported to his ^rovern- ment that "coffee, cotton, indigo, sugar, pepper, cinnamon, tea, mulberries, cocoa and annatto had each had their turn, but that the knowledge and attention necessary to establish an experiment had always been wanting." To remedy this want of knowledge and method he established in 1769 botanic gardens attached to the Governor's country residence in the district of Pamplemousses. They soon jrained world-wide fame, and became, as they still are, a -^-v of the colony's fortunes and an ornament c' ./ .ch Mauritians are justly proud. For a time, however, the extraordinary profits of the sugar industry had concentrated capital and energy m the cultivation of the sugar-cane to the neglect of what were called minor industries. Such, indeed, had been the success of the sugar industry that the export of sugar rose from 467 tons in 1812, the year of the British occupation, to 131,000 tons in i860. At that time the small island was producing about a tenth of the exported sugar of the whole world. The threatened extinction of the cane-sugar industry by the rivalry of beet-sugar was nowhere faced with greater energy and intelligence than in Mauritius. Every secret of science was applied to practical uses m the field and in the factory. At the same time renewed encouragement was given to subsidiary industries. As cultivation has gradually been extended from the seaboard to the highest cultivated 134 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE areas, agronomic and botanic stations have been established at ahitudes of 1,000 feet and 1,800 feet for scientific experiment in products appropriate to the conditions of the higher la.iges, such as tea. In this enterprise the colony has been materially assisted by Kew. At Kev has been carried on the work of collecting, identifying, and classifying the species of economic plants best adapted to the climatic and other conditions of all parts of the Empire, and the results of the vast mass of informa- tion thus acquired has been placed at the disposal of the colony. In this way the crowd of introduced products from all quarters of the globe has been such that they have replaced the original flora of Mauritius to an extent probably greater than in any part of the Empire. The Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies had its origin, as we have seen, in the vicissitudes of fortune arising from the concentration of capital and energy on a single agricultural industry. No colony furnishes more striking illustration of this peril to tropical agriculture, and in no colony has the influence of Kew through the local botanic department and gardens been of more imperial advantage than in Ceylon. The cultivation of coffee had been introduced into Ceylon before the English occupation in 1812, but its development was necessarily limited before the opening of road communication between the hill country and the coast. In 1837 the total export amounted to about 30,000 cwts., of an estimated value of 20,000. In 1869, two years after the opening of the railway from Colombo to Kandy, the AGRICULTURE. 1^5 area of coffee cultivation had reached 176,000 acres, and the value of the crop was estimated at /4,ooo,ooo sterling. During the next ten years about 100,000 additional acres were brought into cultivation. In the meantime, however, the disease known as hemileia vastatrix had commenced its ravages, and with such disastrous consequences that, notwithstanding the energy of the planters, aided by the most advanced scientific knowledge of the time, the area of cultivation of coffee under European management diminished from 275,000 acres to less than 5,000 acres in 1900. It has practically ceased to be of importance as an export. However, the planting community was not dis- heartened. With splendid energy it devoted itself to the introduction of new products, principally cinchona, cocoa, tea, and rubber. In 1883 the area cultivated in cinchona had reached nearly 60,000 acres. But this state of things was not destined to last long. The extensive scale on which this cultivation was undertaken in South America, the West Indies, India, and Java, reduced the price of quinine from twelve shillings to one shilling an ounce within a period of fourteen years, and the export of bark from Ceylon showed the following remarkable vicissitudes : »872, .... , i^j^y lbs 1887, - . - . 15,892,078 „ 1892, .... 500,000 „ The present area of cultivation is under 750 acres, and the product has ceased to be of much importance. Of the rise and progress of the tea and rubber 136 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE industries I give an account in other chapters of my work, but it may be appropriate here to insist on the dangers that attend the cuhivation of economic plants in the tropics without some controlling agency possessed of adequate scientific knowledge and experience, to recognise what products and what species of such products may with the greatest economic advantage be cultivated or acclimatised in this region or that, and possessed of adequate information as to the world's supply and demand. The necessity of an accurate identification of the species of plants to be selected was shown in Java, where the Dutch cinchona enterprise was hampered for many years by the cultivation of a species subsequently discovered to be useless. A kn -wledge of the world's demand and supply la, of course, especially necessary in the case of tropical products for which there is only a limited market. The risk attending the cultivation of such products came within my own experience in Seychelles, where the fortunes of the colony were largely dependent on vanilla. From 1898 to igcxj prices were very high (Rs. 30 to Rs. 33 per kilo) owing to an expansion in demand. In 1903 the price fell to Rs. 8.50, owing to a reaction when manufacturers found the price too high and had recourse to a substitute known as vanillin. Planters had to turn their attention to other economic plants. I may add another illustration from my own experience in Mauritius. In February last a cor- respondent of The Times called attention to "the tangled masses of the aloe {/ourcroya gigantea) that climb up every hillside and adorn all the waste AGRICULTURE 137 places " of the island. He expressed his confidence that the future of the colony lies in the cultivation of this plant. The courtesy of the editor allowed me to record the historic fact that the aloes "growing rampant" are the debris of one of the most unfortunate enterprises that have imperilled the financial prosperity of the colony. About thirty years ago, coincidently with the introduction of changes in the law of limited liability, a great number of unproductive sugar estates were converted into companies for the cultivation of the aloe. The enterprise promised well; it was conducted with scientific knowledge and intelligence, and samples of cable were manufactured that obtained high awards at an international exhibition in Europe; it was indeed so successful i..at it not only attracted surplus capital but promoted a general rage for speculation in shares that resembled the discovery of a new goldfield. Professional men, ladies of modest fortunes saved from the wreck of the sugar industry. Civil Service clerks, pensioners, and adventurers were touched by the prevailing epidemic. It lasted some five years, the period assigned for the cultiva- tion and growth of the aloes, at the end of which they were to yield a harvest of profit beyond the dreams of ambition. Then it collapsed. The nature of the aloe, which produces only a handful of fibre from a vast mass of huge and wide-spreading leaves, requires a large area of ground and a small supply of labour. What Mauritius requires, with its limited territory and crowded population, is the intensive cultivation of small areas. The available area was found totally inadequate for a steady and constant 138 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE supply of fibre and cable equal to the exhibited san'ples which had secured admiration in Europe and done much to encourage the industry. The logical consequence of the failure of the enterprise was a financial crisis which intensified, in every class of the community, the suffering caused by the decline of the sugar industry. It is not too much to say that the economic development of the tropics, to the mutual advantage of the centre of the Empire and its constituent parts, depends mainly on an intimate association of Kew and its agencies with the Imperial Institute and its agencies. The joint aim of all these agencies is to associate scientific knowledge of economic and regional geography with commercial knowledge of the world's supply and demand. The story of the Imperial Institute will be told in another chapter. Reverting to Ceylon, it was reserved for Sir Henry Blake to complete the organisation of an appropriate agricultural agency by the formation of the Ceylon Agricultural Society in 1904. In a paper read before the Royal Colonial Institute in January, 1908, Sir Henry Blake gave an interesting account of the principles on which the Society was founded and of its operations. "Its object was to bring all classes down to the smallest cultivators into closer touch with the Govern- ment, with each other, and with the scientific staff of the Botanic Department, for, if any improvement was to be hoped for, science must go hand in hand with labour. The central society was formed of all the members of the Legislature, some of the principal inhabitants, European and native, of each province, AGRICULTURE i,^ and all the members of the staff of the Botanic Department. Local societies were formed by volun- tary action in every part of the island, and were affiliated to the Central Board of Agriculture. They receive all the publications of the Society, and every information that can be of use to cultivators is sent out in thousands of leaflets in Sinhalese and Tamil to the local societies. Every member pays a sub- scription, and the feeling of self-respect is preserved Instructors are appointed by the Central Board, who, on invitation, are prepared to attend any meeting of local societies, and give practical instruc- tion upon any matter under consideration ; and the staff of the Botanic Department, who from the first have placed their services unreservedly at the disposal of the Society, answer readily any questions submitted to them, and of themselves issue valuable advice that strikes the director, the chemist, the mycologist, or the entomologist as being of service on the general question, or in the event of the occurrence of a pest or disease. The result has been quite equal to my expectations. I will not say beyond them, for my experience has shown me that, if the people believe that there is a bond-fide anxiety to assist them, they will respond. In May, 1907 the latest date for which I have statistics, there were i,20o members of the Central Society, and fifty-two local branches had been established with an agare- gate membership of 4,000. Numbers of native gentlemen came forward, some giving considerable sums, others sufficient areas of land for experimental stations, and experiments were in progress that cover the entire ground of rotation in paddy fields; and on I40 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE high ground, the intrryluction of new products such as date palm^. siral hi^mp, salt bush for fodder, Australian and American maize, etc., and the im- provement of paddy by the introduction of the best new varieties, of cotton, of tobacco, of arrowroot, of cassava, and other numerous products hitherto neglected. Experiments are also being made in widely separated districts of the effects of artificial manures generously supplied free by Messrs. Freu- denberg & Co., of Colombo. Sericulture and apiculture are also receiving attention, and results in all these matters are brought before the people by agricultural shows organised by the local societies, with the co-operation of the Central Board, the judges being supplied generally from the staff of the Botanic Department, and pains being taken that prizes are only given to the actual growers of the exhibits. In these shows the people take a deep interest, and the competition is very keen. Co- operation has made considerable strides, and I look forward to a great extension of the principle." It is unnecessary for me to give an account of the development of agriculture in the West Indies, through the agency of botanical departments and gardens, prior to the establishment of the Imperial Department of Agriculture. With the Windward Islands I have dealt in another chapter. I will add, however, one word in recognition of the value of the work done by the botanic gardens of British Guiana. They are of more recent origin than the gardens of Mauritius and Ceylon, but Sir Daniel Morris has borne testimony that they are among the most attractive and beautiful of any in the tropics. AGRICULTURE 141 Valuable experiments directed to improve the sugar industry were carried out on land attached to the gardens for many years by Mr, Jenir.an, the Superintendent, and Professor Harrison, the Govern- ment Analytical Chemist. To Professor Harrison, jointly with Mr. J. R. Bovell of Barbados and Dr. Soltivedel in Java, is due the credit of the discovery that sugar-canes bear seed, — a discovery which has proved of the greatest practical importance to the cane-sugar industry by opening a new field for the improvement of the sugar-cane by the selection of seminal varieties. His work in association with Mr. Jenman resulted in valuable reports which had the effect of increasing and improving the yield of sugar and at the same time of reducing the cost of production. Coincidently, the gardens have rendered valuable assistance in the development of subsidiary industries, while Professor Harrison's reports on the resources of the colony have furnished a scientific basis for the expansion of enterprise in the interior. A far-reaching effect of the activity stimulated by the establishment of the Imperial Department of Agriculture in the West Indies has been the estab- lishment of similar systems after the same model in Africa and the Far East. In the struggle for the control of the tropics our colonies are thus equipped to compete on equal terms, so far as the science of sericulture is concerned, with all rivals CHAPTER XIX FORESTRY In the development of the natural resources of our Crown colonies no department of industry is showing greater activity than the department of forestry, and no department has had more formid- able difficulties to overcome. Forestry has for its primary object the cultivation of forest produce for economic uses, and for its main subsidiary object the maintenance of forests for protective purposes. Dr. (now Sir William) Schlich, late Inspector General of Forests to the Government of India, in his Manual of Forestry, conveniently distinguishes all forest produce as timber or minor forest produce. Wood as timber is used in construction, shipbuilding, machinery, industrial and agricultural tools, furniture, and as fuel for domestic or industrial purposes. The forest produce of the Crown colonies in timber has a \ ery wide range, from hard woods, such as teak and greenheart, to woods used in the manufacture of matches and match-boxes. Alinor forest produce includes an even wider range of substances not only of direct use, but as raw material for extensive industries. In order to illustrate this latter point, Sir FORESTRY «43 William Schlich gave in 1906 a statement of the average annual .mport of minor forest produce into the United Kingdom, showing an estimated value of nearly ^12,000.000 a year. It includes rubber, gutta-percha, dye-stuffs, gums, oils, and fibres. I need hardly insist on the rapidly increasing importance of these substances arising out of the enormous development in the uses of rubber. All of them can be produced in practically unlimited supplies in our Crown colonies, and can find a practically unlimited market in the British Empire. Apart from the economic uses of forest produce, Sir William defines the protective purposes for which the maintenance of forests may be required as : "(i) Preservation of the soil, especially on hill- sides and where shifting sands occur, so as to prevent erosion, denudation, landslips, the formation of ravines, the silting up of fertile lands at the foot of hills and of river beds, or the extension of shifting sands near the sea-shore as well as inland ; "(2) Preservation and regulation of the water supply in springs and rivers, so as to secure an even flow and prevent floods, or, where the water is required for irrigation, power, or other purposes, to reduce evaporation in the catchment areas ; " (3) Protection against injurious air currents, such as gales, cold or hot winds ; " (4) For the benefit of the public health ; " (5) For the prevention of avalanches ; "(6) For the defence of the country." Among the problems of Crown colony adminis- tration there are few of greater importance than those which fall within the area of forestry. In their 144 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE solution it seems difficult to exaggerate the value of the work done by the Royal Botanic Gardens, which for convenience may be designated by the title Kew. Before giving some account of my own experience of these problems, I propose to illustrate the general scope of the operations of Kew by a record of its influence in the East, and particularly in Ceylon. During my service in Ceylon I had no direct official interest in the work, except in so far as the bearing of forestry on climate and health affected the work of my department as it affected the work of every public department. But the period was associated with vicissitudes of fortune in the industrial enter- prises of the colony that gave the question of forest conservancy exceptional importance. The whole atmosphere of official and social life in Ceylon was saturated with interest in the perils of the planting community which threatened the revenue of public departments and the livelihood of families at their source. Sir William Schlich has ai; instructive note on forestry in Ceylon ; he says : The timber trade seems to have become a regular business about the year 1840. Since then, various attempts at forest conservancy and systematic management of the forests have been made, but somehow matters did not run smoothly. The Government of India has lent one forest officer after another to act as Conservator of Forests in Ceylon, but they have all given it up. The fact seems to be that the Ceylon Govern- ment has, in reality, never been quite in earnest to carry through an efficient scheme of forest conser- vancy. ... It is much to be regretted that better FORESTRY ,45 progress has not been made in the formation of permanent State forests." This was pubh'shed in 1906. A brief narrative of the facts may be of permanent interest. The necessity for the conservation of the forests of Ceylon was first broL,/ht to the notice of the Colonial Office in 1873 by Dr. (afterwards Sir Joseph) Hooker, who, on a report of Dr. Thwaites, then Director of the Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, addressed the Secretary of State on the subject of the destruction of forests, and the evil effects re- sultin^r upon climate and upon the natural resources of the colony in future generations. Sir Joseph Hooker's communication was forwarded to the Governor of Ceylon. Sir William Gregory, and elicited a despatch dated July 31, 1873, of im- mediate interest, inasmuch as it clearly defined the causes that had brought about the destruction of forests in the island, and of permanent interest, inasmuch as similar causes have produced similar results throughout our tropical Crown colonies. These causes were; first and chiefly, cliena cultivation ; second, ab.sence of system in cutting down timber and re-planting; third, the sale of valuable forests at inadequate prices ; fourth, want of proper reserves being maintained in the coffee districts. Chena cultivation was well defined as a rotation of soil instead of a rotation of crops. A squatter clears a block of forest for grain cultivation ; the soil IS rapidly exhausted, and the squatter then moves on to another patch to be treated in the same way. The system had its origm in a want of 146 THE BROAD STONE Of EMPIRE sufficient water supply, the result of the abandon- ment of the ancient irrigation works f Ceyl. i. But it had disastrous effccis 'n replai : forest by areas of jungle, whivJi become ' reedi _ stations for malaria; in encouraging indolent at I nomadic habits ; and in discoura^in};^ the permanent improve- ment of the soil. With an ori, iniseU systPir of cuttin«r ami e-phu f- i -r, c/ietia cultivation u ! have btcii ( v)ntrolled, V ile the absence uf sucii a systcn. was urther responsible for licences being too freel)- ^ ■■ n u> timber traders, lack of supervi lon in cun'nning licensees to specific areas, destructive letb- of felling, by which saplin-^s were destrov eu the gradual exhaustion of timber in a^ce i! " i 'ts of the colon) and the wastage of v luabi- nn ^er land. Practically inseparable from thit. abs system was the sale of foiest < A at , dcqi itt value. I he Crown forests had been sc ' not to cultivators, but to timber dealers, who s; ♦:matit all plundered them, and, often w h the .nniva of the native headmen wh'-«se dufv it was to vise them, gained a rich h \ est hereby appr ting a revenue V sh H ha • pass d c colonial exchequ. iid b the ommr aty at large. The rea vi the ro i ti the w.iole forestry trouble wa veil s led u is policy of endeavouring to )btain fo, ■ it th" maxi- mum amount of revenue Wiii d. mir un of expenditure, lea in the future ia\ • care '»self. The year 1 873 wa marked by a very rapid expan- sion of the coffee int istry and a consequent activity FORESTRY 147 .n the work of forest destruction, which made ie inevitable end of such a system clear unless effectual measures should be uken to arrest it It was argued, however, that coffee planting could not be pursued with advantage at an elevation of over 5^ feet ; and that, us vast tracts of forests existed above this level, no apprehension need be felt as to climate being affected by clearings for coffee pi; ng. It was thought sufficient, therefore, to »ssue mstructions that in the central province, iJje prmapal area of t'- coffee industry, reserves of rown land must be naintained. the crests of th ills p'^rved. and wooded ravines excluded in futur illotments of Crown lands for sale. bir Wil. m Gregory's despatch contained a margmal reference to 'he recent cultivation of tea in some hitherto uncleared parts of the colony, and Sir Joseph Hooker was not slow to point out that the introduction of the tea plant would probably be carried out in the up: regions of Ceylon to an immense extent. This M inevitably lead to the destruction of the forest. 'ovations where it was admittedly of paramount iit.^ ance that they should be preserved. It was a wise warning, but unheeded. Within six years, on March 29th, 1879, Governor Sir James Longden. referring to Sir William Gregory s despatch, reported that in the interv I Sir Joseph Hooker's prediction had been verified ; that tea and cinchoiic. plants had been introduced largely, and vast tracts of forest had been felled, no limit being found to the elevation at which they would flourish. In consequence, the forests above 5,000 feet were no longer untouched, large ranges having been 148 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE entirely cleared. The results had already proved disastrous, the rainfall was no longer retained but flowed off rapidly, washing away the soil, increasing the number and volume of floods, and thus causing widespread destruction in the maritime provinces through which the overflowing rivers debouched into the sea. In order to arrest these disasters, Sir James Longden proposed that no Crown forest land above 5,000 feet should be sold except for special purposes. Anticipating strong opposition to th;= measure, he declared that the public interest must be considered as of greater importance than the possible gain of private individuals, adding : " I say possible gain, for experience has already shown that most of the mountain land is too stony and too exposed for cultivation, and in such cases the destruction of the forests has been absolutely with- out compensation of any kind." In an exhaustive memorandum on Sir James Longden's despatch, Sir Joseph Hooker pointed out that the evils following wholesale denudation of forest-covered country are peculiarly matters for the consideration of Government, inasmuch as the persons who cause the mischief do not directly suffer from its effects, and are not, therefore, deterred by motives of self-interest. He proceeded : " It appears to Sir Joseph Hooker that although judi- cious rules have been issued by the Colonial Secretary for the guidance of Forest Conservators, it is a question worthy the consideration of the Ceylon Government whether the forest affairs of so important a Dependency as Ceylon should not be placed under the direction of an e.\perienced FOKnSTRY 149 officer who would watch over the management of existing State forests and advise the Government in all matters of general policy affecting a subject with which the future prosperity of the Colony is so intimately connected. It would be the duty of such an officer to put his veto upon the clearing of mountain slopes and crests upon definite technical grounds which could be urged more effectually than by officers of the Surveyor-General's Department. And furthermore, inasmuch as experience has shown in India and other countries that the mere reserva- tion of natural forests is not sufficient without systematically regulating cutting of timber and taking proper measures for keeping up a succession of trees of useful quality, it would be the business of a chief conservator to see that these matters were attended to in the way which is now known to be the most effective, " Sir Joseph Hooker is, of course, not aware how far these suggestions have been already anticipated by the Ceylon Government, but he judges from the papers that have been submitted to him that anything of the kind has only been attempted in a somewhat tentative way. He thinks it would be very desirable that the Ceylon Government should have recourse to the well organised and highly instructed Forest Department of India, and he would even suggest the advisability of borrowing from that Department,— as has recently been done at his instance in the case of Cyprus — an officer trained in European Schools of Forestry who would draw up from a technical point of view a report upon the whole Forest question in Ceylon 150 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE which appears now to have reached a state of things when some such document is really indispensable as a gu: '3 to and foundation for future policy." These observations were referred to the Governor of Ceylon and elicited an important declaration on the real state of affairs. Sir James Longden did not ■ >3rvalue the services of an experienced officer as Conservator of Forests, but "unhappily the tir.ivi when such services would have been effectual had long since goi^e by." Almost all forest land on slopes and crests of mountains below 5,000 feet and much above that elevation had long since been granted or sold by Government. So unreserved had been the sale of land that in many districts sites for police stations could only be obtained by re-purchase : "It might without any exaggeration be said that there were no forests left in the mountains of the Central Province of such value as would require or justify the creation of an expensive Forest Department." Sir James Long* den therefore advised that the provincial organisation of foresters which already existed in Cey'on was more suitable and more economical than the crea- tion of a Forest Department, which in the depressed condition of the colonial finances he was unable to recommend. Sir Joseph Hooker, on being in- formed that the Secretary of State concurred in the views of the Governor, found little roon for further observations, but having been consulted officially, he thought it "due to his own sense of responsi- bility to place on record what in his opinion are the elements of a sound forest policy." He i of opinion that the administration of forests sh' > FORESTRY 151 be under the control of a single supreme Govern- ment officer in immediate relation with the Governor. It would be the business of such an officer to obtain as large an immediate revenue from the forests under his department as possible. But it would also be his duty to see that the future returns were not in any way sacrificed to the temptation to exhibit an immediate income. The essential point which he would keep in view would be the present and future development of the forests without impoverishment or waste. A system of forests scientifically managed should, while yielding a con- tinuous revenue, be in a state of continuous renewal. Sir Joseph Hooker could not agree that the small extent of forest land remaining in the hands of the Crown was an argument against the establishment of a Forest Department. He regarded it rather as a reason for retaining existing forests and for the development of plantations of valuable timber to provide revenue when that furnished by sale of Crown lands approached exhaustion. In forwarding this almost desperate appeal of Sir Joseph Hooker to the Governor of Ceylon, the Secretary of State, the Earl of Kimberley, in a despatch of December 23rd, 1880, stated that after considering it he was "disposed to think that the appointment of a special officer could not safely be avoided." While reluctant in the depressed state of Ceylon revenue to add to the cost of its already expensive establishments, he did not " feel justified in disregarding the strong representations which had been \ lade by so high an authority as Sir Joseph Hooker." Lord Kimberley, therefore, advised the i I 1 1 If. 152 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Governor to communicate with the Government of India with a view to procuring the services of an officer, to be engaged temporarily, in the first instance, until his advice and assistance should enable a decision to be arrived at as to the per- manent requirements of the colony. After further discussion and delay, Mr. F. d'A. Vincent of the Indian Forest Service was, in 1882, deputed by the Government of India to report on the conservation and administration of Ceylon forests, and his valuable report was published in the same year. The result was a Forest Ordinance enacted in 1885. The object of this Ordinance, and of the rules to be made under it, was : To select suitable areas of forest lands and to constitute them reserved forests ; to buy off or to commute by the grant of lands any rights which the population in the vicinity might have acquired ; to mark off on the ground in an unmistakable manner the boundaries ; to place these areas under efifective protection, and generally to introduce system where there had been no system. But the question of the creation of a Forest Department was not to be settled by Mr. Vincent's mission and report, or by the enactment of the result- ing Ordinance. On February 3rd, 1887, Governor Sir Arthur Gordon (now Lord Stanmore) addressed a despatch to the Secretary of State once more discussing the question of the appointment of a forest officer to organise and place on a proper foot- ing the Forest Department of the colony. Once more he proposed to make a definite proposal to the Government of India for the selection of a i FORESTRY 153 first-class officer from the Indian service. His ob- servations on this proposal are of interest. The Executive Council had unanimously adopted it, but Sir Arthur Gordon pointed out that while comply- ing with their views, he was personally of opinion that efficiency as well as economy would have been consulted by the selection of a competent German officer. I believe." he said. " that a perfects- fresh and unprejudiced eye would have a better chance of realising the true wants of Ceylon in the matter of forestry, than an officer who has practised the art under conditions by no means in truth the same as those existing in this country, but havincr sufficient superficial resemblance to them to excusS their being considered as identical. I crreatly fear that a forester from India may have more to unlearn than one from Germany would have to learn, and that he may be far more unwilling to make any alteration in his already preconceived opinions " A few months later Mr. A. Thompson of the Indian Forest Department, who had acted in a similar capacity in Mauritius in 1880, was deputed by the Government of India to advise the Govern- ment of Ceylon. Unfortunately he speedily lost his health and resigned his appointment. On his departure, the Surveyor-General of the colonv was appointed Acting Conservator of Forests in 'addi- tion to his own duties. The realisation of Sir Joseph Hookers policy, the creation of a Forest Uepartment under supreme authoritv with a trained btaff, seemed to be now further off than ever. The Surveyor-General proposed a system of dual control which he described in the following terms : 154 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE " I submitted to Government that a middle course was advisable, and that the Forester of a Province should carry out the various forest works of de- marcation, conservation, cultural treatment, etc. (as agreed upon mutually by the Government Agent and the Conservator of Forests, and approved by Government), under the authority and protec- tion of the Government Agent, while in adminis- trative matters connected with discipline, pay, promotion, transfer, etc., he should be directly under the Conservator of Forests. By this dual sub- ordination, provided the Government Agent and Conservator of Forests worked harmoniously to- gether and co-operated toward the common end both have in view, I conceived that the interest of both forest conservation and of the people might be met in that the just demand and requirements of forest conservancy will be attended to under the full authority of the head of the Province, while full control over the Departmental finance, and over the organisation and technical part of the work, is reserved to the Conservator of Forests. "Government was pleased to approve of this recommendation. " It would carry me too far to follow in detail the process of evolution which transformed this hybrid establishment into an independent forest administra- tion. In January, 1889, Mr. A. F. Broun, whose services were placed at the disposal of the Govern- ment of Ceylon by the Government of India for a period of three years, was appointed Deputy- Conservator of Forests, and two years later was appointed to the permanent post of Conservator of FORESTRY 155 Forests in Ceylon. In his administration re]X)rt for 1892 he made some interesting observations on the working of the dual system : *' All these encroachments have been countenanced by the Government Agent, who is ex officio the Chief Forest Officer for the Provinc??! A very bad example is set to private pej when the very officers whose duty it is to see .i; ' iw duly carried out expose it to such ridicule. It is impossible for officers of the Department to take a real interest in their work when those who should really help and advise them do their best to make a farce of the laws which should enable them to protect their forests. "The dealings between Assistant Conservators and Government Agents have been satisfactory in seven out of the nine Provinces. Of the other two the less said the better. • " I may, however, be allowed to doubt that a system which necessitates constant appeals to Government from one side or the other can be beneficial." But the organisation of a new department was not to be completed at once. For seven more years it was to be a question of much discussion, and eventually of reference to a Committee of re- organisation. Finally, in 1899, the Conservator's Administration Report contained a satisfactory note. ''Reorganisation of the Department. During the year under report, the Department has made a new start and a vigorous one. The proposals of the 156 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Forest Reorganisation Committee having been approved by Government, no time was lost in carrying them into effect." STRAITS SETTLEMENTS The political and economic development of the Straits Settlements and the F"ederated Malay States has been so largely a work of expansion carried on by officials and pioneers of experience in Ceylon, that it is not surprising to find a close analogy in the evolution of their Forest Departments. Sir William Schlich has apparently overlooked this, for in his Manual he says : " The Straits Settlements and the Federated States have set an excellent ex- ample, by taking forest conservancy in hand before difificulties had arisen, a wise procedure which has, unfortunately, been neglected in many of the large Colonies." A brief record of facts is iraimctive. In 1882 Mr. N. Cantley, Superintendent of the Botanic Garden, Singapore, was instructed by the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir F. A. Weld, to draw up a report on the Forests and Forest Lands of the Colony. His repori, published in July, 1883, stated that "it is apparent that no sufficient attempts have been made to conserve the Government forest lands. . . . Our timber supply has ^vllen short of the demand, and the climate of the Colony is becoming sensibly affected. The hill streams run with greater irregularity, and many of the smaller streams have become entirely dried up. , . . It is hard to conc.ive a more short-sighted policy than that which has suffered these Settle- FORESTRY 157 ments to drift into their (uvsent condition of scarcity of forest and forest produce." The report reviews the whole question of forest management, and makes recommendations for the conservation of existing forests, the extension of forest areas, and the improvement of the character of the forests by planting the most suitable and valuable timber trees. To effect this, Mr. Candey recommended "the establishment of a Forest Department to take charge of all Crown Forests, whether pro- claimed as reserves or otherwise." Mr. Cantley's recommendations were strongly supported by local opinion. Tke Straits Intelli- gence declared : " The matter is one of vital importance, and we trust the Government will take steps to stay and remedy the present evils in accord- ance with the suggestions of such an experienced professor of forestry as the gentleman who has penned this interesting and valuable report." The Straits Times wrote : " There is perhaps no graver question which can engage the attention of the thinking portion of the community than the proper utilisation of the waste lands of the Setdements and the prevention of their extension by injudicious clearing and cultivation." On April 2nd, 1884, Sir Cecil Smith, then administering the Government, reported on the steps being taken for the conservation of existing forests and the re-afforestation of other parts of the colony. He urged at the same time the import- ance of obtaining the services of qualified mc as forest overseers suitable to the special conditions of Singapore, Malacca, and Penang. A long 158 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE correspondence shows with what care Sir Joseph Hooker and Sir Wilh'am Thiselton-Dyer advised the Colonial Office in the selection of officers. In 1885, the first annual report of the Forest Depart- ment of the Straits Settlements was published. It showed that the views of the Government of the Straits Settlements were in entire accordance with the views brought by Kew under the con- sideration of the Colonial Office in respect to other colonies. It gave an account of the progress made in organising the department, in demarcation of forest reserves, and in planting. In his report for 1886 Mr Cantley reviewed the progress of the department : •'All the recommendations contained in my pre- liminary Forest Report in the beginning of 1883 have now been carried out to a greater or less extent. During the year the Botanic Garden, Singapore, was placed in the charge of the Forest Department. These additions . . . place the De- partment on a botanical footing and afford a wider field for investigation and usefulness." The report contained a list of the principal economic plants in the experimental nurseries. It enumerated up- wards of 400 species and varieties. Accompanying this was a series of notes on the more important economic plants under the several heads of fibres, oils, fruits, beverages, spices, roots and culinary vegetables, dyes, rubbers and gums, drugs and miscellaneous. In April, 1888, Sir Cecil Smith, who had been appointed Governor, after a brief period of service as Colonial Secretary of Ceylon, reported the death FORESTRY 159 of Mr. Cantley. and asked that in view of the rapid development of the colony, Kew might be consulted in the selection of a successor with the highest qualifications. On Sir Joseph Hooker's recommenda- tion, Mr. H. N. Ridley of the British Museum was appointed, with the title of Director of Botanic Gardens and Forests. In his report for 1892. Mr. Ridley observed: "The work of planting wast^: land with valuable trees goes on as fast as possible, but it is not easy to get seeds of the more valuable trees in sufficient quantity for covering very large tracts. Para rubber seeds were obtained from Kew and from the trees in the Experimental Garden and a large number of plants raised. Eight acres of this valuable India- rubber tree have been planted this year ... and the trees are thriving,' remarkably well." The report of the following year was less satis- factory : " The great reduction of the Forest vote for this year has precluded any great progress being made in forestry and the consequent reduction of the number of men employed has been followed by an increase of thefts of Government timber and in fires. Two small reserves have been practically abandoned. "Owing to the working out of the mangrove swamp districts in the neighbourhood of Singapore, the applications for fi-ewood licences have very much increased, and the demand can hardly be supplied." In November, 1893. Mr. W. E. Maxwell, the officer administering the Government, said in the course of an address : i6o THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE " I have in the present Budget further reduced the vote for the Forest Department, whkh under- went considerable modification last year. .\ow that resident District Officers are in charge of most of the Districts in which the reserve forests are situiued, and that the work of land registration and revenue settlement is well m hand, there would seem to be less necessity than formerly existed for a separate Fore-.t establishment, and the time should be iit hand when it will be possible to dispense with special expenditure on this Department, most of the duties of which t.in probably be handed over to the Land Office and District Officers. " The consequences )f this abrupt ch.>ii' stream is being or is nearly laid bare, and where ih .... >- orations have not dried them up. pollution \ jiiowed denudation The system of land leasing has had everything to do w'th this denu.lation.' ■ > he Straits Government appears j have ad- iniur u the justice of this point of view, for on May 13th. 1884, Lord Derby on its behalf requested Sir Joseph Hooker to select an Assistant Superinten- dent of tiie Forest Department for Pendng. This was followed on January 27th. 1886, by a further i62 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE request from Col. Stanley for a similar officer for Malacca. Mr. Derry, who had already had experi- ence of the Colonial service in British Guiana, was selected by Kew for the post. " In 1888 a fu-ther step was taken. The Super- intendent of the Botanic Garden at Singapore died and Sir Frederick Dickson, the Colonial Secretary, who was in this country, was authorised to communi- cate with Kew with a view of securing the services of a man of high scientific qualifications who would take charge of the entire botanical interests of the Colony. Our choice fell on Mr. Ridley, who was in the service of the English Government at the Natural History Branch of the British Museum at South Kensington. . . . " It will be observed that all the officers of the Department have been appointed through this establishment. Kew has at any rate the satis- faction of knowing thai each of them has faithfully and efficiently performed the duties expected of them. " The useful development of such a Department is not, however, the work of a few years. Its ultimate value to such a Colony as the Straits Settlements it cannot be doubted will be incalculable. It was 1 confess with dismay that I heard of its probable destruction. The first intimation of this purpose reached me in the following (;xtratt from an addr'iss by Mr. Maxwell, the officer administering the Government, taken from the Singapore /"Vee Press of November 7th, 1893 • • ■ • • • ' Passage quoted above, p. 16a FORESTRY ^ Now I do not for a moment contend that Kew is in any way responsible for the acts of the Straits Government. But I may be permitted to point out two grounds on which it seemed proper to take some notice of such an announcement of change of pohcy. In he first place the services which in technical matters Kew renders to the Secretary of State in selectmg candidates for Colonial posts are of p somewhat delicate nature, and it would be impos- sible to execute them unle.s there were a fair and reasonable implied guarantee of stability in the posts which it was asked to fill. Secondly, the permanent mterests of the Colony are matters peculiarly the province of the Home Government, and in such cases Kew has always been encouraged to furnish the Secretary of State with such technU:al advice as might appear deserving of consideration. 1 therefore sought an interview with Sir Robert Meade on the whole subject, and at his suggestion obtained an interview with Sir Charles Mitchell who was on the point of proceeding to Singapore.' Although the Governor requested me to comiJmni- cate my views in writing to the Colonial Office his reception of them was so favourable that I con- h^hands ^^""^ .J?\7^r\ therefore with extreme surprise tha Mr. Derry, the Assistant Superintendent at Malacca, called upon me with a telegram communi- cated to hin, by the Crown Agents for the Colonies. August 27th, 1894, in the following words: 'Stop return of Derry if possible ; propose to abolish appointment at the end of the year." Whether as i64 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE to form or matter I can only remark upon this communication to a deserving Government servant that in a tolerably long experience of the Civil Service it is absolutely unique. Mr. DerryV luggage was actually on ship-board, and under the circumstances the Secretary of State, I understand, directed his return to his post. " It may, I think, then be concluded that the policy announced by Mr. Maxwell during the time he was administering the Government has been adopted in its entirety by the present Straits Government and that it has determined to reverse the policy upon which it entered with (iill delibeni^n only ten years ago. " You suggested to me that the explanation of this change of front was to be found in the pressure of the military contribution upon the revenues the Colony. I must, however, point out that this is not the reason given by Mr. Maxwell. On ihc contrary, he takes the ground that 'a separate Forest De- partment ' is unnecessary, as ' most of the duties . . . can probably be handed over to the Land Office and District Officers.' " With this view, guided by the past history of forestry in India and the Colonies, I find myself in entire disagreement. Every Government official is familiar with the distinction between a revenue and a spendii^ department. A land ofike belongs undoubte(fiy to the former ; a forestry (Apartment in its most critical and initial stages must un- doubtedly belong to the latter, though it will ultimately become a source of revenue. Land Office and District Officers have to get in revenue ; FORESTRY ,65 they work at headquarters in their offices, and cannot possibly know much about the land they part with or the possible consequences of losing the control of it. A striking case was afforded in Ceylon, where the Government had to buy back for official purposes land which it had without fore- thought sold to planters. All experience shows that a Land Office in a Colony is supremely indifferent to the fate of its forests, while District Officers have often proved actually hostile to them. The 'duties' of a Forest Department may undoubtedly, by a stroke of the pen, be handed over to these gentlemen. Whether they will be performed is in my judgment extremely improbable. " It is necessary to add a few words on the general question. As far as I am aware the Straits Settle- ments is the only portion of our Eastern Empire in which there is any doubt as to the wisdom of forest conservation. On the whole it may be remarked that Colonial administration has been more backward in this branch of State enterprise than India. Yet it is generally known that in the latter dependency It was not carried out without a strenuous struggle. It is, however, now a valuable source of revenue, amounting to 70,00,000 rupees (in round numbers) m 1890-91, besides conferring inestimable benefits on the rural population. The results would be very different had the forests been left to the District Officers who were supposed, equally in India as in the Straits, to be fitted for the task, the fact being that such men have neither the time, the taste nor the technical knowledge for the work. In Ceylon, where the creation of the comparatively recent i66 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Forest Department was due in the main to the representations of my predecessor, Sir Joseph Hooker, I observe that : — ' Taking into account the outstandings due to the Department ... the revenue ... for the year 1892 exceeded the outgoings by 44,549 rupees.' " It appears to me that in the face of these facts a long-sighted policy cannot possibly urge the abolition of a Forest Department on the ground of economy. It remains, then, briefly to consider what other arguments can be urged against such a course. A conspicuous instance of the effects of forest- neglect is, as is well known, afiforded by Cyprus. This island, as stated in the Colonial Office List, • has suffered gready from the extensive destruction of its forests.' ' The Masaonia plain has become a swamp while the adjoining hills, denuded of their vegetation, afforded breeding grounds for swarms of locusts.' I do not mean to say that precisely the same evils will follow the same cause everywhere. But evil there undoubtedly will be. " I will first take the case of Malacca. Here the forest reserves amount to about 40,000 acres or fifteen per cent, of the total area. This is about the proportion which in scientific treatises is considered desirable. This has only been under technical management for about ten years, and it may be admitted that the revenue of about 1,000 dollars does not at present cover the working expenses. It is proposed to abolish the technical management and to revert to the state of things before 1886. But it is known that before that date the supervision of the Land Revenue Department, did not prevent FORESTRY 167 the waste and destruction of valuable timber. In Malacca the reserves are the only portion of the Settlement in which the high jungle has not been cleared for tapioca cultivation. A more ruinous industry (except perhaps that of tobacco in Sumatra) cannot be conceived. Tapioca estates become un- productive after three crops, and are then abandoned. During the succeeding ten years the land is over- grown with a coarse grass called • lalang,' and if the forest reserves were felled the whole Settlement would soon become a lalang waste. Lalang is followed gradually by a scrubby forest of worthless short-lived and short-wooded trees. This, however, in some degree restores the fertility of the land. But instead of returning again to the disastrous tapioca cultivation more durable industries should be encouraged:— fibres, Liberian coffee, arrowroot, indigo, nutmegs, etc. No agricultural enterprise of the kind could be prosecuted without a supply of timber from the reserves. The cost of trans- port from outside to the Setdement is so high as to be prohibitive, and unless planters can fall back on supplies from the reserves, their opera- tions are paralysed. It is evident then in the case of Malacca that forest conservation cannot be judged from a merely revenue point of view but it is a positive necessity to the existence of the Setdement. "What will happen when the reserves are handed over to the Land Office is easy to predict. The valuable timber will (as before i886) be wastefully cut, if not thieved; for there will be no proper supervision to prevent it. Then there will be 168 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE practically irresistible pressure to give out the land for tapioca cultivation. The ultimate fate of the Settlement is melancholy to contemplate ; the land run out and occupied with scrub and lalang ; with no timber locally available and no facilities therefore for legitimate planting enterprise, its depopulation will be the inevitable concomitant of the exhaustion of its soil. " In Singapore the same observations apply, though not perhaps in exactly the same way. Firewood is obviously a commodity of primary necessity. It is becoming scarce in the Settlement; its enhanced cost is a subject of complaint to the native popu- lation. As a consequence the gambler and pepper cultivation which were the most important staples of the island are diminishing and tend to disappear. The Mangrove swamps were the most important source of firewood. These were partly managed by the Land and partly by the Forest Departments. The result is instructive ; in the former case they were rapidly and wastefully exhausted ; in the latter they were carefully husbanded. " Practically all valuable timber has disappeared. The local supplies are now mainly derived from Sumatra, and the price has materially risen. Two of the most valuable local timbers are practically unprocurable. Six years ago Chengei {BalanocarpuS) was often available for boat-buildino ; it is now unknown. Tempenis {Sloetia) though still adver- tised is really unprocurable. Twenty years ago the island possessed a fine forest of this invaluable wood. It was sold off en bloc to the Chinese for export to China ; the site is now a worthless lalang FORESTRY ,69 waste It is probable that in no part of the Empire IS to be found a more deplorable waste of natural resources. This, ten years ago. the Government of the Straits clearly realised and it is the attempt that was then made to arrest the consequences of past neglect which it is now proposed to subvert. Although httle timber now remains available for commercial purposes, a few of the valuable trees exist which should be carefully preserved for pur- poses of restocking and preservation. This is especially true of that producing gutta-percha, a substance for which in marine telegraphy no sub- stitute has yet been found. The date is not distant when the Straits was perhaps the richest autta- percha producing ground in the world. I am in- formed that « five sizable gutta trees could not now be found in the Colony for a king's ransom.' It is probable that at the present rate of consumption gutta-percha which is only produced over a limited area will be exhausted early in the next century. Posterity will certainly wonder that a country which can only carry on its government by means of telegraphs was so apathetic as to the fate of the indispensable material for their construction " I must confess that I have entertained some disappointment at the result of my personal repre- sentations on this important matter. I have there fore been led to review the subject as it appears m the records preserved in this establishment at some length. I venture to hope that 1 shall have succeeded in making the gravity of the situation apparent to the Secretary of State and that he w.il be pleased to take such steps as will arrest the 170 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE retrograde policy which ai^>ears to be already in operation." (Signed) W. T. Thiselton-Dyer. On December 17th, the Colonial Office replied, informing Sir William that it had been decided to retain Mr. Ridley's services, for the present at any rate, utilising them for the benefit of the Protected Native States as well as of the colony. As regards Mr. Deny, should it be possible to provide for him elsewhere, his appoint- ment at Malacca would not be filled up for the present. Care would, however, be taken that the public lands should not revert to their former state, that the area of forests was not unduly curtailed, and that concessions were not recklessly granted for tapioca and other mischievous forms of cultivation. The Government would be enjoined not to sacrifice the interests of the public to the immediate interests of the Land Department. Lord Ripon fully appreciated the interest of Kew in all that related to the Gardens and Forests Depart- ment, and crave an assurance that the diminution of expenditure thereon was only sanctioned owing to paramount considerations of finance. His Lord- ship was much interested in Sir W. Thiselton- Dyer's remarks as to the future of the gutta-percha supply of the world, and might possibly take an opportunity of returning to the subject. I need not trace in detail the further evolution of the Forest Department of the Straits Setdements by a process curiously similar to that recorded in the case of Ceylon. In February, 1900, Sir William FORESTRY ,7, Thwclton-Dycr was consulted by Mr. Chamberlain on the subject of Fo-est Conservation in the Straits Settlements, and advised him to consult Mr. H. C. Hill. Conservator of Forests in the Indian Forest Service. The result was that arrangements were made for Mr. Hill to proceed to the Malay Peninsula for the purpose of reporting on the Forest system of the Straits Settlements, and if thought advisable of the Federated Malay States. In December, 1900, Mr. Hill reported on the system and made suggestions for future adminis- tration. On the results of the system at the time he wrote : " There can be no two opinions as to the sound- ness of the policy which has secured to the colony 88,336 acres of forest reserves, to be maintained permanently under forest growth. . . . The pro- gress made in selecting, suitably demarcating and protectmg these reserves from encroachment and theft is highly satisfactory and creditable to the Government as well as to the Department which earned out most of the reservations, and to the Collectors of Land Revenue who have supervised their protection since 1895." On the subject of future administration, Mr. Hill concluded : "The Department as organised prior to 1895 did much good work in connection with the selection and demarcation of the reserves: but once this work was accomplished and the protection of the demarcated areas was the chief business, 1 am of opinion that the Government acted wisely in handino^ over to the Collectors of Land Revenue and District 172 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE OfSceri the charge of die forest reserve*. . . . But wherever the forest reserves have to be more than protected ; where works of improvement are called for or systematic exploitation is required, then the District Officer requires the assistance of men with a special knowledge of forest work. . . . If forest conservancy is to be carried out on a determined and lasting policy, — and it is only in this way that any real progress may be looked for — I am strongly of opinion that the Government must have the benefit of professional advice on the spot, and the works must be under professional inspection and direction. I propose, therefore, that a Forest Officer, trained in Europe, and with eight or ten years' experience in Burma, should be appointed, and his services divided between the Colony and the Federated Malay States." Mr. Hill's Report v s communicated to Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer, who replied that he had read it with great interest and satisfaction. The question had been the subject of prolonged correspondence extending over many years As the Government of the Straits Settlements had wisely adopted Mr. Hill's moderate and judicious proposals the subject might be regarded as having been placed on a clear administrative basis. In accordance with Mr. Hill's recommendation, the Government of the Straits Settlements procured from India an officer of the Indian Forest Service, r»Tr. Burn-Murdoch, on deputation for three years, his services to be divided between the colony and the Federated Malay States. In 1904, on the expiration of Mr. Burn-Murdoch's FORESTRY 173 period of deputation, his services were permanently transferred from India to the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States. THE INTRODUCTION OF RUBBSR PLANTS IN THE EAST The phenomenal development of the rubber in- dustry in Ceylon and in the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States gives interest to the work of Kew in the introduction of rubber plants to India and the East. In May, 1873, the India Office transmitted to Kew a report of Mr. James Collins on the caoutchouc of commerce, and requested Sir Joseph Hooker's opinion on the question whether it would be ex- pedient that seeds of Hevea Brasiliemis (Pari rubber) should be sent from Pari to Kew in the first instance to be raised there with a view of afterwards sending the young plants to India. Sir Joseph Hooker warmly supported the proposal, and in the course of the year Dr. (afterwards Sir George) King, Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Gar- den, returned to his duties taking with him living plants of Hevea, the seeds of which had been procured fron the Amazon and sent to Kew by Mr. (afterwards Sir Clements) Markham of the India Office. In 1875 Mr. H. A. VVickham, then resident in Brazil, was authorised to send 10.JO0 or more Hevea seeds to be sent to Kew, —plants to be raised there and transmitted to India. In 1876 the Government of India reported that Calcutta did not suit Hevea, and proposed that the plants should be sent to the Peradeniya 174 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Gardens, Ceylon, to be distributed thence to the West Coast of India, Burma, and Assam, and that another rubber plant, Castilloa, should also be sent to Peradeniya. In reply to this letter Kew suggested that Castilloa should be sent to Singa- pore as well as Ceylon. In July, 1876, Kew reported that 2,700 plants of Hevea had been raised, and proposed to send them in Wardian cases to Ceylon without delay. On August loth, thirty cases of Hevea (1,919 plants) and one case of Castilloa (thirty-two plants) were despatched to Ceylon, and two cases of Hevea to Singapore, to give additional chance of the plant becoming established in the East. In December, 1876, thirty seeds of Ceara rubber, procured by Mr. Cross, who had been sent on a mission to the Amazons to collect rubber plants and seeds, were sent to Ceylon. In September, 1877, Sir Daniel Morris, who had recently been appointed Assistant Superintendent of the Peradeniya Gardens, took with him to Ceylon ten Wardian cases containing Hevea, Castilloa. and Ceara rubber plants derived from Mr. Cross's mission. In the years 1876 and 1877 rubber plants were distributed in the East to Calcutta, Burma, Ceylon, Singapore, Mauritius, Java ; in Australia to Queens- land ; in Africa to the Cameroon Mountains ; in the West to Jamaica, Trinidad, Dominica, Montserrat. The results lie beyond the scope of this brief sketch. They are to be found in the Kew Bulletin, (Addi- tional Series, vii, "Rubber in the East," 1906,) and a voluminous recent literature. It is not without interest to note the close associa- FORESTRY 175 tion of rubber, the most important product of tropical forestry, w h cotton, the most important product of tropical agriculture in the most promising of modern manufacturing industries. An estimate published in The India Rubber World places the annual sale of cotton duck for use in rubber belting and all kinds of rubber hose at 50,000.000 yards. It is also estimated that the annual demand for cotton for use in motor car construction is 325,000 bales, of which 290,000 are used for making the cotton duck basis for the tyres, the remainder being chiefly employed in the manufacture of artificial leather cushions and seats. Reference is also made to the use of cotton in manufacturing the material for insulating electric wires. It should be stated that Sea Island cotton is especially suited for these purposes, as for all others where strength of fibre is a particular requirement. I may now proceed to give some account of my experience of the problems of forestry in the colonies in which they have been my direct concern. THE WEST INDIES Of forestry in British Guiana I shall speak in another chapter devoted to the expansion of enter- prise in that colony, and the importance of facilities for communication with the interior generally. I shall indicate the wide range of forest produce available if an adequate system of transport can be provided. As Governor of the Windward Islands, the im- portance of protective forestry was borne in upon me by the disastrous consequences of torrential rains in Grenada. In 1887 Mr. E. D. M. Hooper, an ex- perienced officer of the Indian Forest Department, 176 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE had reported on the forests of Grenada, and advised the strict preservation under forest of so much of the central ridges of the island as was included within the Crown Lands and certain other portions in the immediate vicinity, of which it would be to the general interest for the Government to assume the owner- ship. The uncertainty concerning the limits of the Crown Lands had been a difficulty in carrying out Mr. Hooper's proposal, but I took active steps to remove this difficulty by the determination and demarcation of the Crown Lands. In the meantime, however, the consequences of delay had been serious. It is universally admitted that the clearing of forest land if undertaken without due precautions is the fruitful cause of floods and increasing surface drain- age to the detriment of springs and permanent water courses. In Grenada, the extension of clearings on the slopes of the mountain ridges had produced such results. In 1894 and 1895 rainstorms of great severity visited the northern districts of the island. Roads, bridges, and telephone lines were swept away by floods. Many acres of cultivated land were also laid waste or swept away. In endeavouring to carry out Mr. Hooper's proposals for a plan of forest preservation, I realised the wisdom of the advice given in the following paragraph of his report : " The administration of the forests, in whoever's hands it is placed, to be successful, must command the cordial co-operation of the estate owners ; and from short acquaintance with them, I am sure that, once the matter is understood by them, they will not withhold their active assistance both in resigning to the inalienable charge of Government the backlands, FORESTRY ,7; which in many instances are a source of expense rather than of profit (sixpence an acre being the usual a«5sessment on uncultivated land) to their present owners, and in paying a careful atten- tion to the preservation of their forests, in the management of which they might be assisted by the forest officer. By so doing they would confer a benefit on themselves and on the community at large." ' The co-operation of owners of estates was earn- estly asked and willingly accorded. In S.. Lucia the forests are estimated to cover about one-third of the arf:a of the island. They yield valuable produce, including balata, oils, gums, resm, and fibres. Owing to the torrential character of the streams, denudation is active, and there is an ample field for the activity of a Department of I^orestry. While the construction of roads of very steep gradients was being undertaken for military purposes, there was constant need for measures of precaution to prevent the work accomplished from being carried away by floods. MAURITIUS Sir William Schlich, speaking of Mauritius, observes : " Forest conservancy has been aimed at for many years, but somehow matters have not progressed much. At present the areas under the control of the Forest Department amount to 137 square miles, equal to nineteen per cent, of the total. A dis- tinguished Indian forest officer has lately visited the island and advised the Government regarding the 178 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE management of the forests. His report appears to be now under consideration." The history of forest conservancy in Mauritius has followed the same lines as in Ceylon and in the Straits Setdements. The cultivation of sugar commenced in 1740, and within ten years had sup- planted nearly all the economic produi s previously grown. So profitable was it and so rapid its expan- sion that in 1761 the French East India Company sent out peremptory instructions to the Governor to put a stop to the destruction of aboriginal forests ; but the value of the land had b jome so great that these instructions were of little avail. The result was that by i860 the indigenous flora of the island, with its many valuable timber trees, such as ebony, had almost disappeared. Remains of the forests, which in the time of the D itch had covered the island to the sea-shore, were to be found only in inaccessible ravines. The records of forestry present no more striking illustration of the continuous destruction of forests in spite of the continuous efforts of Government after Government to arrest it. Between 181 2, when the island had passed under British rule, and 1823 five proclamations for the enforcement of forest conservancy were issued. In 1826 the question was referred to a Committee, and by 1867 the legislature had enacted no less than twelve Ordinances on the subject. In 1867 the disastrous consequences of an epidemic of malaria, fully dealt with in another chapter, called renewed attention to the effects of forest denudation on the health of the community, and Governor Sir Henry Barkly FORESTRY ,79 appointed a Commission of Inquiry. This was followed by four more Ordinances in the next four years. In 1872 Governor Sir Arthur Gordon appomted a Committee of the Legislative Council to consider the subject, and there followed two more Ordinances in 1874 and 1875. Sir Arthur Gordon was succeeded by Sir Arthur Phayre. whose long experience as Chief Commissioner of Burma led the Government to follow the ex- ample of other colonies and seek counsel from India. In the year 1880 Mr. Thompson, a distinguished forest officer in the service of the Government of India, reported on the question of the acquisition of forest and other private lands in the interests of forest conservancy and the maintenance of the water supply of Mauritius. A few extracts from his report will illustrate the condition of the island as he found it The physical condition of the soil of the Island is such that it requires protection not only from the sun but likewise from the direct action of the comparatively dry strong south-easterly winds which blow over it. The soil, the surface of which IS thickly strewn with large boulders of rock, parts easily with its moisture . . . ; but its fertility is great so long as it is maintained in a comparatively moist condition Hence the importance of keeping under forests as large an area of the land, m the inteiior of the Island, as can be afforded with- out unduly encroaching on the cultivation of the sugar cane. i8o THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE " It will be seen from the accompanying map that the Crown Forests lie chiefly on the slopes of moun- tains which are very nearly outside the central parts of the Island and from the tableland of which rise all the principal rivers of the Colony. With excep- tion of the BlocRs known as Grand Bassin and the Piton du Milieu, all the other Crown lands, covered with trees, cannot afford any protection to the water supply of the Island. And ' ^e the present recommendation is offered chie .n the interests of the maintenance of such wa«.cr supply, it is evident that unless measures are adopted for preventing the rapid disappearance of the private forests, — even such as they are— the perennial springs which feed the rivers will likewise disappear or the quantity of water which they now yield will become much lessened. It is notorious every- where in the Island that, with the disappearance of the forests, the perennial springs have either com- pletely disappeared, or are considerably diminished in volume ; and rivers and streams which formeriy never ran dry, are now, during the drier months of the year, mere stagnant pools, if not altogether dried up. • " From what has been said it must appear that the first important step required to be taken towards bringing forest matters in the Colony to a more satisfactory stage, lies in that important one of saving from further destruction and consequent extinction the existing forest growths which at present are in private hands. Such forests, or the greater part of them at least, may become, in the FORESTRY ,8i hands of Government, valuable State properties, which will not only yield in the future returns m direct revenues, but likewise be perpetual sources from which to draw timber and fuel necessary for the use. comfort and well-being of the people of Mauritius. And at the same time these wood-lands will preserve the moisture they receive in the shape of rainfall wherewith to feed the springs and rivers rising within them. "Forests and forest soil conserve the rainfall by holding the moisture in mechanical suspension, preventing loss of it by evaporation, but giving it off in even quantities to the springs which go to feed the rivers. This action of forests is, of course, in proportion to the area covered by them, the larger that is, the greater will be the quantity of rain water received, stored and prevented from being hurried off to the sea, or again given back to the air by evaporation, after having been precipitated." Accordingly, Mr. Thompson recommended : that the lands - - nrchased by Government should be selected v jject of securing re-wooding when- ever necesb . a id keeping wooded the main ridges of the principal mountain ranges of the island so that the following important results should be derived therefrom : 1. That the forests so conserved might shelter the springs and upper parts of the water courses of the island ; 2. That the shelter so afforded to the water courses might tend to increase the quantity of water in them and to ensure its more regular outflow ; i82 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE 3. That the normal moisture of the atmosphere might be increased as well as the water supply. To effect these purposes, Mr. Thompson recom> mended that as much as one-fifth of the total area of Mauritius be retained pemuuiently under wood, that is : Crown lands determined and otherwise • 35,000 acres Private forest lands purchased in the centre of the Island • • . . . 35,000 „ Private forest lands purchased in lower parts of the Island ... 10,000 „ Private forest lands now occupied as moun- tain and River Reserves esttnuUed at io,aoo „ Total, .... 90,200 acres equal to 141 square miles, or twenty per cent, of the area of the island. These recommendations set the legislative machine to work with renewed power, and under a series of enactments, Mr. Thompson's scheme was proceeded with up to 1886, an expenditure of 2,918,000 rupees having been authorised from time to time by the Colonial Office. By that time, the greater part of this sum had been expended in the purchase of about 29,000 acres, and whilst negotiations were proceeding for the purchase of further lands in the Northern District, General Hawley, whilst admin- istering the Government, peremptorily ordered that all purchases of land for afforestation purposes should be stopped. The scheme then remained practically in abeyance for over ten years. I assumed the Government of Mauritius on May nth, 1897, and it was not long before my FORESTRY ,83 attention was called to the important question of afforestation. On June 24th, I caused a letter to be addressed to the Woods and Forests Board asking them to submit to me as soon as possible their recommenda- tions on the subject of carrying -ut the scheme of re-afforestation which had then been under the con- sideration of the Government for seventeen years. On September 3rd the Board sent in their report, drawing attention to the serious consequences of the delay that had occurred : " Meanwhile owing to the old Indian immigrant gradually purciiasing small plots of ground in dif- ferent localities, landowners have already parcelled out and are parcelling out several important parts of the land which Government intended to purchase. The market value of those parcelled lands of other lands has more or less increased. It has accord- ingly become very diflScult (owing to the increased cost) to carry out the whole of the re-afforestation scheme as originally proposed, and a larger amount of money is now required to carry out the recom- mendations contained in this Report. The Board think it their duty to press upon the Government the urgent necessity of avoiding further delays. Some of the lands recommended in this Report are being, or are on the eve of being, parcelled out. Redeeming lands parcelled out to small proprietors is a great inconvenience for them. The necessity of allowing them a small profit and a fair compensation for the cost of their dwellings and for the improvements which they may have made on the land renders the re-purchase price more or less i84 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE prohibitory, and Government would lonjj be prac- tically prevented from carrying out re-afforestation in some localities where it is indispensable for sanitary and agricultural reasons, and those localities would continue to suffer severely whilst having to bear their share of taxation for the benefit of other more favoured localities," These observations of the Board were illustrated by instances in which immediate purchase had been urgently pressed and could have been effected at reasonable prices. The Board concluded by recom- mending a loan of ;^ioo,ooo for specific purchases detailed in their report. On November i6th, I urged the necessity of re-afforestation in a Message addressed to the Council of Government, pointing out that before any loan rould be raised it was necessary to find ways and means for providing the annual charge for interest and sinking funds, and illustrating the situation of Mauritius by reference to what had happened in the sister Isle of Reunion. "The British Consul in Reunion in his annual report for the years 1895-1896 on the trade and agriculture of that island, made some observations on the subject of the destruction of forests which seem • mutatis mutandis ' to be singularly applicable to Mauritius. He says : •••Monsieur Maillard, in his Notes sur rile de la Rhinion, published at Paris in 1862, writes as regards the rage for cane planting which was then even more universal than to-day: "We are con- vinced that sooner or later the cultivation of cane FORE-^TRY 185 will disappear; we can even now point to localities, as for instance, the lands situated between St. ' )eni8 and Possession, which formerly were laid out in coffee plantations, and that have now been destroyed to plant cane, and where this cultivation has already become impossible owing to the denudation by water of the soil. " ' In this prophesy, pregnant with truth, lif ; the cause of one of the chief agricultural difficulties of to-day. The thoughtless grubbing up of cofifee and clove plantations, and the ruthless cutting down of the beautiful forests, full of valuable timber, much of which was cleared by fire. : ns changed the face of the country. The forests which formerly acted as sponges sending out fruitful water and humus over the lower lands, are now more or less clear. After rain the water rushes from them in a freshet, carrying all before it, and, sweeping the denuded sides of the mountain, gradually reduces them to bare rock or crumbling shale, and washes instead of fertilising the plateaux.' " The Governor, believing that the work of re- afforestation is of no less importance in Mauritius than in Reunion, conceives it to be necessary thai the report of the Woods and Forests Bo,.-d, datcu 3rd September last, on the completion c;' the re- afforestation scheme, should be acted on, in so far as it may be finally approved, as soon as funds are available. The recommendations of the Board are in favour of an expenditure of a sum about 1,700.000 rupees. The interest and sinking fund on a loan of this amount to be redeemed in about forty- five years, would impose an annual charge on the i86 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Colony of about 85,000 rupees, while the additional charge for the care and superintendence of the ac- quired land would probably raise the annual charges necessitated by the scheme to 100,000 rupees." On December 13th, the Council of Govern- ment voted a resolution asking that the colony might be permitted to raise a loan of ^500,000 secured by the guarantee of the Imperial Govern- ment as a measure of relief to the sugar industry. The resolution included the following clause : "The Council think that the sum of ^400,000 will be sufficient to meet the objects of the Chamber of Agriculture. "The Council are also of opinion that, with the view of protecting the agriculture of the Colony against the effects of the frequently recurring droughts which visit it, and with the view of im- proving the sanitary condition of the Island, the re -afforestation thereof be completed, and they recommend for that purpose that His Excellency, the Governor, be pleased to move the Secretary of State for his sanction to add the sum of ^100,000 to the above loan to be applied to the re-afforestation scheme of the Colony." On January 14th, 1898, I addressed a despatch to the Secretary of State submitting the resolution of the Council for his favourable consideration. In Mr. Chamberlain's reply of April 7th, he informed me that he could not see his way to ask the Lords of the Treasury to apply to Parliament for the guarantee of the Imperial Government to the proposed loan, observing that while the completion FORESTRY 187 of the work of afforestation in Mauritius was un- doubtedly a most desirable object, it was not a matter for which the assistance of the Imperial Government could properly be given. On August 24th I again addressed the Secretary of State, transmitting a resolution of the Council of Government respectfully requesting him to recon- sider his decision. In this despatch I observed : "With reference to the question whether the Imperial Government has any interest in the re- afforestation of Mauritius, I may be allowed to point out that re-afforestation is absolutely inseparable from the question of the health of the Island, and consequently has an important bearing on the condi- tions affecting the health of Her Majesty's Forces quartered in the Command." On December 8th, Mr. Chamberlain replied : " I deal first with the proposed sum of 100,000 for re -afforestation. The Council reiterate their opinion 'as to the importance of completing the re-afforestation of the Island both from an agri- cultural and from a sanitary point of view.' I fully appreciate the importance of the object in question, but that is not sufificient reason to my mind for asking the Imperial Government to guarantee a loan for the purpose of effecting it. The members of the Council of Government must be aware that the liabilities which the tax-payers of the United Kingdom have to bear are many and heavy, and though they have shown themselves ready at all times to give the Colonies ample protection, and, in case of sudden emergency or acute distress, to contribute to relief, I do not think that it is i88 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE justifiable to impose a new liability upon them for the purpose of enabling a Colony to complete a desirable public work." Disappointed, but not discouraged, on June 23rd, 1899, I caused the Board of Woods and Forests to be informed that I had under consideration a proposal for a loan of 100, 000 for afforestation purposes with- out an Imperial guarantee, and invited their renewed opinion as to the necessity of the measure, and the best way of providing interest and a sinking fund. In reply, the Board unanimously recommended : " I. That it is expedient and urgently necessary to carry out the long-deferred scheme of re-afforesta- tion, because some of the properties which it is contemplated to purchase for the above purpose are being parcelled out, and the forests still standing on other properties are being or about to be cut, which will to a large extent defeat the object of the scheme, and which will increase the difficulty and cost of purchase. " 2. That the re-afforestation being for the general interest, it is fair that the cost thereof be borne by the whole community. " 3. That the tax which will bear least heavily on the whole community is a small surcharge on the Import Customs duties. "4. That the Board accordingly recommend that a surcharge of four per cent, on the amount of all Customs Import Duties be raised until full payment of the principal and interest of the proposed loan, which is estimated at ^100,000, in order to produce about 1,700,000 rupees, the amount reported to be required." FORESTRY 189 Agreeing with the recommendations of the Board, I directed the Procureur- General to draft an Ordinance to give them effect. It was read a first time on August ist, and passed on October 24th. On November 25th I transmitted it to the Secretary of State, who, by a despatch of March loth, 1900, informed me that it was disallowed. Mr. Chamberlain's reason was that he did not feel justified in taking the project into consideration apart from other schemes involving large expendi- ture then in contemplation, schemes for the drainage of Port Louis and the improvement of the harbour of Port Louis. He wished me to assist him in considering which of them should have priority, if it was not practicable to carry them out at once. Accordingly, on May ist, a special committee of the Council of Government, consisting of all the members, was appointed to consider the question of re-afforestation, drainage, and harbour improve- ments. On December 20th, the Committee sub- mitted an exhaustive report, recommending priority for the scheme of re-afforestation : "Your Committee are therefore unanimously of opinion that the completion of the reafforestation scheme is of paramount importance to the Colony, and that it should have priority over all others and be carried out at once. They will not repeat here all the reasons which militate in favour of that scheme and which may be summed up thus : Improvement of the general climatic condition of the Colony which will bring about (a) a more permanent moisture of the atmosphere, (b) an increase of the water supply, (c) an amelioration of the public health. I90 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE "To carry out that project your Committee recommend that 100,000 be raised at one time by means of a loan on the lines of Ordinance No. 30 of 1899. It would not be wise to delay further the purchase of the required lands, because such of them as are still wooded will be denuded before long, and others which are in the catchment area of rivers and on mountain slopes are now being or will shortly be parcelled out and planted or built upon, which will render the purchase thereof later on almost impossible on account of their enhanced value. Further it would not be just to the present generation that they should alone bear the weight of a work of reconstruction, for which they are not responsible, and which will benefit chiefly future generations. "Your Committee insist on the importance of preserving and maintaining the Government forests and on the necessity of an efficient administration thereof" Early in 1901 I was in England, and Mr. Chamberlain consulted me on the report of the Committee. I need not here refer to the scheme for the drainage and the improvement of the harbour of Port Louis, which were considered concurrently. I strongly advised the carrying out of the Committee's recommendations in the matter of re-afforestation. On April ist, Mr. Chamberlain informed the officer administering the government in my absence that he concurred generally in my views, and authorised the raising of a loan. On August 12th an Ordinance to raise a loan for re-afforestation purposes, on the lines of the FORESTRY ,91 Ordinance disallowed, was read a first time, and on September i6th was passed. Before transmitting the Ordinance to the Secretary of State, I thought ft best to consider the machinery for the appropriation of the proceeds of the Ordinance, with a view to the selection of the lands to be purchased. I anticipated, and the result justified my anticipation, that this would give rise to much difficulty. On March 25th I transmitted the Ordinance to the Secretary of State, urging at the same time the appointment of a forest officer of Indian experience to advise the Government in the matter of the purchase of lands for afforestation, and, what 1 considered as of not less importance, in the reorganisation of the Woods and Forests Department of the colony. On May 23rd, Mr. Chamberlain informed me of his approval of the Ordinance, having already informed me by telegram that he approved of the appointment of a forest officer from India for the purposes I had proposed. The officer appointed was Mr. Frank Gleadow, Conservator of Forests under the Government of India, and the terms of his appointment were : to advise on the purchase of lands for afforestment to the value of 1,500,000 rupees; to bring the forests under some proper scheme of working, so as to provide some revenue, if possible; and to re- organise the Forest Department. Incidentally it was hoped to reassure those who objected to any fellings whatever in forests on the ground of diminishing r?infall and consequent injury to cane culture. After I had retired from the Government, in September, 1904, Mr. Gleadow issued an i9a THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE exhaustive report; but the hopes of those who had expected to find in it a solution of the diffi- culties and conflicts of years were disappointed. On the main question of the purchase of lands for afforestment. it was decided that no loan could be raised at the time. And Mr. Gleadows report, so far from conciliating opposition, proved a new bone of contention. It contained a history of aForestation from the earh'est days of settlement under the French, in which he traced the deforesta- tion of the colony to disregard of the conditions on which concessions had been granted, and of the laws designed to enforce these conditions. The terms of Mr. Gleadows comments on what he conceived to be the causes of the difficulties on which he was called to advise gave great offence. In December, 1905, a resolution was voted in the Council of Government, declaring that Mr. Gleadow's report contained unfounded charges against the people of Mauritius, and refusing to take it into consideration In the meantime, however, the experience of the Eastern colonies had repeated itself. It had been decided by the Secretary of State, in view of the depressed financial condition of the colony, to post- pone action on the report. To revert to Sir William Schlichs comment on forest conservancy in Mauritius, I have now shown how It has happened that, though it has been aimed at for many years, matters have not progressed much, and I have recorded the fate of the report of the distinguished Indian officer sent to advise the Government CHAPTER XX COMMERCE THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE Prior to the year 1907, the Colonial Office system included no agency linking it directly with the manufacturing interests upon which the policy of development depends, if the Crown colonies are to be made at once a source of supply in respect of articles of food and raw materials and a mar. 2t for the absorption of our manufactures. A few figures may serve to give some idea of what may be called the market capacity of the undeveloped Crown colonies in continental Africa added to the Empire within the last half century. With an area of 1,600,000 square miles, and a population of nearly 30,000,000 inhabitants, the volume of their foreign trade falls short of ^25,000,000. It is interesting, as an indication of what the market capacity may become under the influence of civilisation, to observe that a small group of island colonies, geographically connected with Africa, with an area of less than 1,000 square miles, show a volume of trade of over ^4,500,000. The success of the imperial enterprise thus indicated depends on our 194 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE national acceptance as articles of faith of these elementary propositions : that in the forefront of all considerations that have to be taken into account in weighing the burden of our responsibih'ties in the undoubtedly colossal work we have undertaken, there stands the capacity of the Crown colonies to pro- vide revenues adequate to the maintenance of a civilised government ; that such revenues can only be found in the development of local natural re- sources in such a way that every administrative unit shall become at once a market of supply and of demand ; that such a result can only be obtained by the collaboration of the capital and commerce of the United Kingdom with colonial enterprise ; and that industrial prosperity is inseparable from scientific knowledge and research. That the intimate connection between scientific knowledge and industrial prosperity is now recog- nised as fully in England as on the Continent of Europe or in America, we have abundant proof m the organisation of agencies having for their aim technological education, scientific research, and the application of the results of research to local resources and capaci»^''es. It must be admitted, however, that we had allowed foreign countries, and France and Germany in par- ticular, to outstrip us in making systematic provision for the application of science to the solution of the various problems involved in the development of the commercial resources of tropical countrieo. For many years the relatively small tropical colonies of France and Germany were the scene of scientific activity and the expenditure of large sums of money COMMERCE 195 in exploring and ascertaining by scientific methods the value of their resources, while we were content to make use of the results they had obtained. In our tropical colonies a few years ago, scientific departments in connection with agriculture and economic development were, with one or two exceptions, either non-existent, or organised in a primitive fashion, while there was no central depart- ment at home in connection with the Colonial Office to f' ,low up the commercial results of the local agencies, or to provide for the fuller investi- gation of the materials brought to light in the tropics. Kew stood alone, as is shown elsewhere, in providing for the investigation of the origin of useful plants. In recent years much has been done to remedy these deficiencies. A;^ ricultural departments have been organised on new lines in many of the Crown colonies, and a Central department co- operating with these exists at the Imperial Institute. All this has been well explained by Professor Wynd- ham Dunstan in his Presidential Address to the Chemical and Agricultural section of the British Association {Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, 1907). iviuch, however, still remains to be done, especially in the direction which I have advocated, of focussing all this work in the system of the Colonial Office. Sufficiendy conclusive evidence, that no lack of sympathy and understanding at present exists as to the important service science can render to the com- mercial development of our possessions, is to be found in the development of the scientific and technical side of the Imperial Institute. A brief 196 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE narrative of the origin and progrew of this work may be of interest. In September. 1886. his late Majesty King Edward (then Pnnce of Wales) appointed an organisin^j Committee to determine the character and scope of operations of an Imperial Institute intended to com- memorate the fiftieth year of the reign of Queen Victoria In May. 1888. the comprehensive scheme submitted by the committee was embodied in a Royal Charter which at the same time incorporated an Association by the name of the " Imperial In- stitute of the United Kingdom, of the Colonies and India and the Isles of the British Seas." The three chief purposes of the Imperial Institute were set out as follows : 1. The formation and exhibition of collections representing the important raw materials and manu- factured products of our Empire and of other coun- tries so maintained as to illustrate the development of agricultural, commercial, and industrial procuress m our Empire and the comparative advances made m other countries. 2. The establishment or pro- )tion of commer- cial museums, sample rooms and intelligence offices m London and other parts of the Empire 3. The collection and dissemination of such information relating to trades and industries, to emigration, and to the other purposes of this our Charter as may be of use to the subjects of our umpire. The Association incorporated to carry out these and other purposes was a voluntary society of Fellows governed under its Charter and under a constitution COMMERCE ,97 approved by Royal Warrant in 189 1. Its adminis- trative system was composed of a governing body of which the Prince of Wales was President, and an executive council, including representatives of the Indian Empin and of all the British colonies and dependencies. The opening of the Institute in 1893 was followed by tentative enterprises designed to further the various purposes contemplated in the Charter. But the late Sir Frederick Abel, who had been the secre- tary of the organising committee, and had become organising director and secretary of the Institute, kept steadily in view that the general purposes of the scheme must be kept subsidiary to the main object of utilising the commercial and industrial resources of the Empire, by providing comprehensive collec- tions of its natural products and obtaining full scientific, practical, and commercial information relating to them. Recognising the arrangement and display of products as rather a means than an end, he attached the first importance to making them the subject of scientific examination and mvestigation, with commercial development in view, and devoted himself to the creation of a department of scientific and technical research, with special refer- ence to the needs of the colonies, of which Professor Wyndham Dunstan was appointed the first Director. The story of the evolution of this department of the Institute has been told by Sir Frederick Abel himself in his preface to a volume of reports and papers published by the Institute in 1903.1 ' Technical Reports and Scientific Papers, edited by Profewor ^vyndham Dunstan, F.R.S., Imperial Institute, 1903. 198 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE In the face of difficulties which would have been insurmountable but for the interest taken in the scheme by his late Majesty, then President of the governing body, the Scientific and Technical Department got itself established in the autumn of 1896, and, with the invaluable support of Mr. Chamberlain, its operations steadily extended, until it became within a brief period one of the most important national instruments for promoting the development of the resources of the colonies and India, and indirectly the commerce of the Empire, by bringing to the notice of British mer- chcints and manufacturers such natural products of the colonies and India, and also of foreign countries, as are likely to be set /iceable to British commerce. In the meantime, however, owing to a variety of causes, the Institute had been overtaken by serious financial emuarrassments. It had received no financial aid from the Government, either for the erection of the building or for the endovment of the work 10 be carried on. The endowment fund, com- posed of voluntary contributions, was small, and quite inadequate to the accomplishment of the pur- poses set out in the charter. An attempt to raise income by the creation of a class of annually sub- scribing Fellows failed; and the final catastrophe was hastened by methods of administration which tended to make the economic purposes of the Institute subsidiary to its use for social functions. In consequence, the building became, in the year 1900, the property of the Government, by whom the western portion and galleries were leased to the governing body of the Institute, while the greater COMMERCE 199 part of the eastern and central portions were, subject to certain rights of usage, aasigned to the use of the University of London. In these circumstances the Scientific Department had to rely on special funds provided mainly by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, who, in the imminent peril of the Institute, in May, 1900, resolved to continue an original j,'rant of ;^"i,ooo per annum for a further period of five years, and to grant a further sum of £ ,000 per annum for "a period of three years" upon the condition " that this money be devoted solely and alone to the expenses of the Scientific Research Department and no other objects." This fund was supplemented by small contributions from some of the City Guilds, and doles from other sources. In 1902 the administrative system failed. The Imperial Institute (Transfer) Act dissolved the Cor- poration and transferred its property, rights and obligations to the Government. The property con- sisted mainly of an endowment fund, established in accordance with the charter, representing an invested sum of about 40,000, and this fund, together with the building, was transferred to and became vested in the Imperial Institute trustees appointed by the Act — the First Commissioner of the Treasury, the Secretaries of State for India and the Colonies, and the I'resident of the Board of Trade. The income of the endowment fund and the manao;ement of the building were transferred to tht: Board of Trade, to be applied, sc far as practicable, to the purposes of the Imperial Institute, as set out in the Royal Charter and recited in a schedule of the Act, subject 2CX5 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE to the proviso of a clause saving the rights of the University of London to occupy a portion of the building. The transfer to the Board of Trade included the management of the special funds contri- buted solely and alone for the purposes of the Scientific Department. I have underlined the words so far as practicable contained in the Act, because in order to understand the position of the Institute it is necessary to take into account the limitations of the area of its activity at the time of the transfer to the Board of Trade. The report of the Board of Trade on the work of the Institute for 1905 was prefaced by a letter of the Controller-General of the department, showing that at the time of transfer the only branches of activity of real importance, apart from subsidiary work, were the Scientific and Technical Depart- ment, the Colonial and Indian Collections, and the Commercial Intelligence Department. ' This last-mentioned department, so far as it related to the provision of statistical, tariff, and general trade information, was subsequently combined with and absorbed into the Commercial Intelligence Branch of the Board of Trade, having its headquarters in the City of London, so that, apart from certain sub- sidiary uses to which some rooms within the Institute building were applied, the area of activity in 1906 was limited to the two branches mentioned. At the same time the Controller-General's letter made it plain that financially the administrative system set up in 1902 had already failed. " It is clear," he wrote, " to the Board of Trade that the work performed at whe Imperial Institute, and especially in the Scientific COMMERCE 20 1 and Technical Department, is of a kind for which there is a great and increasing demand in the in- terests of various parts of the Empire. Considerable anxiety has, therefore, been recently caused by the cessation at the beginning of 1906 of the grant of ;^2,ooo a year previously made by the Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition towards the expenses of this Department. The loss of this grant has made it necessary to trench to a considerable extent during the current year upon the accumulated balance of funds in order to avoid a serious and immediate reduction in the efficiency of the Department, while it has naturally made it impossible to meet the legitimate demands for expansion. It is obvious that this state of things could not permanently continue, and negotiations have accordingly taken place between the Board of Trade, Colonial Office, and Treasury, with a view to the adoption of some scheme for putting the Scientific and Technical Department on a satisfactory financial footing. I am glad to be r^ble to report that, while these negotiations are not yet completed, sufficient pro- gress has been made to make it practically certain that the loss caused by the withdrawal of the Commissioners' grant will at least be made trood by contributions partly from the Treasury, partly from the Governments of the Crown Colonies and Protectorates, which chiefly avail themselves of the services of the Department, while there is good reason for hoping that a sufficient fund will be forthcoming, not only to replace the lost grant, but to enable the Department to meet the increasing demands for its services. In view of the fact that 202 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE a large proportion of the funds for the support of the Scientific and Technical Department will under this scheme be contribu..'d by the Governments of the Crown Colonies and Protectorates, it seems desirable that the management of the funds so contributed should be largely controlled by the Colonial Office. Arrangements for this purpose are now under consideration between the Depart- ments, having due regard to the provisions of the Act of 1902, and also to the specja' position occupied by the Government of India." The peril of the Imperial Institute suggested various schemes of reconstruction, among others a proposal to reconstruct the University of London as an Imperial University and to incorporate in it the Imperial Institute. As one who had enjoyed exceptional facilities for learning the needs of the Crown colonies, I associated myself at this time with many who desired to see the Imperial Institute admitted within the Colonial Office system as a Department of Technical Intelligence in connec- tion with existing scientific and technical depart- ments in the colonies whose operations the central department woulc' suppiemeni. Looking back with the wisdom that follows events it was easy to see that the original scheme of the Institute failed for want of co-ordination of its principal purposes under a powerful and responsible central force. An adequate and appropriate force was to be bund in the Colonial Office and could be applied by a verbal amendment of the Act of 1902 to the purposes of the Institute, Indian interests, which are for these purposes very similar to those of the Crown colonies. COMMERCE 203 being duly safeguarded. The Colonial Office system, as has been shown in an earlier chapter, included at the time four bodies, each revolving, in a sense, on its own axis round the central force of the Secretary of State : a political body, the Establishment ; a body representing a department of Finance and Public Works, the Crown Agents' Office ; a nebulous body of agencies representing a Medical Department ; and a body representing a Botanical Department, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. To these bodies it was proposed to add the Imperial Institute as a Department of Technical Intelligence and Investigation. I submitted the pro- position that upon the co-ordination of these bodies depended the co-ordination of all the agencies of a civilised Government, — Politics in the most com- prehensive sense of the term, Finance and Public Wor^s Sanitation and Health, Agriculture. Com- mer:e, and Manufacture. I argued that the Colonial Office system thus constituted, would have an army of experienced officials scattered over the vast ter- ritory under its administration girdling the waist of the earth, while the collective experience of the whole system would be at the disposal of each of the combined agencies. I still look forward to the accomplishment of this Imperial scheme. In the meantime, however, the Institute was, in 1907, rescued from its perilous position by a modus vivendi. It was decided that the Imperial Institute should be largely controlled by the Colonial Office, without prejudice to the general control of the Institute vested by statute in the Board of Trade. It was a step in the right direction, but it can 204 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE hardly be expected to prove a permanent settle- ment. It relieved the Institute from the financial pressure that threatened it, and has been followed by a period of energy that is yearly confirm- ing Its importance and influence. It was fortunate that the year 1905, just before the crisis of Its fortunes, was marked by a special exhibition illustrating British cotton cultivation and com- mercial uses of cotton held at the Institute. The exhibition was arranged by the staff of the Institute in conjunction with the British Cotton Growing As- sociation so as to illustrate every stage of cultivation and manufacture, from the cotton plant to the most finished fabric, including processes for the utilisa- tion of secondary and waste products. A section contained exhibits of the machinery used in each of the various processes, and the whole was arranged to render every operation from start to finish intelligible to the general public. Another section was devoted to illustrating the work of the Institute in gaugmg the value of cotton grown in every part of the Empire. While the main purpose of the exhibition was to indicate the importance of extend- ing the cultivation of cotton in British territory, it serv» ' as a remarkable object-lesson in illustrating the uependence of our great manufacturing and a host of subsidiary industries on the products of our Crown colonies. The opening of this exhibition was attended by his Majesty King George, then Prince of Wales, who has always taken \ keen interest in the Imperial work of the Institute. It is now some fourteen years since the Scientific and Technical department of the Imperial Institute COMMERCE 205 was established on a definite footing under the charge of Professor Wyndham Dunstan, now Director of the Institute. As has been already pointed out, the main object of the Institute is to promote the utiHsation of the commercial and industrial resources of the Empire, especially of India and the colonies, by the collection, exhibition, and description of the products of its component parts, and by scientific, technical, and commercial investigation and trial of their uses. The Institute has thus two principal branches or departments, the department of Exhi- bition for purposes of illustrating the present position of the colonies and India in every aspect, as well as for scientific and commercial reference, and the Scientific and Technical department for the conduct of investigations and the supply of special information. The Institute now has a considerable but insufficient staff of experts at work in these two departments. In the department of Exhibition new and im- portant methods of displaying and describing the permanent Colonial and Indian collections have been constantly adopted with a view to making them an adequate and intelligible representation of the resources of the Empire, of value alike for educa- tional and commercial purposes. The methods of the Scientific and Technical Department of the Institute may be briefly described. It ascertains, at first through chemical investigation in its laboratories, the composition of every natural product of the Empire referred to it. The results are submitted to some of the principal manufacturers in this country who assist in determining the technical value of the materials 2o6 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE investigated; and finally, eminent merchants and brokers report on their commercial value in the light of the scientific investigation and technical trials. And .hese methods for determining the uses and market value of the products are supplemented by surveys and investigations con- ducted in the colonies by qualified experts acting under the supervision of the Director of the Institute in order to ascertain the capacities of the colonies or areas of origin. It is, in short, an expert agency for gauging the value of the raw materials of our vast possessions and advising on their utilisation. The staff consists of men who have been scientifi- cally trained with special reference to the numerous branches of this work. The Scientific and Technical Department is now working in co-operation with the Agricultural and Mines Departments in the colonies. It supplements their operations by undertaking such inquiries and investigations as are of a special scientific and technical character connected with agricultural or mineral development Mineral surveys, under the supervision of the Director, and conducted by surveyors selected by him, are in progress in Ceylon, Northern Nigeria, Southern Nigeria, and Nyassaland, and preliminary arrangements of a similar nature have been made in connection with British East Africa, and with the Anglo-Congolese Boundary Commission in Uganda. All minerals found which are likely to be of commercial import- ance are forwarded to the Imperial Institute, where they are examined and their con- position and jm- mercial value ascertained. COMMERCE 207 Of noteworthy importance have been the investi- gations of the Department in connection with the sources of thorium. A mere catalogue of ti.c subjects which have been investigated by the Institute would almost serve as an inventory of the natural resources of the Empire, while the range of the areas of origin would practically represent its limits. Records of this work are published as Parlia- mentary papers by the Colonial Office and in the quarterly Bulletin of the Institute, which also includes special articles relating to the progress which is being made in the various branches of economic development both in our own and foreign possessions. The Bnlletin now enjoys a wide cir- culation. An Annual Report on the work of the Institute is also now presented to Parliament. Associated with the three principal departments of the Institute is a department of tropical ser- vice training for candidates selected by the Colonial Office for administrative appointments in East and West Africa. Courses of instruction, including accounting, law, tropical hygiene, and a wide range of subjects connected with tropical cultivation and tropical products are arranged for. Auxiliary to all the purposes of the Institute are • Library and the Reading Rooms containing a • ' ^ collection of works of reference, official publica- tions, and periodicals, connected with India and the colonies; the Colonial Conference Rooms reserved for use by Societies and representatives of the colonies, for meetings and receptions ; and the Cowasjee Jehanghier Hall available for lectures and meetings. 2o8 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Appropriately accommodated in the premises of the Institute are the African Society, for the dis- cussion and publication of matters connected with British African possessions ; the British Women's Emigration Association, for affording information and advice respecting the prospects for women in the colonies ; and the Colonial Nursing Association, a valuable auxiliary of the Colonial Office in con- nection with Tropical Medicine. The work of the Imperial Institute in all its departments has now reached such dimensions that the space assigned to it ten years ago in the Imperial Institute building under the arrangement then made with the Government is inadequate, and further extensions are urgently needed, as indicated in the two last Annual Reports presented to Parliament The University of London, which occupies under a Treasury Minute a portion of the same building, is also said to require more accommodation, and various proposals are being put forward. One is that the University should be allowed to occupy the entire building of the Imperial Institute. It is incon- ceivable to those of us who are or have been closely connected with the development of the colonies and India that this proposal should be seriously con- sidered. The Imperial Institute was erected and endowed as a memorial of the reign of Queen Victoria for the performance of specific work on behalf of India and the colonies, as well as for the United Kingdom. Since the transfer of the Imperial Institute to the Government, this work has steadily grown in amount and importance, and the Institute is now more largely utilised and appreciated by the COMMERCE 309 colonies than at any former period of its existence. It is now in a position to make most efficient use of the whole of the building, as was intended by those who contributeu to its foundation. The only equitable and feasible plan under the present cir- cumstances is to provide the University of London with the accommodation it needs elsewhere, and thus leave the Imperial Institute free to fulfil the high destiny which was marked out for it and towards which it has in the last decade made such remarkable strides. u o CHAPTER XXI FINANCE THE CROWN AGENTS Financial administration in the Crown coIon.Vs is dominated by two essential considerations. The actual development of their resources depends almost exclusively on British capital invested in land or in commercial enterprises ; and the security of capital depends on the control of the Imperial Government over the expenditure of the local Government In the Crown colonies (generally, the only taxable fund is the wage fund supplied by the annual proceeds of the cultivation of the land. This fund provides the local expenditure of capitalists or their repre- sentatives, salaries, professional emoluments, and wages for the whole community. It has also to provide the interest on loans raised by Government for expenditure on public works. It is hardly necessary to argue that the security of capital employed in private enterprise is inseparable from the security of capital raised by public loans for the purpose of promoting by expenditure on ^.ublic works private enterprise in agriculture and commerce. FINANCE 311 The Duke of Buckingham's despatch of August i8th, 1868, showed clearly that in the West Indies it was the desire of all parties to establish a system of government and legislation by which the financial condition of the colonies should be im- proved and their agricultural and commercial interests promoted. For these ends the Imperial Government were willing to accept a system in which they should act as trustees for the colonies, but declared that they were not willing to accept the responsibility of the trust unless accompanied by an adequate measure of power and control. Under the system established on these conditions a vigor- ous efifort was made to avert the ruin threatened by the declining fortunes of the sugar industry, and to restore the capacity of the colonies for self- support by encouraging enterprise in other industries. I have in a previous chapter shown how, in the imminent peril of the West Indian slands. the "luthorities at Kew were drawn into a compre- hensive study of the question of the material development of the smaller colonies, and brought to place at the disposal of the Colonial Office the resources of the Royal Botanic Gardens. It was reserved for Mr. Chamberlain to recognise that the policy might be capable of practically ".nlimited extension in enabling us to find within the territories of a self-contained empire the resources which the Powers of continental Europe and the United States of America were seeking in their struggle for the control of the tropics. There can be no doubt of Mr. Chamberlain's firm grip of the fundamental necessities of the question. He aia THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE appreciated the measure to which the complex life of the modern world rests upon the productions of the tr<^cs; and he realised that, to an extent of which the British worknuin has as yet no clear intelligence, the employment of the white man in the United Kingdom depends on the employment of the coloured man in the tropics. Indeed, it may be said with truth of some of the most important industries in the United Kingdom that they have their roots in the labour of coloured races, while the trunk, branches, flowers, and fruits represent the labour and profits of the white man. It is only the low wage-rate of the tropical area of production of the raw material that enables the manufactured article to be turned out at a price that ensures a large market and yet allows an adequate wage for the British workman. When Mr. Chamberlain became Secretary of State in 1895 a great change had come over the spirit of the administration. Experience had taught that to secure a revenue adequate to the maintenance of a civilised government required the development of other than political capacities. The business of tinkering the constitutional apparatus of the Crown colonies had slackened. Material needs, roads, railways, harbours, drainage and water supply, and a policy of expenditure on loan account for re- productive public works had come to occupy a prominent place in the area of activity of the Office. To meet the requirements of the new policy there vas wanted an agency which should associate British capital with colonial needs, — acting on the FINANCE one hand as intermediary between the City and the Cdonial Office in raising the loan, and on the other as intermediary between the Colonial Office and the parties locally concerned in the expenditure of the proceeds. Two things were inseparably necessary : loans at advanti^^eous rates and the security necessary to obtain such rates. As a guarantee of security an indispensable precaution was a measure of control over the proceeds of the loans adequate to ensure that they should be strictly devoted to the proper purposes with fidelity and economy. What was required was, in short, an agency for promoting the investment of British capital in Crown colonies. An adequate agency was found in the office of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, who became the advisers and ^ents of both the Secretary of State and the local governments in respect of the whole range of transactions connected with public works and loans. In this ofifice the commercial and financial demands of the govern- ments of all the Crown colonies and protectorates are brought into focus at the centre of supply, just as their political and administrative exigcicies are brought into focus at the Colonial Office. In 1 88 1 a memorandum on the origin and functions of the office, drawn up by Sir Penrose Julyan, Senior Crown Agent for many years, was printed in a Parliamentary paper entitled Papers Explanatory of the FuHctWHS of the Crown Agents for the Colonies. Before the year 1833 the commercial and financial business of the colonies was conducted by agents appointed by and responsible to the Governors. 214 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE The creation of a consolidated agency for the Crown colonies was the result of an inquiry in- stituted in that year. The agency as then estab- lished transacted the affairs of most of the present Crown colonies, and of the following among other possessions in which representative government has since been introduced : Cape of Good Hope, New South Wales, West Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, to which Victoria was subsequently added. It gives a striking proof of the development of our colonial interests to find that in the year 1843 the aggregate disbursements of the agency on account of all the colonies amounted to little more than ^380,000. Sir Penrose Julyan's memorandum showed that during the years 1875. 1876, and 1877, the average disbursements of the Agency amounted to ;^9,48 1,000 per annum, in the proportion of 1,948,000 for the Crown colonies, and ^7.533,000 for representative colonies. Since that time, notwithstanding the transfer to their own Agents-General of the business of the representative colonies, the work and responsibility have increased to such an extent that in 1904-06 the business of the office represented an annual average disbursement of ^25,471,414. The Crown Agents are now commercial and financial agents for all the colonies except those possessing responsible government. They are ap- pointed by the Secretary of State, who fixes their salaries, the maximum of expenditure in respect to the number and salaries of their staff, and the charges they may make for the business transacted by their department. These charges are paid by FINANCE 215 the colonial governments for services rendered ; they have been and may be adjusted from time to time so as to make the Agency self-supporting ; and no part of the cost is voted by Parliament. The present scale of ch^ i ges is as follows : 1. A commission of n\e per cent, on all stores obtained through the A ,f i t y. 2. A fixed contribution, v.i. /i;-':; in amount, accord- ing to the volume of transactions, from colonies whose general financial business exceeds 10,000 a year. 3. A commission of one-half per cent, on the issue and repayment of loans, and one-quarter per cent, on the payment of interest. 4. On all overdrawn accounts bank rate of interest is charged with a minimum of three per cent The department receives from brokers a return of half the brokerage on investments made through them. The proceeds of these charges form a fund out of which are defrayed the salaries of the Crown Agents and their staff and the cost of maintenance of their office. There is a widespread impression in the minds of the general public, especially in the colonies, where it leads to much confusion and misunder- standing, that the Crown Agents depend for the amount of their personal incomes on commissions, percentages, brokerages, and similar transactions, and that they " make expenditure " to swell these charges. The fact is that the Crown Agents have no initiative authority in the matter of expenditure. They act only on instructions and requisitions for the issue of which the Governors of Crown 2i6 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE colonies and protectorates are responsible. More- over, they are remunerated by fixed salaries in exactly the same way as the members of the per- manent Civil Service of the Crown and their emoluments no more vary with the revenue of their office than do the emoluments of the Treasury officials with the revenue of the United Kingdom. In fact the revenue and expenditure of the Crown Agents are dealt with on exactly the same lines as the public revenue and expenditure. Any excess on the transactions of a year is carried to a reserve fund, which serves to cover deficits that have occasionally occurred. Should it become necessary, in order to secure a steady equilibrium, the Secretary of State can from time to time revise the scale of charges as has been indicated. A nominal list of the establishment of the Crown Agents' Office is published annually in the Colonial Office List. All their accounts are audited either by the colonial Governments or by the Comptroller and Auditor-General, and an abstract of their office accounts is rendered annually to the Secretary of State. The transactions of the agency may be grouped under three heads: (i) Commercial; (2) Banking; (3) Miscellaneous. Their commercial business includes the supply of all stores, which cannot be procured locally, required by the various governments and protec- torates for which they act. Their most important transactions are on behalf of the departments of public works, railways, and harbours. For the departments of public works they buy the materials FINANCE 217 for the construction of buildings, roads, and bridges, structural ironwork pipes and water fittings, Port- land cement, machinery and engineering appli- ances of all kinds, including all requirements for telegraphs and other uses of electric power. For the railways they purchase permanent way materials, locomotives, and rolling stock of every description ; and steamers, dredgers, boats, and lighthouse appa- ratus for harbours. Next in importance are the requirements of the Post Office and the preparation of stamps, the supply of hospital and laboratory- stores, and the equipment of the police and local military forces. It is often urged with impatience that the harvest of the vast estates we are developing is falling into the hands of foreign traders and foreign shipping; but so far as the Colonial Office can control this tendency the Crown Agents are able to secure for British firms and British "dipping an enormous volume of business which would otherwise be diverted. When important public works, such as railways, harbour works, drainage and water schemes, etc., are projected in the Crown colonies, all business connected with them in the United Kingdom is entrusted to the Crown Agents. This includes all correspondence with the consulting engineers, arrangements for preliminary surveys, preparation and passing of contracts, and advising the Secrecary of State and the colonial Governments on any points of interest or importance which may arise. In no department of their activity have the Crown Agents rendered greater service to the colonies than in the business of banking. 2i8 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE It is impossible for me to give a detailed account of the transactions of the Crown Agents with the colony of Mauritius as bankers during a long period of financial difficulties extending from 1892 to 1903. Apart from temporary advances, they negotiated fixed term loans on terms which could not have been obtained through any other agency. 1 give in an appendix a general statement of some principal transactions during the period. Only one short term loan was negotiated and repaid while 1 was in Mauritius. In a despatch to the Secretary of State, I showed with what advantage to the colony it had been carried through by the Crown Agents : Government House, Mauritius, 19th May, 1899. "SiK, " With reference to my telegram of the 20';h ultimo and to the despatches noted in the margin, I have the honour to transmit, herewith, a copy of a statement showing the transactions of the advances made to planters under Ordinance No. 2 of 1898. "It will be seen that a net profit of Rs. 20,969.57 accrues to the Colony. " The success of this interesting experiment has depended on : (a) The facilities obtained through the office of the Crown Agents for raising money in England for short terms to be applied to the advances. {d) The uninterrupted co.nmuntcation with London by telegram. FINANCE 219 " Advances made to planters were to bear interest only for the precise number of days during which they remained unpaid to the Treasury, and these periods could not of course correspond precisely with the periods for which funds were raised by the Crown Agents. *' In accordance with the system adopted advances were made to the planters at many different times and for many different periods while the total amount borrowed by the Crown Agents was borrowed at three different periods and at different rates, the average rate being 3.37 per cent. The annexed return estimates the profit on this basis. " For the services rendered by the Crown Agents in the matter of this loan, I have the honour to request that you may be good enough to convey to them the thanks of my Government and of the Colony. " I have, etc." 1 gladly avail myself of this as of every occasion to express my sense of the particular services thus rendered to the colony. Similar service has been done in British Guiana, and my experience leads me to believe that the assistance which the local Governments are placed in a position to affcjrd in times of crisis through the Crown Agents appre- ciably fortifies the security of the colonial banks. In illustration of their services as bankers, 1 may mention that neighbouring colonies, in remote parts of the Empire, find it more convenient to adjust their accounts through the office of the Crown Agents in London than by direct transactions. 220 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE The miscellaneous business of the Crown Agents includes the payment of salaries, pensions, widows' and orphans' funds, transactions connected with bills of exchange, the management of sinking funds, deposits, temporary advances, the adjustment of accounts between colonial Governments and the General Post Office in respect of postage and money orders, and many other similar operations. In 1909 salaries were paid to 2,500 colonial officials on leave of absence and to 1,600 colonial pensioners. Most of such payments are made monthlv. In 1 90 1 an inquiry into the working of the Office was instituted by Mr. Chamberlain. In the course of this inquiry all the Crown colony Governments as well as the High Commissioners of protectorates were invited to give the result of their experience and to offer their opinions and criticisms. On the evidence thus obtained the Secretary of State went exhaustively into the general question of the position and functions of the office and the details of procedure in the conduct of its business. He then considered what changes might usefully be introduced to meet suggestions and criticisms. It was fortunate that the inquiry was completed before Mr. Chamberlain's resignation of office, and that he was able to deal with the points raised in the corre- spondence and to state the conclusions at which he arrived. It will be generally allowed that few, if any, Colonial Secretaries have been, or are likely to be, so admirably qualified to deal with a business inquiry of this sort as Mr. Chamberlain. Taking the whole range of business, commercial, banking, FINANCE 331 and miscellaneous, into account, Mr. Chamberlain came to the conclusion that the system had worked exceptionally well, and that the Crown Agents had by able, upright, and single-minded service deserved the confidence of the Crown colonies and of suc- cessive Secretaries of State. Some changes of procedure designed to facilitate business between the colonial Governments and the Crown Agents were carried into effect. Meanwhile the business of the Crown Agents has for many years been steadily increasing, and the office was in 1903 transferred from the inadequate accommodation offered by a part of the Colonial Office into buildings in Whitehall Gardens, specially reconstructed to meet their requirements. The entire cost of reconstruction was defrayed out of the reserve fund of the department. The staff now, in 1 9 10, numbers 236. The incidence of the burden of Africa has fallen with exceptional weight on the office of the Crown Agents, but no department of the State has proved itself better able to bear the strain. The Parlia- mentary session of 1904 was marked by much criti- cism of public departments, arising out of the South African War, and the criticisms of the Crown Agents' Office had no doubt their origin mainly in the magni- tude of their transactions in South Africa. The complaints were many, but of such a nature that Mr. Lyttelton was able to declare, that while he had always been willing to investigate any specific causes of complaint brought against the Crown Agents, it was most remarkable, considering the enormous magnitude of their transactions, that no specific 222 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE instance of the kind complained of had ever been brought against them. Nevertheless complaints continued to be the subjt t of constant interpellations in Parliament, and in 1908 Lord Crewe appointed a Committee, of which Colonel Seely, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, was Chairman, to inquire into and report on the Crown Agents' Office. The inquiry was, in the first instance, concerned with the organisation of the office, but the Committee decided to receive evidence as to the nature of the work performed, the system of organisation adopted to carry it out, and how far it was satisfactorily performed. It had frequently been urijed tha"; the inquiries held by Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Lyttelton had been biassed by official partiality ; and for this reason, no doubt, the Committee included members who could by no possibility be suspected of undue partiality in favour of the office. And the same may be said of the witnesses called to give evidence. Apart from the staff of the Colonial Office, no witnesses were called for the Crown Agents, who moreover were not allowed to be present during the inquiry. Among the Governors and High Commissioners consulted by Mr. Cham- berlain there were many who could have borne testimony to the splendid services rendered by the Crown Agents. But while the three ex-Govemors called were unanimous in declaring their general satisfaction with the financial and commercial work of the office, two of them were apparently called to allow them to submit more or less specific complaints, and the other to advocate a system of open local FINANCE 223 contracts in substitution of the Crown Agents' system. On the whole, it was to the great advantage of the Crown Agents that these witnesses were called. But undoubtedly the evidence most favourable to them was that of the hostile witness, Mr. (now Sir) John David Rees. Mr. Rees gave evidence on the subject of the execution of a contract for the construction of a railway in Nyassaland.by a company of which he was a director, and urged that the Crown Agents had insisted with too great severity on the terms of the contract. A question addressed to him by Mr. Harris of the Colonial Office, and his reply, were very instructive : " Do you not think that the Governor of the Colony, who is responsible to the Secretary of State, and is a man, as you know, of high position and character, has, speaking generally, a responsibility, which he is bound to exercise for the future of the Colony ? " " Certainly, at the expense of the Cuiony or of the taxpayer in general, but not at the expense of a contracting Company." His complaint was typical of the great body of complaints that have for years been made against the Crown Agents, that they exact too high a standard of quality and efficiency from contractors. To exact a high standard of quality and efficiency is the raisoH dHre of the office as a commercial agency. The records of the Colonial Office could produce abundant evidence of the peril to which local Governments have been exposed by the methods of local contractors when the field of com- petition is strictly limited. I refer more especially 224 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE to contracts for materials used in works of con- struction, as, for instance, timber and Portland cement. Default in such contracts cannot be made good by penalty, and the delay in repricing con- demned stores in remote colonies is a source of danger of which persons living in the United Kingdom can hardly form an idea. Default in the case of contracts for the supply of coal for railway and steamer services has led to even graver con- sequences. Lord Crewe, in a Circular Despatch transmitting the report to the Governors of Crown colonies and others, paid the highest compliment to the Crown Agents in pointing out that "the conclusion of the Committee with regard to the position and functions of the Crown Agents and their office and of the Crown Agents' Office and Reserve Fun coincide with the views which have been held au^ stated in public documents by suc- cessive Secretaries of State." The Committee made recommendations for some improvements in the organisation of the office, which have been carrit- < out by the Crown Agents. On these I desire < make no comment. I have only to add my firm opinion, that in view of the responsibility of the Imperial Treasury, in the final resort, for the financial stability of the Crown colonies, the position of the Crown Agents acquires really Imperial significance, and it may be said with- out exaggeration that "their able, upright, and single-minded service," to use the words of Mr. Chamberlain, constitutes a national asset. CHAPTER XXII TRANSPORT It has been seen that the services rendered by the Crown Acrents' Office are mainly connected with facilities of exchange between the United Kingdom and the Crown colonies, and facility of exchange includes, of course, facilities of transport. The Har- vest of fertile lands cultivated with industry, however indefatigable, by methods however intelligent and appropriate, may be rendered worthless by cost of conveyance to market. In these days of swift t m- munication by steam and electric power we are apt to forget how recent has been the transition from transport by manual labour to transport by animal portage, from animal portage to animal draught, from a..imal draught to mechanical draught. In many of the Crown colonies the earlier methods are still mainly employed, but progress has been rapid. And the progress has been made possible only by the system of expenditure on public works charged to loan account. The negotiation of loans for this purpose has been, as we have seen, a principal business of the Crown Agents. Facilities of trans- port for the development of our tropical estates will 336 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE be largely dealt with in a chapter treating of expan- ston in British Guiana ; and in regard to that colony 1 need only here say that the period ( f territorial expansion was immediately preceded by a period of activity in the construction ol public roads withm the small area beneficially occupied on the sea-coast. This activity was chiefly due to the energy of Sir Henry Irving during his tenure of the Government between 1882 and 1887. It was of ^rreat advantage at the time to tht,- area within which it served to reduce the cost of production by concentrating the population. In the Windward Islands transport was almost entirely by manual or animal portage prior to 1885, when Sir Walter Sendall advocated and carried out in Grenada a vigorous policy of road construction, in combination with an equally vigorous policy of developing the resources of the colony by the estab- lishment of a botanical garden for the promotion ot improved methods of ag riculture and the introduction of new plants and products. The policy of road con- struction was logically extended to the improvement of the coasting trade by the maintenance of an efificient service of steamers. The beneficial results that have followed this policy are an enduring testimony to Sir Walter Sendall's judgment and foresight. The policy of Sir Walter Sendall was continued by his successor. Sir Walter Hely- Hutchinson. On the first occasion of his meeting the Legislature, he declared that he considered the construction of roads and efificient means of communication to be the first object of concern to the colony. The main TRANSPORT roads in course of construction were completed; many nejjjlectccl minor roads were reconstructed to connect the inland area of cultivation with the main roads ; and new roads were provided in order of importance as means and opportunity allowed. The policy was extended to the establishment of direct steam communication with New York, to develop thv. cocoa and fruit industry, and the improvement of the harbours. In 1S93 I succeeded Sir Walter Hely-llutchinson, and there was no interruption of policy. But, coincidently with the main object of improved means of transport by road and sea, there had been carried out a very con^^U-te system of communication by telephone, to which I shall refer again !'!iere had also been a liberal expenditure on ir . on- struction of water works and public buildings. The time had now come when provision had to be made for a considerable annual charge for interest and the redemption of the debt accumulated for these purposes. My predecessors had advised that, for the part of the debt incurred in establishing an adequate system of transport, provision should be made by an export duty. This advice had been given in view of the conditions in which agriculture was carried on. During a period of some fifteen years preceding January, 1885, changes in the agricultural system of the island, originally brought about by the en^-. .cipation of the slaves, had been rapidly pro- gressing. Sugar having ceased to be a remunerative article of export under the conditions of labour in Grenada, numbers of estates had been abandoned. 228 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE and, after an interval, sold out in small lots to the former labourers, who cultivated them in cocoa and spices. The change that had gradually taken place can best be estimated by comparing the exports of sugar and cocoa in 1846 with those of 1881. In 1846 there were exported 9,196,538 lb. of sugar and 374,686 lb. of cocoa; in 1881 the ex- ports included 5,864,090 lb. of cocoa and nearly 100,000 lb. of spices, as against 2,038,712 lb, of sugar. In 1893 the value of sugar exported was ;^73i ; of cocoa, ;^28 1,004 1 of spices, ^^14,605. In 1894 the value of sugar exported fell to ;^50. The advice of my predecessors had been over- ruled by the Colonial Office, and in 1887 an ordinance for the levy of export duties had been disallowed. In the interval, however, the charges on account of public debt had been very largely increased, and I could see no way to put the finances of the colony in a sound position except that advised by my predecessors, and supported by the almost universal wish of the colony, apart from a small group of absentee proprietors. Accordingly an ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council, but was prompdy disallowed on the ground "of the well-known strong objection of Her Majesty's Government to export duties." No other reason was assigned, except that a similar ordinance had been previously disallowed. My position at the time was in accordance with precedent and the traditions of the Colonial Office. In the year 1842 a tariff was enacted by the Legis- lature of Jamaica, which, on being sent home, was found to violate the economic principles of Free- TRANSPORT 229 trade recently adopted in the United Kingdom. An angry despatch informed Lord Elgin, then Governor, that it was disapproved, and that nothing but an apprehension of the financial embarrassments that must ensue prevented it from being disallowed. In terms almost amounting to a reprimand Lord Elgin was instructed to exercise the influence of his office in opposing similar enactments, and it was added: "If, unfortunately, your efforts should be unsuccessful, and if any such Bill should be pre- sented for your acceptance, it is Her Majesty's pleasure that you withhold your assent from it." The substance of Lord Elgin's reply is recorded in his Letters and Journals. He represented that the duties in question were not found injuriously to affect trade, while they were needed to meet the expenditure; that the Legislature was extremely jealous in the matter of taxation ; and that " while sensible that the services of a Governor must be unprofitable if he failed to acquire and exercise a legitimate moral influence in the general conduct of affairs, he was at the same time convinced that a just appreciation of the difficulties with which the Legislature of the island had yet to contend, and of the sacrifices and exertions already made under the pressure of no ordinary embarrassments, was an indispensable condition of his usefulness." On this representation the peremptory command above quoted was withdrawn. The question of refusing to allow a colony to raise revenue, by methods appropriate to its circum- stances and the conditions of its environment, on the ground of a general objection entertained by the 230 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Home Government is one which strikes at the very root of Our colonial policy. I need, therefore, make no apology for reproducing the reasons I urged for reconsideration in a despatch to the Secretary of State. Grenada, 8th February, 1S94. " The proposal to impose export duties on cocoa and spices involving questions of great and per- manent importance, I will ask leave to submit for your Lordship's consideration the reasons which seemed to the Government and the Legislature of the colony to jusuiy the proposal. " Although I was well aware of the strong objection of Her Majesty's Government to export duties as a means of raising revenue for general purposes, I was not aware that this objection extended to export duties raised for a specific purpose falling within the range of a well-defined fixed principle. This I may state as, the appropriation of the pro- ceeds of export duties on agricultural products to purposes intended to reduce the cost of production, and to enable a colonial producer to compete on advantageous terms with the producers of other countries. In proposing a measure based on this principle, I could not but believe that I was acting in accordance with the policy of Her Majesty's Government, inasmuch as in nearly all the colonies where the fiscal arrangements are under the com- plete control of Her Majesty's Government the principle has been admitted in practice. I have TRANSPORT 231 always conceived that it was in accordance with the principle 1 have indicated that export duties have in the West Indies and elsewhere been appro- priated to Immigration purposes, and I considered it a logical consequence that where the authorised appropriation of the duties to Immigration purposes has ceased to meet the wants and wishes of a colony, the appropriation to another specific purpose falling within range of the same principle might reasonably be approved. " I was confirmed in this impression by the terms of the Secretary of State's despatch No. 193, of December 14th, 1887, to which your Lordship has alluded. In that despatch Lord Knutsford said, ' I cannot sanction the application of the exoort duty, which was imposed exclusively for Immigration purposes, for the general expenditure of the colony.' " Your Lordship will allow me to point out that, since the passing of the law authorising the raising of an export duty on sugar for Immigration pur- poses, many of the conditions affecting the cultiva- tion and tenure of land in Grenada have completely changed : (1) The export duty on sugar for Immigration purposes has ceased to have a raison (CStre, inasmuch as sugar has almost entirely ceased to be grown for export. Nearly all the produce of the sugar-cane grown in the colony is consumed in the colony, and a large portion of it in the form of rum. (2) The introduction of Immigrants under the Ordinance was a measure directly benefiting 232 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE only the capitalists, who were able to meet the considerable expenses of intro- duction, and in whose hands the sugar industry, — which constituted the chief agri- cultural interest of the colony — was held. At present the staple agricultural produce is cocoa, and this industry is largely in the hands of peasant proprietors, to whom the credit for the introduction of cocoa in substitution of sugar is chiefly due. (3) But the success of this enterprise has depended, and is dependent, on the con- struction and maintenance of roads and by-ways, to secure the cheap and easy conveyance of produce to a profitable market. What Immigration was intended to be in this colony, and is elsewhere, as a factor in reducing the cost of produc- tion of sugar, that, and more than that, the roads of Grenada are as a factor in reducing the cost of production of cocoa. The importance of this question has been fully recognised by my predecessors, who have proposed, in accordance with the general wishes of the community, to establish a Road Fund, from the general revenue of the Colony. It was the intention of this Government, to carry out this proposal by the establishment of a Road Fund on exactly the same principles as the Immigration Fund. " In these circumstances, after the most careful consideration, it appeared to me that the terms TRANSPORT 233 of Lord Knutsford's despatch were perfectly con- sistent with the approval by your Lordship of an export duty appropriated for a purpose strictly limited by the principle on which I understood the appropriation for Immigration purposes to have been justified. " In the construction which I ventured to place on Lord Knutsford s despatch I felt myself con- firmed by his Lordship's action in a closely analogous case. After the passing of the M'Kinley Tariff and subsequent Treaty arrangements, the Combined Court of British Guiana appropriated a part of the acreage tax on sugar estates to recoup the general revenue for the loss of duty on imports exempted to meet the requirements of the Treaty arrangements. This appropriation was objected to by the West India Committee who appealed to the Secretary of State to disallow the tax ordinance, on the ground that the acreage tax had been imposed exclusively for immigration purposes. Lord Knutsford was good enough to refer the correspondence to me, and I defended the action of the Combined Court on the ground that the appropriation was made for the specific purpose of reducing the cost of placing British Guiana sugar on the American market. The prin- ciple involved was the transfer of a tax on produce originally raised for the purpose of reducing the cost of cultivation to the purpose of making arrange- ments necessary to reduce the cost of placing sugar on the market, and closely analogous to the prin- ciple I am vindicating. Lord Knutsford declined to disallow the ordinance. 234 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE "In these preliminary remarks I have endeavourec; only to satisfy your Lordship that in the »u?tter of the export duties 1 had reasonable ground to believe that the proposals of my Government would be found in accordance with the views of her Majesty's Government and the action of your Lordship's predecessor. " I will now briefly indicate the reasons which led me to believe that the measure proposed, con- sidered on its merits as affecting the interests of the colony, was likely to prove beneficial. " I have already observed that the Road Fund contemplated by this Government follows the lines of the Immigration Fund established here and else- where. This Fund is usually maintained from three sources : A general tax on sugar estates (either by way of land tax or e.xport duty) ; A contribution by way of indenture fee on each immigrant allotted to an estate, or, in other words, a payment proportionate to the share of advantage directly accruing to the individual planter ; A contribution from general revenue. " The scheme proposed by this Government for the maintenance of a Road Fund does not differ, in principle, from these arrangements. It was proposed to maintain the Road Fund by — 1st. — A house and land tax ; 2nd. — An export duty as an equivalent to a graduation of the land tax in proportion to the value of the lands in cultivation ; 3rd. — A contribution from general revenue. TRANSPORT 235 "As regards the second of these sources of revenue, your Lordship has urged that 'the objects may be secured by less objectionable expedients.' I feel sure that your Lordship will do me the justice to believe that my aim has been to secure the object in view by the expedients which seemed to me and to my advisers the least open to objection from the point of view of the particular circumstances of the colony. " For a just appreciation of the proposed scheme, it is necessary to take into account some principal conditions affecting the cultivation and tenure of the lands of Grenada. The lands of Grenada may be divided generally into four classes : Lands in cocoa cultivation. Lands in nutmeg cultivation. Lands in sugar cultivation. Remainder lands in other cultivation, and pasture lands. " The problem to be solved is the adjustment of the incidence of taxation in fair proportion to the value of these four classes of land. Under the existing laws all four classes, with the exception of a part of those I have classed as remainder lands, are subject to the same acreage tax. The inequality of incidence under the existing laws is fairly represented in a petition addressed to my pre- decessor on February 14th, 1892, and signed by all the principal representatives of the sugar inters t as well as by others. I annex a copy of this petition. " A very low estimate of the average net annual profit from lands in full bearing cocoa cultivation, at present prices, would be from ;^i2 to /iis an 236 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE acre; of lands in full bearing nutmeg cultivation from jCso to ^40 per acre ; as regards lands in sugar cultivation I cannot do better than refer your Lordship to the petition I have alluded to; the lands I have classed as remainder lands are to a very large extent on the margin of cultivation or benefici^ occupation. It is of the essence of the proposed scheme that the land tax should be fixed with particular reference to the lands on the margin of cultivation, so that they may continue to be bene- ficially occupied and not thrown out of cultivation by the burden of a tax beyond their capacity to bear. As regards the lands under cultivation in sugar, I have already shown that, with the exception of a small quantity of sugar consumed in the colony, and a smaller quantity exported, the product of these lands is manufactured into rum, and, in determining the incidence of taxation which they may reasonably be called upon to bear, it must be remembered that rum is heavily taxed for the use of the general revenue. This taxation, of course, indirectly affects the value of the lands in sugar cultivation. The produce of lands in cocoa and nutmeg cultivation is, with the exception of a very small quantity, exported from the colony, and it is essential to consider that the conditions of cultivation of these products differ widely from the conditions attaching to the cultiva- tion of cereals, sugar, and other agricultural produce forming a large factor in colonial commerce. " As regards lands under cultivation in cocoa and nutmegs; in the case of cocoa four or five years are necessary before any profit at all,— except such as is derived from the subsidiary cultivation of bananas TRANSPORT 237 or other plants among the cocoa — is obtained, and from ten to fifteen years before a plantation is in full bearing; in the case of nutmeg, ten years must elapse before any profit can be expected, and many more years before the trees are in full bearing. The effect of the scheme proposed by this Government would be that land under cultivation in cocoa or nutmeg would pass from the trifling burden imposed by the acreage tax on uncultivated land, or land on the margin of cultivation, under a progressively increasing burden adjusted automatically to the measure of the increasing yield. Lands under ex- perimental cultivation, with a view to testing the adaptability of the soil and climate to new agri- cultural industries, would fall under the same favourable conditions, and it is in every way in the interest of the colony that this should be the case. In this way every reasonable inducement would be offered for the extension of the area of cultivation, both by capitalists and by peasant proprietors. "It has been the policy of this Government for some years to facilitate the tenure of land by peasant proprietors, and, so far as these are concerned, an export duty is a burden which can be adjusted to the back much more easily than a high land tax. In tropical colonies agriculture is even more subject than elsewhere to sudden vicissitudes of fortune from meteorological and other causes. Now a pro- prietor with little or no capital beyond his land and his capacity for labour is by the very nature of an export tax relieved from the burden on his land in proportion to the comparative failure of his crop. In the case of a tax assessed on the value of his land 238 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE it is otherwise. Crop or no crop, the tax has to be paid, and, if he has no means of paying his tax, he must either apply to the usurer or a;, once forfeit his land. Long experience proves that the final result is the same. It may be urged that the expenses of road maintenance will continue whether the harvest be good or bad. That is, of course, admitted, but it does not necessarily follow that the failure of individual crops must mean a failure of the harvest throughout the colony. In view, however, of the possibility of a generally bad harvest, my pre- decessor proposed that, if the Road Fund can get itself established, twenty per cent, should be laid aside to meet the ungenial seasons of adversity which are almost sure from time to time to occur. I concur in this prudent proposal. " In considering the question of an export tax for the specific purpose in view, I did not omit to consult a document to which I naturally attach great importance, the report of the Royal Commissioners appointed in December, 1882. I felt it my duty very carefully to consider how far their objections to export duties for general purposes of expenditure might be pertinent to the proposal under considera- tion. It has, of course, to be borne in mind that the Commissioners, when making recommendations, in favour of abolishing export duties in the Wind- ward Islands, were considering fiscal arrangements intended to be common to the four islands of the group, which they proposed to unite into one colony. "It does not follow that a measure which may be accepted in making fiscal arrangements for a group TRANSPORT 239 of islands as being on the whole the best, taking into account the interests of each, must be con- sidered as the best when the interests of one only have to be considered. In matters of taxation affecting the complex interests of a community there is nothing more certain than that what may be true of the whole collectively is not necessarily or even generally true of the parts individually. " Taking due account of the circumstances in which the recommendation I have referred to is made, I find in part I., paragraph 350, the reasons for abolishing export duties summarised as follows: " 350. Export duties are objectionable on prin- ciple, unless they are levied on articles for which a country has a practical monopoly of supply, and this cannot be said of West Indian produce. "Many planters, however, prefer these duties to other modes of raising funds for immigration purposes, on the plea that the tax bears a fixed proportion to their annual receipts. It is, however, necessary to remember that the expenses for which these duties are to provide remain the same whatever the crop may be, and must be paid by the planter out of th^; iacome of his business, whether the charge be levied on his hogsheads and puncheons on the wharf, or c > 1 is land, his sugar works, his still, or his siock. "These duties are costly in collection, and trade is hampered by strict rules that have to be laid down as to times and places of 240 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE shipment, and we are decidedly oi opinion thcii in the interest of the revenue no less than ol tra'le in j^eneral, and the planting industry in particular, it is advisable no longer to levy export duties." " The principle upon which a j^eneral objection is based is not st.ued in the first clause of this paragraph, but tlitt referen ■ to a ' pract' il monopoly of sujjpl) ' cirariy indica"^s the proposi- tion that an export duty, except v' sn there is a practical monopoly of supply, by increasing the cost of production, - incliklint; in this term the cost of carryinjj commodities to market -placets the colonial producer at a disadvanuige in i jreign markets in competition with producers elsewhere. This objec- tion might be urged against every form of taxatron directly or indirectly affecting the agricultural producer. But admitting the objection in principle, it must surely lose whatever force it mi\^ht other- wise possess when the export duty is appropriated solely to reducing the local cost of production of a commodity. " It is on this very ground, as I apprehend, that an export duty as an expedient for raising money for Immigration purposes has been generally admitted h' Her Majesty's Government, and as regards the second clause of the paragraph I need, therefore, only refer to what I have said in the 1 5th paragraph of this despatch as applicable to the point raised. " The objections stated in the final clause of the paragraph are certainly not applicable as objections to the fM-oposal recently made by this Government. TRANSPORT 341 "The method of collet ion of the export duty would htve emailed no additi(M»l cost whatever, and would have re- ired no restriction as to time aikd place of shipmt 1' becau th" hole cocoa and nutmeg crop ifc exported 10 f m 1 markets from ports of call frequented by two or three lines of steamers, and is shipped by agents resident at these ports who are legally responsible to the Government for the payment of the export Ibty a the departure of me st< -r. i. fact, n • ncipal argument in favour of i- expoi dut s the cheapness and lacility of co lection, "Such ar . in brie? th- nr ratio- s which d( ermine ! ni' in . ot the jeme ibmitted ' ' ' '•e il in December iast, and *P1 ' ^Inr unanimous vote. In the LegisUtive . nc'' here was at the commence- ment of th denbe n a strong feeling expressed 1 favour )f ai. as sment graduated on the value of Ian ' r the jections to this proposal which ' .id Hi ly b ' ' idered by the Government -eemed msum. ibk. They were, briefly, the ' xtreme diffi obtaining an assessment which ould be ac as satisfactory and impartial ; the t ant' tr. ai of assessment, of decisions on 'peal, uid („ oliection; the difficulty which small rie; rs would have in paying the assessment in a d reason; and the probable e.vpropriation of ry c! ss -vhich has, for some years, been the oje c of Government to settle on the land. "An equi .ent to a irraduated assessment is only likely to be found by an assessment on the value of the crop estimated annually by experts tn situ, or by II Q ^ 242 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE an assessment on the crop gathered and prepared for market The former method would, I fear, be open to nearly all the objections of a graduated valuation, and to others ; as regards the alternative expedient, it was the intention of the Government to adopt it in the way which seemed open to least objection. In conclusion, I will ask your Lordship to con- sider the proposal put forward and the grounds upon which I entertained it, with reference solely to the present circumstances of the colony of Grenada. So far as I have made myself acquainted with the islands of the Windward group, I can easily conceive that fiscal arrangements applicable to one may be inappropriate, or even impossible, in others. " I have, etc." The reply was short The Colonial Office has the "tremendous power to decide questions of vital importance to a colony without appeal to the tribunal of reason. Downing Street, 4th May, 1894. " Sir, — I have given very careful attention to the representations made in your despatch No. 23 of 8th February last in support of your proposals for the re-adjustment of taxation in Grenada. "Although I am unable to concur in your con- clusions, and must adhere to the decision already conveyed to you, I appreciate the very great care and consideration which you have bestowed upon this question, and I am satisfied that you had no intention of setting aside the views of Her Majesty's TRANSPORT 243 Government on the principles of taxation which should be followed. "I have, etc., " RiPON." After two years of continuous effort to reduce expenditure by amalgamation of administrative offices, and to meet the financial requirements of the colony without recourse to export duties, I decided to appeal to Mr. Chamberlain, who had succeeded Lord Ripon as Secretary of State. In my appeal I reviewed the principles of taxation which had guided me in the financial administration of the colony, and which I believed to be generally applicable to an agricultural Crown colony : Grenada, 6th August, 1 896. • " In view of the shrinkage of revenue from taxation already, as you are aware, raised to the straining point, I am endeavouring to effect every possible economy consistent with the absolutely necessary requirements of efficient administration ; and I am bound at the same time to consider whether the present incidence of taxation is equitable and impartial. The expenditure of the colony may be classed generally under four heads: Administration of government. Administration of justice. Expenditure for charitable and beneficent pur- poses. Public Works. 944 THE BROAD STONB OF EMPIRE " Deferring for a moment the subject of adminit* tration of Government, it seems reasonable that, as regards the administration of justice in civil cases, the cost should be borne generally by the parties concerned. On the criminal side, including the cost of police and prisons, it seen ot less reason* able that the expenditure should e met by taxes on intoxicating liquors, and in ^ > respect the scheme of taxation in Grenada under which a considerable revenue is raised from this source seems to be justi6ed. "As regards charitable and beneficent expendi- ture, under which head I include the medical and educational services, I beg leave to refer to my speech to the Legislative Council of Decem- ber 30th, 1895, of which for convenient reference I annex a copy. I have there endeavoured to justify the taxation of imported articles of general use and consumption on the ground that the pro- ceeds of these taxes are to a very large extent appropriated to services rendered, through the agencies indicated, for the advantage of the general community made contributory to the scheme of taxation by the Customs Tariff. " Coming now to the consideration of Public Works I have shown in my speech referred to above that out of an annual expenditure of approximately ;^6o,0(X) about 10,000 is required to cover the cost of maintenance of roads, and the charges on account of the public debt raised for the construction or reconstruction of the roads. "In a despatch addressed to the Secretary of State, No. 33, of February 8th, 1894, I dealt TRANSPORT 145 with the question of taxation with a view to ad- justing fairly the incidence of the burden of road maintenance and proposed an export tax. The Marquess of Ripon, while unable to concur in my conclusions, was good enough to express his appre- ciation of the very great care and consideration which I had bestowed on the question. " If I am bold enough to implore you to reconsider the question of an export tax to be appropriated in aid of the expenditure on account of the public roads of Grenada, I can only urge that in the almost desperate financial position of the colony it seems absolutely necessary that the profits of the land should bear their share of the public burden imposed for the benefit of the land, and that in my belief the burden can by no other expedient be made to sit so easily on the shoulders that ought to bear it. "In support of my proposal in favour of an expert tax what litde I have to add to the terms of my despatch of February 8th, 1894, will fall mainly under two heads : (1) The unequal incidence of the existing system of taxation in the colony ; (2) The difficulty and cost of an assessment graduated on the value of the land. "In my despatch of February 8th, 1894, I refrained from dealing with the position of the ab- sentee proprietors and the mortgagees to whom the produce is assigned as security for loans, and who are frcQ > ntly to all intents ai d purposes absentee J»op/.';.<;r„, Both these classes of persons are to ft \arg^ latent exempted from taxation under a 246 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE system which here as elsewhere in the West Indies provides the bulk of the public revenue from duties of Customs on articles of general use and con- sumption and from taxes on liquor. " On the subject of the position of the absentee proprietors, I beg leave to refer you to paragr^hs 4 to 7 of my despatch, No. 157, of December 26th, 1895, in which 1 ventured to invite your attention to a recommendation made by the Royal Commission appointed in 1882, to the effect that *it would be equitable and satisfactory if local legislation were to provide taxes which would fall directly upon income and profits which are obtained in although not spent in the colony.' " 1 beg leave again to refer to my speech to the Legislative Council in December last, in which I pointed out some of the difficulties which lie in the way of an assessed or graduated land tax. • • • • • • *' I have, etc." I add an extract from my speech on the subject of direct taxation. Every page of recent history in equatorial Africa confirms the justice of my views on the dangers of direct taxation in circum- stances analogous to those that existed in the West Indies at the time of the Royal Commission's inquiry, and Sir Robert Hamilton's report. ' The publication of Sir Robert Hamilton's report on Dominica has thrown a great deal of light on the subject, and has clearly shown the difficulty and danger of imposing on the mass of a West Indian population a new form or a shifting form of direct TRANSPORT 247 taxation. It will readily be admitted that the difficulty must be aggravated if such a measure is suddenly resorted to in times of agricultural depression. The more anxiously I have studied the question the more difficult it seems to me to contend with the difficulties of assessment and collection. I have already referred to these difficulties in a despatch to the Secretary of State which was laid before you last year. The difficulty of a fair assess- ment is increased by the fact that the areas of landed properties here, as generally in the West Indies, are often of very unequal value, a certain portion of an estate yielding very high profits while the remainder may be unproductive waste. The collection of the tax can hardly fail to be onerous and expensive where the land is held in thousands of small holdings by a shifting proprietary. And above all there is the very strong objection to direct taxation inherent in the West Indian population as was pointed out by the Royal Commission of 1883, and as has been more conclusively shown in Sir Robert Hamilton's report Even in countries the most advanced in political progress, it is probable that there are but few who really appreciate in the person of the taxgatherer the beneficent agency of a just and wise statesmanship. There cannot, I think, be any doubt that to the mass of the population in the West Indies the collection of direct taxes is not only directly hateful but has the effect of alienating the sympathies of the people from the Government and obscures their recognition of the advantages which, as I have endeavoured to show, the proceeds of taxation are devoted to conferring on them. S48 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE These are among the reasons which have decided us to prefer in the circumstances the scheme of taxation we propose ; but the question of a graduated tax on the land or of a measure in substitution of it is engaging my constant &*'ention.' Mr. Chamberlain's answer was prompt. I had asked for an early reply. It was sent by telegraphic despatch : (Telegram) '•Referring to your Despatch No. 99, Grenada, consent to export duties." I closed my despatch to Lord Ripon on the subject of export duties with the observation that fiscal arrangements applicable to one of the colonies in the Windward group might be inappropriate or even impossiUe in others. The observation was soon to be justified. Coincidendy with the expendi- ture on public roads in Grenada there had been in St. Lucia a very large expenditure of funds raised by loan for a different purpose. In St. Lucia the place of the sugar industry as a factor in the prosperity of the colony had to a large extent been taken by the shipping industry. The Im- perial Government, for reasons which will be fully set out in a chapter of this work dealing with Colonial Defence, had decided to make St. Lucia a naval and military base and a fortified coaling station. To carry out this intention there had been a large expenditure on harbour improve- ments to which the Admiralty had contributed the grotesquely insignificant sum of about /s.ooo. TRANSPORT 249 Coincidently with the carrying out of the harbour improvements the colony had incurred a 'arge expenditure for purposes more or less direcdy con- nected with the Imperial uses of the island as a fortified coaling station. Most of this expenditure had been incurred under instructions from the Colonial Office before I became Governor of the Windward Islands, but it fell to me, as in the case of Grenada, to provide for the payment of interest and sinking fund. A careful analysis of the ex- penditure of the colony on the principles explained in my despatch to Mr. Chamberlain on August 5th, 1896, forced me to the conclusion that while it was in the interest of the colony in general that the facilities of the port of Castries should be adequate to maintain its position as a coaling station of the first importance on the great ocean highway between North and South America, it was reasonable that the shipping to which the port was of such signal service should contribute to the burden of public expenditure. I proposed therefore to put a small import duty, sixpence a ton, on coal. It was not a new proposition; some years before a much larger duty had been suggested, but it had been successfully resisted by influences that had access to the Colonial Office ; and I was well aware of the nature of the machinery that would be set in motion to oppose it again. In the first place, a motion for postponement was proposed in the Legislative Council. I knew well what that meant It was to give time for pressure to be brought to bear on the Colonial Office. It was not pressed, but the desired delay was obtained in another way. The ordinance to 250 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE levy the duty was passed in December, 1895, and it was represented to me that the contracts with the shipowners for the supply of bunker coal for 1896 had already been signed, and that these contracts did not (H-ovide for the imposition of the duty. I had to consent to the insertion of a clause in the ordinance providing that the duty should not be collected until the first day of January, 1907. To have refused the concession would have been to supply the "m- fluences" with a grievance which might have resulted in the disallowance of the duty altogether. And the disallowance of a duty after a commencement of collection has been made produces serious incon- venience. This has been illustrated recently in the United Kingdom by the " disallowance," if I may so call it, of the Budget of 1909 by the House of Lords. However, the "influences" did not move Mr. Chamberlain, and the duty was levied. My narrative will suffice to show that during the most trying time of a long season <^ adversity in the West Indies, the Government of the Windward Islands recognised the paramount importance of facilities of transport, not only by inland roads and coasting steamers, but by means of communication with ocean highway routes to their markets in tem- perate regions. Grenada had direct communication with New York, while St. Lucia was a point of con- tact with ocean highways to Europe and America. I have also shown the methods by which it was found possible to provide these facilities without assistance from the Imperial Treasury. The Royal Commission sent to the West Indies in 1897 did not fail to appreciate the importance of supplying all TRANSPORT 251 the islands with similar means of communication. They found that facilities of transport were a necessary corollary to the establishment of the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the develop- ment of West Indian resources, but that they could not be supplied without aid from the Imperial Treasury. On their recommendation services sub- sidised by the Imperial Government were established to carry on regular inter-insular communication and connect all the West India colonies with the United Kingdom, Canada, and America. Of these services 1 need only particularly mention the Imperial West India Direct Mail Service, aided by a subsidy of ;^40,ooo from the Imperial Government and the colony, expressly for the conveyance of fruit. A few figures will show the rapid development of the fruit industry of the West Indies stimulated by this encouragement. In 1885 its value amounted to only ;^253,ooo ; in ten years it had doubled, and in ten more had reached 1,250,000. The industry depends entirely on adequate means of transit, and its success was mainly due to the enterprise of one man, Sir Alfred Jones, who had a main hand in opening this new phase of commercial activity. In illustration of the possibilities of the tropical fruit industry in our colonies, it must be pointed out that while there is an enormous consumption of bananas and citrus fruits in the United Kingdom, a very small proportion of the import is derived from British sources. The annual value of citrus fruits imported into the United Kingdom is not less than ;^2, 500,000, of which only a fraction comes from our own Empire. asa THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE I am illustrating the importance of adequate facilities of transport in the case of a minor industry. It is when we come to consider that the great staples of the world really come not from the temperate r^fioiu at all but from the tropics, that we realise the tmpori^ce of facilities of transport between our Crown colonies and the United Kingdom. I have illustrated at some length the vital importance of the tropics to civilisation, and the part the Crown colonies are in consequence likely to play in the future. It may reasonably be hoped, then, that the question of adequate transport for our sea-borne commerce may force itself upon the attention of all concerned in the produce of the tropics, and that they will not consider their work done until the means of trans- port of our insular empire are made as cheap and convenient as the means of communication between the territorial stations of a continental empire. While means of communication were being orga- nised for the sea-borne trade of the West Indies, a policy not less wise and energetic was being carried out in West Africa by railways. The policy which, a quarter of a century before, had advocated the abandonment of all commercia] enterprise in tropical Africa had been followed by a policy which recog- nised the «iormous possibilities involved in opening West African territory to commerce and civilisation. Railway construction was a material guarantee of the sincerity of the new policy. The initiative was due to Lord Ripon, who ordered the preliminary Mirveys. The energy of Mr. Chamberlain, hb successor, the hearty co-operation of those on whose technical knowledge the success of the work TRANSPORT •53 depended, and the courage and endurance of those who bore the burden of the dtmate and the labour of construction, did the rest. In 1898 there was not a mile of rail open to traffic. Five years later the Statistical Abstract for 1903 gave the following return : Miles open. Receipts. Working EspMMSt* Lagos Ii4 ^48.986 j^44-073 Gold CoMt* • 168 ^65,965 ;^47.4»5 Sierra Leone - 136 £i6Mo The following abstract, drawn up in the Crown Agents' Office, shows the results of the working of the West African railways for the latest period of twelve months for which complete figures are at present available : Expendi- ture. Gold Coast - 31 Dec, 08 Sierra Leone j 31 Dec, '08 214-53 /146,38a 1 •68 /i 54,024. IIS. 2d. 234* i.i7 1,499 1 .^'03,425 -£7S.>24 ;i67,643* SOUTHERN NIGERIA : '.AGOS RAILWAY During 1908 and 1909 ; e Lagos Railway has been extended and opened to Ilorin, a distance of * The working expenses do not include interest on capital. •Half year only. The receipts from July i, 1903, to June Jo, 1904, were .£141.94'. and working e.xpenses ^91,112. ' Mean mileage worked. 247 miles now open. * Mean mileage worked. The mileage now open is 255. 'Exclusive of extraordinary expenditure, ^14,052. a54 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE 347 miles from Lagos. A further section of sixty- one miles from Ilorin to Jebba, on the Niger River, has also Heen built, and is now open for traffic. A traveller can take train at Laj^os and travel by rail into the interior, a distance of just over 300 miles. At Jebba the railway will cross the Niger by means of a bridge, or rather two bridges, the river here being divided into two separate channels by Jebba Island. The bridge over the northern channel is already in course of construc- tion. In order to carry the cross-river traffic pending completion of the bridges, a specially designed ferry (built by G. Rennie & Co., of Greenwich), capable of carrying four to six railway wagons, has been sent out and is already at work. North of the Niger the construction of a further section of the railway to Zungeru, the present capital of Northern Nigeria and 123 miles from Jebba, is being proceeded with, and some few miles of rails have already been laid. The upper portion of this section, which should be completed within the next two years, is at present being re-surveyed widi the view to obtaining an improved gradient BARO-KANO RAILWAY The Northern Nigeria Government also are making good progress with the line which they are building from Baro on the Niger (about one hun- dred miles below Jebba) to Kano in the north of the protectorate, a distance of nearly 400 miles. This railway will be linked up with tiie Lagos Railway by means of a Inranch line between Minna and Zungeru. TRANSPORT GOLD COAST The construction of a branch railway from Tarkwa (on the Sekondi-Kumasi main line) to Prestca, a distance oi about twenty miles, was commenced in Sept«nber, 1908, and progress has been generally satisfactory considering the rough country through which the line passes and the exceptional difficulties which have been rr . with at several of the bridge sites owing to floods. The line will, it is hoped, be open to traffic during the present year. From the terminus at Prestea a siding half a mile long is to be built to the Prestea Block A Company's mines. A Ij.L.nch two miles long, and taking off from the main branch at a point near the Ancobra River, is also being constructed to Broomassie. It is to be hoped that the whole of these works will be completed during 1910. The construction of a railway from Accra to M. ngoase, forty miles for the purpose of developing the agricultural v cMth of the colony, especially the cocoa industry, was begun in January this year. The country through which this line passes is much easier than that traversed by the Tarkwa- Prestea Railway, and the rate of progress has therefore been better. It is anticipated that the line will be opened to traffic befor • this record is issued from the press. A point of j oterest as regards this railway is the fact that it is ihe first railway in British West Africa to be placed in the hands of a public contractor. Five tenders were \:ceived for the work, and Mr. W. M. Murphy, 01 Dublin, secured the order. The experiment is being 356 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE watched with interest. An extension of the line onwards from Mangoase has since been proposed, and the survey for it is now in progress. SIERRA LEOME Since the railway to Baiima (227 miles) was completed towards the end of 1905, the colonial Government has directed its attention to the making of roads and to the construction of two light branch or feeder lines connecting with the railway to extend the trading area influenced by the line. Of the two feeder lines, one runs from Baiima for a distance of seven miles and thirty chains to Pendembu, a place within a few miles of the Liberian frontier, and the other runs in a north-easterly direction from Boia (sixty-four miles from Freetown on the main line) to Mafokya, a distance of twenty-one miles and fifty chains. A proposal to .tend the latter line to the palm country round Yonnibannah (thirty-eight miles) and onwards has not yet been sanctioned. These feeder lines have been built upon the general standard of the railway, having the same gradients and curves, and they are now being worked as part of the open line system. The only important difterence between them and the main line is the absence ot telegraphs and stations. The General Manager's report on the railway for 1908 shows that compared with the previous year there was an increase in passengers on the Mountain Section of the railway of twenty-seven per cent. This section, however, continues to be worked at a loss. The African railways have been constructed TRANSPORT 257 through dense tropical forest, in a deadly climate, which, in spite of every precaution in accordance with improved principles of malaria prevention, caused constant change in the staff of every grade ; amid difficulties arising from heavy rainfall, from scarcity and inferiority of labour, from conditions under which cargo had to be landed, as on the Gold Coast, by surf boats and lighters on an open road- stead ; while native revolts and military operations have interrupted and delayed the work.* A picturesque narrative of dangers and delays caused by the wild fauna of Africa is given, in his popular work The Man-eaters of Tsavo, by Lt-Col. Patterson, an engineer engaged in the construction of the Uganda railway. This chapter on problems of transport in the administration of our Crown colonies would be incomplete without some account of my experience of the extent to which transport by animal draught is affected by diseases of tropical origin. Allusion has already been made to an outbreak of the epizooty, known as surra in Mauritius in the year 1902. In order to preserve in this work a record of one of the gravest calamities that has ever affected agriculture in a tropical colony, and the energy by which it was met, I give extracts from official documents. On May 12th, 1903, in opening the annual session of the Council of Government, I gave an 'A Ulue Book published in 190,, on the construction of African railways, contains an instructive memorandum on alternative systems of railway construction in undeveloped countries. It illustrates that the importance of transport facilities in the development of Crown cdonies and places is fully recognis<;d by the Colonial Office. II R 258 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE account of what had been done up to that date, and what was in contemplation. "The months that have elapsed since the Pro- rogation of Council in December last have been months of labour and anxiety. . . . The work of transporting the canes and carrying the sugar has to be undertaken in the face of difficulties unprece- dented in the history of the colony. Experience has perfected, on all the greater estates, economical and well organised arrangements for transport by animal draught, while the requirements of the small planters have been met, and the general business of carters and carriers has been carried on by the independent but intelligent industry of a laborious class of men drawn chiefly from the Indian popula- tion. Within a year the disease known as surrm everywhere dislocated, and in some districts destroyed the established system. The consequences have affected not only the sugar industry and business more or less directly connected with it, but every department of public and private activity. In particular, serious difficulties have obstructed the work of sanitation both in urban and rural districts. The imperative task of creating a new system of transport in substitution for the established methods was all the more formidable inasmuch as, at the moment when the disease appeared, the financial prosperity of the sugar industry had been checked by other causes. In these circumstances the havoc caused by the disease produced a twofold difficulty ; funds were urgently required for the cultivation the land for the incoming crqp, and not less urgently required for the establidiment of means TRANSPORT 359 of transport, without which the crop could not be realised. "So far as concerns the cultivation of the land during the critical period extending from December I St to March 31st the peril was averted by the operation of the Sugar Estates (Advances in Aid) ordinance, which provided for advances to estates and BailUurs de fonds out of a loan of ;^aoo,ooo raised in England. There can be no doubt that the ready sanction given by the Secretary of State to this measure, and the prompt and indefatigable energy of the Loan Board Commissioners in respect of the distribution of the loan, saved the colony from imminent disaster. Nor was the action of the Government free from anxiety and difficulty, for the needs to be met were most pressing, and at the outset we were faced by the problem of how •o make the proceeds of the loan raised in London immediately available in Mauritius. This difficulty had not presented itself in connection with the ad- •'ances made to planters in 1898, because at that time specie payments were suspended and advances w«re made in currency notes. I was naturally averse 10 resorting to so extreme a measure as the temporary suspension of specie payments, and fortunately it was not necesi.ary. The uninterrupted cultivation of the crop during the critical period of the hurricane season was thus secured. In the meantime, the substitution of mechanical for animal transport had been vigor- ously undertaken, and the amount of advances in aid of this work authorised by ordinance No. 34, of 1902, was increased from ^70,000 to ;^"2 2o,cxjo. The advances approved under this ordinance a6o THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE provide for the purchase of about 450 kilometres of superficial tramway lines ; about forty kilometres of aerial wire tramways, and twenty-five automobiles. In addition the Government has assisted estates by the construction of seventeen sidings of a total length of about 14,000 feet in accordance with the terms of a resolution passed by the Council on June 17th, 1902. The special expenditure incurred during the year in order to meet the increased traffic diverted to the railway has been very large; it includes : Four locomotives .... Rs. 186,000.00 Enlargements to goods sheds • • - 13,000.00 Eight miles rails 225,000.00 Fifty open wagons for canes ... 157,500.00 Traffic overtime from September to January, 1903 >6,9>3-39 Locomotive overtime from September to January, 1903 13,961.08 Crop expenses 14,480.00 " It is hoped that what has been done will go far to meet the requirements of the larger estates, and will enable them to assist to a considerable extent the small planters having contiguous holdings, but in order to meet the wants of areas occupied by small planters not in proximity to the mills of the larger estates it has been decided to proceed at once with the construction of the projected Long Mountain Railway at an estimated cost of about 1 10,000 rupees, as well as with the construction of a light railway line in the district of Savanne designed to provide for the needs of a large area of land occupied by small planters. The estimated approximate cost of this light line is 60,000 rupees. The cost of these TRANSPORT lines it is proposed to charge partly to the revenue of the current year and partly to the revenue of 1 903- 1 904. I have asked the Secretary of State to sanction a loan for the construction of the pro- jected Black River Line, and further schemes of railway extension will be submitted to you. " The foreg^oing measures provide chiefly for the wants of the rural districts. For the transport of grain and other merchandise from the quays to the railway station in Port Louis, three sidings are being constructed. It has been necessary also to make special provision for additional quay accommodation for the landing of tramway materials, and this has been effected by the removal of the workshops and other buildings at Caudan Basin to Plaine Lauzan, where all the railway works are now concentrated. Three additional sidings have also been constructed for the sanitary requirements of Port Louis, and another is being constructed for the same purpose." Four months later, on October 27th, in an ad- dress taking leave of the Council, I was able to declare that the plan of campaign thus sketched had been carried out successfully; "As regards the estates, their equipment with the means of mechanical transport has been generally completed in time for the needs of the current crop by an energy and industry beyond praise. From the Railway, Customs, and other Departments con- cerned, I believe the estates have received every possible assistance. As regards the extension of railway facilities, the Long Mountain and Savanne lines have been opened for traffic, the original trace of the Savanne project having been supplemented 362 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE so at to furnish tran^rt for a much larger area of cane cultivation. The Black River line has been af^roved, and its construction is already far ad- vanced. A large railway expenditure in excess of that indicated has been found necessary to meet the increased and increasing traffic • • ' • * " Tne actual amount of the advances to estates under the Mechanical Transport ordinance has fallen short of the estimate and of the sum authorised. The sum required to be raised by loan amounts to a little over 185,000. But this sum represents only a fraction of the expenditure borne by the estates ; the advances having been limited to the cost of materials landed in Port Louis. The inland co8t of transport and of construction of the tramways has been found by the estates from other sources. " Such, in brief, are the measures undertaken to meet probably the most serious calamity that has ever befallen the sugar industry in this colony." I have only to add that in the result the estimates of expenditure were in some cases largely exceeded. In the circumstances that is hardly to be wondered at, though every endeavour was made to control it by the publication of fortnightly abstracts of expenditure. The increased expenditure added pro tanto to the Inirden of the conseqi»nces of the epizooty. CHAPTER XXIII METEOROLOGY Among the problems of transport in tropical seas not the least important is the problem of the security of navigation from cyclonic disturbances. The position of the island of Mauritius on the track of navigation between South Africa and Asia has enforced the importance of the colony as a station for the study of the law of storms. Telegraphic cables have made it one of the most important units of the imperial systems of meteorological, magnetic, and seismometric observations. Some account of the Mauritius observatory therefore finds an appro- priate place in association with the problems of transport and communication. The history of the observatory up to the year 1896 is in reality the history of one man, Charles Meldrum, with whom the science of meteorology in Mauritius will ever be associated as the principal founder of the Meteorological Society and the Royal Alfred observatory. Occa- sional efforts had been made previously to establish a permanent observatory, but w thout success. Mr. Lislet Geoffroy conducted an important series of 264 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE magnetical and meteorological observations between the years 1786 and 1792, a r^um^ of which is given by M. Louis de Fr^cinet in his Voyage autour du Monde (Paris, 1827), and in 1830 Colonel Lloyd, then surveyor-general, established the first Govern- ment observatory. He erected a small building in Port Louis at the public expense, and fitted it up with a transit and magnetical and meteoro* logical instruments. Observations were commenced on January ist, 1832, and were continued with occasional breaks until Colonel Lloyd proceeded to England on leave of absence in October, 1837 ; on his departure from the colony in 1849 they ceased altogether. On August 1st, 1 85 1, the Mtteorological Society of Mauritius was formed, at a meeting convened by Dr. Meldrum, then Professor of Mathematics at the Royal College. The first President was the Honourable C. J. Bayley, Colonial Secretary, with Lieut.-Colonel Robe, C.B., and Mr. F. Lienard as Vice-Presidents, and Messrs. Meldrum and Bousquet, Secretaries. It is to this Society that the present Royal Alfred observatory owes its origin, after a long and determined fight for twenty-nine years against difficulties which would have daunted most societies, or, in this case, secretaries. The Society's troubles commenced at the very outset Of the two secretaries, one was a man possessing not only a concise knowledge of the science, then in its infancy, and of the means of filling these requirements, but also an extraordinary perseverance and tenacity of purpose, and gifted METEOROLOGY 265 moreover with reasoning and deductive faculties of a high order. The other was a meteorologist of unbounded enthusiasm, but unfortunately opposed to the method of investigation proposed by the Society, which was to collect and plot on a chart as many synchronous observations as possible, spread over the whole of the South Indian Ocean, and from them to study the circulation of the atmosphere, the distribution of pressure, temperature, etc. On the formation of the Society the first difficulty that presented itself was in procuring an adequate equipment of instruments. The Admiralty at this time had expressed a cordial sympathy with the objects of the Society, and it was hoped that this sympathy would materialise in the form of a grant of the necessary instruments. That hope having been disappointed, the Society had to depend on its own resources. The instruments were ordered and received, but the Society had no building in which they could be placed. There followed seven years of controversy between the Society and the colonial Government before the instruments could be installed for use. In 1855, after an appeal by the Society to the Secretary of State, it was announced that "a despatch had been received which removed every obstacle and placed the Society in a far more advantageous position than it had ever yet enjoyed " ; the Home Government having been pleased to place buildings at the entire disposal of the Society rent free, and the Admiralty having further voted an annual subsidy of ^50, to enable it to publish the results of 366 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE its labours. It was now generally expected that the instruments would at length be turned to account, and the buildings made subservient to the purposes for which they were granted. In the meantime, however, Dr. Meldrum h.u\ c .is 1 to have any official connection with the Society, and it was not till he was re-elected secretary in September, 1859, that the Society's instruments were properly installed and systematic observations commenced. During this time observations were taken in the town of Port Louis, which is encircled by a range of mountains, so that the horizon was limited and the true direction of the wind could seldom be known. For ten years the question of a site for a new observatory was discussed, and eventually referred to a committee. The com- mittee decided on a site on Crown Lands in the district of Pamplemousses, as most nearly fulfilling the necessary conditions for an observatory. It was on a plain at a considerable distance from any mountain range, and so presumably free from local magnetic attraction ; it had a good horizon to north- ward and a view to within three or four degrees of the horizon to southward. Moreover at the time the district was extremely healthy. A site having been selected and ways and means assured, Dr. Meldrum was authorised to proceed to England to procure new instruments and obtain plans for a new observa- tory. He returned to Mauritius in September, 1869, to find that in the meantime the district of Pamplemousses had become very unhealthy under the influences of the terrible epidemic of malarial fever. It now seemed possible that the object of METEOROLOGY a67 his life for twenty yean, the erection of a per- nument nu^etic and meteorological observatory, might be indefinitely postponed. But the fever did not deter him from doing all in his power to secure the erection of the new observatory. Advantage was taken of the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to Mauritius to hasten operations, and on May 30th. 1870, the foundation-stone of the Royal Alfred observatory was laid by his Royal Highness. As a member of the Council of the Society I was present on this occasion, little thmking that thirty years later I was to have the honour as Governor of Mauritius to conduct her Majesty Queen Mary over the observatory. It was not, however, till November, 1874, that everything was ready for the installation of the instruments and the commence- ment of a series of observations which have con- tinued with gradual amplification to the present day. Dr. Meldrum's work in Mauritius had two main results in determining the law of storms. By study of the logs of ships traversing the Indian Ocean, and plotting on a chart the direction and force of the wind, the barometer reading, the temperature, the state of the sea-currents experienced by every vessel, as nearly as possible at Mauritius noon, on successive days, he obtained a series of weather charts, showing the horizontal circulation of the atmosphere with the barometric and temperature gradients from day to day. From these charts he discovered, and was one of the first to announce that the wind in cyclones blows spirally towards the centre and not in circles round it as was previously MKROCOrV RESOWTION TEST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 3) J /APPLIED Inc ili. i 268 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE supposed. The importance to navigation of this discovery may be illustrated by a single instance. On February 25th, i860, in anticipation of a cyclone forty-one vessels left the roadsteads of the island of Reunion with sailing directions based on the then accepted theory that the wind within the area of a cyclone blows in circles round the centre. Of these vessels ten suffered only slight damage, three dis- appeared and were never heard of, three were wrecked on the coast of Madagascar, the remaining twenty-five sustained damage to the amount of about 1 50,000. What Dr. Meldrum discovered by patient col- lection and discussion of facts has now been demonstrated theoretically as the only possible solu- tion of the problem of the direction of the wind within, the area of the cyclone. The other main result obtained from his study of the same charts was to establish the law of direction of cyclones in their path across the Indian Ocean. It was Dr. Meldrum's ambition to publish daily synoptic weather charts of the South Indian Ocean for a whole year, and the year 1861 was selected as particularly interesting on account of the frequency of cyclones. The work, however, proved laborious and costly, and daily synoptic charts for the first three months of the year only were published. These charts were followed by a storm atlas, showing the tr -xks of all known cyclones in the Indian Ocean from 1848 to 1885, published by the British Meteorological Society from Dr. Meldrum's studies. These works are still standard" of reference, and the storm atlas is brought up to date by the same office on informa- METEOROLOGY 269 tion supplied by Mr. Claxton, the present Director of the observatory. What the law of storms means to mariners in the Indian Ocean will be easily understoofi ')y reference to the accompanying chart prepared by Dr. Mel- drum in 1893 showing the tracks of cyclones during a period of fifteen months. The curved arrows indicate the direction of the winds within the area of the cyclones. In the Southern hemisphere they whirl in the same direction as the motion of the hands of a watch, with a constant tendency to curve inwards towards the centre of lowest atmospheric pressure. In the Northern hemisphere they curve in a contrary direction. On the results of Dr. Meldrum's studies in this department of work, on his synoptic charts, his storm atlas, his theory of the law of storms, and his rules for avoiding the tracks of cyclones are based the sailing directions issued to all mariners for the navigation of the Indian Ocean. Dr. Meldrum next turned his attention to the subject of rainfall and cyclone periodicity, and was among the first to establish a connection between rainfall, cyclones, and solar activity. He subjected a large mass of observations on the rainfall from all parts of the world to a critical examination, and came to the conclusion that, in spite of occasional contradic- tions, the amount of rainfall varied with the solar activity, being greatest near the epoch of maximum sunspots, and least near the epoch of minimum sun- spots. He found a similar connection between solar activity and the number and area of cyclones in the South Indian Ocean. 270 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE His researches on this subject have been used as a basis for other investigators, and recently Sir Norman Lockyer and his son, Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, have treated the subject in a somewhat different and more detailed manner by using, instead of the varia- tion in the number of sunspots, the variation in the relative quantities of different gases present in the sun, which shows a very striking agreement with the variation of rainfall from year to year. Another branch of Dr. Meldrum's work was a study of the relation of rainfall to malaria. His theory that the prevalence of malarial fever varies with rainfall still holds good, the area of stagnant water and the multiplication of mosquitoes being largely affected by the amount of rainfall. His studies on this subject were followed by an im- portant wprk on the relation of weather to mortality, and the climatic effects of forestation. The study of seasonal forecasts connected with this branch of the observatory's work has recently led to interest- ing discussions. From a comparison of the rainfall at Durban with that at Mauritius it was shown that well-marked winter droughts at the former station were followed by summer droughts at the latter, and that prolonged droughts at Natal were followed or accompanied by prolonged droughts at Mauritius, though there appears to be no such relationship as regards floods. Observations in this branch of work have now determined all the factors of the climate and are available for international use. But valuable as was all this work, ocean tele- graphy gave it a new significance. Cable communi- cation with Europe was first established in 1893, METEOROLOGY 271 vid Seychelles, Zanzibar, and Aden, but it was the opening of the Mauritius section of the Cape- Australian cable vid Rodrigues and Cocos in 1902 that made the observatory one of the most impor- tant units in the imperial system of meteorological, magnetical, and seismometric observation3. Both Rodrigues and Cocos are exceptionally situated for observing the track of cyclones, and the Com- pany readily consented to transmit ^ree weather cablegrams to Mauritius, on the understanding that they should not exceed four words. Both stations were siipplic^ with the necessary equipment of barographs, anemometers, hygrometers, thermome- ters, and rain-gauges. The first telegrams were sent on January ist, 1902, by means of a code which in four words gave the atmospheric pres- sure, the air and evaporation temperatures, the state of the weather and the amount of cloud at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. together with the daily run of the wind, maximum and minimum temperature, rainfall, and swell of the sea. Since 1905 the observations at Rodrigues and Cocos have been supplemented by a station similarly equipped at Diego Garcia, an island in the Chagos Archipelago near which many of the cyclones in the Indian Ocean originate. The system thus established is com- pleted by observations taken at Seychelles, in the island of Reunion, and at coast stations in Mada- gascar. Coincidently with the establishment of this system, the observatory has been supplied with perfect equipments for solar, magnetic, and seismo- metric observations. The present scope of the work may be summed up as follows. 272 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE The magnetical and meteorological records are measured at each hour of Mauritius civil time, and the records of the seismograph at each hour of Greenwich civil time. The direction of motion of the various types of cloud are observed as often as possible, with a Marvin nephoscope. The meteorological observations made at Sey- chelles, Rodrigues, Cocos, and at various stations in the island, are all systematically reduced. Observations on the rainfall are received from about sixty stations in different parts of the island, and the results tabulated. Storm warnings are issued, when necessary, in continuous photographic records, show- ing the variation of magnetic declinatio. horizontal force and vertical force, barometric pre. lure, tem- perature of the air, and of evaporation ; also automatic records of the direction and velocity of the wind, and of the amount of rain are ob- tained with instruments of the Kew pattern. Since November, 1902, automatic records of the pressure the wind have been obtained with a pressure I'ibe anemometer. Meteorological bulletins are prepared daily for publication in the local press, and abstracts of the principal results for each month are forwarded to different parts of the world. From May to Septem- ber code-telegrams giving a r^sum^ of the weather during the week are despatched every Saturday to the Director-General of Indian observatories in connection with the monsoon predictions. Similar telegrams are despatched monthly to the Director- General of the Egyptian Survey Department. It METEOROLOGY 273 only remains for a system of wireless telegraphy, for communication with ships at sea, to be established to complete the value of the observatory for security of navigation. Photographs of the sun ar? taken daily and the duration of bright sunshine registered. A print from the negatives of all sun photographs taken is forwarded to London to the secretary of the Solar Physics Committee. When it was found that a daily photograph of the sun at Greenwich was impossible, the observatories at Mauritius and Dehra Dhun were requested to co-operate by taking photographs of the sun daily when the weather permitted, and thus fill up the numerous gaps on the Greenwich series. This work has continued without interruption for over thirty years. Absolute values of magnetic declination and hori- zontal force are determined as a rule four times a month, and of dip eight times a month. The observatory is at present co-operating with the International Committee on Magnetic Observations in the production of a quarterly return showing the magnetic state of the earth on every day of the year. It is worth recording that much laborious service in connection with the magnetic work of the Discovery on the South Polar Expedition was undertaken without extra cost to government. Phot(^raphic records of earth movements are obtained with a Milne seismograph, and Mauritius is co-operating with other stations in obtaining continuous records of the seismic condition of the earth, and incidentally is collecting valuable n s 274 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE information concerning the phenomenon of diurnal and secular changes in the vertical. In its latest service to commerce the observatory has entered on an unexpected area of activity in furnishing the means by which insurance on ??ugar crops and mills can be effected on a satisfactory basis. The observatory records have determined the relative effects of cyclones, rainfall, and temperature cm the sugar crop, and have g^iven a numerical value to each. It appears that popular opinion has con- siderably over-rated the first and under-rated the last factor. The figures now established furnish the only proper basis of calculation on which insurance com- panies can determine their premiums within very narrow limits. But in the last resort all the interests illustrated are subsidiary to the vital interest of defence. The problem of colonial defence will be dealt with in another chapter. It must suffice here to point out that all recent schemes are based on the principle of concentrating imperial forces at strategic bases. In the event of a dangerous local disturbance, or of foreign invasion, it is for the colonies to apply for aid from the nearest naval or military station, and to depend on their own police or terri- torial force during the period that must elapse before the application can be complied with. The success of the system obviously depends on adequate means of communication by ocean telegraphy. CHAPTER XXIV IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS The first year of the reign of Queen Victoria witnessed the commencement of a popular movement towards a goal which was only reached in the year of the Diamond Jubilee of her Majesty's reign. In the year 1837 Sir Rowland Hill, in a pamphlet entitled Post Office Reforms, advocated a low, uni- form rate of postage between all places in the British Isles irrespective of distance, and after a vigorous contest in Parliament the present uniform penny postage rate ca into force on January loth, 1840. In the course of the contest Da ' ' O'Connell, urgin^ the cla 1 of Ir ind, said tc Lord Melbourne: " Consider, my Lori chat a letter to Ireland and the ans-ver back would co« thousands upon thousands of my poor and affectMHUe cot tr) men more than a fifth of their week ^ and let any gentleman here ask himself wi u d be the influence upc nis correspondence ii, c\ ery letter he wrote, he - his family had to pay o « fifth of a week's income.'* The same sentiment nd expression many years later, when colonisation A associated the homes of the British Isles with c ^less omes of kindred 276 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE origin in North America, South vfrica, and Australia, as well as in a multitude of intervening islands and settlen\ents. Mr. Henniker Heaton has reminded us that Mn, Chisholm, "the Emigrantt' Friend." whose name, unfamiliar as it may be to English readers- is a revered memory in Australia, related at a public meeting a story illi strating the working of the oW system, under which part of the postage on letters from the colonies had to be paid by the recifHents in this country : " A clergyman." she said, "once told me th:it the postage was aoout two shillings ; that he had fre- quently paid the postage for the poor people, but that he was really too poor to do so any longer. A letter came ; it was sent back to the colony. In the meantime, the poor woman for whom that letter was sent died in the workhouse ; and in tlie letter was inclosed £2$ for her support" In giving some account of the larger policy of extending the penny postage system of *he British Isles to the British Empire, I must ai e outset express my obligations to Mr. Heimiker ijaton for the assistance he has given me. It is interesting to n^i^e that "ir Rowland Hill so early as 1837 did rot overlook the largci needs of the colonies. In his pamphlet on Pos^ Office Reforms, he wrote : " Let all foreign letters, on leaving this country, be subjected to a double rate of English postage, but let foreign letters received into this country be delivered free ; the postage claimed by the foreign Government being in each case paid by the foreign resident. . . . As this arrangement would be an exception to IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS 377 the penny rate it would be well to require that all letters addressed to foreign countries should be enclosed In the stamped covers already na id. • . . If, 34 I would recommeiid, the rates of postage already proposed for inland letters were extended to foreign letters, the prices of covers for foreign letters would be exactly double those for inland letters. . . . Colonial letters should be placed under the same regulations as foreign letters." Rowland Hill therefore proposea a twopenny rate for foreign and colonial letters, on the ground that it would probably be impossible in all cases to provide for the Englis'- postage on letters received from foreign countries being paid in advance. In other words, he was the original author of the suggestion of a twopenny foreign and colonial rate, revived, as we shall see, more than fifty years later by Sir James Fergusson and the Duke of Norfo'k. In a letter to Sir Rowland Hill written on Junt- 7th, 1847, Elihu Burritt, known as the Learn*. J Blacksmith, recommended threepenny postage to thj colonies: " So that an Irish or English emigrant, li 'ing at the head of navigation on the Missouri river, might, with three penny stamps, pay his letter through to his friends in Kilkenny or Bucks ; that is, one American penny stamp to pay through to Boston, one English stamp to pay through thence to Liverpool, and another for the inland postage in England or Ireland." In 185 1 an "Association to promote a cheap and uniform system of Colonial and Internationjil postage" was formed, including Elihu Burritt, 278 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Mr. C. W. Dilke, Mr. Milner Gibson, Sir John Lubbock, Sir S. Northcote, Sir J. Pakington, Dr. Lyon Playfair, and Mr. C. P. Villiers. On February 8th, 1853, a meeting of the Association was held at the Society of Arts, when an extension of the inland penny rate to the colonies was advocated, but with this material limitation, that the penny was only to cover delivery of corre- spondence at the colonial port, leaving each letter still liable to the colonial rate. At that time the postage on a letter to the colonies varied from 8d. to IS. lod., the average being about is. On March 4th, 1853, the Postmaster-General received a deputation which urged the extension of the penny rate, as above defined, to the colonies. It is not a litde remarkable, though quite con- sonant .with our experience of apparent incon- sistencies in the lives of many benefactors of the Empire, that in 1853 Sir Rowland Hill denounced this proposal, and, in order to defeat it, suggested and succeeded in securing the adoption of a sixpenny rate. In 1864, at the suggestion of the Postmaster- General, an attempt was made by the Government to raise the sixpenny rate to one shilling. A one- shilling rate was imposed in the case of letters for South Africa and the West Indies, and it was then instituted for Australian correspondence ; the Aus- tralian Governments being invited to make a similar advance in postage to England. The reply of Australia was a united protest, so energetic and unanswerable that the proposition was dropped. Next came a determined effort by Mr. William IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS 279 Hastings, of Huddersfield, to take up the work where it had fallen from the paralysed hand of the Association, of which he had been an agent. In his pamphlet, published in 1866, he advocated universal penny postage. Unfortunately, his arguments were not always conclusive. For instance, he compared the cost of conveying and delivering a pound of cotton and a pound of letters, forgetting that the former is accomplished in one, and the latter only in thirty-two transactions. A more serious blemish was the proposal that to secure the penny rate a letter should be posted two days earlier than usual. His suggestions were "read with much interest" by Mr. Gladstone, and then transmitted to the Postmaster-General, who made short work of the hapless pamphleteer. In the year 1885 an incident occurred that attracted little notice at the time but was to exercise a phenomenal influence on the penny postage scheme. Mr. Henniker Heaton was elected M.P. for Canterbury. In 1885 the postage on a letter weighing half- an-ounce was, from this country to Canada 2jd., to the Cape or the West Indies 4d., to India and the Far East 5d., and to Australasia 6d. Severely as these rates pressed on the poor by repressing correspondence, they were even more objectionable as an incubus on the trade by which all, rich and poor, live. For at this moment our European rivals were straining every nerve to plant commercial agencies and settlements in every rich and populous, but non-manufacturing country, to cut off and divert the stream of orders for our a8o THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE goods, and even to oust us from the colonial market Germany had just seized upon New Guinea and the "Bismarck" Arciiipelago ; the scramble for Africa was beginning ; that for China was about to begin with the definite cession of Tonquin to France. In these circumstances it still astonishes one to remember that while our rivals, the Continental merchants, enjoyed a uniform postal rate of 2^d. to every part of the British Empire, our merchants had, except to Canada, to pay 4d., sd., or 6d. The anomaly was intensified by the fact that the foreign letters were carried in British mail-steamships, heavily sudsidised by British taxpayers for the promotion of British commerce I On October 15th, 1885, Lord Rosebery, in a speech at Paisley, referred to the growth of cor- respondence between England and the colonies : " Anybody who has to open the letter-bag of an estate, as I have to do very often, will notice the enormous number of letters with the colonial stamp and postmark coming to the families living on the estate ; and it is perfectly futile for people to believe, whether Liberals or Conservatives, that with these letters passing and repassing between members of the same family in England and the colonies, the members of the family who live in England could afford to be indifferent to the colonies." Mr. Henniker Heaton was not long in opening a campaign in Parliament in favour of a universal penny postage system. On March 30th, 1886, he moved, "That in the opinion of this House, the time has arrived for the Government of this country to open negotiations with other Govern- IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS 281 ments, with a view to the establishment of a universal international penny postage system." A short extract from his speech on that occasion must suffice : " Doubtless objections will be raised to the pro- posal on the score of its boldness, its innovating nature, its ineptitude, and so on. I make this appeal, however, not merely to the cold, calculating economists on the Treasury Bench, but to the reore- sentatives of the hundreds of millions who own our gracious Sovereign's sway. I ask them to make intercourse between their sundered coasts as easy as speech, as free as air. I entreat them to tolerate no longer this unworthy profit on the expression of their fraternal sympathies, and on the natural de- velopment of their trade. And I foretell that this reform, when it is ours — as it soon must be — will confer a widespread benefit on commerce, it will bring new happiness into myriads of English homes here, in this country, and scattered over pathless prairies in America, over trackless plains in Aus- tralia, and along equatorial streams; and it will form the last and not the least tenacious of the ties that bind our colonies to their beloved mother country." The House generally was compelled to refuse support to the proposal, in face of the bold and ingenious objections raised by the Government, inspired by the Post Office. The main official point was stated by Mr. Fowler, Secretary to the Treasury, namely, that the country was already losing ;^365,ooo a year in subsidies to the mail- packet services. This objection was the same as 382 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE that put by the Postmaster-General in 1866 that *' As the rates are not self-suppc rting in many cases, they are too low," and it was first raised by Rowland Hill himself. From that time, Mr Henniker Heaton, supported by a unanimous chorus of encouragement from the Press, devoted his time, energies, and fortune to the work of securing the boon of penny postage for the Empire, and eventually for humanity at large. In a speech delivered at Sydney in August, 1887, he said : "We all, who may be regarded as promoters, claim no credit for originality. . . . We only ask that an axiom of political economy shall be faith- fully followed out, and that a principle of that noble science shall have fair play. ... A principle must be true or false. If it be true that a reduction of postage doubled the commerce, multiplied the wealth, and intensified the happiness of the people of the United Kingdom, surely it will have a similar effect with an extended application. Two and two make four all the world over, scientific laws are the same in both hem'soheres, and there is no doctrine of physical or mathematical science which is true in the temperate zone but false in the tropical. Lati- tude and longitude have nothing whatever to do with the question. It seems incredible that the learned, far-seeing statesmen of Europe should have to be told these things by a man from the Antipodes." A few months later he read a paper before the Royal Colonial Institute on The Postal ami Tele- graphic Communication of the Empire, which made IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS 283 him known to a larger public in the United King- dom as the advocate of Imperial penny postage and cheap cable ;^rams. The determined opposition offered to the scheme by an official representative of the Post Office and others was summed up by Mr. Pearson Hill, a son of Sir Rowland Hill: " Mr. Henniker Heaton proposes that the postage should be reduced to a uniform rate of one penny between this country and the colonies, and tries to strengthen his argument by instancing the success which attended the introduction of the uniform penny postage system into this country forty-eight years ago. Now I think Mr. Henniker Heaton fails to understand — probably he has never heard the reason — why a uniform pen: y postage was practicaHe in this country, but is impracticable beyond." I remember that at this time a mutual friend said: " Henniker Heaton seems to be running his head against a stone wall ; but I know him, and if you multiply his matter by his energy you will find the result to be a very considera?>le momentum." In response to popular opinion the Post Office persuaded the Treasury to modify the sixpenny rate to Australia, by instituting a fourpenny all-sea post, avoiding for the letters thus sent the cost of trans- continental carriage between Calais and Brindisi. Thi? "sop to Cerberus" had the natural effect of increasing the general demand for substantial con- cessions. It was easy to show that our clippers frequently beat the transit times of the Calais mails, while the contrast between the fourpence I»id for a letter and the tiny fraction of a penny 284 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE paid for transporting every half>ounce of valuable goods to Australia was brought into relief In 1890 Mr. (afterwards Lord) Goschen, after review- ing what had been said for the penny rate, proposed in the Budget to institute a uniform 2^. rate to all parts of the Empire. This measure, it was fondly hoped at the Post Office, would " choke off" the insatiable member for Canter- bury. Public opinion, as voiced by the Press, only halted for a moment's examination of this red herring rate, and then burst into full cry a^n. It was stated by the Chancellor that the reduction to 2^. would involve a loss of ;^io5,ooc a year. As this amount was less than half the average annual in- crease of the Post Office surplus, Mr. Henniker Heaton, with the sanction of some wealthy friends, proposed to test the willirgness of the Post Office to give penny postage a fair trial by offering a con- ditional guarantee to secure it against loss. The offer was, of course, declined. To a further reduction of the colonial rate the Government opposed two objections. First, that the terms of the Postal Union Convention debarred a lower rate than 2^d., the ordinary or general rate of the Union ; and, secondly, that the colonies were opposed to any further reduction. The first objection was upheld by the law officers of the Crown to whom the question was referred in 1890, but it was disposed of at the Congress of the Postal Union which assembled in Vienna in July, 1891, in the terms of Article 1 5 : " Quant k I'alin^a 2, un d616gu6 a d6sir6 connaltre I'opinion de la Commission sur la question de savoir IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS 285 si, en vertu des dispositions contenues dans cet alin^ un pays de I'Union ayant des colonies dans le ressort de I'Union seratt competent pour fixer, dans les relations directes aver ces colonies, des taxes inf<6rieures au tarif normal de I'Union, mais sup^rieures k son tarif int^rieur. "Avec I'tissentiment de la Commission, on a r^pondu affirmativeinent k cette question." The declaration that the colonies were opposed to any further reduction was only partially true. None of the colonies had any objection to the outward rate of postage from the United Kingdom being reduced, so long as the reduction did not impose on them the obligation to adopt the same rate. The only question at issue was whether the Imperial Government should reduce the rate of postage to one penny, leaving it the colonies to fix their own rates. There followed an angry con- troversy during which Mr. Henniker Heaton carried on a conflict with the Postal Authorities in defence of an imperial penny postage system, in the same spit:t and with not less determination than Sir Rowland Hill had carried on his memorable struggle for an inland penny postage system established in 1840. Throughout this struggle the argument that a penny rate was opposed by the colonies was worked for a great deal more than it was worth. Lord Rosebery, Si** William Harcourt and others, while consistently advocating the reform, were no less consistently deterred from giving it a practical measure of support by the confident statement that the colonies were opposed to it. In 1891 the 286 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Imperial Federation League undertook to pro- mote the reform, and advocated it in many ways. But their propaganda was arrested in February, 1893, when the Postmaster-General, Mr. Arnold Morley, received a deputation of the League, and assured them that the colonies were opposed to the scheme and that we could not force it upon them. Nevertheless, the movement was gathering strength, and in March, 1894, Mr. Henniker Heaton was encouraged by a letter from Lord Knollys, expressing the interest taken in it by the Prince of Wales, his late Majesty, King Edward the Seventh. " Marlborough House, Pall Mall, S.W., March 7*, 1894. " Dear .Mr Henniker Heaton, " I must begin by asking you to be so good as to forgive the accidental delay which has taken place in replying to you. " I showed your letter to the Prince of Wales, who desires me to say that he always, and whenever he has had an opportunity, advocated in private the adoption of the Imperial Penny Postage system, and that he certainly shall not discontinue doing so now. "The time will perhaps come when he will be able to take up a more open and decided line on the subject than he has hitherto felt that it would be proper for him to adopt. *' Believe me, " Yours truly, " Francis Knollys." IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS 287 In 1895 public opinion was ripe for a change. The hour bad come and the man. In July, 1895, Lord Salisbury f( rmed his second government, and the appointment of Mr. Chamberlain as Colonial Secretary was announced, the Duke of Norfolk being Postmaster-General. In February, 1896, Mr. Henniker Heaton laid before Mr. Chamberlain the case for imperial penny postage. His opening words were : "It is already apparent that you have set before yourself the task of giving effect, so far as may be practicable, to that feelfng in favour of closer union between the mother country and the colonies, which is growing in intensity all over the Empire." After a minute examination of the merits of the proposal, the document referred to the impasse produced by the hostility of the officials, and continued : " But how is the assent of the colonies to be obtained The established practice is for our Postmaster-General to address his colonial confreres in such a case, and of course Sir W. Harcourt and the House expected that this would be done. From that day to this, however, the Post Office has re- fused to stir a finger in the matter. No circular has been issued, no inquiries have been made, no notice whatever has been taken of the wishes of Parliament, the undertaking of the Government, etc. . . . "... What we want is some cheap and ready means of bridging over the chasm of distance between our people and the millions of their colonial kindred, of restoring the broken arch in their communications 388 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE and the severed link in their sympathies, of weaving the innumerable delicate threads of private and family affection into a mighty strand that shall bind the Empire together, and resist any strain from our foes or the Fates. We want it now, while we are threatened; now while crafty rivals would replace us, and our wares and our rule ; now while our far-off kinsmen are showing us in touching and inspiring fashion their loyalty to the Queen and their love for the Old Country. Such a measure as we are discussing would be instantly understood as Britannia's reply to all this love and loyalty ; not only in colonial exchanges and market- places, but wherever a British axe rang in a clearing, or a British hunter stalked the wilds ; aye, nd in the closets of European statesmen, too. The time is opportune; all we want is a Minister who will seize the opportunity from which our Post Office has turned away." This appeal was not thrown away. Next year, on the occasion of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the colonial Premiers were assembled in London, and met Mr. Chamberlain on June 24th, 1897, when the English Minister made the following memorable declaration : " I should also mention the desire which is widely felt, and which I share, for an improved postal com- munication with the colonies. I believe that that matter rests entirely with the colonies themselves, and that they have revenue difficulties in the matter which have hitherto prevented us from coming to any conclusion. But I confess that I think that one of the very first things to bind t(^ther the IMPERIAL COMMUNICi^ TIONS 389 sister nations is to have the rea> lest and the easiest f)ossibIe communication bttween their several units, and as far as this country is concerned I believe we should be quite ready tT make any sacrifice of revenue that may be requi ed in order to secure a universal penny post throughout the E.npire." The Conference of colonial Premiers was followed rress of in the same year by a q the Postal Union at Washii the foreign delegates, keen every reduction of postap commerce, voted against rate as one man. The IJ took advantage of the o suggestion made originaib in 1837, and renewed by 1 89 1. They proposed t( the establishment of an ii rate. The response ot Cana was the announcement 'h^t fn n the Canadian domestic . . *" correspondence -^ery oart ot v - British Post Offit protested ^ be done without the consent ct Empire ; and still hoping to forct its : vopenny rate on the colonies, it proposed a C nference on the subject. This Conference met in London, at th West- minster Palace Hotel, on June ^Sth, and on July 5th and 12th, 1898. The delegates included the Duke of Norfolk as Postmaster-General (Chairman), and an imposing array of Postmasters-General and II T inial C At thi:^ ngress e to the :t that 4 dr-vek)p British al I nion I 'nny- i'ost Oftcp at once rtuni'v to re\ ' a y Si Rowland Hill lait i. Fecgussou m Colonel Poat Offices •f'fnny postage to ''foposal ) !M, 1898, would e tend to Empire. The ' '^H- ould not St of the 1 4 m 990 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE repreaentativet from the colonies and India. It was the only Conference of Postmasters-General of the Empire that has ever been held in LonHon. For the following account of the proceedings I am indebted to Mr. Henniker Heaton. At the first meeting the Secretary of the Post Office set forth the familiar objections of the Depart- ment to the penny rate ; and the inference naturally drawn by the colonial lelegates was that the Home Government had receded from Mr. Chamberlain's offer. The Australian delegates accordingly an- nounced that they could not accept any reduction of postage. This roused the delegates of South Africa, who offered to support a uniform penny rate ; and Mr. Mulock, for Canada, instantly closed with their proposal. The British officials then put up the Duke of Norfolk to recommend the delegates, in a fatherly way, to compromise their conflicting views by accepting the happy medium of the twopenny rate. Mr. Mulock, however, formally proposed penny postage for all parts of thu Empire that might be disposed to accept it. At the third meeting the attitude of the Home Delegates to the question of imperial postage had undergone a transformation. The Duke of Norfolk finally announced that the Government gave its unqualified support to the proposal of imperial penny postage. And so ended the struggle between Mr. Chamberlain and the Post Office. An official summary of the results of the Con- ference was given in the Annual Report of the Post Office published in 1899 : IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS 391 "At an outcome of propotab addrmed by my Department to the Postal Administrationa 01 the various British Colonies and Dependencies for a twopenny rate of letter postage with the Empire, and of the preference of the Canadian Government for a three-halfpenny rate, a Conference of repre- sentatives of the Imperial Government and India and the Colonies met in London in June and July, 1898, to consider the question. The result was the establishment (in most cases on Christmas Day, i8«^ the rest shortly afterwards) of a uniform > one penny the half ounce on letters passing -ween the mother country and British India, V *nada, Natal, Newfoundland, and Crown Colonies, and British Protectorates, or between those posses- sions themselves. Australasia and the Cape Colony are the only important parts of the Empire which have not yet adhered to the penny postage scheme. " I will close this narrative of the evolution of the imperial penny postage system with a brief reference to my own experience. The first official interview I ever had with Mr. Chamberiain was on this subject in 1895, ^ being Governor of the Windward Islands at the time. My government included the three administrative units or governments of Grenada, St Vincent, and St. Lucia, and I had for some time desired to include them in a single postal unit with a penny postage rate. Considering their geographical and administrative interrelations, and that each of them could send letters to the United J'irgdom for one penny, a ajd. rate between each Mras . ol'iing short of grotesque. After a long trilateral correspondence between my Government, 292 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE the Colonial Office and the Post Office, I had an interview with Mr. Chamberlain, and this question, with others on which there had been a tedious correspondence, was settled in less time than it takes me to relate the incident. My experience in Mauritius was more complex. When a penny postage rate between the United Kingdom and Mauritius was first proposed, the scheme did not include postal transit through France, the most rapid and general postal route. This raised an initial difficulty, and suggested an international preference that did not appeal to a section of the community. There was also a probable loss of revenue anticipated. Accordingly, when in August, 1898, Mr. Chamberlain com- municated to me the resolution of the London Conference, expressing a hearty trust that my government would see it? way to participate in the proposed arrangements, the scheme for some time met with litde encouragement. Fortunately, there was a sentiment in the colony superior to all other influences of origin and tradition — the sentiment of affection for Queen Victoria. Mr. Chamberlain would have been glad to have the colony associate itself with the system on Christmas Day, 1898, but I thought it prudent to wait and avail myself of this sentiment. On May and, 1899, I submitted the scheme to the Council of Government : " A proposal will be submitted to you in favour of Mauritius joining the Imperial penny-postage scheme on the eightieth anniversary of the Queen's birthday, which nearly coincides with the completion of the sixty-second year of Her Majesty's reign. India and IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS 293 all the Eastern colonies except Mauritius, and all the West Indian colonies except Jamaica, joined the system on Christmas Day. Jamaica and Malta will, I believe, join on the Queen's birthday. The im- mediate adhesion of the Cape, and the early adhesion of the Australian colonies are expected and will complete the whole Imperial system." The prompt reply of the Council was in these terms : " On sentimental grounds we are willing to join the Imperial penny postage scheme on the next anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen's birthday, although it may not be a success in a financial point of view." Fortunately, the scheme turned out to be financially successful. Mr. Henniker Heaton's advocacy of cheap postage was from the first associated with the advocacy of cheap teleg ams, but it was not till 1908 that he definitely advocated a system of penny-a- word telegrams throughout the Empire. I do not propose to discuss the possibility of an early realisa- tion of that proposal, but merely to illustrate the interests of the Crown colonies in ocean telegraphy and cheaper telegrams. It has been declared that " submarine lines are the true nerves of the Empire; they are the nerves by which all the colonies are brought into simultaneous action with ourselves." This is exceptionally true of our island Crown colonies. Their interests are fourfold ; domestic interests, interests connected with the transactions of commerce, interests connected with the security of navigation, and the paramount interest of defence. It would be absurd to forget that the consti- tuent parts are mainly held together by material 294 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE interests, but we all cling to the belief that what has been called the cash-nexus is not the only relation that links the King's over-sea dominions to each other and to the United Kingdom. When King George and Queen Mary returned from their tour through the colonies in 1901, his Majesty, then Prince of Wales, spoke earnestly of the need of a larger sympathy in the relations of the Empire ; and I do not know if there is any part of the Empire in which cheap telegrams may serve as an instru- ment of sympathy more usefully than in the Crown colonies. The administration and the development of these territories is in the hands of a mere handful of our countrymen who have a special claim to our sympathy. All of them live in an environment of tropical diseases, many, as in parts of equatorial Africa, in an environment of pestilence, battle and murder, and sudden death. If many of them, to the eternal honour of British womanhood, are accom- panied by their wives, climatic and other considera- tions separate them from their children, and from the social and family pleasures tlia give to home life all its charm and colour. It is perhaps only those who have themselves lived m distant Crown colonies who can realise the difference between a telegram received from home at the moment of an incident of domestic interest, and a letter weeks after the event when the sympathy of simultaneous emotion is impossible. The immediate announcement of a birth, a marriage, an incident of child life, a success at school or at college is wonderfully appreciated, but there are graver interests. I remember well the touching IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS 295 case of a young lady still a bride who lost her husband in distressing circumstances in Ceylon. The cost of the message and address made it neces- sary to limit the message to three words. The prompt reply was limited to two words of loving affection. Two words sufficed for the moment, but then there followed a month of anxiety and mental torture until further communications could be exchanj^ed by letter. Who can estimate the value of a penny-a- word telegram system in such circumstances.^ A few years ago when I was in Mauritius, my son was engaged in two campaigns in India and tv,o cam- paigns in Africa. In each campaign we were able, with the assistance of friends, to keep in fairly frequent communication with him by telegram. And when his last campaign was ended by a soldier's death the telegraph placed us in an environment of sympathy of which only those who have had a similar experience can estimate the value. I may be allowed to add that the first message received was a gracious message from King George and Queen Mary, then Prince and Princess of Wales. In most of the Crown colonies the cost of telegrams, although it has frequently been reduced, is still prohibitive for domestic purposes. The price of a message to British Guiana is still seven shillings a word ; to Trinidad five shillings and a penny. Even if an imperial penny-a- word telegram system is at present impossible, an appreciable reduction is looked forward to with constant aspiration. And the experience of the past justifies the expectation that, in spite of all the 296 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE combinations and methods denounced by Mr. Hen- niker Heaton as the real obstacles to cheap telegrams, a very great reduction may be made. My own ex- perience encourages me. I was residing in the United States for some time previous to the successful laying of the Atlantic cable. It is interesting now to recall the assurance of the professors who first of all proved that a cable could not be laid. When it got laid, and communication was arrested after the transmission of a single message, they proved that a cable could not be laid "that would stay laid." When a cable really got into working order, a new difficulty arose. The promoters of the cable, and in particular Mr. Cyrus Field, had constantly insisted that they were influenced rather by large philanthropic motives than a desire for profit. Sir J. R. Robinson, of Fleet Street fame, has recorded how Mr. Cyrus Field used to say : "This is not an undertaking for mere profit. Of course we shall have a right to a certain percentage on our outlay, but the thing is to get rapid and cheap communi- cation between the two countries. I care for nothincr else. I want the British merchant to be able, for a few shillings, to hold daily intercourse with his American brethren ; I want the newspapers to get daily intelligence as though they were on the same continent, and I want to see the poor Irish emigrant able to satisfy himself of the welfare of those at home." When the cable got into working order, I thought it would be pleasant to send a message to some of my many friends in the United States. At that time the minimum charge for a telegram was jCiO for a message not exceeding twelve words, and IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS 297 no one argued more confidently than Mr. Cyrus Field that any reduction of that charge was impos- sible. However, the impossible happened, and the charge got itself reduced to one shilling a word. So I have constantly encouraged my West Indian friends not to despair of cheaper telegrams and even of an eventual penny-a-word telegram rate. The present high charges are much less than the charges when I was in that part of the Empire. Of course domestic interests must remain sub- ordinate to the interests of commerce in any scheme for the extension of cable systems. And from this point of view it is hardly necessary to argue that the isolation of the tropical island colonies gives them a particular interest in ocean telegraphy. It is the instrument by which they are kept in touch with the markets of the whole world. It is curious how the construction of sea-caiiles has falsified the con- fident assertions of professional experts. In 1887 Mr. Henniker Heaton, insisting on the reform of our postal and telegraphic communication at the Colonial Institute, advocated the construction of a cable from the Cape of Good Hope to Australia. Sir James Anderson, who was present, declared : ** There is some talk of taking a cable all the way from Australia to Mauritius across the route of the trade winds to the Cape. There is not even a sandbank on which to catch fish. There is not a port to which a cruiser or a cable-ship can go to replenish their supply of coal, which they are certain to require to do. There are no ships going there. There is no trade, and nobody wants to go there." a98 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Fourteen years later a cable from Durban to Mauritius, and thence continued by an all- British route to Australia, was laid by the Eastern Tele- graph Company, furnishinjr :-n important strategic route to Britain from the Cape. This cable was opened to traffic on January ist, 1902, when I was Governor of Mauritius, and arrangements were made that enabled me and a chain of Governors to associate the whole Empire in a message of sympathy and congratulation. In May. 1902, an important station of the Eastern Telegraph Company was opened at Rodriguez, a dependency of Mauritius, about 500 miles eastward, an island exceptionally exposed to the influences of cyclonic systems in the Indian Ocean, and consequently of first-rate im- portance in assisting meteorological observations. I have .dealt with this in a previous chapter. Subsidiary to postal and telegraph systems is the system of communication by telephone exchanges. And it must be admitted that in the Crown colonies this method of communication was appreciated at a very early date, long before the telephone had come into general use in the United Kingdom. In 1 89 1 a telephone exchange was established in Grenada, mainly owing to the enterprise and energy of Mr. Edward Drayton, the Colonial Secretary. Within a few years the island was covered with a network of telephones, every place of importance being connected with the system. Before long the system was extended in the colonies of St. Lucia and St. Vincent. This enterprise was found of particular service, as St. Lucia became a great naval and military base, and coaling station. IMPERIAL COMMUNICATIONS 299 In 1894 I obtained a loan for the eaublishment of a telephone system in St Lucia, and before I left the Windward Islands a man-of war or merchant vessel could within a few minutes of arrival have an apparatus placed on board, and be put in com- munication with every military or police station, every public and private office, and practically with every residence of the upper classes in the colony. CHAPTER XXV FISCAL SYSTEM The general fiscal system of the Crown colonies is based on a recognition of the fact that the capital and profits of nearly all colonial enterprises are domiciled in the United Kingdom. Apart from Hong Kong and Singapore, which have no domestic exports, and in which Free Trade exists in the strictest sense of the term, the fiscal system of the productive Crown colonies is estab- lished on a basis of Free Trade modified by the exigencies of revenue. The policy of Protection, in the accepted sense of the term, does not enter into the fiscal system of the Crown colonies, for the best of all reasons: as a rule, they have nothing to protect. So far from imposing duties of Customs for the purpose of protecting their own industry, their Customs revenue is derived entirely from commodities which it is to their interest to admit, and on the admission of which their very existence depends. With the exception of duties on spirits and tobacco, countervailed by duties of Excise, there are no Customs duties which it is to the interest of any FISCAL SYSTEM class of the community to maintain. They are therefore in no sense protective duties. But as these colonies are generally dependent on foreign imports, not only for all manufactured goods, but in many cases for their food supply, it has come to be recognised that the burden of taxation can most fairly be distributed among those who partici- pate in the wage fund, by duties of Customs. The tariff accordingly is so constituted as to secure a just incidence of taxation on the various classes of the community. In the United Kingdom the people have been educated to believe that there is a real principle in- volved in preferring direct to indirect taxation or vice versa, and in this way they have come to think that direct taxation falls upon the rich and indirect taxa- tion on the poor. As a result candidates for Parlia- ment, in their zeal for the class who have a majority of votes, desire to abolish indirect taxation altogether. Curiously enough, in practically every British over- sea possession in which the Imperial Government has in the last resort absolute control over financial legislation, revenue is raised mainly by indirect taxa- tion with the assent of every class of the community. It should seem therefore that public opinion in the United Kingdom must be controlled not by a question of principle but by questions of fact arising out of the system of collection. It rests c i two solid facts, the area of incidence and the method of appraisement. The area of incidence is limited to commodities th, enter into the primary and constant consumption of every household in the United Kingdom, even the poorest ; and the 3oa THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE method of appraisement is almost exclusively by specific duties, with the result that the smaller the intrinsic value of a commodity the greater is the ratio of Uxation. Take an article of tropical produce, tea, as an illustration. While the poor man pays a hundred per cent, on his expenditure on tea. the rich man pays ten per cent, or less. The hasty conclusion is reached that all indirect taxation must fall on the shoulders of every member of the community in inverse ratio to his ability to bear it. In the King's over-sea dominions, alike in the self-governing and Crown colonies, the area of incidence of indirect taxation by duties of Customs is not limited to commodities that enter into the primary and constant consumption of the poor, but includes the whole community, the method of appraisement being chiefly by ad valorem duties, so determined that the burden of taxation falls on each member of a community in direct proportion to his means and his ability to bear it. I have in a previous chapter explained the arguments which, in the case of the West Indies, overcame the objections of the Home Government to export duties. I showed conclusively,— or at least to the satisfaction of the Home Government — that there are circumstances in which export duties constitute the only machinery by which a tax can be imposed so that the incidence will fall auto- matically on the members of a community in proportion to their ability to bear it. Whatever objection there may be to export duties on general principles applicable to the circumstances of the FISCAL SYSTEM 303 United Kingdom, they form an important factor in the fiscal system of the Crown o 'onies. In the financial difficulties in which many of the Crown colonies so constantly find themselves, it is natural that the Colonial Office should have constantly pressed on local administrations the ad* vantages of direct taxation in the form of an income tax. In all the Crown colonies dependent for revenue on the development of their agricultural resources, an income tax is confronted by formid- able difficulties. The capital and profits of practically all Crown colony en ^rprises are domiciled extra- territorially. They depend on British or foreign capital invested in land or in financial and commercial agencies, and consequently the only taxable fund is that supplied by the annual profits of the culti- vation of the land. This fund provides the income of the representatives of capital, the Civil Service, and the learned professions, together with the wages of labour. The wages of labour are, of course, excluded from income tax, and the number of members of the learned professions and representa- tives of capital who could be drawn Into the net of any reasonable scheme of income tax is insignifi- cant. In the Crown colonies in which an income tax has been imposed, it has been found to reduce itself largely to a tax on the Civil Service. I may instance that when I was Governor of the Wind- ward Islands, one-seventh of the whole income tax in St. Vincent was paid by myself, the official members of the Executive Council, and the magis- trates. The subject was fully discussed about the same time by Sir Robert Hamilton in a report 304 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE on an inquiry into the affaire of Dominica. A principal objection is the cost of collection, which has been found to leave an insignificant balance of net revenue. The inquisitorial nature of an assessment for income tax also raises exceptional ditificulties in view of the relations that must necessarily exist between the assessora and the assessed in the social circumstances of the Crown colonies. In colonies where trade is largely in the hands of Asiatics another serious difficulty arises. Some years ago, at a time when it was contemplated to raise revenue by income tax in Mauritius, an ordinance was passed requiring Asiatic merchants to keep their books in English or French. It is hopeless to suppose that income tax can be fairly assessed without such an obligation. But the ordi- nance was disallowed at the instance of the Indian Government. The advantages of the fiscal system of the Crown colunies in enabling them to negotiate with foreign po' . ers for reciprocal accommodation by mutual concessions were strikingly illustrated in the case of the M'Kinley Tariff Treaty Arrangements made with the United States in 1892. The interests of British Guiana in these arrangements occupied a large share of my attention during the year 1891. The result was the admission of West Indian sugar into the American market with the fullest advantages of the free list. More than fifty years ago an eminent writer, gifted with singular powers of foresight, in the course of a vigorous protest against the fiscal and colonial policy of the day, anticipated the connecting FISCAL SYSTEM and concentrating efficiency of railways, steamers, and electricity, then in the infancy of their develop* ment, in the aggregation of communities. " We already see," wrote Sir John Barnard Byles in 1851,' "the approaching shadows of these gigantic federations which a coming age will witness. The two colossal Empires which even now loom in the distance are the United States and Russia. Possibly a third may be descried, and a greater than either of the two, unless it pleases Providence on* to show us the mighty (xissible future of Great Britain, and then to dash our incijHent greatness by allowing us to persevere in a disintegrating policy in spite of the plainest warninj^s." For the disintegrating policy ht -oposed to sub- stitute a policy of aggregation which in fiscal matters would treat the colonies as English counties ; in other words, he would establish a Zolhftf ein. "The true Colonial policy," he says, "would tre:it the Colonists as if they inhabited an English county, giving them full liberty to grow and manufacture what they pleased. It would differ from the system of the free-traders, for in place of disadvantages it would give them in common with their fellow- subjects an advantage in the Imperial markets. The first markets in the world, instead of being open, as now, to all without distinction, would give a preference to British subjects. It requires little foresight to perceive how powerfully self-interest would immediately bind the Colonies to the mother country and the mother country to the Colonies, ^Sophisms of Free Trade and Popular Political Economy Ex- OHdntd. London, 8th ed. 1851. II u 3o6 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE National pride would join with national interest to cement the union. England would not be prouder of her uotniniof s tnan these dominions of the confed' ration to svn' Ji they belong, and of the royal and ir p :- ia! head which they are the members. Full sc^'pc quarter of the globe would be given to Anglo-Saxon energy and enterprise. In no long time, not only would the Colonial trade of the British Empire be ten times what the Foreign trade is now ; but our external trade, instead of leaning on a sandy and precarious foundation, would repose on a solid and enduring base." " Why," he asks, " are we to suppose that com- mercial legislation, which from the commencement of our history has been variable and fluctuating, should all at once become fixed and stereotyped? No! As it has always changed in time past, so it surely will change again in time to come. Perhaps after bitter disappointment. ... It is not a class, but the Nation that will insist on the change. When it comes it will come naturally, irresistibly, and without danger. What dangers may be incurred in the meantime is another thing." Though a universal Imperial Zollvei-iin may not be possible, there seems to be no reason why the principles of a Zollverein should not be introduced into the fiscal relations of the United Kingdom with her Crown colonies. Enough has, I hope, been said to illustrate the ever-increasing importance of the interchange of articles of natural tropical produce with the artificial products of British industry ; and it is unnecessary to enter upon a discussion of the question whether FISCAL SYSTEM import duties are paid by the producers or con- sumers, for it is certain that the free admission of articles of food and raw material would be equally acceptable to both. I have endeavoured to show that in the tariff system of the Crown colonies there is nothing which could be urged as justifying a retaliatory duty on their exports. Seeing, then, that the Home Government exer- cises practically complete control, not only over their financial affairs but over the different agencies passed in review, on which the development of the resources of the Crown colonies depends, I venture to submit that in fiscal matters they cannot be dealt with as foreign states or self-governing colonies. I urge, therefore, that their produce of food and raw material, other than articles subject in the United Kingdom to duties of excise or restrictions, such as spirits and tobacco, should be admitted free of all duties on Customs, or, if a duty has to be imposed to meet the exigencies of the Imperial Treasury, at rates based on the fact that no possible analogy can be established between their relations to the mother country and the relation of foreign states and self- governing colonies. 1 pass on to the subject of the public credit of Crown colonies. The result of a policy of liberal expenditure on productive public works out of borrowed moneys has been that charges on account of public debt con- stitute a formidable item in the annual expenditure of many Crown colonies. The rate of interest is obviously of importance. Parliament has on two occasions within the last few years enabled the 3o8 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE colonies to reduce the burden of these charges. By the Mauritius Hurricane Loan Act, 1892, the Imperial Treasury was authorised to guarantee the repaymeii- of the principal, and interest at the rate of three per cent, per annum, of a loan raised by the Government of Mauritius. By the Colonial Loans Act, 1899, the Imperial Treasury was authorised to make advances, amounting in all to ;^3'35i'820, to a number of colonies (at a rate not less than two and three quarters per cent.) in accordance with the terms of the National Debt and Local Loans Act, 1887. Assuming that, as in the case of Mauritius, the rate of interest on loans secured by an express Imperial guarantee was one per cent, less than the rate of Crown Colony Inscribed Stock Loans, these Acts obviously furnished a substantial measure of relief. They were a recog- nition by Parliament of the fact that the Home Government is in the last resort responsible for the financial condition of the Crown colonies, and that the logical consequence of this responsibility is the right of the Home Government to control their expenditure. As, then, no loan can be raised without the consent of the Home Government, which is in the last resort responsible for every loan, with or without a statutc-y guarantee, it seems to follow that the Home Government could render substantial aid to the Crown colonies, without incurring the additional risk of one farthing, by allowing all the Crown colony authorised loans to be negotiated in accordance with the provisioiiS of one or other of the Acts I have referred to. This is not an original suggestion. On February FISCAL SYSTEM 24th, 1899, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mr. Chamberlain brought in a Bill to provide for the advance of colonial loans and the issue of guaranteed colonial stock or bonds. This Bill authorised the creation of a Colonial Loans Fund provided by the issue of guaranteed colonial stock, and was designed to cover all the King's dominions beyond the seas, clause 7 running as follows : (1) This Act shall apply to any Colony the finances of which are declared by the rules under this Act to be under the control of a Secretary of State within the meaning of the Act. (2) This Act shall also apply to any British Protectorate or protected State the finances of which are so declared to be under the control of a Secretary of State, and to Cyprus, in like manner as if it were a Colony, and the Queen in Council or any authority recognised by the rules as a legisla- tive authority were the Legislature for that Colony. All I desire to urge is the enactment of a measure on analogous lines. The present system has produced a singular anomaly. While the Imperial Treasury is ad- mittedly responsible for all Crown colony loans, there have been brought into existence two classes of colonial stock. The class of security known as colonial inscribed stock, issued without an express Imperial guarantee, provides an investment for trust funds bearing interest at a rate appreciably higher than guaranteed loans. The additional rate of interest is provided out of colonial funds and constitutes a burden of which they might be relieved without, as I have said, laying one farthing 510 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE of additional risk or burden on the Imperial Treasury. In logical and intimate association with the system of supplying colonial governments with cheap money for public purposes, by the security of an imperial guarantee, stands the question of a system by which cheap money may be supplied to the small planters and peasant proprietors, who are getting to be recognised as an agency of constantly increasing importance in the development of the Crown colonies, in the ratio of their increasing intelligence and capacity under the influence of education and training in improved agricultural and industrial methods. Such a system seems a necessary complement of the departments of eco- nomic botany represented in the West Indies by the Imperial Conjmissioner of Agriculture and by local agencies throughout the Crown colonies as described in my chapter on Agriculture. As the Royal Commission pointed out, in 1897, "the existence of a class of small proprietors among the population is a source of both economic and political strength." When Governor of the Wind- ward Islands I devoted much attention to this question, and provided the legislative machinery necessary to establish a system cordially approved by Mr. Chamberlain. In 1896 I secured the passing in St. Lucia of an Ordinance " to encourage the introduction of capital into the colony for agricultural purposes and with a view to enable proprietors to develop the resources of their estates by loans at moderate rates of interest." In the following year identical Ordinances FISCAL SYSTEM were passed in G: enada and St. Vincent. The effect of this legislation was to authorise the colonial governments to guarantee loans made, on certain fixed conditions, to small planters by any recognised bank or financial agency. It was a very simple scheme, but no active measures seem to have been taken to carry it out. It is certain, however, that th • question of providing small holders with cheap money by some system of bank credit is a pressing problem of the day, as well in the United Kingdom as in the Crown colonies. CHAPTER XXVI EXPANSION , . -1. I HAVE dealt with the problems of supplying the Crown colonies with an appropriate form of govern- ment, appropriate laws, an appropriate population, and appropriate methods of developing their re- sources. I shall now consider the problem of expansion of area. I shall not concern myself with the acquisition of new territories by conquest or treaty, using the word, as I do, in the restricted sense of expansion within the administrative limits of a colony, by extending the area of beneficial occupation through the agency of European capital and supervision into unexplored or unexploited districts. The colony of British Guiana offers a vast field for expansion in this sense, and I propose to illus- trate the work done under the influence of the colonial policy of the Victorian era by records of my own experience. The imperial adventurers of the sixteenth century gave the name of Guiana to that part of the con- tinent of South America which lies between the Orinoco and the Amazon. The inland limits of the EXPANSION 3»3 territory thus denominated were never definitely fixed, but geographers have assigned to it an area of about 700,000 square miles, almost equal to the combined area of France, Germany, the Austro- Hungarian Empire, and Italy. From the earliest ages the spirit of romance has anticipated, and the genius of commerce has sought to realise the discovery of a city of gold in a land of promise, and the marvellous adventures and narratives of the first conquerors of America created a robust faith in the existence within the limits of Guiana of " that great and golden city which the Spaniards called El Dorado and the naturals Manoa." In the year 1498, Columbus reached the mouth of the Orinoco and landed on the coast of Paria, and within the next three years the main outline of the shores of Guiana were traced by Spanish sailors. It was nearly a hundred years later that the settle- ment of Guiana, as a commercial and imperial enterprise, was designed by Sir Walter Raleigh, and his scheme of colonisation brought before his countrymen. On February 6th, 1595, Sir Walter Raleigh, " having many years since had knowledge by relation of that mighty, rich and beautiful Elmpire of Guiana," departed from England, and on his return in the same year he published his Discovery of Guiana. A passage in the play of Othello, and many references in contemporary works, prove that in an age of great enterprises the discovery of Guiana was considered a very notable event. It was but natural that a land thus reputed should become an apple of discord upon which the great 314 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE maritime Powers of Europe have left the marks of their teeth. The vast territory historically included under the denomination of Guiana is now divided between the jurisdiction of three European Powers,— Great Britain, France, and Holland, and two South American Powers, — Brazil and Venezuela. It would far exceed the limits of my space to give, even in oudine, a narrative of the political and commercial enterprises which have led to the partition of Guiana between these Powers. Nor would such a narrative be consistent with my present purpose, which is merely to render an account of measures taken to exploit Great Britain's share in this undeveloped estate, during the period that I held the office of Lieutenant-Governor and Government Secretary of the colony, and more particularly to place on record the part it was my good fortune to take in the enterprise when administering the Govern- meni. In 1835 Robert Hermann Schombergk was sent by the Royal Geographical Society on a mission British Guiana. His instructions were, first, thoroughly to investigate the physical character and resources of the great central ridge which furnishes tributaries to the great rivers of the country, and secondly, to connect the positions thus ascertained with those determined by Humboldt on the Upper Orinoco. His mission included three separate ex- peditions to the interior and was not concluded till October, 1839, when he returned to England. His services were acknowledged with distinction by the scientific world of Europe; what has made them more EXPANSION 315 popular was the discovery of the water plant known as Victoria Regia. In 1840 the Secretary of State proposed to appoint him " Commissary for surveying the boundaries of British Guiana," the expenses of the mission to be shared between the Home Govern- ment and the colony. But at the time the relations between the colony and the Colonial Office were so embittered by the consequences of the abolition of slavery that any proposal emanating from Down- ing Street was "a red rag to a bull." In 1842, however, the Colonial Secretary sent a conciliatory despatch to the Governor, in which he said : "The item for half the expenses of the Mission for surveying and marking out the boundaries of the colony, is an item for a service not imperatively demanded by an immediate exigency, but the neglect of which might involve a large expenditure, and evils of great magnitude at a future time. The case is therefore one in which a small present sacrifice is required on grounds of prudence and foresight. The Combined Court in their eighth resolution have expressed an opinion that the service is unnecessary, and have even objected to the payments which they made towards it out of the Contingent Fund at your disposal on the Civil List. The planters of British Guiana do not perhaps consider their own interest and that of their offspring as permanently identified with the colony in which they are now following their fortunes. But it is for the well-being of the colonists themselves, that the affairs of the colony should be conducted in a more enlarged and com- prehensive spirit, with a view of their permanent interests as component ptcis of the great Colonial 3i6 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Empire of Great Britain, and not with ihe short- sighted view of avoiding, or throwing upon the resources of the Mother Country, every expense which is .lot absolutely called for by the immediate and pressing exigencies of the day. In the present instance Her Majesty's Government are willing to charge one moiety of the expense upon the Home Revenue, asking the colony for the other moiety only ; although, as I have observed before, if the boundary expedition has any other aspect than Colonial, it is only because by neglecting to settle it, the Mother Country might at some future period be involved in the expense of a war, in addition to the continual expense of the ordinary protection of the colony and the srcrifices submitted to by the consumers in this country, for the promotion and encouragement of its staple produce." The foresight of the Colonial Office on this occasion was justified, although unfortunately the boundary known as chombergk's Line became, half a century later, the subject of a conflict which threatened to involve Great Britain in a war with the United States. The controversy was brought to a crisis by the events which I am about to describe. About the year 1885 the attention of the Govern- ment was drawn to the north-western territory of the colony by two motives, — first, by numerous applications for licenses to prospect for gold ; and secondly, by the financial position of the colony which made it imperative to seek for fresh areas of revenue. In 1886 the Colonial Office sanctioned the issue of licenses, but in the following year gave instructions EXPANSION 3«7 that all licenses, concessions, or grants applying to any portion of such disputed territory would be issued, and must be accepted, subject to the possibility that, in the event f)f a settlement of the present disputed line, the land to which such licenses, concessions, or grants applied might become a part of the Vene- zuelan territory ; in which case, no claim to compen- sation from the colony, or from Her Majesty's Government could be recognised. It was in 1887 that I became very directly inter- ested in the developn ent of the north-west territory. The occasion was the Jubilee of the reign of Queen Victoria. The official celebration of the Jubilee was appointed to be held in September, but the desire of the colony to associate itself with the Empire at the time of the celebration in England was too strong to be repressed. The more spontaneous celebrations of the earlier period even surpassed in enthusiasm those of the official date. I was administering the Government at the time, and I thought it appro- priate, after taking {)art in the Georgetown celebra- tions, to avail myself of the occasion to make a tour in outlying districts of the colony which had not been visited by a representative of the Sovereign for many years. On the morning of Saturday, July 23rd, 1SS7, I left Georgetown and reached the mouth of the Pomeroon the same evening. I was met by Mr. Everard im Thurn, magistrate of the Pome- roon District, who conveyed me in his boat across the four miles of shallow sea that extend between the Pomeroon and Moruka rivers. Passing under the interlaced roof of mangrove branches covering the 3i8 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE narrow stream of the Moruka, we arriveu at about seven o'clock at the Churchof England mission station of Waramurt. where on a sandy hillside risin)^ from an environment of foresf^H swamp a benab (an open cottayfe constructed after t;he model of the houses of the native Indians) had been prepared for my reception. It was approached by a [)ath of white sand winding up the hill, and on each side a crowd of Indians, Caribs, VVarraus, and Arawaks. held hlazin;4 lamps or t(jrches in such a way as to form a very effective illumination. Overhead the leafy sprays of plumed bamboos lighted by the torches from below, by the moonlight from above, formed a vast triumphal i u " black, gold, and silver. As I passed under it, accompanied by the Reverend \V. Matthews, the superintendent of the district mission, a /eu de Joie, after the simple fashion of the people, "fire as you please," formed an accom- paniment to God save the Queen, sung by the assembled multitude. The next morning, Sunday, I attended prayers in the mission church, and after service addressed the Indians present from the steps. At eleven o'clock we left Waramuri for Santa Rosa, a settlement on the Moruka supported by the Roman Catholic Church, and under the charge of the Reverend Father Mesini. The people of this settlement were mostly Spanish-speaking Arawaks, descendants of refugee Spaniards from Venezuela by inter-marriage with natives, of fine features and noble presence. Headed by Father Mesini, they received me with demonstrations not less cordial than had been accorded me at Waramuri. In the afternoon a solemn service of thanksgiving was held EXPANSION 3«9 in the church in celebration of the Queen's Jubilee. After the service, I addressed the people from the verandah of Father Mesini's residence, and with his willing consent invited them to meet me on the following morning at Waramuri, to which station I returned in the cool of the evening. The next morning I met the assembled Indians of the Moruka, who had come in from different parts of the district to the number of about twelve hundred, on a shell mound opened by Governor Sir Francis Hincks on the occasion of his visit in 1 866. I must explain that the shell mounds of British Guiana are of the nature of the Danish kitchen middens ■ hich have been discussed in anthropological literature, containin;^ the bones of wild animals and human beings. It was with great satisfaction that I addressed the representative gathering, supported by Mr. im Thurn, Mr. Matthews, and Father Mesini, rdl of whom, after a simple explanation of the reason of my visit, and the nature of the celebration of the Jubilee year of the Queen's reign, I thanked, as her Majesty's representative, and on behalf of the Government of British Guiana, for their devotion to the welfare and happiness of her Majesty's Indian subjects in British Guiana. 1 then distributed the gifts I had brought with me for presentation, — rifles, axes, cutlasses, cloth, ornaments, etc. The afternoon of the day was devoted to sports, shooting with arrows, running, jumping, and native games. In the course of the day a large number of tribal captains and heads of families signed the following address to her Majesty the Queen : 320 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE "To THE Queen's Most Excellent Majesty. The humble Address of the Indians of the Pomeroon and Moruka Rivers in your Majesty's South American Colony of British Guiana: May it please your Majesty, We, the native Indians of the Pomeroon and INIoruka Rivers in the Colony of British Guiana, faithful subjects of your most gracious Majesty, wish to send to you, our Queen, our humble, but loving good wishes at this time when, as we hear, all your other subjects in whatever part of the world they may be are sending your Majesty messages of their loyalty. It is fifteen years since the Governor of your Colony has come among us, and we are glad and grateful that His Excellency Charles Bruce, whom your Majesty has at this time placed over us. has come among us just now so that we may ask him to send these our words to your Majesty. We ask him at the same time to thank you on our behalf for the peace and quietness which have been kept about our homes during the whole of the fifty years during which you have been our Queen. Some of us have especial reason to be grateful in that we first came into this, your Majesty's country, fifty years ago, and here found quiet homes in place of those on the other side of the Orinoco River from which we had been driven by the lawlessness there prevailing. All of us have reason to be grateful for the care and teaching, which we and all our people have received from those of your Majesty's white subjects who were first sent to live among us soon after your Majesty became our Queen. May EXPANSION 321 God grant that you may long continue to reign over us." A separate address of equally loyal tenor was signed by the Spanish-speaking Arawaks from the Santa Rosa district. Next morning, Tuesday, July 26th, I left Waramuri, and passing down the Moruka crossed the narrow bight of sea that separates it from the Pomeroon. The transit, in a heavily laden canoe through a white squall, filled me with admiration for the skill of the boatmen. Of their strength and endurance I was to have convincing proof during a struggle of many hours against a furious down- ward tide in the Pomeroon. Our first halt on the Pomeroon was at Hackney, a mission setdement of the English Church remarkable at the time for the simple beauty of its church and the excellent organisation of its school. The land in this district is of extraordinary fertility, but Mr. im Thurn, in a picturesque account of our tour, has declared that the greatest curse of these parts is the mosquito. "Just at this part of the river," he says, "the mosquitoes are certainly more numerous, larger, more savage at night, than in any other part of the colony : so bad are these insects, that every single labourer employed receives, as a matter of course, from his employer, besides his wages, a peculiarly shaped mosquito net of strong calico." At the time of which I am writing the agency of the mosquito in the dissemination of tropical disease was unknown, nor am I aware to what extent the discoveries of modern research have since affected " X 322 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE the environment of this field of enterprise. Our next halt on the river was at the Government station of Marlborough. This station, also within the mosquito area, had recently been equipped with a new court house, a residence for the Commissary, police quarters, and a lock-up by Mr. im Thum, and was called Marlborough after his old school. As an old Harrovian it was pl*asant for me to find two old public school boys associated in pioneer work in this remote part of the Empire. 1 found the walls of the lock-up daubed by the fingers of prisoners with the blood of countless mosquitoes, and gave orders that in future all lock-ups in the district were to be provided with nosquito nets. I was 'building better than I knew." After leaving Marlborough we rowed to the magistrates official residence at Makasseema, which we reached about an hour before midnight The day's journey had been a laborious row of about forty miles, but the boatmen sang cheerily as they covered the last mile or two with a vigorous spurt. Early the next morning we went down the river to the central mission settlement of the district at Kabakaburi, associated with the labours of two eminent missionaries, Mr. Brett and Mr. Heard, but at that time under the charge of Mr. Matthews, who had returned with us from Waramuri. I was received with the same demonstrations as at Waramuri and Santa Rosa, and passing under a triumphal arch of tree-ferns, palms, and branches, entered the church. After a short service of thanksgiving I addressed the Indians, and Mr. im Thum invited all present to bring their friends to EXPANSION 323 meet me the next day at Makasseema. I after- wards visited the settlement and inspected the school. The next morning Indians from Kabakaburi and many others arrived at Makasseema to the number of over eight hundred. A grand stand had been erected, and on this I took my place supported by Mr. im Thurn and the Commissary, who at that time constituted the entire official Staff of the vast area of territory included in the district, by the missionary, and by Miss im Thurn and Mrs. Matthews. In a short speech I included a brief account of the work of the preceding days, and the captains of tribes and many heads of families present added their signatures to the address to the Queen which had been brought from Waramuri. A regatta and aquatic sports followed, and gave the liveliest satisfaction not only to the men and women, girls and boys who took part in them, but also to the crowd of spectators who lined the banks of the river or swarmed on its surface in canoes. An interesting event was a race by boys seated not in boats, but in the huge, curved spathes or sheaths which cover and protect the flower of the Cokerite palm {maxintiliana martiana), the competitors using their hands only as paddles. At night all gathered on the illuminated grounds, and the chiefs of the three tribes, Caribs, Akawaios, and Arawaks, were presented to me. To each I gave a gun, with powder, shot, and caps, and then any who wished to address me were invited to step forward. Among other requests made to me, the Arawak captain urged the appointment of a doctor for the Pomeroon 324 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE district, and, more or less consequently, a supply of boards for coffins. I then distributed, as at Wara- muri, the presents I had brought for the Indians, and the proceedings of the day closed with a native dance. A little before midnight all had departed, having, as was found next morning, done not one particle of the damage which had been anticipated to the shrubs and plants. The next day I left Makasseema, and returned by way of the Tapakuma Lake to Georgetown. At the next meeting of the Court of Policy, after giving an account of my expedition, 1 informed the members that I had requested the magistrate of the Pomeroon District to prepare a report similar in nature to the annual administration reports of the Goverment Agents of the Provinces of Ceylon, copies of which were to be found in the library of the Court. I requested the magistrate to include in his report : 1, A description of the agricultural and mineral resources of the district, and of their present development ; 2. An account of the population, with special reference to the settlements, conditions, and needs of the native tribes. I also gave instructions that the magistrate's report should be followed by annual reports to be laid before the Court of Policy together with the Administration reports of Heads of Departments. I subsequently issued similar instructions to the magistrate of the Essequibo River, having already contemplated the establishment in British Guiana of Government Agencies similar to those of which I had had experience in Ceylon. EXPANSION 325 My visit to the north-west was immediately followed by a visit to the Indians, ••iver inhabitants, and missions on the Berbice River up to the limits of navigation. This district of the county of Berbice, which forms the eastern division of the colony, had not been visited by any representative of the Sovereign for many years, and the people begged me to forward to her Majesty a loyal address similar to those presented by the com- munities of the north-west The result of these visits was to confi^ my con- fidence in a policy which I advocated with insistence, in spite of some discouragement, during the whole period of my service in the colony. The competition of the beet-sugar industry supported by the bounty system had so seriously affected the fortunes of the proprietors and the population dependent on them, that the Administration was perplexed to find revenues adequate for the support of a civilised government. Two policies were advocated, — a policy of contraction and a policy of expansion. Those who advocated a policy of contraction urged the concentration of the population around the estates with a view to obtain cheap labour by the pressure of competition, and strenuously opposed an expan- sion which would tend to attract migration into new areas, and thus enhance the cost of production. They argued, therefore, that the time was not pro- pitious for new enterprises, and that labourers imported into the colony at their expense should not be attracted from the sugar estates. There was prima facie much in favour of this policy, but on the other hand there was the example of the West India 326 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE islands, where it had been carried out with the energy of despair, but proved altogether inadequate to arrest the consequences of the enormous increase of bounty-fed beet-sugar. In every West India island established interests had been destroyed and public finance crippled ; while by their insular limitation they were deprived of the alternative of territorial expansion. The policy which was adopted in British Guiana, however, did not lose sight of the requirements of the sugar industry. It sought to limit the industry to areas exceptionally adapted to it by conditions of climate and soil, to reduce the cost of production by the use of scientific methods alike in the field and in the factory, and to provide appropriate means of transport by land and water. At the same time, it sought to extend the radius of industry and civilisation by expansion into areas fertile in resources, and to equip them by immigration with an adequate and appropriate population. A few months after my visit to the north-west territory, the reservation attached to the grant of concessions and licenses was withdrawn, and the result was a rush for gold, accompanied by a general movement into the interior for exploration and settlement. This movement was met by the Venezuelan Government by granting concessions in the disputed territory, and in partic lar for a railway from Bolivar to Guacipati traversing a part of the area. In consequence, on December 31st, 1887, when administering the Government, I issued a proclamation, of which the material part was as follows : EXPANSION 327 "Whereas it has come to the knowledge of the Government of British Guiana that certain con- cessions have been granted by the President, and by and with the sanction of the Government of the United States of Venezuela, purporting to give and grant certain rights and privileges for con- structing a railway to Guacipati, and in and over certain territories and lands within and forming part of the Colony of British Guiana : "Now, therefore, I do hereby intimate to all whom it may concern that no alleged rights pur- porting to be claimed under any such concession will be recognised within the said Colony of British Guiana, and that all persons found trespassing on or occupying the lands of the Colony without the authority of the Government of this Colony, will be dealt with as the law directs." This proclamation gave rise to considerable anxiety in the United States, and in the following February that Government addressed a note of remonstrance to its Minister in England. I mention this as it marked a stage in the events which had their final issue in the constitution of a Tribunal of Arbitration under a treaty signed at Washington in February, 1897, between Great Britain and Venezuela. The award was made in October, 1897, and I have no desire to discuss it. Early in 1889 Lord Gormanston had assumed the Government of British Guiana, and a few months later I went to England on leave of absence. Unfortunately Lord Gormanston's health broke down, and in October I was requested to return at once to the colony. During the next 328 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE six months I energetically resumed the policy of expansion. In December I paid a visit of inspection to the north-west territory. In planning this visit it was my main object to enlist the good-will of the unofficial members of the Court of Policy and others, knowing very well that unless I carried them along with me the policy could never be carried out. I reported this visit to the Secretary of State, Viscount Knutsford. Government House, Georgetown, Demerara, 3rd January, 1889. " My Lord, I have the honour to inform you that on December 19th, I left Georgetown on a visit of inspection to the settlements and recendy established stations in the north-western district of this colony. "In the month of May last a proclamation was published creating a new fiscal district beyond the northern limits of the North Essequibo Coast fiscal district, to be called the north-western district, and at the same time provision was made by the Combined Court in the supplementary Estimates for the appointment of a Commissary. It was the intention of the Government by these arrangements to enforce their fiscal jurisdiction in the district. " The residence of the Commissary was fixed at Marlborough on the Pomeroon River. " I may remind your Lordship that at the Session of Combined Court held in December, 1887, provision was made for the maintenance of a police EXPANSION 329 force at several stations in the district, and the supplementary Estimates voted in the month of May last, provided a sum of ten thousand dollars for the erection of new police stations. " During the present year the attention of the Government has been drawn by the Crown Sur- veyor and Mr. im Thurn to the question of dealing with the farms which have been for some years in the unauthorised occupation of squatters on the Waini, Morawhana, Barima, Aruka and Amakuru rivers, and Mr. im Thurn supf^ied a list of about fifty farms so occupied. "Acting on the advice of the Crown Surveyor and Mr. im Thurn, I decided early in November to send two of the Assistant Crown Surveyors to make a preliminary survey of the settlements on the above mentioned rivers, and so soon as these surveys shall have been completed, I propose to consult the Court of Policy as to the conditions upon which grants on leases of occupancy shall be given to the squatters. It seems to me desirable that titles should be given to them upon the easiest terms possible. ** Such having been the steps taken during the last year to bring the outlying portions of the colony in the north-western fiscal district within the jurisdiction of the Government, I thought it opportune to visit the principal waterways or highways of the district, which with the exception of the Pomeroon have never been visited by any Governor of the colony. At the same time, I invited to accompany me the unofficial members of the Court of Policy, the Chief Commissary, the 330 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Comptroller of Customs, the Head of the Army Commissariat Department, and Mr. Tinn6, who is perhaps known to your Lordship as a gentleman largely interested in the colony. " Some of the unofficial members were prevented from joining me, and at the last moment I had to regret the absence of Mr. Turner from illness. " I annex for your Lordship's information a small map of the district I visited shewing the general position of the settlements and stations. Leaving Georgetown early on the morning of the 19th. we reached the Waini in about fifteen hours, and the next day ascended the river and passed through the Morawhana or Mora passage, which connects the Waini with the Barima, on which there are several settlements. There is deep water in this natural channel and a large vessel could easily pass through, were the channel not impeded by the stems of decayed trees, which could, however, be removed at a trifling cost A glance at the map shews the ad- vantage of this passage for communication between the settlements on the Upper Barima and Aruka rivers with Georgetown. There is a very strong tide in the Morawhana which ebbs and flows about three hours earlier than the tide of the Barima. producing singular currents at the junction of the two streams, the site selected for the principal station of the district called the Morawhana Station. The site commands the Morawhana and two long reaches of the Barima. The station includes at present a police barracks and residence for the Inspector. These have been erected within the last few months by Mr. im Thurn, and do credit EXPANSION 331 to his skill and economy. There are a number of settlements at this point. "On the morning of the aist I addressed the native Indians who had come in to meet me during the night and told them that the station was built for their protection. I exhorted them to consider the Magistrate and Inspector as their friends and to have recourse to them in all times of sickness and trouble. I also pointed out to them that a nursery of trees and plants had already bee .i started at the station for their future use and profit. I invited them on their return to their homes to make known to the tribes and families they represented, the desire of the Government to protect and aid them. 1 then distributed among them some presents which had been selected by Mr. im Thurn. At this station we were joined by the Assistant Crown Surveyors. My party then embarked on the steamer which had arrived during the night and steamed up the river to its junction with the Aruka, on which there are several settlements, and which we followed, past the hill station of Kumaka, occupied for some time by Schombergk's party, to Issororo, a comparatively high hill from the summit of which there is an extensive view. " During the day we visited some of the more important settlements and were much struck with the enterprise of the settlers, the fertility of the soil, and the advantages offered by the water system of the district "The next day we steamed down the river past numerous settlements to the station established at Barima Point in 1S87. The site of this station was 33a THF BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE formerly cleared and planted by Mr. Wells of the Manoa Company. The shore at this point has been a good deal washed av ly lately by the sea which Hreaiens to encroach on the limits of the station. i\hcr the inspection we proceeded to the station and settlements on the right bank of the Amakuru as indicated on the map. • Ref'"'^ nightfall we left the river and steamed dowi th mouth of the Orinoco on our return jot . Early on the morning of the 23rd v/e e. tV* Pomeroon. 'n r' Pomeroon are two stations, Marlborough ' igill. The former includes a Court- House, ^ .iice L rracks, and the residence of the •"ommissary. At Pickersgill there is a police station only. Beyond Pickersgill at a disunce of about forty miles from the mouth of the Pomeroon is the important mission station of Kabakaburi, and a little beyond the mission is Makasseema, the residence of the Magistrate, . im Thum. Of this part of the district I gave account in my despatch No. 307 of August 41 887,' and I will only mention that during the pa^ ar a dispensary under the charge of Mr. im Thurn has been estab- lished for the benefit of the native Indians at Kabakaburi. From Makasseema I returned to Marl- borough and thence to Georgetown, which I reached early on D ( . nber 24th. " The gentlemen who accompanied me on this expedition were much impressed with the resources of the districts and the apparently easy development of which they seem capable. > In this despatch I reported my visit to the district in July, 1887. EXPANSION 333 " In addition to what has been lUready done to conBrna our jurisdiction over the district, I would Mlvise the esublishment of a port of entry at a suit- able place. In my despatch No. 3 of the 2nd instant, I have dealt with this matter. But above all, I would advise that the rights of the present squatters should be speedily settled, and that measures should at once be taken to attract fresh settlers and capital to this district. On the jjeneral question of the disposal of the Cro^ n lands in the colony in such a way as to encourage agricultural enterprise, I have submitted my views in my des- patch No. 7 of the 4th instant relative to the proposals made by the Crown Surveyor in his report for the year 1887, with an extract from which I may appropriately close this despatch. ' The lands of the numerous rivers in the colony being composed of rich alluvial soil offer magnificent advantages for the cultivation of cocoa, cocoanuts, valuable fibres, coffee and fruits, and the facilities of water carriage available will enable planters here to compete favourably with the producers of the same commodities in other countries which have not a water system like that in existence here. In addition we enjoy an immunity from the strong and cold winds which sometimes prevail and cause great loss, as in Trinidad and some of the other Islands, b/ blasting the cocoa blossoms and levelling to the ground the banana trees.' "I have, etc" 'icy, I followed up .t, as I had done 334 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE in 1887, by a visit to the county of Berbice, on the eastern division of the colony. On February 14th, 1889, I reported to the Secretary of State that I had invited the elective members of the Court of Policy to accompany me on my tour, as I wished to discuss with them important proposals connected with the county. This tour included a visit to the highest navigable point of the Corentyne, the boundary between British and Dutch Guiana. During this year the proposals set out in my despatch of January 3rd, 1889, were proceeded with, and preparations were made for the future adminis- tration of a part of the territory as a separate district. Houses were built for the officer in charge, for his clerk, and for a Commissary (Revenue Officer); also a cottage hospital. Pending the rebuilding of the Amakurii station, a police schooner was kept always stationed in the Amakuru to serve as a police station. The Barima had been declared a port of entry, with a Customs-house at Morawhana. The inland com- munication had been improved by the clearance of the overhanging trees from the ^abo (water-way) between the Moruka and the Waini, and by the establishment of a rest-house on the Barima between Morawhana and Barima Sands. The arrangements for carrying out my proposal to establish a Government Agency on the Ceylon system required a good deal of time and elaboration. There were also many influences at work. Expendi- ture had to be voted, and there was the cloud of the boundary question on the horizon. To my dismay when I was at home on leave in April, 1890, I received from Mr. im Thurn an intimation that at EXPANSION 335 the next session of Combined Court it would pro- bably be declared that the time had not come to make administrative changes. He added that his connection with the colony would then at once terminate. This was one of the shocks that colonial service brings. But the disaster was averted. An Ordinance giving the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Court of Policy, power to establish an Agency was passed, and on November 27th I had the pleasure of moving in the Court of Policy the following resolution : " That the Court hereby advises and consents to the establishment of a District to embrace the terri- tory bounded on the North by the Atlantic Ocean and the mouth of the Orinoco River, on the South by the ridge of land between the sources of the Amakuru, Barima, and Waini Rivers and their tributaries and the sources of the tributaries of the Cuyuni River, on the east by a line extending from the Atlantic Ocean in a southerly direction to the said ridge of land on the south, and on the west by the Amakuru River and the line known as Schombergk's boundary line, the limits of the said district being described and delineated by a blue line as on extract map of the colony attached hereto." The area of territory included in the Agency was about 9,000 square miles. The general nature and scope of the system was sufficiently explained in the instructions I dral . nor the Government Agent's guidance, defining his functions and his relation to the heads of the various departments of government They were 336 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE drafted in the hope that they might serve in the development of other parts of the interior. " The Government Agent within his own district will have complete control, subject only to the Governor, over all officers and matters belonging to his district. He will correspond on all administra- tive matters with the Government Secretary, who will transmit to him the Governor's instructions. But in order that he should be able to carry out his numerous functions in relation to the Revenue, Police, Postal departments, etc., he will be appointed a deputy of the head of any department in relation to which he may have to transact business within his district. The Government Agent will corre- spond on any points which concern a particular department with the head of that department, who for that purpose will be his superior officer. The Government Agent while so acting within his district as deputy will have complete authority in matters relating to each department, and any subject upon which he may differ from the head of the department, except on purely technical grounds, in the decision of which he must be subordinate to that head, will have to come before the Governor for consideration. " But when any head of a department goes into the district the functions of the Agent as his deputy will fall entirely into abeyance, and he will have no departmental authority in that particular branch, although a , administrative head of the district he will be on an equal footing with the head of department so coming into his district ; and no head of a department should go into the district EXPANSION except in circumstances of urgent necessii/. wit! out giving due notice to the Agent "Whenever on the occasion of a visit to the district by the head of a department, a diiTerence of opinion arises between him and the Agent, the latter should at once report it to the Govern- ment Secretary for the Governor's final decision." Under this scheme the Government Agent held appointments as deputy for the following heads of departments : for the Receiver General, Comp- troller of Customs, Chief Commissary, Inspector General of Police, Postmaster-General, Colonial Civil Engineer, Inspector of Prisons and Crown Surveyor. He also held a commission as Special Magistrate, though with the understanding that he was not to exercise the powers given by this commission except in cases of sudden emergency and in the absence of the ordinary Special Magis- trate assigned for the district. He also held the power of a Government Officer under the regula- tions issued in accordance with the Mining Ordin- ances ; and he was a Commissioner for oaths and affidavits. I should add that, while all these duties were incumbent on the Government Asjent, the organi- sation of each separate department had been elabor- ately prepared by the titular heads of departments. In particular, the fiscal arrangements were organised by the Chief Commissary (Revenue Officer), Mr. W. S. Turner, one of the most hard-working and unselfish public officers I have ever known. His laborious life was brought to a premature close by indefatigable labours in which he was constandv 11 V ^ 338 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE exposed to malarial influences. Similar good work was done by the heads of the Survey, Police, and Medical departments. It is of the essence of this system that it places at the disposal of a sparsely populated territory all the experience of administra- tive experts without the cost of a large staff of highly paid resident officials. The immediate working of the system thus care- fully organised was summarised in the counter-case presented by the Government to the Tribunal of Arbitration constituted in 1897 and formed an important element in the case. In July, 1891, I paid an official visit to the Agency and reported the results to Lord Knutsford in a despatch from which I may conveniently quote : Government House, Georgetown, Demerara, 15th July, 1891. Mv Lord, " I have the honour to transmit for your Lordship's information copies of the Report of the Government Agent of the North-Westem District for the year 1890-91. " It has been a subject of much regret to Mr. im Thurn, as your Lordship will easily gather from the tenor of his report, that the ci-cumstances of the district are but little known in the colony. Towards the close of the year 1888, 1 paid an official visit to the district reported by my despatch No. 6 of January 3rd, 1889, and a similar visit was paid last year by Lord Gormanston and reported by his despatch No. 87 of March 28th, 1890. EXPANSION *' On the ist instant I left Georgetown for a second official visit to the district and on this occasion I was accompanied by the Bishop of Guiana, the Chief Justice, the Honourable C. Ross and Honourable W. Craigen, Members of the Court of T>olicy, Financial Representatives R. G. Duncan, _.. Neil Mackinnon, and D. M. Hutson, the Reverend Canon Heard and Mr. H. de R. Barclay. I had also invited the Honourable B. H. Tones, the Government Botanist, and the Gold Commissioner, but they were prevented from joining the party, the Gold Commissioner I regret to add by indisposition. " I annex a sketch map prepared for me by Mr. im Thurn which shows the route followed from the mouth of the Waini, "We left Georgetown at 5.40 p.m. on the ist instant and reached the mouth of the Waini at about r i the next morning. Here we were met by Mr. im Thurn in the new steam launch, which has proved a valuable acquisition. It has worked admir- ably and I shall forward a requisition for another by the next mail. " We passed through the Morawhana passage to Morawhana in the launch in a little over an hour, and during the afternoon I inspected the Govern- ment buildings. "On my last visit the police barracks and the quarters of the Inspector of Police were the only buildings erected. To these have since been added a hospital and dispensary, the Government Agency, the residences of the Magistrate and Commissary, and a shed for purposes connected with the gold industry. 340 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE " The grounds of the Government Agency have been admirably laid out by Mr. im Thurn, and the rapidity of the vegetation and the fertility of the soil at this point delighted and surprised all. " In the meantime the steamer had • "ceded to Morawhana by the Orinoco and t* arima, a distance of 120 miles, and at 10 ocl* on the morning of Friday, July 3rd, we left Morawhana, passing down the river Barima to the Amakuru. " The distance from Morawhana to Barima Point is nearly fifty miles, and a convenient half-way benab or rest-house of a very simple construrtion has been constructed. I propose to arrange as soon as possible for the construction of similar rest-houses by Mr. M'Turk on the Essequibo between Bartika and the Potaro. We' passed into the Orinoco shortly after 3 p.m. and reached the Amakuru in about an hour. " Since my last visit excellent accommodation has been provided for the police, and a house for the Inspector is in course of construction. The Vene- zuelans have established a police station on the left bank nearly opposite our own. As I passed it the Venezuelans saluted my flag and immediately on landing at our station, I received a letter of saluta- tion from General lustiniano Lugo, describing him- self as Governor of the Territory of the Delta, to which I sent a courteous reply. I annex copies of these documents. " I learnt with satisfaction that for some time past a very friendly feeling has existed between our people on the right bank and the Venezuelan setders on the left bank. EXPANSION 341 " On our return from the Amakuru we called at the police station near Barima Point, known as Barima Sands, and reached Morawhana shortly before mid- night We slept on board and at 7 a.m. proceeded up the Barima to its junction with the Aruka. passing the grants for mission and school purposes recently made to the Church of England and to the Roman Catholic Church. Nearly the whole of the lands on this part of the river are occupied or granted, and the progress which has been made in clearing the settlements during the last few years gives satis- factory evidence of the intelligence and industry of the settlers. All the members of my party, and especially those representing the agricultural interests of the colony, seemed to be satisfied that the repre- sentations which have been made of the agrricultural resources of this part of the district have not been exaggerated. " We steamed up the Aruka as far as the Issororo hills, which I had ascended on my previous expedi- tion. Some of the party who ascended the hills were impressed with the advantages which they seem to offer for a setdement. "Returning to the junction of the Aruka and Barima, we steamed up the latter river and landed at a large setdement recently cleared and cultivated. This was the first time that a steamer has navigated the Barima above the Aruka mouth. " On our return journey we landed to inspect the mission and school premises of the Roman Catholic Church. "In the afternoon the captain of our steamer made a survey of the Morawhana passage, the result of 342 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE which was that he decided to take the steamer through the passage. This was afterwards accom- plished with perfect success, and thus a voyage of about 1 20 miles was saved. There is ample depth of water in the passage, but it is obstructed by trees which appear to have fallen from the banks and to have taken root in the channel. I alluded to this in my despatch of January 3rd, 1889. The passage seemed to me, however, much freer from obstruction than on the occasion of my former visit " On Sunday, the 4th, we stayed at Morawhana, and in the morning all attended divine service in the building called the Gold Shed. Bishop Austin, eighty-four years of age, gave an address and a brief narrative of missionary work in British Guiana during his long episcopate of forty-nine years. A number of aboriginal Indians were present It was an impressive service. " Before closing the record of our visit to Mora- whana, I may mention that Mr. im Thurn reported to me a very great increase in the operations of the gold industry on the Barima since his report was written. " Gold was first obtained on this river in the month of September 1890. Since that time royalty has been paid on over 1 50 pounds of gold, of which no pounds were reported at Morawhana from May ist to July nth. A considerable amount is reported to be now on its way to the Government Station. "On Monday, the 5th of July at 8 a.m., we left Morawhana in the launch, and passing through the passage commenced our visit to the WainL EXPANSION 343 " The tide was running out of the river with great rapidity, and the steamer • Horatia,' which had pre- ctded us, dragged her anchor for nearly a mile. We weighed anchor at about lo a.m. The water at the mouth of the Waini, which is not less than two miles wide, is very shallow, but deepens after a short distance, and we carried an ample depth to the furthest point of our voyage,— about ninety miles from the mouth. The lower part of the river is swampy and apparently unsuitable for agricultural purposes. At 4.15 p.m., we reached Baramani Station at the junction of the Baramani River. "From this point boats reach the Moruka and Pomeroon by a series of waterways, as shown on the sketch map annexed. The River Barama ^ enters the Waini about thirteen miles higher up. A glance at the sketch map will show that the site is admirably chosen for a station, as all traffic between the Upper Waini and the Barama and Georgetown must necessarily pass it. All the Barama gold is reported here. An Office of the Government Land Department, a rest house, police station, hospital and dispensary have been erected. So far as the lands around the public buildings are cleared and laid out, they show an amazing richness of soil. " On Tuesday, the 7th, we left Baramani at 6 a.m., and arrived off the mouth of the Barama at about 7. 1 5. We then proceeded to the Quobanna Mission on the Waini, where a number of Carib and Akawaio Indians were assembled. I distributed among them the presents I had brought, and ' This river is not to be confounded with the Barima. 344 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE afterwards addressed them in simile, but, I hope, sufficiently expressive terms through th ^ native interpreters. I annex a copy of my address. "In the evening we returned to Baramani, and on the following day descended the Waint. We left the Waini at about noon on the 8th instant, and reached Georgetown early the next morning. "The e-xpedition seemed to give much pleasure to all the members of the party, and I have every reason to hope that it may prove of some advantage to the colony. " Mr. im Thurn has been good enough to prepare at my request a memorandum showing the chief incidents in the development of the North-VVestern district since my previous visit in December 1888. He has added a note of what he considers to be at present the chief requirements of the district. These matters are all engaging my attention. " I annex a copy of Mr. im Thurn's memorandum. " I have, etc." My address may be taken as typical of many I delivered with appropriate variations. It was as follows : " People of the tribes of the Waini and Barama. your friend the Bishop of Guiana and Mr. Heard and thers have taught you to pray to God for all good things that you wish for yourselves and for your children and for your families, and in the service of the Church every Sunday you have learnt to pray God to bless our Gracious Sovereign Lady, Queen Victoria. Our Queen Victoria is a great Queen who rules over many peoples and EXPANSION tribetb When the sun rises to shine upon us he comes from lands where he has been shining on her people, and when hu sets he goes to shine upon her people. I have come among you as the servant of our great Queen, being commanded by her to make your wants and your interests my care, and these gentlemen, my friends, who are here with me are all the servants of the Quet^n chosen to do justice among you, and to make just laws for your protection and to promote your haf^tness. And the Queen has af^inted your friend Mr. im Thum to be her Agent among you to learn your wants and your wishes and to advise us in order that you may be wisely governed and may cultivate the soil your fathers cultivated, and reap the fruit thereof, and hunt in the great forests in which your fathers hunted, and fish in the great rivers in which your fathers fished, in peace and security. And so we have come among you that we may see and know you and may see and know the land where you dwell, and that you may see and know us, who are the servants of the great Queen Victoria, appointed to be the guardians of your lives and treasures, and of your children and your families, so that you may live in the enjoyment of all things right and good for you." The result of this expedition was to satisfy the members of the Court of Policy and the Financial Representatives who accompanied me of the wisdom of the policy of expansion and the administrative methods designed to control it. In opening a Session of Combined Court on September 15th 346 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE following, I made bold to appeal to the Court to supplement what had beer dune by providing adequate means of communication and transport. After submitting a proposal i lat the colony should take part in an International ExhiWtion to be held at Chicago to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America, 1 added : " Fitly associated with the proposal to make known our resources and industries to the nations who will lake part in the World's Columbian Exposition is the proposal to provide for communication by steamer with the North-VVesterti District, with a view to the development of our resources anc the encouragement of our industries in a part ol the colony of which the importance is now fully recognised. In territorial extent, the North-Western District exceeds the collective area of the Colonies of Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, and the Wind^ \rd ,;;v1 Leeward Islands all put together. In agricul- tural . forest and mineral resources, it appears to rival the most fortunate of British tropical possessions, b'iiherto it has been litth- known because access to it has been difificult and .-iily. The proposal to bring it within easy l each ' v 3 < v. aer communication is supported by the Chamber of Commerce, the Institute of Mines and Forests, and by a public peti- tion bu.risig numero :s and influential signatures." Contina; 1 asked for a vote to cover the pre- liminary expenses of a survey to enable the Government to prepare a definite scheme of telegraphic communication with the interior. The votes were sanctioned with enthusiasm, and I well remember an incident, inagnificant it may EXPANSION 347 seem, but which caused me much satisfaction. After the meeting of the Combined Court I expressed my gratitude to one of the Financial Representatives for the generosity with which the necessary ways and means had been granted. He replied, "If you had asked us for the watches in our pockets, we should have taken them out and handed them over. " It is not necessary to follow the progress of the Government Agency in detail. In 1893 I was appointed Governor of the Windward Islands, but before I left British Guiana I was anxious to pay a last visit to the district and take a survey of the work that had been accomplished. An interval following the departure of Lord Gormanston, who had been appointed Governor of Tasmania, gave me a convenient opportunity. On the occasion of my first visit in December, 1888, the whole administrative apparatus was thus described by Mr. im Thum in the memorandum i have alluded to : " An inspector of police with ten constables under him were the only Government servants residing in the district, though the Magistrate of the Pomeroon District (in which the North Western District was then included) paid occasional visits. " The only buildings in existence were the barracks and Inspector's house at Morawhana ; the barracks and Public Officers' .ricis at Baramani, a shed with accommodation for one constable at Ama- koora, and another with accommodation for four constables at Barima Sand. There was no regular meaas uf communication with the district and each 348 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE visitor had to provide his own boat and means of penetrating the North-Western District. A survey of the District had just been commenced by the Crown Lands Department." In the interval a territory of over 9,ocx) square miles, equal in area to all the West India islands put together, had been equipped with the complete administrative system I have described. In reporting to the Secretary of State on June 14th, 1893, my tour of inspection, I confined myself to observing that one of my objects was to give members of the Combined Court and others who had not previously visited the district an opportunity of seeing what had been done. I preferred to leave a narrative of the expedition to a member of the Court of Policy, Mr. E. C. Luard, by whose con- sent I enclosed in my despatch an article he con- tributed to a local paper, the Argosy. It records the names of many who were associated in the development of the territory, but whose share in the work has never been otherwise recognised. With some quotations from his article, I close the record of my work in the expansion of British Guiana in the north-west. MR. LUARD'S narrative. "At 2.20 p.m. on Thursday, ist June, the special steamer 'Guiana' left Georgetown en route for the North Western District of the Colony, having on board His Excellency the Lieut. Governor, Sir Charles Bruce, K.C.M.G., the Right Rev. W. P. Swaby, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese, the Honble. Dr. J. W. Carrington, C.M.G.. the Honble. N. EXPANSION 349 Darnell Davis, the Honble. Dr. R. Grieve, the Honble. A. Barr, the Honble. E. C Luard, John Duke Smith, Esq., F.R., George Garnett, Esq., F.R., and B. Howell Jones, Frederick White, and Douglas \ oung, Esquires. The party was a private one of the Governor's, by whom the expedition had been planned with the characteristic energy of His Excellency, and it will be seen from the above mentioned names, that not only were the State and Church represented, but also the Legal and Medical professions, Literature (N.D.D.), Com- merce, and the sugar, gold, timber, and steamship industries, — to say nothing of there being on board the Chairmen of the Quarantine Board and the Central Board of Health, a Major of the B.G. Militia, the Chairman of the Hand-in-Hand and B.G. Mutual Fire Insurance Companies, and a Director of the former, the Chairman of the Cham- ber of Commerce, two directors of the British Guiana Bank, besides the President of the Royal Agricul- tural and Commercial Society and the President of the Institute of Mines and Forests. "We entered the Waini River at 6.55 a.m., and going through the Mora Passage, reach Morawhana at 8 o'clock. Some 01' the party immediately set off for a swim in the river, facilities for a header being afforded by the excellent bathing house erected by the Special Magistrate of the District, Mr. E. R. Anson, near his house. The whole party breakfasted sumptuously at the very charming resi- dence of the Government Agent of the District E. F. im Thum, Esq., C.M.G. The surroundings of this 350 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE gentleman's house are exceedingly picturesque and inviting, plants of all kinds growing in much luxuriance and profusion, while great and artistic taste is observable everywhere, both in and out- side the dwelling. The avenues of casuarina trees, over 40 feet high, planted not yet three years, are a marked feature of the garden. After breakfast the various institutions of Morawhana were visited, the hospital, police barracks, and others, everything being beautifully clean and tidy. The site of the Township seems to have been well selected, and whether in the future another one higher up — if sufficiendy high land can be found — will not of necessity spring up, remains to be seen. The Township is situated at the point at which the Mora Passage leaves the Barima, and at about the centre of the waterway which traverses the northern part of the Colony from the mouth of the Essequibo to its northern limits on the Orinoco. " Bathing, and rambles about the place, made the time pass quickly, until the party, augmented by the officials of Morawhana, sat down to dinner, again the guests of the hospitable Government Agent. The local guests were the Revd. T. E. Quick and Mrs. Quick, Mr. E. R. Anson, the Special Magistrate, Mr. W. A. Harrison, Government Surveyor, Mr. R. Greene, Gold Officer, Mr. N. Cox, Secretary to Government Agent, and Mr. G. G. Dixon, partner in the gold syndicate of Messrs. Garnett, Winter, and Dixon. " We left Morawhana at 9.30 p.m. on Friday, and steamed down the Barima, r^hing ' Barima Sand ' at 2.30 a.m. on Saturday and anchored there. We EXPANSION 35» weighed anchor at 5 a.m., and passing out of the river, sighted the Venezuelan Lightship, and rounding the promontory, entered the Amakuru River, and anchored. This river divides Venezuela from British Guiana, and nearly opposite the British Guiana Station are to be seen some half-dozen huts ; from a flagstaff fronting them near the river's edge, the Venezuelan flag was lowered, the courtesy being acknowledged by the dipping of the Union Jack on the 'Guiana.' I forgot to mention that on leaving Morawhana, Mr. im Thum had joined the party. While we were at 'coffee,' Inspector Barnes came on board, and soon after Sir Charles Bruce and some other members of the party went off in a boat to visit the Station. There is not much to be seen here yet, ' not even sugar canes,' as Mr. im Thum said, but a good beginning has been made. Major Carrington lost no time in having the few resident Police Officers mustered, and then proceeded to put them through their facings. Before we left, the one time notorious Wells presented himself, and craved an interview with His Excellency. Returning on board, and to a certain extent commiserating with Inspector Barnes on his lonely situation— and very lonely and isolated he must feel at times, — we left the station at 8.30 a,m. to return over the same route already mentioned to Morawhana. We had heavy weather after leaving, but about noon the sun came out with a fine cool breeze, which made life very enjoyable. On the return journey we stopped for an hour at 'Barima Sand' police station, and an inspection on short was duly made. At the station there were 352 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE several tame parrots at large, and two fine macaws, one specially fine one from the Orinoco, which, possibly to discourage offers of purchase, the Ser- geant Major told us was an especial pet of his wife's. The Police were duly drilled by the Major, and a few Bucks, standing at a respectful distance, seemed much impressed. " We got back to Morawhana at 5 p.m., and had dinner at 7.30 on board the 'Guiana,' to which all the Morawhana officials were bidden, including the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Quick. After dinner Mr. im Thurn gave a magic lantern exhibition on board, which was much appreciated. All the views shown were photographic ones, taken by the Government Agent himself, representing picturesque spots of the territory, Bucks and Buckeens, Indian games, and so on. Most of the members of the party were billeted for the night on shore. " Sunday, 4th June. After a delightful swim, we prepared for Church at 11 a.m., the whole party and all the officials ot the Township attending the service. The Bishop preached. ..... "At 3 a.m. on Monday, the 5th June, we left Morawhana and steamed up the Barima, reaching the Anabisci Creek at 10 a.m. Here we were boarded by Mr. F. A. Long, Government Officer at Arakaka. The 'Guiana' anchored here, and the party (with the exception of Dr. Grieve and Messrs. I 'arnell Davis and Barr— who had decided to enjoy otiiim cum (iignitate by themselves on board — ) left in the steam launches "Lady Gormanston" and "Lady Bruce " (which had steamed up and were awaiting EXPANSION us) en route for the Barima gold-ftelds, via Koriabo Station. This Station was reached at i p.m. On the way up we passed several bateaux-loads of grfd diggers. One bateau coming down contained over 20 lbs. of gold, as the register at KoriAbo duly recorded. Koriabo Station is a picturesque *ruc- ture on a high sand reef, formeiV the site of an Indian Settlement. From the time we left Koriabo — 1.30 p.m. — the launches steamed steadily forward the whole afternoon, until 5 p.m. Several crowded boats of diggers passed, mutual salutations bemg exchanged. This portion of the Barima is especially lovely. It winds and twists in the m«et extra- ordinary way, some of the curves be;ng verv sharp On either side the trees and verdure tinted by innumerable shades of light, were enchant*^ The current was strong against us, increasing m peks>cky the further we went ; and we psMsed mmr maHr fallen ' tacoubas ' (trees) some hidden ei«HP«y u.. water. The river was reported to exorytionalh high, or navigation would have been Tiaprae-i^able. As it was, the ' Lady Bruce ' got one fKi«ty sMiseen knock, of which we were to know mom jMon. We had now reached a spot a little more ih^* taXi W4y between Koriabo and the Arakaka landiu^ -md - was determined to encamp ior the night. Tlic launches were securely fastened to the trees ibc party jumped on terra firma, suid Mr. im T^uiw's Bucks started to cut down trees and build a benab, roofing it with tarpaulins. und» which to han^^r the hammocks for the night. Dinner vas served in the launches, the air was deliciousiy cool, and after dinner we were all ready for turning mu n z 354 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE " For some of us, however, there was to be little rest that night The ' Lady Bruce ' was discovered to be leaking badly, and it was not until after day- break next morning that the leak— which took a long time to localise — was patched, and made fairly tight. This had no doubt been caused by the sunken tacouba we had passed over and struck the day before. When the water level is lower than we were fortunate enough to find it, these tacoubas, of which there are said to be a great quantity, must be a source of considerable danger to bateaux traffic, and the sooner all are cleared away the better for the gold industry and all persons concerned. The work should be started with vigour forthwith, and all money expended by the Government with this object in view will be money well spent. Messrs. im Thum and White were indefatigable in their efforts to get the leak stopped. The intention had been to leave at daybreak next morning, Tuesday, for the Arakaka landing, but fire was not put under the boilers until after 6, and before steam was up at 9, it was announced that the Lt. -Governor had decided to go no further, partly on account of the leaky launch, and for other considerations. Of course this was a very great disappointment, as the Arakaka gold-fields had held out a most delightful prospect to all of us. " However, there was no help for it, and so with feelings of great regret we left ' Disappointment Spot,' as the site of our nocturnal encampment was immediately dubbed, and started on the homeward journey. Koriabo was reached at 1 1 a.m., and the •Guiana' at Anabisci at 2.30 p.m., the party being EXPANSION greeted by Dr. Grieve and Messrs. Darnell Davis and Barr, who welcomed us with great enthusiasm, although they had done their best to finish all the ice on board during our absence. " The return journey as far as Koriabo was not without some excitement owing to the swift current, the numerous sharp twists and turns of the river, the sunken and exposed tacoubas, and the speed at which the launches had to be driven to preserve steerage way in such a strong current. Numerous bright coloured King-fishers darted to and fro, an occasional bush curry-curry showed itself, and large blue butterflies of great brilliancy flitted up and down. The natural beauties of this part of the Barima will well repay a visit. "Wednesday, 7th June. Left Anabisci at 5.30 a.m., and steamed rapidly with the current for Mora- whana. Arrived at 11 a.m. and left immediately, entering the VVaini River about 11.45 > having only just succeeded in scraping over the bar. Bari- mani Station was reached at 5. 1 5 p.m. This station, seen from the steamer, made a very pretty picture, and quite refreshed the eyo after the monotony of the long stretch of the Waini through which we had passed. The scenery of the Waini, between its mouth and Barimani, seemed commonplace com- pared with that of the Barima. On either side of the Waini we had seen an endless mass of mangrove trees, practically unrelieved by foliage of any other kind. " Arrived at Bariman', His Excellency and several of the party went on shore, and inspected the station. Some • " At the last meeting of Combined Court the vote of ^ooo dollars for Volunteers was passed on the unc' .rstandinsf that exoenditure on account of this vote would not be made without the sanction DEFENCE 383 of the Court of Policy. Fears were at that time entertained that the spirit which had once main- tained and animated our Volunteer Force was dead, but the last week has sh^wn I think conclusively that these fears are groundless ; and I ..ope that the Court will agree to accept a resolution which will be proposed to sanction such expenditure as may be found necessary to support the volunteer force, under the provisions of the existing law, pending the con- sideration of an ordinance which will be introduced by the Attorney-General for the establishment of an auxiliary force on the lines I have laid down. To complete a scheme of defence appropriate to the circumstances of British Guiana a proposal was made several years ago by the then Inspector General of Police, Mr. Cox, with the view of obtain- ing the services of an Imperial gun-boat for the protection of the colony. At that time an accidental circumstance seemed likely to be followed by the immediate withdrawal of the troops in garrison, but the occasion passed and the proposal was not further urged. In the course of last year, however. Com- mander Graham, of Her Majesty's ship ' Ready,' suggested that one or more stern-wheel steamers of light draft of the type of the steamers 'Herald' and 'Mosquito' employed on the Zambesi River might with advantage be provided, which would serve generally for the purpose of police and revenue cruisers and might be relied on to render important service for defensive purposes. At our request estimates have been furnished by the Admiralty showing the cost of construction, equipment, trans- port, etc., as well as the cost of annual maintenance 384 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE of steamers of this type. The cost of construction, equi[)ment, transport, etc.. is estimated at about ;^ii,oco; and the annual maintenance, inclusive of crew, but exclusive of cost of fuel, at a little over jCsooo. "Should the measures which will be introduced to-day secure the acceptance of the Court of Policy, I shall be prepared at the proper time to summon a special session of Combined Court to discuss such ite- !S of expenditure as may be found necessary." On the same day on which I transmitted this statement to the Secretary of State, I reported progress in another despatch. Government Hou&., Georgetown, sand April, 1891. " My Lord, "With reference to my despatch No. 125 of this date, so far as relates to the establishment of a Militia or Volunteer Force, I have the honour to acquaint you that I learnt by the last mail that a Militia ordinance on lines similar to the scheme proposed by this Government and explained in the statement made by me in the Court of Policy on the 14th instant has been passed in Jamaica. The details of the Jamaica ordinance are in the hands of the Attorney-General, and will be considered in drafting a Bill for an Auxiliary Force in this colony. " In the meantime I transmit a copy of a report drawn up by Major Turner, commanding the British Guiana Volunteers, and showing the measures taken DEFENCE 385 during the last fortnight, since I was notified of the contemplated immediate removal of the troops, to ascertain how far the Volunteers can be relied on as a force immediately available as an auxiliary to the Police. " Your Lordship will, I trust, recognise that Major Turner has acted with energy, and that the Volun- teers have shown a manly spirit fully justifying my confidence that they may be relied on as an available force ptnumg the further consideration of the measures proposed for the establishment of an auxiliary force. I observe that the auxiliary force established under the Jamaica ordinance is called a Militia. It may be simpler to designate the force intended to be raised here ' Militia,' instead of 'Volunteer Militia' as has been proposed, but this is a matter of trifling importance. 1 have, etc." {Enclosure.) Major Turner to the Government Secretary. Head Quarters, Briti.sh Guiana Volunteers, 2 1 St April, 1 89 1. 'Sir, ' In compli; T-.<;e with the expressed wish of His Excellency the jMeutenant-Governor, I have the honour to report as follows on the present state of the Volunteer Force tmder my command. ' It is unnecessary for me to enter into the causes which led to the suspension of drills in September n 2 B 386 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE 1889, but I may state that at that time I should have experienced no difficulty whatever in raising a force of 400 men in Georgetown alone had I been called upon to do so. 'On the 7th instant His Excellency was good enough to consult me with reference to the position of the Volunteer Force, and whether it could be relied upon by the Government as a factor of any importance in any scheme of local defence which might be devised. I replied to His Excellency, as I have repeatedly replied both officially and otherwise to the same question, that I felt thoroughly satisfied 1000 men could be raised in Georgetown alone if the Government really desired to raise and equip that number, and set about the task in an earnest and business-like way, and I pledged myself to have between one and two hundred men on parade within twenty-four hours if they were required. His Excellency was pleased to direct that I should order a parade at once, and I accordingly issued a Corps Order, which appeared in the Daily Chronicle of the 8th instant, ordering a parade of A. B. and C. Companies in the Drill Hall ou the 8th instant at 8 p.m. In obedi- ence to this order 146 men paraded in the Drill Hall on the day and at the hcrr above named. I addressed the men on the subject for which I had brought them together, and the report of the proceedings which I take from the Daily Chronicle gives, but in a very disjointed manner, the substance of my remarks ; the main point 1 dwelt upon was that the Government desired to know whether the Volunteers could be depended upon as a factor in DEFENCE 387 the calculations about being made respecting the defence of the colony. I think if any of those persons had been present who, despite all facts, decry the Volunteer movement, and deny that any fighting spirit exists among the youth of the colony, the bright eyes and eager animated faces of the 1 50 men who stood in front of me as I spoke would have convinced them of their error. ' Since that evening drill has gone steadily on, and the uniforms, which have been lying in the Drill Hall unpacked awaiting the orders of the Govern- ment for over a year, are being distributed to A. B. and C. companies, and on Tuesday next I shall send thirty uniforms to the Berbice company. At the present moment 123 have been distributed as under : A company B do. C do. Total - - - - 123 'We are now drilling five nights each week, getting from forty to fifty men in attendance from A. and B. companies, and between sixty and seventy from C. Last evening C. company mustered eighty- four men of all ranks. ' On Sunday ne.vt I have ordered a Church Parade at 4.30 p.m. at the Pro-Cathedral, and I anticipate parading quite :^oo men. ' The material of the several Georgetown com- panies requires a word or two of comment. A. and B. companies are made up of working men, almost exclusively, and are mainly black. Some difficulty 49 34 40 388 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE has been experienced in getting these men to after- noon drill on account of their employers having little or no sympathy with the Volunteer movement. It would be a great point gained if under the new law some means could be devised of reaching these employers. •C. company is composed mainly of clerks, and are nearly all white or slightly coloured. This company is very popular, and recruits are coming forward for it very freely. I swore in thirty-one last V (^ening. ' With regard to the spirit of the men, I cannot speak too highly of the way they behaved during the riots of March 1889, and to illustraie this I give, as an appendix to this report, an extract from my annual report for last year. •The state of coma into which the Volunteer movem'«nt has been for so long allowed to remain has had an injurious effect on the Berbice Corps, and Captain Griffin reports that he has at present only about thirty reliable men in his company. I am in correspondence with him with reference to the supply of uniforms for these men. ' The Essequibo company has not assembled for drill for some months, and I can theiefore form no idea of the number we could rely upon for immediate service from that county. I asked Mr. Gilzean, the manager of Anna Regina estate, some time ago if he would take command of the Essequibo com- pany when we began drilling, and he said he would gladly do so. This will, 1 think, assure the formation of a strong company in Essequibo, as Mr. Gilzean is deservedly popular. DEFENCE 389 ' In closing this report, I desire to repeat what I have so often said, that I believe there is ample material in the colony to furnish a force sufficient to protect ourselves from insult from abroad, or to suppress disturbance from within, if proper measures be taken to utilize it. ' I have, etc., W. S. Turner, Major, Commanding B.G. Volunteers.' The story of the organisation of the Volunteer- Militia is told in my despatches to the Secretary of State of September 23rd and October 6th, 1891. Government House, Georgetown; 23rd September, 1891. " Mv Lord, " With reference to my despatches noted in the margin relative to the Volunteer-Militia ordi- nance 1 89 1 and the appointment of officers to the paid staff, I have the honour to inform you that the ordinance was brought into force on the ist of August last, and to transmit a concise report by the Commandant, Lt. -Colonel Turner, on the state of the force. The present strength consists entirely of men who are enrolled for three years. It is gratifying to find that but a small number of the Volunteers serving under the Volunteer ordi- nance 1878 have availed themselves of the power to resign given them by section 149 (3) of the Volunteer- Militia ordinance. The time allowed by I i t 390 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE the ordinance expired on September ist For this result I consider that much credit is due to Lt- Colonel Turner. "Under the provisions of section 129 of the ordinance I have placed the Volunteers whenever performing any parade under the inspection of Lt-Colonel M'Innis, C.M.G., Inspector General of Police, an arrangement which will, I believe, be of great advantage to the Volunteers, and will secure uniformity of drill and movement in the two branches of our local forces. I cannot too highly commend the services which Lt.-Colonel M'Innis has rendered the Volunteer- Militia force. In the absence of a paid staff of qualified officers the very existence of the force might have been imperilled but for his generous assistance. "In the circumstances, I have considered it my duty to act unreservedly on his advice in all military matters affecting the force, and at his suggestion I addressed a letter, of which I annex a copy, to the Major-General Commanding the Troops, Barbadoes, asking for the temporary loan of two smart sergeants as drill instructors. " I have not yet heard v, ether my request can be complied with, but in any case the early appoint- ment of an adjutant and the non-commissioned officers, referred to in my despatch of July 15th, is looked forward to with eager anticipation by all ranks of the Volunteer-Militia force. " I have, etc." DEFENCE 391 Government House, Georgetown, 6th October, 1891. '* My Lord, " I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch No. 196 of September 8th, and telegram of the 5th instant, relative to the Volunteer-Militia ordinance 1891. " In view of the terms of your Lordship's despatch and telegram it seems desirable that I should offer some explanations touching (i) the procedure followed in the enactment of the ordinance, and (2) the substance of the ordinance. " As regards the , procedure, the measures by which it was proposed to provide local forces in substitution of the Imperial troops removed from the colony were shown generally in the statement I made in the Court of Policy on April 14th, a copy of which was transmitted to your Lordship by my despatch No. 125 of April 22nd. The removal of the troops before any system in substitution had been organised produced, as was anticipated, a temporary sentimf .it of insecurity in the colony. The Government was urged, and undoubtedly with reason, to pass im- mediate measures for the defence of the colony and the protection of life and property. I should have considered it a dereliction of duty not to take advantage of the public opinion of the moment to proceed as rapidly as possible with the measures intended to meet the emergency. "At the moment I was without funds for the purposes of a local military force. The vote of 6000 dollars annually taken for a Volunteer force i 392 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE was in the month of March last passed on a promise that it would not be used until a new system was substituted for that established by the Volunteer ordinance 1878. Taking advantage of the public opinion of the moment, I obtained an unanimous vote of the Court of Policy to set free this sum on the understanding that the enactment of a new system would be at once proceeded with. The Bills for the reorganisation of the Police and of the Rural Constabulary were passed through their various stages on the foUowi.ig dates : — " Police Ordinance, — first reading, April 14th ; second reading :nd in Committee, June 9th ; in Committee, read a third time and passed, June i6th. " Rural Constabulary Ordinance — first reading, April 14th; second reading, April 28th; In Com- mittee, June 9th ; third reading and passed, June 1 6th. "The Volunteer- Militia Bill was read a first time on April 14th, and passed its second reading on June i6th. At this stage I felt constrained to pause for two reasons. In the first place, I was anxious, so far as delay was consistent with the interests of the colony, to obtain an expression of ^ .r Lordship's opinion on the measures proposed for the defence of the colony on the departure of the troops, and of which my despatches noted in the margin had informed your Lordship. But I was also controlled by the peculiar constitution of the colony, which would have made it useless for me to enact a measure in die Court of Policy requiring a considerable expenditure of public money without the consent of the Combined Court. I therefore DEFENCE 393 followed the course adopted in the case of the Con- stitution ordinance 1891, with reference to the Civil List. I left the Volunteer- Militia Bill in Committee and summoned a meeting of the Combined Court with a view to ascertaining how far the Court would sanction the expenditure necessary to carry out the provisions of the Bill. " The Combined Court met on June 30th and I then ascertained the limits of expenditure at the disposal of the Government in connection with the Bill. On July 8th I received your Lordship's despatch No. 128 of June i6th approving, subject to certain suggestions made by the Colonial Defence Committee, my proposals for a Volunteer-Militia. " I then felt justified in proceeding with the Bill, which was read a third time and passed on July loth. As reported in my despatch No. 228 of July 14th the suggestions of the Colonial Defence Committee were included in the ordinance so far as was deemed practicable. " During the interval which elapsed between the removal of the troops and the passing of the Volunteer-Militia ordinance, I had abundant proof that the immediate enactment of a measure in substitution of the Volunteer ordinance of 1878 was necessar). The ^. it displayed by Major Turner and the ^' lunte . < n the departure of the troops was in v, v^ery wr , citable, and has been honoured by your Lordship's approval. But the force had not been on parade for a year and a half, it had no staff of qualified officers or non-commissioned officers, the Georgetown companies had only four officers, of whom three were reported as useless ; the 394 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE enthusiasm which called them to the front in April was exhausting itself for want of legitimate exercise. It was an essential part of the Volunteer- Militia Bill, approved by your Lordship, that the Volunteer Force enrolled under the ordinance of 1878 should form the nucleus of the new system. Had I allowed time for the discouragement of the Volunteers to increase under the circumstances I have indicated, the force could not have been looked to for this purpose. 1 may here also remark that had I allowed such a spirit of discouragement to set in, before obtaining the funds required for the new system, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to obtain them. They would certainly not have been voted with the readiness with which money was voted by the Combined Court on June 30th. I will only add, while dealing with this part of the subject, that the Combined Court voted the money on the understanding that the Bill would be proceeded with at once, and without material alteration. This was in accoruance with the course followed in the case of the Constitution ordinance of 1891 and the Civil List. " The ordinance having been passed, every con- sideration of duty and expediency urged me to bring it into early operation. Particularly, it was necessary to ascertain to what extent that part of the ordinance which provided for the old Volunteer Force beincf taken over as the nucleus of the new system might prove successful. Your Lordship has already been informed by my despatch of September 23rd that so far the success of the ordinance is complete. DEFENCE 395 "But to continue my narrative, the ordinance was brought into force on August ist, its opera- tion being temporarily limited, by orders of which I annex copies, to Georgetown and New Amster- dam, where ccuipanies had been enrolled under the Volunteer ordinance of 1878. " There has been a great desire shown to join the battery of artillery contemplated by the ordinance, but at present it would be useless to raise it, as we have neither guns nor instructors. " I have been assured that a company can readily be raised in Essequibo, but I decided to wait until the Government is in a position to judge of the operation of the scheme in Georgetown and New Amsterdam. It would be useless to raise a com- pany in Essequibo, where no nucleus of Volunteers exists, without qualified instructors. " In my opinion the force enrolled in Georgetown and New Amsterdam is -fficient for all present purposes, and it would iiwise to increase the strength of the force u.i u the efficiency of the present Volunteers is secured. " I will now respectfully invite your Lordship's attention to the few remarks which I desire to make on the substance of the ordinance, and in these I shall not think it necessary to adhere to the order in which its various provisions are dealt with in the ordinances. " The esse!;tial aims of the ordinance may be thus briefly stated: (1) To take over an existing Volunteer Force and reorganise it as the nucleus of a new system: (2) To maintain the Volunteer system so far as it 396 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE can be depended on to supply such a force as may be considered necessary for the defence of the colony and the protection of life and property : (3) To provide for the compulsory maintenance of a local force, at such strength as may be deter- mined by ballot, should the Volunteer system prove insufficient : (4) To give the Governor almost absolute power to fix the necessary strength of the force and to control its discipline, government, and adminis- tration. '* I may be permitted to point out that in the substance of this ordinance an endeavour has been made to distinguish between the civil and military functions with which it deals. What part of the community is to come under the obligation of military service, and by what methods the obligation is to be imposed, have been considered as civil questions; the strength of the force required for any scheme of defence decided on by the military authorities, and the discipline, government, and administration of the force when embodied have been considered is military questions. " I have statca above the principal aims of the ordinance under four heads ; the first three I con- sider civil questions to be dealt with by the Civil Government in taking careful account of local considerations, including the prejudices which may arise from local circumstances hardly identical in any two of Her Majesty'': colonies or groups of colonies. The fourth head includes matters of a military character, to i^e dealt with by the Governor as the representative of the military authorities. In DEFENCE 397 dealing with these matters almost absolute power is conferred on the Governor by section 132. " I will now briefly indicate the sections of the ordinance which were considered of chief importance in carrying out the principal aims 1 have stated. " Sections 149 and 1 53 were drafted to provide for the taking over of the old Volunteer Force as the nucleus of the new system. My despatch No. 333 of September 23rd showed the success of this part of the scheme. " The talcing over of the Volunteer Force having been provided for, the cardinal principle of the /dinance is contained in section 132, which gives the Governor complete control over the adminis- tr'ition of the force, as regards both civil and military matters, except where his power is limited by particular provisions enacted in the ordinance itself. This is the essence of the ordinance, and a con- sideration of it from any other point of view must necessarily be in.ide juate. "It was thought necessary to fix by enactment the limits of the burden of military service imposed on the colonists, the qualifications for service, the method by which the obligation is to be enforced, and the procedure to be observed in all cases in which it may be necessary to put in operation the compulsory clauses. " These are purely civil questions and the success of the scheme must necessarily depend upon their being decided in a manner generally acceptable to the body of the colonists. No Government could, I think, leave these questions to the exercise of the general power conferred upon the Governor by section 132. 398 THE BROAD STONE OP EMPIRE They are dealt with in part II. of the ordinance, and with reference to it, I would particularly call attention to the fact that, while the procedure to put in operation the compulsory clauses, from the first step to the last, that is from the call for volunteers to fill up deficiencies to the compulsory ballot, is laid down in detail, a wide discretion is left to * the Governor to make orders with regard to the embodiment and organisation of the active force, so long as the force or any company of it is main- tained under the voluntary system. " The objection has been made that the ordinance is defective inasmuch as it does not provide for many things connected with the organisation and administration of the force. My reply is that the strength of the ordinance lies in the fact that it places the administration of the force absolutely in the power of the Governor except when that power is limited by express enactment. I confess that it was a matter of congratulation to myself to be able to carry a measure giving the Governor large powers in many matters affecting the civil domain of the ordinance, and almost absolute power in military matters. " I venture to express a hope that, before any amendments of the ordinance are -lecided on, full consideration may be given to the question whether it is desirable by further express enactment to limit the powers secured to the Governor and through him to Her Majesty's Government by the terms of the ordinance. " I have, etc." DEFENCE 399 The reply to my despatch was not received until the whole scheme had been fully considered by the War Office ; and I had ceased to administer the government of the colony. Lord Knutsford to Governor Lord GORMANSTON. Downing Street, 5th January, 1892. My Lord, *' As you are aware I referred to the Colonial Defence Committee the Ordinance No. 19 of 1891 of the Legislature of British Guiana, entitled, ' An Ordinance to provide for the establishment and regulation of a Volunteer Force ; ' and I now have the honour to transmit to you two copies of the memorandum, which the Committee have prepared upon it " I concur in the appreciation which the Committee express "^f thf; j.b'lity of the scheme and the patrio- tism of the Colonial Legislature, and I further iiave pleasure in commending the zeal and energy which Sir Charles Bruce exhibited in dealing with this measure, and with the Police and Rural Constabu- lary Ordinances ; though I am not convinced of the sufficiency of the reasons which induced him to bring the Militia Ordinance into operation, as explained in his despatch No. 354 of the 6th of October. " While Her Majesty will not be advised to exercise her power of disallowance with respect to this Ordinance, I agree with the Committee that it requires amendment as proposed in their 400 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE memorandum, and I shall be glad if you will at an early date, bring the matter before the Court of Policy. " In the meantime, 1 propose to proceed with the selection of an Adjutant and Bandmaster to the Force. I have, etc., Knutsford." In the interval the massed forces under Colonel M'Innis had been officially inspected on December 23rd, 1891, by Lieut. -General Newdigate, C.B., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda, who expressed his high appreciation of the steadi- ness of the force under arms and the smartness and efficiency of all ranks on parade. In later years, the force was inspected by Admiral Sir John Fisher, when Commander-in-Chief on the Station, and by other distinguished naval and military commanders, who expressed their complete satisfaction. In 1897, on the occasion of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, a detachment of the force took part in the celebrations in London, and Colonel M'Innis was personally complimented by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught on their fine appearance. The organisation of the force has since been modified to adapt it to changes in the scheme of defence, which it lies outside of my competence to deal with. It has been my desire to do justice to Colonel Richard Stapleton Cotton, who was mainly responsible for bringing many academic propositions into form in a definite scheme for the organisation DEFENCE 401 of the Police and Rural Constabulary as a semi« military force; to Major W. S. Turner, who was my chief adviser in organising a local military force in substitution of the existing Militia and Vol'ii. et r systems; and to Colonel E. B. M'Innis, wl o, when placed in command of the whole territori 'I force, brought it to the state of efficiency to wh ch such honourable testimony has been borne. WINDWARD ISLANDS In 1893 I was appointed Governor of the Wind- ward Islands, passing from a colony which it had been my duty to provide with a territorial force in substitution of an imperial garrison, to a group of colonies including the island of St. Lucia. The Colonial Defence Committee's scheme, of which I have given an outline, contemplated the concen- tration of troops in St. Lucia and Jamaica, and it was decided to make St. Lucia a naval base and fortified coaling station of the first importance. In 1887 St. Lucia was visited by Mr. Anthony Froude, who, in his picturesque style, described the ruins of the old fortress on the Morne Fortune, asso- ciated with the naval and military achievements of centuries. He expressed the hope that the fallen fortunes of the island might revive when the pro- posed scheme for making it a fortified coaling station was carried out. He added, " Many thousands of pounds will have to be spent there before the troops can return ; but that is our way with the colonies — to change our minds every ten years, to do and undo, and do again, according to our parliamentary humours, while John Bull pays the bill patiently for n 2c 402 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE his own irresolution." Not only thousands but millions of pounds were spent, and within ten years the scheme had been carried to practical completion. Ten years later, in 1907, St. Lucia was visited by Sir Frederick Treves, who, in his work The Cradle of the Deep, described the fulfilment of Mr. Froude's anticipation. "The Morne is now very largely occupied by immense barracks and storehouses of quite recent construction. They belong to that class of ' Govern- ment building' in which the st uggle to attain to primeval plainness and a surpassing monotony has been crowned with success. Defiant in their un- blushing ugliness they remain as a monument of the time when the British Government determined to establish a naval and military station at St. Lucia. The huge brick structures which crowd both the Morne and La Vigie were promptly put in hand and were erected at a cost stated to be not less than t vo million pounds sterling. The precious buildings have never been occupied, nor indeed were they ever quite completed, for the Government, having expended the sum above named, changed its mind, and decided, in its wisdom, that St. Lucia was not to be a military station at all. So the mighty pieces of ordnance sent out to further adorn the hill were at infinite cost and labour carried back again. The proceeding seems to have been inspired by an attempt to imitate that Duke of York who is credited in song with having marched a body of men to the top of a hill for the simple pleasure of seeing them march down again." The period of my tenure of office as Governor of DEFENCE 403 the Windward Islands was the period of maximum activity in carrying out the scheme of defence in which St. Lucia was to be made one of the great bases of Brif sh naval and mercantile supremacy. I am not concerned with the strategic reasons . lat led the Committee of Defence to recommend that St. Lucia should be made a great naval base nor with the plans of fortification and armament carried out by the Admiralty and the War Office. I am concerned with the establishment of a great naval base and coaling station at St. Lucia, first in its consequences on the defence of the other colonies, and secondly, in its consequences on the population and civil government of St. Lucia. In respect of the general defence of the Wind- ward Islands, there is very little to be said. Their collective area is so small and they are so easily accessible that all that was necessary for the governments of Grenada and St. Vincent was the organisation of their police, to preserve internal order and at the same time to bear the burden of defence during the period which must elapse before a requisition to St. Lucia for aid could be complied with. The police of both governments were in the capable hands of officers, selected with a special view to the requirements of the scheme of defence, and need not further be referred to. But in St. Lucia the scheme of defence profoundly modified the constituent elements of the population and necessarily the policy of the civil government As a great naval and military base, it attracted a considerable civil community concerned in supplying the manifold needs of a large garrison ; while, as the 404 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE most important coaling and victualling station on the great ocean highway between South America and North America, it attracted a still more con- siderable community connected with shipping in- terests. The history of the last half-century has supplied two great object lessons of the extent to which the fortunes of an island may be dependent on its shipping interests. When Mauritius ceased to be associated with the romance of great naval achievements in the Indian Ocean, as St. Lucia had been in the Caribbean Sea, it still continued to be an ir^portant base of maritime transactions and its prosperity, during the brightest days of its history under British administration, was largely due to its unrivalled position as a coaling, victualling, and repairing station on a great ocean trade-route exposed to the turbulent influences of cyclones. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 dealt a serious blow to all the local interests connected witii shipping, and, as these were chiefly British, per- manently displaced the English community. The consequences materially modified the policy of the administration, wiiich wisely determined to find new resources for the maintenance of a civilised govern- ment in the development of the internal resources of the colony. In St. Helena the opening of the Suez Canal had still more serious consequences. Hardly less intimately associated with the maritime supremacy of the British Empire in the Atlantic than St. Lucia in the Caribbean Sea or Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, the island, abandoned by the shipping interests which had been the source of its prosperity, endeavoured in vain to find a substitute in DEFENCE 405 its internal resources. With the final removal of the garrison in 1907, St. Helena, which had played as important a part in the history of the Empire as any spot of its size, was reduced to the experiment of finding the revenues of civil government in the sale of postage stamps and a livelihood for its population in the proceeds of eleemosynary bazaars for the sale of needlework. I am illustrating, and I know no more effective way of illustrating all that the establishment of a great military and naval base and a fortified coaling station means to the civil community and the civil government than by showing the results of circum- stances that have terminated the maintenance of such stations. The policy of my government was necessarily controlled by the exigencies of a great maritime station and the subsidiary interests depen- dent on it. To enable the station to compete against the rival enterprise of foreign nations, liberal expenditure was necessary, to provide wharf accommodation and afford facilities for rapid coaling and victualling. The time within which a ship could be laid alongside, discharged, coal, and leave the wharf was measured by hours and minutes. At the same time, in order to extend the benefits of the harbour as a market to every district of the island, means of communication had to be provided by road and coast. Of course, so far as concerned the defence of the Windward Islands during the period I am speaking of, their security was complete. I might be content to leave it at that. But within a few years the Committee of Defence adopted a new 4o6 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE scheme with the results described by Sir Frederick Treves. The complete reversal of policy may best be recorded in the words of Mr. Balfour in Parlia- ment, in Committee of Supply : " It seems to us, with the changes in naval war- fare, with the changes in the seat of sea-power of other nations, a redistribution of both our Fleet and our Army v/as desirable : and we have gone upon the broad line that, as the British Fleet and as the British Army should be available for the defence of the British Empire in all parts of the world our force should be as far as possible concentrated at the centre of the Empire, from which it could be distributed as each necessity arose to that part of the Empire which stood most in need of it. I have to acknowledge that this has rendered unnecessary expenditure which has been undertaken under a different view of our military needs. I mention that because it is a subject which has occupied the attention of the member for the Forest of Dean. The most notable case is the case of St. Lucia. The general problem was considered by a Com- mission, of which Lord Carnarvon was the head, and it was in deference to Lord Carnarvon's recom- mendation that St. Lucia was made a great naval base. One of the reasons for making it a great naval base was that it was not further than eighty miles from the French naval station in those seas. What was a reason for having such a base at St. Lucia in Lord Carnarvon's time is a reason for not having it there at the present time. We have to take into account the theory of torpedo-boats. It is a distinct disadvantage for any harbour DEFENCE 407 required as a place of repair, refitting and refresh- ment that it should be within easy reach of a hostile or potentially hostile power. There is more in the abandonment of St. Lucia than that. The Defence Committee, who have considered the matter, with the advice of the Admiralty and War Office, do not think St. Lucia is likely to be the scene of any great naval operations. It is not a place which we think could be with advantage used, or is likely to be required to be used, for our purposes; and with the modern battleship there are strong reasons for thinking that in so far as we required any place of coaling and refitment in these seas, both Jamaica and Trinidad would be better. The harbour at St. Lucia, though sheltered, is not very convenient, and does not hold a large fleet. These are the reasons why St. Lucia ceases to be regarded as a great naval station." I do not venture to criticise the reasons that led to a complete reversal of imperial policy within twenty years. I assume that the new policy is in the interest of the Empire. I desire only to give some idea of what such a reversal of policy means, in respect of the general question of the defence of the Windward Islands, and in its conse- quences on the fortunes of the civil population and government of St. Lucia. But the subject is of much wider interest than the limits of the West Indies. Similar reversals of policy in the Indian Ocean have affected the fortunes of Mauritius, and may await any colony selected as a naval and military base. 4o8 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE The serious consequences of such changes of pcticy in the United Kingdom were illustrated in a report from the Committee of Public Accounts in 1907 (H.C. 252). (1) "At East Bulford there has been a loss to the public of between 140,000 and 150,000 in erecting a Mounted Infantry School, which was closed on ist July, 1906. (2) "At Tidworth nearly a million pounds has been expended in building barracks for eight infantry battalions, though only four are needed. (3) "Near Fermoy, a sum of ;^35,ooo was expended in 1905-06 for the purchase of Moore Park (843 acres, with mansion and grounds) as a site for barracks and for training mounted infantry. The idea of a Mounted Infantry School in Ireland has now been dropped ; and, in the words of the representative of the War Office, 'a change of policy resulted in money being expended without the advantage wh'ch was anticipated accruing.' (4) " At Stobs, the original idea was that it was going to be a great training ground for troops, but it has been given up,' the War Office having ' only spent ;i^56,ooo out of the 2 5,000 which had been intended ... at a time when it was anticipated to have six Army Corps.' " Some idea of the influence of changes of naval and military policy on the fortunes of the Crown colonies may be found from what has happened in St. Lucia. Similar changes have more than once had a similar influence on the fortunes of Mauritius. DEFENCE 409 MAURITIUS When our prejent King (then Duke of Cornwall and York) visited Mauritius in the year 1901, he referred to the just pride of the colony in its great traditions, and "in its association with naval achievements that shed equal glory on England and France." Mauritius for over two centuries, from September i8th, 1598, to December loth, 1 8 10, was the centre of a struggle between the nations of Europe for the key of the Indian Ocean. In 1746 the French Governor, Mahe de la Bourdonnais, had made it a station from which foreign trade could be crippled, as well as a strategic base for the operations of France in India, and in that year he used it as the base of an operation seldom, if ever, paralleled in colonial history. " Without ships," says Colonel Malleson, " without sailors, without an army, the Indian Ocean covered by hostile cruisers, with no resources but those he had made in the colony, he was asked to embark an army, to traverse the Indian Ocean, to avoid or encounter the trained fleet of the enemy, and to relieve the beleaguered capital of French India." Rapidly growing in importance as a base of naval and commercial operations, the island became in 1 789 the seat of government of all the French estab- lishments east of the Cape. During a period of the French Revolution the story of the defence of the island belongs, as the historian Pridham has well said " rather to the age of romance were romance 4IO THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE not set aside by reality. Seldom perhaps has history furnished an example on a parallel with this instance, an instance in which a single and inconsiderable island, denuded of nearly the whole of its military force, by the natural strength of its position and the bravery and patriotism of its inhabitants, singly and for a long time resisted the hostilities of the mightiest of nations." In 1802, by a decree of Bonaparte as First Consul of the French Republic, the constitutional status of Mauritius was changed and it became a unit in a vast military system oi^anised to establish, under the dictatorship of Napoleon, a universal empire of which Europe was to be the head, America and Asia the arms, Africa the shoulders and trunk, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans the legs and feet. It was the importance of the unit in this imp*^ri. nterprise that determined its destiny, an importance recognised by every nation engaged in the struggle for the wealth of Asia. In England statesmen, generals, and admirals, in India governors and councils, had been unani- mous in declaring that the possession ' the Isle of France was essential to our commerce, to our repu- tation and national character, and to the maintenance of our province of India. It fell to Lord Minto, Governor-General of India, great-grandfather of the present Viceroy, to determine the question of possession by the ultima ratio of a force the most powerful in strength and equipment that had ever been afloat in the Indian Ocean. An account of the operations of war which at the close of 1 8 10 transferred Mauritius to British rule is beyond the scope of my work. Among the m<»t DEFENCE 4" famous of these achievements was the action of the He de l;i Passe on August 23rd, 18 10. The French under Commodore Duperr6 were victorious, but a naval historian has declared that the noble behaviour of Captain Willoughby and the officers and crew of the NMide threw such a halo of glory round the defeat that the loss of four frigates was considered scarcely a misfortune." An obelisk has been erected in honour of all who iell on that memorable d?y ; and the He de la Passe occupies in the annals of Mauritius much the same place as the Plains of Abraham occupy in the annals of Canada. Colonel Malleson has eloquently summe<.l up the record of French occupation : "Thus did the French lose, after an occupation of nearly a hundred years, the beautiful island upon which had been bestowed the name of their own bright land, and which in climate, in refinement of luxury, in the love of adventure of its children, had been, in very deed, the France of the East. In the long struggle with England which had followed the Revolution, the Isle of France had inflicted upon the English trade a 'damage which might be computated by millions,' whilst she herself had remained uninjured, — for eighteen years indeed — unthreateneJ. She had proved herself to be that which the Emperor had declared that Cherbourg should become, 'an eye to see and an arm to strike.' Protected for long, partly by the storms of the ocean, partly by the daring spirit of her children, partly by the timid counsels of the British Government, she had been, for the privateers who preyed upon the commercial 413 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE marine of the East India Company, at once a harbour of refuge and a secure base of (^ration. She had been the terror of British merchants, the spectre which haunted the counting-house, the one black spot in the clear blue of the Indian Ocean. The relief which was felt by the merchants of Calcutta was expressed in an address presented by them to Lord Minto, in which they offered their * sincere congratulations on the capture of the only remaining French colony in the East, which has for so many years past been the source of devastation to the commerce of India, to a magnitude aUnost exceeding belief.'" Although Mauritius, under British rule, has ceased to be associated with the romance of great naval achievements, the policy of government has of necessity continued to exercise itself in two areas of activity; the administration of a base of maritime operations, and the development of the resources of a tropical territory. In the term "maritime opera- tions," I include the functions of the Royal Navy and the Merchant Service. The importance of Mauritius as a unit in any system of imperial defence constituted on the principle that the maintenance of peace depends on an adequate preparation for war, has never failed to be recognised. And the colony, dependent for its existence on its sea-borne com- merce, has even in the darkest days of its fortunes cheerfully borne its share of the burden of defence at home and protection in transit, as a premium of insurance. This practical wisdom, associated with the sentiment of old traditions, has always secured for the British Navy as OHrdial and enthusiastic a DEFENCE 413 welcome as it receives in any seaport or city of the United Kingdom. Nor has the period of British dominion been without services rendered to the Empire in war-time of which the colony is proud : by the prompt despatch of troops to India in 1857 during the Mutiny, to South Africa in 1879 during the Zulu War, and to South Africa again in 1900 at a critical stage of the last war. In the year 1857 Lord Elgin, then on his way to China in charge of a mission, was met by the news of the Indian Mutiny, and on June 5th he addressed a note to Lady Elgin from Singapore in which he says : " I sent my last letter immediately after landing, and had little time to aa.' a wo;d from land, as I found a press of business and a necessity for writing to Clarendon by the mail ; the fact being that I received letters from Canning, imploring me to send troops to him from the number destined for China. As we have no troops yet, and do not know when we may have any, it was not exactly an easy matter to comply with this request However, I did what I could, and in concert with the General, have sent instructions far and wide to turn the transports back, and give Canning the benefit of the troops for the moment." The iiiiportance of Lord Elgin's action was appre- ciated, as it merited, by the Queen, the Govern- ment of India, and the British nation. It was supplemented by the ^^tion of Lord Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay, v.io on June 30th despatched Captain Griffith Jenkins, C.B., I.N., in the Penin- sular and Oriental steamer Pottinger, especially chartered for the voyage, to Mauritius and the 414 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Cape, with full powers to solicit aid from the Governors of those colonies in men, horses, and money. Sir James Higginson, the Governor of Mauritius, had not heard of the Mutiny, but within sixteen hours of his arrival at Port Louis Captain Jenkins succeeded in actually embarking on board the Pottinger and Canning the 33rd Regiment and half a battery of artillery, with guns and stores, for Bombay. Sir James Higginson 's action was not without a cause of grave anxiety as to the internal security of the colony, with its considerable Indian popula- tion, while thus denuded of a portion of its large garrison. An extract from a minute of Sir James Higginson, dated July 27th, shows his view of the position : " I am informed that some alarm has been excited, and that by many persons apprehensions are entertained, lest our Indian labourers may be disposed to enter into unlawful combinations, in order to take advantage of the reduction in our garrison, consequent on the recent despatch of troops to Bombay, and may become inoculated with the mutinous spirit which has broken out in the Native Army of Bengal. But I confess I am at a loss to discover on what grounds the apprehension rests, or what object the Indians here could promise to themselves from following the example in question. ■ • • • • * " Looking to the experience of the past, are employers warranted in encouraging such imaginary fears ? Have the coolies, by conduct or demeanour, ever exhibited symptoms to induce such a belief? DEFENCE 415 No. On the contrary, they have been throughout remarkable for submission to the authority of their masters ar. ' for unhesitating obedience to that of the civil power, whenever it has been necessary to exercise it Moreover, the labourers' prospects were never so good as at the present moment, nor were planters ever in a better position to pay their wages with regularity and precision. Upon estates where this condition of engagements is strictly conformed to, and where masters take care to satisfy themselves that Indians are properly treated by their employers, they will hold the surest guarantee against disaffection or disorder, and the best security against any interruption of the very satisfactory relations that now generally subsist between planters and labourers. *' At the same time, it is the duty of all who are charged with the maintenance of the public peace and the protection of life and property, to omit no precautions calculated to conduce to the furtherance of these important ends ; taking special care to avoid any measure indicative of suspicion or distrust of the loyalty and pacific disposition of the Indian population, but exercising such vigilance as will enable them to detect and immedi- ately report to Government any attempt at combina- tion on their part, or any other proceedings of an unusual or questionable character." Sir James Higginson left the colony a few weeks later, and it is interesting to recall the offer of assistance made to his successor, Major-General C. M. Hay, by M. Delisle, French Governor of Reunion : 4i6 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE "Isle de la Reunion, Sepiembre 14, 1857, Cabinet du Gouveraeur. '* Monsieur le Gouverneur, • ••••• "You have more than 132,000 Indians in the island which you govern ; these men, constantly in communication with Mussulmen of the revolted countries, have received letters inviting them, it is reported, to rise. It is to be feared that insurrection- ary movements will disturb the sister island. " I know well that with your energy and the courage of the inhabitants you will promptly subdue these rebels, but serious troubles might result In anticipation of this possible crime and the con- sequence of the large reduction of the English forces at the island of Mauritius, I am about to make a communication in all sincerity and feeling. " The Government of the Emperor has sent me a garrison, to replace the one which is to return to France after its term of colonial service is completed. This places at the present moment rather a large number of troops at my disposal. I am about to propose to you that, should you perceive any symptom of revolt — if the Indian population of your island should be considered or should become excited by their co-religionists of the peninsula, and should raise the standard, I would propose to you, I say, to place under your command a part of the garrison of Reunion. You have only to make a signal and the French troops shall be under your orders. 1 DEFENCE 417 " As regards myself, I entertain no apprehension for Reunion, for I have not a third part of the coolies that are in the island of Mauritius. H. Hubert Delisle, Governor." Major-General Hay's reply was worthy of the occasion. " Sir, " I beg to assure you that I feel the deepest gratitude lor the noble offer of assistance you have made me should the disastrous rebellion of the natives in India extend to the coolies in this island, and should I find myself placed in such a position as to require aid, I shall not hesitate to apply to you in the same frank and fraternal spirit which has dictated your generous offer. " You will be pleased to hear that I have carefully watched the current of events and feelinirs here, and that I entertain no apprehension of a rising. I have, however, taken every precaution, and am prepared for whatever may occur. "This colony is in a most prosperous condition, and I have perfect confidence in the loyalty and gallant spirit of the inhabitants. " Yours, etc., C. M. Hav." In 1879, during the Zulu War, a detachment of troops was sent from Mauritius to South Africa II 3D 4i8 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE by the Acting Governor, Sir F. Napier Broome, not without some apprehension of possible internal difficulties on the part of the officer commanding the troops and others. In 1899 the services of every white soldier in the garrison were placed at the service of the War Office without any apprehension at all. I avail myself of the opportunity to place on record a brief narrative of the circumstances of this incident which have never hitherto been published. They are sufficiently shown in the following correspondence, commencing with a semi-official letter which I addressed to the Under Secretary of State for the reason given. Government House, Mauritius, October 9, 1 899. " Mv DEAR WiNGFIELD, " There is a chance Steamer the Ville de Metz going direct to France to-day and she may possibly anticipate the small mail I sent you by the Powerful on the 5th inst. I therefore write this to let you know about the Pomrfuts arrival, and despatch with the K.O. Yorkshire Light Infantry. " The Powerful arrived on the 3rd instant. Except by vague information that she might call to coal here I had no knowledge of her movements. Captain Lambton's intention was to stay three or four days to coal and he came at once to spend the time with me at Reduit. The next afternoon 1 drove him to the camp of the Central Africa Rifles, and I may mention incidentally that he was struck by the smartness of the guard as they turned out. 420 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE received their orders with the utmost enthusiasm, which they expressed to me by telegram and by repeated cheers as I left the Powerful. It was certainly very much to their credit and to the credit of the arrangements made by the General that the men were embarked within about forty hours of the first intimation given to Colonel Barter. " Believe me, dear Wingfield, Yours, etc." By the following mail I wrote to Mr. Chamber- ain ; Government House, Mauritius, 14th October, 1899. " Sir, "In continuation of my despatch No. 384 of the 5th instant on the subject of the transport of the and Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry to the Cape, I have the honour to inform you that H.M.S. Powerful, with 450 officers and men of the battalion left Port Louis at 2.45 p.m. on the 6th instant. " By a telegram dated Point Natal, October loth, 2 p.m., Captain Lambton informed me that he was proceeding with the battalion to Cape Town, so that the troops reached Natal well within five days of my receipt of your acceptance of the offer of their services. *' I have, etc." The terms of Mr. Chamberlain's reply were, as usual, generous ; DEFENCE 431 Downing;; Street, 21 November, 1899. " Sir, " I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 384 of the 5th October last, and No. 411 of the 14th October relative to the offer of the half battalion of the K.O. Yorkshire Light Infantry for service in South Africa. " I take this opportunity of expressing to you on behalf of H.M. Government their cordial appre- ciation of your prompt action in this matter and of the prompt and soldierly manner in which the officers and all concerned were ready on so short notice to sail for South Africa. " I have, etc." At a later period I made, through the Secre- tary of State, a further offer of assistance. This offer might perhaps have been accepted with advantage. Government House, Mauritius. 8th November, 1899. " Sir, " I have the honour to inform you that on the 31st ultimo I sent you a telegram in the following terms : — 'Raglan Castle sails for South Africa probably about in a week General Officer commanding and I propose to send six 9 pr. R.L.M. guns of 6 cwt. and four maxim guns with 100 garrison artillery r 422 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE possibly fifty draught mules might be bought here tele^j;raph reply.' " The Raglan Castle has offered the only oppor- tunity of sending troops to South Africa since the departure of the Powerful, and the offer seemed all the more advisable inasmuch as Major General Talbot Coke received a telegram on October 26th from the General Officer Commanding in South Africa informing him that in consequence of casual- ties Lieutenant Mackenzie, R.A., who was under orders for Mauritius, had been detained at Natal. "The order to detain Mr. Mackenzie at Natal was however received there too late and he arrived in Mauritius by the Raglan Castle. " I have however this morning received a telegram from General Sir Redvers BuUer in the following terms : — 'Thanks for offer of six 9 pr. R.L.M. guns of 6 cwt. maxims and garrison artillery, do not send them as their services not required.' " In view of the meagre and conflicting telegraphic information we receive from South Africa we are much relieved to find that the small reinforcement we were able to offer is not required. " I have, etc." The despatch of the Yorkshire Light Infantry by the Poiverful on October 6th and my subse- quent offer of a detachment of artillery and guns were followed by a resolution of the Council of Government adopted on November 14th, during the darkest days of the war : "That whereas the forces of the Queen's Most DEFENCE 423 Excellent Majesty are now engaged in protecting British interests in South Africa ; " This Council desires to convey to Her Majesty the Queen, on behalf of all classes of the inhabitants of Mauritius, the assurance of their unalterable loyalty and attachment to Her Majesty's person and Imperial Throne. " And that whereas many casualties have occurred among the troops engaged in the Colony of Natal, this Council hereby sanctions the expenditure of a sura of ;^2,000 to be offered for the acceptance of the Government of Natal, and to be placed at their disposal for the benefit of the wounded and sick of the Imperial and Colonial forces engaged against the forces of the South African Republics." At a still later period, on March ist, 1900, I made a further offer by telegram. "If approved the two practice 5 in. B.L. guns 40 cwt. on travelling carriages designed at trifling cost out of equipment of 9 pr. R.M.L. guns of 8 cwt. will be sent by next opportunity to South Africa accompanied by three officers sixty men Garrison Artillery W. Division no ammunition here." In reply I received a copy of the following letter addressed by the War Office to the Colonial Office. War Office, London, S.W., lOth March, 1900. " Sir, " 1 am directed by the Secretary of State for War to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 2nd in- stant, 6791/1900 forwarding a copy of a telegram from the Governor of Mauritius offering the services of a 434 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE detachment of the Garrison Artillery for service in South Africa, together with two guns. " This offer has been considered, but Lord Lans- downe does not at present propose to avail himself thereof. He would be glad if Mr. Secretory Chamberlain, in replying to the Governor of Mauritius, would add an expression of the thanks of Her Majesty's Government, and inform him that the offer will be borne in mind should the necessity arise later. " I am, etc, G. Fleetwood W'lson." The Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office, S.W. The readiness with which successive Governors sent troops from Mauritius in grave imperial emer- gencies must not lead to the conclusion that Mauritius could have been permanently left to the protection of a territorial force such as was substituted for an Imperial garrison in British Guiana. When Sir John Pope Hennessy was Governor, his Irish Home Rule sympathies made it a part of his policy to secure the removal of an English garrison and organise a local military force in substitution. A Committee was accordingly appointed and a scheme prepared in draft and submitted to the Secretary of State. Naturally, the success of the scheme depended on it being available in the possible event of invasion by any Power. At a meeting of the Committee, the representatives of the two groups DEFENCE 425 of communities whose influence is paramount, the communities of pure and mixed French descent, declared that they wished it to be distinctly under- stood that the force could not be relied on to oppose invasion by the French. This declaration led to a very serious controversy between the Governor and the naval and military authorities. In the course of it I was much impressed by the really j^jenuine loyalty with which the gentlemen I have referred to adhered to their declaration, fatal as it was bound to be to the Governor's scheme. I interpreted it as a declaration that both sections desired to see the defence of the colony secured by a scheme which could in no possible contingency be imperilled by dangers that might arise out of racial partialities and prejudices in a territorial force. The circum- stances of the controversy in Committee, together with other reasons to which reference has already been made, decided me to leave the colony and place myself the hands of the Secretary of State. The naval and military authorities supplied me with a copy of their report to the War Office on the subject. My varied experience of the Crown colonies has led me to the confident conclusion that they are prepared to bear their share of the burden of Imperial defence. What has long been a cause of complaint, and at times of exasperation, has been the method of adjustment of the burden. Hitherto the Crown colonies have never been asked to contribute towards the expense of the navy, and it must be admitted that the question of adjusting the military contribution has often given rise to angry 436 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE controversy, but 1 cannot help thinking that this has been owing to the absence of any rational or uniform basis in the demands for colonial coniribations. In a note to a return j iblished by tht; Colonial Office in 1829 it is stated that "it has never been a principle of British rule to require that the Colonies should provide for their milifciry defence," although the return showed that the colonies i.id practically contribute ^3 3 5.000 aijp:«r**ntly in per- sonal allowances called colonial allow tuiccs. In 1859 a Departmental Committee n^ported that the colonies might be said generally to have been free from almost all obligations of contributing, either by personal service or money, low.jds theii own defence ; that the incidence of the small sums contributed was most unequal and chiefly borne by three colonies; and they particularly condemned the system of colonial allowances as most mis- chievous to our troops. This report was followed by the appointment in 1861 of .1 Select Committee, of which Mr. Mills was chairman, to inquire into the defence of the colonies and the distribution of the cost between the Imperial Treasury and the colonial funds. It was found that the distribution of troops and the allocation of charges were based on no principle, id had grown up by chance modified by temporary exigencies. The general result of the report of the Committee was the decision of the Government that all colonies must bear the burden of their military establishments. It must be remembered that during the 'Sixties the idea of separation had grown to be a fixed purpose, and this decision was immediately fdlowed DEFENCE 427 ■et or by the gradual withdraw*! .>f all th*' Imper troops from the self-governing olonics, a proces* pracli cally completed in 1870. 1 the C >wn oloviies. where it was foun inv .ible t" with contril utior nxed on ht basis of a capitation rale for e;..:h man on the :.trength, varyinjj according to the I mch of the servir lo whici h<- belongtc', and va.ving also in Ui' .lifferent coU.ni. Tiii'^ system r.is constant ciusi; of irr ruti' T a colonies ciared their read! ss to f..niribute » so the strength of tne garrison was fi>ed to local requirements, ! ut n:^is i the i! - an a contribution tow. '•ds th < : c*" of which the strengi i ' » ■•^te^ external imperial exigencies. "he .n of ti colonists was urged with all the f-r since the incidence of this burden co lint J '^^ unequal, and burne entirt; by a ry f w u.nies. It is of course difficult to a line .ctween local and imp rial r . iiren s. aid would have been impossible 10 arrive at ^ ment on my such principl capitation ae h ^ been ab; a ! r 1^ tern. 1 Arir ..b.iiiiates ( 19^ lO showed the fol- low V.C 'buti r b\ Crown colonies to Army Funas : aci>ry adjust- rtunately, the d in favour of Straits Settlemei "eylon - • 'ong Kong • auritius N . iltt - ;{;205,ooo 87.500 100,000 33,000 5,000 428 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE These contributions are no longer based on a capitation rate. The contribution of Malta is a lump sum fixed at a time when it would have been obviously impossible for the colony to pay a capita- tion rate on the total strength of the garrison. The contributions of the other colonies represent a percentage of the gross public revenue, less certain deductions, as for railway charges and water-works, so long as the revenue from these sources does not exceed the expenditure for maintenance and loan redemption. In the case of the Straits Settlements and Hong Kong the contribution represents 20 per cent. ; in Ceylon per cent. ; in Mauritius 5^ per cent. The apparent discrepancy in the rate is justified by the difference in the scope of the charges which the public revenue has to cover. For instance, in Mauritius, the public revenue has to bear the entire burden of education, sanitation, hospitals, the harbour department, police, public roads, and a variety of charges which in England are defrayed by local rates, private enterprise, and private benefactors. The public revenue liable to the contribution has also to cover charges for immigration, and on account of the public debt. In Ceylon a system of local administration by native agencies relieves the general revenue from many charges which it has to bear in Mauritius and other Crown colonies. I am not prepared to say that a percentage of the public revenue is the best possible mode of fixing colonial contributions to defence funds ; but it has this eminent advantage, especially in colonies subject to vicissitudes and fluctuations of fortune, that the burden adapts DEFENCE 429 itself automatically to the power of the colony to bear it. On the other hand, the adjustment of the rate of percentage involves considerations of complexity for the reasons I have indicated and others. For example, of the colonies now paying a military con- tribution on the new system, Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, and Hong Kong have been enormously enriched by the opening of the Suez Canal, which has deprived Mauritius of u principal source of her former wealth, and has beggared St. Helena, which previously contributed to army funds. Possibly a contribution calculated on the value of imports and exports might, in the case of colonies dependent on the export of their agricultural produce and its returns, be a more convenient basis of adjustment. But in any case, I venture to suggesi. that in future the contributions to army funds be abolished ; that there be substituted a contribution to the Imperial Treasury for defence funds, and that all the Crown colonies be invited to contribute to the funds, according to the measure of their power, on such a basis as may be found most convenient. Before quitting this subject, 1 ought to add that, in addition to their annual contribution, all the four colonies of the Straits Setdements, Ceylon, Hong Kong, and Mauritius, have provided a large capital sum in aid of fortifications and barracks constructed by the Imperial authorities. CHAPTER XXVIII THE CROWN All problems of empire are subsidiary to the problem of securing and maintaining the loyalty of the constituent parts of the Empire to the Crown. Some years ago Prince Bismarck declared that the only healthy basis of a great State is national selfish- ness. The policy of the British Empire professes to rest on the belief that the only healthy basis of a great Nation is unselfishness, and that what is true of a great Nation is tiue of a great Empire. It is a policy which stands in contrast to the policy of all Empires in the past. It will be known to all time as the policy of the Victorian era. In dealing with the subsidiary problems of administration in the Crown colonies during a long official career, I have endeavoured to keep cor. stantly in view the ultimate problem of reconciling the diverse interests of race, colour, and creed in one common sentiment of loyalty to the Crown, based on a conviction that the policy of the Crown is what it professes to be, — a policy of unselfishness. Queen Victoria's Proclamation to the Princes and Peoples of India in 1858 declared that Her Majesty THE CROWN 431 sought her strength in the prosperity of her people, her security in their contentment, her reward in their gratitude. Fifty years later, His Majesty King Edward the Seventh in a gracious message declared that he looked back on the period of operation of the policy declared in the Proclamation of 1858 with clear gaze and a good conscience. In the meantime, it has been thj duty of the Governors and Administrators of the Crown colonies to carry out the same policy in the same spirit, and I believe that if King George is pleased to survey that group of his over-sea dominions he will look back on it with equally clear gaze and good conscience. It was my good fortune, I believe my unique privilege, to hold the office of Administrator or Governor in Crown colonies at three seasons of imperial interest : the Jubilee of the reign of Queen Victoria in 1887; the Diamond Jubilee in 1897; and the Coronation of King Edward the Seventh. I have, in a chapter on Expansion in British Guiana, given some account of the demonstrations of loyalty in that colony at the time of the Jubilee celebrations in 1887. The Diamond Jubilee was celebrated in Mauritius with every form of demon- stration that loyalty could suggest. There followed Her Majesty's demise, and the colony's recognition, with sober dignity, of the splendour of the legacy left to the Empire in her illustrious example and a name associated with an age of unparalleled progress in all that contri' es to the welfare o^ communities, and the hea • • appiness, and liberty of individuals. 432 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE The demise of the Sovereign was followed, in 1 90 1, by the visit to l^Iauntius of King George and Queen Mary, xs Duke and Duchess of Corn- wall and York, \\^ithin an hour of their landing they had transubstantiated into an Imperial ideal the materia] elements of colonial existence. The reply of His Royal Highness to the addresses presented by representatives of every section of the community animated all with an inspiring sense of Imperial services rendered and generously acknowledged. It was in these terms : "I sincerely thank you and the Members of those Public Bodies which you represent for the kindly expressions of welcome and g>}< d wishes to the Duchess and myself which are contained in the Addresses which I have had the pleasure to receive. " It will be a great satisfaction to me to convey to my dear P'ather the King, your assurances of loyalty to his Throne and Person, and to make known to him tl-at spirit of affectionate devotion to the memory of our late beloved Queen so strongly evinced in these communications. " I note with especial satisfaction from the Addresses of those non- European Communities who have made their home among you that they are living in contentment under the rule of their King Emperor in Mauritius. " We have looked forward with keen interest to visiting your beautiful Island, rich in its honourable traditions, in the history of literature and statesman- ship : proud of its association with naval achieve- ments that shed equal glory on England and France. THE CROWN 433 "We deeply sympathise with you in that com- bination of adversities altogether beyond your control, under which you have suffered during the past ten years. " Meanwhile the whole Empire has watched with sympathetic admiration the constancy and courage by which you overcame your difficulties and the spirit that prompted you to contribute generously — in spite of your own imperilled fortunes — to the relief of your suffering fellow-subjects in India, the West Indies, and in South Africa. " I rejoice to know that a day of brighter promise has dawned upon you — that the great staple of the Island continues to enjoy its long established reputation, and that it is your earnest endeavour to keep pace with the rest of the Empire in maintaining its commercial and mercantile pre-eminence. " I fervently trust that under Divine Providence the people of Mauritius may ever remain a united, loyal and prosperous community." The words of sympathy found an echo in every heart when the following day brought news of the death of the Empress Frederick of Germany. And, if this sad event limited the opportunities for official ceremonies and popular manifestations of enthusiasm, every moment of their Royal Highnesses' stay strengthened a link in the chain of loyalty that grapples the little island to the Empire. Every hour gave proof of a kindly consideration for others, every day revealed an alert grasp of the bearing of a variety of interests on the general welfare of a complex community, and an impartial sympathy with what is best in each, n 3E 434 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Their Royal Highnesses' visit was the more opportune by reason of the period of adversity through which the colony was passing. It served to unite every section of the population in the sentiment of a common patriotism, and to con- firm the courage and constancy of which Their Royal Highnesses showed a generous appreciation. Deep in every man's mind in the Crown colonics there is a sentiment of devotion to the Crown, rooted in the faith that behind the things that are seen, heads of departments, judges and governors, there is an unseen power, the source of security of life, liberty of person, freedom of conscience, and absolute equality before the law for rich and poor of every race and creed. In Mauritius, as elsewhere, it was long known only by the name of Queen Victoria. The visit of Their Royal Highnesses was accepted as a message of assurance that it b 'd passed to King Edward the Seventh, and the gracious sympathy with which the message was delivered will for ever associate it with the lives of King George and Queen Mary, and with the annual celebration of Empire Day, and with all that Empire Day means. This memorable visit was followed by the corona- tion of King Edward in circumstances that touched the heart of the Empire. A French -hilosopher, Ernest Renan, has declared that the world is not governed by Reason, with a capital R, but by something in which every letter is a capital — EMOTION. History can furnish few examples of an Empire governed by emotion as the British Empire was governed during the period of the THE CROWN King's illness that postponed the day of his corona* tion, and has again been governed during the period that has followed his demise. A feature of especial interest during the corona- tion festivities was the unveiling of a statue of Queen Victoria. With my speech on that occasion I may appropriately close the record of my long career in the service of the Crown colonies : " The erection of this statue of her late Majesty Queen Victoria has been associated with two events which will certainly be marked with white in the annals of the colony. Just a year ago the first stone of the pedestal on which the statue is placed was laid by Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, in the presence of Her Majesty's grandson, and I have now the honour of unveiling it at the very moment when the imperial succession is, by the solemn act and ceremony of the coronation, passing formally to Her Majesty's son. But not only has the erection of the statue been happy in point of time ; we shall all I think agree that the site has been happily chosen. Here at the gate of Government House, the seat of administration and place of assembly of the legislative body of the colony, it will be given to future generations to recognise an outward and visible sign and symbol of the principles that underiie the unwritten con- stitution of the Empire. For however diverse may be the forms of local government throughout the Empire, the principles on which they rest are the same ; in public life the principle of freedom of person, freedom of speech, freedom of religious belief and faith;' in the administration of justice 436 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE the principle of absolute equality before the law for all sorts and conditions of men ; in commerce, in the largest sense of this term, the policy of the open door ; and in private and social life the policy of the open heart and open hand — the heart open to sympathy alike in joy and sorrow ; the hand open to welcome, embrace, support and aid." APOLOGIA It will be gathered from the records which I have now brought to a close that my long official career has been of varied experience in dealing with prob- lems of Crown colony administration. It has been often criticised, but the holder of responsible office who is never worth criticising is probably never worth anything at all. It has been a career of many mistakes, but the only men who make no mistakes are the men who do nothing. On the other hand, it has been from first to last of exceptional amplitude of experience in the generosity with which it has been judged. It closed as every colonial Governor might well desire his tenure of office to close. At a time when the fortunes of the colony of Mauritius were in desperate peril my Sovereign was pleased to extend my term of office in gracious assent to a resolution unanimously voted by the Council of Government And at the hour of my departure the people among whom I had long liv^d and laboured presented me with the following aduiess signed by representatives of every section of the community without distinction of rank, origin, creed or colour. 438 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE Port Louis, Mauritius, 30th October, 1903. May it Please Your Excellency, We, the undersign. 1, inhabitants of this Colony, and members of the different sections of its population, beg to assure you that we deeply regret to have to part from you. We have been so accus- tomed to see you moving among us, and you have been so long associated with our existence, that we are grieved to think that you are on the point of taking leave of us for ever. " It seems indeed as if your life was intended to be linked to our destinies ; for your career in the Colonial Service, which is now a pretty long one, was begun in Mauritius, and by far the greater part of it has been spent here. In the various posts you have occupied in this Island, you have rendered the most valuable services to us, but in none have these been more signal than in the high office from which you are about to retire. " The period, over which your administration ex- tends, has been one of constant care and anxiety. Within the last six years we have had to contend with numerous and serious difficulties ; and if we have succeeded in weathering the storms we have encountered, if brighter days are now dawning upon us, it is, we gratefully acknowledge, thanks, chiefly, to the able and fearless pilot we have had at our head. " Of course, you have sometimes met with opposi- tion, and, in that respect, you have not been more fortunate than any of your predecessors. This was APOLOGIA 439 unavoidable. Under our Constitution, such as it if, the Governor is vested with large and extensive powers, and, unless he makes up his mind to remain unconcerned with the affairs of the Colony, and casts off all sense of responsibility, there are circumstances in which he must exercise these powers. The manner in which you have yourself, in some cases, used them, has, naturally enough, given rise to dissatisfaction in certain quarters, but we are convinced that the dis- content thus created has only been transient, and that, whatever criticisms some of your acts may have called forth, the purity and sincerity of your intentions, your unfailing desire to do what in your judgment appeared best for ihe public good, your single-minded devotion to duty, have never been questioned. "On assuming the Government of the Colony, one of your first public utterances was that you would devote yourself without partiality or prejudice to the interests of the people entrusted to your care, and, with no difference, to all classes of the population alike. The pledge you then gave, you have re- deemed, and, of this, there could be no better proof than the tokens of sympathy, of regard, and of gratitude which you are receiving from all sides on the eve of your departure. "Pray accept our best wishes for yourself an 1 Lady Bruce. Though far away from us, you will both, we feel sure, continue to take an interest in the Colony where you have spent so many years. I he ties which unite us to you, and which the sorrows we have shared with you have but more closely knitted, are too strong to be broken by our separation. As 440 THE BROAD STONE OF EMPIRE for us. you may be certain that we shall reutn a fond and undying recollection of yoa" The colony was true to its word. On Au;j[ust loth, 1907, I received a telegram signed by the senior member of the Council of Government in the following terms : " Elected Members of Council and people of Mauritius knowing your deep and sincere sympathy for the Colony beg you may be good enough to represent and defend them (at the) Colonial Office." The circumstances which prompted this telegram need not be discussed. I at once placed myself at the disposal of the Secretary of State, who was good enough to refer to me the official papers on the subject. Some months later, in March, 1908, I received another telegram, from the President of the Chamber of Agriculture, requesting me to render a new service to the colony in supporting a measure recommended by the Governor. I placed myself at the disposal of Lord Elgin, who granted me a personal interview after the circumstances in which the appeal was made had been explained to me in the Office. The position in which I was placed on both occasions was of extreme delicacy, but I need not discuss the constitutional questions to which it gives rise. I may be permitted, however, to suggest that it may serve as an illustration of the advantages that might be found to accrue to the Secretary of State from the creation of an advisory Council such as I have advocated. My views have been confirmed and fortified by events which followed, and resulted in the APOLOGIA 441 appointment of a Royai Commiition to investigate and report on the iir tncial and administrative condition of Mauritius. The report of the Com- mission was published long after my woik had been sent to press; but 1 avail myself of the opportunity to add some observations on the report and evidence in an Appendix. They are my response to the address presented tr me by the people of Mauritius, and to their tele^iams inviting my sympathy and support. 1 APPENDIX II SYSTEMS OF LAW OBTAINING IN THE CROWN COLONIES! By EDWAKD MANSON One of *e Editors of the Journal of the Society of Comparative LeRislation EUROPE MEDITERRANEAN COLONIES GIBRALTAR The common law of Gibraltar is the common law of England. It was substituted fw that of Spain, but the peculiar situation and character of Gibraltar and the circumstances consequent on its capture make it difficult to ascertain how and when the alteration of its laws first took place. By Order in Council of 2nd February, 1 884, the law of England, as it existed on 31st December, 1883, is brooght into force so far as applicable to the circumstances of Gibraltar in matters not provided for by local enactments. The laws were revised and consolidated in 1890, and since then several Imperial Statutes, the Partnership Act, 1S90, the Trustee Act, 1893, and the Sale of Goods Act, 1893, have been adopted by local ' For summaries of the recent legislation in the various colonies, see Legislcuim of the Empire, published under the auspices of the Society of Comparative Lecislation. See also Chapter IX. of this work ; and for sug- gettioa* M to legidativc reform m the Crown Cakmict see Appendix III. 446 APPENDIX II ordinance. The Supreme Court of Gibraltar is consti- tuted under the Supreme Court Consolidation Order, 1888. There is no Legislature or Legislative Council. The Governor has power to legislate by ordinance with certain restrictions, and subject to a right of disallowance reserved to His Majesty. MALTA Malta, — small as it is, about three-fourths of the Isle of Wight in area — ^has been one of the battlefields of the world. The law now in force is based on the Roman law as modified by local legislation and usage, on the Coda Rohan published in 1784 by the authority of Grand Master Rohan, and on the more modern codes and ordinances. Ordinances No. 7 of 1868 and No. i of 1873 are a repro- duction, with modifications, of large portions of the Italian Civil Code. The Supreme Council of Justice consists of a Chief Justice, Judges of the Court of Appeal, and Judges of the Civil Court (First Hall), Commercial Court (Second Hall), and Criminal Court. An appeal lies to the Privy Council from judgments for sums above 1,000. There are also District M<^strates with limited civil and criminal jurisdiction. (See also Colonial OfKce List, 19 10.) CYPRUS This island, which is about half the size of Wales, has, like Malta, passed through many vicissitudes and known many conquerors. The law in force in Cyprus is (i) in Ottoman actions or on the prosecution of Ottoman subjects, the common law of the Ottoman Empire as altered or modified from time to time by Cyprus Statute Law : (2) in foreign actions or the prosecution of persons not Ottoman subjects, English law in force on December 21, 1878, as altered from time to time by Cyprus Statute Law. As to Ottoman Land SYSTEMS OF LAW 447 Law, see an article by Mr. Justice Middleton in Journal of Comparative Legislation, New Sen, 1900, I., p> I4l- The constitution of the Courts is now regulated by the Cyprus Courts of Justice Order, 1882, as amended by Orders in Council 1883, 1902. They consist of : 1. A supreme Court consisting of a Chief Justice and one Puisne Judge. 2. Assize Courts, one for each caza (province)— of which there are six — held by Supreme and District Court Judges sitting together. 3. A district Court for each caza with limited criminal and unlimited civil jurisdiction. Each District Court is presided over by a president and one Christian and one Moslem District Judge. 4. Magistrates' Courts for each caza. 5. Village Judges. The only Ottoman tribunals remaining are those exer- cising jurisdiction in matters of Moslem faith. ASIA CEYLON In 1795-96 the settlements of the Dutch in Ceylon, which they had occupied for nearly a century and a half, capitulated to the British, and were annexed to the presidency of Madras. In 1801 Ceylon was constituted a separate colony. By the terms of capitulation the Dutch were allowed to remain in undisturbed possession of their property, their institutions were upheld, and the Roman- Dutch law was adopted as the law of the colony. It still remains so, subject to terms conceded to the native government of the interior, subjugated in 181 5, when the whole island fell under British rule. By virtue of these terms, the native communities of Kandyans, Mahom- medans, and Tamils in the Central, Eastern, and Northern Provinces live under a peculiar system of personal laws. Many local Ordinances have been grafted on the original 448 APPENDIX II stock, including portions of English law, mostly maritime and commercial, and English rules of equity have been introduced by judicial decisions. In 1 88 3 Ceylon adopted, with amendments, the Penal and Criminal Procedure Codes of India. A levimi edition of the l^islative enactments of the island by H. White and H. A. Loos was legalised in 1901. There is a Supreme Court, consisting of a Chief Justice and three Puisne Judges. It has an original criminal jurisdiction, and decides appeals from the inferior Courts both in civil and criminal cases. The Police Courts and Courts of Requests dispose, respectively, of trivial criminal at"' civil suits, wnile the District Courts have a criminal jurisdiction intermediate between the Supreme Court and the Police Couxts, and an unlimited civil jurisdiction. An appeal from the Supreme Court lies in case of final ^dgments for sums above 5000 rupees. In 1889, Gan- atfbhiwas, village councils on the lines of the Indian poff^kofiet, mtK established with powers to deal with petty offervces and trifling civil claims. They are empowered to make rales, subject to the approval of the Governor in Council, relating to their village economy and local improvesMMts. HONG KONG 1 he common law of the Colony is the common law of England as it existed when the Colony obtained a local legislature in 1843, except so far as such common law is " inapplicable to the local circumstances of the Colony or its inhahitaite." (See Ordinance 12 of 1873, s. 7.) The statute law consists of Ordinances passed by the Legislature of the Colony with the assent of the Governor and Imperial Acts expressly applying to the Colony. Many Impetial Acts have been adopted by Ordinance. See Chapter IX. The constimion of the Colony and the powers of the Governor are (tefined by a Royal Charter dated January 19, 1888. SYSTEMS OF LAW His Majesty has under certain Imperial Acts power to legislate for the Colony by Order in Council. CerUin Ordinances apply exclusively to the Chinese. These deal with a hospital for Chinese, wills made by Chinese, extra- dition of Chinese subjects, attendance by Chinese at public meetings, protection of Chinese emigrants and the immigration of Chinese in case of an infectious disease. There is a Supreme Court consisting of a Chief Justice and one Puisne Judge. The law as to civil procedure in the Colony has been codified. It is based partly on English and partiy on Indian practice with some local modifications. A revised edition of the statute law was published in 1900. WEIHAI-WEI The territory of Wei-hai-Wei comprehends the island of Liu Kung, all the islands in the Bay of Wei-hai-Wei, and a belt of land ten miles wide along the entire coast line of that bay, including the territorial waters of the said islands and coast. It was leased to Great Britain by China " for so long a period as Port- Arthur remains in the possession of Russia " by a Convention made on July ist, 1898. An Order in Council (Wei-hai-Wei), 1901, provides for the High Court of Wei-hai-Wei, and invests it with jurisdiction, civil and criminal, over all persons, being and matters arising within the territories. It may sit at any place within these territories. Pro- vision is also made for the appointment of Magistrates for the districts. English law is to be followed generally, but in civil cases between natives, regard is to be had to Chinese or other native law and custom. When a native is a party to any case, civil or criminal, the Court may try it with two native assessors. The High Court may award any punishment competent to any Court of criminal jurisdiction in England. The criminal jurisdiction of the Magistrate does not extend to treason, murder, rape, forgery, and perjury. An appeal lies in civil cases to the Supreme Court of Hong Kong, n 3F 45° APPENDIX II STRAITS SETTLEMENTS The common law of the Straits Settlements is the law of England as it stood in 1826. It was introduced by a charter of that date. But this law is subject, in its application to alien races established in these Settlements, to such modifications as are necessary to prevent its operating unjustly or oppressively. There are special laws also regulating the marriage of Hindu widows, the marriage and divorce of Parsees and intestate successors in the case of Parsees. The common law is supplemented by the Ordinances passed by the Legislative Council since April, 1 867, the date when the Settlements were detached from India and formed into a separate Colony. These Ordinances adopt a number of important English Acts, such as the Bills of Sale Act, 1878, the Bankruptcy Act, 1883, the Mer- chandise Marks Act, 1887, and the Companies Act, 1862. The Civil Law Ordinance, 1878, also contains a com- prehensive provision that " in all questions or issues which may hereafter arise or which may have to be dedded in this Colony with respect to the law of partnerships, joint stock companies, corporations, banks and banking, princi- pal and agents, carriers by land and sea, marine insurance, average, life and fire insurance, and with respect to mercantile law generally, the law to be administered in England in the like case at the corresponding period, as if such questions had arisen or had to be decided in England, unless any other provision is or shall be made by any Statute now in force in this Colony or hereafter to be enacted." There is a special proviso excepting all matters connected with land. There is a Supreme Court held before the Chief Justice and three Puisne Judges: also Police Courts presided over by a single police mi^trate with limited jurisdiction. LABUAN The common law of Labuan, ceded to the Crown in 1846,15 the common law of England. It is supplemented SYSTEMS OF LAW 45, by Ordinances enacted formerly by the Governor and Legislative Council, and now by the Gomnor, aubject to the approval of the Colonial Office. THE nOERATEO MALAY STATES The federation known by this name consists of four native States of the Malay Peninsula— Perak, Selangor Pahang, and Negri Sembilan. In 1895 these States, which had some time previously placed themselves under British protection, entered into a treaty by which they agreed to form themselves into a federation to be administered under the British Government's advice. This arrangement was formally inaugurated on July i, 1 896. The supreme authority in each of the States is vested m a State Council composed of the more important Malay Chiefs and Chinese merchants, presided over by the Sultan, assisted by the British Resident. There is also a Resident General to control the Residents in each State Ihe Governor of the Straits Settlements is also High Commissioner of the Federated Malay States. The laws in force in each case consist of local Ordi- nances borrowed wholesale from the English Statute Book. In each State there is a Supreme Court, composed of (i) the Court of a Judicial Commissioner, and (2) a Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal 's composed of two or more Judicial Commissioners, presided over by the Chief Judicial Commissioner. "The jury system." says Mr Alexander Pulling, " was found not to work satisfactorily and was abolished In favour of trial by a Judge with assessors." There are also Magistrates' Courts of the first and second class, the Court of a Kathi and of an assbtant Kathi, and the Court of a Penghulu. NORTH BORNEO The territory of this Protectorate— about 31,000 square miles— lies to the north of the Island of Borneo. It 452 APPENDIX II became the property of the British North Borneo Company in 1 88a. and in 1888 the British Government assumed a formal protectorate. The Sute is administered by the Company as an independent Sute under the pro- tection of Hli Majesty's Gownment, who appoint consular officers and conduct all foreign .clations "^he territory itself is administered by a Court of Directors in London, who appoint a Gomnor and Civil Service. The appointment of the Goveroor if aabject to the approval of the Secretary of State. The law of the country is based on the Indian Penal, Criminal Procedure, and Civil Procedure Codes, with an adaptation in special instances of several of the Acts in force in the British Colonies, and an ImamV Court for the administration of Mohammedan law, with native courts for trials by local custom. SARAWAK The story of Sarawak, as told by Sir Charles Lucas, is one of peculiar interest. During a voyage to China, Mr. James Brooke, the son of an Indian civilian, had been struck by the beauty and fertility of the territories of the Malay Seas, and had conceived the idea of rescuing Borneo from I's then state of barbarism by the esUblish- ment of British settlements on the mainland and the gradual expansion of British influence among the native rulers. On a visit to Sarawak, which lies near the western extremity of the north coast of Borneo, he found a rebellion on foot against Rajah Muda Hassim, heir- apparent of the Sultan of Brunei. By the assistance of Mr. Brooke and the crew of his yacht, the Rajah was able to put down the rebellion, and as a mark of gratitude the Rajah offered to confer upon him the govemmciit of Sarawak. Mr. Brooke decided to accept the offer with a view to giving the natives the benefit of a just govern- ment in place of the systematic oppression to which they were accustomed, and in September, 181 1, he was pro- claimed Governor of Sarawak. The grant of the territory SYSTEMS OF LAW WM formally approved by the Sultan of Brunei in the following year. Sarawak was placed under British pro- tection by agreement with the Rajah of Sarawak in 1 888, by which His Majesty's Government has the rifht to c ' ciblish consular officers in Sarawak. Sarawak is governed by a Rajah, who is absolute, assisted by a Supreme Council oi seven, thiM of whom are the chief European residents, and the rest natives nominated by the Rajah. There is also a General Council of fifty, which meets every three yean. There is a Court of Requesta for judicial purposes presided over by a Magistrate. AFX/CA BASUTOLAND This, which was formerly part of Cape Colony, is now a separate territory under the legislative authority of the High Commissioner for South Africa. The law is that of Cape Colony, and is administered by a Resident C(Hnmissi<»ier. BRITISH BECHUAMALAND This territory was annexed to Cape Colony, November 1 6, 189s Roman Dutch law, which was the law obtain- ing there at the date of annexation, remains in force, also the native jurisdiction created by SS. 31, 32, of Schedule to Proc. 2 B.B. of 1 885. The High Court of Gricqualand and of Cape Colony have concurrent jurisdiction. The juris- diction of the Resident Magistrates is incorporated in the legal system of Cape Colony. SWAZILAND This territory is bounded on the north, west, and south by the Transvaal. It underwent many changes of ad- ministration during the South African troubles. After the treaty of Vereeniging the administration was vested in the Governor of the Transvaal, who, in the exercise of the 454 APPENDIX II power of legislation so vested in him, issued, in 1904, a proclamation applying the laws of the Transvaal, mutatis mutandi, to the territory. Native laws and customs are retained so far as not repugnant to justice and morality. In 1906 the control of Swaziland was transferred from the Governor of the Transvaal to the High Commissioner of South Africa. A special Court of Swaziland and a Court of the Resident Commissioner of Swaziland were constituted under Orders in Council in 1903 and 1906. An appeal from these Courts lies to His Majesty in Council. MAURITIUS This island, which was formerly a French possession, was governed by French law as modified or supplemented by local enactments. By one of the Articles of Capitula- tion (18 10), subsequently confirmed by proclamation, the laws in force at the date of the capitulation were preserved. See Chapter ix. By the Treaty of Paris ( 1 8 1 4), Mauritius and its dependencies — Rodriguez and Diego Garcia — were ceded to England " in full right and sovereignty " without any express reservation as to the laws. The existing laws were nevertheless preserved, and in course of time modified on certain points by subsequent legislation derived from French as well as from English sources. The common law of England has been made applicable to trials by jury and in matters of evidence on all points not provided for by the local law. llie Statute law consists mainly of the French Civil Code, the French Code of Civil Procedure, and the French Code of Commerce, such as they stood in 18 10, together with the Statutes of the United Kingdom which are expressly or by necessary intendment made applicable to the colonies, Orders in Council, and local Ordinances. A revised edition of the Statute law of the colony was published in 1902. See as to this and as to the merits of French law Chapter ix. of this work. There is a Supreme Court constituted by a Chief SYSTEMS OF LAW Justice and two or more Puisne Judges. There are also District Courts and Stipendiary Courts. SEYCHELLES This group of islands was until recently a dependency of Mauritius. It was made a separate colony by Letters Patent in 1902. The law consists mainly of the French Civil Code of 1 8 1 4, the French Code of Civil Procedure of 18 14, the French Commercial Code of 18 14, the Mauritius Penal Code Ordinances passed by the Mauritius Legislature expressly for Seychelles, Ordinances passed by the local legislative boards, and English Statutes applicable to all British possessions. A Supreme Court, consisting of a Chief Justice only, was constituted by the Seychelles Judicature Order in Council, August loth, 1903. There is an appeal from the Court to the Supreme Court of Mauritius in cases where the amount at stake exceeds Rs.2000. Capital cases are tried at Victoria in the Island of Mah6, which is the seat of government, by a Court of Assize, consisting of the Chief Justice and not less than eight assessors. ST. HELENA The law is the law of England, — so far as applicable to local circumstances, — as varied by local legislation. The Supreme Court consists of the Governor as Chief Justice, assisted when necessary by members of the Execu- tive Council as assessors. SIERRA LEONE The common law of England prevails in Sierra Leone. Having been acquired by occupancy ( x 799), and not by conquest or cession, it is a plantation in the strict sense of the term, and the settlers carried with them the law of England. See Chapter ix. In addition, the Statute law of England down to 1881 has been applied to the Colony by local Ordinance. Many subsequent Imperial Acts have also been adopted by Ordinance, embodying 456 APPENDIX II the principles of the Acts, with such modifications as local conditions may require. Ordinances are made by the Governor in Council, that is, by the Governor sitting with the following officials: the Officer commanding the troops, the Colonial Secretary, the Colonial Treasurer, and the King's Advocate. GAMBIA This was from an early date — 1664— a settlement of British merchants, who took the common law of England with them. From being a dependency of Sierra Leone, it was in 1843 constituted a separate Settlement. On the common law have been engrafted Imperial Acts expressly made applicable to the Colony, Ordinances passed by the local Legislature, Orders of the King in Council and of the Administrator in Council. A large number of Imperial Acts have al^o been adopted by Ordinance. There is a Supreme Court held before the Chief Magistrate — since 1905 — and a Mahommedan Court under a Code appointed by the Governor. There are also native tribunals — constituted under the Gambia Protectorate Ordinance, 1894 — with power to administer native laws and customs not repugnant to natural justice or any local Ordinance. This qualification seems very necessary, having regard to some of the native customs — their funeral rites more particularly. GOLD COAST COLONY The common law in this Colony is the common law of England on July 24, 1874. This is modified by ss. 7, 12, 13, of the Criminal Code with respect to acts which are offences under that Code. The statute law consists of local Ordinances (see Journal of Comp. Legis., O.S., I., p. 147), and the Order in Council regulating appeals to the Privy Council. In suits between natives, native law and custom " not being repugnant to natural justice, etc.," is applicable. Native custom is also to prevail in relation to marriage, the tenure of real and personal property, SYSTEMS OF LAW 457 inheritance and testamentary disposition, also in causes between European and natives where strict adherence to English law would effect injustice. The Legislative Council is composed of the Governor, the Chief Justice, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney, the Treasurer, the Inspector-Gereral of Constabulary, and such unofficial members as His Majesty may be pleased to appoint. The Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Puisne Judges. There are also District Commissioners' Courts, with executive as well as judicial powers. ASHANTI Courts are provided for by the Ashanti Administration Ordinance, 1902. They consist of: 1. A chief Commissioner's Court with jurisdiction throughout Ashanti. Gold Coast law is to be followed both in civil and criminal cases. 2. A District Commissioner's Court for each District. 3. Native Courts with civil jurisdiction up to £lOO, and criminal jurisdiction in all but the more serious offences — murder or attempted murder, rape, robbery with violence, slave dealing, or grievously wounding. An appeal lies to the Chief Commissioner or District Com- missioner, subject to rules. SOUTHERN NIGERIA The Island of Lagos was acquired by cession — in 1 86 1 — for the suppre.ssion of the slave trade. With the Gold Coast it formed at one time (1876) the Gold Coast Colony. In 1886 Lagos became a separate Colony, and it has now received a new designation — Southern Nigeria. The common law of the Colony is the common law of England (Supreme Court Ordinance, 1876). The statute law consists of the Statutes of general application in force in England on the 24th day of July, 1874 — made applicable by the above - mentioned Supreme Court Ordinance, 1876, and of Ordinances passed by the Legis- lative Council of the Colony. 458 APPENDIX II There is no law applying to particular races or creeds, but by the same Supreme Court Ordinance, 1876, native laws and customs " not being repugnant to natural justice, equity, and good conscience, nor incompatible, either directly or by necessary implication with any enactment of the Colonial Legislature," are to be " applicable in causes and matters where the parties thereto are natives of the Colony," and also in causes and matters between natives and Europeans where it may appear to the Court that substantial injustice would be done to either party by a strict adherence to the rules of English law. The laws of Southern Nigeria were collected in two volumes in 1908. NORTHERN NIGERIA The common law is the common law of England, and was introduced by s. 34 of the Protectorate Courts Proclamation, 1 900, repealed but afterwards re-enacted as the Supreme Court Proclamation, 1901, and the Provincial Courts Proclamation, 1902. This is supplemented by orders of the Sovereign in Council and by Proclamations enacted by the High Commissioner under the Northern Nigeria Order in Council, 1899. NYASALAND This territory became a British Protectorate in 1891. It was formerly known as British Central Africa, but its name has now been altered to the Nyasaland Protectorate (Order in Council, July, 1907). It comprises the terri- tories situated to the west and south of Lake Ilyasa, and is bounded by North-Eastern Rhodesia, German East Africa, and the "Portuguese possessions (British Central Africa Order in Council, 1902, Art. i). By the Nyasa- land Order in Council of 1907, a Governor and Com- mander-in-Chief were substituted for a Commissioner. An Executive Council was appointed, and also a Legislative Council, to consist of the Governor and such other persons, not less than two, as His Majesty may SYSTEMS OF LAW 459 direct. The Governor has a right of veto in the making and passing of all Ordinances, and the power to legislate by Order in Council is expressly reserved. By the Nyasaland Order in Council No. 2, the law to be administered by the High Court of the Protectorate is to be that in force in England on August i ith, 1902. There is a High Court with full civil and criminal jurisdiction over all persons and all matters in the Protectorate, and Subordinate District Courts. There is also a Court of Appeal — created by the East African Protectorate Order in Council, 1902 — ^to hear appeals from British Central Africa, East Africa, and Uganda. EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE The law in force in the Protectorate consiits of the law as laid down in the Indian Criminal and Civil Codes, supplemented by a number of Ordinances brought into force under Orders in Council. There is also the native law and custom as adminis- tered in the Native Courts in special districts and Mahommedan law among Mahommedan natives in the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar. Ex-territorial jurisdiction in the Protectorate is r^ulated by the East Africa Order in Council, 1902. There is a High Court sitting at such places as the Governor appoints. SOM/XILAND PROTECTORATE This Protectorate, which lies close to the Gulf of Aden and the Empire of Ethiopia, came into existence in 1884. It was taken over by the Colonial Office in 1905. The Protectorate is administered under a series of Orders in Council, of which the most important is the Order of 1899. The Consul General mentioned in the Ordinance of 1 899 is now replaced by a Commissioner who legislates by Ordinances. The jurisdiction extends to British subjects, foreigners, property, and all personal proprietary rights and liabilities in the Protectorate of British subjects APPENDIX II and foreigner., including .hip. with their ^^ JJ^^^';, is in the main the law of British India. A numbe rof Yndian Acts scheduled to the Order are ^r-'^^ *SPi!fi* By Order in Council. 1504. in .U ce. cnmmu and to which native. «e parties, regard *T.rfust°ce and laws so far a. the.e an! not repugnant to law. justice, ana """^^ District Courts established under the piO- virion, of the Bombay Courts Act. 1869. JGAMDA The High Courc of Uganda has full 3"';^ and criminal, over all persons and torate (Uganda Order in Council. 1902. Art 15). ] Pi'iiliSi.exerdsedingeneralconformitywU^^^^^^ Civil Procedure. Criminal Procedure and C^*^' ^ sits at such places as the Commts. r appoints. Sub- ordinate Courts also have been constituted. A British Native Court with the Collector as J "dge m»y be established by the Commissioner m any d'^tri*^ °f *^ Protectorate. The Collector may appoint one or more S assessors, but these are to have a consultative voi^ only. The High Court has power to revise sentences which appear unjust ZANZIBAR The Sultan's enactments constitute the "ajive 'tatute law of Zanzibar as the Sheria of Islam e^nbodied m a vSt mass of traditions, commentaries and records of iudements constitute its common law. ^ Since the establishment of the Protectorate and the institution of a European administration enactme^^^^^^ having the force of law have been made by the Sultan s P^Ime Minister in the Sultan's name. Th^ - n^^^^ like the Sultan's own Proclamations called Decrees. OnJinances or Regulations. When they affect foreign relations or are made under the general act of the t^ll Conference, which has become by the «ihe.ion SYSTEMS OF LAW 461 of the Sultan part both of the internal law ^^idcfj^ ?„temational oWigaUon. of Zanzibar, they o«unte^. «gned by the Britlih Agent under authonty from Hh SSesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Al a.r» Sul^ jVci of Great Briuin and of certain fort^l^J^;!'V'^l''ZA Satie. with the Sultenate enjoy ex-territorial rjhts and aw only be sued or prosecuted in their own Courts The Z^^on is dealt"^ with by the Z^/^^ O't' J" (Sindl. May i .. 1906. The Court for Za^b«r condsU of a Judge, Assistant Judge, and Magistrate. AMERICA BERMUDA The common law of the Islands is that °f E"gUnd introduced on the original settlement of the Colony In ,6?2 It is supplemented by Acts of the Legislature fitm. 1690. and Regulations m ie by the Governor m Council. There is a Supreme Court consohdated In ,905. composed of a Chief Justice and not more than two Asdstant Justices. BRITISH GUIANA Dcmcrara. Essequibo. and Berbice (afterwards consoli- dated into one colony-British Guiana. 1831) were captured in the war with Holland by the British fojr« m ,803. and by the articles of capitulation the mhab.tants were to continue to enjoy the laws by which they had hitherto been governed. These laws were the Roman- Dutch law. which still obtains with modifications and additions. One of the most important of these is the introduction of English mercantile law. British Guiana has a Supreme Court, consisting of a Chief Justice and two Puisne Judges. An appeal lies to the Privy Council when the interest '"v°lved is of the value of £500 sterling. There are also Magistrates Courts, with civil and criminal jurisdiction in every district 46a APPENDIX II I HI I ii 1 For an account of the consolidation of the laws oi British Guiana in 1905, see Chapter ix. of this work. BRITISH HONDURAS This Colony was acquired in 1870 partly by cession and partly by settlement By the Consolidated laws of the Colony, 1888, *' the common law of England and all statutes of the Imperial Parliament in abrogation or derogation or in any way declaratory of the common law " are to be enforced in the Colony ; but certain Imperial Statutes, e.g. those relating to Bankruptcy, Customs, and Excise, and to any trade, profession, or busineis are excluded. The Consolidated Laws have been greatly added to by recent legislation, and incor- porate many Imperial Statutes, e^. the Bills of Sale Act, 1878, the Judicature Acts, the Law of Inheritance, the Statutes of Limitation and Trusts, have been adopted. Areas of land are reserved for the Indians or Caribs, who hold their lands under regulations made by the Governor in Council with the sanction of the Secretary of State. There is a Supreme Court constituted at present of the Chief Justice alone, and District Courts with jurisdic- tion to determine summarily (subject to exceptions similar to those of our County Courts) all personal actions where the amount claimed does not exceed $100. FALKLAND ISLANDS The British sovereignty over this group of Islands was first effectually asserted in 1832. The law is the law in force in England on January i, 1850, at which date it was made applicable to the Colony, supplemented and amended by local ordinances. WEST INDIES BAHAMAS These islands were acquired by settlement, and the common law is the common law of England, or so much SYSTEMS OF LAW 463 thereof as " wu necessary, convenient, and not inapplicable to the drcumitancei <^ the ■ettlement," sui^lemented mainly by local Acts and Imperial Acts made applicable to the Colony. There is a Supreme Court, conc'sting of the Chief Justice alone, and la letident Justices with tumnuury criminal and petty civil jurisdiction. BARBADOS This island was at one time part of the Windward group and the seat of government. It was separated and created an independent colony in 1885. As a possession acquired by settlement in 1605 and 1625, the settlers took with them the common law of England and such Acts of Parliament applicable to its conditions as were paned before the date of settlement. A charter was granted to the island by Charles I., and was confirmed and ratified on behalf of the Common- wealth of England in 1652. By this charter (Art. 3), " No taxes, customs, loans, or excise shall be laid or levy made on any of the inhabitants of this island without their consent in a general assembly." "From that period," says Sir Conrad Reeves, C.J.,^ "representative assemblies elected by colonists possessing the right of suffrage as fixed by law have been annually elected and called together, who, with the consent of the Legislative Council, a body nominated by the Crown and consisting of nine members, have uniformly passed laws for the good government of the colony." There is also a County Court and an Assistant Court of Appeal. JAMAICA Jamaica, it has been held, is a settled, not a conquered, country. The English common law with the English Statute law up to that date was introduced in 1655. The Island Statute I., Geo. II. c. i, s. 22, enacts that "all such laws and statutes of England as have been at any time esteemed, introduced, accepted, or received as laws in ^Journal of Comparative Legislation, VoL II., pp. 102-3. 464 APPENDIX II thit I.Und. shall and are hereby declared to be laws of thit Uland for ever." (For the ffleening of thta «»et«t«t ■M liequet vi. Edwardfin the Supreme Court of Jamaica, 1866). Other laws have since been added by the LesifUtive Council and several Imperial Acta copied. There te a Supreme Court. coniUting of a Chief Justice and two Puisne Judges. There is also in each of the 14 parishes of the island a resident Magistrate and Court with limited jurisdiction. THE TURKS AND CAIC08 18LA1ID8 These islands were at one time for admlntotrative purposes Included In the colony of the Bahamas. Thq^ were, however, in 1873. by an Order in Council made under an Imperial Act, annexed to the r .ony of Jamaica The laws of the Legislative Council of Jamaica are expressly made applicable to the islands, but there is a Legislative Board which drals with local legislatwn. This Legislative Board consists of the Commlsrioner and Jud^, and not less than two or more than four other memben appointed by the Governor of Jamaica. The Statute law was consolidated in 1 907. There Is a Supreme Court, held before a single Judge, exercising civil and criminal jurisdiction, and AssisUnt Commissioners who act as Police Magistrates. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO These two islands were under separate Governments until united by an Order in Council of 17th November. 1888. The common law of England is the common law of both The Statute law consists mainly of Ordinances made by the Governor with the advice and o» the Legislative Council. There have been mtroduced a number of English Acts, among them the Conveyancmg and Law of Property Act, 1882, the Married Women s Property Act. 1882, the Bills of Sale Act, 1878. the Sale of Goods Act, 1893. The SUtute law waa consolidated in 1903. SYSTEMS OF LAW 465 There is a Supreme Court, consisting of a Chief Justice and two Puisne Judges. Tliefe are also Distiict Petty Civil Courts and Stipendiary Joeticet appointed by the Governor. THE WINDWARD ISLANDS This group of islands, which lie in the Caribbean Sea, includes Grenada and the Grenadines, St. Lucia and St. Vincent. The Windward Islands, unlike the Leeward I'lands, are not a federation. Each of the three colonir* has its own institutions, but under a common Govrri' ,. Grenada is the headquarters of tlie Government GRENADA Gi ■•n.-.Ha was originally a French possession. After various vicissitudes in the war between France and Great Britain, it was finally ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Versailles in 1783. Thj common law of the island is the English common law. It was introduced by royal proclamations in December, 1764, and January, 1784. The latter is printed in the 1875 edition of the Laws of Grenada, pp. 7-1 1. There are also local Ordi- nances, among the more important of which may be mentioned the Supreme Court Ordinance — a Code of Civil Procedure — the Criminal de Ordinance, the Criminal Procedure Code Ordina. , based on the St. Lucia Criminal Code, which in its \ na was based on the Jamaica Criminal Code drafted by Mr. Robert S. Wright, afterwards Mr. J".'-tice Writ'- 1. A full account i the consolidation and coJiiication of the laws, 1 894-98, is given in Chapter IX. of this work. There is a Supreme Court, consisting of the Chief Justice and Police Magistrates for the various districts. An appeal lies from the Supreme Court to the Court of Appeal for the Windward Islands. ST. LUCIA This island, discovered by Columbus in 1502, was in the course of the 300 years of its subsequent history, ti so 466 APPENDIX II taken and retaken by belligerent England and France. It was finally captured by England In 1803. since when it has remained a British possession. Ip this colony the common law prevails when the Codes are silent. It was introduced by the English Judges nearly forty years ago. Prior to that time the French Judges applied the Coutume de Paris. The Statute law of the Colony consists of Ordinances, and includes a Civil Code, a Criminal Code, and a Code of Criminal Procedure. The Statutes of the United Kingdom do not operate in the Colony, but numerous Imperial Statutes, such as those dealing with Merchant Shipping, Bills of Exchange, Police, Customs, and Com- panies, have been adopted by Ordinance. The Colonial Extradition Ordinance, 1877 (No. 45 of the La-.vs of St. Lucia) has been by Order in Council incorporated with the Imperial Act. A Code of civil law, by Sir George des Voeux and Mr. James Armstrong, was legalised m 1879. The Statute law of the Colony was consolidated by Sir J. W. Carrington in 1889. The Royal Court of St. Lucia is held before the Chief Justice as sole judge. It has a very wide jurisdiction. An appeal lies from it to the Court of Appeal for the Windward Islands, and from that Court— where the sum involved exceeds ;C300— to the Privy Council. ST. VINCENT St Vincent was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, and by His Majesty's Proclamation on October 7th of the same year, was with Grenada, Dominica, Tbbago, and the Grenadines formed into one Government. By this proclamation the common law of England and the Statute law, so far as is applicable, have been generally considered to have been introduced into the Colony, but whether any particular Statute of the United Kingdom passed prior to 1763— the date of cession— is in force in the Colony or not has to be settled in each case by judicial decision. SYSTEMS OF LAW 467 The Statute law of the Colony consists of Acts and Ordinances, and of Regulations or Orders in Council made thereunder. By the Windward Islands Act, 1850, a Court of Appeal for islands forming the group is constituted. It is composed of the Chief Justices of Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent. An appeal from this Court lies to the Privy Council where the sum involved exceeds ;^300. For an account of the consolidation of these Acts, Ordinances, and Regulations, see Chapter IX. The work was completed in 1907. THE LEEWARD ISLANDS This group of Islands in the West Indies comprises five Presidencies — Antigua, Montserrat, St. Christopher and Nevis, Dominica and the Virgins. It constitutes, as has been remarked by Sir F. Piggott, the only instance of a federation of British Colonies under a common legislature. The Leeward Islands Act, 1 871, established a Governor with a legislative and executive Council for the Presi- dencies. This legislative Council — by the Federation Act of 1899 — is composed of 16 members, 8 official and 8 elected. It meets annually and remains In office three years. Each Island Legislature has the Crown Colony form of constitution. All the Islands, except Dominica, were acquired by settlement, and the settlers took with them the common law of England. The law of England was applied to Dominica by Proclamation in 1763. On this stock have been engrafted certain Imperial Acts and Acts of the Federal Legislature. There is a Supreme Court, which has its principal seat in Antigua. It is composed of a Chief Justice and a Puisne Judge. Circuit Courts are held in the different Island Presidencies. Each district of the Colony has also Its Resident Magistrate. 468 APPENDIX II 5ee Bnrge—Coinmentaries, 2nd Ed.; foumal of Com- farativt UgisUaion, N.S., Vol. II., pp. i lo-i 1 3- AUSTRALASIA THE FIJI ISLANDS These islands were ceded to the Crown by their Chiefs in 1874. The following year the Colony received a Charter providing for its government and gwmg it a local legislature. . , The law of the Colony is the law which was in force in England at the date of the Charter, so far as suu«i to the ci.cumstances of the Colony, and as en arged by subsequent local legislation and any Imperial Acts or Orders applied to the Colony. Many Impenal Acts adopted by the Colony may be mentioned : The Mamed Women's Property Act. 1882 ; The Bills of Exchange Act 1882 ; The Bills of Sale Act, 1878 ; The Bank- ruptcy Act, 1883: and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885. The Ofdinances were consolidated m '^The law is administered by a Supreme Court presided over by a Chief Justice. The relations of the native Fijians, inur se, are governed by the Native Regula- tions made by the Native Regulation Board under the Native AflTairs Regulation Ordinance (No. 35 of 1876) These Regulations when approved by the Legis- lative Counc-' have the force of law. They are administered by two Courts, both of summary junsdtction, a District Court, presided over by a Native Stipendiary Magistrate, and a Provincial Court presided over by a European Stipendiary Magistrate, and one or more Native Stipendiary Magistrates. An appeal lies from the District Court to the Provincial Court. The Attorney-General may refer the decision of a Native Stipendiary Magis- trate to the Supreme Court See Journal of Comp. Leg., O.S., Vol. I., 36 »• SYSTEMS OF LAW 469 BIBUOGRAPHY Bui^e, Colonial and Foreign Law. Tarring, Law relating to the Colonies. Piggott, Imperial Statutes applicable to the Colonies. Dicey, Conflict of Laws. Jenkyns, British Law and Jurisdiction beyond the Seas. Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies. Journal of Comparative Legislation, Old Series and New Series. The Legislation of the Empire, edited under the direction of the Society of Comparative Legislation by C. E. A. Bedwell, 1909. The Colonial Office List. The Statesman's Year Book. The Entyclopadia of the Laws of Et^land. APPENDIX III PROPOSALS FOR A SCHEME OF LEGISLATIVE REFORM IN THE CROWN COLONIES By SIR FRANCIS T. PIGGOTT (A) General legislative reform ; first, as to the future. The basis on which all orderly, and therefore easily intelligible, legislation must rest is a Common Form and Interpretation Ordinance. The importance of " common forms " cannot be too strongly insisted on, for they not only simplify the work of the draftsman, and reduce the bulk of the various ordinances, but they introduce a common standard on many points of detail, — important detail — which are apt to be overlooked in the hurry of drafting, or to be treated differently by different draftsmen. These "common forms " cover a wide area : from the simple " coming into effect" clause, to the important provisions as to the making of . Regulations under an Ordinance. There is another advantage of a very practical nature from the Government point of view. The discussion on these points of detail is had once and for all when the Common Form Ordinance is passing through the Legislative Council, and cannot be renewed with each successive Ordinance of which they would otherwise inevitably form part To take a concrete example ; few points are more LEGISLATIVE REFORM 47* strenuously contested by the unofficial members than the power of making Regulations by the Head of the Department, or the Governor in Executive Council. The discussion is perfectly legitimate, because the effect of this power is virtually to ^jive the right to legislate to the Executive, and by so much to diminish the rights of the Council. But the tendency of modem legislation is to leave details to regulations, because amendments are more easily made in them, a fresh Ordinance not being required. It is obvious therefore that the r'*ention of such a power by the Executive should be g .verned by well-de.*ined rules, such as regard the laying of the regulations when made on the table of th' Council, and the power of amendment by the Council itself Whatever principle is adopted it should be clearly def. led, so that when the power to make regulations under any new Ordinanc . is taken the Council clearly understands how it will be exercised. The importance of " Interpretation " is that it tends to shorten language, terms are used uniformly i>i all Ordinances, and by preventintj unnecessary verbiage, it clarifies the style in which Ordinances are drafted. I look on drafting as a fine art, not too greatly studied. And if we remember a well-known dictum, that laws should be so drafted that a person so minded cannot deliberately misunderstand them, the importance of style cannot r.'" overrated. The duty of preparing an Ordinance of this nature falls naturally on the colonial La>*- Officer. He will find of course the English Interpretation Act, 1889, of great service, and he should coia'orm to it as far as possible. There are likely to be many sections of local impor*anco which he will find it necessary to introduce, especi in a colony where a foreign law is in force. Bi che Colonial Office should co-operate ; and I conceive that its duty is to bring about uniformity as far as possible in these basic Ordinances throughout the Empire. Secondly, as to the past APPENDIX III The Common Form and Interpretation Ordinance should form the basis of past as well as of future legislation, and this can be done by an Extension Ordinance, — that is to say, an Ordinance extending the principles of common form and interpretation to existing legislation. No Law Officer will need to be reminded of the immense advantage of having the wholr of the Statute Book of which he is in charge governed by the same principles on these points. But the E tension Ordinance is exceedingly difficult to draft; and inter- ference with so much existing legislation can hardly be attempted without the goodwill and assistance of the unofficial Members of Council. But it is worth devoting any amount of labour to it. It must of course be accompanied by a Revision Ordinance, which must come into force simultaneously with it. In this Ordinance all the sections which have been replaced by the standard ones in the Common Form Ordinance must be eliminated. When the Extension and Revision Ordinances have been successfully passed, a very large part of the work of codification is done. The mass of matter rendered useless and cut out will be found to be enormous, and further revision on the lines of the English Statute Law Revision Acts will be found to be comparatively easy. The ground is almost prepared now for a new edition of the Ordinances ; but one more step is necessary, consolidation ; that is, bringing up all amending Ordi- nances into the parent Ordinance or. each subject. Codification is another matter, and I do not think it should be attempted until the new edition has been issued and has been tested by experience. But when it is decided to proceed with it, the mass of legislation will be found to have been made more malleable by the pre- liminary excisions. (B) The revision of the fundamental law. This must be divided into two branches ; the colonies where foreign law obtains, and those where old English law is in force. Colonies where foreign law obtains. — Speaking with my LEGISLATIVE REFORM 473 experience of Mauritius, I consider this one of the most important works that a Government can undertake, but it is almost bej'ond the powers of a Law Officer from home. He must have the assistance of a local committee on which the local lawyers, more versed in the foreign law, should be asked to co-operate. The task is a very lai^e one, and must occupy several years. In Mauritius it means editing the French codes as in force in tne colony. Even though it was practically reduced to the Code Civil it was found impossible to attempt it Lai^ masses of the Code have indeed been repealed and replaced by colonial legislation ; but there is a great deal of it, more especially those parts whirh lay down general principles, which requires the most careful consideration. But in spits of the labour involved it ought to be done. Colonies where old English law is in /one. — ^The work here is equally important, but it is free from the difficulties which foreign law presents. Its necessity is illustrated by the case which occurred in Hong Kong, referred to in the ninth chapter of the work to which these proposals form an appendix. It is 01, en impossible to know where you are when you come to deal with subjects the law on which has long been repealed in England, but which is left as it was in the colonies. This question affects so many colonies which have -iefinite charters defining the date at which English law became the law of the colony, that it is almost an Imperial matter, and much good work could be done by a Committee in England ; for what is true of one colony is probably true of many. (C) This much accomplished, thcic is that mass of imperial legislation applicable to the colonies which stands in such urgent need of revision, and this must, of course, be done by the Colonial Office. (Z?) The past thus cared for, we turn to the future. As new legislation is passed applicable to the colonies, it should be the duty of the Colonial Office to draw the attention of the colonial Government to it, and explain the drift and probable effect of it. It may be said this APPENDIX III is done now. It is, but intermittently. For insUnce, the Lunacy Act of 1890 containi a provision to the effect that the power of the Judge in Lunacy extends to property within any British possession. And the Trustee Act of 1893 contains a similar extension of the powers of the High Court to make vesting orders with regard to land and personal property in the colonies : a power which was afterwards extended to the High Court in Ireland. Was the attention of the coloiilal Governments, and, through them, of the people in the colonies, drawn to these very wide provisions? It can hardly be expected that the colonial Law Officers should discover them,— little clauses of three or four lines in lengthy Acts, not otherwise applicable to the colonies. And here is another pitfall. Suppose these laws introduced bodily into the colonies, it may well happen that these wide powers will be over- looked and the colonial Supreme Court be inadvertently vested with them. From all points of view therefore It is wiser to prevent difficulties and possible litigation by some such simple system as suggested. (£) Again, there are the laws not applicable to the colonies, but which it may be advisable to apply to them. The attention of the Government of the colonies would be called to them and the matter promptly dealt with. (F) Finally, there is the collation and supervision of colonial laws as passed. This supervision is apt to be exceedingly annoying to the Law Officer if it is r- .ried on intermittently. But systematically carried out Jthing could be of greater service to the colonies. Part of the system should be the collocation of the laws of different colonies on the same subject. By this means endless difficulties would be met and overcome. Tike the case of laws dealing with sanitation and the public health. There are many ciauses in such a law which depend on principles which should be identical in every colony. How convenient it would have been in the past if Ordinances passed in other colonies could have been used as models. It will be equally convenient in the future. APPENDIX IV BRITISH GUIANA THE IMMIGRATION ORDINANCE, 1891* ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS JPnliminary SiCTinN. I. Short title. ». Interpretation of terms. 3. Division of the Ordinance. 4. Forms. First Schedule. 5. Naming of places of emigration. PART I The Immigration Department The Immigration Agent-General 6. Appointment and salary of Immigration Agent-General. 7. General duties of the Immigration Agent-General. 8. General powers of the Immigration Agent-General. TAe Senior Immigration Agent 9. Appointment and salary of Senior Immigration Agent. 10. General duties of the Senior Immigration Agent Immigration Agents, etc. 1 1. Appointment, duties, and salaries of Immigration Agents, etc. ' See Vo'. I., p. 340. 476 APPENDIX IV Smtioh. I a. Power to the Surgeon-General to visit plantation, etc. 13. Appointment and lalary of Medical Inspector. 14. Genernl dudet of the Medical Inapector. 15. Duties of Govenunent Medical-Offioen in imibigntioo matters. 16. Rcquintion for special visit of Government Medical Officer. Wtrk ^ Ik* Dtfartmmt 1 7. Powers of tupervision, etc., of the Immigration Agent-General. t8. Visiting of l^antations by Immigration Agents. 19. Power to tumnion witness on inquiry. First Schedule : Form Na 1. 30. Administration of oath on inquiry. First Schedule : Form No. a : Form No. 3. 31. Taking of evidence on inquiry. as. Power to require production of labour books. 33. Molesting, etc.. Officer in execution of duty. 34. Travelling expenses. Emigration Agtntitt 35. Appointment and salary of Emigration Agent. 36. Appointment and salaries of Clerks, etc., to Emigration Agent. 37. Accounto and expenses of Emigration Agent PART II Fiscal Provisions 38. Establishment of Immigration Fund. 20. Formation of and charges upon the Immigration Fund. 30. Indenture Fee. 31. Mode of payment of indenture fee. 33. Subsistence of lien notwithstanding sale, etc., of plantation. 33. Personal responsibility of purchaser to the Immigration Fund. 34. Manner of proof on proceeding on promissory note, etc. 35. Application of payments by employer indebted on promissory notes. 36. Preferent lien for debu due to the Immigration Fund. 37. Mode of recov«ry of debte due to the Immigration Fund. BRITISH GUIANA IMMIGRATION 477 PART III AMIVAI AND AUOTMKMT 38. Making ofappUcation for immigrants. First Schedule : Form Na 4. 39. Application by lessee. 40. Apidicatkm bf mortgagee. 41. Subsistence of application notwithstanding death, etc. 43. Application by Head of Department. 43. ReiuMl i { s 4 i 4S6 APPENDIX IV QtuttioMS as to age, tit. Sfction. 238. Decision of question as to age of immigrant. 239. Penalty for contravention of the Ordinance not provided for. Temporary Provisknt 240. Completion of existing indentures. 241. Existing Registers, etc. 242. Effect of existing indentures. 243. Case of existing Officers of the Immisration Department. 244. Saving as to existing Medical Districts. 245. Temporary use of existing forms. 246 Continuance of existing regulations, etc. 247. Repeal of enactments. Second Schedule. 248. Commencement of the Ordinance. APPENDIX V MEMORANDUM MEASURES TO BE CAKKIKD OUT FOR PREVENTION OF MALARIAL FKVER It has been proved over and over again that Malarial Fever is due to a parasite which attacks, and resides in, the red blood corpuscles of man. This parasite, which assumes different forms according to the type of fever, is transmitted from man to man by a mosquito of a certain kind called Anopheles. (2) Scientifically, mosquitoes, of which there are now about 200 known species, belong to the adicidae which are divided into several genera, and among these the Culex and Anopheles are the commonest. Mosquitoes spring from eggs which are laid everywhere; and anywhere, so to speak, but especially in stagnant water. These eggs take about seven days to pass to the chrysalis stage, when it remains as such for about two days and then develops into the fully formed insect. (3) The cycle of life is thus complete and is similar to that of the butterfly with which we are all familiar. The eggs of the butterfly develop into the well-known cater- pillar which feeds on leaves, while the eggs of the mosquito develop into small wriggling worms which are to be found in any vessel where water is kept for some time. 488 APPENDIX V (4) As already stated there are about 200 species of mosquitoes actually known, but the kind to be looked after in connection with Malarial Fever, and which is known as the Anopheles, is to be distinguished from the others by the following characters : (i) Anopheles have a slim, eiegant body, small head, long and thick proboscis, wings spotted ; when seated on a wall the axis of body is almost at right angles to the wall. (ii) Culex have a coarser body, thick thorax and thin proboscis, wings plain ; when seated on a wall the tail hangs downwards in the direction of the wall, i.e. parallel to it. The small worms or larvae are also distinguished from one another by the following characters : (i) The Anopheles larvae float flat on the surface of water like little logs or sticks, when disturbed they wriggle on the surface with a backward skating movement. (ii) The Culex larvae hang by their tail to the surface of the water with their head downwards ; when disturbed they wriggle to the b m of the vessel. (5) The adult mosquito which may live f^. .iivynths has also the power of hibernating and its favourite haunts for this are damp and dark places such as cellars, garrets, and sheds of all sorts, etc. They feed on fruits, vegetables, birds, animals and man ; but the female only is a blood sucker. The female, distinguished from the male by the absence of feathery antennae, after a feed, usually rests and sleeps on walls, in dark corners and rank vegetation round about the house, returning to its natural breeding places every few days and flying back again to the house for its food supply. (6) Hence, therefore, the necessity of having a clean space all round the house ; of having all superficial drains daily cleansed ; all water supplies covered up or emptied at least once a week and the sides and bottom scrubbed ; MALARIAL FEVER 489 and of doing away with the habit of growing ferns under verandahs in platefult of water which are seldom or never emptied. (7) Just as flies in a room gather round a rope which is hung up and are attracted by a bowl of soap water, mos- quitoes are likewise attracted by certain dark colours more than others. White, light yellow, light green, light red, light blue, are not so attractive as the dark colours ; hence, therefore, the advisability of wearing light ojloured cloths, of having the wall papers, lamp shades, etc., of a light tint. (8) And, as it is also well known that mosquitoes congregate in corners where clothes arc hung up, it would be expedient to have a black or dark coloured garment placed in such a position as to attract them, and the powder used for the production of smoke burnt in different corners at the same time so as to destroy the greatest possible number of these pests. And as malarial fevi , as already stated, is a parasitic disease, persons suffering from fever should be isolated as far as possible ; they are not inly capable of spreading the disease not only to others but are liable to be reinfected themselves. (9) We are therefore to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes and to destroy them and their larvae as much as possible. To attain this end we must carefully search in and around houses, for flower vases, especially when ferns are grown under verandahs in receptacles larger than the pots and full of water, fur vessels of all sorts, broken bottles, jars, cisterns, old tins, etc., small puddles, especially rain- water puddles containing green water weeds found along paths and roads, puddles on the surface of roads, hollows in rocks, old wells, all drains, etc. AW that is necessary is to empty all such vessels and receptacles, in and around houses, once, or better twice, a week, to fill up all crevices and hollows, and when this is impossible, to keep fishes in the ornamental ponds, and to pour petroleum oil over natural or artificial collections of water once or twice a week ; for we know that the larvae will be destroyed by APPENDIX V these means as the eggs are developed in water and take about a week to become the fully matured insect. ( I o) On the other hand, the mature insect may be looked for in the stables, byres, sheds and -jo-downs of all sorts, and among the rank vegetation and grass about out-housei. Its ingress into houses during the night may be pre- vented by having the windows provided with wire gauze netting affixed on frames, or if this expedient cannot be resorted to, mosquito nets may be used. But the important point to attend to is to open all doors and windows and burn either Zanzoline or Keating's powder, coffee, sugar, etc.. and while this is going on to dust vigorously the room and shut all openings immediately after and continue 'he fumigation for a ' w minutes more. During the day the punkah or the fan is helpful. April, 1902. APPENDIX VI MAURITIUS HURRlCANi:, 1892 The Crown Agents, in anticipation of the raising of the 3 per cent. Guaranteed Loan for ;^6oo,ooo, made advances at Bank rate for the financing of the Colonial Government, including the shipment of a sum of Rs. 1,505,882 to the Colony which was required immediately — and they con- tinu d to supply the necessary funds until the raising of the Loai. in January, 1 893, when it realized an average price of £105 7s. lod. per cent Bank rate at which the advances were made by the Crown Agents avetigtA 2} per cent, in 1892. FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES, 1898 Owing to the short sugar crop 1897-8 and the high price of Indian Food supplies and the depletion of currency due to shipments of rupees to India in consequence of the high rates prevailing for Mercantile drafts on India, the position of the Banks in Mauritius became critical and it became necessary for the Colonial Government to come to their aid with advances. Advances were made in Mauritius by the Mauritius Government against various kinds of Security, e.£: Dock Warrants, Bills, etc. Such advances being made by bills APPENDIX VI drawn by the Government of Mauritius on the National Bank of India, Bombay, which branch wm, at the request of the Crown Agenti, Instructed by the Head Office to meet them. The securities so obtained locally were held for the Savings Bank, Savings Hanl< securities in the Crown Agents' hands beiny transferred to the Currency Commis- sioners' Account and hypothecated for advances at Bank rate, which were made by the Crown Agents Upon receipt of tclctjrams from the Colonial Government that bills had been drawn on the National Bank of India, Bombay, the Crown Agents remitted the sums obtained by these advances by Telegraph Transfer to the credit of the Colonial Govern- ment with the National Bank, Bombay. Drafts to the extent of Rs. 2,000,000 were drawn and met In this manner. On the repayment of the local advances, the Securities were re-transferred to Savings Bank Account and the money so repaid was used in Mauritius for making advances to Planters under Ordinance No. 2 of 1898, which authorized the raising of a Loan of ;^200,ooo. The Crown Agents however were able to make arrangements for financing the C'-'l--,}' at h.uik ri'te until the Planters repaid the advances and it never became necessary to issue the Loan — the whole of the expenses connected with such an issue being saved to the Colony. For these services the Crown Agents received no re- muneration. Bank rate, at which the advances by the Crown Agents were made, averted 3 i per cent, in 1 898. FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES, 190a Due to the same causes as in 1898 and met in a somewhat similar manner — the Crown Agents made advances at Bank rate on the security of power given by Loan Ordinances to raise funds. Bills to the extent of Rs. 1,454,000 were drawn on the National Bank of India. MAURITIUS LOANS 493 Bombay, and met by remlttancet made to that Bank by the Crown Agents. The Crown Agents further arranged foi the shipment of Rs. 1 ,000,000 from Calcutta to Mauritius and made the necessary advance* to cover these transactions. These transactions, amounting to Rs. 2,454,000, were met by advances at Bank rate against the power to borrow £200,000 by short dated debentures under Ordinance 43 of 1 902 and the money was eventually used for making Loans to Planters. These Debentures, which bore interest at 4 per cent., were issued by the Crown Agents in 1 903— £101 ,200 being repayable ist August, 1904, and the balance ^^98,800 on I St August, 1905, and although the Loans which had been made to Planters were extended for one \ ear in each case the Debentures were allowed to mature and the Crown Agents were able to finance the Colony at Bank rate until the whole of the Loans were repaid, thus saving the expense of any future issue of Honds. The Crown Agents also provided the necessary funds in order to enable the Colonial Government to carry out the provisions of the Mechanical Transport Ordinance, 1903. for the raising of a sum of 10,000 by the issue of 10 year Debentures. The Crown Agents made the necessary advarces at Bank rate to cover all sums which were requir>.j. All these amounts have now been repaid and the Colonial Government was saved not only the expense of the issue but also being saddled with a debt of £ 1 1 0,000 for ID years. Bank rate, at which the advances by the Crown Agents were made, averaged during the period in question 3 J per cent APPENDIX VII MAURITIUS REPORT OF ROVAL COMMISSION, 1909 The Commission was composed of Sir Frank Swettenhani, Chairman, Sir Edward O'Malley, and Mr. Drysdale Woodcock. The circumstances which led to the appointment of the Commission are narrated in Part I. of the Report. It originated in proposals made by the Government of Mauritius that a loan should be raised for various purposes, including the improvement of the machinery of sugar factories, the purchase of land for afforestation, and to provide a fund out of which advances should be made, on good security, to owners of sugar estates for purposes connected with that cultivation. A narrative of similar applications has been recorded in the body of my work, as well as of the circumstances in which loans had been raised to assist the sugar industry in 1898 and 1902. Details of these loans are given in Appendix VI. On the subject of the proposals made by the Govern- ment of Mauritius, I had, at Lord Elgin's request, an official interview with a clerk of the Colonial Office, who explained to me the position, and informed me that a principal reason why the Secretary of State could not see his way to approve them was, that he had been assured that the loans raised in 1898 and 1903 were not really MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 495 required, as was shown by the fact that the full amounts authorised were not applied for. This had already been communicated to the Governor in a despatch dated Jan.-,3»-y 23rd, 1908. The official added, with appropriate emphasis and mystery, that they had been informed that even the applic tions made had only been made at the soli- civation of a uiember of the Council of Government of the r^y-rw to please me. I have endeavoured without success to ascertam the authority for this amazing statement. The real reasons why the full authorised amount of the loans was not taken up were fully explained in correspondence published in the colony. 1 am bound to allude to this phase of the matter, to call attention to the evidence of a witness examined by the Commission, who threw a flood of light on the subject. A condition of all oans to sugar estates has been that prior encumbrancers must stand aside, and give the Government a first claim over the crop and the corpus of the estate. The evidence to which I refer is contained in Part 1 1. of the Report, pp. 536-542. The witness, a mortgage creditor, thought it absurd and unjust that mortgagees who were getting a very high rate of interest, and had a view to the ultimate acquisition of an estate, by a legal process corresponding to foreclosure, as a profitable investment, should be asked to stand aside to enable the estate to obtain the relief of a loan from Government at a moderate rate of interest. An excellent homily on patriotism was preached to the witness by a member of the Commission, who thought it inconceivable that a good Mauritian's private interest " would weigh for a moment against the interests of the colony." " I beg your pardon," replied the witness, and he declared that he was not speaking only for himself but on behalf of many other mortgage creditors. Then the Chairman came to the rescue. " Q. 17,028. Yes, but leaving out of account the question of the good Mauritian ; it is not everybody who can afford to be a philanthropist even for the sake of his countr>' — I understand that you are not in favour of the 496 APPENDIX VII Government making any loan to the planters, because you think if the Government lent money at a low rate of interest it would be a hardship upon other people who have already invested their money at a high rate of interest ? — Yes. " 17,029. You think so? — Yes, I think so." After hearing a mass of evidence on the question which was the immediate reason of the appointment of the Commission — whether the Government and the public bodies of Mauritius were justified in their application for authority to raise a public loan, the Commissioners came to the conclusion that they were justified. The evidence knocked the bottom out of the representation made by a nameless informer who misled the Colonial Office into believing that the planters of the colony, in the peril of their fortunes, borrowed money they did not require to please me. It was, I know, the fact that a member of the Council of Government and others did urge mortgage creditors to stand aside and allow the colony to have the full advantage of the facilities offered by the ^ loans authorised on my recommendation. To a perversion of this fact was presumably due the suggestion by which the Colonial Office was misled. As regards the loan raised in 1 898 and that authorised in 1902, the Commissioners report that they have been redeemed in full. As regards a previous loan raised in 1892, after the disastrous hurricane of that year, out of which long-term advances were made, they report that it does not appear likely that there will be any serious loss on these transactions, and they point out that against the possible contingency there must be set off that "as a matter of account the Government have gained a con- siderable sum by loan transactions," that is, by making advances out of the loan at a rate slightly higher than the rate of interest paid on the loan. The details of these loans are set out in Appendix VI. of this work. As regards further loans, they recommend the raising of loans to the amount of about £400,000, of which MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 497 about ;f 2 8 5,000 is to be expended on railways, and £1 1 s.ooo in making advances to planters for the im- provement of cultivation. As regards the loan on railway account, the report states that it is necessary because for many years everything connected with the railways has been starved except the personnel. The facts are these. Towards the close of the year 1899 the Greneral Manager of Railways called attention to the necessity for large expenditure on renewal of rolling stock, and in a minute addressed to the Council of Government, on November 21st, I recommended that there should be created a fund to be called the Railway Stock Renewal Fund. I proposed that a sum of Rs. 100,000 should be charged to the revenue of the current and following years and that the fund should be in future fortified by such annual instalments as might be found necessary for the renewal of rolling stock. I pointed out, at the same time, that it was essential that sums voted in the annual estimate for rolling stock but not expended within the financial year should be carried to a suspense account and should not lapse to the Treasury. These proposals were agreed to by the Finance Committee of the Council, and submitted for approval to the Secretary of State by my despatch of December 5th, supported by a telegraphic despatch on December 27th. Unfortunately, I was informed by a despatch of the Secretary of State dated January 23rd, 1900, that my proposals were thought neither necessary nor desirable. But there was no starving. In 1902 I sent to the Colonial Office a statement showing that between 1898 and 1902 a sum of over two and a quarter millions of rupees had been spent on rolling stock and plant, permanent way and rails, and sidings. Had this policy been continued and my proposals accepted there would have been no need for the loan now recommended. The proposed loan to planters stands in the same position. I have in the body of my work referred to a despatch of January 14th, 1898, in which I strenuously .1 i 2 1 498 APPENDIX VII supported a resolution of the Council of Government asking that the colony might be permitted to raise a loan of ;^ 5 00,000, of which ;£^400,ooo was to be appropriated to the purposes of improving the cultivation and manufac- ture of sugar by improved machinery and other purposes. The measure was urged again and again, in a series of despatches, but without success. One of the witnesses examined by the Commission drew the reasonable inference that, if at least the principle of the measure had been approved and some measure of assistance afforded, the financial difriculties that led to the appoint- ment of the Commission would have been averted. To assist the small planters, the Commission have further, in recognition of the fact that the economic salvation of the colony depends on cheap money, recom- mended the introduction of a system of co-operative credit banks. Whether such a system can be carried on without a Government guarantee, which will imply Government respon ibility and Government control, is doubtful. But the admission of the principle underlying the recommendaticn is valuable. I have, in a chapter of my work on the fiscal systems of the Crown colonies (vol. ii. p. 310), referred to this subject and to a system which I endeavoured, with the approval of the Secretary of State, to establish in the West Indies. It may still be worth consideration. On the general question of the policy of loans to planters, adopted in the specific cases of the loans of 1892, i8pS and 1902, the Commission report: "It will be seen from the above that there is much to be said in favour of lending a limited sum of money, at a moderate rate of interest, to responsible persons, owners of valuable estates in Mauritius. The history of the place, over a long term of years, shows that the sugar planters have recovered from a succession of severe trials — periodical hurricanes and droughts, cattle disease, and various epidemics which have attacked the labour force. Added to these unex- pected disasters there have been periods of low prices of MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 sugar and high prices of rice, which have greatly reduced the planters' profits. In spite of all these things, and the fact that a number of factories have been closed, the sugar industry is to-day on a sounder basis, as regards cultivation and milling, than it has ever been, and the last season's crop was the best on record." In dealing with the recommendations of the Report under other heads, I shall limit my observations to questions of primary importance. To health I assign the first place, and with this question I have dealt so largely in my work that I will confine myself to one or two general propositions. The evidence suggests that the Commission estimate the value of life and health by a very different standard from that adopted by the com- munity. The following evidence in the examination of Mr. H. Leclezio, a member of the Executive Council, by the Chairman is illumining. " Q. 7305. Will you tell me what is the death-rate in the whole of Mauritius, and the death-rate in Port Louis? —I know it is a very large death-rate, more than 30 or 34 per 1,000. " 7306. Would you be surprised if I were to tell you that in a much larger place than this it is over 50 ? — It is a very sad state of things if it is so in larger places. "7307- But nobody is alarmed by it at all? — That depends on the idiosyncrasy of the people who live there. " 7308. I remember living at a place where it was be- tween 40 and 55, and nobody expressed any alarm at all? —I am only speaking of Mauritius. I say that from a humane point of view, if we could save half of those deaths that would be a great achievement." A comparison of this evidence with the evidence of the Chairman when he was himself examined by Lord Sander- «>n's Committee on Emigration from India throws clearer light on his views. I have dealt with this in the body of my work in a chapter on Health (vol. i. p. 507). This difference of opinion is illustrated in the evidence of the same witness and others on the subject of the quarantine 500 APPENDIX VII stations. As I have pointed out in the body of my work, Mauritius has suffered from the introduction of diseases of men and animals to a degree which with reason makes the community extremely sensitive. The reasons of this sensi- tiveness were insisted on by many witnesses. Sir William Newton's evidence is instructive. "3673. ... I am old enough, unfortunately, to remember two epidemics of cholera, the epidemic of 1854 and the epidemic of 1856, and it was really frightful. We have been spared, up to the present moment, since that time. " 3674. {Chairman) I imagine that the administration is responsible, is it not, for the affairs of the Colony ? — No doubt. " 3675. And it is not, therefore, always on the senti- ment of the largest number of people that action is taken ? — Perhaps it should not be so, but, as a fact, it is so; senti- ment is one of those things that you must take into account, it seems to me, in the administration of human affairs." Further evidence on the subject of the quarantine station at Flat Island is equally instructive. The Chairman's eagerness to secure reduction of expenditure by abolish- ing this station was met by the Acting Director of the Medical and Health Department in a letter he wrote to the Commission on the subject of Flat Island. "In this connection I may draw attention to the fact that the establishment is not maintained exclusively as a quarantine station, but that it is also an international signal station and bears a lighthouse. That it has only cost the Health Department a little over Rs. 5,000 a year during the last three years, a small sum compared with the services it may still render the Colony, and will probably cost less in the future. That it is the safer of our two quarantine stations for cholera and yellow fever, especially in view of the danger to which this Colony will be exposed should India be invaded by the latter disease after the opening of the Panama Canal, as apprehended by Sir Patrick Manson. That Sir Rubert Boyce in his report on MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 501 Yellow Ftver In British Honduras (1906) lecommends the maintenance of a station of this nature, even if it were hardly ever to be used, in countries threatened with an invasion of yellow fever." This point is of importance because a member of the Commission, while Sir VViUiam Newton was under examina- tion (Q. 3668), urged that, if necessary, "it would be a very short matter and a simple matter at once to reinstate Flat Island as a quarantine station." If the Commission had visited the island, or made inquiry, they would have ascertained that it would not be a short matter. It would impose a delay on the infected vessel which must in any case be of serious consequence, and during the hurricane season might well prove disastrous. The Commissioners sum up their conclusions by recommending that the Acting Director, who gave the advice, should be removed from the colony and his office filled by a medical man from outside. In view of this condemnation of the medical profession of Mauritius, I am glad to refer to the services rendered by them recorded in the thirteenth chapter of my work, and especially to the testimony borne to their scientific attain- ments and practical intelligence by Major Ronald Ross. As will be seen from the whole tenor of my work, I place the subject of education next in importance to that of health, and that view has dominated the Government of Mauritius from the earliest days of British occupation. The central force of the system has been the Royal College. A picture, the property of the colony, painted to commemorate the services of the first Governor, Sir Robert Farquhar, represents him with a scroll in his hand, bearing the words " Royal College," and the policy of every succeeding Governor has been to make it an agency to promote two purposes ; the conciliation of prejudices of class and race and creed, and the preparation of a recon- ciled community to take a share in public affairs in the widest range of the term. That, in the opinion of Ihose best qualified to judge, it has served these ends, is abun- dantly shown In the evidence taken by the Commission. APPENDIX VII The evidence of Mr. Sauzier, a representative of one of the old families who, in the words of King George, " main- tain the charming characteristics of old France," a member of the Council of Government and honoured by the distinction of K.C., is instructive. " Q. 1 1,3 19- {Chairman) Now, what do you think about the Royal College? — I am very happy that this question has been put to me, because I must confe.ss that I was, as a father of a family, rather astonished at the recommendations made by the Director of Public Instruc- tion the other day concerning the abolition of the schools of the Royal College. I do not hesitate to say that it would be a very great mistake if these schools were to be abolished, because I consider that they are the best schools here, and the only ones where our boys can be properly educated. There are two points which I beg leave to submit to your consideration, for I believe they are very important If you abolish the college schools there will only remain what we call here the affiliated schools. Well, I think it is known to all of us that there are many affiliated schools, and, unfortunately, the best, where boys of all classes are not admitted, the Indian boys are abso- lutely excluded, and, I am sorry to say, in many schools, even boys belonging to the coloured population. Now, I believe the Royal College is one of the places, perhaps the only place, where there exists real social equality between boys. All those boys work side by side ; they become friends whatever may be the population to which they belong ; besides, it is the only school where our boys are really taught to forget and to despise those social inequalities to which I have just called your attention, and which for a long time have been the cause of many troubles. I think, if those schools were suppressed, it would be a very, very great mistake on the part of the Government. I therefore say that, speaking from ex- perience, having three boys at the Royal College, I have always been extremely satisfied with the education and with the progress my boys have made at the Royal MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 503 College, I for one, would ask for the maintenance of the schools." Not less instructive is the evidence of Mr. H. Leclezio, C.M.G., also a representative of an old French family, a member of the Executive Council and of the Council of Government in speakinjj of the scholarships established to enable students of the College to prosecute their studies in England. "Q. 7267. {Chairman) Are you in favour of the scholarships— the Royal College scholarships? — They are most necessary in my opinion. Those scholarships have prevented, I may say— I will not go to the length of say- ing bloodshed — but these scholarships have put the two populations — the coloured population and the white popu- lation of Mauritius — on the same footing. \ he coloured population had grievances before that, but they have not the right to have any since then, because they are placed on an even footing. Those lads of the coloured population, who are intelligent, can earn scholarships just like any of the whites. "Q. 7268. But are not those scholarships confined to boys of the Royal College ?— They are. If they were not, then there would be instantly a division ; there would be schools — secondary schools — which would be created by other persons, and the moment those schools could enjoy the benefit of the scholarships there would be an immediate division in the population. One part of the population would go one way, and the other part would go the other way." "Q* 7276- I understand you to say that it was the creation of the scholarships which made the peace? — Which keep the peace. "Q- 7277- {Mr. Woodcock) And removed all the coloured grievances ? Yes, and removed their grievances. "Q- 7278. {Chairman) But it is such a very long time ago? — I think, if you tried it now the result would be the same. 504 APPENDIX VII " Q. 7279. But suppose you had no scholarshifM, then there would be no jealousy? — That would not be fair to the poorer classes of the population. Generally, the white peopi. can afford to send their boys to Europe, while it is not the rule with the coloured population ; in fact they are rather poor. " Q. 7 2. So. You do not suggest that that is unfair? — Unfair to whom ? " Q. 7281. Do you say it is unfair to the coloured population that they should not be able to send their children to Europe to be educated ? — Yes. " Q. 7282. In what sense is it unfair? — In the sense that they cannot afford to send their boys to Europe to be educated there to get a profession. " Q. 7283. But why is that unfair ?— Because they have enjoyed the privilege up to now. Why should the privilege be stopped now ? They have enjoyed it for so long. "Q. 7284. That is quite a different thing. That would not make it fair or unfair. The suggestion that it is unfair that any section of the population should not be able to send its children to Europe to be educated I do not follow ? — That is my opinion." Mr. Sauzier and Mr. Lecl^zio are strongly supported by corroboratory evidence. On the question of how far the Royal College, with its corollary scholarships, has served its purpose as an agency to prepare the colonists to take a share in public affairs, it might be sufficient to point out that, with a few exceptions, the leaders of the community who were called as witnesres, including the Chief Judge, members of the Executive- Council and the Council of Government, of the Civil Service and of the learned professions, had been educated at the Royal College. I will only supplement this testi- mony by pointing out that the acting Rector of the College referred in his evidence (p. 524) to a list of the laureates, as the scholars are called, published in the Blue Book, giving their subsequent careers. If the Commission MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 505 had included this list among ihu mass of documentary evidence attached to their report, it would have shown that their careers have not been limited to Mauritius, but that they have been and are represented among holders of high office in other colonies, and in the civil service of India. However, the Commission in their report have con- demned the system of the Royal College and its scholarships, root and branch, as productive of "an cxpendi- ture out of all proportion to the means of the colony." I pass on to the subject of primary education, with regard to which the Commission record their conviction in favour of a return to ' the system of educational expenditure which was in force during the period ante- cedent to Sir C. Bruce's new Education Code (1902)." The Education Code (1902) was part of a system having for its motive the co ordination of the colony's educational resources ur.der a responsible authority styled the Director of Public Instruction. The system was based on the educational system of Ceylon, to which the Chairman referred more than once, as appears from the evidence, as exhibiting ^ striking contrast of superiority when com- pared with ..le Mauritius system. Mutatis mutandis, they are identical systems, and as the chapters of my work on education, composed and printed long before the report of the Mauritius Commission was published, will show, I am almost as much respor sible for the establishment of the system in one colony as in the other. The introduction of the system into Mauritius was not due to my initiative. One of the first proposals introduced in the Council of Government after the reform of its constitution was a proposal made by an elected member in favour of it. At a later period it was strongly urged by the Colonial Office, but rejected by the Council, shortly before my return to the colony as Governor in 1907. I am glad of an opportunity to add to what has been said in the body of my work on the subject a few observations on the reasons which led to its establishment. ( M i I 506 APPENDIX VII Not long after my return, after inquiry and investif^- tion, in July, 1898, I addressed a minute to the Council of Government in which I compared the educational position of Mauritius with that of Ceylon, insisting particularly on the enormous cost of the Mauritius system in comparison with that of Ceylon. After waitinjj a year, in order that the Council and the educational agencies might have time to review and reconsider the pro^rasal they had rejected, I introduced the Education Ordinance of 1 899. My reasons were explained in a speech on the second reading of the bill, and I quote an extract from the official report, in the hope that before his Majesty's Government decide to destroy the system they may at least consider whether it will be to the interest of the colony to revert to the system of which the Commission express their approval. " H.E. the Governor: " I believe that in the Council of Education or in the Schools Committee, soon after I came to the colony, a proposal was made by one of the Inspectors of Schools to establish a library for school children.— The hon. member for Plaines VVilhelms will tell me if I am mistaken : but I understand that the Roman Catholic Inspector of Schools urged that it was of no use to establish a library for government or grant-in-aid school children, inasmuch as there were no school children who could read, or practi- cally none. Now is that a condition of things that ought to exist in any part of this colony, or, in fact, in any part of her Majesty's dominions? " M. Guibert : That was flatly denied by the Super- intendent and the other Inspector of Schools. " H.E. the Governor : I feel sure that if the hon. member will read the last two re^..- ts of the Roman Catholic Inspector of Schools he wii; ^ee that the actual facts appear to bear out his statement. The Roman Catholic Inspector has pointed out that children actually waste years in school before they pass the first standard : MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 507 and you can easily see by the figures that many children of the Government or of the Rrant-in-aid schools do not go beyond the first standard, while very few get btjyond the third. Now I maintain that the money that has been spent on the education of a child who does not reach the first standard is absolutely wasted, — and I will go further, and I will say that to all intents and purposes the money devoted towards the education of a child who leaves school without havinj; passed the third standard is almost entirely wasted. Those children are absolutely without that knowledge which fits them for the ordinary duties and business of life. " How do we propose to remedy it ? There is only one way of remedying it, and that is by placing the schools in charge of trained teachers as they are all over the civilised world. Schools are placed in the hands of trained teachers for thi'- I .-«'on, that in the hands of a trained teacher a child c« ' ! n in six months what he may not learn in six years in a school under a teacher who has had no training at all. That is proved by the facts. — . . . Our object is that the children should learn what is sufBcient for the business of life in the shortest possible time. It has been proved to demonstration all over Europe that children can learn in a few months under trained teachers what it takes them years to learn under untrained teachers. "The hon. member for Plaines VVilhelms said a good deal about the financial question. He said that different schemes had been proposed with reference to the education question and that they had been rejected because there was no money. But why is there no money ? There is no money for the reason that you are wasting nearly half- a-million of rupees a year in a way which produces little result. I know there is some objection to my referring to my own experience in Ceylon ; but I may say that shortly before I went there eciijcational matters were managed by a Board just as they are here and there were great complaints ; there were the same complaints made that are made here ; and the government then decided, 5o8 APPENDIX VII much against the wish of the board, to have a Director of Public Instruction, and the result has been that all the managers who were on the boar-^ '^ecame perfectly satisfied with the new system, and they now support the Govern- ment in every possible way in carrying it out. "The system which we propose here is not a system which has only been found to work advantageously in Ceylon. It is a system in work all over India; in every province of India there is a Director of Public Instruction. The system has answered and worked admirably there, and it will work admirably here. — Only, here, in order to meet the wishes of the Council, we strengthen as I hope the position of the Director of Public Instruction by an advisory Board. Otherwise the system is the same as that which obtains in almost every part of the British Empire. " In regard to the financial question, the hon. member has pointed out that it is proposed to raise the pay of the teachers, and that will require money. But we shall have that money saved in order to apply it more equitably. Let me for instance give an illustration, A little time ago, an application was made to the Government in reference to the grant to a school which had not the requisite attendance. The matter came before the Governor in Executive, and we decided to ask the Superintendent of Schools whether, if that school were closed, the people in the neighbourhood would be deprived of the means of education. We therefore asked him to state how many schools there were within a radius of looo yards. He told us there were fourteen. If you have two or three schools instead of fourteen it is perfectly clear that you can give the head teacher and the staff a sufficient salary to secure able and trained teachers. That is how money is to be saved, and I know it by my own experience. When I went to Ceylon, the expenditure of the Department of Public Instruction was about 500,000 rupees. All the educational advantages explained in my Minute to the Council are now secured for about 700,000 rupees." MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 509 The system proposed was accepted by both the Roman Catholic and the Anglican Bishops, and the second read- ing of the Bill was carried by a majority of 1 7 to 7, the majority including 6 unofficial members. I call attention to the fact that the system of which the Commissioners express their approval included no provision for the training of school teachers. The Code of 1902 to which the Commissioners object, is, as I have said, a corollary of the Ordinance. In accordance with the method adopted throughout by the Commission of giving witnesses a friendly lead, this Code was from the first alluded to as ' Sir Charles Brace's expensive system.' In justification of the Code, and at the same time in proof that I actively discouraged excess of expenditure, I submit the following extract from a despatch to the Secretary of State and his reply. 17th November, 1902. "The scope of these Codes is distinctly stated in Articles 10 and 11 of the Education Ordinance, and you will see that, collectively, they include all that is necessary to build up a complete system of education reaching from the elementary school to the highest range of our educa- tional possibilities, and linked, through the agency of the Royal College, to the Universities and Colleges of professional education in England. "The Ordinance provides that Code A shall deal with the following subjects: — i. The administration and management of the Royal College. ii. The association of colleges or schools of secondary and superior instruction with the Royal College by affili- ation or otherwise, and the payment of result grants-in-aid thereto. iii. A system of instruction in technical, agricultural and commercial education, and the programme and schedule of studies therein. 'I' J ' 510 APPENDIX VII iv. The Higher Education of Girls, and the prc^ramme and schedule of studies thereof, and the payment of result grants-in-aid thereof. V. The award and tenure of scholarships and exhibi- tions, subject to the provisions of this Ordinance so far as concerns the English Scholarships. vi. The said Committee shall fix every year the curriculum of studies for the Royal College and other Government educational institutions. " Although all these subjects have not yet been brought within the four corners of a single Code, they have all been dealt with, as I shall -oncisely show. " As regards the administration and management of the Royal College, I transmit a copy of the Rules and Regu- lations for the year 1901. A slight modifica^'on of Article 13 of the Regulations has since been -^ade by an addition of which I annex a copy. These Regulations deal at the same time with paragraph ii. of Articles 10, under the head ' Associated Schools,' page 1 3. " As regards paragraph iii., I annex copies of the Regulations for Government Training Schools. Similar Regulations for Grant-in-aid Training Schools have been drafted and are under consideration. I annex also copies of Regulations for the establishment of systems of Engin- eering Apprenticeships and Horticultural Apprenticeships. Further Regulations for the encouragement of agricultural studies will be prepared when 1 receive a reply to my despatch No. 340 of loth September, 190^,, in which I requested you to be good enough to obtain the services for the colony of a competent professor of Agricultural Chemistry. " As regards paragraph iv., I annex copies of the Regu- lations and Schedule of studies for the Higher Education of Girls. " The award and tenure of the English Scholarships have been dealt with by Ordinance No. 20 of 1902, copies of which were transmitted to you by my despatch No. 335 MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 511 of 7th September. The Regulations of the Royal College, Articles 27 and 28, will be amended to meet the provisions of this Ordinance. " I annex a copy of the curriculum of studies fixed by the Committee under Article 10 of the Ordinance. " It is with much satisfaction that I am at last able to transmit to you a copy of Code B which deals with all the subjects included within the powers to draft Relations granted to the Committee of Primary Instruction by Article 1 1 of the Education Ordinance. ' • • , , ^ " These Regulations fall under the provisions of Article 29 of the Interpretation and Common Form Ordinance No. 8 of 1 898, and when they were laid on the table of the Council of Government notice was given of a great number of amendments to be proposed by unofficial members. All the m- -e important amendments involved an increase of expenditure and these I felt compelled to rule out of or!er for the reasons stated in a Minute I addressed to the Council of which I annex a copy, together with a copy of a report on the proposed amendments prepared by Mr. Standley, Secretary to the Committee of Primary Instruction. " I have etc." The reply of the Secretary of State was as follows : 8th January, 1903. "Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 422 of the 17th of November last, and to request that you will convey to all those concerned in the work of reorganising the educational system of Mauritius an expression of my appreciation of the care and thoroughness with which this important task has been performed. " I have etc., Onslow." 1 5»2 APPENDIX VII I will only add that, in my opinion, the proposal of the Commission, to combine the offices of Director and Rector of the Royal College, would be equally fatal to the Royal College and to the whole range of secondary and primary education. It would hardly be more absurd to propose that the principals of colleges and public schools in the United Kingdom should be appointed Secretaries of the Board of Education. Such is in brief the system which the Commission seek to destroy. The spirit in which they have dealt with the question of education, in all its bearings, is perfectly consistent with the spirit in which they have dealt with the question of health. This was curiously illustrated during the examination of Mr. Guibert, K.C. The Commissioners, in their eagerness to make economy the basal principle of British administration in the colony, showed a desire to substitute corporal punishment as an economical admini- strative agency, and in particular to introduce it at the Royal College. Mr. Guibert's evidence on this point may be compared with Sir William Newton's opinion that sentiment has to be taken into account in the administration of human affairs. " Q. 8735. {Chairman) Are you In favour of corporal punishment for boys? — No, I am not; I am dead against it. "Q. 8736. If the masters at the Royal College had authority to give corporal punishme. do you think they would exercise it ? — That would not work at all ; it is very much against the feelings and the ideas of the community." In reply to the Chairman's suggestion that the explana- tion of the opposition to corporal punishment was to be found in a dishonourable motive, Mr. Guibert declared that " the thing was so much against the ideas and feelings of the community that he did not look upon it as within the range of practical politics," and the Chairman resumed : MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 513 " Q. 8740. Is it a very peculiar community, then ?— No, I think the French have the same ideas ; it is the English, perhaps, who are a little peculiar on that point. "Q. 8741. But I have suggested to you an explana- tion why it should not work here ?— I think that is not the right explanation. The explanation is that nobodv will have it." I may here conveniently point out that the views of the Commission on the use of corporal punishment are in direct antagonism to the views of the Colonial Office expressed on many occasions and more particularly to the instructions conveyed to the colonies in a circular despatch by Mr. Chamberlain so recently as May 25th 1897. The despatch referred particularly to prison discipline, but the principles, as indicated in the opening paragraphs, are of general application : " The question of flogging, as a punishment for crime and more especially as a punishment for prison offences has been a fruitful subject of discussion and correspond-' ence in this country and in the colonies, but my attention has been somewhat specially drawn to the matter by observing that the punishment is much more freely resorted to in the Crown colonies than in the United Kingdom, and that there has been in some instances perhaps a tendency rather to widen than to contract the scope of its application." In the fifth paragraph, Mr. Chamberlain pointed out " that if flogging became the rule and not the exception there is apt to grow up a perverted public opinion satisfied with keeping order by the lash, as being apparently an effective and inexpensive method of enforcing discipline." I pass from the agencies of British administration in building a superstructure of civilisation on the foundation of a healthy and educated community, to the agencies for the protection of life and liberty. The Commission have recommended a reduction in the number of judges. I do not propose to discuss this question. The reasons for the present number are very fully presented, a main reason t U II 2K APPENDIX VII being that, as civil cr'es are not tried before a jury, the community dc^^rc nt" such cases being disposed of by a single judge, ..ho, if r.npcii.ted from outside, must, for a time at least, be a stranger to the laws, languages, and usages of a most complex society. I merely call atten- tion to a question that arose in the examination of one of the witnesses. A witness had stated that a memorial in favour of the appointment of a fourth judge was addressed to the Governor, Sir Arthur Phayre, and by him laid before the Council. " 1 1,364. (Sir Edward O M alley) May I ask how did it come to be laid before the Council? — I cannot say; I suppose that the petition was addressed to the Governor, who referred it to a committee which had been appointed by the Council of Government. "11,365. What had they got to do with it ?— I cannot say; it was before my time. "11,366. How would a committee of Council have anything to do with it ? — This is all I have been able to find. I cannot say more. " 11,367. {Mr. Woodcock) It is from a constitutional point of view ? — I do not know ; very likely the petition was sent to the Governor in Council. "11,368. The Executive Council? — Or perhaps to the Law Committee which is appointed by the Council of Government. " 1 1,369. {Sir Edward O'Malley) But what had they got to do with it ; they might have referred it to the Agricultural Chamber?— No doubt, if they had thought it proper to do so, but, I repeat, I cannot tell you more; I was not a member of Council at that time." The only comment I have to make is to ask. In what colony an office of judge can be created without obtaining the sanction of the legislature to the necessary expenditure? I pass to a principal agency in the protection of life and property — the police. At the time the Commission was sitting many complaints were being made in the MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 515 United Kingdom and in India against the police force, and it was natural that the police in Mauritius should be the subject of complaint. On July 3rd last, Sir John Rees in a letter published in The Times speaking of charges recently brought against the Indian police made some observations which are equally applicable to the Crown colonies. He said :— " The real fault of the Indian police in the eyes of this gentleman is that in the proper performance of their duty they put his friends in prison." And, after declaring that the Indian police " are a body of men thoroughly representative of the people of India and possessed of their faults and of their many and far greater virtues," he proceeded : " There is no country in Europe, if the absurd comparison of India with Europe be, for the moment and to suit the anti-British agitator, allowed to hold — there is no country in Europe in which a black pamphlet of police errors might not for a purpose, and even with many accurate details, be compiled." In 1897 similar complaints were made and a commis- sion of inquiry was appointed. It was followed by the appointment of Captain de Wilton, an officer of the Indian staff-corps, to be Inspector-General of Police, and to undertake the reorganisation of the force, having in view the very lai^e preponderance of the Indian element in the community, and the fact that English police are admittedly helpless in dealing with an Inc'm community. I presume that the system established by Captain de Wilton was approved by the Colonial Office, as the con- sequence of his work in Mauritius was his promotion to a similar office in Ceylon. The Commission now recommend a return to the system deliberately abandoned a good many years ago, and the appointment of an Inspector-G neral and a large staff of English inspectors and constables. They support their rccommsndation by the example of the neighbouring French island of Reunion, where the police force is officered by 70 to 80 French gendarmes. The analogy is very misleading. The crtele population in R^nion is entirely 5i6 APPENDIX VII French-speaking, and the comparatively small Asiatic community has adopted very largely a French patois. In Mauritius, the languages of general use are French, French patois, and a variety of Indian dialects, all equally as Greek to the English inspector and constable. That is why the system it is now proposed to reintroduce was abandoned. It is a proposal of great danger, and, as seems perfectly clear from the explanations offered by the Commissioners, is likely to lead to considerable increase of expenditure. Another proposal of the Commission is to abolish the office of Storekeeper-General. In the year 1 874 Sir Penrose Julyan, Senior Crown Agent for the Colonies, was sent to Mauritius to inquire into the question of reduction of expenditure in the establishments of the colony. He made an exhaustive report, in which he submitted that a general permanent reduction could only be found by reducing the scale of salaries and emoluments required to man the establishments with English officials, and the corollary proposition that the first concern of Government must be to educate the community to a capacity to replace the English officials. Among the measures most strongly recommended in order to effect saving in the establishment was the creation of the office of Store- keeper-General. He showed that the result of leaving each department to provide its own stores was a reckless waste, not arising necessarily from the default of indi- viduals, but because the system had all the inherent defects, a recognition of which has led to the general acceptance of the advantages of co-operative supply. Sir Penrose Julyan's visit was followed by the appointment of Sir Arthur Phayre to be Governor of Mauritius. He adopted with enthusiasm the general proposition sub- mitted by Sir Penrose Julyan, and the specific proposal to create the office of Storekeeper-General. I may men- tion incidentally that I was at the time Rector of the Royal College, and Sir Arthur Phayre found my views on the general proposition so entirely in accord with his MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 517 own that he oid me the great honour of offering me the acting appointment of Colonial Secretary when a tem- porary vacancy in the office was expected. The proposal fell through, but Sir Arthur Phayre reported it to the Colonial Office, and to this recc^ition of my services I owe in a large measure my promotion to the appointment of Director of Public Instruction in Ceylon. It was not unnatural that, when after many years I returned to Mauritius as Governor, I should make it my concern to carry out the policy in which I had so heartily concurred with Sir Arthur Phayre. The result was the educational system I established, absolutely in accordance with his views, and the reorganisation of the department of Storekeeper-General. I appointed a Committee of Inquiry and placed myself in communication with the Government of Ceylon, who gave me the fullest informa- tion as to the methods of the Storekeeper-General's department in that colony. The result was a reoi^anisa- tion based on the Ceylon system, but adapted to the circumstances of Mauritius in accordance with the recom- mendations of the Committee. The Committee, in the course of their inquiry, met with the same resistance on the part of some heads of department that had opposed and even exasperated Sir Arthur Phayre. As the Com- mittee reported, they irked that control by the Store- keeper-General's department, which was the reason of its establishment. In considering this recommendation a reference to an episode during the examination of Sir William Newton is instructive : " Q- 3679- {Chairmati) Do you know anything about the establishment of the Storekeeper-General ? — I will tell you what I know. I am not aware if you have any knowledge of a report that was made by a special com- missioner who was sent to Mauritius in order to inquire into the question whether any savings could be made in the establishments. It is the report of Sir Penrose Jul)ran. Have you got it ? I 518 APPENDIX Vll ^ "Q. 3680. {Mr. Woodcock) It was some few years ago, was it not? — Yes, in 1874. "Q. 3681. A lot of water has run under the bridges f since then ? — A great deal ; and many years have passed over my head since then, I am sorry to say. " Q. 3682. {Chairman) I am askinfj you whether, having regard to the present circumstances of the colony, do you think it is impossible to make any savings in the department of the Storekeeper-General ? — Savings in the department — that is possible, judging, of course, from 1 the general experience that I have of the matter ; but, as , regards recommending its total suppression, I would not ! go so far as that, especially in view of what was said by Sir Penrose Julyan in his report. ! " Q. 3683. I am not suggesting the suppression of I the department, I am asking whether you do not think it would be possible to make savings ? — Yes, it would be possible to make some savings." I Notwithstanding the Chairman's statement, the Com- mission recommend the abolition of the Storekeeper- '. ' General's department on the ground that the heads of the principal departments, such as the Railway Department, j the Public Works Depa. t'r.ent, the Medical Department I I and the Harbour Department, " are of opinion that the j work which the Storekeeper-General at present performs could be more simply and efficiently performed by their I own departments" {Report, para. 245, 246). The plea that the department of the Storekeeper-General must be " abolished because the public officials whom it was estab- lished to control find that control irksome and can do without it is too thin. The recommendation must be considered in connection with the general spirit and tenor of their report, which seeks to substitute for the control of the Storekeeper-General's department the appointment of non-Mauritians to supersede Mauritian heads of departments. It is a general condemnation of the community in the same spirit that dictated the substitution of a non-Mauritian for a Mauritian as Head MAURITIUS COMMISSION, 1909 519 < of the Medical and Health Department, a spirit in , direct negation of Sir Penrose Julyan's proposition that the only sure foundation of economy was to be found in educating the community to a capacity for employment j in the principal offices of government. In a chapter on Local Government, I have shown that this principle has been consistently approved by the Colonial Office, subject to the reservation that the Secretary of State will give no undertaking that persons who are not natives of Mauritius will not be appointed to any post in the colony when 1 after careful consideration he considers that such appoint- ments are necessary or desirable in the interests of the public service. At the same time this reservation has been accompanied by an assurance that " he will, of course, always be ready to give full consideration to the claims of local candidates." The recommendations of the Commission are made in a very different spirit. They recommend directly or indirectly the exclusion of Mauritians from nearly all the highest posts of the civil service and logically enough an increase in the emoluments of some of these posts. The present salary of the Chief Judge is Rs. 13,500. They recommend that the holder of the post, a Mauritian, should retire on pension, and be succeeded by an officer chosen from outside Mauritius with a salary of Rs. 1 8,000. They recommend that the salary of the Colonial Secretary, a post recently filled from outside Mauritius, should be raised from Rs. I 3,500 to at least Rs. i 5,000. The offices of Receiver-General and Auditor-General, the next in rank h.nd emolument, are <)lready filled from outside Mauritius. These three officers, with the Officer Com- manding the troops and the Procureur General, complete the number of official members of the Executive Council, and the Commission recommend the exclusion from the Council of the present Muuritian unofficial members and of all such members in future. The office next in rank and emolument is that of Collector of Customs ; the Commission recommend that the present holder, a Mauritian, be at Sao APPENDIX Vll once retired and that the office be amalganii^d witii that of the Harbour Mister. In view of th positi' of Mauritius as a storm centre in the Indu? )cean, it is obvious that the amalgamated offices miut given to n naval officer, so th 't anoll sr high ofi ce is placed out f the reach of the Mauritian community. In order to carry out the views of the Commiuion in respect of the administration of tl e Health Department and Quarantine regulations, if is recommended that the present acring head of the department Ik removed ani ihe appointment -Iven to an officer from outside, who will not y ive in to l.ie sentiment )f the community in favf r i gor js measures of protection from the in' oduction I'l diseases of men and animals. Nor are the recommendations of the Commission in tl is respect limited *o hcaris ( pa-t- ments. In the judicial department they recor im( n.! the amalgamation of the district and stipendtar m leisti cies. The question of the control of the In ian r .ent over such an amalgamation has been rait wit' my chapter on Local Government, and t is r i ha probable that the result will be to ntroduce h' ' -rs • i th amalgamated offices f om outside The p< ce d par ment has already been dealt with, it is prop, d to retir the present holder of the office of Inspect- Genera' a' replace him by an officer ' m . tside, t' ther wi ^ small army of English inspectors ai.d constables. Coincidently with the e elusion of Mauritiar i responsible office in the C i Ser\ e, it i pr^ i abolish the advisory ' xues h h^. been ■■ stao ,i . tc assist different brar > of th = c.;iment rvice The Commission declan it " lis p^nc* :e s pccu .r to Mauritius and seem u be irviva ti when the Government staff \v 146. constitution of, i. 227, 230-234. depopulation of, i. 465-466. education in, ii. 17-84 (ste Educa- tion). Eurasians in, ii. 19. Europeans in, ii. 19. forestry in, ii. I44-I56 {ue also Forestry). Government, as type of Crown Colony legislature, i. 230-234 ; ii. 97. law, system of, ii. 447. mineral resources, i. 2;. monuments, historical, i. 465. Moormen in, ii. 19. mttives in, i. 380 ; ii. 27. opium traffic in, i. 506, $ia population ci, ii. 17, 68. races in, ii. 17-19. railway, construction of, i. 466 ; ii. 134. revenue from drink traffic, 1. 502. from opium traffic, i. 5 10. rubber in, i. 21 ; ii. 174. School Garden scheme, ii. 66. Sinhalese in, ii. 18. Tamils in, i. 381 ; ii. 18. tea industry in, i. 11. tea plant, intro(?uction of, ii. 147. Veddas in, ii. 18. Widyodaya College, ii. 43-44- Chamberlain, Mr. Joseph {see also Despatches) — 'ir. colonial loansj ii. 187, ^09. on corporal punishment i. 288 ; ii. 513. on Crown Agents, ii. 221. on Department of Agricu'*ure in West Indies, ii. 132. on forest conservation in St..; is Settlements, ii. 171. and health of the Empire, i. 405, 408,425- Chaniberlain, Mr. Joseph— on Imperial Penny Postage, ii. 287. and an Imperial Pharmacopoeia, i. 420. on Jamaica, financial condition of, i. 256, 260. letter to Lord Lister, i. 412. on malaria in Mauritius, i. 491. on native appointments, i. 255, 360, 564. on plague, 1. 472, 482. policy, administrative, ii. 3 1 1 , 3 1 2. and reafforestation of Mauritius, ii. !90. and teaching of tropical medi- cine, i. 408- references to, i. 178, 184, 199; ii. Chamierlain, Mrs., and Colonial Nursing Association, i.434,455. Cbena cultivation, ii. 145. Ckenget, it. 168. Chinese, character of, i. 384, 385. Chinese in British Guiana, i. 328. in Mauritius, i. 368. Chisholm. Mrs., "The Emigrants' Friend," ii. 276. Cholera in England, 1831, i. 56. Christianity {see Religion). Church, the {see also Catholic Church)— influence in colonisation, i. 63. in Middle Ages, as instnmient of education, i. 59. tyranny of, i. 60. Church Missionary Society in Madagascar, ii. 96. Cinchona, introduction into India of, ii. 116. cultivation in Ceylon, ii. 135, 136. cultivation in Java, ii. 1 36. Civil Service, members of, i. 6.). Civil status of Indians, i. 325, 359. Classes in England, constituent elements of, 1. 62. Clemency of Crown, . 293 el seg. Coal tax in St. Lucia, ii. 249. Cobbett, William, on flogging in the Army, i. 74- Cobden, on annexation of territory, i. 141. on Canadian relations, i. iii. on colonial possessions, i. 9& INDEX Cobden— on democracy, i. 67. on education, i. 79, 82 ; ii. 3. on Free Schools, i. 81. on Free Trndt and Fiotectkm, i. 89. on India, i. 134. on Manchester, condition of, i. 30. on relijfious instruction, i. 81. on sanitary reform, i. 85. Cocoa, i. 14. cultivation in Grenada, ii. 2^8, „ 232, 235, 237. Cocos, meteoroloijical station at, ii. 271. Coffee, cultivation in Ceylon, ii _ . »34, 13s. 146. Cumage Offences Act, i. 293. Collier, J., Evolution of a Colonial Govtrnor, \. 207. Colliers' Petition, 1816, i. 47 r!l**™'?i^p*^""y'"- 34-35. colonial Allowances, ii. 426. Colonial Defence Committee- scheme of West Indian Defence, »• 377, 382. 401. and British Guiana Police Force. II. 383. and British Guiana Volunteer Militia Ordinance, ii. 399. Colonial expansion of France, Ger- many and United States, i. 177. Colonial Governor (ue Governor). Colonial Loans Act, 1800, i. 2\t ^."•308,309. Colonial Medical Reports, i. 417, 451. Colonial Military expenditure, Com- mittee on, i. 108. Colonial Nursing Association, i. r , 4? '-425: 455-459; ii. 3o8. Colonial Office, the— agencies of, i. 178. and Botanic Gardens, Kew,ii. 1 14. and Colonial Nursing Associa- ^ tion, i. 424. uefects in system of, i. 181, 183, 200, 222. organisation of, i 170. Regulations of, i. 218. Sir F. Swettenham on, i. 199. system of, ii. 203. and Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer, ii. 170. Colonial Policy,i.3o,92,96, 170, 173. in Australia, i. 1 21-131. |n Canada, i. 97-113, 161. in India, i. 1^3-135. in S. Africa, 1. w^tt seq. of United States, i. 148, 154. in West Africa, i. 139. of separation, i. 94, 98, 102-104, »P9, III, III, n4. 142, 143 Lord Beaconsfield, on, i. 166-168 Sir J. Barnard Byles on, ii. 305. Cobden on, i. 96. Curzon, Lord, on, i. 194. Lord Elgin on, i. 104. Gladstone on, i. 97, 160. Sir George Cornwall Lewis on, i. 95- Mill on, i. 95. Morley on, 1. 96. Kussell on, i. 101, 104. Young on, i. 95. Colonial Premiers, conference of. ii. 288. Colonies {see Crown C, Self-govern- ing C, Proprietary C). Colonisation, Charles Duller on, i. 130-131. influence of Church in, i. 63. proprietary system of, i. 63. Colonisation Society, i. 123, 130. Colour bar, i. 378, 3S0, 382, 396. Combined Court of British Guiana, i. 228. Comins, Surg -Major W. D. W., i. „ 334. 338. Report of, i. 341, 344, 346. Commando system, Dutch, i. 115, 116. Commission, Governor's, i. 220. Commissioner, Imperial, of De- partment of Agriculture, ii. 1 29. Commissions — on Agriculture in Ceylon, ii. 68. on Financial Condition of Mau- ritius, 1909, App. VIL ii. 494. 506 (set Mauritius), on Forestry in Mauritius, ii. 179. on Health and Sanitation De- partment of Mauritius fr »), I. 494. on Immigration in British Guiana, '•331, 335i 337. 345- on Immigration in Mauritius, i. 3S2 el teg. ill ■:.f 'i ' ! J it 1' li ■! 'i T , INDEX Commissions— on Imperial Defence, 1879, ii. 377, 378- on Malaria, i. 417, 443- on Sleeping Sickness, i. 446, 45-- on Yellow Fever (United Sutcs), I. 44$. West Indian, (i897Xn. 137. 25a Communication- cable system, ii. 270, 296-298. telegraph system, ii. 373, 393. telephone system, ii. 398. in British Guiana, ii. 346. in Mauritius, ii. 292. in Windward Islands, ii. 291. Comparative Legislation, Society of, i. 303. Condition of the people of England (18151868), I. l%etseq. CmdiHoH of England, by C. E. G. Masterman, 1. 446. Constitutions of Crown Colonies, i. 172-174, 226-227 {sec aho indi- vidual colonies). Convict settlements in colonies, i. 127, 128. Coolie, position of emigrant, i. 326 et seq., 345, 355- Corn Laws (1804-1815), i. Jo, 51, 89. Coronation ceremonies m Mau- ritius, ii. 435. Corporal punishment — Mr. Chamberlain's views on, i. 288; ii. 513, 525. Cobbett on, i. 74. proposed introduction of, in Royal College, ii. 512. Corporation Act, 1661, i. 76. Cotton, cultivation in Crown colonies, i. 17 f/ jcy. cultivation in tropical Africa, i. 19. duck, ii. 175. Sea Island, ii. 17^. Cotton Exhibition, li. 304. Cotton Growing Association, British, i. 17, 18 ; ii. 304. Cotton, Hon. R. Stepleton— and reorganisation of Police in British Guiana, ii. 374, 379i 381, 400. refertncts to, ii. 371, 373- Council, Advisory (see Advisory Council). :8, Court of Policy, Br tish Guiana, i. 328. Craggs, Sir John, i. 413. Credit Banks system, ii. 498. Creoles in Mauritius, i. 3$i, 356, 394* Crewe, Lord, Circular Despatch relating to Crown Agents, ii. 334. Crime, in England, 1. Criminal Codes in Crown colonies, i. 386, 393. Criminal Code of England, i. 56, 70, 71. revision of, by Sir R. Peel, 1. 72. Crimin.-il Code of Mauritius, re- vision of, i. 289-291. of Windward Islanas, revision of, i. 285,287. . Cross, Mr., mission to collect rubber in Amazon, ii. 174. Crown, clemency of, i. 293. prerogatives of, i. 236, 275. Crown Agents, ii. 213-224. Mr. Chamberlain on, ii. 221. Lord Crewe's Circular Despatch on, ii. 224. disbursements of (!S43-i9o6), ii. inquiries into working of, 11. 220, 222. Mr. Lyttelton on, ii. 221. Sir J. D. Rees' evidence on, ii. 223. salaries of, ii. 214, 215. scale of charges of, ii. 215. services in transport, ii. 223. transactions of, 216 et seq. Hanking, ii. 317-319. Commercial, ii. 3 10, 217. Contracting, ii. 333-234. Miscellaneous, ii. 330. in British Guiana, ii. 319. in Mauritius, ii. 3i8, 49'-493- in S. Afirican War, ii. 221. Crown Colonies — administrative principles of, i. 34. "84. . , o advantages accruing from, 1. 25, 34, 142. area of, i. 180 ; App. I. classification of, i. 226. constitutions of, i. 172-174, 227. I Crown Colonies -- contributions to Army Funds, ii. 4-!5-429- defence of {see Defence), electoral system in, i. 333, 339, 243- finance of {see Finance >. fiscal system of [see Fiscal), forest resources, i. 31. labour in, i. 307. law of, i. 262, 30$ ; ii. App. II. 445. lojralty nf, ii. 430. mmeral resources of, i. 23, 24. power resources of, i. 26, 351. responsibilities of, i. 113. revenue of, i. 137 ; App. I. statistics of, App. I. it. 443. systems of law in, App. II. ii. 445. For particulars, see under Law. trade of, it. 193, 443. transport in, li. 335 et seq. {see Transport). Crown Lands in St. Vincent, ii. 124. Crown Revenues (Colonies) Act, 1852. i. 137. ( ub.^ yellow fever in, i. 445. Cull, Frincip.il, Royal College, Colombo, ii. 42. Curzon, Lord, on colonial policy, i. 194. on retired (iovernors, i. 312. Customs Duties, i. 510; 11300,301, 304-307. Cyclones, Law of, ii. 267. Cyprus, constitution of, i. 237, forestry in, ii. 149, 166. Ottoman Fenal Code of, i. 293. system of law in, ii. 446. Dalaii.i Maligawa, or Temple of the Sacred Tooth, ii. 18. Daniels, Dr., Director of London School of Tropical Medicine, „ 443- Darwm, Charles, i. 128 ; ii. 88. Davidson, Dr. Andrew, L 434 ; ii. T> .94- Davis, Darnell, i. 331. Defence of Crown Colonies- changes in policy, i. 407-408. Committee of Colonial Defence, ii. 179. 377, 382- '^^ 535 Defence of Crown Colonies — Contribution of colonies to, ii. Mr. Gl Ntone on, i. 143. Imperi '"und for, ii. 429. Lord Norton on, i. 108. of British (iuiana — Sir C. Hruce's scheme, ii. 370 et si !• 161 ■ on enfranchisement of natives, i. 361. on Fishery Dispute, i. 107. Derry, Mr, ii. 162, 163, 17a Despatches — Sir C. Hruie to Mr. Chamberlain re Artillery for S. African War, ii. 422. Export duties, in W. Indies, ii. 243. Plague in Mauritius, i. 471, 480. Planters' Loan, 1898, ii. 218. Reaffcrestation Loan, ii. 187. Taxation in Mauritius, ii. 532, Transport of Yorkshire Light Infantry to S. Africa, ii. 430. .S"/> C. Rruce to Lord Knutsfordre Government Agency of British Guiana, li. 337. Reorganisation of Forces in British Guiana, ii. 373 et seq. Tour of inspection in N.W. Provinces, ii. 328 et seq. Sir C. Bruce to Lord Ripon re Export Dutls.. in Grenada, ii. 230. Duke of Buckingham's Circular on Local Government, ii. 211. 534 INDEX i I 1.^ t it 1 1? t ■ c Despatches - Mr. JiHtph Clt.iinbtrhtin lo Sir C. HfUii- n- Appointment of natives, i. J64. Kxport Duties in Wiitdwvd Islands, ii. 348. f'lague measures in MwiritinSi i. 472-473. 481. Tr.insport "f Forces to S. Africa, ii. 431. Lord Crewe t Circular on Crown Agents, ii. 234. Sir William Gregory rf Foreitry in Ceylon, ii. 145- ' 47. Earl of Kimberley re appointment of Foreit Officer in Ceylon, ii. 151. Lord Knutsford to Lord Gor> m:mston re Sir C. Hruce't scheme of defence in Britiih Ciuiana, ii. 399, Sir James Longden re de? truction of Forests in Ceylon, ii. 14S. Lord Onslow to Sir C. Bruce >v educational system of Mau- ritius, ii. 51 1. Lord Kipon to Sir Charles Bruce re Export Dutiei in Grenada, ii. 243. Lord Staninore re apii'>ii)t!nent of Forest (Jfficer 111 ' eylon, ii. 153. War Office to Colonial Office re offer of artillery in S. African War, li. 423- Des Voeux, Sir <'ieor^;c, i. 330-332. Diamond Jubilee celd' itions in Mauritius, ii. 431. Mass of Thanksj^'ivinj; .it, ii. ic ;. Dii:kson, .Sir Frederick, i. 162. Diego Garcia, meteorological station at, ii. 371. Diseases, tropical {see Health). Disraeli (uw Lord Beaconsfield). Dominica — constitution of, i. 335. Hamilton, Sir K., Report on, ii. 120, 125, 246, 303. system of law in, ii. 467. Drink bill of United Kingdom, i. i J. Drink traffic in Crown ctdonies, i. 500-506. in Africa, i. 503. in Federated .Malay States, i. 508. urink traltn in Mauritius, 1. $03, S^4'S*'5. proposed (iovtmnem monopoly of, 1. 503. Duff, Dr., /nttia and Imditm Mis- sions, 11. 101. Duff, Sir Mountsuiart Cirant, i. 225. Dunitan, Prof. Wyndh.im, rrjev' ences lo, ii. 195, 197, 305. Duperr^, Commander, ii. 411. burham. Lord, Report on Canada, i.98. Dutch in S. Africa, i. 115, 179^ East Africa Protectorate — constitution of, i. 227. system of law in, ii, 459. East iiulford, abandonment of In- fantry School -57. English, te.i hing of, ii. 49) 53- examination^ and scholar- ships, ii. 3ii-39. INDEX 535 BdOtttion, ia Ceylon— wptBdttiirc, ii. 77. fmalt adttcatioii, ii. 45 47. Four (UUHlard t««t, ii. 53. r.ovtnimeiit and native t^fm- ciM, ii. a. grants for indvntrial Khooi^ ii. 69. inspecting agency in. ii. 31, ^ Loni^den, Sir James, on, ii. S . muliiplicatiuii of schools, ii, ij, as municrpal rate for, ii. 77, 7«. native races, education of, ii. 27. ''Mental languages, examina- tion in, Ii 43, 44. Oxford and Cambridge Local Kx.irnn.itions, ii. 40, 41. i'upil tt. idler system, ii. fi6. ()ueen\ scholarships, 11. (16. reiiKious instruction in schools, ii. 30- ?i. rivalry o( churches in, ii. 23. SI hoiarships and examinatimu, li- 37, 39-42- .Schools — .\nglo vernacular, ii. 48, 49, 1; I. liuUdhist, ii. 80 Estate, ii. 55. (Itant in aid, ii. 30, 31, 65. Industrial, ii. 60 75. Kindergarten, ii. 47. Missionary, ii. 30-33, 46, 66, 67. Vative, ii. 2' 31, 78-8a 1 rimary, ii. 5^. Provincial training, it 63. statistics of, ii. 82. Vernacular; ii. 38, 31?. ^ ;. ^57- school districts, ii. ;6. School (wardens scheme, ii. 69. secondary education, ii. 48. T'- .hnical College, ;i. 42, 75 .' sef. ' i.iming of teachers, ii. 62, 05, Vernacular text-books, ii. 59, 61. Widyodaya College, ii. 43. in Englar. . 181 5-1868, i. 79-S4. agencie. of i. 83. Free schoo .system, i. 81. Education, in England- grants for, i. 82. sectarian d iculties, i. 83. Cobden on, 1. 79, bj ; ii. j. Mill on, ii. 4. WhitlKead on, i. 83. in Grenada, ii. S3. in Mauritius, ii. yi'o. Spcultural education, ii. 1 1. irC. Brace's Code (1902X ii. 505. 509^ commercial, ii. 12. educational system, ii. 6, Is, 506-509. Onslow, Lord, on, ii. 511. expenditure on, ii. ^07-5091 female education, ii. 10. industrial education, ii. 1 5. Mohammedan schools, 11. ;5. primary instruction, in Oip.nt- in-aid schools, li. 12, religious instruction i. 8. Royal College of Mauritius, ii. 7. 8, 43. 50'-505 scholarships anil exhibitions, li. 7, 1 1, 1 5, 503. schools, i. 9, 10; ii. 8, 12-14. system of educatkm, ii. 509. 511. technical, ii. 1 1 vernacular teai ,g in, ii. 82. in St. Lucia, ii. 83 in St. \'incent, 1 . '.••}. Eiiu ■ I, llr ' an, Hi'itory of the Bri- I. / /r, ./ 1 II J it- s, I 144. Edward the Seven ' , King, ii. 196. Coronation of, ii. 435, 7. .3>». 319, 321 (see a/so Immigration). Emigration Agent, i. 3if Emigration from India, 1. 314-327- England, the condition of people (181S-1868), i. 3Si fseg. Common Law in, i. 226. Criminal Law in, i. 56, 7°- 7i. 72. Essequibo — Sir C. Bruce's expedition to, 11. 358, 36'- canal scheme, 11. 359- railway scheme, ii. 360. rapids, passage of, ii. 366. river system, ii. 357 <"'' Estate schools in Ceylon, 11. 55-50. Eurasians in Ceylon, ii. 19. . European protective tariffs, 1. 89, 91 Europeans in Ceylon, ii. I9- Exe(Utions, public, in England, '• 73- Executive Councilof British Guiana, i. 228. Executive Councils, development of, \. 17V Ex-Governors, i. 211 ef seg. Exhibition, International, 1851, n. 199. Expansion, colonial, of France, Germany, and United States, i. 177- Territorial, in British Guiana, u. 312 etseg. in the East, i. I35- in South Africa, i. H3- of United States, i. 149. «5'> in West Africa, 1. 140. Expenditure, colonial, i. 119-121, 259. Military, i. 105, 108. Sir Henry Taylor on, 1. 109,121. Export duties in West Indies, 11. J27-248, 302 (*« patches). Factory Acts, 1833, i. 86. Falkland Islands, constitution of, i. 327. law, system of, ii. 46'' Farquhar, Sir Robert, Governor of Mauritius, ii. 501. Fawcett, Mrs., Li/c 0/ Sir Wtlham MoUsworth, cit. i. 120, 126. Federated Malay States— beri-beri in, i. 448- drink traffic in, i. 508. forestry in, ii. 170- 173- law, system of, ii. 45'- opium traffic in, i. 507. Felkin, Dr., i. 434- . . Fergusson, Sir James, and two- penny postage rate, ii. 277, 209. Kermoy, abandonment of Mounted Infantry school at, i. 408. Feudal system in England, i. 59- Field, Mr. Cyrus, ii. 296. Fiji, constitution of, i. 227. system of law in, it. 468. Finance of Crown colonies- British capiul invested in, 11. 210, 212. control of, ii. 309- colonial loans system, n. 307-3> '• Colonial Loans Fund, 11. 309- . expenditure of Crown colonies, 1. 119-121. Imperial Government's respon- sibility for, ii. 210-211. system of Crown colonies, 1. 257 wage fund as basis of capital, n. 2ia , Fiscal system of Crown colonies {see also Taxation), n. 301-31 1. customs duties, ii. yx>, 3°'. 304- 307. export duties, ii. 227-248, 302- income tax, ii. 303, 304, 522. fublic debt, interest on, 11. 307. oUverein, proposed, ii. 305 SCO. Fisher, Admiral, Sir John, 11. 4«>. Fisheries dispute, i. 106. 107. Flat Island quarantine station, u- 5cx>-50i. Flogging in Army, Cobbcit on, i. 74 {see also Corporal punish- ment). Flood, Archbishop, 11. 83, 109- . Forest resources of Crown colonies, i. 20-23 ; ii. I42-I4.3-. Forestry in Crown colonies, 11. 142- 192 : — in British Empire, 1. 20. INDEX 537 Forestry— in British Guiana, i. 349- in Ceylon, ii. 144-156. chena cultivation, ii. 14^-146. Conservator-General, ii. 1 $4. destruction of forests, ii. 145- 15a Forest Department of, 11. 148- 155, 166. Forest Officer, appointment and duties of, ii. 149, 151, '53- Longden, Sir James, on, 11. 1 50. Maxwell, Mr., on, ii. 162. Reports on, ii. 152, 155, 156. reorganisation of department, ii. i55-'56- . rubber, cultivation of, 1. 21 ; 11. 174- sale of forest lands, ii. 146. Surveyor-deneial and dual sys- tem, ii. 153-154- in Cyprus, ii. 14<^, 166. in Federated Malay States, ii. 172. in Grenada, ii. 175-176. in Malacca, ii. 166-167. in Mauritius, ii. 177-192. area of forest lands, ii. 180, 182. Board of Woods and Forests, reconimendations of, ii 188. destruction of forests in, ii. 178, •85- expenditure, proposed, ii. 1S2. history of, ii. 177 e/ seg. Loan, Afforestation, ii. 185-188, 190. Reafforestation Ordinance, 1901, ii. 186, 189, 190. Reports of Mr. F. Gleadow, ii. lOI. Mr. Thompson, ii. 179-182. Woods and Forest Board, ii. 183. Schlich, Sir VVm., on, 11. 177. water supply, effect on, ii. 180. in Penang and Malacca, appoint- ment of officers, ii. 161, 162. in St. Lucia, ii. 177. in R^ion, M. Maitlard on, ii. 184. in Singapore, ii. 168-169. in Straits Settlements, ii. 156-173. Burn-Murdoch, Mr., appoint- ment of, ii. 172- Forestry, in Straits Settlements- Department of Forestry, ii. i6o-i6i. Forest Vote, Mr. Maxwell on reduction of, ii. 159, 164. Kew, relations with {see Kew). Land and Revenue District Officers, ii. 164, 172. First Annual Report on, ii. 158. Report of Mr. Cantley, 1886, ii. 156, 158. Mr. H. C. Hill, ii. 171-172- Mr. Ridley, ii. 159. 162, 170. Sir Cecil Smith, ii. 157- '5^-. Ridley, appointment of .Mr. ii. N., ii. 159, 162. Rubber plantations, ii. 159. Schlich, Sir W., on, ii. 156. Straits Iiitcllii;encc on, ii. 157, 161. St.-ctits Times on, ii. 157. Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer on, ii. 1 14, 161-170. in West Indies, ii. i75-'77- Foster, Sir Michael, ind Health Commissions, rt-ferences to, i. 414, 4 5. 443. 452- , . France, colonial possessions of, 1. 177, 180. Frecinet, M. Louis de, Voyage autour du Monde, ii. 264. Free schools, Cobden on, i. 81. Free trade, reftrences to, \. 48, 88, 93; ii. 300. evolution of, i. 48. Baxter on, i. 48. Hyles, Sir J. Barnard, on, ii. 305. Cobden on, i. 89. Gladstone, W. E., on, i. 89. Freeman and Chandler, The Worlits Comtnercial Products, at. i. 6, lO-II. French, the, in Canada, i. 99, 179- French clergy as refugees in Eng- land, ii. 112. French Code of Law in Mauritius, i. 274, 290-291. French colonies in tropics, i. 177, 180. French community in Mauritius, i- 365, 366. French East India Company, li. 178. French occupation of Mauritius, ii. 400. 538 INDEX French war with Madagascar, i. 244. Frere, Sir Bartle, on the Bengal labourer, i. 314- Froude, Antony, The English in the West Indies, cit. \. 395 ; 11. 401. Fruit trade in West Indies, ii. 251. Gage-Brown, Sir C, Committee on Colonial Medical Reports, i. 417,451- Gambia, constitution of, 1. 227. slave trade companies in, i. 139. system of law in, ii. 456. Gambler trade, ii. 160, 168. (iandhia (J9. and I'cnny insiaye, ii. 279- on W ar, i. 53 Cleadow. Mr. Report on i orestry in M.,uriir,L-.. !i. 191. < ,old Coa-t. il;C"- constitutii'n of, i. 227. settU'incnls in, i. 139. law, system of, 11. 456. mortality, I. 403- railways, II. 255. (;olalaria in, i. 444- i Greenheart timber, ii. 142- . . Greg, William R., on ecjualisation of soci.il conditions, i. 377- LNDEX 539 Gregory, Sir William, Governor of Ceylon, i. 466, ii. 77, 145. Grenada — agriculture in, ii. 227. cocoa, ii. 328, 232, 23s, 237. constitution of, i. 227. education in, ii. 83. expenditure in the colony, ii. 243- 244. export duties in, ii. 227, 230 tt seq. forestry in, ii. 175-176. health of, i. 468. laws, revision of, i. 284. law, system of, ii. 465. loans to planters, ii. 311. nutmeg cultivation in, ii. 235-237. prosperity of, ii. 12a quarantine in, i. 497. roads in, ii. 226, 232, 234, 235. spices, export of, ii. 228. sugar, export of, ii. 228. taxation in, ii. 229-248. telephone system in, ii. 298. Grenadines group, ii. 118. Greville, Charles, on colonial policy in Indi.i, i. 134, 135. (irey, Earl, and Central Public House Trust Association, i. 503. on colonial policy in S. Africa, i. 119. on taxation of negroes, i. 311. (irey. Sir George, Governor of New Zealand, i. 131. on colonial policy in S. Africa, i. 117. Grey, Sir Edward, on West Indian Royal Commission, ii. 128. (Irierson, Mr., on Indian emigra- tion, i. 314. 3'9- Grondwet, proclamation of S. Afri- can, i. 114, 394. Guiana, European powers in, ii. 314. llutta percha industry, ii. i6y, 170. Haflfkine's serum for plague, i. 470, 475. 478. Hall, Fielding, The Soul oj a People, ii. 103. Hallam, on disabilities of Catholics, i. 77. Hamilton, Sir R., report on Domi- nica, ii. 120, 125, 246, 303. Harcourt, Sir W., and Colonial Penny Postage, ii. 285, 287. Harrison, Professor — Discovery of cane sugar seed, ii. 141. Goldfields of British Guiana, i. 350 ; ii. 364. Hart, Sir Robert, on Chmese, i. 384. Hastings, Mr. W., on Colonial Penny Postage, ii. 279. Hawley, General, and forestry in Mauritius, ii. 182. Hay, Major-General, reply to Gover- nor Delisle, ii. 417. Health— Ankylostomiasis, i. 45a beri-beri, i. 448-449. blackwater fever, i. 443. in Ceylon, i. 465-466. Chamberlain, Mr. j., and health of the Empire, i. 405, 408, 425. Colonial Medical Reports, i. 417, 451- Colonial Nursing Association, 1. 455- . . „ diseases of civilisation, 1.498-511. diseases, minor, i. 449. elephantiasis, i. 450. Imperial aspects of tropical dis- ease, i. 397. malaria ( i/v Malaria). Malta fever, i. 402, 449. mortality in Mauritius, ii. 499. plague in Mauritius, i. 470-483. Medical Schools of the United Kingdom, study of tropical dis- eases at, i. 406-416, 433. narcotics, use of, in the East, i. 499. Pharmacopoeia, Imperial, i. 434, 467. Research Fund, i. 452. results obtained in prevention of disease, i. 436. sanitary reform in England, i. 85. science in relation to, i. 405. bleeping sickness, i. 399, 446, 452, 498. Straits Settlements, abuse of drink and opium in, i. 50S-509. surra (y.7'.). syphilis in Uganda, i. 498. tropical disease. Sir C. Bruce's personal experience of, i. 462, 464, 467. trypanosomiasis, 1. 399, 446. 452, 498. 540 INDEX Health- veterinary medicine, study of, 1. 400, 427, 432- . , West African colonies, fever in, yaws, 1. 408. yellow fever, i. 402, 44$, 468. 49° ; ii. 501. Heaton, Mr. Henniker, and Im- perial Penny Postege, references to, ii. 276, 379. a8o. 296, 297- Hely Hutchinson, Sir W., n. 84, 226. Hemming, Sir Augustus,!. 181,221. Hennessy, Sir J. Pope- Home Rule for Mauritius, at- tempt to establish, ii. 105-108. policy of separation in Mauritius, i. 243, 246; ii. 105,424-. on representation of Indians, i. 360, 362. Henry, Prince, the Navigator, ii. 85. Herbert, Sir R., ii. ii7- Hewitt, Admiral Sir W., i. 245. Higginson, Sir James, on behaviour of Indians in Mauritius during Indian Mutiny, ii. 4'4- Hill, Mr. H. C, on forestry in Straits Settlements, ii. 171. Hill, Mr. Pearson, on Colonial Postage Rates, ii. 283. Hill, Sir Rowland, on Post Office Reforms, ii. 275. 276, 277, 278, 282. Hindu converts, i. loi. Hinduism, ii. 98. Hindus, Lord Macaulay on educa- tion of, ii. 87-88. Hobhouse, Lor J, on Emigration, i. 316. Holland, Bernard, 1. 225. Holland, Sir Henry (see Lord Knutsford). Home Rule, Sir J. Pope Hen- nessy's policy in Mauritius, ii. 107. Hong Kong- acquisition of, i. 507. ben-beri in, i. 448. constitution of, i. 227. fiscal system of, i. 507. law, system of, in, i. 274 ; ii. 448. malaria in, i. 444- plague in, i. 398- Hooker, Sir Joseph— on forestry in Ceylon, 11. I45> 148, i50-i«i. on introduction of rubber plants into India, ii. I73- on tea cultivation in Ceylon, li. 147- re/ere,ii"t fo, 11. 114. loi- Hooker. William, ii. 114- Hooper, Mr. E. 1). M., Report on Forestry in Grenada, ii. 176. Hopetown, Chinese settlement, i. 329. Hopkins, Vice-Admiral Sir John, 11. 118. Horton, Sir R. W., on Colombo Academy, ii. 35. Hospitals for immigrants in British Guiana, i. 334 ; 478. Hurricane in Mauritius, i. 468. Hurricane Loan, Mauritius (1892), ii. 496. Hutchinson, Sir Joseph, i. 279, 283. Immigration in Crown colonies, i. 306-369. m British duiana — Commission of Inquiry, i. 331, 335. 337, 345- „ Comins, Major, Report of, i. 34'-347- , . . condition of immigrants in, 1. 345- Immigration Ordinance, 1891. i. 339-343 ; »• App- IV. 475; Des Voeux, Sir G., charges of, i- 330-333- from India- condition of immigrants, i. interests of Government, i. sex ratio, 1. 294. system of, i. 320-327. in Grenada, ii. 231, 232. in Mauritius, i. 352-369- Chinese in, i. 368. Commission on, i. 335, 353- . condition of immigrants in, 1. 336, 355- . ^ Indians in, 1. 307. Sir Muir Mackenzie's Report, i-355-359- . _ in Straits Settlements, 1. 508-509. INDEX 541 Immigration — Sir Bartle Frere on, i. 314- Mr. Grierson on, i. 314, 3' 9- Mr. Alleyne Ireland on, i. 307. Mr. Benjamin Kidd on, i. 307. Lord Salisbury on, i. 317. Lord Sanderson's Commission on, i. 369, 507. Sir Philip Wodehouse on, 1. 3'3- ^ Imperial Committee of Pnvy Coun- cil, 1905, i. 181. Imperial Defence, Crown Colonies' contributions to, ii. 425-439- Imperial Defence Fund, ii. 429. Imperial Federation League, ii. 286. Imperial Institute, the, ii. 19S-209.. accommodation of London Uni- versity, ii. 309. administrative system of, ii. 199-302. financial difficulties of, ii. 198. I^ace in Colonial Office system, il 303-203. purposes of, ii. 196. Report of Board of Trade on, it. 200. Scientific and Technical Depart- ment of, ii. 198, 300, 204-206. University of London and, ii. 208-209. Imperial Penny Postage, ii. 275, 285, 287- Imperial Policy in Crown colonies, i. 146-168. Imperialism, Lord Beaconsfield on, i. 166. Income tax in Crown colonies, ii. 303, 304, 522. India- Christian religion in, ii. 89. colonial policy in, i. I32-I35- Cobden on, i. 1 34. Grafton, Duke of, on, i. 133. Greville, Charles, on, i. I34-I35' Malcolm. Sir John, on, 1. 133. Munro, Sir Thomas, on, i. 134. emigration from, i. 3t4-327- Indian missions, Dr. Duff on, ii. 101. plague in, i. 398, 474- Indian community in Crown colo- nies, sex ratio of, i. 294, 301. Indian Councils, i. 333. Indian Emigration Act, 1883, i. 317, 318, 3«9. 321.^ . Indian Mutin)r,behaviour of Indians in Mauritius during, ii. 413-417- Lord Elgin on, ii. 4>3- Indians in British Guiana- Addresses to Queen Victoria, ii. 318, 322, 323. Sir C. Bruce's address to, ti. 344. loyalty of, ii. 322.323. 325- References to, ii. 327. 33'. 346-. Indians in Crown colonies, civil status of, i. 325, 359. in Mauritius, appointment of, i. 253-258, 360, 363-365. 369 ; ii. 534. representation of, 1. 355, 357. 362, 369 ; ii. 414- in Transvaal, i. 28. Industrial School Association of Boston, ii. ^\ et seq. Inglis, Henry David, on condition of Ireland, i. 40. Ireland, Alleyne, 77/^ Far Eastern Tropics, l it. i. 307. Ireland, condition of, i. 4°- and Penny Postage scheme, ii. 275. Irving, Sir Henry, Governor of British Guiana, ii. 226. Ismailia, expedition of Major R. Ross to, i. 438, 440. malaria at, i. 438-440. Jackson, Mr. W. L., see Lord Aller- lon, ii. 160. Jaffna, Wesleyan mission in, ii. 66. Jamaica — constitution of, i. 227, 242, 256. Chamberlain, Mr. J., despatch on financial condition of, i. 256, 260. earthquake in, 1907, i. 396. law, system of, ii. 463. legislature of, i. 235. loan by Imperial Government '0''-257-„. . . . . Jamestown, Virginia, meeting ot races at, i. 387. Japan, Sir Rutherford Alcock on, i. 382. Imperial Oath of Emperor, 1. 383. Java, cultivation of cinchona in, ii. 136. ! .1 [ ? 1 1 INDEX Jenkins, Rev. £. £., on mission schools in India, ii. 3? Jenkyns, Sir Henry, Bri/it/i Rule tmd Jurisiiiclion beyond the Seat, i. 220. Jenman, Mr., and discovery of seed- bearing sugar cane, ii. 141* Jews, the — emancipation of, i. 78. Beaconsfield on persecution of, i. 78, 375- Johnston, Sir Harry- on Indians in Transvaal, i. 28. on missionary enterprise, ii. 89. Jones, Sir Alfred, i. 415. 4«6. 43° ; ii. 3^1. Jubilee of Queen Victoria, celebra- tions in Briiish (Guiana, ii. 317 Julyan, Sir Penrose, Memorandum on functions of the Crown Agents, ii. 213, 214. on office of Storekeeper-General of Mauritius, ii. 516. Kaffir w.-irs, i. 116, 119. Kaieteur Kails, British Guiana, i. 26. Kandy, Buddhist shrines in, ii. 18. education in, ii. 62. Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens- Directors of, ii. 114-115. Mauritius, relations with, ii. 34. Rubber distribution in the East, ii- i73-<75- StraitsS2ttlements,relationswttii, ii. 159, 161, 162, 164, 17a work of, ii. 11 5-1 16, 144. Kidd, Benjamin, The Control of the Tropics, cit. i. 27, 32, 307. Kimberley, Earl of, on appointment of forest officer for Ceylon, ii. '52- King, Sir George, and introduction of rubber plants in India, ii. «73- Kin^ George, address to Mauritians, ii. 432. Klang, malaria at, I. 441. Knutsford, Lady, and Colonial Nursing Assoc'ation, i. 442. Knutsford, Lord {sec also De- spatches) — on export duties, ii. 232, 233. on native appointments, i. 254- Knutsford, Lord — on reorganisation of forces in British (luiana, ii. 399. Koch, Professor, research in sleep- ing aickness, i. 447. Labour (see Emigration and Immi- gration). Labuari, system of law in, ii. 450. Lagos, mortality among whites at, i. 403. Railway, ii. 253. I^ing, Mr., Finance .Minister, on Government of Ceylon, ii. 97. Lalang cultivation, ii. 167, 16S. Lambkin, Colonel, inquiry into syphilis in Uganda, i. 498. Land tax in British Guiana, ii. 233. in St. Vincent, ii. 125-127. Law in Crown colonies, i. 262-305, App. II. 445- in British Guiana, i. 279 ; ii. 461. Carrington, Sir Jolm, work of, i. 279, 28a codification of, i. rjo. Commissioner of, i. 271. consolidation of, i. 369. Criminal Code — of Mauritius, i. 289, 291. of Windward Islands, i. 283, 285-287. French Code in Mauritius, i. 276. Insurance laws, i. 277. legislative needs, i. 267-279. Marriage and Divorce laws, i. 277. in Mauritius, i. 288-293 ; 11. 454- origins of, i. 265. Sir Francis Piggott, work of, i. 288, 292 ; App. III. ii. 470. Systems of, in — Antigua, ii. 467. Ashanti, ii. 457 Bahamas, ii. 462. Barbados, ii. 463. I Basutoland, ii. 453- I Bethuanaland Protectorate, 11. I 453- .. , Bermuda, n. 461. ; British Guiana, ii. 461. i British Honduras, ii. 462. I Ceylon, ii. 447. { Cyprus, ii. 446. I Dominica, ii. 467. INDEX 543 Law, Syitems of, in— East Africa Protectorate, ii. 459- Falkland Islands, ii. 462. Federated Malay Sutes,ii.45l. Fiji Islands, ii. 468. Gambia, ii. 456. Gibraltar, ii. 445. Gold Coast Colony, ii. 456. Grenada, ii. 465. Hong Kong, ii. 448. Jamaica, ii. 463. Labuan, ii. 4$a Leeward Isliuids, ii. 4^7- Malta, ii. 446. Mauritius, ii. 454. North Borneo, ii. 451. Northern Nigeria, ii. 458. Nyasaland Protectorate, ii. 458. St. Helena, ii. 453. St Lucia, ii. 465. St. Vincent, ii. 466. Sarawak, ii. 452. Seychelles, ii. 455. Sierra Leone, ii. 455. Somaliland Protectorate, ii. 459. Southern Nigeria, ii. 457. Straits Settlements, ii. 450. Swaziland, ii. 453. Trinidad and Tobago, ii. 464. Turks Islands, ii. 464. Uganda, ii. 460. VVei-hai-wei, ii. 449. Windward Islands, ii. 465. Zanzibar, ii. 460. Uniformity of, i. 267, 277, 27S. Lawrence, Lord, on Christianity in India, ii. 89. Leather Trades' Association and gambier tr.ide in Straits Settle- ments, ii. 160. Lecl^zio, Mr. H., evidence before Mauritius Royal Commission, 1909, ii. 503. Leeward Islands, constitution of, i. 227. law, system of, ii. 467. legislature of, i. 235. Legislation of the Empire, i. 305. Legislation, Society of Comparati ve, i. 303. Legislative Councils of Crown Colonies {see Local Govern- m :nt). Lewis, Sir G. Cornwall, on colonial possessions, i. 9$. Linnsean Society and Botanical Department of StraiU Settle- ments, ii. i6a Liquor trade (,see Drink TraflSc). Lislet, Mr. Geoffrey, early meteoro- logical observations in Mauri- tius, ii. 363. Lister, Lord, letter from Mr. Chamberlain to, i. 412. " Little Englanders,''policy of, i. 94. Liverpool School of Tropical Medi- cine, i. 415, 429-433- expeditions sent out by, i. 43 '>43"- students at, i. 431. veterinary medicine, study of, i. 432- Loans, colonial — Chamberlain on, ii. 187, 309. Colonial Loans Act, 1899. -'il ; ii. 308, 309. Imperial Government's responsi- bility for, ii. 211, 308. interest on, ii. 308. Jamaica, Government loan to, '• 257- . . .. Planters' loans in Mauritius, 11. 218, 308, 490, 492-499- in St. Vincent, ii. 124, 311. in St. Lucia, ii. 310. in West Indies, ii. 310, 311. Reafforestation loan in .Maiiti- tius, ii. 186-187. System of loans, ii. 307-311. Local Government of Crown colonies, i. 174, 226-261. in IJritish (iuiana, i. 228. in Ceylon, i. 230-234 ; li. 97- in Jamaica, i. 242, 256-258, 260. in Mauritius, i. 243, 248, 251-256, 258-261. in West Indies, Duke of Buck- ingham on, i. 234-241 ; ii. 211. London Missionary Society in Madagascar, ii. 92-95. London School of Tropical Medicine, i. 415, 426-429. Longden, Sir James, ii. 81, 147, 14S, 150. Lorans, Dr., references to, 1. 47°. 472, 480, 488. Low, Mr. Sydney, I'ision of Indut, i. 474- it' 544 INDEX Lowe, Mr., on taxation of colonies, '• '''3- . , ... Luard Mr., narrative of e.\Dedition to N.W. District, ii. 348. Lucas, Sir Charles, HisimUal Geo- ):raphy of tke British Colomes, ii. 8$. Lynching in America, i. 376. Lyttleton, Mr., Secretary of State, on work of Crown Agents, ii. 221 ; rtfirtnm to, i. 453) 495- Macaulay, Lord- on abolition of slavery, i. i37- on education of Hindus, ii. 87. on Christ's influen-e, ii. lo.-. Macuregor, Sir W., expedition with .Major Ross to Ismailia, i. 438. Machine breaking, i. 48- Mackenzie, Sir Muir, Report on Immigration in Mauritius, 1. 35S<-/jeV. M'Kinley tariff, 11. 233. 304. M'lnnis,' Colonel, references :o, i. 390, 400. 401. M'Turk, Mr., narrative of expedi- tion on Essequibo River, ii. 358 et si (j. Madagascar — abolition of slavery in, ii. 96. churches, erection of, ii. 95. constitution of, i. 244. a P"rench protectorate, ii. 97- London Missionary Society, work of, ii. 93-94- . , Medical Missionary Acaden^iy, ii. 95. Missionary societies in, work of, ii. 92-95. plague in, 1. 470. war with Frar'-e, i. 244- Madras, excise laws in, i. 508. Magna Charta, i. 49. Mahan, Captain, i. 92. Maillard, M., Notes sur Pile de la Reunion, ii. 184. Malacca — opium traffic in, i. 507. tapioca cultivation in, ii. 167. Malaria — in Ceylon, i. 465-6. in Cyprus, i. 430- in Federated Malay States, i. 441. on Gold Coast, i. 437- Malaria— in Greece, i. 444. in Hon^ Kong, i. 444> at Itmailia, i. 438-440> at Klang, i. 441- at Lagos, i. 437. at Lake Nyassa, 1. 442- in Mauritius, 462, 468, 487-495- Committee on, i. 488. co-operation with Imperial agencies, i. 492- expenditure on, i. 49'. 492. measures against, i. 489-90; ii. App. V. 486-90. Ross, Slajor, report of, i. 487, mosquitoes, and relation to, i. 443. 437i 438, 44 1 • and rainfall, ii. 270. in Roman Campagna, i. 440-441. at Sierru Leone, i. 437- in West Indian regimen's, i. 438. Malaria Commission of Royal Society and Colonial Office (i8<)9).'i-4"2, 4'4, 4'7- work of, i. 443 e' ■''^.,■ Condition , of Engiami, i. 446. Matlieaon, Colonel, on F'rench occupation of Mauritius, ii. 409, 4'"-4«2. 1 Mauritius — agriculture in, ii. 133. Asiatics in, i. 251, 353-254. | Australian cable via, ii. 29S. I Botanic Gardens of Pample- ntousses, ii. 133. Catholic Church in, i. 244, 246 ; ii- 113- I Chinese in, i. 368. { constitution of, i. 227, 243, 249, ' 251256.258-261. contribution to army funds, ii. 1 ,428. j Council of Government, i. 252. Creoles in, i. 251, 356, 394. Criminal Code, revision of. i. ! 289-291. i defence of, ii. 409-425. ' dialects in, ii. 6. drainage and water supply of, i. 492. drink traffic in, i. 502, 504-505. education in, see Education, ii. I 5- 1 6. { emigration, Commissions on, i. j 335. 353- ' Committee on (1909), i. 369. | expenditure of colony, liniita- ^ tions of, i. 259. financial difficulties of, i. 469; ii. 4')i. 493- fire in Port Louis, i. 469. fixed term loans, ii. 218. forestry in, ii. 177-191 (.f,v Forestry). French in, i. 365, 409-412. \ French Catholics, loyalty of, ii. i 106. j (Government, system of, i. 260. Health and Sanitation, Depart- ment i)f, i. 494. Hennpssy, Sir j. Pope, schen^e of, ii. 105-108. " 2 .\l Mauritius — history of, ii. 409 hurricane in, i. 4'.8. Hurricane Loan Act, 1892, ii. 308, 490. Immigration in, i. 352 ct scq. Commission on, i. 335, 353 condition of immigrants in, i .33^'. 355 Sir Muir Macken/it's reptirt on, i. 355 ,7 ivv/. Indians iti, i. 367 (j. 108, ; stations, i. 120. Militia in British C.uiana {sec V olun- teer Militia). Mill, John Stuart— on colonial possessions. I. 95. on eiUnalion, ii. 4- on native appointments, 11. 524- on production, i. 372- | Mineral resources of Crown colonies, i. 23, 24. Minto Lord, ii 410, 4<2- . Mi>-iioii ^t.iiion^^ in British Guiana, li. in Nyasaland, 1. 442- Mission schools in Ceylon, 11. 30-33. 46,66,67. ■ . . „ ?.fissionary enterprise in Crown colonies, i. 404- Societies' Memorial to Lord Kipon, ii. 32- Molesworth, Sir William on Canadian relations, 1. 98, 10;. on colonial policy in S. .\frica, i. 120. Life of, by Mrs. Fawcelt, 1. 120, ; ifi <•/■/. Molesworth, Sir WiUiau. on miliury expenditure, 1. 106. on transportation, i. 115, ia9- Moormen in Ceylon, ii. I «>. .. Morawhana River, passage ol, n. 34I. Settlement. 11. 300, 330. Morley, Mr. Arnold, rostmaster- ("icneral, ii. 286. Morley, l-ord, on colonial policy, i. . Life of Gladstone, 1 106. Morris, Sir Daniel, ii 132.. '40, 174- Mortgages in Mauritius, ii. 494- Moruka River, ii. 321 • .Mosiiuito, in British duiana, pre- valence of, 320, 467. . measures for destruction of, in I Mauritius, i. 489 S App. V. i 487 sc3;4'^ Myers, IJr., Expedition of, to Cuba, i. 445- Napoleon, on England's naval supremacy, i. 93- on the army in war, 1. 209. Narcotics, use of in the East, 1. 498- National policy, 1815-1868,1. 37-9>- democratic principles of, 1. 31. reform of, i. 57. . Native races in Ceylon, 1. 301 I Natives, .ippointment to (jovem- meiit offices in Mauritius, 1 253, 254, 255, 360, 364-365, 524 enfr.-tnchisement of, i. 361- representation of, i. 355. 357, 362 li. 4'4- Navigation Act, 1. 50. 1/ INDEX 547 Navigation Laws, i. 88. Navigator, Prince Henry, the. ii. 85. Negro race, evolution of, i, 350, 386. Archer, VVni., on, i. 39a and relations to tht whitt roan, i. 387-88. on the Cont,'o, i. 39a Froudeon, 1. 395. Government appointmenU held by, i. 393. industrial education of, i. 392. loyalty of, i. 390, 395. problem of the Southern States, Prei^Irat Roosevelt on, i. j88. sentiment towards America, i. »$. taxation of, 1. 311. value of property held by, i. 392. Washington, Booker, on, i. 387, 388,39a. New South Wales, constitutimi o^ i. 174. 230- Newcastle, IJuke of, on Canadian relations, L 109. Newfoundlanid Fisheries Dispute, i. 106, 107. Newton, Sir William, i. 288 ; it 501. Nigeria- constitution of, i. 227. cotton in, i. 19. drink traffic in, i. 501, law, system of, in, :t. 457, 4J8. railways in, ii. 252. Nocard, Professor, on teaching of veterinary medicine, i. 432. Norfolk, Duke of, il 377, 387, 289- 290. Norman, Sir Jtenry, Governor of Jamaica, i. 242 ; ii. 128. North America, colonial policy in, i. 97 <•/ sef. {see Canada). North Borneo, system of law in, ii. 451. North West Territory, development of, ii. 316 cf seq. Sir Charles Bruce's visit to, ii. 317 ets,-q., 328, 338, 348-357- Norton, Lord, on advantages of Crown colonies, i. 142. on military expenditure, L 108. Norwegian Lutheran Society, 96. Nutmeg cultivation in Grwiada, iL Nyasaland — constitution of, i. 227. law, system of, ii. 4^8. mortality at mission stations, i. 442. railways in, ii. 223. Observatory {see Mauritius Obser- vatory). O'Connell, Daniel, on postal com- munication with Ireland, ii. Odessa, massacres at, i. 389. Official majority in legislative chambers, i. 227, 233. O'Neill, Bishop, i. 481 ; ii. 108, 109. Onslow, Lord, on education in Mauritius, ii. $11. Opium traffic in Crown colonies— tn Ceylon, i. 506, 51a customs duties on, i. 51a Government monopoly, i, jia revenue from, i. cia in Federated Malay States, i. 507. in Straits Settlements, i. 507. War with China, i. 506. Orange River State, annexation of, i. 118. Order in Council, legislation of Crown by, i. 228. Order of St. Michael and St. George, i. 162. Ordinances — British (luiana Immigration Or- dinance, 1891, i. 339-343; >'• App. IV. 475-486. Militia Ordinance ii. 384. Police Ordinance, ii. 392. Volunteer Militia Ordinance, ii. 389, 391. in Ceylon- Forest Ordinance, 1885, ii. 152. Rural Schools Ordinance, 1907, ii. 55, 80. in Grenada- Primary Education Ordinance, ii. 83. II 3M 3 MKROCOrV RESOIUTION TiST CHAIT (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) INDEX 548 Ordinances — in Mauritius- Education Ordinance, 1902, ii. 509; {1889), II. Forest Ordinance, ii. 178-179- Quarantine Ordinance, i. 497- Reafforestation Ordinance, 1900, ii. 189,191. Sanitation Ordinance, 1. 494- in St. Vincent- Acreage Tax Ordinance, 11. 125. '27. Education Ordinance, 1893, 11. 84- , r ■■ Oriental languages, study of, 11. 43-44- . ^ ^ . Ottoman Penal Code, 1. 293. Oxford University and reception of French clergy, ii. 112. Page, Nelson, The Negro: The Soutkemet's Problem, i. 390. Pali, study of, ii. 43. 45- Palm produce, i. 22-23. Pamplemousses, Botanic Gardens of, ii. 1 33- , Panama Canal and distribution of tropical disease, i. 401, 446. Para rubber (see Rubber). Paris Convention, 1 894, i- 497- Paris, treaty of, 1815, i. 33, 37- Parliamentary reform, i. 65. Peace, Retrenchment and Rrform, policy of, i. 37, 93- Peel, Sir Robert— on Canadian relations, i. loi, 102. Criminal Code, revision of, i. 55.72- on Free Trade, i. 88. Metropolitan Police, organisation of, i. 75- Peel, Mr., and Swan River Settle- i. 123 et seg. Penal Code of Crown colonies, i. 286 et seg. of England, i. 55) 72- Penang, opium traffic in, i. 507. Forest Offices in, ii. 161, 162. Pension Act, i. 213, 215. Pepper cultivation in Singapore, ii. 168. Peradeniya Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, ii. 145. '73- Perak, morUlity in, i. 509. Pharmacopoeia, an Imperial, 1. 454- revision of, i. 418. Indian and Colonial Addendum, i. 419-421. Phayre, Sir Arthur, ii. I79i 5'4. 5«6, 517. , . . Philippines, development of, 1. 300- Piggott, Sir Francis, references to, i. 278, 288, 392; ii. 470. 494- Scheme of Legislative Reform m Crown colonies by, App. III. ii- 470. Placer, Sir C. Brace's visit to, u. 362. Plague- in Hong Kong, i. 398. in India, i. 398, 474. in Madagascar, i. 470. in Mauritius, 470-483. Bruce, Sir C, visit to hospitals and cainps, i. 480. Despatch to and reply from Mr. Chamberlain, i. 47 >- 473, 480. Committee on, 1. 47'. 470. measures against, i. 47o> 474- 483. Mr. Johnston, death of, i. 481. Plantations, early colonial settle- ments, i. 136. Planters' loans in Grenada, 11. 3" .. „ in Mauritius, 11. 218, 492-499- in St. Lucia, ii. 310. in St. Vincent, ii. 124, 311. in West Indies, ii. 310. Poivre, M., on agriculture in Mau- ritius in 1766, ii. 133. Police Force in British Guiana- constitution and duties of, ii. 372-374- . , J - ^ Inspector-General duties of, ii-379- .. „ Report of, 11. 382. Ordinance, ii. 39 ^ Stations, ii. 328, 329, 347. 334- ^ Police Force, in Windward Islands, ii. 403- Police, Metropolitan, organisation of, by Sir Robert Peel, i. 75- Policy (see Colonial Policy). Pollanamtwa, i. 465- Pomeroon river, ii. 321. INDEX 549 Pomeroon district, tour in, ii. 331, 324. Poor Law Act, 1834, i. 86. Port Louif, death rate of, ii. 499. fire in, L 469. malaria in, 1. 462. Port Swettenham, malaria at, t. 441. Portuguese in British Guiana, i. 299. case of Manoel Gonsalves, 1. 296. Postal system of Crown colonies — Canadian rate, ii. 289. Mr. Chamberlain on, ii. 287. colonial opinion, ii. 284, 28;, 287. colonial rate, ii. 278, 279, 283. Government opposition to re- duced rate, ii. 281, 284 Mr. Henniker Heaton on uni- versal system, ii. 280, 282, 283. Hill, Sir R., on Post Office Reforms, ii. 275-278. Imperial Penny Postage system, ii. 275, 285, 287. King Edward VII. on colonial Pennjr Postage, ii. 286. in Mauritius, ii. 2g2. Postal Union, Congress of, ii. 384, 289. Postmasters' Conference, ii. 289- 391. Threepenny Postage rate, ii. 277. Twopenny Postage scheme, ii. 277, 289. in Windward Islands, ii. 291. Power resources of British Guiana, i- 351- Prain, Lieut.-Col. David, ii. 115. Prerogative of Crown, i. 236, 275. Pridham, on history of Mauritius, ii. 409. Primary Schools (see Education). Prison Act, 1865, i. 74. Probate Act (Colonial), i. 272. Proclamation of Queen Victoria, 1858, i. 114, 261, 377, 394 ; ii. 2, 430. 524- to Volksraad, 1842, i. 115; ii. 523- Proprietary Colonies, 1. 63, 204. Prostitution in Europe, i. 391. Protection, policy of, i. 88, 177 ; iL 300. Baxter, Dudley, on, i. 5a Cobden on, i. 89. Protective tariffs, European, i. 89,91. Public debt of Crown colonies, ii. 307- Public executions in England, i. 73. Public House Trust Association, i- 503- Puisne judges, ii. 84. Punishment, mi'.hods of, in Eng- land, i. 73. Quarantine — Sir C. Bruce's experience of legislation relating to, i. 495. in British Guiana, i. 496. legislation, need for, in Tropics, 401. in Mauritius, i. 497 seq.; ii. 499, 500, 501. Paris Convention, 1894, i. 401. Venice Internationa! Sanitary Conference, 1892, i. 401, 497. in Windward Islands, i. 495, 497- Quinine {see Cinchona). Races, the coloured, i. 371-396 {see also Negro), amalgamation with whites, i. 379. in British Guiana, i. 349 ; ii. 323. in Ceylon, i. 381 ; ii. 17 et seq. intermarriage with whites, i. 385. labour of, i. 308; ii. 212. in Mauritius, i. 251, 354, 365. meeting of, at Jamestown, Vir- ginia, i. 387. Racial differences, i. 114, 196, 229. Railways — in Ceylon, i. 466 ; ii. 134. in Mauritius, ii. 260. in Nyasaland, ii. 223. in West Africa, ii. 252 et seq. Railway Stock Renewal Fimd, Mauritius, ii. 497. Rainfall in Mauritius, Dr. Meldnim's observations on, ii. 269. and malaria, ii. 270. Raleigh, Sir \VaIter, discovery of Guiana, ii. 313. Ranavalona, Queen of Madagascar, ii. 95. i 1 550 INDEX Rao, P. Vencato, in Fortnightly Review, ii. 88. Rees, Sir J. D., on contract of Crown Agents, ii. 32^. on charges against Indian Police, ii. 515. Reform, 1815-1868, 1. 57 ei seq. of criminal law in England i. 71. Parliamentary, i. 6$. sanitary, i. 85. social, 1. 87. Reform Act, 1832, i. 38, 66. Reformation, the, i. 60. Regulations of Colonial Office, i. 218. Religion in Crown colonies, ii. 85- "3- agency of civilisation, ii. 98. belief, essentials of, ii. 103. belief in a Trinity, universal, ii. 98. Buddhism {q.v.). Christianity as connecting link in Crown colonies, ii. 86. missionary enterprise, ii. 87, 89, 91. as motive power in colonisation, ii. 85. Protestantism, stages of, ii. 99. secularisation of, i. 69. self-sacrifice in, ii. 102, 105. as separating force, ii. 105. unity in, ii. 112. in British Guiana, ii. 108. in Ceylon, ii. 97-100. in India, ii. 85, 89, 98. conversion of Hindus, Lord Macaulay on, ii. 87. of Hindu youth, ii . loi. in Madagascar, ii. 92. in Mauritius (see Catholic Church), in Windward Islands, ii. 109. Rest House {see Benab). Reunion- forestry in, ii. 184. Indian coolies in, i. 353 ; ii. 415- 4«7- Rice, cultivation of, in Crown colonies, i. i 5. in British (juiana, i. 351. use of, in Japanese war,_i. 16. Ridley, Mr. H. H., Report on Forestry in Straits Settlements, ii. 159, 162, 17a Ripon, Lord— and Colonial Pharmacopoeia, i. 42a on export duties in Crown colonies, ii. 242. Memorial of missionary societies in India, ii. 33. and railways in West Africa, ii. 252. on relations of Kew, ii. 170. Roads in Grenada, construction fd, ii. 226, 232, 234, 235. Robinson, Sir Hercules, on the Colonial Governor, i. 215. Rodrigues, meteorological station at, ii. 271, 298. Roebuck, Mr., i. 97. Roman Catholics, disabilities df, i. 76. Roman Catholic Church in Maur- itius, i. 244, 246 ; ii. 1 13. Roman Empire, policy of, i. 373. Romilly, Sir Samuel, and repeal of death penalty, i. 71. Roosevelt, ex-President, i. 312, 377, 388. Rosebery, Lord, on Colonial postage, ii. 280. Rosmead, Lord, i. 198. Ross, Major Ronald — expedition to Ismailia, i. 438, 440. expedition to West Africa, 1. 437. Report on Malaria in Mauritius, i. 487. 49'- researches in Malaria, i. 43a Royal Alfred Observatory, Maur- itius {see Mauritius Obser- vatory). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew {see Kew). Royal College of Mauritius, it. 7, 8, 43. SO' -50s, 5'2- Royal Colonial Institute, foundation and work of, i. 146, 155-156. Royal Colonial Society, speeches at inauguration of, 156-165. Royal Commission, I'W, on Maur- itius, Appendix \ i I. ii. 494 {see Mauritius). Royal Commission, West Indian, 1897, ii. 250, 310. Royal Society Commissions on — Blackwater fever, i. 443. INDEX 551 Royal Society Commissioni on — Malaria, i. 412, 414, 417, 443. 453- Sleeping sickness, 1. 414, 417, 446, 4Sa- Royal Society and Tropical Dis- eases Research Fund, i. 412, ^414- Rubber, cultivation in Crown colo- nies, i. 21 (M«a/r0 Forestry), industry, development of, i. 21 ; ii. I75-. introduction of rubber plants in East, ii. 173- in Straits Settlements, ii. 159. Rural Constabu'ary of British Guiana, ii. 372, 374, 381, 399. Russell, Lord John on Canadian Rebellion, i. 100, 104. on Catholic Emancipation Act, i. 76. on Colonial policy, i. 101, 104. St. Helena- consequence of opening of Suez canal, ii. 404. 429. constitution of, ii. 227. lace industry in, ii. 47. law, system of, ii. 455. St Lucia — as coaling station, i. 402. coal tax in, ii. 249. constitution of, ii. 227. defence of, reversal of policy, ii. 406. education in, ii. 83. expenditure in, ii. 248. forestry in, ii. 177. as fortified station, i. 403 ; ii. 1 18. Froude on, ii. 401. law, Revision of, i. 280. system of, ii. 465. loans to planters in, ii. 31a as naval base, ii. 401 et seq. quarantine in, i. 497. telephone system in, ii. 298. yellow fever in, i. 402, 468. St. Michael and St George, Order of, i. 162. St Vincent- agriculture in, ii. 120-128. condition of, ii. 1 19. constitution of, ii. 466. Crown lands, ii. 124. education in, ii. 83. t Vincent — income tax in, ii. 303. land tax, ii. 125-127. law, system of, ii. 466. legislature of, i. 235. loans to planu - in, ii. 134, 311. quarantine in, 197. yaws in, i. 451, 468 ; ii. $01. Salisbury, Lord, on Indian emigra- tion, i. 317. Sanderson, Lord, Chairman of Committee on Emigration in Mauritius, i. 369, 507. Sanderson, Sir John liurdon, i. 414. Sanitary reform, i. 85. Sanitation Acts, i. 85. Sanskrit, study of, ii. 43, 45. Sarawak, system of law in, ii. 452. Sauzier, M., ii. 502. Savings banks, Mr. Whitbread on, i. 84. Scarisbrick, Rishop, i. 245 ; ii. 105. Schlich, Sir William — Forestry in B> itish Empire, cit. i. 20. Forestry, Manual of, cit. ii. 142, 156. on forest produce, ii. 142. on forestry in Ceylon, ii. 144. on forestry in Mauritius, ii. 177. on forestry in Straits Settle- ments, ii. 156. on forestry, protective purposes of, ii. 144. Schombergk, Robert Hermann, mission to British Guiana, ii. 3»4. Schombergk's line, ii. 316. Schools of Tropical Medicine, i. 410; 4 IS. 426-436. Schools {sub Education). Scholarships {sub Education). Secession, War of, i. 147. Secretary of State, work of, i. 197. Self-governing colonies, admini- strative control of, ii. 369. area of, i. 2. conditions of, i. 34, 35. constitutional development of, i. i73-'75- (.overnors of, i. 208. Self-government, colonial — Beaconsfield, Lord, on, i. 167. conditions of, i. 238. 552 fNDEX Separation, policy of, rtftrencet to, «• 34. 95. 96. 981 "Oi, 103, 105, 109, III, 113, lai, 134, 140, 142, 168. S^gn^, Mme. de, i. 374. Sewwrd, W. H., and American colonial expansion, i. 149. Sex ratio of immigrants, i. 394, 301. Seychelles — constitution of, i. 227. law, system of, in, ii. 4^5. vanilla, cultivation of, li. 136. Shell mounds of British Guiana, ii. Sierra Leone — constitution of, i. 227. law, systen of, ii. 455. railways in, ii. 256. Singapore — botanic gardens, ii. 158. forestry in, ii. 168. opium trafHc in, i. 507. Single Chamber legislature, i. 256. Sinhalese in Ceylon, i. 381 ; ii. 18. Slavery {see Abolition of> Sleeping sickness- Sir David Bruce and, i. 399, 446. Bureau for study of, i. 453. Commission on, i. 414, 417, 4^ 452. tsetse fly, relation to, 1. 399. in Uganda, i. 447, 498. Smith, Adam, on RighttoWork,i.88. Smith, Mr. Goldwin, on Colonial policy, i. 96. Smuggling in England, i. 51. Social Reform in England, i. 87 et seq. Society of Comparative Legislation, i. 303. Soltivedel, Dr., ii. 141. Somaliland Protectorate, system of law in, ii. 459. South Africa {see also Transvaal) — colonial policy in, i. 1 13 seg. Dutch in, i. lis, 179- racial differences in, i. 1 14. South African Grondwet, i. 1 14, 394. South African Union, i. 179. Souti. African War — Crown Agents' transactions during, ii. 221. troops sent from Mauritius to, ii. 418, 434- South African War- vote for sick and wounded by Council of Mauritius, ii. 433. Southern Nigeria, constitution of, 1.337. Spices, export from Grenada, ii. 338. Stanmore, Lord, i. 335 ; ii. 68, 1 53, 153. 179- Stephen, Sir Fitzjames, Criminal Code of, i. 286. Stobs, abandonment, as training ground, ii. 408. Storekeeper-(>eneral in Mauritius, ii. 516-519. Storms, law of, ii. 269. Straits Settlements — constitution of, i. 227. contribution to Army funds, ii. 428. forestry in {see Forestry), immigration in, i. 50S-5 ; law, system of, ii. 450. mortality of Tamil population, i. 508. opium traffic in, i. 507. Struggle for control of Tropics, i. 27, 13s. '77, 3". 3'2, 370. Suez Canal, effects of opening on Crown colonies, ii. 404, 429. Sugar industry- Lord Beaconsfield on, i. 5, 136. bounties on beet sugar, abolition of, ii. 129. in British Guiana, i. 348 ; ii. 141, 325. 326. Brussels Convention, conse- quences of, ii. 129. Sugar in Crown colonies in general, i. 7-8. discovery of seed of cane sugar, ii. 141. foreign policy with regard to, ii. 128. in Grenada, ii. 228. insurance of sugar crops, ii. 374. M'Kinley tariff, li. 233, 304. in Mauritius, ii. 133, 522. in West Indies, ii. 128, 335, 326. world's crop, i. 6. Sumangala, High Priest in Ceylon, i. 510; ii. 43. Sumatra, timber in, ii. 168. INDEX 553 Surra- expedition to Congo, i. 447. expedition to Gambia, i. 447. in Mauritius, i. 483, 485, 487 ; ii. 357. Swamy, Sir Coonura, ii. 81. Swan River Settlement, 1. 123 et sef. Swaziland, system of law in, li. 453- Swettrabam, Sir Frank- on Colonial Office, i. 199. on mortality among immigrants in Malay States, i. J09. and study of tropical diseases in Federated Malay States, i. 428. Symonds, O. L., on cocoa, i. 14. Syphilis, i. 4$i, 498. Tamils— in Ceylon, i. 381 ; ii. 18. in Straits Settlements, i. 508. T.ipioca cultivation in Malacca, ii. 167. Tariff system of Crown colonies, ii. 300, 301, 304-307. in Europe, i. 89, 91. Taxation — Mr. Lowe on colonial taxation, 1867, i. 143. Coal tax in St. Lucia, ii. 249. difficulties of, in Crown colonies, ii. 246, 247. Export duties in Grenada, ii. i 227-248. j Export duties, objections of 1 Home Government to, ii. 302. j Income tax, ii. 303, 304, 522. Land tax, ii. \2y127, 233. in Mauritius, ii. 522, 523. in St. Vincent, ii. 115-127. Taylor, Sir Henry — Autobiography of, i. 201, 251. on Canadian relations, i. 109. on Colonial Office, i. 182. on Criminal Code of Sir Fitz- James Stephens, i. 286. on military expenditure, i. 109, 121. Tea, production of, in Crown colonies, i. la in Ceylon, i. 11-13. introduction of tea plant, ii. 147. taxation on, ii. 302. i Teak, ii. 142. | Telegraph -iystem to Crown colo- nies, ii. 293. Telephone systems, ii. 298. Temperance, i. $00-^ 92. Father Mathew's work for, i. 84. Temple of the Sacred Tooth, Ceylon, ii. 18. Test Acts, 1673-1685, 1. 76. 1 neosophist movement, ii. 8a Thiselton Uyer, Sir W., ii. iK. on forest policy in Straits Mttle- ments, li. 114, 161 -170. on services of Kew, ii. 117. Thompson, Mr. A., Re[>ort on Forestry in Mauritius, ii. 179. Threepenny postage rate, ii. 277. im Thurn, Mr. Everard— appointed Government Agent in N.VV. Provinces, ii. 345. Memorandum ii. 347. References to, pp. 317-331. Tick fever, i. 449. Tidworth, expenditure on barracks at, ii. 408. Timber (see Forestry). Timehti, cit. ii. 361. Tobacco, production of, in Crown colonies, i. 16. Tobago, constitution of, i. 280. law, system of, ii. 464. de Tocqueville on equality of opportunity, i. 61. Tolerati^n Act, i. 76. Transp: irt — Crown Agents' services in nego- tiating loans for, ii. 225. in Crown colonies, ii. 225-262. in Grenada, Road Fund for, ii. 232, 234, 238. in Mauritius, i. 486 ; ii. 259. railways .w.). West Indian Mail service, ii. 251. in Windward Islands, ii. 226. Transportation — abolition of, i. 129. in Australia, i. 126. Committee of Inquiry, 1837, i, 115, 126. Uarwin on, i. 1 28. Sir W. Molesworth on, i. 115,129. in South Africa, i. 115. Treasury, Imperial, responsibility for finance of Crown colonies, ii. 2IO, 211. 554 INDEX Treaty of Parit, 1815, i. 33, 37. Trent affair, i. 108. Treves, Sir Frederick, on defence of St. Lucia, ii. 403. Tribes in British Guiana, ii. 323. Trinidad, constitution of, ii. 337. law, system of, ii. 464. mineral resources of, i. 34. Trinity, as law of existence, ii. 98. Tropical Colonies, colonial policy in, i. 135-145 (Mf CS. 325- Wakefield, (jibbon, on Art of col- nnisation, i. 134, 130, loS. War, Mr. Gladstone on, i. 53. Waraniuri mission station.!!. 3 1 8,32 1 . " Warren Hastings, ' wreck of, ii. iii. Washington, Hooker, !. 3^^7,388,393. Wci-hai-wei, constitution of, i. 337. law, by stem of, ii. 449. Wellington, Duke of, and Catholic Emancipation liill, i. 77. Wesleyan Churches in British Guiana, ii. 108. Wesleyan Mission in Jaliiu>. ii. 66. West Africa — colonial policy in, i. 139, mortality in, i. 403. ralKvays of, ii. 2^2. settlements in, i. 143. West Indies — Agriculture, Imperial Commis- sioner for, ii. 1 29, 13.:. Imperial Department, genesis of, ii. 1 16, 134. Botanic stations in, ii. 128, 130. constitution of, i. 229, 333. defence of, ii. 377. export duties, li. 227-348, 303. forestry, ii. 175-177. fruit trade in, li. 251. Iei;islative system, i. 334-341 ; ii. 31 1, loan to planters, ii. 310. sugar in, ii. 128, 325, 326. IVe.t/ Indian /iul/etitt, ii. 131. West Indian mail service, ii. 251. West Indian Regiment, withdrawal from British (iuiana, ii. 370, 378, 39'- West Indian Royal Commission, 1897, ii. 250, 310. Western Pacific High Commission, ii. 227. Whitbread, Mr., on nAtional educa- tion, i. 83. on .Savings Hanks, i. 84. Widyodaya college, Ceylon, ii, 43. Willis, J. C, Agrkulhtrt im tki Tyjphs, i. 7. Windward Islands — churclfs in, i. 109. crimin.t. code, rsvision of, i. 383, 285-287. I defence of, ii. 401-407 j drink traffic in, i. 503. ' export duties, ii. 237, 241. I law in, i. 2%\ ; ii. 46;. I legislature . ' i. 21' quarantine, 1. 495, 497. transport in, ii. 226 (t sig. Wingfield, Undersecretary of State, letter from Sir C. Hruce, ii. 418. Wireless telegraphy, ii. 27^. Wodehouse, Sir Philip, on immigra- tion, i. 313. Woodcock, Mr., ii. $03. Vaws, i. 451, 468 ; ii. 120. i Yellow fever, i. 402, 445 ; ii. 501. I in Cuba, i. 445. ! in Panama, i. 403. { in .St. Lucia, i. 402, 468. I in West Indies, i. 49i6. I Yoloff, Plague camp in Mauritius, ! '• 477- I Yorkshire Light Infantry, de- spatched to South African War, ii. 418. Young, Arthur, on colonial posses- sions, i. 95. Zanzibar, system of law in, ii. 460. Zollverein, proposed for Crown colonies, ii. 305, 306. /lulu W.'ir, .Mauritian troops de- spatched to, ii. 417. Glasgow: piintbd at the univbrsitv peess cy robekt macliihcsb a.nd co. ltd. C E Y L O M Soil ^ jmtit mum III » t * Uadn llfai mill.. I I'o LuL S (jBntiah I — 4- ■ tr W.af Gr— nwich " THE WINDWARD ISLANDS Sc«l» I:887,0't0, 14 EBf;h»b tu I Iiirh I rj » M ? !P _ :lu