tn
THEAEMPIRE
REVIEW
EDITED BY
SIR C. K1NLOCH-COOKE
VOLUME XII
LONDON
MACM1LLAN AND CO., LIMITED
1907
DA
10
C55
V.U
LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAK CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
OUKK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND OKEAT WINDMILL STREET, W.
CONTENTS.
I PAGE
THE NEW CONSTITUTIONS: POINTS FOR*;CoNSiDBRATioN."By THE
EDITOR .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1
ISLAM IN FERMENTATION. By EDWARD DICBY, C.B 18
THE KAFFIR AS A WORKER. By L. E. NEAME 32
THE AUSTRALIAN RABBIT PEST. By FRANK S. SMITH (of
Victoria, Australia) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 40
FARM-LIFE IN RHODESIA. By GERTRUDE PAGE .. .. 49, 155
A MODERN MAORI WEDDING. By Mrs. MASSY 56
3EA-DYAK LEGENDS. By the Rev. EDWIN H. GOMES, M.A. 62, 170
IMPERIAL LITERATURE 77
INDIAN AND COLONIAL INVESTMENTS. By TRUSTEE 81, 180, 275,
361, 441, 514
CORRESPONDENCE.
(i) THE COLONIAL OFFICE AND THE CROWN COLONIES .. .. 94
(ii) Is ST. HELENA TO BE ABANDONED? .. .. .. .. 95
THE MEETING OF THE MONARCHS. By EDWARD DICBY, C.B. 97
MR. HALDANE'S ARMY.
(i) By Major-General Sir ALFRED TURNER, K.C.B. .. .. 110
(ii) By Captain KINCAID-SMITH, M.P. .. .. ... .. 119
DO SMALL GRAZING FARMS PAY IN AUSTRALIA? By CRIPPS
CLARK 126
HOW TO EXTEND CANADIAN TRADE. By J. S. HART (of
Toronto) 133
A PLEA FOR CIVIC RIGHTS FOR WOMEN. By MILDRED RANSOM 142
MAGIC AMONG CERTAIN EAST AFRICAN TRIBES. By HILDB-
GARDB HlNDE 150
iv Contents
PACK
THE WEST COAST SOUNDS OF NEW ZEALAND. By E. I.
MASSY 168
FOREIGN AFFAIRS. By EDWARD DICEY, C.B. ..193,307,876,468
THE SHIFTING OF AUTHORITY: DANGER OF PAROCHIALISM. By
R. J. M 205
THE UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG. By HUBERT READE .. 218
CARE OF THE SICK AND HURT IN OUR MERCHANT NAVY.
By HAMILTON GRAHAM LANGWILL, M.D., F.R.C.P.E. .. .. 220
SUGGESTED TRANSVAAL LAND BANK. By A. ST. GEORGE
RYDER, J.P., R.P.A. (Lately Financial Comptroller of the Transvaal
Government Departments of Lands, Surveys, Agricultu/re, Irriga-
tion, and Water Supply) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 229
THE FEDERAL CAPITAL OF AUSTRALIA. By VIATOR .. ..243
COTTON-GROWING IN EGYPT. By WILLIAM C. MACKENZIE .. 251
BUILDERS OF THE EMPIRE : SIB AUGUSTUS C. GREGORY, K.C.M.G.
By JOSHUA GREGORY .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 255
THE PROBLEM OF THE SEA-DYAK IN SARAWAK. By the Rev.
EDWIN H. GOMES, M.A 264
THE IDEAL COMMERCE PROTECTOR. By R. E 270
AMERICAN FISHING RIGHTS AND NEWFOUNDLAND : POSITION
OF THE ISLAND COLONY. By THE EDITOR .. .. .. .. 289
THE NEW HEBRIDES CONVENTION. By THE EDITOR .. ..320
THE NAVY AND THE COLONIES. By CHARLES STUART-LINTON .. 330
GREAT BRITAIN IN NORTH CHINA. By KENNETH BEATON .. 339
AUSTRALIA AND THE EMPIRE. By RICHARD ARTHUR, M.L.A.
(President of t7ie Immigration League of Australia) .. .. .. 34P
MEMORIES OF MAORILAND. By E. I. M -.nr .. .. 353, *
THE CENTRAL EMIGRATION BOARD, r IE EDITOR ..
AUSTRALIA AS SHE IS. ON THE EVE - ^EBAL ELECTION.
By G. H. M. ADDISON (of Brisbane) ..
THE NATIVE PROBLEM IN NATAL. By MAOKICU' ; .' ^NS,,
C.M.G., M.L.A 393
THE WORKING OF TAXATION ON UNIMPROVED LAND .. 407
IN NEW SOUTH WALES. By "^T T HALL (Acting G-overnment
Statistician), and L. S. i V«R (First Commissioner of
Taxation) 408
IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. By ARTHUR SEABCY (Deputy Commissioner
of Taxes) 412
IN NEW ZEALAND. By P. HEYBS (Commissioner of Taxes) .. 415
Contents v
PAGE
ARMY SCHOOLS FROM WITHIN. INEQUALITIES AND POSSIBILITIES.
By AN ARMY SCHOOLMASTER .. .. .. .. .. .. 421
A GENERAL MERCHANT'S VIEWS ON PROTECTION. BRITISH
TRADE WITH GERMANY REVIEWED. By GENERAL MERCHANT .. 425
OLD CAPE TOWN. VAN RIEBECK AND His COMRADES. By E. L.
McPHERSON .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 431
FOREIGN POLICY AND COLONIAL INTERESTS. By Lt.-Col.
ALSAGBR POLLOCK .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 438
THE TRANSVAAL CONSTITUTION AND THE COLOUR QUES-
TION. By SIR CHARLES BRUCE, G.C.M.G 453
OUR PROTECTORATE IN EAST AFRICA. ITS PROGRESS AND
POSSIBILITIES. By The LORD HINDLIP .. .. .. .. .. 476
THE PROBLEM OF THE UNEMPLOYED. SOME THOUGHTS AND
SUGGESTIONS. By HENRY SAWYER .. .. .. .. .. 490
ALUMINIUM AND STEEL. THE ELECTRIC FURNACE. By E.
RISTORI, Assoc.M.Inst.C.E., F.R.A.S 496
LAND INDUSTRIES IN AUSTRALIA. By J. S. DUNNET .. .. 502
30o t a
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•UJVKS
THE EMPIRE
REVIEW
"Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home,** — Byron.
VOL. XII. AUGUST, 1906. No. 67.
THE NEW CONSTITUTIONS
POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION
BY THE EDITOR
THE Ministerial statement on the new Constitutions promised
by the Liberal Government to the Transvaal and Orange River
Colony may be expected at any moment. Indeed, I have reason
to believe that the Prime Minister intends, if possible, to make
his pronouncement before the month of July closes. That it will
be framed on the Report of the Ridgeway Commission is by no
means certain, but as the Commission was sent out to obtain
information for the Government it may be assumed that the
Cabinet will very carefully consider what the Commissioners
have to say. In that lies the hope of the British party in South
Africa.
It is no part of my purpose to try and anticipate, even if I
were in a position to do so, the terms of the Ministerial statement,
but it must be patent to all that on the decision of the Cabinet
rests the future prosperity or decadence of the new Colonies,
while the consequences of their judgment involve the still more
vital question of British supremacy in South Africa. It will be
remembered, although a certain class of people seem to have
forgotten the fact, it was to secure this supremacy that the
blood of the Empire was shed without stint and the treasury of
the Motherland pledged to a payment of ^6250,000,000. In these
circumstances is it surprising that the conclusions of His
Majesty's Ministers are being awaited with intense anxiety both
by Britons at home and by those of our race domiciled in the
King's Dominions oversea ?
VOL. XII.— No. 67. B
2 The Empire Review
Unfortunately we have in the present House of Commons a
considerable number of legislators, well acquainted, no doubt,
with parochial duties and probably well versed in the administra-
tion of local affairs, but entirely new to the broader atmosphere
of Imperial politics. The training and up-bringing of these
legislators seem to render them incapable of looking at the affairs
of South Africa except through spectacles which dwarf their
vision and present a distorted picture of the situation. Even in
the Cabinet, where the same excuse of novelty is absent, we find
Ministers still prejudiced in favour of the opinions with regard to
the Labour policy of the Transvaal which they advanced at the
General Election. This section of the Prime Minister's followers,
whether from a belief in their own infallibility or from a sense of
loyalty to the constituents they wittingly or unwittingly deceived,
insist upon connecting the Constitution question with that of
Chinese Labour, and connecting the two things so closely as to
refuse support to any proposals which do not make it certain that
the conditions of granting a new Constitution to the Transvaal
will result in depriving the Witwatersrand mines of indentured
labour.
To the world at large such tyranny on the part of a minority,
especially within an Empire which has built up its great position
with freedom of contract as a fundamental principle in its code
of commercial morality, passes all understanding. In the minds
of British residents in South Africa, however much they differ and
have differed as to the advisability of responsible or representative
government, the same opinion prevails. And, say what you will,
a like view is taken by the Dutch. For while Het Volk are
quite ready to support any condition put forward on this side in
return for a similar promise of support at Westminster in the
matter of Boer aspirations, yet, in common with all white
residents in the Transvaal, Het Volk are well aware that it is
impossible to carry on the mining industry as it should be carried
on so as to insure prosperity and a contented community, without
the importation, for some years to come, of a constant supply,
limited, it may be, of unskilled labour. The mind of the Boer is
very difficult to fathom, but as regards the Constitution question
it may be summed up thus : — Take all you can get for nothing
and barter for the remainder, but always keep a door open for
escape in case of emergency.
If any doubt exists in the minds of the people here that the
British Party in the Transvaal are seeking to obtain concessions
in the Constitution which will make the tenure of Chinese Labour
secure, let me once and for all remove that doubt by quoting from
a speech made quite recently at Krugersdorp by Mr. Abe Bailey,
himself a prominent Progressive and one of the delegates to this
The New Constitutions 3
country to place the case for the British settlers before the Home
Government. Mr. Bailey, than whom it would be difficult to find
a more representative man or one more in touch with Imperial
sentiment, while convinced that a plentiful supply of cheap
labour is absolutely necessary to establish the mining industry
in the Transvaal on a sound basis, speaks out straight and strong.
" With regard to the Chinese," he says, " there must be one
understanding, and that is that there can be no barter — no
principles can be given away for the Chinese. The question
is whether they are for the interest of South Africa or whether
they are not. If not in the interest of South Africa, then they
should not remain here." Could anything be more clear or more
outspoken.
Such a patriotic and statesmanlike utterance puts to shame
that band of Little Englanders who, in the guise of legislators,
assume without any hall-mark whatever, that they have been
returned to Parliament to besmirch the character of their kinsmen
in the Transvaal and to pose as authorities on the working of
an industry concerning which they have neither experience or
knowledge.
But let me quote at greater length from Mr. Bailey's speech.
With Eesponsible Government we can join together in
pulling the country together, but we can only do that by first
establishing the mining industry on a sound basis, and that
sound basis can only be obtained by a plentiful supply of cheap
labour. I do not mind whether it is native or Chinese. If it
is to be Chinese, due protection must be given to those who
live near the mines and who live within the zone of the
depredations and outrages. The life of a Boer is as good
as the life of an Englishman, and the life of a Boer or an
Englishman in this country is as good as the life of any
individual in any other country. But in the supply of their
labour they must impress upon Downing Street the necessity
of divorcing Colonial administration from party politics.
There can never be any harmony between the Colonies and
England so long as party politics are allowed to intervene.
I am one who believe that we should be able and that
we should be left to work out our own problems. I do
not believe that the speeches made in England for the purpose
of tickling the palates of the electors are the kind of speeches
that will hold the Empire together. The leaders of Het Volk
have shown a disposition to oppose the importation of labour.
Well, I can only say that I do not think they are serious
in the matter. I should oppose that too if I did not
consider that native labour or unskilled cheap labour was
required so that the white man might hold his true position
in this country. By providing unskilled labour for the
mining industry we provide a market for the farmer and
also provide him with labour to supply that market.
B 2
4 The Empire Review
Dr. Engelenburg, in an interview with Mr. Stead, said
that we were prepared to barter about the Chinese. I can
assure you that I personally am not prepared to barter.
Everything in this country, and one might say throughout
South Africa, is a superstructure on the mining industry, and
we must persuade Het Volk that it is only by putting this
industry on a proper basis that we can benefit an unfortu-
nate class in this country known as the " poor whites," prin-
cipally Dutch people who have drifted into the towns and
become submerged, and who are living what might be called
a precarious life. These men and women have got into that
position through no fault of their own, they are simply
the children of circumstances. Some have been brought to
the position through fighting courageously and honourably
for their country. Some of them have been brought to that
position through isolation from industries, some through
want of education. It is the duty of the State to raise
these people and place them back upon the soil. It is the
duty of the State to build some industrial schools where
these unfortunate people could acquire a trade, and where
they could learn that it is not degrading to do honest work.
It is the duty of the State to provide these people with
education free, and to take it to their very door if necessary.
If we adopt this policy we shall be able to bombard and
break down the barrier of racialism, and we shall be able to
see both races working together.
So much for the view of a Progressive leader. The other day
I was talking to a Dutch gentleman recently arrived from South
Africa who had large farming interests in the Transvaal. And
this is what he said : —
As for the nonsense talked here about the Chinaman not
being free, he is as free as anyone else, and that is one of our
grievances. It is this freedom, not indentured labour, that
the Boers object to. We want to see a limit placed on the
supply and the compound system enforced. And you may
take it from me that when the Transvaal gets responsible
government, if the Dutch have a majority, we shall have no
more Chinamen running about the country as they do now.
What puzzles me is that such a situation as has arisen in
your Parliament could be possible. How can the business of
the British Empire be carried on and carried on successfully
without continuity of policy. Here you have one political
party of the State expending £250,000,000 in fighting us for
the avowed purpose of securing British supremacy in South
Africa. No sooner is this accomplished than you have another
political party coming into power and seriously discussing a
policy, in part carried into effect, which must prejudice, if
it does not undermine that supremacy. Surely £250,000,000
is a large amount even for Great Britain to play shuttlecock
with, and if British supremacy was so necessary under one
The New Constitutions 5
administration, I fail to see why it should be regarded as a
bagatelle under the succeeding administration.
Already the British are leaving the Transvaal. The
exodus began some months ago and has been going on ever
since. Indeed, if things continue as they now are, you will
soon find it difficult to get a British majority, do what you
will with the census, the register, or the constitution. But
while the good class of British are leaving, another class is
comimg into Johannesburg from other parts of South Africa.
Just as your farm labourers flock to London in search of
employment that will give them higher wages, so the out-of-
works from other parts of South Africa flock to Johannesburg,
which is now virtually looked upon as the capital city. At
the present moment the place is filled with these unfor-
tunate men. Speaking as a Dutch farmer, with half the
mines closed down, which would be the case if the Chinese
were to go, we might get some native labour for our
farms. But the country, of course, would suffer Whereas,
with the mines worked at full speed, South Africa would be
in a prosperous condition, and so Boers and British alike
would profit. The British exodus strengthens our political
position, seeing that the Boers own most of the land outside
the Witwatersrand district.
It seems incredible that any Government should be willing to
throw away £250,000,000 and risk our supremacy in South Africa
merely to gain a temporary victory in the game of party politics.
Nor is it at all certain that even if this be done victory would
be gained. For the Government have admitted their inability to
break contracts, and there is little doubt that, whether a British
majority or a Dutch majority be in power, the Transvaal Govern-
ment will do as they please with regard to the kind of unskilled
labour they may think fit to employ in the Witwatersrand
mines.
Of course we have the veto, the power of which Mr. Churchill
has recently reminded us, but the veto is no new thing ; it has
been in force ever since responsible government was given to
Newfoundland, the first self-governing colony under the Crown.
That it will be used if the Transvaal Government attempts to
pass any legislation which conflicts with the comity of nations
or interferes with the treaty obligations of Great Britain goes
without saying, just as it has been used in other colonies. But
it certainly will not and cannot be used if the Transvaal Govern-
ment elect to carry on the importation of Chinese Labour on
conditions similar to those which the present Government has
sanctioned. You can't say a colony under self-government shall
not do what you allow the same colony to do under Crown
Government.
The Prime Minister's diplomacy in appearing to give two
6 The Empire Review
heads to the Colonial Office and telling off, so to speak, Lord
Elgin to lead the constitutional party and Mr. Churchill to lead
the irreconcilables, may be effective as a means of keeping his
majority intact, but such tactics are not understood in the colonies
and cannot be explained, and without explanation they are apt to
seriously embarrass our Imperial obligations. I do not say or
imply that the irreconcilables will influence the Government
decision in the present instance, but we have seen what their
influence has done in the Education Bill, and still more flagrantly
in the Trades Disputes Bill. Hence it becomes necessary to point
out to the Government the consequences of giving weight to their
views when settling the new constitutions.
I am not proposing to discuss here the ethics of Chinese Labour.
That I have done elsewhere, and I see no reason to add or take
away from what I have written or said on the subject, but I
would warn the Government, and especially the section of their
supporters to whom I have alluded above, not to be too san-
guine in their expectations as regards the report of the Eidgeway
Commission in this respect. The Commissioners have seen for
themselves, and had every opportunity of meeting all classes on
the spot. That they will hedge as far as possible so as not to put
the Ministry in a difficult position may be assumed, but on the
principle of employing indentured labour, whether Chinese or its
equivalent, in the Witwatersrand mines, I have no hesitation in
prophesying that their opinions will coincide with those I have so
often expressed.
Let me now pass on to the more immediate subject of my
article.
Just as British supremacy in South Africa was the one thing
for which the war was undertaken, so British supremacy in the
Transvaal is the one thing for which the Progressive Party are
fighting. The intimate relationship between the two, to judge
from recent events, does not seem to be appreciated in this country.
Yet the man on the spot, and Lord Elgin has told us that he
should be trusted, knows full well that the only security for
British supremacy in South Africa is British supremacy in the
Transvaal ; in other words, a working British majority in the new
legislative body is the key of the situation. Throw away the key
and you may knock in vain. The Boer party would, with the
help of their associations, Het Volk, Unie, and Bond, hold the
fort against all-comers, unless, indeed, their assailants be armed
assailants, and Boer and Briton be once more pitted against each
other in battle array. But even if the martial spirit of a few
years ago were again to seize hold of the sons of Empire, I
doubt whether the taxpayers of the Motherland would be willing
to come a second time to the rescue.
The New Constitutions 7
But we are told the loss of British supremacy is not possible.
My reply, and the reply of the British on the spot, is that not only
is it possible but it is highly probable, seeing that with a Boer
majority in power in the Transvaal, you will have a Dutch
Government administering both the new colonies as well as the
Cape of Good Hope. That the granting of self-government
to the Orange River Colony must result in that Colony coming
again under Boer government is now admitted on all sides, and
this fact will, I have no doubt, be emphasised in the report
of the Bidgeway Commission, while the next General Election
at the Cape will be the first election after the restoration of the
vote to the rebels, and you have only to look at the present
balance of power in the Legislative Assembly of that Colony to
know what will be the result of the forthcoming appeal to the
constituencies rendered compulsory by the efflux of time. The
only way of holding the balance of power is to see that the con-
ditions of granting a new constitution to the Transvaal make it
an absolute impossibility for the Boers to be in the ascendant,
and the only way this end can be made sure is for the Imperial
Government to study the points drawn up for their considera-
tion by the British party on the spot, and which will be
found, I doubt not, in full detail in the report of the Bidgeway
Commission.
Such comment as the Commissioners may think fit to make
on these points we shall know in due time, that is if the
document is not treated as confidential ; but it is, I think,
an open secret that they will recommend the acceptance by
the Cabinet of the principle of " one vote one value." This
view is also taken by the Westminster Gazette, perhaps the
best informed of the Government organs, and the same
authority tells us that the Commissioners are likely to accept
the proposal of Het Volk for manhood suffrage. This would
seem to imply that a compromise has been arranged. I can
assure the Westminster Gazette that no such compromise has been
or will be made, although it is perfectly correct to say that one of
the two definite changes in the Lyttelton Constitution, proposed
to the Bidgeway Commissioners by Het Volk, was the institution
of manhood suffrage, the other being the establishment of the
old magisterial areas as constituencies. With regard to the
second of these proposals, if the principle of " one vote one
value " be accepted, I see no serious objection to this being
adopted by the Government; but it is quite otherwise as to
manhood suffrage, which would enfranchise the Boer youths and
the squatters (bywoners) on the Dutch farms, and thus strengthen
the Boer position in the Transvaal Parliament.
Keferring to the manhood suffrage question, the Westminster
8 The Empire Review
Gazette, as if to prepare the public for the concession to Het
Volk, says :
It seems to us essential that the franchise should be of a kind which will put
the young men and the farmers in the same position as the young men on the
Band, and the manhood test is so much the easiest way of doing this that it
had better be accepted if possible. No doubt it will include the bywoner class,
whom the Boers probably, as well as the British, would prefer to exclude ; but
after all, in a democratic State, even this despised class has its rights, and the
aim of the Colony should be rather to raise them than to exclude them from
citizenship.
This is a piece of special pleading which is hardly likely to
deceive any person who knows the facts, but I can well believe
that it will take in a good many people in this country who natu-
rally sympathise with the broad principles expressed, and which
have been twisted again and again, until in their present applica-
tion they have no meaning at all. I have stated why the Boers
want to enfranchise the farm youths and the bywoners, a course
avoided by the Westminster Gazette, in spite of the fact that
manhood suffrage will give the Boers two and perhaps four more
seats than they can hope to obtain under the Lyttelton franchise.
Does the Westminster Gazette know what Het Volk knows and
what the British party in the Transvaal also know, that even two
more seats given to the Boers would destroy all chance of a
working British majority ? I would commend this to the editor's
notice.
On the merits also there are strong objections to Het Volk's
proposal of manhood suffrage. It will introduce another serious
difficulty into the unification of South Africa. At present the fran-
chise in the self-governing colonies in South Africa is surrounded
by provisions and restrictions very similar to those set out in the
Lyttelton constitution. To introduce a lower standard in the new
colonies would at once create a constitutional difficulty, for we
should have one status of franchise in the Cape of Good Hope
and Natal, and another — a lower one — in the new colonies. Then
again we must remember that there is the coloured vote to be
considered. In the Cape of Good Hope we have a coloured
franchise ; it is not proposed to give a coloured franchise in the
new colonies. Already there is some opposition to this on the part
of the natives, and this opposition will increase fourfold if the
bywoner class are enfranchised and the status of the voter lowered
so as to meet the proposed change. And it certainly would
be very much lowered, seeing that the youths and bywoners,
whom the Boers seek to enfranchise, are admittedly, not indepen-
dently, self-supporting and free from the control of parents or
patrons. Property qualifications, earning power and education, at
present in operation in the older colonies, are the only safeguards
which prevent the white vote being swamped by an overwhelming
coloured vote. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that while
native aspirations for political power may be met by an educa-
tional test, manhood suffrage will again raise the " colour " line,
which has proved so difficult an element to deal with in our
colonial immigration policy.
Manhood suffrage may have to come, and its rejection at this
juncture does not prevent a lesser franchise being given when
the Colony is well on its legs, and the results of the new experi-
ence known. You can always extend a franchise, but you cannot
equally well withdraw what has been granted. Suppose, for in-
stance, manhood suffrage should not only put the Boers in power
in the first parliament, but be the means of keeping them in power,
you could not say " We will alter the franchise." Why, then, give
now what you know to be a mistake, and which may turn out to
be a permanent mistake, when, if things assume the shape the
Boers contend they will on paper and in conversation, the same
change can be made at a future date without incurring any, or at
any rate very little risk ? Surely the proper time to make such
an innovation in the status of the franchise is when federation
is within sight of accomplishment. Then we shall know what
changes it is safe to make, and what changes it would be advisable
to make to meet the wishes, not alone of the Dutch element in
one colony, but of the entire British and Dutch population in
South Africa.
Alluding to the voters' roll, the Westminster Gazette correctly
states that the Progressives are opposed to abolishing the roll
prepared for the Lyttelton Constitution. And on this point the
editorial comment is in agreement with the suggestion made by
the Progressives that it should remain ; but here, again, the true
issue is hidden under some moral precept. This time it is a desir-
ability to end the present term of uncertainty, to get quickly at the
elections, that the spokesman for the Government puts forward.
That is all very well, and it is quite true that no one wants to
wait another six months or more while a new register is being pre-
pared. But that is not the real reason why the Progressives wish
to keep the present register. They wish to keep it because it is
the latest and most up-to-date record of voters, and because its
accuracy is indisputable. It was compiled by the present Trans-
vaal Government, of which Sir Richard Solomon is the head, and
it is the only right basis on which to allot the seats. And more
especially is this so as, by its use, any question of bargaining is
removed — an all-important matter if true representation of the
people is to be obtained in the new parliament.
It will be remembered that the Lyttelton Constitution pro-
vided for a nominated executive of seven or nine members, thus
10 The Empire Review
making British supremacy secure both in the power of initiative
resting in the Government and in representation, because with
a nominated executive it would always be possible to add a
certain number of British representatives as the case required.
By giving the Transvaal [Responsible Government, these safe-
guards are surrendered, and so in present circumstances there is
nothing but the voters' roll left to secure a British majority. If
the roll remains as it is, then the Transvaal electoral position
would be as follows : Witwatersrand, 46,203 voters, or deducting
1,300 for Kriigersdorp rural, which is Dutch, a total of 44,903 ;
rest of country, 42,120 voters, or adding Kriigersdorp rural 1,300,
a total of 43,420. Allowing 1,500 voters for each member, which
is the allowance under the Lyttelton Constitution, the ruling body
would consist of 30 members representing the Witwatersrand and
29 members representing the remainder of the country.
As far as can be ascertained, the political composition of such
an assembly would be : —
DlSTBICT.
BRITISH.
HET VOLK.
Witwatersrand
Pretoria
25
4 or 3
5
2 or 3
Kest of Country
2orl
21 or 22
Total
31 or 29
28 or 30
It will therefore be seen that a British majority, even on the
existing voters' roll, is only possible if all British parties in the
Transvaal agree to act together, and that in any event, by far the
largest party representing a single interest in the new parliament
must be Het Volk. So it by no means follows that even a
British majority will necessarily be a working majority, although
it may be assumed that should the matter at issue be a vital one
affecting British supremacy, the British vote would be unanimous.
I mention this to show that there will be plenty of outlet for Boer
statecraft in the new parliament, even if the first election is
conducted on the Lyttelton register.
Het Volk have not failed to represent to their allies in the
British Parliament and elsewhere in this country that British
supremacy in South Africa and its correlative a British majority
in the Transvaal Parliament as used by the Progressives are
merely synonymous with dominations by a party or parties
described from time to time as Band, Johannesburg, Mining,
or Capitalist. Needless to say this is only another means adopted
by Het Volk to gain the support of the Liberal Government,
which, rightly or wrongly, they regard as being opposed to
capital. No doubt this view has been strengthened, if not
The New Constitutions 11
generated, by the attitude of the Liberal Party towards Chinese
Labour. Be the reason, however, as it may, there is no truth in
the representation.
But why should capitalists be "taboo" simply because they
happen to be resident in a British Colony, and that Colony the
Transvaal? In this country no sane person wants to endanger
capital. It is true that the small and insignificant party known
as the Social Democrats are politically opposed to capital in
any form, but that is not the view of the British working-man,
much less of the British Parliament. For myself I can see no
difference between the mining industry and the cotton industry
qua industry. Just as the whole of Lancashire is dependent on
the cotton industry, so the whole of the Transvaal is dependent
on the gold-mining industry. Further, the cotton industry is
reflected in almost every other industry in this country ; so it is
with the gold-mining industry in South Africa. Stop the progress
of one and you injure the commerce of Great Britain. Stop the
progress of the other and you inflict a like injury on every com-
mercial undertaking in South Africa. How can such a course be
justified by any British parliament ? Much more by a parliament
containing so large a direct representation of the working classes
as the present House of Commons at Westminster.
On the following page will be found an analysis of the
Witwatersrand voters and districts, together with a list of the
candidates supported by the Progressives. The analysis dis-
poses at once of any assertion that the Witwatersrand area
represents either one interest or one particular class of the
community, while the details given in the list of candidates
very forcibly endorse the same facts. Further, they show
that a British majority is only possible, if all shades of British
opinion combine and rank themselves under one political
party.
The endeavour on the part of Het Volk to throw dust in the
eyes of the British Government on the supremacy and majority
question reminds one of the steps which led up to the 1881
Convention, in which it will be remembered the Boers undertook
to give equal rights and treatment to all white residents in the
Transvaal. We know how that undertaking was carried out-
how that in place of equal rights President Kruger and those
acting with him excluded British settlers from all political rights.
Again, at the Bloemfontein Conference, President Kruger, sup-
ported by Messrs. Smuts, Steyn, and Fischer, the very men
now leading the Boer campaign in the Transvaal and Orange
Eiver Colonies, pointed out that to give the Uitlanders one
quarter of the Baad (the Transvaal Parliament before the war),
would mean practically to surrender their own independence. If
1-2
The Empire Review
TABLE SHOWING ANALYSIS OF WITWATEBSBAND VOTEBS AND DISTBICTS.
District.
Under Lyttelton Constitution.
Johannesburg Municipality and suburbs, including!
whole central mining area ( square miles) . /
Kriigersdorp town and district (ex-Kriigersdorp rural),
with Roodepoort, Maraisburg, and Florida (
square miles)
Germiston, Elsburg, Georgetown, Biksburg, and)
Springs ( square miles) . . . . )
NOTE. — It is estimated that over 30,000 of ..these voters belong
to the class known as " working-men."
Voters. Members.
29,377 say 20
4,200
8
10,730 7
44,307 30
LIST OP CANDIDATES BEPBESENTING THE BBITISH PABTY AT THE FIBST
GENEBAL ELECTION IN THE TBANSVAAL.
Names of Candidates.
Birthplace.
Profession.
Party.
R. Currie ....
Cape Colony
Auctioneer
Progressive.
J. W. Leonard .
do.
Barrister-at-law
do.
Sir G. Farrar . .
England
Financier
do.
Abe Bailey
Cape Colony
do.
do.
H. L. Lindsay .
do.
Solicitor
do.
H. R. Skinner . .
Scotland
Mining Engineer
do.
J. de Roos
Cape Colony (Dutch]
Storekeeper
Independent.
Raitt
Scotland
Mechanic
Labour.
D. Forbes . . .
Transvaal
Farmer
Progressive.
Everard ....
England
do.
Independent.
J. A. Neser
Cape Colony (Dutch)
Solicitor
do.
Shanks ....
Scotland
Mason
Labour.
H. B. Papenfus .
(Orange River 1
\ Colony (Dutch) /
Barrister
Responsible.
E. Hancock .
Cape Colony
Agent
do.
J. W. Quinn . . .
England
Baker
do.
Sir P. FitzPatriok .
Cape Colony
Financier
Progressive.
J. Zeederberg
do. (Dutch
Contractor
Independent.
Sir R. Solomon .
do.
Barrister
do.
G. Mitchell . . .
England
Merchant
Progressive.
Sir A. Woole-Samp-'
son
Cape Colony
Speculator
do.
J. A. van der Byl
do. (Dutch)
Farmer
Independent.
Sir Wm. van Hul-i
steyn . .j
Holland (Dutch)
.Solicitor
Progressive.
W. Hoskin . . .
England
Merchant
do.
Dr. Strachan.
Scotland
Medico
do.
Dr. McNeilly . .
do.
do.
do.
E. Williams . . .
Wales
Mining Engineer
do.
A. Johnstone.
England
Merchant
( Transvaal
\ Political.
E. Chappell . . .
do.
do.
Progressive.
W. Dalrymple . .
Scotland
[Managing Direc-j
tor. A n g 1 o- .'
Progressive
[ French )
R. K. Loveday . .
Natal
Surveyor
(Transvaal Politi-
l cal
H. Graumann .
P. Duncan .
England
Scotland
Speculator
Col. Secretary
Independent
do.
H. Crawford .
do.
'Retired business\
do.
manager /
H. Wyndham . .
D. P. Chaplin . .
England
do.
Farmer
Financier
Progressive
do.
W. F. Lance . . .
do.
Solicitor
do.
W. K. Tucker . .
Cape Colony
Surveyor
Responsible
The New Constitutions 13
Boer supremacy in the Transvaal was to be endangered by a
quarter of the Raad being assigned to the Uitlanders, how much
more will British supremacy be imperilled by placing Het Volk in
a majority in the new Parliament ?
Mr. Gladstone turned a deaf ear to the appeal of the British
settlers in the Transvaal in 1881, with what disastrous results to
the British nation we all know. It is impossible to suppose that
Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman will take the same course in 1906,
seeing the blood that has been shed and the treasure that has
been spent to set aright the errors of the former Liberal Prime
Minister.
As to what the British will do if they get a majority in the
new Transvaal Parliament, I cannot do better than refer my
readers to another portion of the same speech of Mr. Abe Bailey's
to which I have before alluded. Referring to the aims of the
Progressive Party, Mr. Bailey said : —
It has been stated by many injudicious critics that the
Progressive Party is a jingo party, that it is a party that
tends to foster racial hatred. I wish to repudiate that.
The Progressive Party has issued a manifesto, a manifesto
on the lines of a little bit for all. It means " peace, progress
and plenty." Het Volk has not issued a manifesto. The
policy they have advocated up to the present must lead to
stagnation, must lead to unrest, must lead to want of con-
fidence, and must lead to depression. Het Volk has adopted
an attitude of threat and blackmail to the leaders of the
mining industry should they take part in politics. Well,
all I can say is this, that I do not care who the man is or
what he comes forward for, whether the mining industry or
whether it be for the farmer, I have no feeling in the matter.
I say that a man has as much right to come forward if he is
poor as a man who is rich. I will, however, say this, that
if the attitude they have adopted is against the mining
industry it will injure themselves and recoil upon them
like the boomerang. I want those gentlemen — those who
believe in the Progressive Party — to go through the country
teaching the doctrines of the Progressive Party ; to show by
every kind thought and deed that it is their intention to
co-operate with the Dutch with feelings of common interest,
mutual forbearance and self -helpfulness.
I hope we are getting to the end of racialism, for
both races are here to stay. This fact reminds me of a
story which was told in relation to the last election at the
Cape, when one of the candidates at an election meeting got
up and said that he had a native "boy" whom he had
employed for twelve years, and that the " boy " not having
discharged his duty readily, he called him forward and said,
" John, we must part," and the " boy " said, " Baas, are you
going away?" Well, in so far as the question of the races
14 The Empire Review
is concerned, if one of the races takes up an attitude detri-
mental to the other, that last race has the right to say, " Are
you going away ? " Having decided that both races are
here to stay, we must in this election have no personal
matters interfering. We must have no bitterness, we
must simply look at the broad issues. If you go in for
racial bitterness you will only widen that gulf of racialism
that unhappily exists at the present time, and make it
more difficult to work together in the future. Surely with
this great country stretching before them from Capetown to
Tanganyika, under the British flag with equal rights, it is
our duty to come to some conclusion as to how we should
develop that country. We must together put our hands
to the plough. We must develop by railways, by irrigation
works, by improving the stock of the country, and by intro-
ducing scientific farming. It is really through the develop-
ment of this country, by making it self-supporting and
stopping the importation of supplies from outside that will
reduce the cost of living.
As a South African speaking to South Africans, I long
for the day when those who were born in this country and
those who have adopted this country as their home can form
a nationalist and Imperialist party, working for South Africa
with the Imperial tie. The Imperial tie combines privileges
and obligations. We must have that Imperial tie to prevent
South Africa from becoming a Tom Tiddler's ground for
other nations to spoil. With this end in view I only hope,
if the Progressive Party come to power, that the Prime
Minister will prove to be a man who has political and
administrative experience, a man who commands the confi-
dence of the British Government and of the British people.
When that day arrives we can safely say to the British
Government : " Leave us in peace and let us work out our
own destiny." For although we are a smaller number in
this country we live on the spot, and consider that we are
better able to judge of what is right or wrong than the fifty
millions who live in England.
Well, Mr. Bailey has told us what the Progressives intend
doing if they get a majority ; let us see what the Boers would do
if they had a majority. Of course, we have nothing definite, but
since the Liberal Government announced the abrogation of the
Lyttelton Constitution and the grant of Eesponsible Government
to the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, the Boer leaders
have been talking. Mr, Steyn, in his letter to his friend Mr. Stead,
says : " Give us control of our own affairs and leave us severely
alone." That is a clear request, but what is the attitude of
Mr. Steyn towards pronounced British policy ? In his speeches
we have had many references to railways, customs, inter-colonial
affairs, South African Constabulary, the Civil Service, education
and the language question. But it does not appear that on any
The New Constitutions 15
one of these matters is Mr. Steyn willing to proceed on the lines
laid down by the representatives of the British Government.
Take again Mr. Smuts, who paid this country what was
invariably alluded to as a " private " visit, but whose real mission
was to put the Boer views before as many members of the Liberal
Government as possible. Not many months ago Mr. Smuts made
a significant speech at Pretoria, in which he set forth a few
items of the Het Volk programme. First he would restore the
old officials to the Civil Service, which meant, of course, that
he would get rid of a certain number of those now in office;
in fact, he admitted this would be the consequence of the new
r&gime, referring to the individuals he would get rid of as the
" superfluous " officials. Then he would rearrange the Education
Department. Now we all know what a Boer rearrangement of
the Education Department would involve — the carrying on by the
State, and of course at the expense of the State, of all education
on Dutch lines and for the benefit of the Dutch Church, the
teachers to be selected by this particular sect. In short, to
finance the Dutch Church out of public funds and make it the
Established Church of the Transvaal. Thirdly, he would apply
the £10,000,000 loan underwritten for the war debt to making
provision for the "poor burghers." Already £3,000,000 of State
money has gone for this purpose, specially allocated by the
British authorities, while other grants have been made with
the same end in view; but these gifts are not enough for Mr.
Smuts, he wants the £10,000,000, and doubtless, if the Boers
obtained a majority, his wants would grow so as to take in further
donations from the Transvaal Treasury.
Other leaders of Boer thought and aspirations have delivered
themselves of speeches indicating similar reforms, all tending to
a return to the ancient order of things so far as appointments go ;
the old police officers, the old railway men, the old magistrates — in
short, all the old officials who did duty, or what corresponded to
duty, in President Kriiger times — are, or as many of them as are
alive, to be reinstated in their old positions. Further items in the
Boer programme include the free issue of arms to burghers and relief
works of various kinds, a favourite pastime of President Kriiger's,
while certain expenses are to be saved by the abolition of the scien-
tific government departments, appliances and laboratories, and of
course no intercolonial protection is to be given to farmers. These
are a few of the changes of which the Boer Party have given
intimation, and as they deal mainly with matters of internal ad-
ministration, the veto of the Crown, which is to save the face of
the Liberal Party so far as regards their attitude towards Chinese
Labour, would not in these cases be available.
Additional consequences, possible with a Boer majority
16 The Empire Review
in the Transvaal, are the control by the Dutch community
of the issue of arms and ammunition, the volunteers, the South
African Constabulary and local police, the location of arsenals,
and the administration of defence forces throughout the
country. In short, unless the British Government are pre-
pared to so arrange the Constitution that a British majority is an
absolute certainty, there is danger of a return to the Kriiger days,
when the Eaad, or rather the President, determined the system
of taxation, the condition of trades and monopolies, the develop-
ment of industries, and the disposal of Government lands. I
would ask the electorate of this country whether these things are
to be, whether we shall give back at the polls what we have ex-
pended so much in blood and treasure to secure by war.
Commenting on the visit of the Kidgeway Commission to
South Africa, Mr. Bailey remarked in the same speech from
which I have already quoted : —
You are all aware that we have been visited by a Com-
mittee with Sir J. West Bidgeway at the head for the
purpose of giving us a constitution which would please
all. I am certain that you will agree with me that that
was impossible. These gentlemen have come here, they
have heard the voice of the different political organisa-
tions, and they have attempted to evolve some settlement
which would please everybody, but unfortunately they have
not been able to put anything forward which would be
accepted by every political organisation. However, the
thanks of the community are due to these gentlemen for
having made their best efforts and having done what they
could to bring them together. It is not for me to say
what that Committee would report, but I will say that
whatever they may report will be carried into effect, and
that Committee and that report will have a profound in-
fluence on the future of the Transvaal, South Africa and
the Empire. I only hope that the Committee will put
forward some arbitrary settlement, for I am quite certain
that it is only with Responsible Government that they
will get rid of the depression which we are now passing
through, and only with Responsible Government will con-
fidence be restored and capital be poured into the country.
Finally, a special word for the Orange River Colony. Self-
government in this case means an actual repetition of Mr. Glad-
stone's policy towards the Transvaal in 1881— retrocession. All
British ideals gone and Boer aspirations taking their place. More-
over, if the Boers obtain a majority in the sister Colony, what is to
prevent a coalition taking place similar to that which took place
between the Transvaal and Orange Free State Governments before
the war ? In this instance it may not be an offensive and defen-
The New Constitutions 17
sive alliance, but it can and doubtless will be a business-like under-
standing which would mean the withdrawal of the two colonies from
the Customs Union and the railway arrangement. A new tariff
framed against the interests of Natal and Bhodesia would, in all
probability, follow and a possible federation of the Transvaal and
Orange River Colony and the Cape of Good Hope on Boer lines,
in which event Natal and Bhodesia could only come in on Boer
terms. Thus, in place of the unification of South Africa under
the British flag, we should beneath that flag, for presumably it
would still be flying, have a state of seething discontent, which
could only be allayed by giving way to the Boers, or another
South African War.
It will, I have no doubt, be said by that section of Parliamen-
tarians who are so busy in proclaiming pious opinions on the
question of Chinese Labour, that all this is a dream. I can assure
them it is no dream, but simple fact, and reasonable deductions
from fact. We were told before the war that the Dutch did not
want war, yet the Dutch themselves invaded British territory and
made war inevitable. What happened then can happen again.
We may be told that the Dutch do not want a majority, and that
if they had a majority things would go on well enough. Yes,
well enough from the Boer standpoint. But what about the
British settlers ? It was to arouse these very sentiments that
Mr. Smuts came over here, and unless the Government are very
watchful they will, like Mr. Gladstone, be taken in, and Great
Britain will have to fight again to secure British supremacy in
South Africa.
If one might suggest, I would earnestly ask His Majesty's
Government to postpone for a year or so the grant of self-govern-
ment to the Orange River Colony. Such a postponement would
relieve much of the anxiety now prevailing in South Africa, and
avoid the possibility of many of the unfortunate consequences to
which I have felt it my duty to call attention.
CLEMENT KINLOCH-COOKE.
VOL. XII.— No. 67.
18 The Empire Review
ISLAM IN FERMENTATION
BY EDWARD DICEY, C.B.
Is there any real prospect of Islam ever becoming again a
militant religion ? This is the question which is perplexing the
minds of all Europeans residing in Oriental countries, and more
especially in Northern Africa. I should like, if possible, to throw
some little light upon this vexed question. I am keenly alive to
the truth of a favourite saying of my old friend Nubar Pasha,
that the longer one studied the East the more one realised how
little one understood the Eastern point of view as seen through
European spectacles. It has been my fortune to have been in
intimate acquaintance with five well-known men who had lived
their lives chiefly in Eastern countries, who were familiar with
Eastern languages, and especially with Arabic, and who were
singularly free from any bias one way or the other in the never-
ending controversy between the Crescent and the Cross. Their
names were Sir Bichard Burton, Sir Samuel Baker, Giffard
Palgrave, Lawrence Oliphant, and Lionel Moore, all of whom
have long since joined the majority. Differing widely in character
and disposition, they had this in common, that they were learned
in the language of the Koran, and that they had a genuine sym-
pathy for the followers of the Prophet. Yet from one and all
I could never get any satisfactory explanation of the fundamental
difference between Islam and Christendom, except that the East
was the East and the West was the West.
My personal knowledge of countries in which Islam is the
dominant creed is for the most part confined to Egypt, a country
whose position is entirely different in many important respects from
that of any other Mahometan States in Asia and Africa ; still, it
seems to me that Egypt affords a curious illustration of both the
strength and the weakness of Islam as a militant religion. Theo-
logical controversies of any kind are matters with which I am
incompetent to deal, though I own candidly that I am unable to
understand why any man born and bred in Christendom should
elect to change his creed for one, to say the least, expounding
a less lofty ideal.
At the same time, a man must be very prejudiced who fails to
Islam in Fermentation 19
understand why Mahometanism has so strong a hold upon its
followers. It has in reality but two articles of faith. The first
is that there is one God and one God only, and the second is that
Mahomet was the chosen prophet of Allah, the all-wise, all-
just and all-powerful Deity by whom all things were made. The
Koran is rather a system of laws regulating the conduct of true
believers than a confession of faith. In many respects Islam is
almost identical with Judaism, except that it is founded on a
broader basis than that of race or caste or colour. Every man of
any nationality or language is free to become a follower of Islam
if he renounces idolatry and acknowledges that there is one God,
whose prophet was the inspired author of God's word. Indeed,
the bottom fact of Islam is the duty incumbent on all Mahometans
to convert the world to the worship of one God and to extermi-
nate the idolaters who refuse to be converted, though, to quote a
passage of the Koran, an exception was to be made " in favour of
the Jews and of all who believe in a day of judgment."
Happily for humanity there has never yet been any creed
which has carried out its tenets to their extreme logical result,
and Islam soon saw cause to modify the rigid execution of its
sacred mission. During the early years when the followers of the
Prophet spread over the eastern world, conquering and to con-
quer, they carried out their mandate to the letter. Gradually,
however, as their first ardour died away, they realised that the
wholesale extermination of idolaters was a task beyond their
power, and contented themselves with accepting tribute from
unbelievers as an adequate proof of their subjection to the
authority of Islam. But though they failed to execute the policy
of exterminating the infidel to the letter, they always adhered to
the principle that this policy was one imposed upon them by the
sacred law, though its full execution might not be possible for the
present. Contact with Christendom has abated to some extent
the animosity between the Cross and the Crescent. Yet through
all the centuries that have come and gone since the death of
Mahomet his followers have never wavered in their conviction
that some day a Mahdi would make his appearance upon earth
who would lead the followers of the Prophet to victory and enable
them to fulfil their appointed task, the forcible conversion of the
heathen world to the worship of Allah, the one supreme ruler of
the universe.
The causes which have maintained Islam unchanged and
unchangeable cannot be discussed here with advantage. All I
desire to point out is that the duty of making war upon the infidel
is still the cardinal tenet of Islam. It may be no more than a
pious aspiration, but it is one which has influenced the daily life
of every generation of Mahometans, and which influences the
c 2
20 The Empire Review
generation of to-day. Every few years or so a Mahdi makes his
appearance in some part of the Mahometan world. He is always
a holy man, a doctor learned in the law, an erudite scholar
according to the Mahometan standard of scholarship, who has
acquired the veneration of fellow-believers by the sanctity and
self-abnegation of his private life, and who has vindicated his claim
to sanctity by the fervour and frequency of his prayers, by his
self-imposed penances, and by his sacrifice of all creature comforts
and carnal pleasures. When he has won the confidence of his
neighbours, his evangel is always the same.
He announces he has been deputed from on high to warn his
hearers that the decline of the Crescent as compared with the Cross
is due to the followers of the Prophet not adhering to the laws of
Islam. He invariably exhorts his hearers to renounce smoking,
intoxicating liquors, and association with infidels. As his influence
grows he denounces the evil lives led by their rulers and protests
against the wickedness of paying taxes to a government in which
the leading posts are held by Christians or men of no religion, and
bids them remember that the only guidance they should follow is
that of men inspired, such as himself, whose one desire is to see
the true faith of Islam practised by high and low. Sooner or
later words lead to actions. The tax-collectors or the officials of
the government are assaulted in the villages where a Mahdi reigns
supreme. The government is obliged to interfere. The Mahdi
is either banished, imprisoned or murdered; a number of his
adherents are shot down by the soldiery, and order is once more
re-established. When a certain interval has elapsed another
Mahdi comes forward, preaches the same doctrine, suffers the
same fate, and so on da capo.
This fanatical fermentation is always going on throughout
Islam, but does not assume serious proportions unless it is stimu-
lated by a holy man of exceptional ability and believed — with or
without reason — to be of genuine piety. Such a man was Sheik
Mahomed Ahmed of Dongola, the Mahdi of the Soudan. The
memories of European residents and officials in Egypt are so
short that I suspect few of them are aware how near the Mahdi
came to being placed in a position enabling him to carry out his
policy of marching upon Cairo and driving all Christians out of
Egypt. He failed owing to the military occupation of the country
by British troops. The Egyptian regiments, if not accompanied by
British troops, would have refused to fight against the Dervishes,
or more probably would have deserted to the enemy, while the
Mahdi himself would have been welcomed as a deliverer by the
Mahometan population of the Khedivial kingdom.
This assertion may be disputed, but not, I think, by any one
who knew Egypt during the time when the Anglo-Egyptian armies
Islam in Fermentation 21
were defeated by Osman Digma. Only the other day, when the
Turks were reported to be massing troops in the Sinai Peninsula
with the view of endangering the Suez Canal, popular sentiment
in Egypt was enlisted on the side of the Sultan. In the face of
our past experience, I feel considerable hesitation in accepting the
official view entertained, or at any rate professed in Cairo, that
the native Mussulman population are so gratified by the immense
material improvements introduced into Egypt under British
administration, that they would rally to our support in case of
that administration being attacked either from within or from
without.
Within the last two years a feeling of unrest has manifested
itself in every part of the Mahometan world, and especially in
Africa. Why this should be so is very difficult to explain. My
own explanation is after all a mere conjecture, which I give for
what it is worth. Amongst Mahometans there is, by virtue of
their faith, a tendency to fatalism. The word Kismet explains
the Oriental point of view with regard to all the incidents of
human existence. Now, till a very recent period, in all conflicts
between natives and Europeans experience had shown that the
former were certain to be defeated in the end. The only cause
that could account for this invariable series of defeats was that
for some inscrutable reason it was the will of Allah that un-
believers should gain the upper hand for the time being. To the
Moslem mind this explanation is amply sufficient. If Allah did
not intend that the faithful should triumph over the faithless,
there was no more to be said, no motive for embarking in any
conflict where defeat was a practical certainty. This reluctance on
the part of the Moslem to engage in futile attempts to overthrow
the military supremacy of the European administrations in Africa
told strongly in favour of order throughout the Dark Continent.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, the conviction that native forces,
however brave, were bound to be worsted by Europeans was
shaken to its base by the discovery that Bussia, which was
regarded in the East as the greatest military Power in Europe,
had been driven from pillar to post by the victorious Japanese,
that her armies had been put to flight, her navy destroyed, her
fortresses captured by a comparatively diminutive and feeble
Power, whose people whatever else they might be were certainly
not Caucasians or Christians. It may be said with truth, that
the native Africans, whether they were Mahometans or Christians
or heathen, knew nothing, and, if possible, cared less, about Japan.
But yet I should doubt whether there was a town or village in
the whole of Africa where the inhabitants did not learn directly
or indirectly that the Eussian invaders of the Far East had been
scattered like sheep by an unknown non-European race. In the
22 The Empire Review
Mussulman communities there was sure to be some Mahdi or
student of the Koran ready to point the moral of this reversal of all
previous experience, and to instil the belief that what the Japanese
had accomplished against Kussia might be achieved against the
English in Egypt, against the Spaniards in Morocco, or against
the French in Tunis by native forces trained and disciplined, as
in Japan, by native officers.
In all human probability the magnitude of the Japanese
victories was grossly exaggerated by popular rumours, while
the causes which differentiate Japan from all other Oriental
countries were kept deliberately in the background. But
granted all this, it still remains certain that the tidings of the
wholesale rout sustained by Eussia inspired a conviction through
the length and breadth of Mahometan Africa that the tide had
turned at last, and that the time was at hand when Islam might
resume her career of conquest and might fulfil her mission of
exterminating all unbelievers, no matter what creed they may
profess. The strength of this hypothesis is, I think, confirmed by
the known facts of the recent fermentation of Africa. Outside
news of any kind takes a long time in permeating from the sea
coast to the interior, and still more in passing from one coast to
the other. Still, it is significant that almost every one of the
recent uprisings against European rule in Africa has occurred
since the news of the Eussian rout had, or could have, reached
Africa. Disturbances have taken place in Egypt, in the Soudan,
in Somaliland, in German East Africa, in Uganda, in Natal, in the
Congo Free State, in the French Congo, in the Gold Coast, in
Northern Nigeria, in Zululand, in German West Africa, and in
Ashanti, and in Timbuctoo. But the chief risings have taken
place in the territories occupied by Moslem populations, and
especially in those under European Protectorates or under
European spheres of influence.
Strange as it may seem to us, the great and manifest benefits
conferred upon the natives by European administrators are least
appreciated in the Moslem communities which approach most
closely to Western civilisation and which are under British rule.
The reason of this is obvious enough to any one acquainted with
the East. There the sense of patriotism or even of nationality
is utterly wanting. The fact of being born and bred in one
country constitutes no bond of union between the inhabitants of
that country. The one binding link in the East between races
as well as between individuals is that of belonging to a common
faith and observing the same religious rites and practices. No
Mussulman in Egypt regards Kopts, or Armenians, or Greeks as
fellow-countrymen because they happen to be born in Egypt.
No Abyssinian regards the Gallahs as brethren because they are
Islam in Fermentation 23
subjects of the Emperor Menelik, and have been compelled by
force to desert nominally the creed of the Crescent for that of the
Cross. In like fashion, in as far as I could ever learn, our tenure of
India is mainly due to the fact that neither Hindoos nor Mussul-
mans, with the exception of a few Baboos, believe in an Indian
nationality. But though the Oriental, whether in India, Asia,
or Africa, is unable to realise even the idea of an international
brotherhood between men of different creeds, he realises, far
more fully than a citizen of Europe, the brotherhood appertaining
to a common creed. Nowhere is this latter brotherhood so firmly
realised or observed so loyally as between Mahometans. A Moor
or a Malay, a Soudanese, a Tunisian, or an Algerian are to all
intents and purposes more fully brethren than a couple of
Fellaheen who live and work side by side in the same village,
supposing one to be a Moslem and the other a Copt.
You may say this state of mind is unnatural and illogical,
until you can realise the fact that patriotism is a word without
meaning in the East, while community in faith is a bond whose
force no European, except possibly in Slav communities, can
really understand. Even in the present year of grace, an era
which we are assured, day by day, is one of the highest culture
and greatest enlightenment, any ignorant Madhi who preaches a
Jehad, that is a holy war for the extermination of infidels, is
certain to secure the sympathy, if not the active support, of his
fellow-Mussulmans. This fact may be unpleasant, but it is a fact
on which our future policy in the East must be based.
I might take credit to myself for having, in the various articles
on Egyptian affairs which I have contributed to British
periodicals, called attention for many long months to the general
unrest amidst the Mussulman population of Egypt. All the
credit, however, I can honestly claim is that of having looked at
facts as I saw them with my own eyes and not through official
glasses. I have always done full justice to the great material im-
provements which have been introduced into the conditions of
native life in Egypt under our British administration. I have,
indeed, expressed an opinion that if our system of administration
had been indirect instead of direct, we should have rendered our
reforms less distasteful to native sentiment. Whether I am
right or wrong can only be proved whenever — if ever — the experi-
ment should be tried of substituting the policy recommended by
the late Lord Dufferin for that which has hitherto found favour
with the British Agency in Cairo.
Up to the other day it was an article of faith with the British
authorities that the natives of Egypt, irrespective of their religious
creed, were so satisfied with the reign of law and order we have
introduced into Egypt and with the abolition of the abuses
24 The Empire Review
prevailing previous to our military occupation, that they would
resist any attempt to subvert our Protectorate. My assertion
that, as a matter of fact, this contention was unsound, and
that the Moslem cared more about Islam than they did about
crops and irrigation works, was denounced as inconsistent with
the information forwarded by British officials from every part
of Egypt, as to the general contentment of the natives under
our enlightened rule. When I ventured to repeat the truth
I have so often expressed, that Egypt owes its present pros-
perity to the presence of the British army on Egyptian soil, ]
was told that I overlooked the extraordinary effect produced
on native opinion by the justice of our sway and by the success
of our administrative policy. I ventured to foretell that the
mere rumour of Turkish intervention would unite the whole
Egyptian nation into partisans of the Sultan. I need not say
that the views I then expressed have been shown to be sub-
stantially correct, while those of my critics have been proved
to be utterly erroneous. I am convinced that our British officials
honestly believed in the loyalty and gratitude of the Fellaheen,
but I utterly fail to understand how their delusions on the subject
in question are compatible with any real study and understanding
of native mind or of the extraordinary influence of Islam as a
political factor in Moslem countries.
Time after time during the last few months events have
occurred which ought to have opened the eyes of our officials to the
true state of things. The riots of Alexandria, the attempt to blow
up the arsenal of Khartoum, the raid by Soudanese who had served
under the Khalifa upon a village occupied by Anglo-Egyptian
soldiers, a raid which was only possible on the hypothesis that
the sympathies of the Soudanese villagers were with the insurgents,
not with the Anglo-Egyptian soldiery ; the sudden occupation of
Akaba by Turkish troops, the revival of the Sultan's shadowy
Suzerainty over Egypt were all signs pointing to a general dis-
content amidst the Mussulman population, a discontent which
was partly due to dissatisfaction with unwelcome and unpopular
reforms, but still more so to the sympathy of creed which causes
all Egyptian followers of the Prophet to regard Abdul Hamid
with veneration as being the head of Islam. When it was made
manifest that in the event of a collision between Turkish and
Egyptian troops the latter would refuse to fight against the former,
and that their refusal would enlist the sympathies of the Moslem
community, the British authorities in Egypt awoke to the fact
that they had been living in a fool's paradise.
This much I am bound to say in the interest alike of England
in the first place, and of Egypt in the second. If any one will
search through Lord Cromer's voluminous and interesting report
Islam in Fermentation 25
for 1905, published at the end of April, 1906, he will fail to find any
allusion to the state of unrest which had manifested itself in the
valley of the Nile. The only allusion to the discontent, which had
already made itself manifest in 1904, is contained in the concluding
sentence of this report : " During the past year the whole
machine of Government worked very smoothly. It will he seen
from the report, which I now submit, that improvements in
various directions have been effected. There is every reason to
believe that this steady and uniform rate of progress will be
maintained in future years, but nowhere must there be undue
haste." In order to show his belief in a steady and uniform rate of
progress, his Lordship had recommended, in the previous pages of
this report, the abolition of the Capitulations, the impending
dissolution of the mixed tribunals, the termination of the Caisse
de la dette, and the creation of a consultative parliament for
Egypt, whose members were to be partly nominated and partly
elected, who were to consist exclusively of local notabilities under
conditions necessarily rendering the members completely sub-
servient to the Egyptian Government, which in its turn is
equally subservient, as long as the army of occupation remains
in Egypt, to the representative of Great Britain at the Khedivial
Court. Opinions may differ as to the merits or demerits of these
proposals, but there can be no doubt as to the fact that if they
should be carried into effect they would render the authority of
their author more absolutely autocratic than it is at present.
Up to the date of the Denshawi outrage our British officials
still cherished the delusion that there was no serious unrest in
Egypt, and that the reinforcement of the army of occupation was
solely due to the hostile attitude of Turkey on the frontiers of the
Sinai Peninsula. It was still taken for granted that the resolution
of England — to uphold the independence of Egypt by force of
arms against any aggression on the part of the Sultan — must be
welcome to the people of Egypt, who were supposed to dread any
reassertion of Turkish authority, and to resent the revival of the
pretension that Egypt, in fact as well as in name, is a vassal pro-
vince of the Ottoman Empire. These delusions were dispelled when
it became evident that the Moslems, who form upwards of nine-
tenths of the Egyptian population, still acknowledge the supreme
authority of the Sultan as the Commander of the Faithful, and
care far more for the interests of their faith than for the material
advantages they had obtained — and could only hope to preserve —
under our military occupation.
It is only common justice to acknowledge that, as soon as
Lord Cromer's eyes were opened to the fact that the optimist
views he had maintained so long and so persistently were no longer
tenable, he acted with a promptitude, a courage and firmness of
26 The Empire Review
purpose, for which he deserves the gratitude of all who have at
heart the interests of England and the well-being of Egypt. To
anyone acquainted with the character of the Fellaheen, the hard
fact that British officers in uniform had been assaulted, ill-treated,
beaten with sticks, hunted like mad dogs, and in one instance
done to death by a native mob, is of far graver import than all
the ingenious or sentimental arguments that can be devised in
order to minimise the guilt of their assailants. The severity
displayed under British authority in stamping out a mutiny at
once and, I trust, for ever, was one whose necessity we may regret,
but of which we have no cause to be ashamed. I can appreciate
the argument, however much I may dissent from it individually,
that under existing conditions Egypt is not worth keeping by
England. What I cannot understand is the logical position of
men who profess to believe that the maintenance of our Pro-
tectorate over Egypt is a matter of vital interest to the British
Empire, and who yet object to the employment of the only
means by which our supremacy can be upheld.
To speak the plain truth, any outrage upon British soldiers
wearing the British uniform is an offence which must be punished
sternly and promptly, whatever excuses may be suggested to
mitigate the gravity of the crime. If a British soldier can be
shown to have committed an unprovoked attack upon a native he
should be tried before a military court, and if the charge brought
against him should be established to the satisfaction of this
tribunal, he should be punished severely by the British military
authorities. There is no probability, so long as the administra-
tion of Egypt remains in its present hands, of such sentence erring
on the side of undue severity. It was owing to a well-founded
conviction that an exceptional Court was required to judge charges
brought against soldiers by natives, or by natives against soldiers,
that the tribunal which tried and sentenced the Denshawi prisoners
was established in 1895, when there were symptoms of serious
excitement amidst the native population, and of grave hostility to
British troops. It would have been far better if the Court had
been composed solely of British officers, whose sentence should
have been approved by the British Consul-General previous to its
execution. But with our usual preference for phrases to facts it
was decided that native judges, as well as British, should form
part of the Court, under an erroneous belief that their presence
in the tribunal would satisfy the natives that the trial would be
fair and impartial. As, however, the natives entertain a not
altogether baseless conviction that in the courts of law as well as
in the public service, native officials will always be under the
control of the British Agency, the presence of native judges was
not regarded as any guarantee for their own protection. On the
Islam in Fermentation 27
whole, however, this exceptional Court has fulfilled its exceptional
purpose, and the idea that the natives or their families and friends
objected to any alleged legal irregularity in the constitution or
the procedure or the code of the Court will not commend itself
to any one who realises the fundamental differences between
Eastern and Western conceptions of justice. The ringleaders in
the Denshawi outrages were perfectly aware that if they were
brought to trial their punishment according to Eastern ethics
must be death without hope of reprieve or respite. Justice must
be short, sharp and summary to impress the Oriental mind ; and
any delay in the infliction of the punishment or any mitigation
of its severity would have been fatal to the purpose for which the
penalty was inflicted. The Fellaheen now understand that hence-
forth British soldiers belonging to the army of occupation cannot
be attacked with impunity.
I confess to grave doubts as to the authenticity of a Moslem
letter to Lord Cromer which has excited considerable attention
in the British Press. It seems to me more like the effusion of a
French tourist in Egypt, who takes every utterance of any native,
whose acquaintance he has made by chance, as Gospel truth, and
who embellishes them with exaggerations of his own concoction,
such as are best calculated to impress the imagination and flatter
the vanity of French readers. I fully agree with the hypothetical
native who professes to write " in the name of all the people of
Egypt," that the unrest in Egypt — or for that matter in all
Mussulman lands of Africa — is likely to cause trouble. But I
can see little reason to believe that the Pan-Islamic agitation
which is supposed to emanate from Yildiz Kiosk has much to do
with the unrest in question. Abdul Hamid has far too many
cares and anxieties of his own to contemplate any appeal
to the latent fanaticism of Egypt or of any Mussulman country
under an European Protectorate. Money is required to carry on
any war, even if it is a religious war, and the Commander of the
Faithful has the utmost difficulty in providing the funds necessary
for his own personal expenditure. The consolidation of all the
scattered Turkish provinces into one fanatical community, bound
together by their hatred of Christendom, is a task beyond the
power of any Sultan who is not supported financially and militarily
by some one of the great Powers of Europe.
In comparison with Pan-Slavism, any peril to European civilisa-
tion arising from Pan-Islamism is utterly insignificant. Under a
powerful rule, whether that of an autocratic Czar or even more of
a democratic Socialist Eepublic, Kussia might conceivably com-
bine all the Slav States lying outside her frontiers into one great
confederacy. No such combination of Mahometan States is pos-
sible under the leadership of a disorganised and moribund empire
28 The Empire Review
such as that of Turkey in Europe. The utmost the Commander
of the Faithful could effect by advocating a Pan-Islamic agitation
directed against Christendom in Mahometan provinces would be
to stir up isolated demonstrations against the powers that be,
which in Egypt, at any rate, would be easily suppressed so long
as we have an adequate army in Egypt, and so long as any
disturbance in any part of the Nile valley or of the Soudan is
stamped out as promptly and as sternly as we suppressed the
incipient rising at Denshawi. The warning conveyed by Sir
Edward Grey as to the potential danger of allowing the fermenta-
tion of Islam in the East to continue unchecked was, there is
reason to believe, impressed upon the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs by our Consul- General in Egypt. The warning
thus given is all the more impressive, owing to the fact that his
Lordship has been for the last few years a firm partisan of a
conciliatory policy towards the natives, and of studying their
susceptibilities by keeping our troops almost out of sight and out
of mind.
If I am right, therefore, in my views, our present position
can only become critical in Egypt if the Imperial Government,
yielding to the pressure of the more advanced of their supporters,
should undo the effect produced by the condign punishment of
the Denshawi mutineers, and thereby lead the Fellaheen to
imagine that England is only half-hearted in her determination
to suppress any hostile demonstration against the British Pro-
tectorate. Anglo-officialdom in Egypt might, possibly with
advantage, be kept more in the background; but the British
Army must be kept henceforth in the front. Nemo me impune
lacessit must be the password of our administration in Egypt,
civil as well as military.
;.. It should never be forgotten that unrest in Egypt might
at any moment be resuscitated by popular agitation in any
of the other States of Africa in which Islam is the dominant
creed, but whose government is European and Christian. If, to
cite a hypothetical case, a native rising against French rule were
to take place in Algeria and a French army were to sustain such
a defeat at the hands of native troops as our army suffered at
Isandhula, the news would be passed from mouth to mouth by
native messengers, and would be known throughout Africa long
before it reached the ears of our officials. In the present
state of unrest, such an occurrence would be regarded by the
whole Mahometan population of North Africa as a sign that the
followers of the Prophet were to take up arms and expel, if they
could not exterminate, all infidels who, to their thinking, worship
more gods than one, and who do not obey the commands of
Allah as laid down in the Koran. It is, therefore, of vital
Islam in Fermentation 29
importance to all Christian Powers who have possessions, spheres
of influence, or Protectorates in the Dark Continent, that they
should act together against any Jehad in any part of Africa,
however far they may be distant from the immediate scene of
a conflict between the Cross and the Crescent. There are only
four great European Powers which directly or indirectly control
the administration of native States where Islam is the religion
of the bulk of the population. Those countries are England,
France, Italy and Germany.
It would be extremely difficult to form any sort of Pan-
European League for the protection of Christian communities
settled in Mahometan countries. It would, however, come to
much the same thing if all the European Powers who have
personal interests in Africa could be brought to realise that a
Mahometan rising in any one State is a danger, not only to the
individual State, but to all other States under similar conditions.
It is, therefore, most desirable that there should be no cause of
dissension between the various European nations who have
interests of their own in Africa. England and France may for
the present be relied upon to pursue a common policy. Whether
Germany or Italy will follow their lead must depend mainly upon
the attitude adopted towards them by England and France. The
suspicion of Germany entertained by France is too ingrained to
afford much hope that France will of her own accord approve of
any policy calculated to remove the antagonism between Great
Britain and the Fatherland, or to support the fulfilment of Italy's
ambition to establish a Protectorate over Tripoli. England, how-
ever, is in a position to command the support of the French
Republic in respect of Egypt and the Soudan. There can be no
reasonable doubt that England has a strong personal interest in
securing the cordial co-operation of Germany in her endeavour to
hinder the recent revival of Moslem fanaticism from assuming
formidable proportions.
To the best of my belief our own Government is fully aware
how much we owe to the refusal of Germany to give any
encouragement to the invasion of the Sinai Peninsula by Turkish
troops. It is certain that if Germany had kept silent at
Constantinople, the Sultan, relying on the supposed good-will of
Germany and on the temporary effacement of Russia as a military
power, would have pursued his aggressive policy towards Egypt,
and would have compelled England to engage in a war with
Turkey, and by so doing expose herself to the bitter hostility
of Islam throughout Asia and Africa generally, and especially
in Egypt. We thus owe our escape from a position of grave
embarrassment, which would in all likelihood have eventuated
in war, to the good faith of Germany. This being so, common
30 The Empire Review
sense, not to speak of common gratitude, should compel us
to look with great scepticism upon all reports, emanating for
the most part from French sources, which seek to represent
Germany as being engaged in perpetual intrigues to undermine
British influence in Africa and elsewhere. These reports are
reproduced by a section of the British Press without hostile
comment, and their reproduction naturally creates an unfavour-
able impression on the German public. For months past we
have been informed by the organs of public opinion, to which I
allude, that the delay of the Emperor Menelek in carrying out the
concession he had granted for the construction of a railway from
the French port of Djibouti to Adis Adeba, the capital of Abyssinia,
was solely due to the intrigues of Germany, which desired to oust
the French concessionaires, and either to get the construction of the
railroad into German hands, or, failing this, to obtain a controlling
interest over the line by supplying the Emperor with the capital
required for its completion. Menelek is not unreasonably
suspicious of the European States which surround his mountain
kingdom. The experience of centuries has shown that Abyssinia
can hold her own against any Mahometan invasion, but it is by no
means equally certain that she could hold her own against the
attacks of one or more of the European Powers whose possessions
in Africa are adjacent to her frontiers. Indeed, the facility with
which a British army marched through Abyssinia in 1868, bom-
barded Magdala, carried off the British prisoners incarcerated by
King Theodore, and retired to the coast almost without loss,
would seem to throw grave doubt on the impregnability of the
Ethiopian Empire. The brilliant success of our Abyssinian
campaign was mainly due to the fact that the chiefs through
whose territories we passed were personal foes of the then reigning
Negus, and, in consequence, instead of opposing our advance, did
everything in their power to assist our troops by furnishing them
with guides and provisions. The Emperior Menelek, however,
knows his countrymen too well not to recognise that in the event
of another European invasion a number of the chiefs, whom he
has deposed from their thrones and reduced to subjection, might
be found ready to pay off old scores by assisting the invaders.
It is easy to understand that Menelek should have learnt with
alarm that England was negotiating a triple alliance between
France, Italy and herself, in order to arrive at a common under-
standing with regard to Abyssinian affairs. If Germany had
been anxious to obtain a footing in Abyssinia, or to inflict a slight
on France, she could easily have induced Menelek to repudiate
the concession and to entrust the construction of Abyssinian
railways to German capitalists, who could rely upon the active
support of the German Government. Whatever representations
Islam in Fermentation 31
may have been made at Adis Adeba by individual Germans, it
may be taken for granted, owing to their non-success, that these
representations met with no official encouragement from Berlin.
On the contrary, Germany has gone out of her way to declare,
with almost brutal frankness, that she has no intention of inter-
fering in the Abyssinian controversy ; that all she desired was to
protect the interests of her merchants and traders in Abyssinia
by insisting — as she had done in the Morocco controversy — upon
the principle of the Open Door, and that, provided this principle
was observed, she should raise no objection to any arrangement
that might be agreed upon between the Negus and his neighbours.
It is well to call attention to these facts, not so much for their
intrinsic importance, as because they enforce a truth which our
Germanophobes would do well to take to heart. Later on it has
been discovered that Germany's official relations with England
have refuted the accusations which had been so repeatedly in-
sinuated as to German good faith, and which have been so
repeatedly shown to be baseless as soon as the real facts became
known.
EDWAED DICEY.
32 The Empire Review
THE KAFFIR AS A WORKER
BY L. E. NEAME
(Assistant Editor, " Hand Daily Mail," Johannesburg).
The blacks not only show no sign of diminution; they are steadily in-
creasing, and they are increasing faster than the whites. They are there ; they
are going to remain there ; and the problem before South Africa in the future
is one which has never yet presented itself in the history of mankind. I
believe the problem will present incomparable difficulties. The Eight Hon.
Member for Aberdeen (Mr. Bryce) said the question of the negro in the Southern
States of North America was a serious difficulty. What is the difficulty of the
relatively insignificant negro population in the United States of America com-
pared with the difficulty which will present itself to South African statesmen
when they have got to face this enormous black population, and when you
have a community of whites of all classes who are, as it were, an aristocracy
over a proletariat class ? I do not envy those who have to deal with that
situation in the future. — (Mr. Balfour, in the House of Commons, March 21,
1904.)
AT a time when the world is hearing a good deal about the
natives of South Africa, the moment is not inopportune to
attempt to give some idea of the stage to which the tribes
commonly known as the Kaffirs have advanced, and to correct
one or two wrong impressions which have gained wide credence.
The matter is too big to be dealt with as a whole. It is
impossible in one article to trace the gradual weakening of the
tribal system and attempt to judge the effect of the diminishing
power of the chiefs ; to gauge the depth of the social and moral
development which has followed missionary effort, and to test the
extent to which old customs are decaying ; to consider the far-
reaching questions involved in the suggested changes in land
tenure, the varied schemes for education — or no education — the
MBK- „•"" ^g'
devices to give some sort of representation, tne policy which is
vaguely sketched out as essential to the solving of the labour
difficulty, the liquor evil, and the hundred and one matters which
go to make up that tremendous problem called the " black peril."
But right at the beginning it is essential to study the position
of the Kaffir as a worker. Without a right view of the place of
the native in this respect it is useless to proceed to the other and
more difficult question which the white rulers in South Africa must
The Kaffir as a Worker 33
one day solve. Without some knowledge of this phase of kraal life
it is impossible to understand the policy which the oldest students
of native conditions advance as best for the Bantu and safest for
South Africa.
The old fallacy that the Kaffir is incorrigibly idle still lurks
in many a corner. It is encouraged by the sweeping assertions
which South Africans often make regarding the natives. But
curiously enough one finds little support for the idea in official
reports. It is true, to quote the phrase used by the recent South
African Native Affairs Commission, that the native is not " a
continuous worker." Yet it must not be forgotten that the same
Commission reported that :
The theory thai the South African natives are hopelessly indolent may be dis-
missed as not being in accordance with the facts. Even the simple wants of
the native population cannot be supplied without some degree of exertion. . . .
The representation of the native living at his own village a lazy and luxurious
life, supported by his wife or wives, is misleading.
In this connection one should remember the way in which the
land in British South Africa is divided between the black and the
white races. The figures are interesting : —
Population. Sq. miles.
Europeans . . . . 1,680,529 694,303
Natives . . . .4,652,662 220,470
Nor is it the rule that the native possesses the pick of the
land. This huge black population " has to derive its sustenance
from a soil which is not everywhere fertile, and the native
agriculturist has to contend with the same drawbacks of
drought and pestilence which beset the European farmer."* In
the Transvaal it would appear from the latest Native Affairs
report that the land held by the Kaffirs is so poor that it will not
much longer support the natural growth of the population, and a
somewhat similiar position is being reached elsewhere.
That a serious shortage of unskilled labour exists throughout
the whole of the British Colonies in South Africa is undoubted. It
was emphasised by the report of the Cape Colony Select Committee
of 1890, by the Cape Labour Commission of 1893, by the Transvaal
Labour Commission of 1903, by the South African Native Affairs
Commission and by other inquirers. But if the findings of these
bodies are studied it will be found that the experts who made the
investigations did not draw up a tremendous indictment charging
the entire native population with idleness. They recognised that
with all his shortcomings the native " supports the whole
economic fabric on his despised and dusky back." f The man who
hastily glances at the fact that there are in the British possessions
* South African Native Affairs Commision Report, para. 873.
t South African Natives Committee.
VOL. XIL—No. 67. D
34 The Empire Review
in South Africa 899,726 male natives between the ages of fifteen
and forty years, and then declares once and for all that they do no
work, overlooks several important considerations. He forgets that
they are mainly pastoral and agricultural peoples, unused to travel-
ling long distances to obtain strange employment. The great
industries which call unceasingly for labour have sprung up with-
in the memory of living man. Thirty years ago South Africa
had not two hundred miles of railway, Kimberley was unknown,
the Witwatersrand was a stretch of bare veld. Only the coast
districts were properly cultivated ; the interior was still largely a
Hidden Land. The natives have always lived comfortably with-
out these great industries ; why should they desert their families
and sever old associations to take up work for which they had no
taste ? The Native Affairs Commissioners summed the matter
up very fairly when they said :
Given such a population, possessing easy access to the land, it would have
been extraordinary if the present situation had not followed on a very rapid
growth of industrial requirements.
Except in the case of farm labour and the like, which is specially suited
to the native, it must not be forgotten that what is known as paid labour
generally means to the native, as a rule, absence from home and family, and in
some employments irksome and often hard and dangerous work, and the
abandonment of the ease, comforts, and pleasures of native village life. As
further discouragements there have been breaches of agreement by contractors,
misrepresentations by labour agents and touts, and occasional harsh treatment,
which have tended to shake the confidence of the native. The rate of wages,
nominally high, has to be considered in relation to the purchasing power of
money at present South African prices, and it must be remembered that the
native has, as a rule, to pay top prices for his purchases.
These are some of the considerations which prevent many
natives going far afield to obtain employment. Besides, it is not
sufficiently widely recognised that if the British colonies in South
Africa had to supply their own demand for unskilled labour,
practically every male native in the country between the age of
fifteen and forty years would have to leave his home and enter
the labour market. To expect an entire people to do this is to
set up a standard to which no white race has ever approached.
But if the natives do not come out very largely to help the
industries of the sub-continent, what do they do ? The answer is
that their work lies largely on the land. For the moment full
evidence of what the Kaffir accomplishes as a worker in South
Africa is not available. But there are figures relating to one
colony which may be quoted as indicating the general tendency.
In Natal in particular has the native been accused of idleness.
The Garden Colony has a native population of 904,000. It
endeavours to keep them for its own industries, and recruiting
for the Transvaal mines is not permitted. Therefore the fact
The Kaffir as a Worker 35
that, with all these potential workers, Natal has imported 100,000
Indians to help run its farms, plantations, and mines, is regarded
as standing proof of Bantu indolence. Even on the Natal rail-
ways, there are 3,234 Indian labourers and only 3,194 natives.
Here, at least, in Natal one would expect to find a strong indict-
ment against the native. But the Natal Census Committee do
not support this allegation of idleness. " After a careful computa-
tion," they find that the native male breadwinners form 61 '76 per
cent, of the native male population, whilst the native female
breadwinners form 63*43 per cent, of the native female population.
Therefore, say the Committee, " although the natives do not
always labour in directions which may be regarded by some in
the best interests of the Colony, they cannot be looked upon as a
'lazy' people." As Primary Producers the natives of Natal are
declared to " occupy a very creditable position in the Colony, with
a percentage of 55 -74 of the entire native population. The
native men show 49*55, while the women, who are very largely
engaged in agricultural pursuits, show a percentage of 61*21."
The Natal Census Committee summed the matter up in the
following words :
In spite of the allurements and enticements of high wages and prospects of
lucrative employment presented from time to time in various directions, the
natives of the Colony cannot be induced to neglect or forego the old-time
practice of making themselves secure against contingencies, in the cultivation
of the soil, rearing and accumulation of stock, and having no luxurious wants
to supply or satisfy, and no immediate necessity to surround their lives with
increased responsibilities and less comfortable conditions, it is not surprising
that they do not readily fall into line with the European or white population,
who, with their varied and numerous wants, are forced to exercise a large
expenditure of human energy if those wants are to be satisfied.
That the Natal natives do not do more with the ground at
their disposal, and that as cultivators they are far behind the
Indians are other issues. A similar charge might be brought
against the European landowners upon whose holdings only 7£
acres in every 100 acres are cultivated. Waste of energy is not
confined to the native who cultivates on his own account. In
England 5*38 hands are regarded as sufficient to cultivate 100
acres of land ; in Canada a farmer with one hired man often
cultivates 160 acres. But in Natal the number of hands em-
ployed is abnormal. Here are the figures for some of the colonies :
Hands employed
per 100 acres.
Victoria 3-07
New Zealand 4-23
Western Australia . . . . 7-07
New South Wales . . . . 8-10
Tasmania 9-53
Natal .,.,,. 13-40
9 2
36 The Empire Review
The 40,132 hands who cultivate 537,694 acres of land in Natal
ought really to cultivate 729,000. When no better example than
this is set them by the white farmers, the Natal natives at least
may be excused for clinging to the old ways.
It is therefore evident that the native is engaged to a greater
degree than he receives credit for, in agricultural pursuits. He is
no inconsiderable producer. In Natal, in 1904, he grew 760,000
niuids of mealies, besides a great quantity of other produce, and
in doing this he used 20,000 ploughs and 1000 waggons and carts —
all his own property. At present the land supports him, he is
happy on it, and will not leave it unless some form of compulsion
drives him. Compulsion from the Government is out of the
question to-day. We cannot use the methods by which the
French built the Tonking railway, General Gallieni constructed
roads in Madagascar, or Van den Bosch ensured the prosperity of
Java. Increased taxation is not a sound policy. We must rely
largely upon the pressure of population on the land, and the
desire for increased luxuries. Both processes are likely to be
slow. In the Viceroy's Council at Calcutta a few months ago,
Mr. Hewett calculated that out of the two hundred millions
and more of people in India, only one million and a third were
engaged in the modern industries, such as railways, mills, and
mining. The cry for labour in the industries of the country was
increasing, but despite the good wages offered, and the state-
ment that a great number of people were on the verge of starva-
tion, labour could not be found. If this is the condition of things
in a land with a teeming population, and in which the sub-
division of the soil is being carried out to an extent which means
a still greater struggle to live, it is not surprising that the natives
who occupy such a wide area as they do in South Africa, should
not yet find land pressure driving them into the labour market.
The second point is also important. Closely allied to the
question of the labour supply is that of the place the native
occupies as a consumer. A steady growth in his purchasing
power would be a reliable indication that there was a more wide-
spread movement towards the labour markets. But there appears
to be no perceptible increase in the spending capacity of the
Kaffir. The optimistic views expressed at the close of the war
have not been justified by later testimony. In his report as
Special Commissioner of the Board of Trade, Mr. Henry Birch-
enough stated that the Kaffirs " are gradually developing a taste
for European clothes, European food, and American furniture."
He added in support of this : " I was informed everywhere by
traders that the demand — especially for articles of clothing — is
rapidly approximating to the European, though, of course, upon
a lower level of quality and prices." No doubt the money earned
The Kaffir as a Worker 37
during the war gave rise to a sudden advance in " Kaffir truck,"
but the amount spent by the natives grows, in ordinary circum-
stances, very slowly.
The South African Native Affairs Commission endeavoured
to find reliable evidence of what the natives spend. The- most
accurate data was obtained from Basutoland and Bechuanaland,
where the natives are as a rule better off than in other parts. In
these areas it was estimated that the trade amounted to £1 per
head per annum — this estimate including the increased price over
the value on which duty was paid, which represents the dealer's
profit. In Natal the estimate was only 65. 8d. per head per annum.
The Transvaal Labour Commission also dealt with Basutoland
and Natal, and found that the average consumption per head of
the population was " extremely small." " It is doubtful," declares
their report, "if it is as much as 20s. per inhabitant in Basuto-
land, while in Natal the average annual value during the past
nine years is less than 10s. per head." This estimate, too, was
obtained by doubling the value of the goods appearing in the
returns in order to allow for middlemen's profits. The Natal
Industries Commission adopted a cheerful view, and looked
forward to "an expenditure upon manufactured articles at no
distant date of at least £1 per head per annum." But there is
no evidence produced to show upon what progress already made
this estimate of rapid increase has been based.
In the Transvaal there are few signs of a rapidly increased
demand for European goods. Ploughs are certainly being more
largely used in the place of hoes, but in other respects the reports
of the Native Commissioners are almost pessimistic. In the
Zoutpansberg there is stated to be a demand for imported house-
hold utensils, but it is also said that "progress is so slow that it
passes quite unnoticed to the casual observer." From the North-
Western Division (Potgietersrust) it is reported that " the progress
of the bulk of the population is, as is to be expected, slow, as it
takes years for civilising agencies to permeate the complex super-
stitions and suspicions of innovations which are natural to all
barbarians." Much the same view comes from the Western
Division : " Progress in civilisation is hardly perceptible. The
natives have attained to a certain standard which it will take
them years to get beyond." The Kesident Magistrate, on Native
Affairs in the Wolmaransstad district, says : " The standard of
comfort is low, alike with regard to food, clothing, and houses,
and there is no evidence of a tendency to improve." The Eastern
Division report remarks : " We must not look for any sudden or
great improvement at once. Natives are naturally slow to change
the habits of years."
On the whole, then, the place of the Kaffir as a worker, or a
38 The Empire Review
potential worker, in the direction in which the white men want
to see him advance is this. In the bulk the natives are workers —
more regular workers than ever they were before — and the fact
that they work in their own way instead of at once taking up the
employment which we might prefer to see them adopt can hardly
be set down against them as though it constituted a criminal
offence. As their taste for what the Natal Census Committee
call " luxurious satisfactions " increases, as pressure of population
makes it more difficult for their territories to support the tribes,
they will no doubt begin to " eat their strength " and take part to
a greater degree in developing the resources of the country in
directions which the white man thinks best. But both processes
will be slow. The Bantu, like the Indian raiat, is almost too
contented, too satisfied with the few things he has, to have much
incentive to increase his earning capacity. He has not even
before him the examples which the old rulers of India placed
before the humblest cultivators. The great leaders in Kaffir
history — Tshaka, Dingiswayo, Cetewayo, Moselikatse, Gungun-
jana and others — were content with the mud and reed huts which
were before them and remain after them. They built no stone
city — whoever were the architects of the Zimbabwes they were
certainly not Kaffirs — constructed no ships, made no discoveries.
With all their good qualities the Bantu have no real ambition.
True they have reached a certain level; but it will take many
years before they advance another definite stage.
Therefore, although the Kaffir cannot justly be condemned as
" lazy," it is not likely that there will for many years be any great
accession to their number in the labour market from the British
South African colonies. Some simple manual training might
hasten his advancement, but in any case it will be very slow.
Importation will continue to be necessary, and whether the
employer relies upon Mosambiques or Mongolians, tribesmen from
beyond the Zambesi or peasants from the Gangetic plain does, not
affect the problem.
In facing the native question in South Africa one must
disabuse one's mind of the fallacy that we are dealing with a
race possessed of the capacity for rapid development with
which Dr. Phillip erroneously credited the bushmen. As a
worker, and therefore as a consumer, the Kaffir's progress will
be gradual. He has not the patient steadiness of the Chinese
or Indian cultivator. He has not the brain power to advance
quickly along the road of civilisation — it may be, indeed, that he
will never go very far ; for there is nothing in the lesson of history
to show that all races are equally capable of attaining the highest
level reached in some instances to-day. The Kaffir must be
trained as one would train a dull child — patiently step by step.
The Kaffir as a Worker
39
And whilst he is being trained he must be protected from those
dangerous outside influences which would give him a smattering
of book knowledge and present him to the world as a civilised
man, entitled to the social and political privileges of the white
race, when in reality he would need all the more careful guidance.
There is no royal road to civilisation. First train the Kaffir to be
a "continuous worker." Give him his prize at the end of his
school term, not before the class has hardly begun.
Finally, the fact should not be lost sight of that the natives
contribute a considerable sum per annum to the revenue of the
colonies. The South African Native Affairs Commission gave
the following figures in this connection :
Colony.
Direct
Taxation.
Indirect Taxa-
tion (estimated
at 2*. per head
per annum).
Other
Taxation.
Total.
£
106,241
£
142,478
£
19,205
£
266,925
Natal
162,193
90,404
15,585
268,182
309,957
103,002
32,817
445,776
Orange River Colony
42,803
23,546
12,846
79,195
Southern Rhodesia
100,806
59,119
159,926
60,528
34,773
95,301
Bechuanaland Protectorate.
10,566
11,941
••
22,507
Total
792 094
456,266
80,453
1,337,814
The same Commission, " with a view to stimulate industry
among the natives," recommended " the encouragement of a
higher standard among the natives by support given to education
with a view to increase their efficiency and wants." In view of
this recommendation the following table comparing the amount
spent on native education with the native contribution to the
revenue is of special interest :
Colony.
Amount paid by
natives in all forms
of taxation.
Public Expenditure
on Native Education.
£
266,925
£
47,657
Natal
268,182
7,265
445,776
5,000
Orange River Colony ....
Southern Rhodesia ....
Basutoland .
79,195
159,926
95 301
1,800
154
7 000
Bechuanaland Protectorate .
22,507
500
L. E. NBAMB.
JOHANNESBURG.
The Empire Review
THE AUSTRALIAN RABBIT PEST
BY FRANK S. SMITH (of Victoria, Australia)
IT is not much more than thirty years since the first few pairs
of rabbits were liberated in the colony of Victoria, and to-day
rabbits are to be found throughout the whole of the five great
States which, with Tasmania, form the Commonwealth. From
Victoria they spread northward, across the Murray river, into New
South Wales, and westward into South Australia. Once in New
South Wales, they soon reached Queensland ; while, attacking the
desert country in the west of South Australia, they made their way
steadily across into far Westralia. And in every State save the
last named — where they have not long been established — they
have become a very serious pest, increasing in numbers at a
prodigious rate, and requiring a vast expenditure of both private
and public money to keep them even indifferently in check.
When rabbits were first imported to the continent of Australia
is a disputed point. Several English colonists, it is asserted,
imported odd pairs of tame rabbits in the fifties, or even before.
It is, however, certain that it was not until the early sixties—
probably in 1862 — that anything was done in the way of accli-
matising the common wild rabbit. In that year a large land-
holder near Hamilton, in the western district of Victoria, imported
several pairs, which he turned down on his estate, his idea
being to breed them for the gun, as the country possessed no
natural ground game worth mentioning. These rabbits, being
carefully preserved, soon increased in numbers, and landowners in
other parts of the colony obtained, as a favour, a pair or two with
which to stock their estates. It was thus that, unwittingly, what
was ultimately to prove the landowners' curse, was carefully
nurtured by the landowners themselves. In the seventies, I
was myself connected with an estate upon which the killing of a
rabbit was visited with severe penalties ; yet, in 1880, the same
estate had a gang of twenty men engaged destroying rabbits.
For its size, the rabbit, in its wild state, is probably the fastest
breeder known, and in Victoria it found ideal breeding conditions,
The" Australian Rabbit Pest 41
particularly in its original stronghold, the fertile western district.
In this district, which is of volcanic origin, the rolling vales and
plains are richly carpeted with sweet grasses ; and there are long
stretches of " stony rises " on which a dense growth of bracken
almost hides the ground from sight. The climate is delightful.
Snow is unknown, and ice is rare, so that the rabbit found out-
door life pleasant all the year round. The soft, friable, volcanic
loam and gravel afforded ideal sites for warrens, and natural
enemies were few and unimportant. The dingo, or wild dog, had
fled before the settlers, and the "native cats" (Dasyures) were,
curiously enough, driven out by the rabbits. The wedge-tailed
eagle and the swamp-hawk snatched up a few young rabbits here
and there, but these were but a drop from the bucket.
Soon it was found that the rabbit had spread north and south,
from the Murray to the sea, no part of the colony, save the
heavily-timbered mountains of Gippsland, and the protected valleys
to their south and east, being free of what was now acknowledged
to be a pest. The South Australian Government — the State is
only separated from Victoria by an imaginary line — became
alarmed, and a large sum was expended in erecting a wire-netting
fence along the whole length — some three hundred miles — of the
boundary. This fence was constantly watched by inspectors, and
for a time, certainly, stayed the invasion. But the fence was far
too long to be kept rabbit-proof, except at an almost prohibitive
expense. Here and there, at last, the harassed inspectors began
to find, first burrows beneath the netting, and then rabbits on
their side of the fence, until at last it became an open question as
to which side of the fence there were the most rabbits, and the
costly barrier was abandoned to its fate. The rabbits soon spread
over the southern portion of the colony, and gradually worked
their way north, to what is known as the Northern Territory, at
the other extremity of the continent. New South Wales trusted
confidently, at first, to the Murray river, a broad and usually deep
stream which forms almost the whole of the boundary between
the two States. It was asserted and believed that the rabbits
would not swim this river, but they did, and in the early eighties
a dismayed station-owner found traces of rabbits on his estate,
which bordered the Murray.
By this time, the magnitude of the evil had been thoroughly
realised in Victoria, and the New South Wales squatter took
prompt steps against the invaders. He employed men at once,
on good wages, with a bonus, to hunt up the rabbits. But the
effort was vain. The hunters gradually increased their catches,
and presently rabbits were reported from neighbouring stations.
Then the Government, in alarm, came to the landowners' assis-
tance with a bonus, at first of a shilling per head, half of
42 The Empire Review
which was paid by the landowner upon whose run the rabbits
were caught. But the Riverina country — between the Lachlan
river and the Murray — was naturally so suited to the rabbit —
with huge estates, plenty of cover, and a scanty population—
that the invasion was bound to be successful. Kapidly over-
running the Eiverina, the rabbits spread north and east, until
practically the whole of the vast colony, with the exception of a
strip along the coast, protected by the mountain ranges, was in
their possession. Queensland, of course, soon took the alarm ;
and gaining wisdom at the expense of her neighbours, prepared in
grirn earnest for the invader. A splendid wire-netting fence was
built along the whole of the "New South Wales boundary. This
fence, which cost some £25,000, extends the enormous distance
of nine hundred miles, and goes right into the heart of the
continent. To prevent the enemy outflanking them, the
fence was continued some distance, at right angles, along
the border of South Australia, and divided into manageable
divisions, each division being placed in the care of responsible
officials. Thus, when the rabbit reached the northern border
of New South Wales, he found a serious obstacle in the way
of his further peregrinations. Strict watch was kept over the
necessary gates in this fence, and where it crossed rivers and
creeks. For a time the barrier proved a success, but the
pressure of the invasion, the constant efforts of increasing num-
bers, at last had its effect. Floods washed away two or three
miles of the netting at a time; and, although it was expe-
ditiously repaired, a few rabbits made good use of the gap. Also,
in spite of the utmost diligence, burrows were made beneath
the netting, although it was laid six inches under ground.
The end of it was that rabbits became at last as plentiful one side
of the fence as the other. Even now, however, when the south
and south-west of Queensland is overrun with rabbits, it has
been found advantageous to keep the boundary fence in good
repair, in order to prevent the incursion of millions more from the
south during times of drought.
Westralia was the last State to succumb. It was fondly hoped
and believed that the immense stretch of arid and waterless
country that separated the fertile districts of South Australia and
Westralia, on which there is practically no settlement, and very
little native life, would prove an effective barrier. So thorough
was the Westralian Government's appreciation of the pest, that
heavy fines were announced for any one found with rabbits in his
possession, while coursing was made impossible on account of the
prohibition order embracing both hares and rabbits. The people
of Westralia were taking no risks. At last, however, their fears
were aroused by reports of rabbits having been seen along the
The Australian Rabbit Pest 43
southern coast of South Australia, near the border of Westralia.
As usual, it was at once decided to build a rabbit-proof fence ; but
before the fence was completed, the workmen were discovering
rabbits on either side of it. The fence, however, was finished for
a fair distance north, but it was only kept in repair for a short
time, as it was found that the mischief was already done. Steadily
the indomitable little furry pioneers worked westward. The
Kalgurli miners at last were able to go out rabbiting on Sundays.
At Southern Cross, on the way to Perth, a warren was found.
Finally the dismal news was published that a rabbit had been
caught near Perth itself, which is within half-a-dozen miles of
the west coast. In this manner the last State in the island
continent fell before what, individually, was surely one of the
weakest and humblest invaders on record. The area of Australia
is a little under 3,000,000 square miles. To-day practically the
whole of the inhabitable portion of this huge area is more or less
infested by rabbits. A few isolated districts here and there are
still free, but their capitulation to the common enemy is only a
matter of time.
As the plague increased in numbers and seriousness, so did the
energy and inventiveness of the governments and the landowners.
The first destructive method adopted, in nearly all cases, was that
of offering a bonus for dead rabbits. By this means hunters and
trappers were spread throughout the land, harrying the rabbit
everywhere, destroying his burrows, and killing both old and
young. As much as a shilling per head was first offered ; but the
futility of the bonus system was soon demonstrated by the fact
that so many scalps were soon brought in that the price was
gradually lowered to ninepence, then sixpence, and at last three-
pence and even lower. When a youth I used to trap rabbits
for three-halfpence the pair of scalps, and, with the sale of the
skins, earned thirty shillings a week. This was in 1884. In
New South Wales the bonus was provided by the Government
and the landowners in equal parts. At first the tail was accepted
as proof of the death of its owner ; but it was found that the
rabbiters, with a view to keeping a good industry going, were
cutting off the tails and letting the rabbits free again, little the
worse for the loss. So the scalp, i.e. the two ears joined by a
piece of the skin, soon took the place of the tail. Even then some
enterprising trappers added to their receipts by means of scalps
cunningly contrived from the skins of rats. These fabricated
scalps, however, did not repay the makers when the price dropped
below sixpence. In practically every case the trapper was allowed
to retain the skins, which sold at from sixpence to ninepence per
dozen, and formed a material addition to his income.
At this time there were trappers earning as much as £20 and
44 The Empire Review
£30 a week. They lived on the fat of the land, wore expensive
clothes and a lot of jewellery, owned racehorses, and drove
dashing turn-outs. A Eiverina rabbiter drove for some time a
very fine four-in-hand, with silver-mounted harness. The sign
of the craft, in the Eiverina — for the rabbiters were proud of their
calling — was a silver-model rabbit, which was worn on the watch-
chain, on the hat, as a scarf-pin, and on the harness of the horses.
The western Kiverina of New South Wales was, at this time,
from the Darling river to the Murray, the happy hunting-ground
of the rabbiter. One trapper bought all the champagne to be
had in a fair-sized town, about ninety bottles, emptied them all into
a tub, and then drove round all the principal streets ladling out
pannikins full of the liquid to everybody he knew. The money
expended by the New South Wales Government and the land-
owners combined, during this riotous period, exceeded a quarter
of a million pounds. And at the close, when the bonus was
reduced to a penny, and the disgusted rabbiters had left for fresh
fields, rabbits were far more numerous than ever.
In Victoria there were none of these rollicking scenes. The
landowners, as a rule, set to work carefully and earnestly, while
the help given by the Government was not very great. Practically
every station gathered a pack of nondescript dogs, which was placed
in charge of a " gamekeeper," whose business it was to roam the
paddocks with the pack, catch rabbits wherever and whenever he
could, and dig out small burrows. Gangs of men were also
employed to dig out the warrens, going systematically over each
paddock, while the gamekeeper with his dog sent the rabbits to
ground. By these means each paddock was, for a time, fairly
well cleared, but in a few weeks the pest was usually as bad as
ever. On estates where burrow-digging was too expensive a
process, other methods were adopted. Curious wheeled concerns,
somewhat resembling an itinerant scissor-grinder's outfit, were
used to supply poisonous fumes, which were pumped into the
burrows, and the outlets afterwards covered with earth. But in
porous country, which the rabbits preferred, this system was not
of much use. All descriptions of poison were used, such as oats,
wheat, pollard, apples and jam, treated with phosphorous,
strychnine, or arsenic. The bait was spread in furrows, freshly
made either with a light plough or a specially-constructed
implement. Poisoning was usually done at the end of summer,
when the herbage was dry and scanty. It is still a popular
method of dealing with the pest, especially on large estates, and
the Victorian Government Settlers' Handbook contains several
pages of instructions in this connection. Unfortunately, it has
been found that native birds are often killed in considerable
numbers, and I have seen dozens of dead magpies (the sweet-
The Australian Rabbit Pest 45
piping crow-shrike) in poisoned paddocks. So extensive are the
poisoning operations in the back country that, in spite of the
comparatively cheap nature of the process, many stations spend
£1000 a year and upwards on poisoning alone.
On some estates a few years ago, where rabbits were excep-
tionally numerous, they were actually yarded like sheep, and this
is still done occasionally. Wire-netting yards — forty or fifty
yards in circumference, were constructed, with two long wings
spreading out, from the yard-gate, like an immense V. The
wings were generally over half a mile long, with about the same
distance between their extremities. A line of beaters then
traversed the paddock, beating towards the interior of the wings,
and gradually closing up until the yard gate was reached. I
have taken part in drives when as many as 2,000 rabbits were
yarded at a time. This method, however, was only successful
under certain conditions, in warm weather, and when there was
not too much cover.
The brunt of the plague has fallen upon the station-owners
in the sheep-country of New South Wales. In Victoria, as
settlement proceeded, the largest estates were subdivided ; and
now, except in a few isolated instances, not a great deal of
difficulty is experienced in keeping the rabbit within bounds. In
New South Wales, however, the conditions are altogether
different. There the bulk of the land, owing partly to its poor-
ness, but mostly owing to the want of rain, is in very large
holdings. West of longitude 148 E. the State, save for a few
selections in the most fertile portions, along the rivers and around
the country townships, is in the hands of big sheep-breeders.
Five acres are required to maintain a sheep over most of this
area, and at times of drought it is often found that this is heavy
stocking. The stations, therefore, run to large dimensions.
There are several which include over a million acres within their
boundaries. A common size for paddocks is six by eight miles—
or nearly fifty square miles in one field, while many paddocks
are ten miles square, with a consequent area of a hundred square
miles. Small stations are of from 30,000 to 100,000 acres. The
land varies considerably both in quality and appearance, but as a
rule there is plenty o£ scrub, such as belah, porcupine, dwarf
eucalyptus (known as mallee), native pine, sandal wood, emu-bush,
cherry-bush, and gidya, with small shrubs edible by sheep, like
the salt-bush and cotton-bush. There are no mountains worth
mentioning in western New South Wales, and no ranges at all ;
but small hills are numerous, while detached plains are common.
As a rabbit-breeding country it would be hard to find its superior.
The climate, it may be added, is simply perfect. With these
three facts — huge area, admirable cover, and an excellent climate
46 The Empire Review
— borne in mind, it will not surprise the reader to find that the
rabbit plague reached its climax in western New South Wales.
With their huge, unwieldy runs, the sheep-owners found the
methods of the Victorian landowners quite out of the question.
It was absurd to contemplate digging out the warrens in a fifty-
mile paddock. The cost would easily amount to more than the
value of the paddock. Poisoning was found to be one of the
cheapest and most effective methods. At first great reliance was
placed on wire netting, and every station-owner that could afford
it fenced his boundary in this manner. Altogether many thou-
sands of miles of netting fences were built. Wire netting is
comparatively cheap, as it is usually only three feet, or three feet
six inches wide, and has a fairly large mesh. It was found, on
the smaller runs, that by attending to the boundary fences in this
manner, and by — if practicable — further sub-dividing the estate,
the rabbits could, with the aid of trappers and poison, be kept
fairly well under. But on the big stations even this method was
often found impracticable. A station which included, say, 900
square miles of country, could have 120 miles of boundary to
look after. Even allowing that it was surrounded by other
stations, who would share half the cost of fencing, there would
still be sixty miles left to erect and maintain. And, supposing
the erection of the fence completed, it was, in very many in-
stances, found quite impossible to keep it in repair. Neverthe-
less, netting has been found, on the whole, of great value in
checking the spread of the pest.
The chief check, however, has been the periodic droughts
which afflict New South Wales and Queensland. These droughts
kill off the grass and often the scrub, dry up the water, kill the
sheep, and eventually compass the death of millions of rabbits.
The last great drought, which existed for about five years, and
broke in 1903, was exceptionally severe on the rabbits. Countless
millions of them died of thirst and starvation. Travelling along
the wire-netting boundaries of the stations in badly-infested
districts, one came upon immense masses of dead and dying
rabbits, which were often piled along the fences for miles. The
landowners were not slow to help the drought in the work
of destruction. All the remaining water on the station was
usually netted in and poisoned water placed outside the netting.
The thirsty rabbits, hardly waiting for the departure of the
poisoners, swarmed in to the bait, with deadly results. In some
places the white, upturned bodies of the dead rabbits covered the
earth for hundreds of yards around the poisoned water, so that it
was impossible to walk about without stepping on them. Any sort
of poisoned food, such as jam or oats, was swept off immediately,
and millions were killed in this way. Indeed, figures seem to
The Australian Rabbit Pest 47
fail when dealing with the awful slaughter. Towards the close
of the drought it was possible to ride all day over what was
formerly badly-infested country without seeing a rabbit. And
yet, like the serpent in the proverb, the pest was only " scotched."
With the breaking of the drought, the rabbit promptly raised his
diminished head once more. From the banks of rivers and lakes,
where a sadly-reduced remnant had managed to survive, pioneer
colonies at once spread over the land again. It is now scarcely
three years since the breaking of the drought, and yet accounts
are coming in of the alarming growth of the pest. In every
direction, the western division of New South Wales now
resembles a waving corn-field, and wherever there is grass there
are rabbits. In one district alone, five stations were not long
ago abandoned to the rabbits.
The problem of keeping the pest in any reasonable sort of
check is one of the most difficult that the States of New South
Wales and Queensland have to face to-day. In Victoria the
problem has been practically solved, partly, as noted, by the sub-
division of the large estates, but chiefly by the phenomenal growth
of the rabbit export trade. Over twenty years ago a trade was
done with preserved rabbits, which were tinned in the rabbit
districts and exported to London. But it was the discovery of
the practicability of exporting rabbits in a frozen state that raised
the export trade to its present important position. This business
is only a few years old, but in 1894, for example, the State of
Victoria alone exported nearly 9,000,000 frozen rabbits. The
rabbits are supplied by trappers, who pervade the whole of the
State, and send the rabbits by rail to the freezing works on the
coast. The same process is in practice along the coastal districts
of New South Wales. But, so far as the interior of New South
Wales and Queensland is concerned, this method of disposing of
the rabbits is quite out of the question. There are three reasons
why it can never be effective. In the first place, the distances
and areas to be covered are too great, and the weather, for most
of the year, is unsuitable. Then the rabbits themselves are,
in many districts, thin and unsuitable for freezing, except at
occasional periods. The last objection is, perhaps, the most fatal.
If means could be found to freeze and export only a portion of
the teeming myriads of rabbits found in the interior the market
would inevitably collapse. I have often wondered how the
mother-country manages to absorb, at the price, the already
enormous quantities of rabbit that are shipped home yearly.
There must, however, be a limit to the consuming capabilities
of even the stay-at-home British, and that limit would quickly
be reached, notwithstanding reduced prices, if any noticeable
proportion of the rabbits of the western division of New South
48 The Empire Review
Wales or west and south-western Queensland was placed on the
market.
One of the most novel schemes for putting an end to the pest
is the discovery of Mr. Eodier, a Eiverina station- owner, who
claims that he has solved the question on his own run, which
is, of course, wire-netted, by trapping and killing only the
does. By thus upsetting the balance of nature, he declares, the
does become sterile, the abnormally-numerous bucks destroy the
young rabbits, and eventually the whole breed dies out. On his
own station, so Mr. Eodier affirms — and the results are not
questioned — the rabbits have been reduced to a surprising
minimum. It may be explained that the trap used is a humane
one, invented by Mr. Eodier himself. It is obvious, however,
that this plan, even if as successful as claimed, is scarcely likely
to be efficacious on a large scale. The New South Wales Govern-
ment have been in communication with the Pasteur Institute of
Paris with the view of introducing an infectious disease amongst
the rabbits. This proposal would, however, destroy the export
trade, and at the same time remove one potent remedy — the
trappers — from the field. Then it might be found that the
disease was communicable to other animals, native or domesti-
cated. Finally, it is not at all likely to really exterminate the
rabbits, however much it may reduce their numbers. It is
therefore fairly certain that this method will not be attempted ;
certainly not without the most careful consideration.
To sum up the whole position, it may be affirmed that we are
likely to have the rabbit, like the poor, with us always ; and that
the only reliable method of keeping him in check is the increase
in settlement, and the consequent diminution in the size of
holdings. Unfortunately, so far as every State, save Victoria, is
concerned, this pleasant condition is still in the very remote
distance. In fact, there are enormous areas in all the four States
referred to which are never likely to be at all closely settled. In
those districts, therefore, there will be one continual struggle
between the station-owner and the rabbit. When a drought
comes the station-owner will, after losing most of his sheep, have
the satisfaction of knowing that the rabbit has gone too ; but he
can also feel certain that, with the return of good seasons, the
rabbit will return too, and that it will, unfortunately, re-establish
itself far more quickly than the sheep.
FRANK S. SMITH.
VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.
Farm-Life in Rhodesia 49
FARM-LIFE IN RHODESIA*
BY GERTRUDE PAGE
MAKCH, with kindly consideration, took me to " fields and
pastures new." Not that that is an apt quotation, for fields and
pastures such as we see in England are an unknown quantity out
here. Veldt and kopje and vlei follow each other in quick succes-
sion throughout Mashonaland, with many pretty little rivers
intertwined. The particular new piece of veldt and kopje that
I saw in March was the Mazoe district— some thirty miles from
Salisbury — a neighbourhood of tall, ironstone kopjes, deep-wooded
vleis, gold mines, and lions.
These last have been unusually numerous this year, and have
drawn a heavy toll in donkeys, mules and cattle. Saddest of all
was the death of a fine, stalwart young farmer, who was mauled
and died from the effects. He and a friend, hearing of the where-
abouts of a lion, went off in search of it, and succeeded quickly
in mortally wounding a large lioness. They did not, however,
entirely dispatch her, and one of them approached most unwisely
before first making sure she was dead. When he came within
reach of her spring, she apparently pulled herself together with
one last, tremendous effort, and before either realised what was
happening, she had borne the poor fellow down with her claws
sunk deep in his flesh. It was only the work of a moment for
the other man to put a fatal bullet into her then — but it was too
late, the deadly claws had done their work and the monster had
her revenge. At first no one took it very seriously — a man had
been mauled slightly was the news that went round. Then,
rather hurriedly, he was sent to the Salisbury hospital, forty
dreadful miles of rough jolting road, and within twenty-four hours
of his arrival he was dead. One more precious toll claimed by
Ehodesia, one more stalwart, strong, popular, urgently-needed
young life to swell the lonely graves of Africa. And only a year
previously his brother had fallen a victim to the dreaded black-
water fever.
Shortly after that, the lions being so numerous and dangerous
* For previous Letters, see January, February, March, April, June aiid July Nos.
VOL. XII.— No. 67. fi
50 The Empire Review
a Black Watch patrol was sent out from Salisbury to try and kill
a few, but they had no luck. They saw several, but were quite
unable to tackle them on account of the dense long grass, which
gave the beasts such admirable cover. Since then, however,
another farmer has succeeded in killing two in a most exciting
encounter. One Monday evening, lions attacked a herd of
donkeys which were grazing in a large paddock adjoining a jungle
close to the farmhouse, and killed half a dozen. One they
devoured, two they carried away, and the others they left on the
spot. The farmer could distinctly trace the spoor of two lions,
but subsequent events showed that there must have been more.
Presuming they would return the second night to gorge themselves
on the carcases, he decided to ensconce himself close to the
donkeys to settle accounts with them. At nightfall he took his
Martini, and, as an extra precaution, borrowed a Lee-Metford
and told a native boy to carry it to the paddock. When they
arrived at the abattoir created the previous night, he sent the boy
back to the house, and, having made a rough screen of bushes,
lay down about twenty yards distant from the donkeys, with the
two rifles by his side. Suddenly a terrific roar seemed to fairly
crash through the air, followed by another and another. The
plucky farmer grasped his Martini and speculated grimly on the
safety of his plough-boy, who had gone in the direction from
which the roars came. A second later, the boy himself, half dead
with terror, rushed back and collapsed at his master's side.
Then the two waited. There was pale moonlight now, and tense
silence, while the very air seemed vibrating with taut-strung
nerves. Then a slight sound — a cautious approaching — and a
large lion stood visible. Apparently it scented danger, for it soon
retired again, and again there was only the stillness. The anxious
hours dragged on, but with a determined mind and a courageous
heart the farmer resisted that fatal temptation to risk his life with
an uncertain shot.
At last the moon sunk, and then the lions' courage rose.
Noiselessly they crept up under cover of the darkness, and
dragged away a donkey, then they returned for another. Still
the watcher dared not fire. He distinctly heard the brutes
crunching and growling over the donkeys — but the moment had
not yet come. Finally, gorged with their feast, the lions, as is
their wont, stretched themselves, rolled over in the grass, and
slunk into the jungle to sleep off the effects of their banquet. Still
the hunter dare not move. Would the interminable night never
pass!
When the first rays of the sun at last dispersed the gloom, he
got up to search for his terrible foes. The native, still in a state
of abject terror, hung on his heels carrying the Lee-Metford.
Farm-Life in Rhodesia 51
Before they had walked more than a few paces, they came to a
dead halt, for a lioness, a hundred yards distant, was majestically
emerging from a donga. They dropped instantly, but she probably
either heard or detected them, for she walked over in their direc-
tion. When sixty yards off she turned slightly to one side. The
moment had come ! The farmer fired, and the lioness turned a
somersault in the air, and fell dead : the Martini bullet had
entered just behind the shoulder blade. Following the report, a
lion issued from the donga, and seeing his mate lying dead, trotted
up to her, and began to lick her and growl in a disconsolate
manner. The farmer again waited for the right moment — one
feels he was undoubtedly one of those fortunate persons who
know how to wait, which is the secret of so much success in life.
When the lion was in the right position he again fired. The
wound was severe, but not mortal, for the brute, uttering a howl
of rage and pain, reared on his haunches vomiting blood. The
farmer fired again — and the lion dropped dead.
After that he went home, and if he was not pleased with his
bag for the night — well, he ought to have been ! There are big
game hunters in South Africa, who, in spite of every possible
effort, have never even seen a lion. To have shot two in one
night is an achievement for any man to be proud of. It is not
perhaps surprising to learn further, that this particular hunter
earned a name for himself by dare-devil despatch riding during
the rebellion ; and fought in the late war at Spion Kop and other
bloody battles.
A later lion scare has been at Blantyre, where it is reported a
troop of lions drove all the black boys out of a compound. In a
state of abject terror they took refuge among the Europeans, and
so infected all the other natives, that I heard of one poor man
whose cook-boy was too overcome to cook anything for the greater
part of the day. Last year two lions were seen on this farm only
twelve miles out of Salisbury ; and about four years ago there was
a lion, lioness, and four cubs within nine miles of town ; but they
seem to be developing a more wholesome respect for us nowa-
days. I have never seen one myself, but I know a girl, who, when
out driving rather late with her father, was chased by one for a long
distance. Once when it got unpleasantly near, she set a light to
her hat, and flung it down in the beast's path ; they are very
frightened of fire
At Fort Jameson, in N.E. Rhodesia, quite a short time back,
people scarcely liked to go out at all after dark, because lions
sometimes prowled round in the town itself. There is a good
deal of big game about there still. A friend of mine, while break-
fasting a short time back, was told by one of his boys that there
was a big buck near the house. He took his gun and went out,
2 E
52 The Empire Review
to find a fine kudu grazing almost in his flower garden. He
fired at it, and hit it — but was a good deal surprised to find it
neither dropped nor ran away. He fired again, this time killing
instantly, but when he walked up to look at his bag — he found
two kudu ; and the first one had dropped after all.
To reach Mazoe from here we had to ride across some beauti-
ful wild country ; taking our chance of lions or baboons. I was
on horseback, and my husband on his bicycle, and as we did not
know the way, there was an element of adventure about the
journey that was very fascinating to me. We had an unlucky
start, because after two miles it came on to rain, and we were
obliged to shelter in a little wattle and daub farmhouse, contain-
ing practically nothing but a table and one chair. We were
stranded here for four solid hours of boredom ; half of which was
spent in trying to find something in four pages of an antiquated
Daily Graphic, which we had not already read. We also ate our
sandwiches, and played naughts and crosses ! The farmer him-
self was away, and he had not even left anything eatable in his
house, much less readable. However, like all other times, good
and bad, it passed at last ; and with the first cessation of rain,
we were off across a wet, sodden veldt to our distant goal.
The first part of the way was for all the world like an English
wood of not very big trees — then, after passing a lonely gold mine,
we came out among kopjes, and commenced the usual houseside
ascents and descents. The last two or three miles were along an
old coach road — at least, that is what one is told — but it would
be a truer description to say it was a switchback over cliffs. It
was here that we might have encountered baboons, but there
were none at hand rather fortunately for us, as they are some-
times very nasty customers. We reached Mazoe at dusk after
our host, the Commissioner, had quite given us up, but we were
none the worse for our tedious day. Mazoe is always considered
an extremely pretty place, but I'm afraid I did not appreciate it.
As I explained to the doctor the kopjes were too high and too
close. Their Iron Mask Eange may be very fine ; they are
certainly very proud of it ; but I felt towards it as a lady visitor
towards a handsome bed of cannas I saw pointed out to her.
"Have you ever seen a handsomer lot of cannas?" said the
proud owner, waving a condescending hand towards a smallish
flower-bed, crowded out with enormous roots of flaring canna.
"Not bad," replied the lady; " but if I were you I should take
them all away and plant roses." Well, if I could make Mazoe as
I liked it, I should take away the Iron Mask Eange and put it
down eight miles off! As it is you can scarcely breathe for
kopjes ; and you feel as if the world had run away, like an express
train, and left you behind.
Farm-Life in Rhodesia 53
For the rest there are gold mines everywhere : most of them
working, though not all paying. I spent a day on the largest
one, and quite enjoyed it — though the gold was not standing
about in stacks ; neither could you see it unaided when handed a
large piece of quartz, and told it was full of gold ! Being still
possessed of an adventuresome spirit, I went down the mine to
the 400 ft. level, and then along drives and cross cuts. The
descent was an awesome experience. If I had seen the vehicle
in which I was to descend sooner, I doubt the staying powers of
that adventuresome spirit. I knew an engineer was coming with
me, but when he showed me a really minute iron coal-box : arrange-
ment, called a skip, and said we should go down the shaft in that,
I thought he was joking. To this day I don't know how we both
got into it — I never have known — we must have been about as
closely packed as a chicken in an egg. Just as we were starting
he told me to keep my head well down ! Considering I was
already tied up into a knot, with my head practically under my
arm, I felt it was adding insult to injury— and nearly asked him
if there was ~ any objection to my breathing occasionally. Then
there was a whirring noise ; the skip moved forward ; I just
managed to catch one last glimpse of blue sky and glittering sun-
light— and then we passed down into the gruesome darkness of
the underworld. At the 400 ft. level we stopped, because at the
lowest one, 500 ft., there was so much water — but since I had
got so far at such a cost, I was rather sorry not to go on to the
bitter end. As it was we had to be unearthed from the skip
at a little landing, and get out with black depths stretching
behind and before. Then the skip went back for my husband,
but as he had it all to himself, he was only like quite a common-
place jack-in-the-box. We went quite a long way down drives
and cross cuts, but there wasn't much to see except burrowings
in the earth, and staring, grinning, surly-looking niggers, who
made you wonder if you had strayed by chance into some suburban
region of Hades.
Gold mines are undoubtedly the most disappointing, not to
say fraudulent mines of all. A salt mine is really beautiful, and
there is salt everywhere. A coal mine is what it professes to be,
and what one naturally expects. But a gold mine isn't anything
at all — a lot of grown-up children might just as well have been
amusing themselves making a rabbit warren on an enormous scale.
It would be much more satisfactory from some points of view
to go to the Mint ! I was not sorry to emerge again into the
sunlight, and once more be unearthed from the little iron coal-
scuttle— but when I again asked for gold, they only showed me
an enormous mass of quartz waiting to be crushed and separated.
On the whole I may be said to have returned to the Com-
54 The Empire Review
missioner's a sadder and a wiser woman — not having been able
to "jump" even a grain of the best, as the Yankees would
put it.
Among other things at Mazoe, I was not a little entertained
at the Commissioner's office. There was something so very
incongruous about the mixture of an Empire typewriter, a Milner's
safe, an up-to-date writing desk, and a wattle and daub native
hut, having a mud floor and a beehive roof! It was however
beautifully cool, and might safely be recommended to city mag-
nates, desiring comfort in Lombard Street and elsewhere. Another
comical place in the grounds was the prison hut. There was
a long dark passage, and at the end a little dark hole, through
which the food is passed, into the dark hut where the prisoners
are confined. It was the sort of place one wouldn't care to put
a favourite dog in ; but then dogs have better food than natives
out here, and far more attention if they happen to be ill. At first
it rather shocks one, but you soon get used to it, and it is the
natives' own fault. Their own living huts are worse than the
prison, and for the rest, precious few of them would serve you
as faithfully as a dog.
I ought perhaps to mention, after what I have said in previous
articles, that farming at Mazoe is made to pay. This however is
due chiefly to the mines. If you can grow mealies and sell them
to mines near at hand, they can certainly be made lucrative. It
is when the cost of transport has to be added, that there is but
a poor margin left over for the farmer, if the price per bag is low.
But even then there is scarcely any crop worth speaking of for
three years ; and it is difficult to know what all these emigrants,
rumoured to be coming out, are going to live on until their crops
give some return.
That they can live largely on farm produce is pure chimera.
How are they going to procure the necessary groceries at abnormal
prices ; and what are they to do if their potato crop fails, as is
constantly happening ? As regards the groceries perhaps I had
better be more explicit. Here are a few prices. Tea, 2s. a Ib. ;
milk, Qd. a bottle fresh or lOd. a tin, in quantities ; sugar, 5d. a Ib. ;
butter, 2s. to 2s. 3d. a Ib. ; lard and suet, Is. 4d. a Ib. ; flour, 25s.
100 Ibs. ; bacon, Is. 3d. to Is. 9d. a Ib. For the rest, poultry are
very subject to disease, and do not lay well for many months
in the year ; while cattle and sheep mean considerable capital.
Ehodesia is undoubtedly a delightful country, but I doubt the
advisability of bringing people without any capital out here as
things are at present. If the Chartered Company were to lessen
all cost of transport by about 50 per cent., and so lower equally
the prices of necessaries, it is possible something successful might
be achieved in the way of a big land scheme for small farmers.
Farm-Life in Rhodesia 55
And even a wider scheme in the altered circumstances might
then have some prospect of success.
We have great hopes of our tobacco-growing. Experiments
have proved highly satisfactory, and Rhodesian tobacco is said to
be the best yet produced in South Africa, while one report states
that it is equal to anything turned out of America. The prices
offered will pay handsomely over and above the cost of growing
and fcuring — which, in itself, opens an immense possibility for
the future of Rhodesia. There are unlimited areas of land that
will grow this good tobacco — and though irrigation is not
absolutely necessary, it renders the crop secure, and can generally
be obtained for a very small outlay, by damming a stream and
making irrigation furrows. The tobacco can be sun cured — the
simplest and cheapest method. The great drawback, as with
mealies, is the impossibility of producing crops until the land has
been cultivated two or three years. This soil, unlike other virgin
soils, will not produce a crop the first year (I quote from the
statements of a grower of thirty years' experience in this and other
countries). In the case of mealies, three bags to the acre is all
one can expect the first year. The second year may increase
100 per cent. ; the third and fourth years may produce eight to
ten bags. All this, however, goes to show that the unmoneyed
settler cannot even pay his way for the first year or two.
But the most serious question is that of labour. If the
Government intends to really help the farmer, and save Rho-
desian agriculture, something must be done, and done quickly,
to prevent all the native labour flocking to the mines.
GERTRUDE PAGE.
April.
(To be continued.}
56 The Empire Review
A MODERN MAORI WEDDING
BY MRS. MASSY
EEADEES of The Empire Review who are acquainted with
Maori folk-lore, will remember the story of Hinemoa the
beautiful Maori maiden, who, so the legend tells us, swam across
the Lake of Eotorua in quest of her lover, Tutanekai, to whom
she was betrothed. The story says that when Tutanekai reached
the edge of the warm pool, where Hinemoa had taken refuge
after her long swim across the chill waters of the lake, the gallant
young chief took her by the hand, and as she stood at the edge
of the water, he threw his mat of kiwi feathers round her slender
form; and by this graceful act took her as his wife; and this,
then, constituted the first act of legal marriage, according to the
ancient law of the Maoris.
When Tutanekai took his beloved Hinemoa in his strong
young arms, and pressing her to his beating heart, claimed her
as his bride, the only witness of that primitive bridal was the
great world of nature. The shimmering wavelets of the lake, as
they broke in rippling kisses on the shore, murmured — "Live
and love, 0 happy ones," and the bright-eyed stars, ever the
lovers' friend, gazed tenderly on the happy pair. So nature,
arising from her night of sleep, strengthened and refreshed,
stretched out her caressing, yearning arms to life and love.
Let us now turn from folk-lore to reality — from the hidden
and mysterious past to a present-day Maori wedding, at which
it was my good fortune to be present not many months ago.
After weeks of wet and stormy weather, the sun broke
through the dark clouds that had so long enveloped the Hot
Lake District, and burst forth in all his splendour to gladden the
marriage of a young Maori chief, to whose wedding we had been
invited.
Eenati Keepa was the eldest son of the chief of the Tohu-
rangi tribe, and grandson of Te Keepa of Whakarewarewa.
Benati's bride, Manurau Wepiha, was the daughter of the chief
A Modern Maori Wedding 57
of the Ngatiwhakaue tribe of the Te Puki district. Our cards
of invitation gave 12 o'clock as the hour of the ceremony ; so
at 11.30 we started from Eotorua for the little Maori village of
Ohinemutu, which is on the shores of Eotorua Lake. Here we
found the open space before St. Faith's Church thronged with
European and Maori visitors, the latter attired in all their
brightest and best. The varied colours, flung about with a
prodigal hand, made a brilliant scene quite Eastern in its
glowing effects, and one that could scarcely fail to rejoice the
eyes of an artist or, indeed, any lover of colour. But the hour
was drawing near 12 o'clock ; so we entered the church and took
our places.
The long lancet-shape windows were thrown wide open, and
we gazed upon a lovely scene. The blue lake shimmered peace-
fully in the warm sunshine, its green shores lighted here and
there by the golden glory of the Australian wattle, now in the
full wealth of its beauty. In the near distance, the long, graceful
leaves of the New Zealand flax were gently stirred by the light
breeze ; whilst the soft, lazy croaking of the marsh frogs, blended
with the hum of the honey-laden bees ; the twitter of birds, and
the chirping of crickets in the grass, seemed like nature's bridal
hymn; and a calm of ineffable peace, born of its loveliness,
enveloped the landscape, and steeped in the life-giving sunshine
of the spring, lulled one to a deep sense of rest and peace.
But a prolonged and ever-increasing murmur of voices soon
dispelled this enchanting day-dream, and indicated the approach
of the bridal party, the procession being headed by the Maori
clergyman, the Rev. F. Bennett, in full Anglican canonicals.
Following him came the bride and bridegroom with their
attendant bridesmaid and groomsman, and then the parents and
other near relatives of the young couple. The appearance of
these fine, well-set-up Maori men impressed us greatly; they
were dressed in European clothes, whilst over their shoulders,
much in the same fashion as the ancient Roman draped his toga,
they wore the New Zealand mat made of kiwi feathers, from
time immemorial the national garb of the race. Some of these
mats were very handsome and most valuable, the best being
made of the feathers of the kiwi ; this singular bird is wingless
and tailless, with a peculiar round-shaped body, and an abnor-
mally long bill. Other mats were woven of flax of natural colour,
with long tags of black or brown worsted hanging at intervals
all over the garment; others were of wool, also with hanging
fringes, and brilliant in colour. The bridegroom also wore
European clothes and a kiwi mat.
The bride was in white pongee silk, prettily made, and
trimmed with narrow Valenciennes lace; her white shoes com-
58 The Empire Review
pleted a very up-to-date and quite modern costume ; and over all
she wore the national kiwi feather mat. Her ornaments were a
gold-mounted New Zealand greenstone (Pomare) brooch, and
round her neck a greenstone Tiki — the carved presentment of
one of their ancient gods and said to be the New Zealand Adam.
Her hair, which was very pretty, was a tawny brown, burnished
here and there with a copper tint and twisted in a plait at the
back of her head ; and at one side were two Huia feathers from
the much-prized Huia bird, supposed only to be worn by people
of high rank. The bridesmaid was in Tussore silk, with a
head-dress of Amokura feathers, and wore a mat — as also did the
groomsman and the others of the wedding-party.
The service, beautifully conducted, was in the Maori language,
though the form of marriage was after our own Prayer-book, and
the first hymn, given whilst the wedding-procession moved up
the aisle, was—" The Voice that breathed o'er Eden " — sung by
the whole congregation. The effect of the service, as rendered
in Maori, is soft in sound, but very monotonous, there being no
great changes in the inflection of the voice When the service
was concluded the young couple, followed by their relatives,
entered the vestry to sign the registers; and, as they passed
down the aisle, the choir sang the beautiful Maori " Hymn of
Welcome " — a lovely air with a haunting refrain.
The registers being duly signed, the party proceeded to the
large carved whare, a house used by the Maoris as a meeting-
place, and called by them Tama-te-kapua ; it is here they give
their entertainments when the Haka* is danced. The building
is constructed after the Maori fashion, the walls being decorated
with carvings in wood, stained dark red, and strips of fine flax
matting woven in various patterns. At the entrance the bride
and bridegroom took up their position to receive the congratula-
tions and good wishes of their friends, which were offered with
a hearty shake of the hand. Inside, the wedding-breakfast was
arranged, and the bridal gifts displayed.
Along the sides of this fine room were placed two long tables
for the general guests ; and at the end or top of the room was
a separate table for the chief's family party and special friends.
Nearly all the European guests had brought some pretty or
useful offering, and these were laid out between the two long
tables. Before the breakfast commenced everyone collected
round this table to admire the gifts ; and there really were some
very pretty things. I noticed some greenstone jewellery set in
gold, silver-mounted hair-brushes, photograph-frames, pictures
and lace, serviette-rings, fruit-dishes, and a china tea-service,
butter and preserve-dishes, silver salt-cellars, a travelling-clock,
* The national dance of the country.
A Modern Maori Wedding 59
flower- vases and lamps; and some good practical things in the
shape of bank-cheques, with table and bed-linen.
At the bridal table, and immediately opposite the young couple,
was the wedding-cake, made in three tiers, iced and decorated
with white ornaments and orange blossom The tables were
brightened with vases of wattle bloom ; and dishes of sweets,
cakes, fruit and other dainties, were tastefully arranged down the
centres of the white damask cloths. We were waited on by young
Maori wahines (girls) in European dress. These girls were most
quick and courteous in their attendance ; and waited quite as well
as their European sisters would have done.
The meat dishes were various and included the muttonbird,
considered by the Maoris a great delicacy, and imported by them
expressly for the occasion. I tasted the dish, and frankly confess
I did not like it ; the rank fishy taste was so strong. I suppose my
palate had not been educated to the peculiar flavour ! so I asked
one pretty wahine to substitute for it something a little less pro-
nounced ; she smiled, and showing her pearly white teeth, said
with a merry laugh: "You not like it? then I bring something
else." Pudding and lighter sweets with dessert followed, and so
brought the menu to a close. Lemonade and aerated waters of
various kinds supplied the place of alcohol, and in these we drank
the toasts that were subsequently proposed.
The Eev. F. A. Bennett, in a very appropriate speech asking
us to fill our glasses, gave the health of the young Chief and
Chieftainess, wishing them a happy and prosperous life. Eenati
Keepa, he said, was likely to become in a few years a leader of
the Tohurangi tribe, and that having known him personally for
some time, he felt confident that he possessed those qualifications
which constitute a leader of men. He added that, in the recent
football match, Maoris v. New South Wales, Renati, was playing
amongst the backs ; and needless to say, acquitted himself well.
In conclusion, Mr. Bennett hoped that when Renati was confronted
with many problems that would arise for the welfare of his people,
he would succeed in landing many a goal. The bridegroom then,
in a few words, thanked his friends for the kind feeling they had
evinced in so warmly responding to the toast.
The Rev. C. Tisdale, Chaplain of Rotorua, in proposing the
health of " Our Hosts," the Tohurangi and Ngatiwhakaue tribes,
said his remarks must be brief, but he felt sure he was voicing the
feelings of all the Europeans present when he said that they had
all felt highly honoured by the invitations sent to them to be
present at this marriage ceremony. A high ideal of marriage was
one of the crowning points of civilisation, and he wanted the Maoris
to feel that the Europeans were one with them in seeking to
attain this highest ideal. They desired to show their appreciation
60 The Empire Review
of the overflowing hospitality they had enjoyed that day, and the
fullest Christian sympathy with their Maori brethren, by now
drinking to the health of their hosts — the Tohurangi and Ngati-
whakaue. This was acknowledged by one of the chiefs of
Whakarewarewa, Maika Keepa, father of the bridegroom, who
said it pleased his people greatly to see so many pakehas present,
who were all exceedingly welcome. He was very grateful to
them for their presence, and hoped it would still further tend to
make them dwell in unity.
Mr. Bennett then thanked the paJcehas (the Europeans) for
their assistance and support. He was certain that a gathering of
this description would do a tremendous amount of good in more
ways than one, and felt grateful to their visitors for the hearty
manner in which they had responded to the invitation. The Maoris,
one and all, felt honoured. He had often told the natives that the
better class oipakeha was quite prepared to come and rub noses*
(figuratively) with the better class of Maori, and to offer his hand
to help his Maori brother a little higher up the ladder of Christian
civilisation. A gathering of this description proved to the Maori
the truth of the assertion which he had made. Many oppor-
tunities would present themselves when the Maori would be glad
to grasp the hand of his paJceha brother, to climb the ladder to a
higher standard. The Maori was anxious to progress, and,
personally, he felt quite optimistic as to the capacity of the Maori
for progress in everything that concerned his highest interests.
He hoped that the interests of their visitors would not end with
this gathering. There were many questions affecting the social
and moral welfare of the Maoris that required careful consider-
ation. He hoped that those present would do all in their power
in solving these problems. Further opportunities would be given
for the two races to meet together. He hoped that when the
Young Maori Party Conference met here in January, the gathering
would be just as enthusiastic and harmonious as it had been on
this occasion. In conclusion, he again thanked all the visitors for
the honour of their presence, and wished them all, " Kia Ora."
So ended a very interesting ceremony ; and, with the con-
cluding speeches of the two clergymen, much grave matter was
left in the minds of the thoughtful spectators for deep consider-
ation. The first being, the future of this mysterious people that
so suddenly appeared in their canoes from an unknown country ;
for to the present day they have no knowledge of their own
history, or where they came from previous to landing in New
Zealand, which they called Aotearoa (Land of the Long White
Cloud). Beyond this fact, and only from that date, have they any
* The hongi, or rubbing together of noses, is the Maori form of friendly saluta-
tion, and obtains to this day amongst themselves.
A Modern Maori Wedding 61
record of their existence as a nation. They are now in our hands
either to make or mar ; let us continue to stretch out the hand of
friendship, and bind them to the mother-country with links of
affection and respect, that will be stronger than fetters of steel.
We are beginning, in these days of universal national unrest
and jealous ambitions, to feel the vital necessity of brotherhood
and federation. Mr. Chamberlain, in his notable speech at
Birmingham last month,* stated " that the federation of free
nations which he could foresee, would enable them to prolong into
the ages yet to come all the glorious traditions of the British
race. What must they do to achieve this ideal ? Cultivate the
affections and sympathy of the colonies." To every thinking
person this would appear to be the right and only course, and to
those who have travelled much, and talked freely with all classes
in the colonies, it is to be noted that, irrespective of race and
colour, the general and deep feeling is anxiety not to be left out in
the cold, and the wish that the mother-country should think as
kindly of her younger children as of the elder.
The mighty Empire, on which the sun never sets, is composed
of such a vast concourse of diverse races, religions, ilanguages and
nationalities that a common centre of interest should bind all
together in one indivisible whole ; and that centre of interest is
Britain our mother, whose kindly and protecting wings have ever
sheltered her callow brood till they reach maturity. Then let it
be — shoulder to shoulder, hand firmly clasped in hand, one in
this common bond of unity, all races, creeds, and colours under
one flag, and one ruler ; strengthened and made one by the free-
masonry of true and faithful brotherhood. So let the march of
time pass on, leaving us free to face the future without fear — in
unity — and blameless.
E. I. MASSY.
* July 9, 1906.
62 The Empire Review
SEA-DYAK LEGENDS
BY THE REV. EDWIN H. GOMES, M.A.
II.*
THE STORY OF Siu, WHO FIRST TAUGHT THE DYAKS TO PLANT
PADDY AND TO OBSERVE THE OMENS OF BIRDS.
MANY thousands of years ago, before the Paddy plant was
known, the Dyaks lived on tapioca, yams, potatoes, and such fruit
as they could procure. It was not till Siu taught them how to
plant Paddy that such a thing as rice was known. The story of
how he came to learn of the existence of this important article
of food, and how he and his son Seragunting introduced it among
their people, is set forth in the following pages.
Siu was the son of a great Dyak chief. His father died
when he was quite a child, and at the time this story begins, he
lived with his mother and was the head of a long Dyak house
in which lived some three hundred families. He was strong and
active and handsome in appearance, and there was no one in the
country round equal to him either in strength or comeliness.
When ready to go on the warpath, he was the admiration
of all the Dyak damsels. On these occasions he appeared
in a many-coloured waistcloth, twelve fathoms in length,
wound round and round his body. On his head he wore a
plaited rattan band, in which were stuck some long feathers of
the hornbill. His coat was woven of threads of bright colours.
On each well-shaped arm was an armlet of ivory. To his
belt were fastened his sword and the many charms and amulets
that he possessed. With his spear in his right hand and his
shield on his left "arm, he presented a splendid type of a Dyak
warrior. But it is not of Siu's bravery nor of his deeds of
valour against the enemy that this tale relates. It tells only
of an adventure which ended in his discovery of Paddy.
He proposed to the young men of his house that they should
* Part I. appeared in the June Number.
Sca-Dyak Legends 63
take their blowpipes with them and go into the jungle to shoot
birds. So one morning they all started early. Each man had
with him his bundle of food for the day, and each went a different
wa.y, as they wished to see, on returning in the evening, who
would be the most successful of them all.
Siu went towards a mountain not far from his house and
wandered about the whole morning in the jungle, but strange to
say, he did not see any bird nor did he meet with any animal.
Everything was very quiet and still. Worn out with fatigue,
he sat down to rest under a large tree, and feeling hungry, he
ate some of the food he had brought with him. It was now
long past midday, and he had not been able to kill a single
bird ! Surely none of the others could be so unfortunate as he !
Determined not to be beaten by the others, after a short
rest, he started again and wandered on in quest of birds. The
sun had gone half-way down in the western heaven, and Siu
was beginning to lose heart, when suddenly he heard not far off
the sound of birds. Hurrying in that direction, he came to a
large wild tig tree covered with ripe fruit, which a large number
of birds were busy eating. Never before had he seen such a
sight ! On this one large tree the whole feathered population
of the forest seemed to have assembled together ! Looking more
carefully he was surprised to see that the different kinds of
birds were not all intermingled together as is usually the case,
but each species was apart from the others. He saw a large
liock of wild pigeons on one branch, and next to them were the
parrots, all feeding together but keeping distinct from them.
Upon the same tree there were hornbills, woodpeckers, wild
pigeons and all the different kinds of birds he had ever seen.
Siu hid himself under the thick leaves of a shrub growing
near, very much pleased at his luck, and taking a poisoned dart
he placed it in his blow-pipe, and shot it out. He had aimed at
one bird in a particular flock, and hit it. But that bird was not
the only one that fell dead at his feet. To his astonishment,
he saw that many of the other birds near it were killed
also. Again he shot out a dart, and again the same thing
happened. In a very short time Siu had killed as many birds
as he could carry. As the little basket in which he had brought
his food was too small to hold them all, he set to work and
made a large coarse basket with the bark of a Pendok tree
growing near. Then he put his load on his back and started to
return home, glad that he had been so successful.
He tried to follow the way by which he had come, but as he
had not taken the precaution to cut marks in the trees he passed,
he very soon found himself in difficulties. He wandered about,
sometimes passing by some large tree, which he seemed to
64 The Empire Review
remember seeing in the morning. He climbed up a steep hill and
went several miles through a large forest, but did not find the
jungle path which he had followed early in the day. It was
beginning to grow dusk and the sun had nearly set.
" I must hurry on," said Siu to himself, " in the hope of
finding some house where I can get food and shelter. Once it
is dark, I shall be forced to spend the night in the jungle."
Coming to a part of the jungle which had lately been a garden,
he thought there must be a path from the garden leading to some
house, so he began to walk round it. Soon he found an old
disused path which he followed and which led him to another path.
By this time it was quite dark, and Siu made haste to reach the
Dyak house which he felt sure was not very far off. He came to
a well, and near at hand he saw the lights and heard the usual
sounds of a Dyak house. He was glad to think that he would
not have to spend the night in the jungle, but would be able to
get food and shelter at the house. He stopped to have a bath,
and hid the birds he was carrying and his blow-pipe and quiver in
the brushwood near the well, hoping to take them with him when
he started to return the next morning.
As he approached the house, he could hear the voices of
the people there. When he came to the bottom of the ladder
leading up to the house, he shouted, " Oh ! you people in the
house, will you allow a stranger to walk up ? " At once there
was dead silence in the house. No one answered. Again Siu
asked the same question, and after a pause a voice answered,
" Yes : come up ! "
He walked up into the house. To his surprise he saw no
one in the open verandah in front of the different rooms. That
part of a Dyak house, usually so crowded, was quite empty.
Nor did he hear the voices of people talking in any of the rooms.
All was silent. Even the person who answered him was not
there to receive him.
He saw a dim light in the verandah, further on, in the middle
of the house, and walked towards it, wondering the while what
could have happened to all the people in the house, for not long
before he had heard many voices.
"This seems to be a strange house," he remarked. "When
I was bathing and when I walked up to the house it seemed to
be well inhabited, but now that I come in, I see no one, and
hear no voice."
When Siu reached the light, he sat down on a mat. Presently
he heard a woman's voice in the room say, " Sit down, Siu; I
will bring out thepinang* and sireh^ to you."
* Pinang, betel-nut.
t Sireh, a kind of pepper-leaf which the Dyaks are fond of eating with betel-nut.
Sea-Dyak Legends 65
Siu was very pleased to hear a human voice. Soon a young
and remarkably beautiful girl came out of the room with the
chewing ingredients, which she placed before him.
" Here you are at last, Siu," she said ; " I expected you would
come earlier. How is it you are so late ? "
Siu explained that he had stopped at the well to have a bath,
as he was hot and tired.
" You must be very hungry," said the girl ; " wait a moment
while I prepare some food. After you have eaten we can have
our talk together."
When Siu was left to himself, he wondered what it all meant.
Here was a long Dyak house, built for more than a hundred
families to live in, and yet it seemed quite deserted. The only
person in it appeared to be the beautiful girl who was cooking
his food for him. Again, he wondered how it was she knew his
name and expected him that day. All these things filled him
with wonder and surprise.
" Come in, Siu," said the voice from the room, "your food is
ready."
Siu was very hungry and went in at once, and sat down to
eat his dinner.
When they had done eating, she cleared away the plates and
put things back into their places and tidied the room. Then
she spread out a new mat for him, and brought out the pinang
and sireh, and bade him be seated, as she wished to have a chat
with him.
Siu had many questions to ask, and as soon as they were both
seated, he began :
" Why are you all alone in this house ? This is a long house
and many families must live in it. Where are the others?
Why is everything so silent now ? I am sure I heard voices
before I entered the house ; but now I hear no sound."
" Do not let us talk about this house or the people in it for
the present. I would much rather talk of other matters. Tell me
of your own people, and what news you bring from your country."
" There is no news to give you," Siu replied. " We have
been rather badly off for food, as our potatoes and yams did not
turn out so well this year as we hoped."
" Tell me what made you come in this direction, and how it
was you found out this house."
" While I was hunting in the jungle to-day, I lost my way.
After wandering about a long time, I found a path which I
followed and came to this house. It was kind of you to take
me in and give me food. If I had not found this house, I must
have died in the jungle. To-morrow morning I must ask you to
show me the way to my country, and also I must beg of you
VOL. XII.— No. 67. P
66 The Empire Review
some food for my journey back. My mother is sure to be
anxious about me. She is left all alone now that I am away.
My father died a long time ago, and I am her only son."
" Do not go away as soon as to-morrow morning. Stay here
a few days, at any rate."
At first Siu would not consent, but she spoke so nicely to
him that she succeeded in persuading him to stay there at least
a week. Then he went out to the verandah, and she brought
out a mat for him to sleep on and a sheet to cover himself with.
As Siu was very tired, he soon fell sound asleep, and did not
wake up till late on the following morning.
He saw some little children playing about the next day, but
he did not see any grown up people. He went into the room to
have his morning meal, but saw no one there, except the girl he
had seen the evening before. He felt very much inclined to ask
her again where the people of the house were, but he did not do
so, as she did not seem inclined to speak about them.
Now though Siu knew it not, this was the house of the great
Singalang Burong, the Euler of the Spirit World. He was able
to metamorphose himself and his followers into any form. When
going forth on an expedition against the enemy, he would trans-
form himself and his followers into birds, so that they might
travel more quickly. Over the high trees of the jungle, over the
broad rivers, sometimes even across the sea, Singalang Burong
and his flock would fly. There was no trouble about food, for
in the forests there were always some wild trees in fruit, and
while assuming the form of birds, they lived on the food of
birds. In his own house and among his own people Singalang
Burong appeared as a man. He had eight daughters, and the
girl who was cooking food for Siu was the youngest of them.
The reason why the people of the house were so quiet, and did
not make their appearance, was because they were all in mourning
for many of their relatives who had been killed some time back.
Only the women and children were at home, because that same
morning all the men had gone forth to make a raid upon some neigh-
bouring tribe, so that they might bring home some human heads
to enable them to end their mourning. For it was the custom
that the people of a house continued to be in mourning for dead
relatives until one or more human heads were brought to the
house. Then a feast was held, and all mourning was at an end.
After Siu had been in the house seven days, he thought he
ought to think of returning to his own people. By this time he
was very much in love with the girl who had been so kind to him,
and he wished above all things to marry her, and take her back
with him to his own country.
" I have been here a whole week," he said to her, " and though
Sea-Dyak Legends 67
you have not told me your name, still I seem to know you very
well. I have a request to make, and I hope you will not be angry
at what I say."
" Speak on ; I promise I will not be angry whatever you may
say."
"I have learnt to love you very much," said Siu, "and I would
like to marry you if you will consent, so that I shall not leave you
but take you with me, when I return to my own land. Also I
wish you to tell me your name, and why this house is so silent,
and where all the people belonging to it are."
" I will consent to marry you, for I also love you. But you
must first promise me certain things. In the first place, you
must not tell your people of this house and what you have seen
here. Then also you must promise faithfully never to hurt a bird
or even to hold one in your hands. If ever you break this promise,
then we cease to be man and wife. And of course, you must never
kill a bird, because if you do so, I shall not only leave you but
revenge myself on you. Do you promise these things ? "
" Yes," said Siu, " I promise not to speak of what I have seen
here until you give me leave to do so. And as you do not wish it,
I will never touch or handle a bird, and certainly never kill one."
" Now that you have promised what I wish, I will tell you
about myself and the people of this house," said the maiden.
" My name is Endu- Sudan-Gating gam-Tinchin-Mas (the girl
Sudan painted like a gold ring), but my people call me by my pet
names Bunsu Burong (the youngest of the bird family), and
Bunsu Katupong (the youngest of the Katupong family). This
house, as you noticed, seems very empty. The reason is that a
month ago many of our people were killed by some of the people
of your house, and we are all still in mourning for them. As you
know, when our relatives have lately died, we stay silent in our
rooms, and do not come out to receive visitors or to entertain
them. Why are your people so cruel to us? They often kill
our men when they go out fishing or hunting. On the
morning of the day on which you arrived, all the men of this
house went on the war-path, so as to obtain the heads of some of
the enemy to enable us to put away our mourning. With us as
with you it is necessary that one or more human heads be
brought into the house, before the inmates can give up sorrowing
for their dead relatives and friends. You see us now in the form
of human beings, but all the people in this house are able to trans-
form themselves into birds. My father Singalang Burong is the
head of this house. I am the youngest of eight sisters : we have
no brother alive. Our only brother died not long ago, and we
are still in mourning for him, and that is the reason why my
sisters did not come out to greet you."
F 2
68 The Empire Review
Siu heard with surprise all she had to say. He said to him-
self that it was lucky he did not bring up to the house the basket
of birds which he had killed in the jungle, and that he had
hidden them with his blow-pipe and quiver containing poisoned
darts, in the brushwood near the well. He determined to say
nothing about the matter, as probably some of her friends or
relations were among the birds that were killed by him.
So Siu married Bunsu Burong and continued to live in the
house for several weeks.
One day he said to his wife : " I have been here a long time.
My people must surely be wondering where I am, and whether I
am still alive. My mother too must be very anxious about me.
I should like to return to my people, and I want you to accompany
me. My mother and my friends are sure to welcome you as my
wife."
" Oh yes : I will gladly accompany you back to your home.
But you must remember and say nothing of the things you have
seen in this house. When shall we start ? "
"We can start early to-morrow morning, soon after breakfast,"
answered Siu.
They started early the next day, taking with them food enough
for four days, as they expected the journey would last as long as
that. Siu's wife seemed to know the way, and after journeying
for three days, they came to the stream near the house, and they
stopped to have a bath. Some of the children of the house saw
them there, and ran up to the house and said : " Siu has come
back, and with him is a beautiful woman, who seems to be his
wife."
Some of the older people checked the children, saying : " It
cannot be Siu : he has been dead for a long time. Don't mention
his name, for if his mother hears you talk of him, it will make her
very unhappy."
But the children persisted in saying that it was indeed Siu
that they had seen. Just then Siu and his wife appeared, and
walked up to the house.
Siu said to his wife : " The door before which I hang up my
sword is the door of my room. Walk straight in. You will find
my mother there, and she will be sure to gladly welcome you as
her daughter-in-law."
When they came into the house, all the inmates rushed out to
meet them, and to congratulate Siu on his safe return. They
asked him many questions: where had he been living all this
time ; how he came to be married, and what was the name of his
wife's country. But Siu answered little, as he remembered the
promise he had made to his wife, that he would not speak of what
he had seen in her house.
Sea-Dyak Legends 69
When they reached the door of his room, Siu hung up his
sword and his wife went into the room. But she did not see his
mother as she was ill and was lying in her mosquito curtain.
Then Siu followed his wife into the room and called out " Mother,
where are you ? Here is your son Siu come back ! "
But his mother made no answer, so he opened her curtain,
and saw her lying down, covered up with a blanket. She had
been so troubled at the thought that her son was dead, that she
had refused to eat and had become quite ill.
She would not believe that her son had really returned alive,
and she said, " Do not try to deceive me ; my son Siu is dead."
" I am indeed your son Siu, and I have come back alive and
well ! "
" No ! " she replied, " my son Siu is dead. Leave me alone ;
I have not long to live. Let me die in peace and follow my son
to the grave."
Siu then went to the box in which his clothes were kept, and
put on the things that his mother had often seen him wear.
Then he went to her again and said, " Even if you do not believe
that I am your son, at any rate you might turn round and look at
me, to make sure that I am not your son."
Then she looked at him, and saw that it was indeed her son.
She was so pleased at his return that she soon recovered from her
illness, which was really caused by her sorrow and refusal to
eat. Siu told his mother of his marriage, and she welcomed his
wife with joy.
The women all crowded round Siu's wife and asked her what
her name was. She answered Endu-Sudan-Galinggam-Tin-
chin-Mas (The girl Sudan painted like a gold ring). They
looked at her in surprise ; they had never heard of such a name
before.
"Where do you come from?" they asked. "What is the
name of your country? "
" Nanga Nig a Bekurong Bebali nyadi Tekuyong Mabong "
(The mouth of the hidden Niga stream changed into an empty
shell),* was the reply.
They were astonished at her answer. They had never heard
of such a country. They asked her of her people, but she would
not say anything more of herself or speak about her people.
Everybody admired the great beauty of Siu's wife. No more
questions were asked of her, as she seemed unwilling to answer.
Her parentage remained a mystery.
In process of time Siu's wife bore him a son whom they named
Seragunting. He was a fine child, and as befitted the grandson
of Singalang Burong, he grew big and strong in a miraculously
* The Dyaks are fond of rhyming names, which often have no special meaning.
70 The Empire Review
short time, and when he was three years old, he was taller and
stronger than others four times his age.
One day, as Seragunting was playing with the other boys, a
man brought up some birds which he had caught in a trap. As
he walked through the house he passed Siu, who was sitting in the
open verandah. Siu, forgetting the promise he had made to his
wife, asked him to show him the birds, and he took one in his
hands and stroked it. His wife was sitting not far off, and saw
him hold the bird and was very much vexed that he had broken
his promise to her.
She got up and returned to her room. Siu came in and noticed
that she was troubled and asked her what was wrong. She said
that she was only tired.
She said to herself : " My husband has broken his word to
me. He has done the thing he promised me he would never do.
I told him he was never to hold a bird in his hands, and that if
he did such a thing, I would leave him. I cannot stay here in
this house any longer. I must return to the house of my father
Singalang Burong."
She took the water vessels in her hands, and went out as if to
fetch water. But when she came to the well she placed the
water-vessels on the ground and disappeared in the jungle.
In the meantime Seragunting, tired with his play, came back
in search of his mother. She was very fond indeed of him, and
he expected her to come to him as soon as he called out to her.
But he was disappointed. No one answered his call, and when
he looked in the room she was not there. He asked his father
where his mother was, and he told him that she had just gone to
the well to fetch water and would soon be back.
But hour after hour passed, and she did not return to the
house. So Seragunting began to be anxious, and asked his father
to accompany him to the well to look for her. At first his father
refused to do so, but when he saw his son crying for his mother
he went with him to the well. They found the water-vessels
there, but saw no signs of her.
" Your mother is not here, Seragunting," said Siu. " Perhaps
she has gone to the garden to get some vegetables for our dinner.
Let us go back to the house. If your mother is not back, early
to-morrow morning we will go and look for her." So they both
returned to the house, taking back with them the water-gourds
which Siu's wife had left at the well.
Early the next morning Seragunting and his father went in
search of her. They took with them only a little food, as they
expected to find her not very far off. But they wandered the
whole day and saw no signs of her. They spent the night under
a large tree in the jungle. Early the next morning they were
Sea-Dyak Legends 71
surprised to find a small bundle of food, wrapped up in leaves,
near Seragunting. This food was evidently meant for him alone,
as it was not enough for two, but he gave some of it to his father,
who ate sparingly of it, so that his son might not be hungry.
They wandered on for several days, and every night the same
strange thing occurred — a bundle of food was left near Seragunting.
Siu suggested to his son that they should return ; but Seragunting,
who during the journey had grown up into a strong lad with a
will of his own, would not consent to do so, as he was determined
to find his mother.
They wandered on for several days, deeper and deeper into the
jungle, but could find no signs of her whom they sought. At last
they came to the sea-shore. Here they rested for some days, in
the hope that some boat might pass. Still, as before, each
morning a bundle of food was found by Seragunting. If it were
not for this food they would have long ago died of starvation. On
this food they managed to live, waiting hopefully to see some boat
appear to take them on their journey.
One day as Seragunting was watching, he heard the sound of
paddles, and saw in the distance several long boats approaching.
He hailed the first, and asked the men in it to take him and his
father with them. The boat made for the shore, but the man in
the bows recognised the two wanderers, and shouted out : " It is
Siu and his son Seragunting : do not let them come into the
boat." The boat went on and left them to their fate. The same
thing happened in the case of each of the other boats. As
soon as Siu and his son were recognised, no one would help
them.
Now these were the boats of the sons-in-law of Singalang
Burong : — Katupong, Beragai, Bejampong, Papau, Nendak,
Pangkas, and Ernbuas. They were not pleased at their sister-in-
law marrying a mere mortal like Siu, and so refused to help him
and his son.
The next day Seragunting saw what seemed to be a dark
cloud come towards him over the sea. As it came nearer, it
took the form of a gigantic spider, carrying some food and
clothes.
" Do not be afraid," said the Spider, " I have come to help you
and your father. I have brought you food and clothing. When
you have had some food and changed your clothes, I will take you
across the water to the land on the other side. My name is
Emplawa Jawa (the Spider of Java) . I know your history, and I
will lead you to your mother whom you seek."
After they had eaten and put on the new clothes brought
them, the spider told them to go with him across the sea. They
were not to be afraid, but to follow his track, not turning to the
72 The Empire Review
right hand nor to the left. They obeyed his words. Strange to
say, the water became as hard as a sandbank under their feet.
For a long time they were out of sight of land, but towards
evening they approached the opposite shore, and saw a landing-
place where there were a large number of boats. Not far off
were several houses, and one longer and more imposing than any
of the others. To this house the Spider directed Seragunting,
telling him that he would find his mother there. The Spider
then left them. As it was late, they did not go up to the
house that evening, but spent the night in one of the boats at
the landing-place. Among the boats were those belonging to the
sons-in-law of Singalang Burong which had passed Siu and his
son as they waited on the sea-shore for some boat to take them
across the sea.
When Seragunting and his father woke up next morning, they
saw that the road leading up to the house had sharpened pieces
of bamboo planted close together in the path, to prevent their
walking up it. As they were wondering what they were to do
next, a fly came to Seragunting and said :
" Do not be afraid to walk up. Tread on the spikes that I
alight on; they will not hurt you. When you come to the
house you will find swords with blades turned upwards fastened
to the ladder. Tread on the blades that I alight on and walk
boldly up into the house."
They did as the fly advised them, and were not hurt. The
bamboo spikes crumbled under their feet, and sword blades they
trod on were blunt and harmless.
The people of the house took no notice of them, and they
sat down in the verandah of the house. Then the fly came to
Seragunting and whispered to him : " You must now follow me
into the room. Your mother is there, lying in her mosquito
curtain. I will point out to you which it is, and you must wake
her up and tell her who you are. She will be very pleased to see
you. Then when you come out into the verandah and see the
sons-in-law of Singalang Burong, you must greet them as your
uncles. They will disown you and pretend that you are no
relation of theirs. But do not be afraid. You will be victorious
in the end."
Seragunting followed the fly into the room and went to the
curtain on which it alighted. He called out to his mother, and
she awoke and saw with joy her son. She embraced him, and he
said to her :
" How is it you went away and left us ? We missed you so
much, and were so sorry to lose you, that my father and I have
been travelling for many days and nights in search of you. Now
our troubles are over for I have found you."
Sea-Dyak Legends 73
" My dear son," she said as she caressed him, " though I
left you I did not forget you. It was I who placed the food by
you every night. I left your father because he broke the promise
he made to me. But you are my own son, and I have been
wishing to see you ever since I left your house. It was I
who sent the Spider to help you and show you your way here.
My love for you is as great as it ever was. We will go out
now into the verandah, and I will introduce you to your uncles
and aunts and to your grandfather. They may not welcome
you, because they were opposed to my marriage to your father.
But do not be afraid of them. We will be more than a match
for them all."
Then she spoke to her husband Siu, whom she was glad to
meet again. All three then went out into the verandah, which
was now full of people. Seragunting called the sons-in-law of
Singalang Burong his uncles, but they refused to acknowledge
that he was their nephew.
They proposed several ordeals to prove the truth of his words,
that he was indeed the grandson of Singalang Burong. In all of
these Seragunting came off victorious.
As the men and boys were spinning their tops they asked
Seragunting to join them. He had no top of his own, so he asked
his mother for one. She took an egg and uttered some mysterious
words over it, and immediately it became a top. This she gave
to her son, who went and joined the others in the game. When-
ever Seragunting aimed at a top he always hit it and smashed it
in pieces. None of the others were a match for him. In a short
time all the tops, except that of Seragunting, were broken in
pieces.
Then they suggested a wrestling match. Seragunting was
quite ready to try a fall with any of them, old or young. Some
of their best wrestlers came forward. The first two were over-
thrown so easily by him that the others saw it was no use their
attempting to wrestle with Seragunting.
As a last trial they proposed that all should go out hunting.
Here they hoped to be more fortunate. All the sons-in-law of
Singalang Burong took their good hunting dogs with them, confi-
dent of success. Seragunting was told that he could have any of
the other dogs left in the house. There he saw a few old dogs,
weak and useless for hunting. With these he was expected to
compete against the others, and if he was not successful both he
and his father were to be killed ! Seragunting consented even to
such an unfair ordeal as that. He called to him an old sickly-
looking dog and gently stroked it. At once it became young and
strong ! While the others went forth into the jungle with a pack
of hounds, Seraguuting was only accompanied by one dog. In
74 The Empire Review
the evening Katupong, Beragai, Bejampong and the others all
returned unsuccessful. Soon after Seragunting's dog appeared,
chasing a huge boar, which made a stand at the foot of the ladder
of the house. Seragunting asked the others to kill the beast if
they dared. The spears cast at it glided off and left the beast
unharmed. Some of those who were rash enough to go near the
animal had a close escape from being torn in pieces by its tusks.
Seragunting, armed with nothing better than a little knife
belonging to his mother, walked up to the infuriated animal and
stabbed it in a vital part, and it fell down dead at his feet.
After these marvellous feats all were compelled to admit that
Seragunting was a true grandson of the great Singalang Burong.
They all acknowledged him as such, and he was taken to his
grandfather, who was pleased to see the lad, and promised to help
him throughout his life.
But Siu was unhappy in his new home. He could not help
thinking of his mother, whom he had left alone, and he was
anxious to return to his own people. He begged his wife to
accompany him back to his old home, but she refused to do so.
It was decided that Siu and his son should stay in the house of
Singalang Burong till they had obtained such knowledge as would
be useful to them in the future, and that then they were to return
to the lower world, bringing with them the secrets they had learnt
from those wiser and more powerful than themselves.
All the people of the house were now most kind to Siu and his
son, and were most anxious to teach them all they could. They
were taken on a war expedition against the enemy, so that they
might learn the science and art of Dyak warfare. They were
taught how to set traps to catch deer and wild pig. They were
shown the different methods of catching fish, and learnt to make
the different kinds of fish-trap used by the Dyaks of the present
day. They remained in Singalang Burong's house that whole
year so that they might have a complete and practical knowledge
of the different stages of paddy growing.
When the year was ended, Seragunting's mother took him
and Siu to see her father, Singalang Burong, so that they might
receive from him his advice, as well as such charms as he might
wish to give them before they left to return to the lower world
of mortals.
Singalang Burong was sitting in his chair of state, and
received them most kindly when they came to him. He bade
them be seated on the mat at his feet, as he had many things to
say to them. Then he explained to Siu and his son who he was,
and the worship due to him, and they learnt also about the
observance of omens, both good and bad.
" I am the Euler of the Spirit World," said Singalang Burong,
Sca-Dyak Legends. 75
" and have the power to make men successful in all they under-
take. At all times if you wish for my help, you must call upon
me and make offerings to me. Especially must this be done
before you go to fight against the enemy, for I am the God of
War and help those who pay me due respect.
"You have learnt here how to plant paddy. I will give you
some paddy to take away with you, and when you get back to
your own country, you can teach men how to cultivate it. You
will find rice a much more strengthening article of food than the
yams and potatoes you used to live upon, and you will become a
strong and hardy race.
" And to help you in your daily work, my sons-in-law will
always tell you whether that you do is right or wrong. In every
work that you undertake, you must pay heed to the voices of the
sacred birds — Katupong, Beragai, Bejampong, Papau, Nendak,
Pangkas and Embuas. These birds, named after my sons-in-law,
represent them and are the means by which I make known my
wishes to mankind. When you hear them, remember it is
myself speaking through my sons-in-law for encouragement or
for warning. Whatever work you may be engaged in — farm
work, house-building, fishing or hunting — wherever you may be
you must always do as these birds direct. Whenever you have
a feast, you must make an offering to me, and you must call
upon my sons-in-law to come and partake of the feast. If you
do not do these things, some evil is sure to happen to you. I am
willing to help you and to give you prosperity, but I expect due
respect to be paid to me, and will not allow my commands to be
disobeyed."
Then Singalang Burong presented them with many charms
to take away with them. These were of various kinds. Some
had the power to make the owner brave and fortunate in war.
Others were to preserve him in good health, or to make him
successful in his paddy planting and cause him to have good
harvests.
Siu and Seragunting then bade their friends farewell, and
started to return. As soon as they had descended the ladder
of the house of Singalang Burong, they were swiftly transported
through the air by some mysterious power, and in a moment
they found themselves at the bathing-place of their own house.
Their friends crowded round them, glad to see them back
safe and well. They were taken with much rejoicing to the
house. Friends and neighbours were told of their return, and a
great meeting was held that evening. All gathered round the
two adventurers, who told them of their strange experiences in
the far country of the Spirit Birds. The charms received from
Singalang Burong were handed round for general admiration.
76 The Empire Review
The new seed paddy was produced, and the good qualities of
rice as an article of food explained. The people congregated
there had never seen paddy before, but all determined to be
guided by Siu and Seragunting, and to plant it in future. The
different names of the Sacred Birds were told to the assembled
people, and all were warned to pay due respect to their cries.
And so, according to the ancient legend, ended the old
primitive life of the Dyak, when he lived upon such poor food as
the fruits of the jungle, and any yams and potatoes he happened
to plant near his house ; the old blind existence, in which there
was nothing to guide him ; and then began his new life, in which
he advanced forward a step, and learnt to have regularly, year by
year, his seed-time and harvest, and to know that there were
unseen powers ruling the Universe, whose will might be learnt
by mankind, and obedience to whom would bring success and
happiness.
EDWIN H. GOMES.
(To be continued.)
Imperial Literature 77
IMPERIAL LITERATURE
THE COMING OF THE BRITISH TO AUSTRALIA*
BEADERS of The Empire Review — to whom the name of
Ida Lee is already familiar — in common with all students of
colonial history, will welcome the appearance of her latest con-
tribution to Australian literature. Nor will the fact that the
author goes somewhat out of the beaten track and deals with the
spade-work done by the great pioneers of Australian colonisation
lessen the interest in her book, which, as Lord Linlithgow — who
contributes the preface — aptly remarks should be most valuable
as an aid to the education of the rising generation.
The early stories connected with Great Britain's oversea
possessions fill one with admiration for the intrepid mariners,
who, taking their lives in their hands, went forth into the world
to discover new jewels for the British Crown. Many of these
stories find a place in Ida Lee's useful and entertaining volume,
and the setting in which they are reproduced indicates that the
writer not only possesses a full grasp of her subject, but has had
access to records which have hitherto escaped the notice of
previous searchers after facts connected with this fascinating
chapter in the history of our Empire. Numerous illustrations
— in some instances very quaint — assist to explain the text. These
are well selected and recall incidents in the founding and early
development of Australia which half a century ago were still
referred to as being within living memory.
The advance made during a period stretching but little over a
century is astonishing, and it seems almost incredible that the
great Commonwealth of to-day is the same Australia which
Captain Cook, in 1770, named New South Wales, from a supposed
resemblance to the South Wales of Great Britain. We are too
apt to forget these important historical facts, and therefore should
be the more grateful to historians who, like Ida Lee, re-
* ' The Coming of the British to .Australia (1788-1829),' by Ida Lee. Price
7s. 6d. net. Longmans & Co., London.
78 The Empire Review
mind us of them in a manner at once attractive and exhaustive
and yet so accurate as to detail as to make her work a text-book
of early Australian history, which it is alike a pleasure and an
instruction to read.
THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA*
THE fourth volume of the ' Times History of the War in South
Africa ' well maintains the high standard of the preceding volumes.
In this instance the task of authorship was entrusted to the able
hands of Mr. Basil Williams, the general editor, Mr. Amery
confining hjs attention to criticism and suggestion, a division of
labour which has brought about a result that is eminently satis-
factory. Mr. Williams readily admits his indebtedness to other
sources for the information which he has woven into so interesting
and valuable a story, but it is patent to all that a work of this
nature must to a very great extent be a compilation. The mere
fact that the volume has taken two years to write is sufficient to
indicate the magnitude of the undertaking, which covers one of
the most interesting periods of the war, and deals with incidents
of the campaign that awaken memories which have left their
indelible mark on the pages of British history.
Beginning with Lord Roberts' entry into Bloemfontein, the
author passes on to Sannah's Post and the sending back of
General Gatacre. Then come the siege of Wepener, its relief
and various other operations. A third chapter deals with Lord
Roberts' plans, and a fourth is devoted to the advance of the main
army to Pretoria. General Sir Redvers Buller's movements in
Natal precede the story of the western advance and the relief of
Mafeking, and following in close succession are the operations
in the Eastern Free State, Lord Roberts' movements at Pretoria
and the subsequent incidents in the Brandwater Basin. A
whole chapter is set apart for the discussion of the events in
the Western Transvaal and the doings of the Rhodesian Field
Force. And then follow an explanation of Lord Roberts' policy
after Diamond Hill, the advance to Middelburg, the chase after
De Wet and the advance to Komati Poort. After touching
at length on Lord Roberts' greatness as a commander, the
volume concludes with three most interesting chapters on
the end of the siege of Lady smith, Kimberley and Mafe-
king. The importance of the defence at Mafeking is not over-
looked, and much that some critics thought to be fiction turns
out to be fact.
* ' The Times History of the War in South Africa, 1899-1902.' Vol. iv. Price
21s. net. Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Limited, Paternoster Row. 1906.
Imperial Literature 79
Some excellent illustrations, including maps and plans and
semi-Kembrandt photogravure plates, assist in bringing the story
more vividly before the reader. Excellent in style, graphic in
description, the book reflects the utmost credit upon everyone
concerned in its production.
THE CANADIAN ANNUAL REVIEW OF PUBLIC
AFFAIRS*
No student of Imperial affairs can afford to be without
the Canadian Annual Keview, which, with the current issue,
reaches its fifth year of issue. The book should find a place not
only in the public libraries of this country, but be easy of access
to all schoolboys and University men. Directly, the information
it contains is intended for Canadians, but the wide ground covered
by the editor makes the contents interesting to the British race
throughout the Empire.
Following precedent, the editor opens with a carefully compiled
epitome of the various political events that have happened in the
Dominion during the last twelvemonth, embracing a digest of the
parliamentary debates and the different incidents which have
occupied a prominent place in the political arena. From
Dominion matters he passes to the provinces, and after dealing
with the general elections in Ontario, proceeds to describe the
inauguration of the two new provinces, Alberta and Saskatche-
wan, and their subsequent elections. Then we have the public
affairs in the provinces treated in the same manner as those
of the Dominion, and a chapter devoted to the finances of the
Dominion and of the provinces. Sandwiched in between the
Canadian militia and the financial section are very comprehensive
chapters relating to Imperial affairs, Canadian relations with the
United States, and the transportation interests of the Dominion.
After discussing events connected with education, literature,
journalism, religion, and commerce, the volume is brought to
a conclusion with a recital of some miscellaneous incidents and
two very useful indices.
It is not possible to do more than refer in brief to the con-
tents of this most interesting and instructive volume. To get a
full grasp of the ground covered the reader must peruse the
pages for himself — pages which are pleasantly illustrated with
sketches and reproductions of photographs of well-known
Canadian men of affairs. An occasional map also assists the
* ' The Canadian Annual Eeview of Public Affairs, 1905.' By J. Castell Hopkins,
F.S.S. Illustrated. Price, cloth, $3 (12s. 6d.). The Annual Review Publishing Co.,
Limited, Toronto.
80 The Empire Review
student to get a more accurate grasp of the letterpress. To the
editor, or perhaps one should say to the compiler of this vast fund
of information, our best thanks are due; he has certainly pro-
duced a work of much public utility, and which is rendered the
more interesting by the easy style of the writer and the con-
venient way in which the facts and figures are marshalled.
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO STUDIES*
WE have received the tenth volume of the ' University of
Toronto Studies,' an annual review of historical publications
relating to Canada, edited by Mr. George Wrong, professor of
history in the University of Toronto, and Mr. Langton, librarian
of the same seat of learning. The matter is divided into con-
venient sections, embracing Canada's relations to the Empire, the
history of the Dominion, provincial and local history, geography,
statistics and economics, archaeology, ethnology and folk-lore,
bibliography, and educational and ecclesiastical history. And
when it is said that nearly every book or article published during
the preceding twelve months dealing with any one of these
subjects is critically reflected in the ' Studies,' the scope and
magnitude of the work will be understood and appreciated.
This interesting series of articles, going back as it does to
1895, offers a unique opportunity to students of Canadian affairs
to make themselves acquainted with the contributions to Canadian
literature during the last decade, and in addition supplies them
with reviews by selected experts of the opinions and assertions
put forward by the authors and writers. Without accepting
their ruling in every instance, the remarks of the different critics
are, invariably, fair and to the point, and, as it is always best to
hear both sides of a question before passing judgment, so every
follower of Canadian history will do well to read, mark, learn and
inwardly digest the views which the editors have collected with
so much care and attention.
* The University Library. Published by the Librarian, 1906. Toronto : Morany
& Co., Ltd. Price, cloth, $1.50.
Indian and Colonial Investments
INDIAN AND COLONIAL INVESTMENTS*
THEEE is still little recovery to record from the depression
which the whole of the Stock Exchange, almost without exception
in any market, has been suffering recently. The turn of the
half-year has brought, as was expected, ease in the money market,
trade continues its rapid improvement, and there are indications
that there is plenty of money awaiting investment, but still all
classes of securities remain in the dumps. The most potent
cause of depression during the past few weeks has been the
almost ^unrelieved slump in the South African market, and as a
climax came the news of the lamented death of Mr. Alfred Beit.
Even the strongest of speculators cannot hold out indefinitely
with prices falling lower and lower, and the difficulties of those
who have to be helped over settlement after settlement have had
an adverse effect on every market in the Stock Exchange. The
grant of the Transvaal Constitution is therefore eagerly awaited
on all sides to put an end — as it is hoped it speedily will do — to
the terrible uncertainty which it involves for the City.
Indian Government securities, gilt-edged as they are, have
not escaped the blighting influence. Perhaps, too, the issue of
fresh loans has helped to depress them. The Government's
continued policy of railway purchase and expansion — the Southern
INDIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present Amount.
When
Redeem-
able.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
INDIA.
£
3J% Stock ft) . . .
62,535,080
1931
103
SA
Quarterly.
3 % „ ]«).-.
54,635,384
1948
93£
»A
,,
2$% „ Inscribed^)
11,892,207
1926
78*
3A
it
3J % Rupee Paper 1854-5
. .
(a)
97|
SA
30 June— 31 Deo.
3 % „ „ 1896-7
1916
85J
tf
30 June— 30 Dec.
(0 Eligible (or Trustee investments.
(a) Redeemable at a quarter's notice.
* The tabular matter in this article will appear month by month, the figures
being corrected to date. Stocks eligible for Trustee investments are so designated. — ED.
VOL. XII.— No, 67. o
82 The Empire Review
INDIAN RAILWAYS AND BANKS.
Title.
Subscribed.
Last
year's
dividend.
Share
or
Stock.
Price.
Yte
RAILWAYS.
Assam — Bengal, L., guaranteed 3 % .
Bengal and North- Western (Limited)
Bengal Dooars, L.
1,500,000
2,750,000
400,000
3
6
8ft
100
100
100
88Jz
146*
90*
Bf
4,
Bengal Nagpur (L), gtd. 4%+|th profits
Burma Guar. 2} % and propn. of profits
Delhi Umballa Kalka, L., guar. 3J % + j
3,000,000
2,000,000
800,000
4*
4*
6
100
100
100
105J
10940;
1504
!*
4j
4
East Indian Def. ann. cap. g. 4% + jU
2,267,039
511
100
125*z
*J
Do. do, class " D," repayable 1953 (t) .
Do. 4} % perpet. deb. stook (t) . . .
Do. new 3 % deb. red. (t)
Great Indian Peninsula 4% deb. Stook t)
Do. 3% Gua. and & surp. profits 1925 t\
Indian Mid. L. gua. 4% & J surp. profits t)
Madras, guaranteed 5 % by India (t) .
Do. do. 4? °L (t)
4,282,961
1,435,650
8,000,000
2,701,450
2,575,000
2,250,000
8,757,670
999,960
54
44
3
4
J*
5
4f
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
140*0;
133*.
894
118
111
101*0:
124|
116*
32
I1
ll
3i
?
4,
Do. do. 4}%$
Nizam's State Bail. Gtd. 5 % stock .
Do. 3| "/ red. mort. debs
500,000
2,000,000
1,079,600
3
5
3*
100
100
100
110
121J
92|o;
li
Rohilkund and Eumaon, Limited. .
South Behar, Limited
200,000
379,580
7
4
100
100
148*.
108|
|
31
South Indian 4$ % per. deb. stock, gtd.
Do. capital stock
425,000
1,000 000
44
71
100
100
138}
108*,
3
6|
Sthn. Mahratta, L., 1} % ft | of profits
Do. 4 % deb. stook
3,500,000
1,195,600
5
4
100
100
101*x
108*.
4,
aj
Southern Punjab, Limited ....
Do. 3} % deb. stook red
West of India Portuguese Guar. L. .
966,000
500,000
800,000
550,000
4
?
5
100
100
100
100
120|
Ml
104}
112
3i
8,
4;
\ ,
BANKS.
Chartered Bank of India, Australia, }
Number of
Shares.
10,000
13
20
614
*i
48
48,000
12
12*
35f
1
ai
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
(as) Ex dividend.
Mahratta is the latest to receive notice of expropriation — entails,
of course, heavy obligations, and the issue of another rupee loan
is announced. This form of security, known in this country
as Rupee Paper, is still not so popular as it ought to be now
that the value of the rupee has been put on a stable basis. As
will be seen from the accompanying tables, the yield is consider-
ably better than that on the sterling loans.
The Grand Trunk revenue statement for May, which is the
last to be issued before the half-yearly profit statement appears in
August, came as a very agreeable surprise to the market. Against
an increase of £66,300 in gross receipts there was an addition of
only £39,300 to expenses, so that the net increase was £27,000.
This makes a net increase for the five months of £72,700, which
is considerably more than would be required to pay 1 per cent.
Indian and Colonial Investments
83
for the full year on the Third Preference stock, quite apart from the
revenue for June. It is still a matter of some doubt, however,
whether the directors will not prefer to postpone any distribution
until the results for the full year are obtainable, that is, until
March next year.
A very interesting Canadian railway project has been put
before the public during the month. While not of the magnitude
of the great transcontinental schemes for which the Dominion
CANADIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Be-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
4%Inter-n Guaran-
colonialj 1 teed by
4% „ [ Great
1,500,000
1,500,000
1908
1910
101
103
—
11 Apr.— 1 Oct.
4% „ J Britain.
1,700,000
1913
104
8i
4 % 1874-8 Bonds. .
4 % „ Begd. Stock
1,926,300\
5,073, 700/
1906-8
/ 101
\ 101
1 May— 1 Nov.
4 % Reduced Bonds .
4 % „ Begd. Stock
2,078,721\
4,364,415/
1910
/ lOlJa;
\ lOlia;
~ }
1 Jan.— 1 July.
3J % 1884 Begd. Stock
4,750,800
1909-34
101
—
1 June — 1 Dec.
4 % 1885 Ins. Stock .
3 % Inscribed Stock (t)
3,517,600
10,200,429
1910-35*
1938
102
98J
3T7*
3&
ll Jan.— 1 July.
2i% „ „ («)
2,000,000
1947
85
3J
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
PBOVINCIAL.
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
3 % Inscribed Stock .
2,045,760
1941
86
3«
1 Jan. — 1 July.
MANITOBA.
5 % Debentures . .
5 % Sterling Bonds .
346,700
308,000
1910
1923
103«
109x
*A
}l Jan.— 1 July.
4% „ Debs. .
205,000
1928
102
3$
1 May— 1 Nov.
NOVA SCOTIA.
3% Stock ....
164,000
1949
86
3|
1 Jan.— 1 July.
QUEBEC.
3 % Inscribed . . .
1,897,820
1937
86
3J
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
MUNICIPAL.
Hamilton (City of) 4 %
Montreal 3 % Deb.\
Stock . . . ./
482,800
1,440,000
1934
permanent
102
84
33
3A
1 Apr.— 1 Got,
ll May— 1 Nov.
Do. 4 % Cons. „
1,821,917
1932
107
3#
1
Quebec 4 % Debs. . .
Do. 3| % Con. Stock .
885,000
387,501
1923
drawings
lOlx
95
3|
jl Jan.— 1 July.
Toronto 5 % Con. Debs.
136,700
1919-20*
106cc
4§
Do. 4 % Stg. Bonds .
Do. 4 % Local Impt. .
300,910
249,312
1922-28*
1913
102x
lOOo;
4
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 3J % Bonds . .
1,109,844
1929
94£z
31
Vancouver 4 % Bonds
121,200
1931
103
a
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
Do. 4 % 40-year Bondg
117,200
1932
103
Stf
7 Feb.— 7 Aug.
Winnipeg 5 % Debs. .
138,000
1914
107
4
30 Apr.— 31 Oct.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
(0 Eligible for Trustee Investments,
(a) Ex dividend,
G 2
84
The Empire Review
CANADIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid up
per
Share.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
*
Canadian Pacific Shares . .
$101,400,000
6
$100
164
1
Do. 4 % Preference ....
£7,778,082
4
100
105
3f
Do. 5 % Stg. 1st Mtg. Bd. 1915
£7,191,500
5
100
108cc
5f
Do. 4 % Cons. Deb. Stock . .
£16,922,305
4
100
110
81
Grand Trunk Ordinary. . .
£22,475,985
nil
Stock
28&
nil
Do. 5 % 1st Preference . . .
£3,420,000
5
ii
119$
4*
Do. 5 % 2nd „ ....
£2,530,000
5
ii
109J
44
Do. 4 7 3rd „ ....
£7,168,055
2
it
68f
2f
Do. 4 % Guaranteed . . .
£6,6549,315
4
it
103
3$
Do. 5 % Perp. Deb. Stock . .
£4,270,375
5
100
135
SH
Do. 4 % Cons. Deb. Stock . .
£15,135,981
4
100
108J
SH
BANES AND COMPANIES.
Bank of Montreal ....
140,000
10
$100
257
«
Bank of British North America
20,000
6
50
71
*&
Canadian Bank of Commerce .
$8,000,000
7
$50
£18
3|
Canada Company ....
8,319
57s. per sh.
1
38a;
74
100,000
£4 per sh.
10*
86}
4f
Trust and Loan of Canada. .
50,000
7*
5
6*
eft
25,000
7*
3
B]
6A
British Columbia Electric"! Def .
£210,000
f
Stock
1164
To
54
Railway /Pref .
£200,000
6
Stock
108*
4A
•
16
£1 capital repaid 1904.
(z) Ex dividend.
NEWFOUNDLAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Be-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
8J % Sterling Bonds .
2,178,800
1941-7-8
94*
3f
3 % Sterling „ .
325,000
1947
Six
3H
4 % Inscribed Stock .
320,000
1913-38*
101
8«
1 Jan. — 1 July.
4%
502,476
1935
107
3&
4 % Cons. Ins. „
200,000
1936
107
ST'B
Yield calculate ' on earlier date of redemption.
(z) Ex dividend.
has become famous, the proposed new line — the Atlantic Quebec
and Western — is of far-reaching importance as furnishing an
entirely new outlet on the Atlantic seaboard for the vast grain
produce of Manitoba and the North- West and the other exports
of Canada. It will connect up the great cities by means of the
Grand Trunk Pacific and Intercolonial Kailways with the natural
deep-water harbour of Gaspe, right at the mouth of the St.
Lawrence. The journey between the mother-country and the
interior of Canada will thus be considerably shortened, the long
passage of the St. Lawrence being avoided. The railway
company has placed three-quarters of a million sterling 5 per cent.
Indian and Colonial Investments 85
First Debenture Mortgage Bonds on the market at 95 — and is
making good progress with the construction of its line.
The decision of the board of the Hudson's Bay Company to
cut down its land sales need not disturb holders of the shares.
By disposing of too much land at the present time the directors
would only be damaging the company's own interests. The com-
pany would not receive so high a price for its property, it would
disturb the land market by encouraging the speculative middleman
and would leave others to take the profit that will accrue when
prices eventually reach a higher level as districts get filled up.
Australian Government securities have shown no sign of
weakness although market influences have been of so depressing
a character. Their firm tone is justified by the healthy condition
of Australian public finance. The preliminary announcements of
revenue cabled over show that the past year has been a prosperous
one. The Commonwealth has done better than was anticipated,
the revenue of £11,900,000 being £440,000 in excess of that of
the previous year and £500,000 above the Treasurer's estimate.
Expenditure at £4,500,000 shows an increase of nearly £200,000,
but is nevertheless £100,000 below the estimate. In relation to
the estimates the actual figures are very satisfactory, and as a
consequence the States fare much better than was expected, the
amount returned to them as their share of the customs revenue
being about £7,400,000, or some £250,000 more than in the
previous year, whereas a decrease of £350,000 had been
anticipated.
Up to the present only meagre particulars of the State
revenues and expenditure have been received, but they suffice to
indicate that the budgets will be for the most part favourable.
New South Wales is this year in the best position, having gathered
in a revenue of £12,267,532, while the expenditure is stated at
£11,389,707. The Premier's recent prediction that the surplus
would reach a million pounds is thus almost realised, and this in
spite of the fact that the expenditure includes £360,000 paid off
the debt. Compared with the previous year the revenue shows
an increase of £930,000, of which a very large proportion is
derived from the State railways. The exact figures of the
Victorian revenue and expenditure have not yet been announced,
but a cable message states that the receipts exceed those of the
previous year by £288,000, and the Treasurer has estimated his
surplus at £650,000. It is hoped that out of this handsome
balance the Treasurer will be able to recommend some reduction
of the income tax, but in view of a large loan maturing next year
he has declined to make any promise.
Among the smaller States Queensland's financial position
shows a great improvement. The revenue of £3,854,000 was
86
The Empire Review
larger by £259,000 than in the preceding twelve months, and
there is a surplus of £128,000. The South Australian revenue
amounted to £2,807,540, which is £200,000 in excess of the
estimate. After spending considerable sums on railway works
and meeting increased expenditure involved by expansion of
business, the Treasurer expects to retain a net surplus of £80,000,
which will be employed in the redemption of securities. Western
Australia is the only one among the States whose finances do not
make a good showing in respect of the past year. The revenue
was £3,558,939 while the expenditure reached a total of £3,632,318,
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
NEW SOUTH WALES.
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
34% „ „ It
3% „ „ \t
9,686,300
16,500,000
12,500,000
1933
1924
1935
108
100
88
8A
3g
1 Jan. — 1 July.
\l Apr.— 1 Oct.
VICTORIA.
4 % Inscribed, 1882-3
4% „ 1885 .
3* % „ 1889 (t)
4%
3% „ (t) . .
5,432,900
6,000,000
5,000,000
2,107,000
5,496,081
1908-13
1920
1921-6*
1911-26*
1929-49f
101
102
99
101
88
3|
g
3tt
34
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
[l Jan.— 1 July.
QUEENSLAND.
4 % Bonds ....
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
3*% „ ,, (t)
3% „ „ (t)
10,267,400
7,939,000
8,616,034
4,274,213
1913-15*
1924
1921-30f
1922-47f
lOla;
105J
98£
87
8«
3A
3Tflff
S
[l Jan.— 1 July,
SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
4 % Bonds ....
4% „ ....
4 % Inscribed Stock .
3*% „ „ (t
8% ,, „ (*
3% „ „ (t
6,586,700
1,365,300
6,222,900
2,517,800
839,500
2,760,100
1907-16*
1916
1916-36*
1939
1916-26J
After 1916|
lOOa:
102
102
1014
86J
8G|
4
3f
3f
8A
3T7S
3A
1 Jan.— 1 July,
U Apr.— 1 Oct.
|l Jan.— 1 July.
WESTEBN AUSTRALIA.
4 % Inscribed .
34% „ *) . .
3% „ fl . .
3% „ t) , .
1,876,000
2,380,000
3,750,000
2,500,000
1911-31*
1920-35f
1915-35$
1927J
1024
99
88
88£
ta
M
N
3|
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
\1 May— 1 Nov.
15 Jan.— 15 July.
TASMANIA,
3J % Insobd. Stock (t)
4% „ ,. It
3 7n . . (i
3,456,500
1,000,000
450,000
1920-40*
1920-40*
1920-40f
99
105
88
84
s
s*
[l Jan.— 1 July.
)
°8
' Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
t Yield calculated on later date of redemption, though a portion of the loan may be redeemed
earlier.
t No allowance for redemption.
(*) Eligible for Trustee investments. («) Ex dividend.
Indian and Colonial Investments
87
AUSTRALIAN MUNICIPAL AND OTHER BONDS.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Melbourne & Met. Bd.\
of Works 4% Debs. /
1,000,000
1921
103
3ii
1 Apl.— 1 Oct.
Do. City 4% Debs. .
850,000
1915-22*
103
3&
]
Do. Harbour Trusfl
Comrs. 5% Bds. ./
500,000
1908-9
lOlx
|l Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4% Bds. . . .
1,250,000
1918-21*
101*
3S
)
Melbourne Trams'!
Trust 4£% Debs. ./
1,650,000
1914-16*
104a;
3$
1 Jan.— 1 July.
S. Melbourne 4*% Debs.
Sydney 4% Debs. . .
128,700
640,000
1919
1912-13
lOlx
lOOa;
4*
[l Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4% Debs. . . .
300,000
1919
lOOx
4
1
Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
(») Ex dividend.
AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
np.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Emu Bay and Mount Bisohofi . . .
12,000
14
5
44
1ft
Do. 4J% Irred. Deb. Stock ....
£130,900
100
96x
Hi
Mid. of W. Aust. 4 % Debs., Guartd. .
£500,000
4
100
lOOs
4
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Bank of Australasia
40,000
12
40
96*
5
Bank of New South Wales ....
100,000
10
20
43
Union Bank of Australia £75 . . .
60,000
10
25
504
^1;]
Do. 4 % Inscribed Stock Deposits . .
£600,000
4
100
100
4
Australian Mort. Land & Finance £25
80,000
6
5
5|
5^
Do. 4 % Perp. Deb. Stock ....
£1,900,000
4
100
lOla;
3&
Dalgety & Co. £20
154,000
6
5
54
5Jf
Do. 4J % Irred. Deb. Stock ....
£620,000
100
HOz
4A
Do. 4% „ . .
£1,643,210
4
100
102
3H
Goldsbrough Mort & Co. 4 % A Deb.\
Stock Reduced /
£1,224,525
4
100
84*z
Do. B Income Reduced
£727,705
4
100
8H
4&
Australian Agricultural £25 . . .
20,000
£3
21J
la
4A
South Australian Company. . . .
Trust & Agency of Australasia . . .
14,200
42,479
124
20
1
50*
1
HS
Do. 5 % Cum. Pref
87,500
5
10
10
5
Met. of Melb. Gas 6 % Debs. 1908-12.
£560,000
5
100
104
Do. 4J % Debs. 1918-22-24 ....
£250,000
*4
100
103
*J
(.r) Ex dividend.
and there is a deficit of £119,900, which apparently includes the
debit balance from the previous year.
While Australian banking institutions find the scope for em-
ployment of their funds in Australia more limited than they
would desire they manage to earn good profits. The report of
the Bank of New South Wales for the half-year to 31st March
last discloses net profits amounting to £129,385. This is an im-
provement of £2,400 on the previous half-year, but is somewhat
88
The Empire Review
less than a year ago, when an exceptionally good showing was
made. On the present occasion the usual dividend of 10 per cent,
per annum is paid and £25,000 is added to reserve fund, making
it* £1,450,000. The balance carried forward is increased from
£18,232 to £22,617. Deposits have increased during the past
year by £1,500,000, and the fact that they now reach the enor-
mous total of 25 millions is splendid evidence of the confidence
enjoyed throughout Australasia by this institution.
Equally satisfactory is the outcome of operations of the
Union Bank of Australia for the half-year which ended on
28th February last. In this case the net profits were £104,878,
NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re- pri
deemable. j
Yield.
Interest Payable.
5 % Bonds ....
266,300
1914
107
3H
15 Jan. — 15 July,
5 % Consolidated Bonds
126,300
1908
101
Quarterly.
4 % Inscribed Stock (t
29,150,302
1929
106
a-ft
1 May — 1 Nov.
3i % it ii ('
6,373,629
1940
100*
3A
1 Jan. — 1 July.
3% „ ,, (t
6,384,005
1945
89
if
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
(t) Eligible (or Trustee investments.
NEW ZEALAND MUNICIPAL AND OTHER SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Auckland 5% Deb. .
200,000
1934-8*
106<C
4#
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do. Hbr. Bd. 5% Debs.
150,000
1917
106
4J
10 April— 10 Oct.
Bank of N. Z. shares f
150,000
div. 5%
8JK
—
Do. 4%Gua. Stock t .
£1,000,000
—
102
3H
Apr. — Oct.
Ghristchurch 6% Drain-
age Loan
} 200,000
1926
121fcc
*A
30 June— 31 Dec.
Dunedin 5% Cons.
312,200
1908
102
—
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
Lyttleton Hbr. Bd. 6%
200,000
1929
119^
*&
Napier Hbr. Bd. 5%\
Debs /
300,000
1920
108x
*&
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do. 5% Debs. . . .
200,000
1928
109x
4T5B
National Bank of N.Z.\
£7* Shares £2J paid/
100,000
div. 12 %
5*
6£
Jan. — July.
New Plymouth Hbr.\
Bd. 6% Debs. . ./
200,000
1909
102
—
1 May — 1 Nov.
Oamaru 5% Bds. . .
173,800
1920
93a;
SH
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Otago Hbr. Cons. Bds. }
422,900
1934
107z
**
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Wellington 6% Impts."!
Loan /
100,000
drawings
114
H
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 6% Waterworks .
130,000
ii
116
5J
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 4£% Debs.. . .
165,000
1933
103
*i
1 May — 1 Nov.
Westport Hbr. 4% Debs.
150,000
1925
103
3|
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption,
t £6 13*. 4d. Shares with £3 6s. 8d. paid up.
t Guaranteed by New Zealand Government,
(z) Ex dividend.
Indian and Colonial Investments
89
which is practically identical with the earnings of the three
previous half-years. The appropriation of the amount is also on
the same lines, namely, £75,000 to payment of a dividend at the
rate of 10 per cent, per annum, £4,000 as a contribution to the
Bank's Guarantee and Provident Funds, £10,000 in reduction of
premises account, and £15,000 to reserve fund, which is thereby
increased to £1,085,000. The balance of £878 goes to augment
the sum carried forward to £29,154.
The excellent Transvaal gold output return for June had for a
time quite an inspiriting effect on the South African market, but
amid the anxieties of successive Stock Exchange settlements the
better tone was soon lost. By showing a total value of two
millions sterling for the month the return marks another im-
portant step in the progress which the mines are making with the
aid of Chinese labour. The following table shows the returns
month by month for some years past and for the year in which
the war commenced :
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1899.
January ....
February . . .
March ....
April. ....
1,820,739
1,731,664
1,884,815
1 865 785
A
1,568,508
1,545,371
1,698,340
1 695 550
£
1,226,846
1,229,726
1,309,329
1 299 576
£
846,489
834,739
923,739
967 936
1,534,583
1,512,860
1,654,258
1 639 340
1*959 062
1 768,734
1 335 826
994 505
1 658,268
2 021 813
1 751 412
1 309 231
1 012 322
1 665 715
July .
1 781 944
1 307 621
l'o68?917
1 711 447
August .
September
October .
November
December
—
1,820,496
1,769,124
1,765,047
1,804,253
1,833,295
1,326,468
1,326,506
1,383,167
1,427,947
1,538,800
l| 155, 039
1,173,211
1,208,669
1,188,571
1,215,110
1,720,907
1,657,205
fl,028,057
Total* . . .
11,283,878
20,802,074
16,054,809
12,589,247
15,782,640
* Including undeclared amounts omitted from the monthly returns.
t State of war.
The native labour supply continues to diminish at a rate which
may become serious if the wastage is not counteracted before long
by a renewed influx of Chinese. The following table shows that
the native supply at the end of June was little higher than at the
end of the year before last. (See table on following page.)
The annual report of the General Mining and Finance Cor-
poration, Limited, which is being widely circulated, is not only
an important document in itself, as any report of the great Band
company must be, but it is also important because of its out-
spoken pronouncement on the general mining situation in South
Africa. The directors, while admitting the adversity of the times,
are full of hope, especially if the Chinese labour difficulty can
be settled satisfactorily. They point out that the gold mining
industry continues to record progress in spite of the difficulties
90
The Empire Review
Month.
Natives
Joined.
Natives
Left.
Net Gain on
Month.
Natives
Employed end
of Month.
Chinese
Employed end
of Month.
March . 1903
6,536
2,790
3,746
56,218
May . 1904
4,844
6,643
1,799*
70,778
—
June
5,257
7,178
1,921*
68,857
—
July .
4,683
6,246
1,563*
67,294
1,384
August .
6,173
7,624
1,446*
65,348
4,947
September
9,529
6,832
2,697
68,545
9,039
October .
10,090
6,974
3,116
71,661
12,968
November
9,456
6,884
2,572
74,233
19,316
December
8,655
6,277
2,378
76,611
20,918
January 1905
11,773
6,939
4,834
81,444
25,015
February
14,627
6,705
7,922
89,367
31,174
March .
13,547
8,310
5,237
94,604
34,282
April
9,589
7,979
1,610
96,214
35,516
May
8,586
8,574
12
96,226
38,066
June
6,404
8,642
2,233*
93,988
41,290
July .
6,023
8,338
2,315*
91,673
43,140
August .
5,419
8,263
2,844*
88,829
44,565
September
5,606
8,801
3,195*
95,634
44,491
October .
5,855
7,814
1,959*
83,675
45,901
November
5,279
5,992
713*
82,962
45,804
December
4,747
6,755
2,008*
80,954
47,217
January 1906
6,325
7,287
962*
79,992
47,118
February
5,617
6,714
1,697*
78,895
49,955
March .
6,821
7,040
219*
78,676
49,877
April . ,
6,580
6,841
239
78,915
49,789
May . ,
6,722
6,955
233*
78,682
50,951
June . ,
6,047
7,172
1,125*
77,557
"~~
Net loss.
against which it has to contend. Its future, though, is largely
dependent on the settlement of the unskilled labour problem. So
long as the existing uncertainty continues, in the same ratio will
SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
CAPE COLONY.
4J% Bonds . . .
4 % 1888 Inscribed (t) .
4 % 1886
3*% 1886 „ «».
3^1886 „ it).
£
804,400
3,733,195
9,997,566
13,263,067
7,549,018
dwgs.
1923
1916-36*
1929-49f
1933-43f
102
106
102
97
3§
3il
15 Apr.— 15 Got.
1 June — 1 Deo.
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
1 Jan. — 1 July.
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
NATAL.
4J % Bonds, 1876 . .
4 % Inscribed . .
758,700
3,026,444
3,714,917
6,000,000
1919
1937
1939
1929-49f
105
108
98
84J
4
|A
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Apr. — Oct.
1 June — 1 Deo,
1 Jan. — 1 July.
TRANSVAAL.
3 % Guartd. Stock .
35,000,000
1923-53f
97*
3A
1 May — 1 Nov.
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption,
t Yield calculated on later date of redemption.
(x) Ex dividend.
Indian and Colonial Investments
91
SOUTH AFRICAN MUNICIPAL SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable,
Bloemfontein 4 %
483,000
1954
95
*&
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Cape Town 4 % . .
1,878,550
1953
101
3«
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Durban 4 % ...
1,350,000
1951-3
100
4
30 June— 31 Deo.
Johannesburg 4 %
5,500,000
1933-4
93
4/5
1 April— 1 Oct.
Pietermaritzburg 4 %
625,000
1949-53
97
H
30 June— 31 Deo.
Port Elizabeth 4 % .
390,000
1953
98
44
30 June— 31 Deo.
Rand Water Board 4%
3,400,000
1935
94
*&
1 Jan.— 1 July.
SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
£2,500,000
5
100
88
5«
Northern Railway of the S. African^
Rep. 4 "/ Bonds /
£1,500,000
4
100
96a;
44
Rhodesia Ely a. 5 % 1st Mort. Debs.i
guar. by B.S.A. Co. till 1915. . ./
£2,000,000
5
100
90
54
Royal Trans-African 5 % Debs. Red. .
£1,812,977
5
100
93x
51
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
African Banking Corporation £10 shares
Bank of Africa £18£
80,000
160,000
6
104
5
6*
4J
10*
!f
Natal Bank £10
148,232
* 2
14
-•'•
-1
5]
6i
National Bank of 8. Africa £10
110,000
8
io5
15
o
TB
Standard Bank of 8. Africa £100
61,941
16
25
74
5|
Ohlsson's Cape Breweries . .
60,000
40
5
W*
13f
South African Breweries
950,000
22
1
2|
9A
British South Africa (Chartered)
5,999,470
nil
1
IA
nil
Do. 5 % Debs. Red
£1,250,000
5
100
100
5
Natal Land and Colonization . . .
68,066
8
5
6*
6«
Capa Town & District Gas Light & Coke
10,000
10
10
16cc
3
Kimberley Waterworks £10. . . .
45,000
5
7
4J
7|
(x) Ex dividend.
progress be retarded and capital remain unattracted. The mines
at present producing constitute merely the fringe of an enormous
area which has been proved by boreholes and shafts to contain
payable gold-bearing reefs. Evidence continues to accumulate
that all along the Fields the reef bodies preserve their width,
compactness, and value at great depths. There are, probably, in
no other mining centre in the world such extensive stretches of
known gold-bearing ground lying idle for want of labour to render
them productive. It is an indication of the severity of the de-
pression now ruling that the shares of many Band mining com-
panies owning blocks of deep level claims of proved worth can be
purchased at prices representing, or thereabouts, the cash working
92
The Empire Review
capital in hand. It has been demonstrated beyond all question
that the industry must rely upon outside sources to supplement
the supply of native labour. The British Government has avowed
its intention of leaving the question of the further importation of
coolies to the decision of a responsible government of the Trans-
vaal. If the retention of the coolie is definitely decided upon,
there can be no doubt that the industry will receive an impetus
which will be rapidly followed by a restoration of confidence in
the mines as a medium for the profitable investment of capital.
Such is the summary of the situation provided by the great
Allen Corporation, strikingly clear, although terse. The accounts
of the company, with the heavy writing down of share values,
accompanied by heavy investment at the prevailing low prices,
show that the directors practise what they preach.
The output from Ehodesia for June constituted a fresh record,
showing an increase of nearly a thousand ounces over the return
for May, which was the previous highest. The following table
shows the returns month by month for several years past :
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1902.
1901.
1900.
1899.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
January
42,950
32,531
19,359
16,245
15,955
10,697
5,242
6,871
February
38,037
30,131
18,673
17,090
13,204
12,237
6,233
6,433
March
44,574
34,927
17,756
19,626
16,891
14,289
6,286
6,614
April
42,423
33,268
17,862
20,727
17,559
14,998
5,456
5,755
May.
46,729
31,332
19,424
22,137
19,698
14,469
6,554
4,939
June
47,664
35,256
20,402
22,166
15,842
14,863
6,185
6,104
July
—
34,693
24,339
23,571
15,226
15,651
5,738
6,031
August
—
35,765
24,669
19,187
15,747
14,734
10,138
3,177
September
—
35,785
26,029
18,741
15,164
13,958
10,749
5,653
October
—
33,383
24,919
17,918
16,849
14,503
10,727
4,276
November
—
32,861
26,183
15,714
15,923
16,486
9,169
4,671
December
—
37,116
28,100
18,750
16,210
15,174
9,463
5,289
Total .
262,377
407,048
267,715
231,872
194,268
172,059
91,940
85,313
The next big colonial issue may possibly be one by the Straits
Settlements, now that the arbitration award in the Tanjong Pagar
Dock purchase case has been delivered. The payment of the
purchase price and the intended expenditure on harbour and river
improvements will necessitate a loan of many millions sterling.
Another Crown Colony issue in contemplation is that of the
Southern Nigerian Administration in connection with the pro-
posed railway and other improvements, which will largely benefit
the cotton-growing industry now in its infancy. In any case,
however, the loan is not likely to be issued until next year.
The profits of our great banking institutions always furnish
some indication of the condition of British trade, and the increased
earnings shown by practically all the important banks in their
reports for the past half-year are therefore very gratifying. In
Indian and Colonial Investments
93
CROWN COLONY SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When
Redeemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable
Barbadoes 3J% Ins. (t)
375,000
1925-42*
100
8*
1 Mar.— 1 Sep.
Brit. Guiana 3% ins. (t)
250,000
1923-45f
86«
8tt
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Ceylon 4% ins. (t) . .
1,076,100
1934
112
3&
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3% ins. (t) . . .
2,450,000
1940
94
3}
1 May— 1 Nov.
Hong-Kong 3$% ins (t)
341,800
1918-43f
98£
8A
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
Jamaica 4% ins. (t) .
1,098,907
1934
110
3T7H
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3*% ins. («) . .
1,452,400
1919-49f
98*
3&
24 Jan.— 24 July.
Mauritius 3% guar.\
Great Britain (t) ./
600,000
1940
97
3J
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do. 4% ins. (t) . . .
482,390
1937
108$z
34
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Sierra Leone 8 J% ins. (i)
532,892
1929-54f
98£
1 June — 1 Deo.
Trinidad 4% ins. («) .
422,593
1917-42*
103
3|
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Do. 3% ins. (*) . . .
600,000
1926-44t
87
if
15 Jan.— 15 July.
Hong-Kong & Bhang- "i
hai Bank Shares . j
80,000
Div.£410s.
£92
4«
Feb. — Aug.
* Yield calculated on shorter period.
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
t Yield calculated on longer period,
(x) Ex dividend.
the foremost rank is the London City and Midland Bank, which
has many colonial connections. Its deposit and current accounts
at the end of June amounted to over fifty millions sterling, and
its profits for the half-year were the satisfactory sum of £329,631.
The dividend paid a year ago is to be maintained, and after the
same allocations to bank premises, redemption and staff pension
funds there remains £140,776 to be carried forward, £31,489 more
than a year ago.
The results of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank for the
past half-year are again excellent. The same dividend is
announced as a year ago, and after adding three-quarters of a
million dollars to the reserve fund against half a million last year
there is still $1,700,000 to be carried forward. The reserve fund
now amounts to the satisfactory sum of 20£ million dollars.
EGYPTIAN SECURITIES.
Title.
Amount or
Number of
Shares.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
Egyptian Govt. Guaranteed Loan (t) ,
£7,805,700
3
100
100
3
Unified Debt
£55 971 960
4
100
105
oa
National Bank of Egypt ....
250,000
8
10
25}
°i
3&
Bank of Egypt
30 000
16
12i
38
Agricultural Bank of Egypt, Ordinary
248,000
*J
T
9f
§|
„ „ ,, Preferred
125,000
4
10
10
4
ii » »i Bonds .
£2,500,000
3i
100
93£
8*1
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
July 18, 1906.
94 The Empire Review
CORRESPONDENCE
I.
THE COLONIAL OFFICE AND THE CROWN COLONIES
To the Editor of THE EMPIRE KEVIEW.
SIR, — May I be allowed a few lines of reply to Sir Charles
Brace's " Note " on my article in your last number.
With regard to the first paragraph I have little to say. It
seems to me to be very much a matter of opinion as to the
probable value of my suggested scheme for an interchange of
duties between clerks in the Colonial Office and officials in the
Crown Colonies. I admit the existence of difficulties, but I do
not regard the difficulties as insuperable. I certainly do not
suggest the scheme as a substitute for Sir Charles Brace's pro-
posal of an advisory council, with which, as stated in my article,
I most fully agree. My only object is to remedy the present
official ignorance of colonial conditions and requirements.
In the second paragraph, I think that Sir Charles hardly
treats me fairly. The form and nature of his remarks could
scarcely fail to leave upon the mind of the ordinary reader the
impression that I had attacked the Crown Agents recklessly and
unjustly, and without any sufficient or substantial grounds on
which to base my statements. I am prepared, if I had access to
the records, to substantiate every word I have written.
I have never seen the statement which he attributes to
Mr. Lyttelton, but I am wholly at a loss to understand how any
Colonial Secretary could have committed himself to such a
" terminological inexactitude " as to say that no specific cause
of complaint had ever been brought against the Crown Agents.
Cases exist in profusion in the archives of the Colonial Office.
In one instance, for example, which happened while I was in
Jamaica, the evidence of neglect and error was so strong and
undeniable that the Secretary of State for the Colonies (either
Mr. Chamberlain or Mr. Lyttelton) ordered the Crown Agents
to repay to the colony between four and five hundred pounds.
Is further proof required of the truth of my criticism ?
Correspondence 95
Sir Charles Bruce is, of course, entitled to his own view of
the Crown Agents, and if, as I gather from a letter from him,
they rendered much help to Mauritius during his administration,
his favourable impression of their work is so far justified. But
" one swallow does not make a summer," and the fact of the
Crown Agents having rendered good service to one colony cannot
invalidate the grave and just complaints of other colonies.
AUGUSTUS W. L. HEMMING.
II.
IS ST. HELENA TO BE ABANDONED?
To the Editor of THE EMPIRE EEVIEW.
DEAR SIR, — As a resident in St. Helena — the smallest of His
Majesty's Colonies — may I ask space in The Empire Review to
bring a few facts before the people of the motherland ?
In October next our garrison is to be removed, and we shall
be left practically defenceless. From that date a population of
some four thousand persons, all coloured and African, except
about two hundred English settlers, will be guarded only by five
coloured policemen. Our roads and telephones, now kept up by
the military, will be things of the past. And when the foreign
men-of-war approach our shores we shall be no longer able to
return their salutes, and possibly not allowed to hoist the Union
Jack.
St. Helena is a poor little island — a thousand miles from
everywhere. Once a month a mail steamer calls with letters and
newspapers from home, and once a month a homeward steamer
takes back the answers. During the intervening period, but for
the daily scraps of cable news, we hear nothing and know nothing
of what is going on in the outer world. My husband and I are
now in England for a few months' change, and were looking
forward to returning to our island home, with a climate second to
none in the world ; but we ask ourselves will it be safe to return ?
Not a few of us think that the white settlers must leave, which
means that the coloured people will have no employers, and in
the end there will be no revenue to pay a Governor or his staff.
Where peace and contentment once reigned all will be chaos.
With no white population it is scarcely probable that the coloured
people will hold the island for England ; we cannot expect them
to do so. They will prefer the power that will give them work,
and enable them to earn their livelihood.
96 The Empire Review
Our able Governor, Colonel Gallwey, has left no stone unturned
to avert this calamity. And now, when all is unavailing, has
cabled to give up his well-earned leave, after three and a half
years' sojourn in St. Helena, as he prefers to remain at his post
and fight for the island he has served so well. Possibly he hopes
that during the two months which elapse before the troopship
arrives to convey the British soldiers from the Colony, the Govern-
ment may change their suicidal policy.
We left St. Helena just after celebrating Empire Day for the
second time with great enthusiasm. An " outing " was given on
Francis Plain to the school children, and in the afternoon they
all mustered under the Union Jack, saluting the flag, and singing
patriotic songs, in the presence of the Governor and his Council.
Poor children ! I can see their happy faces now. Alas ! next year
Empire Day must pass unnoticed, for there will be no means, no
spirit, perhaps no Union Jack left. Yours obediently,
MARY BOVELL.
NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS.— The Editor of THE EMPIRE REVIEW cannot hold
himself responsible in any case for the return of MS. He will, however,
always be glad to consider any contributions which may be submitted to him ;
and when postage-stamps are enclosed every effort will be made to return
rejected contributions promptly. Contributors are specially requested to put
their names and addresses on their manuscripts, and to have them typewritten.
THE EMPIRE
REVIEW
" Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home*" — Byron.
VOL. XII. SEPTEMBER, 1906. No. 68.
THE MEETING OF THE MONARGHS
BY EDWARD DICEY, C.B.
THE long expected interview between their Majesties King
Edward VII. and the Emperor William II. has come off at last.
Every care has been taken in England and Germany to insist upon
the personal character of this meeting between the two most
powerful of European Sovereigns and, in consequence, to depre-
ciate its political significance. The spot chosen for the interview
was the Castle of Friedrichshof, where the mother of the present
Emperor and the sister of our King, the Empress Frederick, died
five years ago. The choice of this meeting-place, in preference
to any <5*»e of the State abodes where the Koyal guests of the
German Emperor are usually received, tends to confirm the official
theory that the personal relations of the two illustrious relatives
remain as friendly to-day as those which have existed for nearly a
century between the Eoyal houses of England and Germany, and
which, though never suspended, have from a variety of causes
been less pronounced of late years, since the deaths of Queen
Victoria and of the Empress Frederick. The fact that the official
announcement of the projected visit was followed by the intelli-
gence that His Majesty the King had consented to stand as god-
father to his great-grandnephew, the heir-apparent in the third
generation to the throne of Germany, is an additional proof, if
further proof were needed, that the meeting is designed to bear a
personal rather than a political character.
Even in these days, when every occurrence is supposed to be
communicated to the public, the secrets of courts are rigidly con-
VOL. XII.— No. 68. H
98 The Empire Review
cealed from the self-constituted purveyors of information. "Whether
the conflicting interests and the divergent politics of Great Britain
and Germany have been intensified by any personal disagreement
between their respective Sovereigns, is a point about which we
have no authentic information, though I entertain a strong con-
viction that the bulk of the circumstantial revelations published at
home or abroad as to supposed causes of discord between the
Courts of Potsdam and St. James's, rest on no firmer basis than
idle gossip and bare surmise. At the same time no reader of the
German or the British Press can avoid the conclusion that public
opinion, both in England and Germany, has been inclined to
believe that, whatever might be the cause, a certain estrange-
ment had existed between the King of England and the
German Emperor. This being so, it was a wise and politic
act on the part of both Sovereigns to take steps to show that
if any such estrangement had ever existed in the past, it has
vanished for the present, and is not likely to be renewed in
the future.
I need not recall to my readers how consistently The Empire
Review has advocated the maintenance of friendly relations
between the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race, and has
asserted its conviction that Germans and Britons are kinsfolk by
blood, by religion, by common institutions, common history, and
common interests. Nor is it necessary to remind the British
public how often we have suggested the expediency of an inter-
change of visits between the two Sovereigns, who both of them
personify the countries over which they rule to an extent which
has no parallel in any other European country. If the inter-
view at Friedrichshof should have no other result than to
show that there was — or at any rate is — no foundation for the
rumours, so constantly circulated, as to some alleged estrange-
ment between our King and his Imperial nephew there is good
cause for general satisfaction both in this country and in the
Fatherland.
At the same time, however correct may be the official des-
cription of the Friedrichshof interview, as coming purely and
simply within the category of domestic relations, I find it difficult
to believe that no political importance attaches to the meeting of
their Majesties. They both represent to an exceptional degree
the two nations over whom they reign in virtue of their birth.
King Edward VII. is dear to his fellow-countrymen, not only as
the son and heir of the greatest Queen who has sat on the throne
of England since the days of "Good Queen Bess," but as a Prince
who has observed his duties as the hereditary Monarch of a free
country with scrupulous loyalty, who has always restrained his
individual authority within the limits of the Constitution, and who
The Meeting of the Monarchs 99
has never failed to offer his Ministers the benefit of his long
experience and his profound knowledge of foreign affairs, an offer,
which, to do his advisers justice, they have seldom, if ever,
declined to accept.
During the forty years which elapsed between his attaining
manhood and his accession to the throne His Majesty re-
mained sedulously aloof from any intervention in politics
which might have given umbrage to his Eoyal Mother. He
never gave the slightest encouragement to any political party, as
being the representative of his own views — rather than of those
of the reigning Sovereign. Yet when at a mature age he suc-
ceeded to the throne, he forthwith gave evidence of having care-
fully studied the duties and rights of an English Constitutional
Sovereign, jealous for the welfare of his people and for the dignity
of his empire. Indeed, it was only when the death of his honoured
mother gave him the opportunity of individual action that his
subjects realised the remarkable ability, the knowledge of the
world, the consummate tact, and the sterling good sense which had
been more or less in abeyance so long as, in accordance with the
unwritten laws of our Court, he could take no initiative of his own
either in home or foreign affairs. What is even more important,
His Majesty had learnt during his comparative seclusion from
public life to understand the ideas, the aspirations, the convictions,
and even the prejudices of the British people, more intimately
than the late Queen herself, or still more than any of her Guelph
predecessors. English by birth, by education and by character,
he has been accepted by the English nation as a King after their
own heart, a monarch such as England has seldom known. It
may therefore be truly said that the King, when he expresses any
opinion at home or abroad, speaks as the mouthpiece not only of
Great Britain, but of the Greater Britain beyond the seas ; and
the fact that he has England at his back confers upon him
an authority which the foreign Powers have not been slow to
recognise.
A similar authority, though due to somewhat different causes,
attaches to the personality of his host at Friedrichshof, the
Emperor William II. Strangers to Germany very often fail to
realise the extraordinary hold that His Majesty has upon the
German people, arising from the fact that the Hohenzollern
dynasty is indelibly associated in their minds with the conversion
of the petty Duchy of Brandenburg into the great German
Empire. From the days of the Duchy of Brandenburg down to
the present era there is not one of the Hohenzollern Princes who
has not devoted his heart and his brains to the carrying forward
of the policy by which Prussia has been raised to supremacy in
the Fat h< 'Hand. No candid reader of history can dispute the
H 2
100 The Empire Review
plain truth that the aggrandisement of Prussia and the consequent
creation of a united Germany are due rather to the wisdom and the
courage of the Hohenzollerns than to the efforts of her statesmen
and politicians, with the possible exception of Prince Bismarck.
But even the great Chancellor based his life-long policy on the
principle that if the German Empire was to become an accom-
plished fact instead of an ideal dream, the change could only be
effected under the reign of the Hohenzollern dynasty. Whether
this conclusion was right or wrong in the abstract there can be
no doubt about its having been accepted, as an article of faith,
by the German people. The existence of such a belief amongst
the vast majority of the German nation explains the invariable
failure of every attempt made by the advocates of full parliamentary
self-government to introduce changes into the constitution of the
Prussian monarchy or of the German Empire, which could impair
to any material extent the supremacy of the Hohenzollern dynasty.
Whenever such an attempt has been made the German people,
especially in the Prussian provinces, have sided with the Crown
and against the Parliament. It should also be admitted that
the existing Constitution of Germany, however far it may fall
short of our British ideals of popular self-government, forms a
sort of compromise between democratic and autocratic rule, which
has been loyally respected by the reigning dynasty, and that
under this compromise individual liberty is upheld; law and
order have been maintained ; life and property are secured
against any encroachment on the part of the Executive; that
Parliamentary institutions, freedom of the Press and liberty of
political discussions are no mere figments, but recognised rights,
enjoyed by the German nation, even though these rights may not
be as fully developed as they are in other constitutional countries.
So long as this state of things endures any demand for revolu-
tionary changes is not likely to meet with the approval of the
German people, who still look on the Hohenzollern dynasty as
the best safeguard of their liberties, their greatness as a nation,
their present prosperity, and their ambitions for the future. If
this view is correct it is easily intelligible that the Emperor
William II. should enjoy the moral supremacy belonging to him
as the descendant of a long line of sovereigns, who have all
promoted the aggrandisement of Prussia and the unification of
Germany under Prussian hegemony. Every one of his pre-
decessors on the throne, whatever his defects or failings may
have been, has shown an extraordinary faculty of appreciating
the fluctuations of opinion amidst his people, and of espousing
their ideas, their ambitions, and even their prejudices. In this
respect His Majesty — to say the least — has more than fulfilled the
traditions of his race.
The Meeting of the Monarchs 101
It is not my wish to express any indiscriminate approval of
the attitude adopted on various occasions by either of the two
sovereigns, who have just met at Friedrichshof. All I wish to
point out is, that as His Majesty the King of England is a typical
Englishman, dear to English hearts, so is His Majesty the Emperor
of Germany a typical German, dear to German hearts. Both of
them can speak to the world not only as rulers of their respective
countries, but as true representatives of their respective peoples.
It seems to me that the representative characters of the two
monarchs is frequently overlooked by politicians and critics in
England as well as in Germany. As a matter of fact, when
King Edward VII. expresses any opinion on foreign affairs he
expresses not only his own personal opinion, but the opinion
of England. In like fashion any opinions on public affairs
expressed by the Emperor William II. are the opinions also of
Germany.
In my judgment, our British publicists are apt to exaggerate
the extent to which the utterances of the Emperor are influenced
by his private sentiments and ideas. As an Englishman I could
perhaps wish that this theory were correct, and that upon certain
questions affecting our own country the utterances of His
Imperial Majesty were simply individual opinions, not shared in
the main by his fellow-countrymen. A regard for truth, however,
compels me to discard the above theory as untenable. I have
invariably learnt from all my many friends and acquaintances who
have had the privilege of personal intimacy with His Majesty,
that he has impressed them as a man of exceptional ability, a
statesman with extraordinary knowledge of home and foreign
politics, as a man possessed of a singular power of expression and
with a remarkable charm of manner. I gather from all accounts
that he is apt to form decided opinions rapidly, to express them
forcibly, and, now and then, to modify them unexpectedly.
But if this is so it seems to confirm my view that he is a
German after the German heart. It has been my fortune to have
many German acquaintances and several German friends, and I
have always noticed that they were prone to come to definite
conclusions upon questions on which their knowledge and
experience, though copious, were incomplete, and to express
strong opinions upon insufficient grounds. At the same time I
also discovered that they were very ready to listen to objections,
to acknowledge the force of their opponents' arguments and to
change their views on "information furnished" without any
over strict regard for logical consistency. It may well be that
this tendency of mind is shared by the Emperor, but if so, he
may also be assumed to possess, together with his fellow-country-
men, the same shrewd common-sense which causes them to prefer
102 The Empire Review
facts to theories and to modify their opinions whenever good
cause is shown.
I have dwelt upon the individuality of the Sovereigns, who
have met together at Friedrichshof, because I think it probable
that, notwithstanding official denials, the meeting may, indirectly
if not directly, influence the course of European politics. We
may take it for granted that the relations of England with France
under the entente cordiale will not be discussed at Friedrichshof.
It is, however, unlikely that the conversation of the King and the
Emperor should have been confined to family matters and to formal
expressions of mutual good will. In Germany, in as far as can
be learnt from the general tone of the Press, a strong impression
prevails that questions of foreign policy must have fallen under the
consideration of the two Sovereigns, so closely allied by common
interests as well as by family ties. This impression seems to be
confirmed by the fact that His Majesty Edward VII. was accom-
panied by Sir Francis Lascelles, our ambassador at Berlin, the
ablest, probably, of our corps diplomatique and certainly the
strongest advocate of a cordial understanding between England
and Germany, while His Majesty the Emperor William II. was
accompanied by Herr von Tschirschky of the German Foreign
Office, who enjoys the reputation of being more conversant with
foreign affairs than any living German statesman. Supposing
this impression prove correct there is no lack of subjects —
outside the intimate relations between England and France
— concerning which the imperial host and his royal guest
may have seen equal advantages in ascertaining each other's
views.
First and foremost amidst these questions stands, of course,
that of Russia. Both England and Germany cannot but be
deeply affected by the issue of the conflict between the Czar and
the partisans of revolution. At the moment when I write it
seems possible, if not probable, that the extravagant excesses of
the Duma may have so alienated the sympathies of all patriotic
and thoughtful Russians as to render them willing to welcome the
restoration of absolute autocracy, sooner than submit to the reign
of terror, initiated and encouraged by the Duma, the body to
which Sir Henry Carnpbell-Bannerman has been so far the only
European Minister to wish God-speed. The balance of evidence
seems to show that the Russian army, as a body, has turned
a deaf ear to the appeals of the revolutionary party and have
refused to join the ranks of the insurgents. If this is so the
Czar may be able to restore absolute autocracy, at any rate for a
time, and under this contingency neither Germany nor Austria
would have any excuse for intervention in the affairs of the Sclav
Empire of the North. All England could do is to base her own
The Meeting of the Monarchs 103
policy towards Russia on the old French saying, employed when a
criminal was being conducted to the scaffold, and " to let pass the
justice of God." If, however, these anticipations should not be
fulfilled, and if the Bed Terror should sweep on to Posen and
Galicia — the provinces of the ancient Polish kingdom, which
Germany and Austria have held for close upon a century, as
part and parcel of their town territories — England would have
neither the power nor the right of disputing Germany and
Austria's claim to restore order within their own dominions.
This being so the King of England might possibly express his
views as to the importance — in view of the deep sympathy for
Poland still entertained by the great majority of English-
men— of not allowing military intervention to proceed beyond
the frontiers of Russia, as settled at the partition of the Polish
Kingdom.
Again there is the irrepressible Eastern Question, which as it
seems may once more call for an immediate solution in the event
of the death of the reigning Sultan Abdul Hamid. The import-
ance to England of keeping Russia from entering Constantinople
and becoming thereby mistress of the Bosphorous and the Dar-
denelles, has, since the creation of the Suez Canal, become an
interest of secondary importance to England. Personally I
should regard with regret the substitution of Muscovite for
Turkish rule at Constantinople. But I cannot shut my eyes to
the fact that England, as a nation, is never likely to go to war
again in order to uphold the rule of Turkey in Europe. This
being so I think the solution of the Eastern Question must be
left to Austria in the first place and to Germany in the second.
In much the same way the fate of Balkan Peninsula is a
matter with which England is only indirectly concerned. Until
the disastrous Russo-Japanese campaign — which has been followed
by an internal insurrection in Russia, the ultimate result of which
cannot as yet be foretold — it seemed a matter of certainty that
Servia, Bulgaria and Macedonia would, in the end, fall under the
domination of Russia,. At present it appears more than doubtful
whether Russia will be able to carry out what she deemed, till
the other day to be her " manifest destiny," the incorporation of
the Balkan Peninsula into the Russian Empire. Under these
circumstances the best fate that could befall the Balkan States
would be their being placed with the consent of Europe under
the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which has achieved
brilliant success in administering Bosnia and Herzegovina. How
far such an arrangement would meet the interests and ambitions
of Germany it is not for us to decide. All we could say is that
the extension of Austro-Hungarian dominion from Belgrade to
Constantinople would secure the adoption of the open door as
104 The Empire Review
the guiding principle of Austrian policy in the Near East, and
would thus protect the commercial interests of Great Britain in
the Balkan States, which would have been crushed out of exist-
ence if Kussia had once made herself the mistress of the
Balkan Peninsula.
In the Far East England has the strongest interest in
seeing that Japan, with whom she has concluded an offensive
and defensive alliance, should not be deprived of the full
rights accruing to her from her victorious campaign, while
Germany has no cause to assist the re-establishment of Russian
authority. Again, Germany, as a great naval power in the
Baltic, has an equal interest with England, as a great naval
power in the northern sea, in opposing any armed occupation by
Eussia of the Aland Islands. To both the kingdoms whose
rulers have, as we presume, exchanged their views at Fried-
richshof, the Cretan Question is a matter of comparative in-
difference. With regard to issues which have not yet taken
any definite form or shape, but which may be expected to
command public attention at no distant date, as, for example,
the attitude of Germany towards the revival of Moslem fanaticism
and towards the Pan Islamic agitation attributed to the intrigues
of Yildis Kiosk, England would be glad to learn the views taken
by the German Government. Germany, on the other hand,
would be reasonably interested in learning what is the view of
the British Government as to their interpretation of the principle
laid down by the Conference of Algeciras, and how far they
consider that this principle, if recognised, militates in any way
against the free hand in Egypt guaranteed us by France under
the Anglo-French Agreement.
There are also a number of minor issues which might, under
conceivable circumstances, give rise to international difficulties.
Notably amongst such issues the question, how far Germany and
England are prepared to assign equal authority to the decisions
of the Hague International Tribunals, might reasonably have
fallen under consideration at Friedrichshof. Of course nobody
acquainted with the British Constitution or, even more, with the
personal character of our reigning Sovereign, would suppose that
any compact could have been concluded at Friedrichshof which
might in any way pledge England to its acceptance till it had
been submitted to the approval of his Majesty's Ministers. The
utmost direct result that, in as far as England is concerned, can
be expected from the recent interview, is that King Edward VII.
should submit to the Prime Minister and his colleagues certain
suggestions which may have been made for the preservation of
European peace and International amity, as well as any sugges-
tion His Majesty may have personally received, and the reasons
The Meeting of the Monarchs 105
which may have led His Majesty to approve or disapprove the
suggestions in question.
Supposing the above forecast — based, I fully admit, on no
special or personal information not available to the rest of the
world — should prove correct, it is obvious a considerable step
will have been taken towards the extension of the policy initiated
by His Majesty in the entente cordiale with France. It is obvious
that the King's opinion, especially if it should coincide with the
opinion of the German Emperor, must carry great weight with
any British Ministry and, above all, with one which has gone to
a further length than meets with general approval, in the reduc-
tion of our naval and military expenditure as a guarantee of our
desire for peace, not possibly " at any price," but certainly at a
very heavy price. It cannot be denied that it was to a certain
extent an innovation on the spirit, if not the letter, of out
Constitution, when what may be called the pourparlers of the
Anglo-French Agreement were conducted by the King in person,
not, as had been previously the usage, by the British ambassador
in Paris instructed directly by the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs.
A second and a more serious innovation would be made if
the pourparlers for a cordial understanding between England
and Germany should be concluded by King Edward VII. as
representing England, and by the Emperor William II. as repre-
senting Germany, unaccompanied by the Ministers of Foreign
Affairs for their respective kingdoms, Sir Edward Grey and
Prince von Bulow. Happily for ourselves the good sense of
Englishmen is ready to approve of any innovation which, in their
judgment, is useful and beneficial, even if it is not in accordance
with strict precedent or State etiquette. The innovation, however,
would not have been passed without grave protests if the Throne
of England had not been occupied by a sovereign who has so
thoroughly identified himself with his people, and who commands
their absolute confidence in respect to his high ability, his genuine
patriotism, his loyalty to the constitution, his deep sympathy with
our British ideas and his extreme regard for the interest of our
British Empire. With regard to Germany I cannot naturally
speak with equal confidence, but from all I can learn I am led
to the conclusion that, though the direct intervention of the
Sovereign in foreign negotiations may be less of a novelty than it
is with us, the fact that the Emperor personifies his people in
much the same way as his uncle personifies the British people
will do much to win the approval of the German nation for any
foreign programme which may be endorsed by His Imperial
Majesty.
I think, however, it may be useful in dealing with the
106 The Empire Review
Friedrichshof interview to point out that it illustrates a change
in European public opinion, which can hardly have failed to
attract the notice of all thoughtful students of European politics.
As I have often before had occasion to remark 1851, the year of
the first International Exhibition, was the high-water-mark of
the political ideas which had obtained ascendency in England
during the previous forty years of peace. Constitutional govern-
ment under parliamentary institutions was then regarded as a
sort of panacea for all mundane evils. Free Trade, the triumph
of the pen over the sword, educational enlightenment, the rule of
the people by the people for the people, liberty, equality and
fraternity ; the advent, in other words, of an international
Millennium were held up to public admiration, not as dreams of
a remote future, but as facts on the eve of accomplishment. As
a necessary corollary to this belief monarchies were denounced
as effete institutions, which could only be tolerated by thinking
beings on condition of the monarchs becoming mere figure-heads
of the sovereign people. I am not discussing now how much or
how little truth or common-sense there was in the ideas under
the influence of which I, in common with all youths of my age,
was born and bred. What I wish to show is that the belief in the
early disappearance of monarchies, and the reduction of monarchs
to a subordinate position, has been absolutely falsified by the
events of the last half century. Kings are not only as numerous
as ever in this old world of Europe, but they are individually
more powerful. The politicians of the Bright and Cobden era
were right in supposing that before the nineteenth century had
passed away the democracy would have come to the front ; they
were wrong in assuming that the democracy would necessarily
become more and more enamoured of parliamentary institutions.
The contrary has proved to be the case. In the old world at
any rate the ideal of the democracy has shown itself to be One
Man Government, and in all monarchical countries the one man,
more often than not, is the monarch. In England, in Germany,
in Belgium, in Holland, in Spain, in Portugal, in Italy, in Austria,
in Sweden and Norway, in Eoumania, and even in the Balkan
States the reigning sovereign holds a personal influence and
authority superior to that of his ministers or his parliaments.
Russia and Turkey are both One Man Governments. But no
one conversant with either of these two countries can doubt that
the Sultan, Abdul Hamid, is regarded by his people as the vice-
regent of God on earth ; and that the Czar, Nicholas II., however
uncertain his tenure of power may be, is still the most effective
— or at any rate the least ineffective — personality in the Sclav
Empire. The case of France seems at first sight an exception to
the general reaction in favour of monarchical as against republican
The Meeting of the Monarchs 107
rule. Somehow it has become the fashion in England, especially
since the entente cordiale, to assume as an article of faith that
under the Third Republic, France has closed the era of revolu-
tions. I doubt, however, whether this faith is shared on the
Continent of Europe.
Happily the French Republican party hitherto has been
bound over to keep the peace by a well-founded conviction
that, if France were to go to war, defeat would involve her
partition, while victory would prove fatal to the existence of
the Republic. The manifest reluctance of the Republic to allow
any officer who has attracted any notoriety, as a potential com-
petitor for public favour, to remain on active service in France
speaks for itself. If further evidence of the instability of Repub-
lican institutions in France were needed it would be furnished by
the fact that General Andre, the Minister of War, has after thirty
odd years of a Republican regime announced that it is absolutely
essential for the safety of the State that every officer in the
French Army should take a solemn oath declaring his absolute
allegiance to the Republic. I am far from saying that there is
at present any powerful element in the French Army prepared to
overthrow the Republic in favour of any possible claimant to the
vacant throne, but I do say that the French nation, from whose
ranks the Army is formed under universal suffrage, has no
enthusiastic love for parliamentary institutions.
The plain truth, as I take it, is that throughout Europe the
faith in political self-government, which was so universal fifty
odd years ago, has lost its hold on the artisans and the peasantry
of every continental country. Collectivism in one form or another
is the sole form of government which appeals to the multitude.
Possibly some day or other the rule of the mob may be carried
by acclamation, but so far the only net result of the socialist
propaganda has been to advance the preference for one man rule.
In as far as the proletariat are concerned, constitutional govern-
ment has been tried and found wanting, and the operative classes,
rightly or wrongly, are fast coming to the conclusion that their
ideas and aspirations are more likely to be secured under a One
Man government than under a parliamentary government which
must of necessity represent the ideas and interests of the middle
classes. If I am right in supposing that the One Man system of
administration tells in favour of monarchs as against parliaments
— especially in countries where monarchy has existed for genera-
tions— a king represents more faithfully than any parliamentary
statesman can possibly do the traditions of his people. Every-
body in a country possessing manhood suffrage knows the king
by name if not by sight — a no small advantage in popular elec-
tions ; and, moreover, there is amidst the masses a not ill-founded
108 The Empire Review
conviction that a king by virtue of his birth, lineage and position
is less accessible to class influences than any public man, however
eminent, born outside the purple. I am far from saying that
as yet popular disappointment at the results of parliamentary
government has led to any deliberate desire for its overthrow, but
I do say that by reason of the causes I have briefly indicated the
tendency of the last half century has been to augment the
authority of sovereigns, and to impair the authority of parlia-
ments.
The causes which may have led to this result are of far too
complicated a character to be discussed within the limits of the
space allotted to an article mainly devoted to a diplomatic incident.
I throw out the idea of a general decline in the authority of
parliaments rather as a suggestion than as a definite proposition.
I may, however, call attention to the fact that if there is one
country in the world in which popular self-government by the
agency of a freely elected legislature might have been regarded as
an unassailable institution, it is the great Republic of the West.
Yet in the United States of America the One Man system seems
for the moment to be carrying all before it. During the conflict
between the President and Congress the former has so far been
supported by the mass of his fellow-countrymen. With or with-
out justice he is recognised as a strong ruler who has the welfare
of the country at heart, and who is determined to enforce his policy
even without the consent of Congress. On his re-election to the
Presidency Mr. Eoosevelt went out of his way to declare that he
would never consent to be President for a third term, but now there
seems strong reason to suppose that, if he should be renominated
after the close of his second term, he would command the support
of a very large minority of the electorate, if not of an absolute
majority, on the ground that he represents the will of the people
far more effectively than the Senate or the House of Representa-
tives. The question whether this belief is well or ill-founded is
immaterial. The only deduction I draw from the favour it seems
to receive is as showing how far popular sentiment in the United
States has changed since the days when Washington's dictum
that a third-term presidency would be a danger to the constitution
was regarded as almost a divine utterance.
In the New as well as the Old World the One Man system
of administration, in preference to that of parliamentary rule,
appears to be gaining ground. This is the more remarkable, as
in America there is no unemployed or pauper class, such as is
found in almost every European country, and on this account
America has far less cause than Europe to desire that supreme
authority should be placed in single rather than in plural hands.
I see no prospect whatever of any revolutionary change in my
The Meeting of the Monarchs 109
own lifetime, or probably in that of the existing generation. All
that I would point out is that the general tendency of popular
sentiment all over the world seems to me calculated to increase
the authority of personal rulers, whether they are called presi-
dents, dictators, kings or emperors, and consequently to impair
the authority of Constitutional Parliaments, who have hitherto
acted as political middlemen between the throne and the people,
and who have, in fact if not in name, exercised supreme adminis-
trative power.
No stronger illustration of this tendency could be afforded
than the fact that the two ablest of European sovereigns ruling
over the two leading countries of Europe should have taken part
in an interview at which questions affecting the gravest interests
of their respective kingdoms were expected, with or without
reason, to come under their consideration ; and that such an
interview should have been regarded by their own subjects not
only without suspicion but with outspoken satisfaction.
EDWARD DICEY.
110 The Empire Review
MR. HALDANE'S ARMY
I.
BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ALFRED TURNER, K.C.B.
Es ist viel leichter in dem Werke eines grossen Geistes die Fehler und
Irrthiimer nachzuweisen, als von dem Werthe desselben eine deutliche und
vollstandige Entwickelung zu geben.— SCHOPENHAUER.
ACCORDING to a parliamentary return of gross Departmental
expenditure,* rendered by the Treasury on the requisition of
Mr. Gibson Bowles, the total cost of the army for the financial
year ending April 1, 1895, amounted to £21,653,000.t For the
year 1904-5 this outlay had increased to £37,833,000, while for
1905-6 it was estimated that owing to the reforms of Mr. Arnold-
Forster, and the abolition of the six army corps scheme, the total
expenditure on the army would amount to £37,093,000.
For the same years, the gross expenditure on the Navy was,
1894-5, £18,550,000, 1904-5, £42,029,000, 1905-6, £40,282,000 ;
the last-named sum shows a reduction on the previous year ; but
it is an open secret that the late Government had hoped to
reduce their naval expenditure in 1905-6 by £4,000,000. The
gross expenditure on the Civil Service in 1894-5 was £19,319,000 ;
in 1904-5 it had risen to £27,898,000 ; while for 1905-6 the out-
goings were estimated at £28,915,000. Turning to the Revenue
Departments a similar high rate of expenditure is noticeable.
From £13,831,000, in 1894-5, it rose to £20,588,000 in 1904-5,
and for the following year was estimated at £21,488,000.
These enormous additions to the annual expenditure of public
money were not without their effect upon the electorate, and,
dismayed at the great waste of our financial resources, the people
returned the Liberals to power at the last general election with an
unprecedented majority, in order to carry out effectively the national
mandate for economy. Mr. Balfour and other members of his party
have been wont of late to utter gibes at the present Ministry, as
* May, 1905.
t This sum was derived as follows: (a) Expenditure from net votes voted in
supply £17,770,000 ; (fc) expenditure from receipts appropriated in aid, £2,800,000 ;
(c) expenditure out of issues to meet capital expenditure under various acts,
£755,000; (d) expenditure provided by other services, £271,000, from which last
item £23,000 was deducted as expended on other services.
Mr. Haldane's Army 111
" a government of mandates." To a person of ordinary compre-
hension, who cannot boast of being a subtle dialectician, it would
appear that every Government is given a majority to carry out
the mandate of the electorate, who are the real masters of the
situation. Every political party comes into power on some, to
use an American expression, platform ; and if its leaders fail
to carry out the mandate of the country, unless, of course, the
true issues are obscured, they will in all probability be driven
from office on the first possible opportunity. What reproach
can therefore be uttered against the Government for their deter-
mined efforts to obey the wishes of the people, it is not easy to
comprehend ; and yet we learnt from Mr. Balfour at the Albert
Hall, that we have a new kind of government, a government of
mandates, and that " a mandate is a phrase which does duty for
argument, which does duty for sense, which saves the necessity
of eloquence, and which is incapable of being translated into
practice except at an enormous loss of administrative justice and
administrative ability." In a few words, the mandate of the
Government, given it by the nation, was to work for peace,
economy, religious and political liberty and equality, and to secure
such social and economic reforms as will be beneficial to the
country at large and to the poorer classes in particular.
In no direction is reform and economy more urgently necessary
than in the Army. Though the cost of our land forces has so
grown, we learn from Lord Eoberts, a member till lately of the
Committee of Defence, that " our armed forces as a body are as
absolutely unfitted for war as in 1899-1900." This view was
endorsed by Sir Kedvers Buller, when a year ago he pointed out
that our statesmen have disorganised the Army, discouraged the
Militia, and disheartened the Volunteers, and have produced a
state of affairs worse from a defence point of view than we were
in before the South African War. Thus, in the opinion of two of
the most war-tried experienced soldiers in the army, the gigantic
cost of the army under the late Government has produced no
compensating improvement whatsoever. No reasonable person
can, therefore, wonder that the people are determined that the
millions squandered to obtain an efficient army, which is never
produced, shall be lessened in number.
Mr. Haldane's proposals have been vigorously denounced by
the Opposition, by a portion of the Press, and notably by the late
War Minister, who considered his own schemes so excellent, that
he is apparently quite unable to detect any merit in proposals
which do not emanate from himself. But as Lord Esher has
told us, Mr. Arnold-Forster's position differs diametrically from
that of Mr. Haldane's, for whereas the late War Minister had a
great army scheme, which he could get neither the Army Council
nor his colleagues to adopt even in a modified form, Mr. Haldane
112 The Empire Review
has the concurrence and co-operation both of the Army Council
and of the War Office. I have seen it urged by some Opposition
critics that the military members of the Council are not the
most experienced of officers and have not sufficient standing
in the Army to resist the proposals of the Secretary of State
for War — a most remarkable charge, it must be admitted, to
be made by the supporters of a Government which drove Lord
Roberts, Sir T. Kelly-Kenny, Sir Ian Hamilton, Sir W. Nicholson,
Sir W. Shone, from their appointments at a few hours' notice to
replace them by these same new and younger men, selected
by Mr. Arnold-Forster on the ground that " new measures required
new men."
It is notorious that these same military members of the
Army Council resolutely resisted the introduction of the late
War Minister's schemes, and if they withstood Mr. Arnold-
Forster, they would certainly have acted in the same way
towards Mr. Haldane had they believed and felt that his
proposals were fraught with danger to the Army or the State.
The country owes these gentlemen a considerable debt of grati-
tude, for had they complacently permitted the late Civil Head of
the Army to work his way, the Militia would ere now have been all
but destroyed and the Volunteers reduced in numbers to so great
an extent that, instead of the residue being improved in efficiency,
it would now be growing small by degress and beautifully less,
till it reached vanishing point and died of atrophy. The
reductions proposed by the late Government in the land forces
were far greater than any that have been suggested by
Mr. Haldane, and this fact alone shows the hollowness of the
outcry raised against the new measures.
Many excellent persons advocate constant increase of the
Army and strongly oppose every reduction, while a few even
appear to hold that the country was made for the Army and not
the Army for the country. One can understand these proposi-
tions, but the premises are so unsound that it is impossible to
argue with their advocates. It is, however, quite a different
matter with individuals who propose reductions when in Office
and stubbornly resist them when in Opposition. The late Govern-
ment proposed to reduce fourteen battalions, Mr. Haldane means
to reduce only ten. The late Government proposed to reduce
altogether a number of Militia battalions and to embody forty
others into the line, if, it is presumed, the officers and men would
consent to the process. This would indubitably have led to the
fading away of a most valuable force, as was the case through
the want of foresight and the neglect of successive Governments
after the battle of Waterloo.
In 1852 the Militia had become practically non-existent, there
were a number of cadres, it is true, an adjutant, often a feeble
Mr. Haldane's Army 113
old man, and a sergeant per phantom company, but there were
no men and of course no training ; there were also lists of officers
appointed by Lords Lieutenants of counties ; these officers were
entitled to wear uniforms, but were given no facilities for learning
their duties as soldiers. Wars and rumours of war throughout
Europe awakened the country to its unprotected condition— for
there were no Volunteers and but a very small force of Yeomanry
in those days — and the Duke of Wellington, in the last speech
he made in the House of Lords, highly praised the services of
the Militia in the Peninsula and Waterloo, strongly advocating
its resuscitation. By the English Militia Act of 1852 power was
taken to raise 80,000 men, 50,000 in 1852 and 30,000 in 1853, the
actual result of this legislation being that fifty-seven regiments
were trained in 1852 and eighty-eight in 1853. " The officers,
non-commissioned officers and men, with the very rare exceptions
of a few who had served in the regular army, started from one
uniform base of absolute ignorance of drill and discipline. Words
fail altogether to describe the gulf between the efficiency of the
force then and that of the most hopelessly distanced unit of the
present day." * The Irish and Scotch Militia Acts were not passed
till 1854.
It was high time that this old constitutional force of Great
Britain should have been revived, for the Crimean War broke
out, and some 30,000 Militiamen volunteered for the war, and
ten battalions went abroad to garrison stations, whence so many
regular battalions proceeded to the Crimea. Since then the
Militia gradually improved, Lord Harris' Committee in 1889
reported most highly on the force, and Lord Wolseley, then
Adjutant-General, spoke very strongly in its favour. Of late
years the Militia has not had a chance, they have been neglected
and slighted, regarded merely as a stockpot for the regular army,
while a body called the Militia Reserve was formed, now happily
abolished, into which the best non-commissioned officers and
men were bribed to enrol themselves, and to undertake an
engagement to serve in the regular army in the case of war.
During the South African War no less than 14,000 of these
Militia reservesmen were taken for the regular army, at the very
time when the Militia were embodied, and when sixty-one
battalions besides artillery, engineers and medical staff corps were
actually serving in the war, and ten other battalions garrisoned
the Channel Islands, the Mediterranean stations and Egypt.
Such was the red-tape and want of common sense on the part of
the War Office authorities at that period, that the Militia lost
a great portion of its best men, at a time when it was obvious
they most needed them.
* Report of Lord Harris' Committee on the Militia, 1889.
VOL. XII.— No. 68. i
114 The Empire Review
I have dwelt at some length upon the Militia because many
unjust and disparaging remarks have been made about its services
in the South African War. To the Militia, for the most part,
fell the dreary, dangerous, all-important task of defending the
lines of communication ; among the terribly long list of cases
of surrenders to the Boers which were recorded during the
war, the Militia were responsible for none. Mr. Haldane does
not propose to reduce the Militia. He is fully alive to its value,
but points out that though the force has fallen in numbers from
113,000 to 90,000 in the last ten years, it costs £480,000 a year
more than it did at the last decade. He wishes to give the Militia
a new role, for if the duties connected with the mere defence
of this country can be as well performed by Volunteers, obviously
the Militia ought not to cost more than the Volunteers, and he
proposes that the Militia should take upon themselves the obliga-
tion to go abroad to support the regular army in time of war ; in
fact Mr. Haldane wishes to connect them, according to Lord
Cardwell's scheme, with their territorial line battalions, to make
the Militia, in short, a portion of the regular army, with liability
to serve abroad only in time of war.
The Militia Artillery which are not needed for the defence
of these islands, and which in many cases have been in the
wisdom of the War Office sent to the furthest possible stations
for their training at the utmost possible cost to the public, are
to disappear as Militia Artillery, and to become, if they elect to
do so, a reserve to the Field Artillery, being trained with Koyal
Field Artillery Batteries. Several regiments of Militia Artillery
were formed from Militia Infantry battalions twenty to thirty
years ago, a most ill-considered step, and many fairly good
Infantry battalions were forced to become Artillery units of
certainly much less value. Much heartburning is sure to ensue
from this action of the Government, but no sane person can
contend that a body of troops should be maintained, for whom,
as constituted at present, there is no use. Mr. Haldane has dis-
covered— and it is no nidus equinus — that at present it is only
possible to mobilise forty-two out of the ninety-three Field
Batteries at home owing to lack of personnel. For the purposes
of mobilisation in time of war, he will ask the Artillery Militia
to take upon themselves the same obligation to serve abroad
as the Militia Infantry, and to become a much needed reserve
to the Field Artillery.
Eight regular Infantry battalions and two battalions of Guards
are to disappear ; a perfectly reasonable reform. The two batta-
lions of Guards, it will be remembered, were raised in order that
a Brigade of Guards might be in garrison in Gibraltar ; and
the late Government long since removed them from that station,
Mr. Haldane's Army 115
as they were not required. No member of these battalions will
be discharged, unless he desire it, both officers and men being
absorbed in other battalions. The same procedure will be
adopted in the case of the eight Line battalions, which were
only raised during the South African War scare, and should in
my opinion never have been raised at all. In face of these facts
it is difficult to understand the accusation brought against the
War Minister that his so-called economies would throw 20,000
unemployed upon the labour market.
The Horse Artillery Mr. Haldane does not propose to touch,
but of the 93 Field Batteries at home, which will be increased
to 99 when six more are brought home from South Africa,
81 are to be armed with four guns and an establishment of
5 officers 117 men and 60 horses, and 18 with two guns. The
six division force which it is proposed to maintain will need
63 Field Batteries, leaving 36 more for reserve and for the
training of Militia Artillery. Guns will be kept in store to in-
crease the armament of every battery to six upon mobilisation.
Mr. Arnold-Forster has accused Mr. Haldane of romancing
and producing " fluff." Not content with this attack, he proceeds
to indict him for touching the artillery with a heavy and
blundering hand, and as if to annihilate the War Minister's pro-
posals he further charges him with producing as his own a scheme,
which he found in the drawer of his predecessor, for utilising
redundant garrison Artillery Militia. It may perhaps interest
my readers to know that Mr. Haldane never claimed this plan as
his own ; at the same time it did not originate with Mr. Arnold-
Forster ; the credit for its inception is due to Mr. Brodrick.
As to the reduction of the number of guns in a battery to four,
the introduction of quick-firing guns has made it a question whether,
having regard to the greatly increased amount of ammunition now
consumed, four guns are not the best number for a battery, seeing
they are capable of firing far more ammunition than six of the
old guns, and a battery armed with six quick-firers will need such
an excessive amount of ammunition columns, that its mobility
might be seriously impaired. In this connection it is interesting
to note that in the House of Commons on July 14, 1905, Mr.
Arnold-Forster expressed his eagerness to bring down sixty to
seventy batteries of Field Artillery to a four gun establishment, and
that it was proposed somewhat earlier after the war, to leave only
two guns with a number of batteries and a very small establish-
ment of men and horse. The outcry against reducing the artillery
is therefore unreal.
Mr. Arnold-Forster is tenderly solicitous about the reserve,
which he charges Mr. Haldane with impairing — Tempora mu-
tantur ! The reserve may be a little larger than it was, but it is,
i 2
116 The Empire Review
as he stated in ' War Office, Army and Empire,' a reserve in name
only, and when war comes we should have to use up the whole
of the army reserve, not to supplement the regular army, but to
fill the places of incompetent men, for whose upkeep the country
pays, but whose services it does not receive in war. This was an
absolutely fair and sound criticism, which Mr. Arnold-Forster
illustrated by a striking example. At the outbreak of the South
African War we had 108,000 men serving in the United Kingdom
and 78,000 first class army reserve, 6,800 militia reserve were
called up, and one would suppose that these men would have
raised the strength of the army to 192,800 effective men. No
such thing, the 108,000 men with the colours did not produce
50 per cent, effective soldiers, and the whole of the reserve and
the militia reserve were required to make up a force of 100,000
men for South Africa. Mr. Arnold-Forster further shows that
not 48 per cent, of soldiers ever reach their reserve service at all.
It would be absurd to contend that this terrible wastage is not
due to the class of men who in the vast majority of cases enlist,
because they can get no employment, and because they are turned
out on the world without pension after seven years' service.
The late War Minister made matters far worse for the soldier by
extending the term of service to nine years,* thus making the
prospects of the men after leaving the army worse than ever.
Mr. Haldane has cancelled this unwise extension of service.
My own opinion is that there are but two ways in which men
of good quality, moral and physical, can be obtained for the
army : one by conscription — which is out of the question, even
if it were desirable and necessary, which it is not — the other
by engaging men for twelve years, and then inducing them to
serve on for nine more, at the end of which time they would be
pensioned for life. In support of this I instance the Eoyal
Marines to-day — 19,000 as fine troops as exist in any country —
and I call to the mind of those old enough to remember the large
battalions of men of splendid physique, the men of Sobraon and
Moodkee, of Alma and Inkerman, of the Indian Mutiny, men to
whom the word surrender was unknown.
The reply to this is naturally that such a system gives no
reserves. This is true in a sense, but on the other hand, if our
soldiers came from a class which would not be subject to the
appalling wastage incident on our present term of service, which
deters young men who have any fair prospects of succeeding in
life from enlisting as soldiers, the reserve would not be necessary
for the purpose for which it is now used up on mobilisation, as
* Mr. Brodrick introduced a short service term of three years with the colours,
running concurrently with one of seven years; Mr. Arnold-Forster abolished the
three years' term, and converted the seven years with the colours into nine.
Mr. Haldane's Army 117
so clearly shown by Mr. Arnold-Forster. The present reserve is
no reinforcement to the regular army, but as far as it goes, a
substitute for its loss by wastage. The true reserve for a country
with voluntary service such as ours must be furnished, as Mr.
Balfour so well put it, through the readiness of the population of
this country and in the free colonies, to join us in repelling the
enemy, as they did in the late South African War.
I regret that the link battalion system, which never worked
well, has not been abolished, for the linked battalions abroad were
only maintained by the sacrifice of their sister battalions at home.
Such a system is patently a makeshift, and most unsatisfactory. I
regret, too, that a short service of three years, or even two years,
and a long service of twenty-one years with a pension, have not
been introduced. Mr. Brodrick's three years' plan failed because
the alternative was seven years, which, for the infantry, Mr. Arnold-
Forster extended to nine. These medium terms of service are too
short, as Sir George Clarke puts it, for a man to make a profession
of the army, too long to enable him to retake his place with any
reasonable chance of success among civil workers. Though I
venture to think that both these matters require urgent attention,
and that we shall never be able to induce men of a desirable class,
in the great majority of cases, to serve in the army unless their
future is assured, I readily admit that the difficulties of attending
to every point of so large a subject at one time are insuperable.
Sir Edward Ward's Committee has presented an excellent
report, with many practical recommendations, for employing dis-
charged soldiers. The initiation of this Committee rests, I
believe, with Mr. Haldane's predecessor. The class of men of
which the army is and should be composed is of paramount
importance, and seeing what a complete grasp the present War
Minister has of his office, one need have no fear that he will
overlook it or fail to deal with it in due season.
The great feature of Mr. Haldane's scheme is the proposed
territorial army, destined to carry out an extension of our land
forces beyond the limits of the regular army, and the " striking
force," which is to consist of about 154,000 men. Of these 50,000
are to troop with the colours, 70,000 to consist of reservists, and
30,000 will be militia. I presume that the probable wastage has
been taken into calculation ; it would inevitably be from 33 to 50
per cent. The territorial army, it is proposed, should consist of
forty of the fifty-eight yeomanry regiments, eighteen being liable
to take the field abroad in case of war, and the volunteers, and
behind them a second line, consisting of men willing to undergo
some military training, and who would, in case of war, join the
colours and become soldiers for the time being. All bodies such
as rifle-clubs, cadet corps, and battalions and lads' brigades are 10
118 The Empire Review
be encouraged. Owing to our geographical position and our two
to three Power navy, we shall always have time to train our
partially-trained men, especially if they have learnt to shoot.
The objections now advanced against such an irregular army
of " Village Hampdens " are identical with those raised when
Napoleon was preparing to invade England, when the same depre-
ciation of the auxiliary forces existed, and the same paucity of officers
was noticeable. Were the country in danger is it conceivable that
the thousands of retired officers in Great Britain would not flock
forward to command the irregular levies. Nothing is harder for
a leader, as Prince Frederick Charles said, than to cope with
bands of irregular troops in their own country, aided by the
population and the nature of the country, and relying for support
on a regular army in their neighbourhood. I have consulted many
German officers who took part in the great war of 1870-71,
and one and all agree that the second part of the war was far
more difficult and dangerous than the first part, when they had to
contend with the regular armies of the empire. It must be
remembered too that the citizens and peasants of America defeated
the British regular troops over and over again and finally captured
their army. There is therefore every justification for Mr. Haldane's
belief in the efficacy in time of need of the territorial army which
he proposes.
As for the administration of this force, no one who has had
any War Office experience in the management of Volunteers can
truly assert that they have been treated with any sympathy or
common sense, or that the most has been made out of them.
The jealousy of the auxiliary forces has been traditional in the
War Office. It was an evil day indeed for the Volunteers when
in 1879 they were brought under the Adjutant-General, who often
proved a harsh, tactless and severe stepfather to them. They
have been subjected to the most absurdly frequent changes of
administration. Since their formation there have been eighteen
variations of construction in the department, which nominally
ruled them, and which was never but once for a short period given
freedom from the Adjutant-General ; directly this was done,
improvement in the conduct of business took place, and all went
well, till a few weeks later, when the late Secretary of State for War
undid his excellent work, and again the Auxiliary Force Depart-
ment was brought into thraldom. With a marvellous departure
from accuracy, it was said in the House of Commons, in reply to
a question on the subject, that this department had never been
taken away from the control of the Adjutant-General.
The determination to remove the administration of the Volun-
teers from the War Office, under which they have never and
could never realise their potentialities, is excellent. I do not say
Mr. Haldane's Army 119
that if the Auxiliary Force Department in Pall Mall had been
properly treated and given due independence, it would not have
done all that was desirable. But as it has more than once been
the butt of adjutant-generals, who knew little of, and cared less,
for the Auxiliary Forces, and who worked hard to abolish it, it
is sound policy to remove the administration of the Volunteers
from the danger of again falling under petty and blighting
influences.
In conclusion, Mr. Haldane must be warmly congratulated on
the reception his proposals have received in the country, as well as
on the calm, temperate and tactful manner in which he brought
them forward. If the task of bringing order into chaos by com-
mencing successfully to organise our heterogeneous hosts, if the
best means to work out this end, at the same time reducing
our colossal and wasteful expenditure on the army have, as I
believe they have, been adopted, Mr. Haldane will have succeeded
where others have failed, and the country will owe him a deep
debt of gratitude. If he does not succeed, it is indeed hard to
believe that anyone else can avoid failure.
ALFRED TURNER, Major-General.
II.
BY CAPTAIN KINCAID-SMITH, M.P.
THE Secretary of State for War explained his policy of army
reorganisation and reform in a speech, remarkable for its length,
the ingenious arguments used to justify so large a reduction as
3,800 men in the Koyal Artillery, and the lack of information
given on a number of important questions relating to the army
generally. Endless suggestions he made on many points, such as
terms of service, training, organisation and pay, but the burning
question of an adequate supply of suitable, well-trained officers in
time of war, he conveniently ignored.
The argument that with present conditions it would be im-
possible to mobilise more than forty-six batteries with ammuni-
tion columns was surely an argument for a further increase in
the personnel of the Artillery rather than a large reduction in
numbers. No one will quarrel with the proposal to use the
militia artillery in future for service with the ammunition columns
—it is an excellent plan, though hardly new — but in no circum-
stances can it be regarded as any justification for a reduction in
the establishment of some of the most highly trained men in our
regular professional army. Mr. Haldane claims the approval of the
chief artillery experts, but it is as well to remember that military
120 The Empire Review
experts are not always insensible to arguments addressed to them
by their official superiors, while it is notorious that these experts
not infrequently disagree amongst themselves.
Mr. Haldane tells us that with the regular army at home,
strengthened on mobilisation by militia and yeomanry, he hopes
to have an expeditionary force of about 150,000 men, including
four brigades of cavalry, six infantry divisions with the necessary
complement of artillery and divisional troops ; but whether this
expeditionary force of 150,000 men landed in South Africa or else-
where is divided into six divisions of three brigades each, or nine
divisions of two brigades each, or four army corps, is relatively
immaterial to the public compared to the knowledge as to where
these men are to be found when required, or whether it is but
another paper scheme doubtful of realisation when put to the test
of war. The actual organisation of this force for service is a
military question, to be decided in the way most convenient
for its command and administration. It is claimed that by
this magic re- organisation the fighting efficiency of the army is
to be increased fifty per cent. ; that although the regular pro-
fessional army is to suffer a reduction of about 20,000 of its best
trained men, yet the country will find itself able to put in the field
a force half as strong again as in former times. All this sounds
too good to be true, and were it so, the present Government must
surely possess the greatest War Minister of the century. One
may be pardoned at wondering how it came to pass that such a
simple solution escaped the notice of Mr. Arnold-Forster.
The chief justification for Mr. Haldane's optimistic assertion
is apparently that the militia who are to supply upwards of 30,000
men for this expeditionary force, are to be required on first
engagement to accept the liability for service abroad in time of
war. No one can say whether this fundamental change in
the constitution of the militia will be successful as far as the
supply of recruits is concerned : many people fear that the
militia will be unable to obtain the same number of men as
formerly if obliged to accept this liability for service abroad. No
doubt some recruits will join the militia under these new con-
ditions, but whether in sufficient numbers to justify the scheme
as a whole, is a very doubtful matter. Up to the present, a
militia battalion could only be sent abroad during war, whether for
service with a field force or to take the place of a regular battalion
(such as was done in the case of the Mediterranean garrison during
the South African War), if it volunteered to go abroad. And one
of the chief difficulties in the past for those responsible for schemes
of Imperial defence must have been the uncertainty as to whether
militia units would be found willing to volunteer for this service.
Now by the new conditions this uncertainty is removed and
Mr. Haldane's Army 121
schemes can be framed without the paralysing knowledge that
their usefulness depends on whether units of the militia may
or may not volunteer to perform the service abroad required of
them. Such a change in the conditions of service for the militia
was most necessary and, indeed, inevitable, and everyone will
desire that it may be successful.
After the South African War many people foresaw that there
were three great alternatives or reforms in the constitution of
the armed forces of the Crown, which must be given a trial
before any scheme of universal military training could be put
forward as the only possible solution of our military problem.
These may be shortly stated as —
Short service of three years with the colours for the infantry
of the line.
Liability of militia for service abroad in time of war.
Abolition of linked battalion system and the formation of
a long service army for service abroad, and a short
service territorial army (embracing the militia) for home
service.
It was well known that in 1899, owing to our system of long
service (seven years with the colours), many battalions were
compelled to go to South Africa far short of their proper establish-
ment. Long service did not provide a sufficiently large reserve
to bring the battalions up to their war strength, and substitutes
for the number of young soldiers physically unfit to proceed on
active service. In fact, I believe I am correct in saying that
the Guards, with their three years' service with the colours,
were amongst the few battalions able to proceed on service with
their full strength, and possessed of a sufficient reserve to
keep up their establishment throughout the war. This led to
the adoption of three years' service with the colours for the
whole of the infantry of the line, in the hope that men would
volunteer to extend their service to seven years with the colours
for service in India. Unfortunately, so few have been found
willing to do so, that the War Office were faced with the
impossibility of providing the drafts required for the battalions
in India, which must be composed of long-service men, or
they will not be accepted by the Indian Government. This
difficulty, and a very serious one it has proved itself, is likely to
continue for another two or three years — in fact, until the return
to the old system of long service automatically provides eligible
men. These considerations compelled a speedy return to the old
system of longer service with the colours for all the infantry
except the Guards, and led to the universal, but most unfair,
condemnation of Mr. Arnold-Forster for introducing short service
at all. I say unfair condemnation because I maintain that it was
122 The Empire Review
only right, proper, and, indeed, inevitable to give the short service
system a trial. No one could say what would be the result of the
experiment. The War Minister and experts knew no more than
the sentry in Pall Mall whether men would come forward in suffi-
cient numbers to extend their service to go to India. If all opti
mistic prophecies had come true and men had been forthcoming
then the system would have been pronounced a complete success.
Be that as it may, many shrewd men serving in the army
doubted at the time the success of the scheme, though they
certainly anticipated that a certain number of the men serving in
South Africa would be found willing to extend their service to go
to India. Peace service and garrison duty in South Africa is
extremely unpopular with both officers and men, so much so that
a large majority would probably volunteer for anything in this
world so long as it enabled them to cut short their time in that
unhappy country and get away to pleasanter quarters as speedily
as possible.
We come, then, to this proposition, about which there can be
no dispute, that with a short service of three years with the
colours it is impossible to provide drafts for battalions in India,
and on the other hand, with a longer service of seven years with
the colours we must look forward to so large a reduction in the
reserve that very few battalions, if any, will be able to go on
active service up to their full strength.
On these lines, and with present materials, the problem is
insoluble ; and I doubt whether even Mr. Haldane's most ardent
supporters will claim that there is anything in his proposals which,
after the most microscopic examination, can be called a solution,
or even a partial solution, of the difficulty.
Seeing that his supporters cheered so lustily any reference to
those magic words " economy " and " efficiency," one is entitled to
say that the scheme for its success does not rest on any possible
reduction in the future estimates, but must inevitably stand or
fall on the ground whether it provides any better machinery for
raising and equipping a large number of men for active service,
such as we required in 1900? Very few persons can honestly
say that the country will be in any better position next year to
put these large forces in the field, or that it will be possessed of
any better machinery for expansion than in 1900.
We have always to face the possibility of having to put a like
number of men in the field as were required in 1900. Lord
Koberts has put the number required for the defence of Afghan-
istan at half-a-million , which is considerably more than the
number required for South Africa. It is, of course, folly to
propose such a standing army in peace time as would be necessary
for us to compete with the gigantic conscript armies of Europe,
Mr. Haldane's Army V23
but we must, with our Imperial responsibilities, contemplate the
possibility of meeting European forces in localities where they
cannot bring their immense numbers to bear and where, as in
Afghanistan, the opposing forces could not meet for some months
in any large numbers.
I maintain that Mr. Haldane's scheme offers no machinery
for great expansion to meet such an emergency, and that we
should be compelled to rely, as in 1900, on voluntary help both for
men and officers.
Perhaps the War Minister has himself come to the conclusion,
arrived at by many others in this country, that it is impossible
with present materials to make provision or devise a scheme
which shall satisfy such an emergency, but if that be so, surely
the country is entitled to a specific statement in this respect, and
should not be allowed comfortably to jog along under the impres-
sion that the difficulties experienced in 1900 were the fault of
War Office muddles and are never likely to recur. The War
Office may have been costly and extravagant in its administration
in the past, but it is most unfair to saddle it with the responsi-
bility for difficulties which could only be due to the indifference
of the whole community to the military needs of the Empire.
The fundamental change in the constitution of the militia,
proposed by Mr. Haldane— liability for service abroad in time of
war — was, as I have already indicated, most necessary and
inevitable, but here again the bearing of this great change on the
supply of recruits is absolutely unknown. Neither military
experts, civilians, generals, War Office clerks, recruiting sergeants,
or even army doctors (who as a rule have the best knowledge
as to why men join either regulars or militia), can say whether
men will be ready to join the militia with this new liability for
service abroad in time of war in sufficient numbers to justify the
success of the scheme. Mr. Arnold-Forster and his advisers,
when he introduced short service with the colours, hoped that
enough men would come forward to extend their service to go to
India. Unfortunately they did not respond, and consequently
Mr. Arnold-Forster was roundly abused. Mr. Haldane hopes
that men will join the militia under these new conditions ; they
may or may not, but I fail to see that, the one will be to blame
if the scheme fails to justify expectations, any more than the
other because short service failed to provide men for India.
Possibly Mr. Haldane will have the pleasure of listening to
criticisms on the failure of his own scheme similar to those he
applied with so much party effect a little while ago in the House
of Commons to his unfortunate predecessor in office on this
particular point.
But in any case I most strongly protest against any reduction
124 The Empire Review
of units in our regular professional army until it is possible to
judge of the results of the alteration in the constitution of the
militia. This is an aspect of the question, and it is, I feel sure,
one which will commend itself to many supporters of the Govern-
ment who have serious doubts as to the wisdom of reductions of
units in our regular professional army until a reliable scheme can
be shown for expansion on emergency.
The third alternative reform in the future will be that of a
long service army for service abroad, and a short service army
embracing the militia for service at home, on the lines advocated
by Sir Charles Dilke and other civilian military experts. That
such a scheme will stand the supreme test of war, by providing
machinery for great expansion in time of emergency, is more than
doubtful. It will involve the abolition of the linked battalion
system and the establishment of depots for feeding regiments
abroad and in India, a system condemned, I understand, for
various reasons connected with recruiting and the training of
recruits, by prominent soldiers. It will undoubtedly fail, as do all
those alternative reforms in the provision of well-trained officers
for volunteer forces in war.
However, it is not improbable that it may find favour with a
certain section of the Liberal Party, who are beginning to realise
that Mr. Haldane's proposals will permit of reductions in units
up to a certain point (giving relief in the estimates of about
£1, 500,000), but who see no prospect of reductions approaching
the five million figures with which they were wont to tickle the
imagination of their constituents. I have every sympathy for
the present War Minister, and also for his successor, but they
are only the instruments of those experimental reforms with the
armed forces of the Crown, which must, in my opinion, be given
a fair trial before universal military training for the youth of the
nation up to the age of twenty can be put forward as the only
possible solution of our military problem. We who desire to see this
compulsory military training, base our advocacy of it on the some-
what higher ground that the defence of the country should not
be left entirely to the paid professional soldier. On the contrary,
we maintain that it must be the duty of everyone to submit to a
short military training so as to qualify himself to take his place
in a national army in time of emergency. Mr. Balfour laid down
that ten thousand men was about the size of any raiding force
which might slip through our fleets to land upon our coast. I
sincerely trust that we may never discover from bitter experience
the fallacy of these figures, as I fear there are few European
generals who would not willingly sacrifice five times that number,
well knowing the havoc which 50,000 soldiers (equipped with
bicycles) might play with our military arrangements.
Mr. Haldane's Army 125
We do not want compulsory service or conscription ; it cannot
supply soldiers for service abroad during peace, and is unnecessary
for service at home. Conscription undoubtedly deserves all the
criticism it gets, but I unhesitatingly say that military training
does not excite the same opposition from parents in this country
as military service, which to them signifies an objectionable
barrack life, and unfortunately a hampering influence on the
chances of civil employment in after life.
That universal military training will solve the problem of an
adequate supply of suitable officers in time of war is, I believe,
contradicted by none. It was admitted that many officers of the
later contingents of Imperial Yeomanry sent to South Africa
during the war did not possess sufficient military training for their
task, and consequently forfeited the confidence of those respon-
sible for operations in the field as to their ability to lead their
men, and to efficiently perform their duties. The results of this
lack of training were often disastrous, but with present materials
we can only look forward to the same dismal future, to the same
frantic and fruitless outcry for efficient officers for our Volunteers.
There are now unfortunately many young men who neglect to
avail themselves of the opportunity afforded by the volunteer
organisation to show their patriotism. They do not join the
auxiliary forces ; but amongst them excellent material is to be
found. Pay will not bring them into the ranks, and I can
conceive of no inducement which the State can possibly offer
under our voluntary system likely to impress upon them the
necessity of discharging what is undoubtedly an obligation
to the State. But with a system of universal military training
for the youth of the nation, I think we shall find that to escape
such training these will be only too ready to submit themselves
to a severe military education and to qualify themselves as officers
for a real national army. Mr. Morley is of opinion that a
problem said to be insoluble is usually a problem wrongly stated ;
it may be so, but I am convinced that with the present materials
the Minister for War is confronted with a problem insoluble on
the present lines. Whether it is also wrongly stated I leave
others to judge.
MALCOLM KINCAID-SMITH.
126 The Empire Review
DO SMALL GRAZING FARMS PAY IN
AUSTRALIA ?
BY CRIPPS CLARK.
A QUESTION of importance — frequently discussed since the
squatters' runs were divided in 1884 — is again revived by the
public demand for closer settlement. " Can a man with only a
moderate amount of capital make a living on a small area of
grazing land?" The private owners of large estates and the
directors of our powerful monetary institutions, who own or
exercise financial control over immense grazing estates leased
from the Crown, which they fear may be resumed for closer
settlement, argue that it is impossible for the small grazier to
succeed, and that only the small farmer should be catered for in
a closer settlement scheme. But after some years of practical
experience as a small grazier I affirm most emphatically that not
only can the small grazier live by sheep alone, but that he can
live well where the small farmer would starve.
City people, woefully ignorant of the subject, because, unfor-
tunately, the claims of the small graziers have never been voiced
in Parliament, are satisfied to accept the assurance of the land-
monopolists, that the great staple industry of Australia (wool-
growing) is entirely dependent upon the large growers, and to
disturb their monopoly would bring ruin to the industry. A
perusal of the wool-brokers' reports during the selling season
would effectually dispel that idea, for the small wool-grower
increases in spite of the difficulties placed in his way by the
Lands Department, but city people are not greatly interested in
the reports of wool sales. However, to quote the manager of one
of the largest wool firms in Sydney, " The building up of the
wool-broking business in Sydney has been largely contributed to
by the small growers who own from one to three thousand
sheep."
Some years ago there were only two classes of selectors, the
man who took up land as a " friendly selector " and sold out to
the squatter on whose " resumed area " he selected, and the
Do Small Grazing Farms Pay in Australia? 127
deluded victim who tried to farm on a small, dry spot and was
sold up by the bailiff. Neither threatened the squatter's monopoly
of wool-growing. In fact the poverty-stricken farmer, when at
rare intervals he succeeded in growing anything, was a distinct
advantage to his big grazing neighbour, who required fodder and
was tolerated on that account. But when the grazing selectors
came along and began to take up 2,560 acre blocks to run sheep
on, the men who had always looked upon that industry as their
own special privilege grew uneasy, and they foreboded that closer
settlement on small grazing areas would not only prevent them
adding to their huge and ever-growing estates, but that the
increasing clamour of the landless men who understood the
business of wool-growing would force Parliament to refuse a
further renewal of their leases and throw them open for selection
as they fell in — the original bargain made when they were
granted. The lessees, in consideration of a nominal rental, were
to improve the land during the time of their leases so that it
would be ready for occupation by small holders at the expiration
thereof. But they never even talked about improving the land
until their leases had almost expired; then they set their press
and parliamentary agents to work pointing out that their leases
had such a short time to run that it wouldn't pay them to clean
up the scrub they had allowed to grow ; but if another renewal
of their leases were granted they really would do something.
One prominent pastoralist even proposed that the whole of
the central division leases, as they expired, should be with-
drawn from all forms of conditional purchase then existing
and sold outright at a minimum price of £2 per acre. This
ingenuous scheme would have effectually stopped the increase of
small graziers. The price being prohibitive, about fifteen millions
of acres would have remained unsold, which, with a little interest
at head-quarters, such as the Lands Commission has brought to
light, could have been attached to squatters' leases at a nominal
rental.
Having indicated why the huge land-grabbing syndicates and
their agents have been at such pains to persuade the general
public that the small grazier must inevitably drift to ruin, I
will proceed to demonstrate from actual personal experience that,
pound for pound invested, the small grazier can obtain as good,
if not better, results than the big grazing estates. Of course,
there is a vast difference between the present position of the
industry, with wool at Is. per Ib. and surplus sheep at anything
above 10s. per head, and the conditions prevailing a dozen or
more years ago, when wool was at 6d. and surplus sheep at 3s.
In those days the small grazier, working on hie own capital, lived,
but he had little surplus cash to splash around in Sydney, for be
128 The Empire Review
it noted that, leaving out interest on capital values, it costs as
much to grow and market wool at 6d. as it does at Is., and once
the ordinary expense of production is passed the balance is pure
profit. A comforting reflection when " wool is up."
In the early nineties I used to smile at my neighbour's frequent
remark at shearing time : " If only we could get Is. per Ib. for
our wool what a goldmine wool-growing would be." Yet in the
season 1899-1900 the shilling came and another three pence
added, and my neighbour was able to retire to a pretty suburban
villa with a comfortable competency. Since that year wool has
hovered steadily around the coveted Is., but with an eye to the
possible variations in values of wool as our flocks increase in
number towards the high level of the early nineties, it is not easy
to estimate very closely what the future holds in store, but it is
fairly safe to prophecy that over a series of years good fleece
should average from Sd. to 3d. per Ib. in Sydney, and surplus
sheep 5s. per head on the run. Adopting those figures as a safe
basis, it may be said that on a 3000 acre block of fair " inside,"
grazing country carrying a sheep to 1£ acres — half of which are
breeding ewes — the returns should work out as follows : — Wool
from 2000 sheep at 3s. 6d. per head clear of shearing and marketing
expenses, £350. A fair average lambing would be 60 per cent.,
or say, 600 marked lambs. Having but a limited area of country,
the wether lambs would be sold as weaners, some of the ewe
lambs would be kept to replace breeding ewes when cast for age
or called out for other defects. Putting the surplus stock at 5s.,
a low figure that allows for losses, we have £150 to add to the
wool money, making a gross return of £500 from 2000 sheep.
Now with regard to the capital necessary to produce that result,
much depends upon the man and the tenure of his land. Thanks
to the iniquitous system practised since the 1895 Act of locking
up good grazing country in enormous areas in improvement leases
for twenty-eight years, it is not so easy for a new-comer to acquire
a 3000 acre block of grazing land direct from the Crown within a
reasonable rainfall area as it used to be; and if the intending
small grazier is forced to purchase improved land from a private
holder he will require a fair amount of capital. On the other
hand, a practical, hard-working man, who has the luck to get a
suitable settlement lease from the Crown, can make a start on
comparatively little, especially if, as sometimes happens, the land
is partly fenced, and neighbours have to contribute half cost of
completion.
I have known men who had nothing much left, after paying
survey fees and a year's rent on a settlement lease, yet by
taking contracts for fencing, tank-sinking, and the like, from
their more affluent neighbours and investing the proceeds in
Do Small Grazing Farms Pay in Australia? 129
stocking and improving their own land, they have succeeded in
making comfortable homes in a few years. One " struggling
selector" with a large family of boys, started some fifteen years
ago with a modest £800 on a 2,560 acre block of C. P. and C. L.
land and now owns about 40,000 acres of freehold and condition-
ally-purchased land fully stocked, all paid for out of the profits of
the humble sheep. But he is an exceptional man, who had
exceptional opportunities for increasing his holdings, being sur-
rounded by Crown lands and having plenty of sons to select it ;
and it is not suggested that every small grazier can successfully
imitate him.
The days when one could get land that carried a sheep to
one and a half acres for a rental of twopence per acre have
passed away, and a man can no more go on the land profit-
ably now without capital than he can go into any other paying
business, a fact that those simple people who advocate putting
the " unemployed " on the land would do well to remember. We
can't afford to give land away for nothing while there are thousands
of our own practical bushmen eager to purchase or rent every
acre worth touching that the Crown has available.
On a 3,000 acre block fit to carry 2,000 sheep a man wants
a capital of £1,500. He might do with less, but, taking into con-
sideration the present price of stock, that amount is not too much
if his land is unimproved. From his 2,000 sheep the gross returns
should be about £500 on the average. Deduct £75 for interest
at 5 per cent, on capital invested. Eent, if the land is held direct
from the Crown, say £75, hired labour, say £45, salt, stock-taxes,
rabbit destruction, renewal of plant, etc., say £30, making a total
deduction of £225, which leaves a clear profit of £275 per annum
besides interest on capital. The item £45 for hired labour allows
for extra assistance in keeping down suckers and undergrowth
after the timber has been ring-barked ; but if the small grazier
has a son or two — and few haven't — that item may be struck out.
A grazing area of 3,000 acres can be managed by the owner and
a boy as " wood and water Joey " once the run is fenced and sub-
divided. Shearing is the only time when extra labour is absolutely
necessary, and those charges are allowed for in estimating the
wool returns at 3s. Qd. per head. No allowance is made for
depreciation of improvements because the small grazier usually
breeds a horse or two and runs a few head of cattle to utilise the
rough grass, and the returns from these should cover wear and
tear of improvements.
The reader must bear in mind that these estimates are based
upon land that is suitable for small settlements both in regard to
carrying capacity and rainfall. It should either be within or close
to the eastern division, with not less than an average of 28 inches
VOL. XII.— No. 68. x
130 The Empire Review
north of the western railway line or 24 inches south of that line.
Less rain than this will often serve sheep well, for be it understood
that what is called a " splendid season " for the farmer is often a
curse to the grazier, but the point to be noted in favour of the
rainfall indicated is that, during a drought, the 28 inches fall may
shrink to 18 inches without any harm being done, whereas if the
small grazier is in a 20-inch district and it dwindles to 10 inches
in a dry year the consequences are likely to be serious to him.
On the good rainfall country sheep-farming is a safe and solid
business, while on the dry western country it is dangerously near
being a pure gamble, and it is best left untouched by the small
capitalist seeking a safe investment.
Another point in favour of the small grazier settled upon such
land as described is that any losses he may suffer by a general
drought are fully counterbalanced by the enhanced value of his
stock and products, so that no allowance need be made on that
score when estimating his probable income. Indeed, when dismal
stories of losses by drought out west fill the Sydney daily papers,
it by no means follows that the small grazier on the " inside "
country is in need of any sympathy on that account. He often
profits by the troubles of the big men further out, and I have
known some who have let a spare paddock for six months at
20s. per acre to a large grazing company that wanted it badly
to save valuable stock. Again, during the 1898 drought, I
knew at least one little far inland town that had to depend upon
a small grazing area of 2,560 acres for its meat supply, and even
the owner of an adjoining estate carrying 20,000 sheep had to go
to the small grazier for ration sheep as he couldn't find a fat
wether among his own.
Yet whenever the question of throwing open the central division
leases for selection arises the lessees, through their press and par-
liamentary agents, assure the public
That there is no demand for land.
That small grazing areas would ruin the men who took
them up.
That to cut up the big grazing estates would ruin the
industry.
To these statements I reply after twenty years' experience :
1. That the rush to ballot for any good land offered as, for
example, the 640 applications made for five homestead
leases in the Dubbo district recently, refutes the state-
ment that there is no demand.
2. That small estates managed by their owners pay far better
than the large estates owned by financial institutions.
Do Small Grazing Farms Pay in Australia? 131
That a big grazing lease cut up and subdivided pays a
higher rental to the State, carries double the number
of sheep, is kept in better order, produces cleaner wool
and employs a great deal more labour.
For instance, one lease in the Bingara district of New South
Wales was held for about one halfpenny per acre. It carried a
few head of cattle, and received the divided attention of a
boundary-rider. It was cut up into six or seven settlement leases
at 3d. per acre per year. Each settlement lease now supports a
family in a comfortable homestead. As a result of dividing into
small paddocks and improving it the land now carries a sheep to
1£ acres. All those families help to support the adjoining town-
ship, whereas the previous lessee was an absentee. Would any
disinterested man hesitate to say which is the better policy for
the State — more men or more acres ? Yet the ruinous policy of
locking up the land in huge areas at nominal rentals is backed
up by officers in our Lands Department who ought to know
better.
Now to put the probable returns from 3,000 acres carrying a
sheep to 1£ acres in a more concise form. Say 2,000 sheep, half
of which are breeding ewes, cutting 6£ Ibs. of wool per sheep all
round : —
Dr.
To rent
,, interest on capital
,, hired labour .
„ sundries .
„ balance .
£ t. d.
. 75 0 0
. 75 0 0
. 45 0 0
. 80 0 0
225 0 0
. 275 0 0
£500 0 0
Or.
£ t. d.
By wool, 2000 sheep at 3s. 6d. . 350 0 0
„ sale of surplus stock, 600
sheep at 5s. . . . 150 0 0
£500 0 0
The balance of £275 doesn't look a startling result, but it is
based upon a cautious estimate, and is a fair return clear of
interest on the capital invested. Of course one could swell the
balance considerably by basing the prices for wool and surplus
stock on the level reached since 1899; but I have purposely
based my calculations upon the low estimate of 8d. per Ib.
for fleece, and 5s. per head for surplus, to show that if wool-
growing on a small area is profitable in ordinary years, it must
be a little gold-mine in boom seasons. It was a small grazier
with a few hundred sheep who topped the market in Sydney
last year with Il^d. for fleece, and he is generally there, or
thereabouts.
To show that the estimate of 8d. for wool and 5s. for surplus
sheep is a reasonable one, it may be of service to quote the figures
K 2
132 The Empire Review
taken from the books of a man who owns a little flock of 750
sheep of average quality. Prices obtained for wool last year were
as follows : fleece, Is. ; pieces, l^d. ; bellies, 8%d. ; locks, 4^d.
Total amount received for wool, clear of freight, commission, and
charges in Sydney, £210 4s. Id., which amounts to within a
fraction of 5s. 8cZ. per sheep. From the ewes he got 352 lambs,
which sold at 8s. per head when weaned, bringing his gross
returns from 750 sheep up to ^6351 Os. Id. He may do as well
this year and the next, but it wouldn't be safe for a man to base
his estimates upon those values keeping up for the next ten
years.
But Australia still maintains her position as the greatest source
of supply for the world's fine wool. Apparently the supply of
cotton is not equal to the demand, therefore the cheapening of
wool by its adulteration with cotton is, to a certain extent,
checked. The reduction in cost of shipping and distributing our
frozen meat among the millions of workers in Europe, and the
development of new markets for our by-products, will all operate
towards preventing a return to the low prices current for wool
and sheep in the early nineties. However, the small grazier on
suitable country who sticks to his legitimate business, and does
not indulge in gambling on the sheep-market, which generally
means betting on the weather, can make wool-growing pay, and
at the same time enjoy a thoroughly healthy and independent
life. If he starts clear of debt he need fear no man's frown. He
doesn't know who buys his wool, and doesn't care. He gets his
annual cheque from his wool-brokers without having to conduct
himself humbly before his customers, like most men in trade.
Wool-brokers compete eagerly for his patronage. Stock journals,
market reports, and all kinds of useful literature, are showered upon
him freely in the endeavour to obtain his business ; but he, the
wool-grower, has no need to hunt for customers. Wool, like gold,
is always sure of a market, and when the grower has baled it up
and sent the last waggon-load away on its long journey seawards,
he can sit down in the deserted wool-shed with a lump of raddle
and figure out, within a few pounds, what his income will be
from his clip.
In conclusion, searching my twenty years' experience, I can
remember many farmers who failed, and some who changed
to sheep in time and were saved; but not one single instance
can I recall where a man started wool-growing on a small area
of suitable country and did not succeed in making a living.
Leather may be all it is said to be by the shoemaker, but in
my humble opinion " There is nothing like sheep."
CEIPPS CLARK.
How to Extend Canadian Trade 133
HOW TO EXTEND CANADIAN TRADE
BY J. S. HART (of Toronto}
THE material interests of Canada have suffered greatly from
the wide-spread belief that her territory lies under an Arctic sky.
This belief persists in spite of the fact that Canada extends south-
ward to the latitude of Borne. Toronto and Montreal are in the
latitude of Florence and Venice, while northern cities like Winni-
peg and Vancouver are almost on the same parallel as Paris, and
lie south of the most southern part of Great Britain. To infer
that our climate is that of Italy and France would be granting
too much, nevertheless, between the isothermal lines that include
Great Britain, half of France, and practically the whole of
Germany, Canada has an area greater than that of any nation
of Europe excepting Eussia.
The success of the Canadian fruit-grower attests the warmth
of the sun under which his industry thrives. No part of the
world can surpass him in his supply of apples, pears, peaches,
plums, cherries, grapes and small fruits. At great international
exhibitions his display is of the best in variety, quality and size.
Of Canadian fisheries, forests, mines and farms it is not necessary
to say anything. Their fame is established. In natural resources,
practically nothing is lacking excepting the produce of the tropics.
Were this added, no new gift of Amalthea's horn could be wished
to increase our abundance. Is such an addition possible ? Can
we by negotiation, compromise or purchase extend our southern
boundary in such a manner that nature's full store of gifts may be
ours ? Or can we bind to us in close bonds of trade some other
territory, the yield of which will supplement ours ?
There is such territory lying at no great distance, not across
an ocean, but along an ocean shore, with calling posts all the
way — posts of possible trade. This territory lies, not only within
the tropics, but also under the British flag. It is a land whose
supplies not only supplement our own, but one whose needs are
almost as completely filled by our supplies. It is, moreover, a
land isolated in commerce by distance, competition, customs duties
134 The Empire Review
and trade bounties, and thus open to our advances. It is a land
where mahogany, rosewood and ebony are used for fuel, and
bananas are one shilling per bunch. I allude, of course, to our
West Indian Possessions. The extent of this region is about
130,000 square miles, and it is partly insular and partly of our
own continent. More than 116,000 square miles of these colonies
belong to British Guiana and British Honduras, while the islands,
numbering many hundreds, displace more than 13,000 square miles
of the southern sea. The productiveness of these fertile acres is
such that a Eoyal Commission reported " thirty days' labour on an
acre of good land in Jamaica will, in addition to providing a family
with food for the year, yield a surplus, saleable in the market for
from £10 to £30."*
Negotiations, looking to the improvement of trade conditions
between Canada and one or more of the colonies that form this
numerous and extensive aggregate, have already been undertaken.
In 1865 the four divisions, then the elements of what was soon
to become the Dominion of Canada, appointed delegates to confer,
not only with representatives of the British West Indies, but also
with those of Mexico, Brazil, Spain and the Spanish colonies in
America. The advances made were favourably met by the British
colonies ; but it was a period of great stress in Canadian politics,
and in the throes of national birth lesser things were forgotten.
Other attempts, official, semi-official and private have followed,
but have produced only ripples on the surface of public sentiment,
the treaty-makers have never given form to the theories of those
interested.
Attempts at reciprocity between the British West Indies and
the United States of America have been foiled — in one case by
the veto of the Home Government ; while such attempts on the
part of Canada have failed from inability to secure a basis satis-
factory to both.f There have been earnest advocates of govern-
mental as well as trade union among the British North American
possessions. Twenty years ago such an agitation attained some
prominence, and to-day it is not without exponents. The reasons
adduced by the advocates of governmental union are chiefly such
as would be met by proper trade arrangements ; indeed, it is the
desirableness of the fullest trade facilities that prompts the efforts
in favour of the more complete union. Whatever are the argu-
ments in favour of legislative union, the obviously easier and more
important improvement in our relative conditions is in the matter
of trade.
There need be no controversy between believers in trade
* See ' Problems of Greater Britain,' by Sir Charles Dilke.
t A reciprocity treaty between Canada and the American United States existed
from 1854 to 1866.
How to Extend Canadian Trade
135
union, and believers in governmental union, for the first being
effected would be an important step toward the latter if it
should then seem desirable. The way to governmental union
is certainly beset by many difficulties, among which the racial
is not the least. Canada has no Imperial powers, nor the imple-
ments for ruling a people unfit for local autonomy. Against
a harmonising of commercial interests there is no such grave
objection ; indeed, the objections are almost lost in the multitude
of favourable arguments.
The products of these lands and Canada are all but entirely
complementary to each other, so there are few rival interests to
pacify. We need what they can supply in abundance. They
need what we can give equally freely. Treaties of trade are
usually made in favour of the manufacturer; but here is the
prospect of one where the Canadian fanner has at least an equal
share of advantage. We already send them almost every form of
agricultural produce, though in quantities much less than enough
to supply their need. The interest of the manufacturer is also
involved, for we can supply woollens, cottons, carpets, hardware,
boots and shoes and furniture, all of which they import largely.
In cured fish and canned goods their imports are extensive.
Whence can they receive them more advantageously than from
Canada ? To be the carriers of the large trade that a full inter-
change of commodities would entail, would be a great asset to
our shipping and enrich our ports.
TABLES SHOWING THE MORE IMPORTANT IMPORTS AND EXPORTS
OF CANADA.*
(1) IMPOSTS, DUTIABLE.
From British
From other
Goods.
West Indies.
Countries.
ft
$
Arrowroot
415
803
Cocoa-nuts
46,000
7,000
,, desiccated, swe
etene
d or i
ot
1
Cocoa paste, cocoa butte
r, am
oth
or de
rivati
ves o
4
29
553,000
cocoa .
)
Coffee
—
134,000
Oranges, lemons, and lime
3
47,000
1,160,000
Lime juice
—
19,000
Nutmegs and mace .
865
33,000
Other spices (unground)
9,000
190,000
Rum
11,000
48,000
Sponges .
2,000
33,000
Tobacco, manufactured
1,209
594,000
Sweet potatoes and yams
—
22,000
Tomatoes, fresh
21
104,000
Sugar and molasses .
3,959,000
5,371,000
Totals
4,126,489
8,268,803
* The figures, which are in round numbers, are taken from the Trade and
Navigation Reports for Canada for the year ending June 1905.
136
The Empire Review
(2) IMPORTS, FEEE.
From British
From other
Goods.
West Indies.
Countries.
$
$
Bananas .
21,000
950,000
Pineapples
962
152,000
Mangoes, plantains, etc.
4,720
12,000
Cocoa beans
63,000
133,000
Lime juice, crude
7,000
360
Coffee, green
7,000
584,000
Asphalt .
1,000
138,000
Cocoa-nut and palm oil in
natui
al stn
te
296
144,000
Tobacco, unmanufactured
665
2,377,000
Mahogany
—
79,000
Ebony
155
10,000
105,798
4,974,360
Dutiable
4,126,489
8,268,803
Totals
4,232,287
13,243,163
(3) EXPORTS TO BRITISH WEST INDIES.
Goods.
Coal .
10,000
Fish, chiefly cured
965,000
Lumber, and rough pro
ducts
of 237,000
Live stock
14,000
Butter
Cheese
117,000
Eggs .
Meats
15,000
Fruits
3,000
Grain .
180,000
Flour, meal, and
bran
537,000
Hay and straw
7,000
Vegetables .
52,000
Biscuits and bread
18,000
Cordages and ropes
26,000
Clothing
2,000
Value.
$
2,000
60,000
2,000
20,000
13,000
10,000
1,000
1,000
16,000
5,000
10,000
11,000
4,000
11,000
2,344,000
The above list represents the chief articles of import and
export, and fairly exemplifies the whole. The group of selected
products shows that we receive from our sister colonies $4,232,287
in value, while we buy from foreign countries of these same
products to the value of $13,243,163. Our total imports from
these districts are estimated at $5,638,187, and our exports
to them at $4,401,115, while their foreign trade is about a
hundred millions, practically equally divided between imports
and exports.
Of these exports there is barely an item that we do not import
for our own use, or but few of their imports that we might not
supply. It is true that our market is not sufficiently large to
require all their exports, but surely we ought to take from them
what we need for ourselves. Why, too, should not our ships,
our merchants and clearing-houses, have the profit of carrying
and reselling a large part of the surplus? Why should we
How to Extend Canadian Trade 137
supinely permit our own portion to be carried to us at greatly
enhanced prices ? *
Where is the difficulty ? It is not in distance, for now our
imported fruit comes from Italy and Spain as well as from
Florida, California, and Mexico. It is not in the unwillingness
of the southern colonies to trade with us. It is not in our un-
willingness to trade with them. It is not that their fruits are
not good, for in all but oranges their fruit is now the standard ;
and as to their oranges, a travelling Canadian f says, " I have
picked and eaten oranges in Florida, Cuba, California, Hono-
lulu, Australia, and among the native savages of the Fiji
Islands, but to me no orange is equal in delicious flavour to
that of ' Hogg Island ' — one of the Bahamas." As to Jamaica
tobacco, the late Mr. Froude proclaimed it equal to the best
Havana.
Where then is the obstacle ? It is chiefly in that trade routes
and trade associations have been established, and the reorgan-
ising mind has not seized the rather tangled details, and effected
a change more profitable to them and us.
Canada is prosperous. Yearly the financial reports of our
country attest our growing wealth, but this is no reason why we
should forego so obvious an advantage. The assurance of future
prosperity is in the wise furtherance of all our possibilities.
The West Indian colonies are not prosperous. Their nearest
neighbours oppose a tariff that makes profitable trade with them
impossible, and the European market is remote. Efforts have
been made by Great Britain and Canada to facilitate trade by
bonusing steamship lines, and by Canada in remitting a part of
the customs duty charged against the world at large. These
attempts may have been of service, but have been inadequate,
and the British West Indies lie undeveloped and in poverty.
The steamers connecting them with Canada are too slow and too
infrequent to carry on a trade satisfactory to either party ; besides,
they make too frequent calls for the carriage of the more perish-
able fruits. Their course should be direct and fast, and frequent
enough to supply the demand.
The line of steamers subsidised jointly by Great Britain and
Canada to ply between our ports and the West Indies makes a
trip but once in two weeks, and these ships bear all the commerce
between the two countries except that borne by some other less
frequent and tramp boats, making the total clearing from our
ports for theirs less than one each week. In contrast with this
is the fact that the number of steamers leaving Jamaica for the
* The balance of trade between Canada and the United States for 1905 was in
favour of the United States by more than $85,000,000.
+ Mr. Geo. Hees, of Toronto, in ' Industrial Canada.'
138 The Empire Review
different ports of the United States amounts to from fifteen to
twenty weekly.
Furthermore, each party should learn more fully the needs
and peculiarities of the other, and adapt their methods
accordingly. Canadian importers complain of the sorting, picking
and parcelling of their fruit, while their consumers have an equal
number of complaints to make regarding our want of adaptation
to their needs. Labelling of exports and governmental inspection
would conduce to high standard on each side.
A large part of our imports of tropical products comes to us
from these colonies vid Boston and New York. St. John is
between twelve and twenty-four hours further by boat, with a
good harbour, open all the year, and from thence a passenger-
train reaches a point as far west as Toronto in less than twenty-
six hours. The same train going vid Montreal and North Bay
would reach Winnipeg in about thirty-six hours more. Making
due allowance for the slower rate of freight trains, there is no
reason why the fruit of our own tropics might not be carried by
our own systems of conveyance at least as far west as Manitoba
without deterioration in quality or great addition to cost. Ar-
rangements are now under consideration for a high-class steam-
ship line between Mexico and British Columbia. This will give
the whole of Canada an opportunity of trading on fair terms for
all her tropical imports. Again, from Jamaica to Quebec would
require about seven days for a good steamer, and Montreal half
a day more. With the improved conditions following our trans-
continental railway, Quebec should be an important shipping
port for supplying the West. The supplying of New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island is obviously easy, while
Halifax is an alternative port for general distribution.
To encourage the carriers, the present subsidy system might
be continued, or only a mail service be paid, and a bounty be
given any shipping company according to the article or weight
conveyed between the ports of the two contracting parties. This
method would have the advantage of exciting competition, and
would require to be only temporary — until the trade route should
be firmly established, and all little adjustments effected.
In addition to a better steamship service, tariff changes would
be necessary. What these should be, the representatives of the
different interested governing bodies would decide. Here, evi-
dently, is an opportunity for the successful application of the
maximum and minimum tariff system advocated by Sir Wilfrid
Laurier. To make a trade arrangement fully effective, an in-
crease of tariff against the rest of the world would perhaps be
necessary, with a marked reduction or absolute abolition in favour
of our own colonies. These adjustments must, of course, be
How to Extend Canadian Trade 139
mutual. This increase of tariff rate would not eventually in-
crease the cost of tropical fruits to us, for the supply is so great
that the world prices would regulate those we should pay. On
their side, it should improve the price, as it would enlarge their
market and eliminate the profits of the intermediate dealer who
handles so much of their produce for us.
Moreover, though the supply in our adjacent tropical colonies
is now large, it is small compared with what might result from
advanced methods in cultivation, and the bringing of the whole
available area under tillage. Our imports directly from them,
instead of being four and a quarter millions, should be from
fifteen to twenty millions of dollars in value of the articles they
now supply, while, in a few years, with our mutual possibilities,
the amounts received and delivered should be doubled. At present
we do not use of tropical products at all to our limit, and we
have the certain prospect of rapid expansion in population and
wealth.
The British West Indies have an ill-cultivated country gene-
rally, but have also possibilities for the growth of articles for
export that have only been proved to be adapted to their climate,
but have never been made an important commercial fact. These
articles are in chief, cotton, caoutchouc, tea, and rice. In cotton
and tea the opportunities are especially large. Why should not
Jamaica emulate the example of Ceylon ? In 1878 Ceylon sent
no tea to Britain, but in twelve years was annually exporting
40,000,000 pounds.* Ceylon is a larger island, but only a small
part of its area is devoted to tea-growing.
Our imports of tea for 1905 represent a value of more than
three and a half millions of dollars, and of cotton, unmanufac-
tured, a value of more than six millions. Of rubber for manu-
facturing purposes, we imported to the value of nearly two
and a half millions, besides large importations in manufactured
rubber goods. Bice is represented by an amount of $556,000,
not including ground rice. If these articles could be added to
our imports from the West Indies, even at our present rate of
consumption, there would be an addition of twelve and a half
millions of dollars.
With the growth of our country, our use of tea and rice
would grow pari passu, but our use of cotton and rubber should
grow in vastly greater proportion as our manufacturing capabili-
ties develop — as they ought and shall. With our abundance of
coal on either seaboard ; with iron, nickel, copper, and lead so
plentiful, not to speak of gold and silver, and such a multiplicity
of water powers as no nation in the world can equal, no imagin-
able circumstance can prevent.
* See ' Problems of Greater Britain.'
140 The Empire Review
These products, in quantity, are for the present hypothetical,
but if Canada will afford a market, the West Indies will as surely
supply the goods. Their development along the line of produce
would be as certain as is ours along the line of manufactures.
Another half-developed industry, particularly of the Bahamas,
is the production of sisal fibre for the making of ropes, binder-
twines, cordage, and coarse fabrics. This is an industry capable
of great advancement to their profit and ours. During the year
ending June 30th, 1905, our importations in this class of material,
manufactured and unmanufactured, exceeded $3,000,000 in value.
Here, again, is an article or class in which our consumption
should increase in a proportion greater than our growth in
population.
A frequent and rapid steamship service between Canada and
the tropics should have other advantages that come with facility
of intercourse. It should make the southern islands a place for
winter excursions for our sick and pleasure-seeking, and not only
for ours, but for those of other lands with which we have free
communication. Equally, it should make our tens of thousands
of breezy islands and our myriads of picturesque rivers and lakes
places of happy respite from their enervating heat. It should
make our Atlantic seaports great distributing centres. From
them the surplus products of the West Indies should find their
way across the Atlantic to Britain and other parts of Northern
Europe. A look at the map will show how little such a course
would deviate from the shortest line, and this route would have
the advantage of following nearly the course of the Gulf Stream.
Again, more trade would bring more competition in carriage,
and incidental reduction of rates. A great abundance of tropical
products would stimulate the use of them, and the more we buy
from the West Indies, the more they can take from us, for by our
own money they would have increased means to purchase our
goods.
Canada could lose nothing, and would gain much by an
arrangement such as is here advocated. The same I conceive to
be equally true of the other party.
It is said that the West Indies would suffer at the hands
of the United States should they venture to join in an inti-
mate trade league with Canada. If we study the trade laws
of the United States, we will see that these laws are made
for the people of the United States, to benefit them, not with
the set purpose of injuring others, though that injury has been
frequent. The trade of the West Indies — and that of Canada,
too — has long felt the ill influence of their laws restricting
trade. But these laws are not likely to be made better or
worse for either of us because we decide to improve our
How to Extend Canadian Trade 141
trade conditions by friendly agreement, especially when in our
motive there is no animus against the United States or any other
State. As in the past, the policy of the United States will con-
tinue to be prompted by what they believe — rightly or wrongly
— to be for their own profit ; and in regard to several of the West
Indian products, it would be to their real advantage to have trade
restrictions removed. Canada has ceased to look with gaping
mouth for United States trade favours, and has benefited by
her changed attitude, benefited both financially and in dignity
— benefited herself, too, in the estimation of the United States,
and without creating any feeling of enmity there. The West
Indies have long enough humbly accepted the flotsam and jetsam
of their big neighbour, but there is no reason why they might not
improve themselves in wealth and influence by ceasing to drift,
or wait for some oversea trade- wind, and become directors of their
own course.
The Canadian market should be the first goal of the West
Indies. There are no insuperable obstacles in the way of a trade
arrangement between the Dominion and these colonies — an
arrangement that would be fully effective. The advantage to
each is so evident as not to be open to discussion. Moreover, the
Empire to which we both belong would be consolidated, and the
Imperial Government would be freed from a long-standing diffi-
culty if West Indian poverty could thus find relief.
J. S. HART.
TOEONTO.
142 The Empire Review
A PLEA FOR CIVIC RIGHTS FOR WOMEN
BY MILDRED RANSOM.
THE notice of the public has been recently drawn to the
question of the admission of women to the parliamentary fran-
chise. There is considerable uncertainty in the public mind as
to the various civic disabilities suffered by the sex, and, owing to
the frequent alterations in the laws in the last ten years, this
can scarcely cause astonishment. I propose to sketch briefly the
most salient features of the case, while omitting details which
complicate the matter unnecessarily. Admission to the parlia-
mentary suffrage would by no means satisfy the claims of those
who advocate the removal of all civic disabilities from women.
Far-reaching and important as this reform would be, it would
leave untouched the question of the admission to seats on local
governing bodies and to the legislative council of the nation.
The ideal for which the advocates of women's civic rights have
striven is, that neither sex nor marriage should be a bar to prefer-
ment, but that the fittest person should be selected. If this was
attained, duly qualified women would be admitted to the franchise
as enjoyed by duly qualified men ; the barriers to seats on execu-
tive bodies would be swept away and the electorate would secure
a wider field from which to choose their representatives.
Political prophets vary greatly on the subject of women's civic
rights. It was thought at one time that the Conservatives would
allow a measure to be brought in, in order to enfranchise large
numbers of upper-class women, who would presumably vote
Conservative. The Liberal party have long been urged to adopt
the principle, on the ground that it is in accordance with their
fundamental beliefs, but neither side have allowed the claim any
place on their programme. The Labour party alone has adopted
the principle as a plank in their platform, because they have
realised by bitter experience that unrepresented labour means
sweated labour, and that so long as women remain politically
dumb they are sweated, and consequently cut down the wages
of the men. For this very practical reason they have recognised
women's claims. But the Labour party are not in power, and
A Plea for Civic Rights for Women 143
the result of the refusal of both the Ministerialists and the
Opposition to give official recognition to the claims of women
has resulted in the perpetual shelving of Suffrage Bills.
The present position may be briefly stated. A peeress who
inherits titles and estates cannot, by reason of her sex, claim her
father's seat in the House of Lords, and no woman can vote
in Parliamentary elections, nor sit in the House of Commons,
but certain municipal rights are enjoyed by women, and as Great
Britain has never adopted the Salic Law, a princess can inherit
the throne. With this solitary exception, women's Imperial
rights are non-existent, unless we include under this head the
right of paying taxes and contributing to the revenue, which has
never been questioned. Her municipal rights are less easily
disposed of. It is not possible, within the scope of this article,
to enumerate the details of the disabilities of women in local
government ; they are as complicated as they are tedious. I
content myself with a review of the situation on broad general
lines.
Women have long been admitted to the partial exercise of
the municipal vote. I say partial advisedly, for certain Acts of
Parliament have added here and sliced off there till the position
is anomalous and illogical. A slice was cut off in 1894, in spite
of protests, when Parliament enacted that no woman who was
not an occupier could vote. This disfranchised women owners
in no inconsiderable number, and greatly reduced powers which
needed enlargement rather than reduction. The ownership vote
entitled women who were qualified as owners to vote for the
election of the Poor Law Guardians, but they were not entitled
to vote, as owners, for other elections. Still, this enfranchised —
partially, it is true, but it was a step in the right direction —
a class of women who had a considerable stake in the country,
who perhaps owned property in several counties, and who were
persons of some considerable influence and importance. Since
1894, a woman who is an owner (and not an occupier) beholds
her servants and tenants voting at elections, while she stands
apart, classed unamiably with paupers and lunatics. The owner-
ship vote is a grave loss to women, and the more so because they
once possessed it.
No woman who is a lodger can vote, and this excludes a
large proportion of women who earn their own living, such as
artists, journalists, and teachers, who earn varying salaries, and
who have fully justified their claim from every point of view save
that of sex. Neither is the service vote, which enfranchises
servants and caretakers, open to women. Many middle-aged
working- women, who have brought up their families decently,
and who now earn their living by caretaking, are disfranchised,
144 The Empire Review
while a man who does the same work is qualified to vote, not
only for municipal, but the parliamentary elections.
In the present state of the law, only women who are occupiers
can vote. An occupier is a person who occupies a dwelling-house
or part of a house as a separate dwelling, provided that the land-
lord does not live in the building. The " dwelling " need only be
one room, and the amount of rent is immaterial. This qualifica-
tion is known as the " Household Qualification." Another claim
to be recognised as an occupier is the " £10 Qualification." If a
person occupies land or business premises of which the clear
yearly value is £10 or more, and lives within the county or
within fifteen miles of its boundary, that person can claim a vote
for such premises or land. In the case of a municipal borough,
the occupier must not live more than seven miles from the
boundary. A woman can claim a vote as a joint occupier if she
share premises with one or more persons who each and severally
pay £10 or more of the yearly value ; but she cannot claim as a
joint occupier, however well qualified, if her husband claim
qualification in respect of the same property. An example may
make this point clear. If two women possess a business, both
are qualified as occupiers if the rent amounts to £20, i.e., £10
each, and if a woman and a man possess this business, both are
qualified unless they are married. If they marry, the woman,
who until the marriage possessed certain citizen's rights, loses
them.
This curious slur on marriage is the more remarkable when
examined closely. In the eyes of the law it seems that no
married woman can be trusted with a vote if the husband be on
the scene. In spite of Mr. Weller's warnings, widows are con-
sidered trustworthy, but married women who live with their
husbands are not. In nearly every Bill to extend civic rights to
women, some provision has been made for the imaginary un-
worthiness which, in the eyes of those who make the laws,
immediately attacks women who marry. Though women are
popularly supposed to be deficient in business capacity, and the
help of men is considered essential to assist them in any im-
portant enterprise, yet when they presumably obtain that help
and assistance by marriage, certain serious disqualifications in
civic rights follow as a matter of course. It might have been
expected that the admittedly high moral sense of one partner in
the marriage contract, coupled with the business capacity of the
other, would enhance the value to the State of both, and that a
married woman would be more capable than her unmarried or
widowed sisters of exercising a public trust. But this is far from
being the case. Marriage is a bar to many civic rights, and
Parliament invariably treats it as if it were a most unsafe
A Plea for Civic Rights for Women 145
condition for women. The Anglo-Saxon race justly places a
high value on the married state, and it is to be hoped that
married women will be shortly allowed a status and dignity which
is freely given to spinsters, widows, and bachelors.
If a woman be qualified by reason of occupiership, her name
must be placed on the list of voters. No claim can be considered
if the occupier has not occupied the premises for twelve clear
months before the 15th July in the year in which the claim is
made. Every August the Register of Electors is revised, and all
qualified persons are entitled to have their names inscribed in
this list, which comes into force in the succeeding January. The
Register is separated into divisions, and one such division is devoted
to women and another to voters for Parliament. But if, by a
slip on the part of those whose business it is to compile and
revise the list, a woman's name be inserted in the list of parlia-
mentary electors, and if that name be not removed in the Revision
Court, that woman is on the Register and is entitled to vote, in
spite of a law which enacts in the clearest manner that women
shall have no voice in the election of Parliament. Once the
Revising Barrister has completed the Register and closed the
Court, all whose names are on the list can vote, whatever dis-
qualification be discovered later. So careful are the authorities
that it seems almost impossible for an error to occur. The list is
subjected to the minutest scrutiny ; the overseers of the parish,
the agents of political parties in the constituency, the clerks, and
lastly the Revising Barrister himself, scan the list, name by name,
with the most careful and accurate attention. It seems impossible
that so serious an error as the presence of a woman's name in the
Parliamentary Division of the Electorate could pass so many
vigilant eyes, but it has happened more than once and will
doubtless happen again.
In London, women occupiers are entitled to vote for the
County Council, the Borough Council, and the Board of
Guardians. The City does not allow women a voice on its
governing body, and has, of course, no Borough Council.
So much for the powers of voting. When we turn to the
meagre list of Municipal Boards upon which women are allowed
seats, we realise how urgent is the need for reform. The only
Board in London to which a woman is admitted is the Board of
Guardians. Formerly women sat on the London School Board
and on the Vestries, but when the Borough Councils took the
place of the latter, women lost their rights in spite of strenuous
effort, and when education was entrusted to the County Councils,
women again lost their seats, because no woman can sit on County
Councils. In the country we find that a woman can sit on Parish
Councils, Rural and Urban District Councils, and Boards of
VOL. XII.— No. 68. L
146 The Empire Review
Guardians. There are certain qualifications, but these are not
affected by sex or marriage. The chief difference between a
Rural and an Urban District Council is that the former is
entrusted with the Guardianship of the Poor in addition to the
duties of an Urban Council, whereas an Urban District Council
has a separate existence from the Board of Guardians in its
locality. Women, by reason of their sex, are not allowed to sit
on County, Town, Borough and Metropolitan Borough Councils.
Public opinion has long been convinced of the fitness of
women to be Guardians of the Poor. None can say that women
have not justified their presence on the boards, or have dis-
credited their sex when their work was examined. A workhouse
has been aptly described as an enlarged household. It cares for
the infirm, the aged, for women and girls, infants and children,
and experience has shown repeatedly that women are peculiarly
fitted for such work. The " lady guardian " is now an institution
in the eyes of the inmates, who look to her for that sympathy
and patience which men are the first generously to admit is a
woman's strongest point. The workhouse is also the refuge of
the friendless outcast, and many girls who have been driven by
dire necessity to enter the "house," owe their moral reformation
and restored self-respect to the motherly care of the "lady
guardian." Such cases cannot and ought not to be dealt with
by men, kind and willing though they may be, and it is not
wonderful that nowhere is the election of a lady more popular
than in the sphere of her work.
But if this post is peculiarly appropriate to women, how
much more are they needed on the board which controls the
education of children. Here the present situation is hardly
credible in its stupidity. Until the transfer of education from
the School Boards to the County Councils it was supposed that
the work of women on the School Boards had more than justified
their claim in the public mind to seats on whatever body should
be entrusted with this work. But a bitter disappointment
awaited those who expected that women would be admitted to
the County Councils when education was handed over to these
bodies. Women have sat on the School Board in London since
1870 ; they have abundantly justified their presence there ; their
colleagues valued their work and petitioned that it should con-
tinue ; in 1904 they sat on eight out of the nine committees of
the Board and on twenty-four out of the twenty-seven sub-
committees. Their absence (except by co-option to which I shall
refer later) is a loss to London and to the Education Committee
of the Council which nothing can replace. This committee took
over the complete work of the London School Board. It has the
charge of all the school children of London. It has to teach the
A Plea for Civic Rights for Women 147
blind, the deaf, the defective, and the cripples ; it has charge of
the children committed under a magistrate's order to the
Industrial Schools, and some of these children are as young as
three years old. The chairman of the Industrial Schools Com-
mittee was a lady of great experience and wide knowledge, who
had occupied a seat on the Board for many years. In the
country there were no less than eight women who held the post
of chairman of their boards.
The Act which summarily swept away women's work for
education in London came into force in 1904. Its only provision
for continuing this work was a clause by which it enacted that
five women should be co-opted to the Education Committee of the
County Council ; at the same time it added enormously to the
work of the Committee while it decreased the number of its
women members. Co-option, moreover, is but a poor exchange
for election. A co-opted member is one who is added to a
committee at the will of the majority, and who therefore increases
its power. If such a member show signs of refractoriness or of
a tendency to introduce unpopular reforms, she can hardly
expect to be co-opted again. Since 1904 women who were
chosen for years to serve on educational bodies ad hoc, by a
constituency to whom they were responsible, can serve only at the
will of the majority of the committee.
The Act added heavy burdens to the London County Council
in addition to those already borne by the old Board, and nearly
doubled the work. At the same time it reduced the number of
women members from nine to five. There is no doubt that the
experience of women is absolutely necessary if the children of the
nation are to be effectively educated.
The lack of the co-operation of women with men on the urban,
town and borough councils, in matters connected with public
sanitation and morality, with the inspection of common lodging
houses, with the housing of the working classes, and with the
hundred and one matters which concern women equally with
men, is a public loss. The late Lord Salisbury felt the need
strongly when he said (26th June, 1899), "Women are as
necessary for the purpose of assisting these local bodies to provide
decent lodging for the working classes as they are for the purpose
of administering the Poor Law." It is women's work to pro-
vide for the poor and needy, and surely when we consider the
enormous female population of our country, and the surplus
of unmarried women, we need not fear that the Empire will be
injured — but rather greatly benefited — by the employment of the
experienced woman who is duly elected at the poll to do the
work for which she is peculiarly fitted both by sex and training.
Women are still on probation so far as their public acts are
L 2
148 The Empire Review
concerned, and their errors and eccentricities are seized upon by
adverse critics as examples of the sex's folly. If a male doctor
loses a patient under an anaesthetic, comforting statistics pervade
the papers, relating the enormous number of successful cases, and
the extraordinarily small percentage of deaths; but if a lady
physician's patient dies under like circumstances, placards and
headlines announce the fact, leading articles criticise women's
admission to learned professions, and statistics are forgotten.
Featherheaded and erratic individuals are doubtless to be found
in both sexes, but men have attained a recognised position, and
their eccentricities are not supposed to be due to their sex,
whereas women still live their public lives under a microscope,
and their faults and follies are eagerly discovered and somewhat
exaggerated.
There is no remedy for this unbalanced criticism except
common-sense. It is a phase, and like all phases will pass and
be no more. When the public becomes accustomed to the
spectacle of women doing public work in an ordinary common-
place manner, they will cease to regard them as women and
think of them as individuals. Meanwhile the steady solid work
achieved by women must tell, and in the future they will doubt-
less be granted civic equality.
The claim to an extension of the franchise, and its consequent
admission to the claim to sit on various governing bodies, has
always depended on two conditions ; (1) the citizen must be
qualified by reason of his contribution to taxation, and by his
stake in the country, and (2) he must not be disqualified by being
a lunatic, a criminal, or a pauper. Women are perfectly willing
to accept the same criterion for fitness as is or may be applied to
men, with all its advantages and drawbacks, but they are not
willing to add sex or marriage to the list.
There appears to be a popular impression to the effect that
women desire to be enfranchised as a sex, irrespective of qualifica-
tion, and men not unnaturally plead that the present electorate
would be swamped. This is totally erroneous : the claim made
by the most advanced is that women shall receive exactly the
same civic treatment as men, and that sex and marriage shall
not be considered in the light of either qualifying or disqualifying
circumstances. The whole complaint of women is that they are
treated as a class apart. They claim treatment as individuals,
not as women ; as citizens, not as irresponsible beings ; and no
advocate of their rights has ever put forward a claim that as a
sex they should be enfranchised. On the contrary they have
consistently pleaded that women have suffered severely in the
past from preferential treatment, and that they wish for the
present inequality to cease. They lay great stress on their desire
A Plea for Civic Rights for Women 149
to possess the civic privileges enjoyed by men, and they have
claimed that adult female suffrage shall be included in measures
to enfranchise adult males.
Another argument adduced against the admission of women
to further civic rights, is that it would destroy the home life.
We are told that a woman who possessed equal rights with men
would neglect her home and children, to say nothing of her
husband. But the very nature and training of women militates
against this argument. Modern women — especially those who
keenly desire the vote — recognise as clearly as ever did their
mothers and grandmothers the supreme claim of the children.
They may shirk marriage because of these claims, but when they
undertake the duties they usually carry them out. Women who
are interested in modern problems, who have a sense of the true
position of their sex in the nation's destiny and who undertake
the duties of marriage, are not likely to neglect their homes if
they are enfranchised. To them the vote is a trust and an
education for which they have struggled and worked. The
woman who neglects her home is not the modern product, except
in so far as she has adapted herself to the modern environment.
She is as old as the hills ; she prefers her own pleasure to
anything else ; she decreases the birth-rate because she is too
lazy and ignorant to be a mother ; she lives on the earnings of
others and cannot do a hand's turn for herself ; she develops
nervous diseases and is a useless expense to her unfortunate
husband, and above all brings her sex into contempt.
The modern woman does not neglect her home, and the
recognition of her civic rights would produce in her a sense of
responsibility and would give her a dignity which would rub
off many of the angles which she perhaps possesses. It is not
easy to bear classification with criminals and lunatics with
invariable equanimity, nor to hear one's sex patronised at
election times as "so useful " in influencing the male vote, though
" of no use " when voting is on the tapis.
We are told that no further civic rights are needed because
we have so much power indirectly. In answer to this many of
us would reply that we do not seek either indirect or direct
power per se ; we seek our simple privileges and rights as law-
abiding peaceful citizens. Indirect power is not worth the having,
and it is a poor exchange for just rights. We who ask for civic
privileges ask for them because our sex has long justified its claim
by complying with all demands of the law, and because sensible
women are needed on every governing body in order to secure
expert and reasonable legislation for women and children.
MILDEED RANSOM.
150 The Empire Review
MAGIC AMONG CERTAIN EAST AFRICAN
TRIBES
BY HILDEGARDE HINDE
ALL primitive natives hold one common belief : that there is
no such thing as death from natural causes. To them death, at
whatever age and in whatever circumstances, represents the actual
interference of witchcraft, evil eye, magic, or the particular idea
of evil prevalent amongst them.
The belief in an undefined evil influence requiring to be pro-
pitiated is almost universal among elementary races, but the
methods of propitiation vary from tribal rites to the haphazard
and voluntary actions of individuals. Among the Kikuyu it is
customary for any member of the community to kill a goat, and
to deposit specified parts of it under a certain magic tree ; and
the Masai are in the habit of placing a handful of grass on an
elephant's skull, or of adding a stone to some pile marking the
supposed site of a magic presence. These actions need no
special qualification on the part of the individuals who perform
them, but are a rude expression of their deference to some unseen
malign power against which they place themselves on the safe
side by the adoption of conciliatory measures.
It is a short step from these general and unformulated ideas to
those of a more specialised and definite nature, and almost all
tribes focus their apprehension of evil on some particular point :
when this point is reached the beliefs differentiate and become
tribal customs.
The Akamba are a tribe of British East Africa belonging to
the Bantu group. Of recent years their numbers have consider-
ably diminished, the famine of 1898-99 having destroyed many
thousands of them. In certain districts, such as Kitui, where the
water supply is scarce and frequently fails altogether, they con-
stantly suffer from famine. Added to these natural difficulties,
the Akamba are both lazy and thriftless ; they frequently eat
their reserve supply of grain, in order to save themselves the
trouble of freshly tilling the ground, and thus, when they should
Magic Among Certain East African Tribes 151
be planting, they have an inadequate quantity of seed, and in the
event of the rains failing they are left with no food at all. There
has been considerable conjecture as to whether the Akamba are,
or were, cannibals, as they all invariably file their teeth. Though
in the times of f a] nine Akamba eat their dead, and though in
contradistinction to all other East African tribes they not only eat
hyaena, crocodile, leopard, lion, and all vermin, but eat meat when
absolutely decomposed, it has generally been recognised that they
do not belong to the cannibal tribes, and as far as can be ascer-
tained have never, except in times of famine, eaten human flesh
as a custom.
The Akamba, as a race, are distinctly undersized, and are
most unpleasing in appearance. In addition to removing the
body hairs, a habit common to all natives, they also pull out their
eyebrows and eyelashes. This gives them an extraordinarily dis-
torted facial expression, and causes them to suffer severely from
ophthalmia. Their filed teeth add an appearance of ferocity to
their ugliness. In character they are cruel, cowardly and cunning,
and completely untrustworthy. They never fight in the open,
but hide in the bush or long grass, and from these places of
vantage fire poisoned arrows at their enemies at a range of a few
yards, crawling silently away after the shot. Their villages are
on the hills, cleverly hidden in the bush or in the banana planta-
tions. Chastity in the women is neither desired nor appreciated ;
in fact, an unmarried woman with a child is of a higher market
value than one without, since she is proved to be fertile. Mar-
riage is merely a money transaction, and the woman goes to the
highest bidder.
Torture is not unknown to the Akamba, and the flaying alive
of a prisoner, by chipping the skin off the head with a small knife,
was formerly one of their usual methods. The native custom of
crucifying by tying the victim to a tree with arms and legs
extended is also resorted to among them.
The Akamba are great believers in magic, and the crystallisa-
tion of their ideas on this subject is to be seen in one of their
most barbarous customs called " Kinyolla." Once a year, at the
harvest of the tree-bean (that is about December) the elders of
every district meet together and the names of certain individuals
selected to be killed are given out. Here, as on all occasions of
importance, the medicine-men take a prominent part, and it is
from them that the condemnation of the victims comes. These
individuals are almost invariably women, and though more usually
they are old and barren, it is not infrequent for quite young and
comely women to be denounced. The condemnations take place
in the following manner. When a death, of either a child or
adult, occurs in a village the medicine-man is at once summoned
152 The Empire Review
to discover whose magic is responsible for it. After performing
certain of his rites * the medicine-man points out some woman,
usually one with a cast in her eye, or with some optical defect, as
the cause of the death. f The woman so specified is from then on
naturally regarded with suspicion, and should a cow or goat die,
or a plague of rats eat the reserve supply of foodstuffs, she is
held responsible for these disasters. She is, however, allowed to
live in the village, and no one interferes with her. On the
occurrence of another death, it is extremely probable that the
medicine-man will ascribe the cause to the same woman unless
he has been heavily bribed by his client (a very unusual pro-
ceeding) to point out some one else.
Before a woman can be condemned in " Kinyolla " she must
have been accused seven times by the medicine-man. If at the
harvest she has only been accused six times, she is free, and she
remains safe until the following harvest a year later. If, however,
her seven accusations have been registered, her name is submitted
to the elders by the medicine-man and she is doomed. When
all the names have been placed before the elders, they set out on
a tour of the villages in the district, accompanied by the young
men, who are armed with spears. The villagers, by common
consent, remain just outside the villages, and on the arrival of
the elders and their following they make no attempt to run away.
The only people who absent themselves are the husband and
family of the condemned woman, and this happens exceptionally
in the event of her being a favourite wife and quite young : other-
wise her relatives show their horror of magic by actively
taking part in the proceedings. By this exhibition of zeal against
the evil, they remove suspicion from themselves as possible
accomplices. The doomed woman's name is announced, and
when this has been done she is given a spear thrust by one
of the young men. This thrust must not kill her, but only
sufficiently disable her to prevent the possibility of escape.
When the complete tour of the villages has been made, and
all the magic-makers thus disabled, a second tour commences.
This part of the ceremony includes in certain districts the
entire population, but in other regions only the medicine-men are
present. More frequently on the second arrival of the elders all
the population takes part in the proceedings, and the wounded
woman, who has been lying outside the village since she was
* The paraphernalia of these medicine-men consists of a goat-skin and a gourd,
the latter filled with a collection of beans, stones, and certain human and animal
remains.
f It is curious to note that nearly all primitive natives seem to object to, and be
suspicious of persons •with defective eyes, and these persons are almost invariably
selected as sacrifices, or turned out from the community for various reasons, usually
connected with " magic."
Magic Among Certain East African Tribes 153
speared, is stoned to death, her disfigured body being left for the
hyaenas to make a meal of. It is not unusual for the medicine-
man first to remove certain portions of the body for the more
potent making of medicine in the future. At the completion of
the second tour the ceremony is over, and no one can be touched
until the following year.
The second method of death is for the medicine-man to twist
the neck of the woman, much in the manner practised among
the Zulus. The custom of " Kinyolla " is universal among the
Akamba, and such is the efficacy of their methods of inter-
communication that in the event of a condemned woman
escaping from her own district and travelling to the furthest
point inhabited by the tribe, the information precedes her, and
she is neither allowed to enter a village, nor will any one give
her food and drink. She cannot be killed in the " Kinyolla "
ceremony of any district other than her own, but she is practically
done to death, since she is compelled to die of starvation. Her
only chance lies in seeking refuge with a neighbouring race, but
this means of escape is, strangely enough, never resorted to.
The passive infliction of the death sentence by turning an
individual adrift is in no way unusual with natives. In the old
days when the Masai customs were strongly adhered to, it was
one of their recognised methods of punishment. The individual
who had committed theft for the third time, and who was there-
fore regarded as an incurable thief, was thus cast out ; and any
man, woman, or child who had taken service with an alien —
i.e. either a white man or any other natives — was cut off from the
Masai, and thus compelled to return to alien protection or to die.
It was doubtless owing to the strict enforcing of this law that the
Masai race retained its purity, and that knowledge of its customs
continued inaccessible; and the relaxation of the law is largely
responsible for the decimation of Masai numbers and the diseased
condition of the coming generation.
"Kinyolla" is entirely unknown to the other tribes of East
Africa ; this is the more extraordinary in that the Akamba have
many customs in common with other tribes and not unfrequently
intermarry with them. It is habitual for the Masai women to
enter freely into the countries of their enemies for trading purposes,
and as they travel unaccompanied by men, there is an unwritten
law that they should be unmolested. This understanding is,
however, occasionally violated, and the women are taken by force.
Any women thus captured who subsequently escape, or who are
returned to their village, are specially dealt with by the Masai.
They are not regarded in the same light as are those who volun-
tarily deflect to, or take service with aliens, but they are isolated
in a kraal removed from the settlement, and no men, their
154 The Empire Review
husbands not excepted, are allowed contact with them. In the
event of any of these women being pregnant, they are kept
apart until the child is born, when it is thrown into the bush and
the woman is allowed to return to her people and husband. The
women who are proved to be not pregnant are, after some months,
also allowed to return to their homes.
Though increased knowledge of native customs makes it more
apparent that disbelief in natural death is practically universal,
yet most primitive peoples have no fear of death and seem to have
a curiously loose hold on life itself. The Akamba, for instance,
though they resent the death of a relative through magic to
the extent of demanding, directly or indirectly, a life for a life,
seem to have no personal fear of dying. The idea of ultimate
or accidental death seems to represent no actuality to a native :
he neither resents, avoids nor courts it, and if he should once be
convinced that he is dying nothing can save him. A native who
is in complete bodily health will occasionally become obsessed
with the notion that he has been bewitched, and unless he can be
persuaded that the evil magic has been counteracted, no assurance
of his bodily soundness will suffice to save him from dying.
During an epidemic of dysentery in British East Africa many
individuals lay down by the side of their dead relatives and died
from no determinable physical cause. Three of these men who
were found alive were removed and cared for. They were
apparently in excellent bodily condition, but in a few days they
died of no ailment, but simply because they had relaxed their hold
on life. The power of the imagination over the body is curiously
illustrated in this belief of magic, which is of so usurping a
nature in the native mind, that it displaces even the instinct of
self-preservation .
HlLDEGAEDE HlNDE.
Farm-Life in Rhodesia 155
FARM-LIFE IN RHODESIA*
VISIT TO VICTORIA FALLS
(Concluding Article)
BY GERTRUDE PAGE
YES, April was kind — kind to overflowing — literally prodigal
in kindness. First she took me to the Victoria Falls, then,
before May had well entered, she started me off homewards to
dear old England.
The Falls are wonderful. So wonderful that ordinary language
seems all too poor for any attempt at a description. At first
sight one is spellbound. One says nothing at all — it seems as if
there is nothing to say — they strike you dumb. Then, with a
gush of feeling, you want to rush off to write a more realistic
description than has yet been written, and tell the world of
Rhodesia's eighth wonder — to try and say all the things that
have been left unsaid.
But, of course, it is impossible. Pen in hand, you sit and
look at your paper, and the power that struck you momentarily
dumb strikes the same impotency into that wavering pen. You
gaze down at the white sheet, and all you see is that turbulent,
mad, joyous, frenzied mass of water, tossing itself with a roar of
exultation into what is apparently a bottomless chasm. That
note of exultation is everywhere. I was immensely struck by
it. Far up the river, where the actual falls are only marked by
a cloud of spray in the distance, there is that same sense of
rushing, hurrying exultation. The current sweeps by, and every
ripple, every bubble, every twig is mad with exultation. They
are all falling over each other, tripping each other up, in their
mad haste to get to the one glorious plunge.
Afterwards the river goes silently. There is only the steady
onward sweep of the race that is won, the fame that is achieved,
the end that is gained. Above the Falls one is carried away,
excited, by the sense of rush, and young, headlong energy.
* For previous Letters see January, February, March, April, June, July and
August Numbers.
156 The Empire Review
Below, one is a little regretful, a little thoughtful, a little oppressed
by that steady sweep of achievement. At the Falls themselves
one is dumb.
It is as the supreme moment of a great life — all the striving,
struggling, yearning first, leading up to the one brilliant hour —
the gold pinnacle of existence — then the silent, onward sweep out
to the great sea, out into the great heart of the eternal.
But how the waters laugh ! First in a gurgling undertone,
as they hurry and jostle each other along, louder and louder as
they approach the longed-for goal, then a wild shriek of delight
as they take the great plunge, and fall, in exquisite festoons of
radiant whiteness, into that seething chasm. Looking down from
above one sees only, as it were, white smoke ascending from a
bottomless pit, and it is impossible not to think fantastically of
the Calvinists' fire and brimstone hell, though, at the same time,
it is difficult to " place " Dives with those rivers of water flowing
down to him.
It is usually said that when the river is full there is too
much spray to see the Falls, but it is an opinion I do not hold
myself. Certainly one loses a good deal by not being able to go
to Livingstone Island, nor to see right across from one limit to
the other, but on the other hand there is something splendid
about the spray itself, with its exquisite rainbows ; and it con-
tinually blows to one side or another, revealing marvellous
glimpses at unexpected moments. Then the Bainy Forest is so
beautiful at this time. One gets wet through and through
without oilskins (which are always procurable at the hotel for
those who can be bothered with them), but the forest itself amply
repays any wetting. The ferns and foliage are exquisite, and
the effect of baby rainbows among the trees and playing round
one's feet, is enthralling. These tiny rainbows, or rainbows in
assorted sizes, are everywhere — above your head, round your
feet, in the foreground and in the background — and they are
perfect in symmetry and colour, occasionally forming complete
circles. During the summer the forest is gay with orchids and
other flowers, but I cannot think they please quite as much as
the rainbows. One can see orchids growing wild in many
districts, but never, at any time or place, have I seen baby
rainbows disporting themselves among trees and ferns.
The views of the Falls, of course, are finest of all from this
forest, as it runs nearly along the whole front, only about a
hundred yards away, and is on a level with the top of the water,
forming the other wall of the strange chasm. Each day I went
once through the forest, getting soaked through, and then hurried
back to the hotel to change, and if that is not enthusiasm I don't
know what is ! We were only there three days, and one can see
Farm-Life in Rhodesia 157
practically everything in that time, but it will all bear looking at
so often that I longed to remain a whole month. There are
spots where one feels one might sit for hours, just wondering at
it all, and never know how time was passing.
There are also beautiful walks along the bank of the upper
river, where one looks across to waving green islands, set in
amethyst and turquoise, and dives into cool, green glades beside
silent little backwaters, where the tired or lazy ripples have
slipped secretly to rest. A trip up the river in a canoe is quite
one of the features of the visit and is most enjoyable. We were
fortunate in seeing a hippopotamus — quite a rarity nowadays.
It put a great black snout out of the water twice, only a short
distance away. Of course, it was a lucky thing for us it did not
choose to take its airing at the spot our canoe happened to be,
but who would care about that in comparison with seeing a real,
live hippo in the Zambesi? All the way along the banks are
very beautiful, with dense, green foliage, and the motion of the
canoe is delightful, but one is not sorry to get back to the Falls.
They, after all, are the supreme attraction.
The hotel is very nice and beautifully situated. From the
verandah one looks up two wonderful gorges, along which the
swift, silent, lower river is speeding ; and one of which is spanned
by the railway bridge. This last is certainly no eyesore, as many
seemed to think it would be ; quite the contrary, it adds a charm
to the general effect. And that general effect is further heightened
by the wonderful colouring produced by the clear atmosphere of
Africa ; it is difficult to imagine any view of its kind lovelier than
that from the hotel. At Easter the trees have autumn tints,
which was quite a novelty to us, and enhanced indescribably the
general colour scheme. It ^is strange to think of the centuries in
which this eighth wonder went unknown — while the great river
tossed its exultant waters over the precipice — with no eyes to see,
nor ears to hear, nor souls to appreciate. Surely the native tribes,
such as there were, made a god of it and worshipped, or did they
prefer hideous blocks of wood and nauseating idols ? It would
be only human. Are not all of us prone to cry out for the cold,
unsympathetic, cheerless moon, and give no thought to the warm,
comforting fire in our hearth, which is really just as wonderful,
just as mysterious, and has required no less power and might in
creating. It is wonderful to think of those centuries in which
the Falls were unknown ; but in a way it is hardly less wonderful
to think of how the knowledge of them has spread in the short
time that they have been known. People now visit them from
every part of the world, and what is most remarkable of all, visit
them in luxury. Every train now has its restaurant car, pro-
viding most excellent meals ; and some, I believe, even reach to a
158 The Empire Review
bath. There are three trains a week, and at your journey's end
a comfortable hotel. The onlyidrawback at present is the expense
of it all. The railway fare is heavy, and the hotel is £1 a day,
with generally some extras. Meals on the train come to nearly
£1 a day also, so that under no circumstances can the trip be
looked upon as a cheap one. Yet^it is amply worth the expendi-
ture. When one thinks what people pay for theatre tickets, or
seats to see some pageant, one feels they might well go a little
further and see this sight beside which man's handiwork is but
as a child building houses on the sands. There is something
inspiring in the very sense of impotency it creates. Whatever
man makes, however glorious and magnificent, and man has
created some wonders too, it is always at least destroyable by
man. Looking at the Victoria Falls, one feels they are as
sublimely immutable as the mountains ; certainly only at the cost
of an appalling death-roll could man make any appreciable effect
upon them whatever, anyhow when the river is full.
On the fourth morning we left after an early breakfast, though
not before I had contrived to cover the mile between the hotel
and the nearest point of the Falls for a last look. I could not bear
to come away without doing so — they are so far — it is hardly
likely a kindly circumstance will take me there again.
The country one journeys through to Bulawayo is not beauti-
ful, except in the neighbourhood of the Wankie coal mine, where
one passes through a district of wooded kopjes. The last half is
very flat and uninteresting, but it is fortunately passed in the
night on the return journey. Even then it could hardly be said
to be enhanced by a somewhat comical accident. A piece of iron
broke on the coach in front of ours, and hung down in such a
way as to churn through about three inches of blackish sand all
through the night. In the morning each passenger, when he
viewed another passenger, began to laugh, but as the compliment
was promptly returned, we had recourse to our looking-glasses,
to discover, that not only the cause of our amusement was as
black as a sheep, but we were in the same box ourselves. It was
really highly entertaining to see those black-faced, half-dressed
travellers, hurrying backwards and forwards, in vain attempts to
get possession of the toilet room.
I had another little entertainment all to myself, en route.
There was a small military party in the train, consisting of
two ladies and two men, and they had apparently developed
quite an amazing notion of their own importance. One man
in particular was very important. It was the pride that goeth
before a fall. At the end of each coach there is a seat which
springs back when not in use, and of course, when two coaches
are attached, these end seats face each other. Evidently his
Farm-Life in Rhodesia 159
high and mightiness grew tired of his aristocratic compartment,
and took a fancy for a little airing in the front of the coach. He
sauntered along, and was a little surprised, I think, to find I had
chanced to have a similar fancy, and was occupying the seat he
wanted. However, there was still the one opposite, on the rear
of the forward coach, and his fancy stretched a little further and
carried him across the connecting bridge. Trying to look dignified
while he crossed the wriggly bridge flustered him a little — to say
nothing of my interested and admiring gaze — and, isomewhat
hurriedly, he pulled the seat down and turned to plant himself
thereon. Unfortunately that seat had a sense of humour, and
evidently the gallant soldier's " side " was too much for it, for it
contrived very neatly and suddenly to slip back into position, with
the result that his high and mightiness planted himself on the
floor with truly appalling suddenness. To see that man's face
was a treat ! The amazement, and disgust, and hauteur all
struggling together were entirely too much for me, and I frankly
laughed outright. If the seat had vanished through the clouds
he could not have been more astonished ; it was fairly with open-
mouthed incredulity that he looked round to see what on earth
had become of it. He did not remain to face my ill-concealed
amusement, but beat a hasty retreat back to his own distinguished
coterie.
We reached Bulawayo in time for breakfast, and afterwards
strolled round the town. I was disappointed with it. Salisbury
is not exactly beautiful, but it is certainly better than Bulawayo,
and there is apparently far more going on in the way of business.
We left again about twelve, reaching Salisbury at seven the next
morning, after another all night journey. It happened to be the
final day of the great Tennis Tournament, and after lunching at
The Eesidency, to compare notes about The Falls, I went to see
the prizes given. It is quite a gala occasion, and there were more
pretty hats and pretty frocks than usual. Lady Milton presented
the prizes — forty-four in all, which is surely a remarkably good
number.
Then followed a cold twelve mile drive across the veldt — and
the usual cheerless home-coming. That is one of the crosses that
it would seem cannot be altered, and at the same time is most
difficult to become reconciled to. No black house-boys I have
ever had yet have been able to grasp the notion of preparing for
his master's and mistress' return. There is never anything ready,
and a hundred to one no fire in the kitchen, no room in order, no
bread baked. There is nothing for it but to turn to at once — get
into harness right away — and make the best of things. But it is
undeniably hard, after a long, cold drive, and I have felt more
inclined to go straight to bed, and be homesick than anything.
160 The Empire Review
On this occasion there were not even my beloved dogs, nor my
horse to greet us, for they had been staying at a neighbouring
farm while we were away, and had not yet been returned. On
the other hand, however, there was that possible home-coming in
the near future gleaming brightly, and my spirits were more
manageable. The very next day the final discussion took place,
the final date was fixed on, the actual ship named. How wonder-
ful, how altogether impossible it seemed. How horribly selfish I
felt to be so glad, when the poor, hardworking farmer himself had
to stay behind.
But let anyone say what they will, the life is emphatically not
so hard on a man as on a woman ; and he rarely, if ever, has a
longing for home comparable in the remotest degree with hers.
It is largely a matter of sex temperament ; the little things all the
year round do not worry him as they worry her, the domestic
affairs are never the same burden, the loneliness rarely crushes.
For him each day at least brings its change between morning and
evening. His hours for work, his hours for play, his restful
evening. For us it is all more or less the same, chiefly the house
and the little things of the house, morning, noon and night. But
the men are very good, for they miss us horribly. Yet they let
that final discussion come, that final date be fixed, that actual
ship be named.
This then is to be my final article. I must say good-bye to
all my kindly readers, as, last month, I said good-bye to my
beloved horse, and cats, and dogs, and the three open-mouthed
little niggers who formed my household staff. I shall soon be
slipping back into the old groove, and forgetting, at any rate for
a time, the trials of that colonial ranching life in which we told
the time by the sun, and knew when it was Sunday by the
pudding ! That last is a joke against my housekeeping. Every
Sunday we had a good, old-fashioned jam roily-poly much
appreciated by the true Britishers who rode out to lunch, but
some of them expressed it that the jam roily came always on the
seventh day, and that was how we knew it was Sunday !
Looking back there seems little else to tell of my last month
in Rhodesia, and nothing of much interest concerning the general
life and affairs. The dry winter season was coming on ; and
though it is the healthiest, it is not a season I am much in love
with. Already the veldt was donning its bare, desolate, dried up
garb, already the skies were colourless and blurred, already the
frostiness of the nights began to touch one when " getting up "
time came. Most of the mealies were reaped, leaving tracks of
untidy, stalkstrewn lands, most of the flowers were nipped, and
the dust was beginning to blow in clouds. Soon there will be
Jittle water about, and none in the tank, which means the house-
Farm-Life in Rhodesia 161
boys must carry every drop that is used from the river. On the
other hand food will keep, and there will be an invigorating fresh-
ness, and riding will be a greater delight than ever. There will
be more visitors, for people move about a great deal more in the
dry season, and think less of the twelve mile drive. There will be
less tinned meat, for the shooting season is in full swing, and
every week end should see a full larder.
But I am sorry to leave poor Rhodesia still wrestling with her
bad luck — it seems so persistent — one cannot choose but feel dis-
heartened at times. In my last article I spoke of the great pro-
gress that had apparently been made against certain diseases —
notably horse-sickness and blackwater fever. Now I hear that
since I left both of these have broken out worse than ever. A
terrible lot of horses and mules have died, and blackwater is
everywhere. Of course, the horse-sickness may be stayed next
year when the required serum is procurable — but why should
blackwater come back, and what can be done to banish it ? Then
again the mealie crop is poor, though the prices are good ; and
we have anxious moments about the forage and wheat, owing to
the late rains — so many anxious moments, and so little to cheer.
Recently there has been a leopard scare round Umtali, Salis-
bury's sister town. Leopards have been unusually numerous and
ferocious, and two white men have lost their lives. One, a son of
General Davies, was out with a surveying party, and one evening
when they were camping, a leopard killed a donkey, afterwards
being driven off by the boys. The following night Mr. Davies
poisoned the carcase and placed it in a spot likely to attract the
leopard. On investigating in the morning, he discovered the
leopard stretched, apparently dead, beside the poisoned animal.
He approached cautiously nearer, but just as he got within reach,
the leopard suddenly roused itself and made one great spring at
his throat, burying its claws in his flesh. His shouts quickly
brought help, and the beast was easily beaten off, but though his
wounds were attended to instantly, and he was taken quickly to
the hospital, he died very shortly after admittance. The other
case was that of a trader. As he was trekking, a leopard suddenly
sprang out of the long grass on to one of his black boys. The
trader came to his aid at once, and succeeded in mortally wounding
it. Again it was the old story. The leopard, apparently dead,
was not dead at all, and directly the trader approached it sprang
on to him. He was able to beat it off unaided, because of its
exhausted condition, but his flesh got badly torn, and, like poor
Mr. Davies, he, too, died from blood-poisoning soon after reach-
ing the hospital. Again I say, poor Rhodesia ! Wild beasts,
blights, diseases, unscrupulous financiers — what has she not
persistently to contend against.
' VOL. XII.— No. 68. M
162 The Empire Review
On the bright side, however, the gold output is most promising ;
and I hear the Customs Conference, to which I alluded last month,
but was unable to say much about, has been settled quite amic-
ably and satisfactorily ; and in a manner that will eventually
benefit Ehodesia in various ways.
So one must still be hopeful, in spite of everything, for there
are many of us who still unswervingly believe that a highly
prosperous day will dawn eventually — when Ehodesia's gold
output will astonish the world, and her cattle, and mealies, and
wheat be sent to every port.
But before that day can possibly come, she will have to be rid
of all unwieldy, over-capitalised, big companies — and as I said
before — something must be done to the railways. With all
transport at its present exorbitant prices, it is as though the
country were fighting for prosperity with its hands tied behind
its back ; and it is indeed greatly to the credit of every hard-
working settler there that it goes on with the struggle at all,
and does not lose heart and give it up ; abandoned solely to its
highly-salaried officials.
So good-bye, Rhodesia — brave, unlucky, tormented little
country — I shall think of you often in the far island-home —
yearning at any rate, I haven't a doubt, for some of your glorious
sunshine — and ready enough to come back as all the rest are,
after six or nine months of idling.
You haven't been over-kind to me — but what of it ? I wish
you well — I almost love you — I will certainly, if opportunity
arises, endeavour to be your champion through thick and thin.
GEBTEUDB PAGE.
May.
The West Coast Sounds of New Zealand 163
THE WEST COAST SOUNDS OF NEW
ZEALAND
BY MRS. MASSY
EARLY in the autumn of 1901 some relatives who were going
out to New Zealand asked me if I would join them in their trip
to the Antipodes. The proposal was a very alluring one ; our
gloomy English winter was coming on, and I had visited the
south of Europe so often ; but New Zealand I had never seen
— here then was an opportunity not to be lost. I should go to
the land of the geysers and wingless kiwi bird, and the gigantic
moa besides. I should see many other wonders of the past and
present, so I gave a cordial assent ; and, all being satisfactorily
arranged, we embarked at Greenwich in the New Zealand
Shipping Company's fine boat, the Rimutaka, which was going
direct to Wellington via the Cape.
We landed at Teneriffe, and a few hours were pleasantly
spent in a short expedition inland by electric tram ; to an hotel,
where we had breakfast, and after this we were to see the
celebrated dragon tree, said to be three thousand years old.
I was told that the sap of this species produces the rich colour
known as dragon's blood. The picturesque and graceful Peak of
Teneriffe looked very beautiful as we steamed out to sea ; and
I could not help thinking, as it faded out of sight, that we were
looking at the summit of one of the lofty mountains of ancient
and long-vanished Atlantis. Three weeks later we were nearing
the Cape, and the excitement of the passengers was great. No
newspapers or news of any kind for three whole weeks — why,
anything might have happened during this long interval ; and
then the serious question— should we be allowed to land ? We
felt we could sympathise with the old lady who said she would
like to be " on terra cotta again." Our ever courteous and kind
captain was consulted as to the all-absorbing question. " Well,
really, ladies, I cannot say positively, for we do not know what
is going on at Cape Town ; and I fear the regulations will be
very strict, as lately there has been a great deal of smuggling,
M 2
164 The Empire Review
in the way of importing arms into the country. Of course, as
my ship is very well known, things may be as we wish ; but
as I should not like you to be disappointed, do not, I beg, set
your hearts too much on landing, though, of course, I will do
everything in my power to gratify your wishes." So said our
kind skipper as, with a cheering smile that raised our drooping
spirits, he hurried off.
With the first rays of the rising sun we found ourselves at
the Cape, and there was Table Mountain, without its table-cloth,
I was glad to see ; for, when the mountain spreads its cloth —
that is, when a white cloud rests on its summit — it betokens bad
weather. So we were all up betimes, and at 6 A.M. were
impatiently awaiting the arrival of the doctor. At last he came,
and each passenger was carefully looked at; not the usual per-
functory inspection when your name is called out, and you are
counted as you walk past like sheep let out of a pen. This being
over, we discussed the prospects of getting ashore. Sadly we
waited as hour after hour passed by. At last, when 12 o'clock
came and we had relinquished all hope, the much longed-for
permission was given, so we started off and spent about four
hours in the town. There was really little to be seen, and we
had not time to go into the country ; so making a few purchases,
amongst which were some strawberries (fancy outdoor straw-
berries in November), we returned to our boat, and at 4 o'clock
steamed off for Hobart, leaving Cape Town and martial law
(which was then in force) behind us.
The beauty of the sea delighted everyone ; it was so gloriously
blue and the ocean was teeming with life of all sorts ; shoals of
fish were darting about, dolphins gambolling on the surface
of the water, flocks of sea-gulls in great variety hovered round
the vessel, sweeping down with their graceful wings to pick the
scraps that were thrown overboard, and little companies of seals —
six or more in number — swam quite close to us, looking at the
ship with their lovely plaintive eyes so human in expression. It
was a splendid sight, and all the creatures, like ourselves, seemed
to be rejoicing in the last moments of golden light before the
setting of the sun, ere night would wrap her soft and dusky
mantle gently round the tired world. And so to rest. Our
voyage between the Cape and Hobart was amusing, for the in-
defatigable sports committee left nothing to be desired in con-
tributing to the amusement of the passengers. Our great national
game, of course, took the lead ; for a Britisher cannot do without
his cricket ; and as we were fortunate in having the great
" Sammy " Woods on board, the willing players had in him a
splendid coach.
I recollect a very amusing incident that occurred about this
The West Coast Sounds of New Zealand 165
time. A match had been arranged between the ladies and men,
the men to bat and bowl left-handed ; and a large crowd had
assembled to see the play. Things were going on splendidly for
the ladies ; and a very pretty and active girl was making a fine
score of runs, when the ship's look-out man signalled a whale in
the offing. Away ran the spectators ; and the young lady,
throwing down her bat, cried out, " Good-bye, I'm off to see the
whale." The other ladies of the team also decamped, leaving the
men, who looked somewhat surprised and despondent, all alone
in their glory. It was so funny that I could not resist a joke at
the great cricketer's expense, so I remarked : " I suppose, Mr.
Woods, this is the first time in your experience that you have
seen a cricket match stopped by a whale." A smile of grim
amusement gleamed over his usually placid features as he replied :
" Yes, indeed, it is a most unusual occurrence."
I cannot resist telling one other anecdote which raised Mr.
Woods to the dignity of a Biblical character. The little son of
some friends used to accompany his father to the Somerset county
cricket matches, and was well acquainted with Mr. Woods. One
Sunday the child's mother was giving him a lesson on the
best known characters of Old Testament history. " Now, who
was David?" she asked, "you remember David, do you not?"
" Yes, he killed the giant and became a king when he was grown
up quite big." "That is right; now, do you know Samuel?"
" Yes, of course, mother dear, I know him ; why, everyone knows
Sammy Woods ! "
I will pass over our call at Hobart Town, merely saying that
the Public Gardens were exquisitely beautiful, and full of flowers ;
the rose-coloured creeping geranium grew in the greatest luxuri-
ance ; indeed, later on in New Zealand, I saw the whole side of a
very large house covered with it. Leaving Hobart we ran south,
and the weather then began to get very cold. I was told at one
time, when we were farthest south, that we were only two
hundred miles from the Antarctic, and dreary enough it all
looked ; we passed a group of islands covered with snow (the
Crozets), and were told they were frequented mostly by whalers,
who called in for stores and repairs ; needless to say, no one
envied the poor whalers or grudged them their dreary snow-clad
port of call.
And on we went, the machinery beating its rhythmic way over
the grey fathomless ocean till the weather got brighter and the
sun shone once more; and we were told that we should reach
Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, that night ; but should
remain in the outer harbour, and not disembark till the next
morning. Our courteous captain suggested that, if we sat up till
twelve o'clock, we should see the entrance into the outer harbour,
166 The Empire Review
and the scenery, he said, would be rather fine; and this we found to
be the case, the beauty of it being much enhanced by a magnifi-
cent full moon. I was much struck by the position of Wellington,
and remarked to a friend, I had seen some place very like it before.
Then I recollected the town of Christiania in Norway, and said it
was placed in the same position, when a voice out of the darkness
replied : "You are quite right ; 'it is exactly like Christiania ; I also
have been there."
So this pleasant six weeks' journey by sea came to an end,
and a year later I left Auckland to visit the wonderful West Coast
Sounds of New Zealand. We went by steamer from Auckland to
Dunedin, having stopped at several intermediate ports on the
way. Dunedin is very picturesque, and stands high above the
sea. There are good shops and hotels, and some very pretty
houses set about on the side of the hills amongst the trees. The
township has a very good system of electric cars which make the
heights quite accessible. The gradients are most alarming ; I do
not think I have ever seen steeper in any part of the world.
There is a tradition that one of these trams broke away from
control, and precipitated itself into the harbour with its only
passenger — an unfortunate Chinaman. Alas ! my poor brother.
When we were in the Mornington car, and were coming down
the steepest part of the incline, a friend began to joke, and play-
fully remarked if the brake did not act we should all go to
" Kingdom come." This was quite too much for my feelings,
as I was nervous, so in a fit of temper I snappishly said
" Well, if it is going to happen, there is no necessity for you to
be talking of it beforehand " — a retort that raised a laugh from
everyone.
Our starting-point for the West Coast Sounds was Dunedin.
We left in a fine boat — the Union Company's WaikarS, 120
passengers — and every arrangement was made for the comfort of
the travellers. The mode of procedure was this : the boat
steamed along at night, and anchored in the early morning.
After breakfast, two steam-launches came to the side towing a
number of smaller boats, and people who had made up their
parties the previous evening took their places, and off we went,
towed by the launches up and down the glorious fiords (those
that were within immediate reach of the steamer). There are
thirteen fiords or sounds within a coastal limit of one hundred
miles. The first of these is called Preservation Inlet. At the
entrance beautifully- wooded islands are dotted about, through
which the steamer steers its way, until it passes through a
narrow passage into Long Sound. The lower mountains in
these sounds are covered with beautiful foliage; ferns, lycopo-
dium moss, creepers, and the graceful tree-fern, clothe the slopes
The West Coast Sounds of New Zealand 167
to the very water's edge, and form an unrivalled series of pictures
that are marvellous, even in a world that is so full of beauty.
It is difficult for the traveller to say which is the most
beautiful of these sounds, but the consensus of opinion, I think,
gives the vote in favour of Milford Sound ; and here, surrounded
by lofty mountains, some of them snow-capped, we anchored
within sight of two magnificent waterfalls — the Bowen and
Stirling Falls. The former consists of two breaks ; the first leap
is about 50 feet, and the water then falls into a rocky basin, out
of which it dashes with a stunning roar in one magnificent bound
of 300 feet into the sound below. We noticed a very curious
appearance on a fine snowfield near Mitre Peak ; the snow,
strange to say, which at that elevation (about 5,000 or 6,000 feet)
should have been pure white, was a rusty red colour. There were
many speculations about it, but one of the ship's officers suggested
that it might very possibly be volcanic ash perhaps from Marti-
nique, one of the great eruptions of Mount Pel6e having only
occurred a short time previously ; and this hypothesis we thought
a very probable one, as we know that volcanic dust is often
conveyed for a very great distance through the air.
After being towed through the sounds, we returned to lunch,
and between 3 . 30 and 4 o'clock we started again in the boats ;
and the blue-jackets, having put in the tea baskets, we proceeded
to some suitable place ; for landing is not always possible as the
rocks are sometimes quite perpendicular ; and having landed, the
baskets were unpacked, a fire lighted, and the billy (tincan) boiled
for tea. After tea some of the party sketched, and others explored
or collected ferns, of which there were a great variety. Many
cameras were also in use, for the snap-shotter was as active here
as in other parts of the world.
One very funny snap-shot was taken; some small penguins
had made themselves a home under an overhanging bank ; a
pointer that was with us hunted one of them out, and held him
gently till one of the officers released him ; the flat stump of a
tree being near, he put the bird standing on it, and the fat little
fellow looked so quaint sitting quite bolt upright, and his two
rudimentary wings looking like little hands. His captor kept
stroking him down, and beyond an occasional peck of defiance, he
did not seem much alarmed. A snap-shotter coming by at that
moment shouted, " One moment, please," and succeeded in taking
a very good photograph of the strangely assorted couple. After
tea, and the exploring being over, we returned to our ship in time
to dress for dinner, and the evening ended with either dancing, a
concert, or some other amusement.
I may mention that the catering on board the Waikard was
beyond praise ; I have never seen anything better, and the menu,
168 The Empire Review
which was varied in the most wonderful way for every meal,
would have pleased the most fastidious of gourmets. The toilettes
of the younger ladies were very brilliant. I remember one
morning, just before the boats started for the usual excursion, a
friend said to me : " Have you seen the Dream ? " " No, I have
not." I replied. " Well, just look down at No. 2 boat." I
looked over the side, and there, indeed, was a vision, a dreain of
" Faerie Lande." It was seated right in the middle of the stern
sheets, as I believe the nautical term is. It had a very pretty
face and delicate complexion, and was clad in pale rose pink, with
a parasol of the same tender hue ; and a most bewitching hat
with delicate chiffon strings which were tied under a chin that
owned a saucy dimple ; and when I say that the feet were shod
in dainty brodequins, it may convey some idea how very pretty
was the " Dream." I must add that, during the whole fortnight's
cruise, I never saw that dainty vision wear the same costume
twice.
But, rumour who is a wicked jade, said that several enormous
Saratogas came on board. Well, what matter? There was
plenty of room in the ship, and the Saratogas, with the help of a
very large cabin, contributed towards the production of a charming
picture that gladdened our eyes from (not too) " early morn till
dewy eve." A regatta and a fancy dress ball were both a great
success, and so our happy fortnight of roaming about the glorious
West Coast Sounds of New Zealand came to a close, and we all
parted with a mutual hope that time might bring us together
again some day. But, ere I close I should like to convey (if it be
possible) some little idea of the beauty of those land-locked reaches
of water, that run for miles into the country.
As I have said, there are thirteen sounds or fiords, and these
are entered from the open sea. As the vessel advances the moun-
tains rise in varying heights till at Milford Sound Tutoko attains
the fine altitude of 9,042 feet; Mitre Peak, the large conical
mount that drops in a sheer precipice to the waters of the Sound,
is 5,560 feet. The water of all these sounds varies in colour
according to the hue of the sky, the light, or the near vegetation.
One strange fact strikes the visitor — that is the extraordinary
absence of animal life ; the absolute silence and stillness of the
bush which gives the wanderer a very eerie and lonely feeling ; not
a sound comes to the ear save near the waters of the fiord when
the occasional splash of a fish is heard as it rises at a fly. The
silence of the everlasting hills broods over the scene in all its
lonely beauty, and the sound of a human voice, or aught which
breaks a stillness that can be felt, comes at times as a positive
relief.
Another remarkable feature of the sounds is the great depth
The West Coast Sounds of New Zealand 169
of the water close to the shore ; so great is it, that ships of the
heaviest tonnage could anchor in safety almost within arm's-length
of the rocks. The whole of Great Britain's fleet, in fact, every
vessel we possess, and every vessel we ought to possess, if we hope
to hold our own (as we have hitherto done), and keep the
supremacy of the seas — every ship, and infinitely more could ride
safely at anchor in the wonderful stretches of land-locked water
which form a series of natural harbours unrivalled in the world.
The newspapers have recently afforded reading of a most dis-
quieting nature ; and the burning question — that of naval reduc-
tion— has naturally raised a storm of discussion that is raging
still. Are we to see our greatest means of defence, the navy, cut
down ? Our navy, the connecting link that binds our Empire
together, and without which Great Britain would become a thing
of the past, a glorious tradition only, and a future inglorious
nullity. Great Britain's besetting sin has ever been that of
unpreparedness ; she is not sufficiently alert, and she folds her
hands and is caught napping, when timely forethought and a
little wise preparation for possible eventualities, would perhaps
avert the grievous shedding of so much precious blood, and the
wasteful expenditure of millions, that ultimately exceed a hundred-
fold the initial cost of being ready — wasteful expenditure in blood
and money that has been only too glaringly obvious at various
periods in our national history, and most notably during the late
Boer War. It was a bitter thing, during that war, to hear that
the enemy possessed the most up-to-date guns (Creusots) in the
world ; and more bitter still when, at the eleventh hour, the
authorities tried to negotiate a purchase of some of these guns
from the manufacturers to be told that "none were available."
But these ominous warnings do not seem sufficient ; and the
vision of the nation is still obscured. People who travel about
the world learn a great deal if they will take the trouble to
inquire the opinions of others; and many a time have I been
told : " It will be all right ; the old country can hold her own if
she keeps up her Navy." But to attain this not very difficult
end her ships must be in numbers, efficiency, and armament, the
first in the world ; and her sailors of British stock.
Then, and only then can we feel that the nation has done its
duty. Then, and only then we shall be ready to face trouble if
it comes our way. Let us remember the warning from across the
seas, the warning whose trumpet blast resounds at this moment
in our ears at home and abroad : "It will be all right ; the old
country can hold her own if she keeps up her Navy." But
E. I. MASSY.
170 The Empire Review
SEA-DYAK LEGENDS
BY THE REV. EDWIN H. GOMES, M.A.
III.*
PULANG-GANA, AND HOW HE CAME TO BE WORSHIPPED
AS THE GOD OF THE EARTH.
LONG, long ago, though the Dyaks knew of paddy and planted
it every year, yet they had very poor crops, because they did not
know what god owned the land, and as they did not offer him
sacrifices he did nothing to help them. In those days there lived
together seven brothers and their only sister. The brothers'
names were Bui-Nasi, Belang-Pinggang, Bejit-Manai, Bunga-
Jawa, Litan-Dai, Kenyawang and Pulang-Gana, and the sister's
Puchong-Kempat. They lived on a hill by the side of a broad
river. On all sides were wide plains, and beyond them high hill s
rose in the distance. Most of these plains were covered with
thick jungle, and only a few clearings where paddy had been
planted could be seen.
Not far from the house the brothers had a garden in which
they planted potatoes, yams, sugar-cane and tapioca ; but a
porcupine would often come at night and do much damage to the
garden. They bade their youngest brother, Pulang-Gana, keep
watch, directing him to drive away the animal or kill it if he
could. But all his efforts were vain. When he was awake the
animal did not come, but as soon as he fell asleep the porcupine
would creep in quietly and eat up the potatoes and yams. The
elder brothers were not kind to Pulang-Gana. They would not
keep watch themselves, but whenever they saw fresh damage
done they not only scolded their younger brother, but beat him
with sticks.
" He is only lazy," they said, " and deserves a thrashing; he
does nothing but sleep, and is too lazy to wake up at night and
drive the porcupine away ! "
Poor Pulang-Gana ! His was a hard lot indeed !
He determined to keep careful watch one night and, whatever
it cost him, to kill the porcupine, so that his brothers might have
* Nos. I. and II. appeared in the June and August Nos.
Sea-Dyak Legends 171
no more cause for blaming him. That night he did not sleep at
all. The porcupine came just before dawn, when all was still.
Pulang-Gana was awake and went after it, determined to kill it.
The animal ran away, and Pulang-Gana followed. The moon
was shining brightly, and he had no difficulty in seeing in what
direction the animal went. Every now and then the porcupine
stopped, but as soon as Pulang-Gana came up it started off again,
and he was not able to kill it. So the animal went on and
Pulang-Gana followed, determined not to give up the chase until
he had effected his purpose.
The sun was beginning to rise in the East, and still Pulang-
Gana pursued the porcupine.
" Sooner or later," he said to himself, " I must catch it up.
The animal is already tired. I will not return home till I have
killed it."
The porcupine now came to the foot of a rocky mountain.
Pulang-Gana, thinking the chase would soon be over, hurried on,
but before he could reach the animal it had escaped through an
opening in the solid rock. The cave into which it had disappeared
was large enough for a man to stand upright in, and Pulang-
Gana said to himself :
" Now I have you ; wait till I have a light to show me where
you are, and then I will come in and kill you."
He collected some dry branches and tied them together for a
torch. He found a piece of dry soft wood, and also a short stick
of some hard wood, the point of which he sharpened. With the
palms of his hands he worked the small stick and drilled a hole in
the soft wood. Soon it began to smoke and, with the aid of some
dry twigs, he blew the fire into a blaze ; then he lighted his torch
and hurried into the cave after the porcupine.
He saw the animal a little distance ahead of him and followed
it leisurely. There was no need for haste, as he would be able to
kill it easily enough when he drove it to the end of the cave and
it had no means of escape. The cave seemed to extend a great
way into the mountain. After a few hours walking Pulang-Gana
was surprised to come to an opening in the rock through which
the porcupine had evidently escaped. Outside the sun was shining
brightly. Pulang-Gana went through this opening but, though
he looked in all directions, he could see no signs of the porcupine.
He was uncertain what he ought to do next. The porcupine
had escaped, and there was no chance of his being able to kill it.
He did not feel inclined to return to his brothers because they
were all unkind to him. On the other hand he did not know if
this new country in which he found himself was inhabited ; and,
if inhabited, whether the people would treat him kindly. Looking
around he saw smoke arising some distance off, and guessed that
172 The Empire Review
there was a Dyak house there. As he was hungry he decided to
make for the house, hoping the inmates would be kind to him and
give him food.
As Pulang-Gana came nearer he saw the house was a very
long one, inhabited by about one hundred families. He stopped
at the bottom of the ladder leading up to the house and, following
the Dyak custom, asked in a loud voice if he might walk up.
"Yes, come up, Pulang-Gana," said a voice in reply. "We have
been expecting you for some time, and will be glad to see you."
He was surprised that his name should be known in this
strange country in which he had never been before. He walked
up and, in the long open room stretching the whole length of the
house, he saw an old man and a young and beautiful girl.
" Spread out a mat, my daughter," the old man said, " that
Pulang-Gana may sit and rest after his long journey, and you can
prepare some food for him ; no doubt he is hungry as well as
tired."
She spread out a mat for Pulang-Gana, and then went into
the room to get ready a meal for their visitor. Soon after she
opened the door of the room and asked him to come in and eat.
The old man, who seemed kind and hospitable, said to him : —
" Go in and have some food. You must be hungry after your
long journey. When you have eaten and rested we can have a
talk together. I have long wished to meet you and to ask you
about yourself and your brothers, and how affairs are in your
country."
Pulang-Gana went into the room and found a nice meal
awaiting him. Being very hungry he did full justice to it.
That evening, as they sat by the fire, the old man asked him
about his people, and if they had good crops of paddy in his
country. Pulang-Gana answered that, though his brothers
possessed the largest paddy fields in the country, he never
remembered their having a really good harvest. The paddy they
obtained was not sufficient to last them the whole year, and they
had to fall back on potatoes and sago for food. The old man
seemed interested in what his guest said of himself, so Pulang-
Gana went on and told him of all his circumstances, how he lived
with his six brothers and only sister, and how unkind his brothers
were to him. He also told the old man about the porcupine which
did such damage to their garden, and how often he had been
scolded and beaten by his brothers for not being able to drive
away or kill the animal. He gave an account of his adventures
that morning, and how, determined to kill the porcupine, he had
followed it through the underground passage under the mountain,
and had found himself in this strange country.
"I have heard your story," said the old man, "and think
Sea-Dyak Legends 173
you are much to be pitied. Your brothers seem to have been
very unkind and to have treated you very badly. I would like
you to stay with me here, and not return to them. I have no
son, and would like you to marry my daughter and live with us.
I am getting old and am not so strong as I used to be, and will
be glad of your help."
" I should like to stay with you very much, for you seem so
kind, and are so different to my brothers, and I should like to
marry your daughter and spend the rest of my life here. But
there is no one to look after our garden, and the porcupine will
do much damage to it. My brothers are sure to be angry with
me for leaving them, and when they see their garden destroyed
through my neglect, they are sure to hunt for me, and when they
find me they will probably kill me. No ; much as I would like
to stay, I am afraid I cannot. I must start to return to-morrow.
It would have been different if I had succeeded in killing the
porcupine, then it would not matter so much if I stayed away
some time."
" You need not trouble yourself about the animal that attacks
the vegetables planted in your garden. I can prevent its coming
again. That porcupine is not really an animal. One of our
slaves here, named Indai-Antok-Genok, is commanded by me to
transform herself into a porcupine and pay visits to that garden.
I shall tell her to do so no more, and your brothers' garden will
be safe enough without you to watch it. You must remain here
with us. There is nothing for you to fear. If you do not return
your brothers will think that some accident has happened to you,
and that you are dead. As they are all so unkind to you, you
may be sure they will not trouble to look for you."
"Well, if that be the case, I will gladly live with you. I
was not happy with my brothers and I am sure I shall be happy
here."
So it was decided that Pulang-Gana should remain in the
house of the old man. Some months afterwards he married the
daughter and they lived happily as husband and wife. His wife's
father and mother were kind to him and so were the other people
in the house, and Pulang-Gana was very glad he decided to cast
in his lot with them.
Now this old man who treated Pulang-Gana so kindly was no
ordinary mortal. His name was Rajah Shua, and he ruled the
spirits who lived in the underground caves of the earth. His
wife was quite as powerful as he. She was a goddess and had
power over the animals of the forest, all of which obeyed her.
She was known as Seregendah. The daughter that married
Pulang-Gana was called Trentom-Tanah-Tumboh and sometimes
Setanggoi-Tanggoi-Buloh.
174 The Empire Review
In process of time Pulang-Gana's wife gave birth to a girl,
who was very much admired by all, and greatly loved by her
parents.
When the child was a few years old, one day she came to her
father and mother and asked them what property they intended
to leave her. The mother showed her the valuable jars and
brassware that she possessed, all of which were to belong to her
child. Then the little girl asked her father what he had to give
her. Pulang-Gana had no property to leave to his daughter.
Years ago he had come by chance to this house of Rajah Shua
bringing nothing with him, and unless his brothers gave him a
share of their father's property, he would have nothing to leave
his daughter. So he told her to be content with what her mother
gave her. She would be very rich without anything from him.
But she was not satisfied with this reply, and cried because her
father said he had nothing to give her.
When Pulang-Gana saw how sad his child was, he said to his
father-in-law that he would like to pay a visit to his brothers and
ask them for a share of the property, that he might have some-
thing to give his daughter. Eajah Shua told him he might go to
them, but warned him that probably he would not have a kind
reception, and advised him not to be away long, but to return as
soon as possible.
Pulang-Gana started on his journey to his old home, won-
dering how his brothers would receive him after his long absence.
He had no difficulty in finding his way, as his father-in-law gave
him very definite instructions about his journey. He found that
his brothers had built a new house not far from the site of the
old one in which he had lived with them years ago. The house
seemed very quiet, and he found that nearly all the people were
away on a fishing expedition. Only his sister-in-law, the wife of
his brother Belang-Pinggang, was at home.
She was very much surprised to see him, and said they had
given him up for dead long ago. She told him that the others
were away fishing, and that his brother Bui-Nasi, herself and a
little boy were the only members of the family left at home. He
would find his brother and the little boy working at the forge
making some implements for their work.
Pulang-Gana said he would go to his brother, and he left the
house and walked in the direction where he guessed the forge was
from the sound of hammering he heard.
"Oh! is that you, Pulang-Gana?" said Bui-Nasi, as soon
as he saw him. " Where have you been all these years ? We
thought that you had met with some accident and had died long
ago."
Pulang-Gana said little about himself to his brother. He
Sea-Dyak Legends 175
told him how he had lost his way in the jungle years ago, and
when he arrived at last at a house, the people there persuaded
him to stay with them, and he said that he was now married and
had a daughter.
" Have you come with your wife to stay with us ? " asked
Bui-Nasi.
" No," was the answer, " I have only come on a short visit
by myself to ask for my share of the property left us by our
father."
" You have nothing whatever to expect. You left us years
ago of your own will and have been away all this time, and now
you have the impudence to come and ask for your share of the
property. I advise you to say nothing of this to the others.
They will be very vexed with you if you do."
" I do not ask for much," said Pulang-Gana. " I will be
satisfied with little. But my daughter asked me what I had to
give her, so I came here to ask for something, and I should be
sorry to return empty-handed."
" You shall not return empty-handed," said Bui-Nasi in scorn.
" Here is something for you to take back with you. It is all that
you will get from us, I can tell you." With these words he threw
Pulang-Gana a clod of earth which he saw lying near. " Now go
away, and do not let us see your face again."
Pulang-Gana put the lump of earth in his bag, and with a
heavy heart started to return to his house. So this was the way
his brothers treated him ! There was nothing to expect from
them !
When he arrived at his house all the family gathered round
him. They had heard that he had gone to ask his brothers for
his share of the property and they were anxious to see what he
brought back. His little daughter rushed up eagerly to him and
said :
" Father, what have you brought back for me from my uncles?
Let me see the nice things they gave you."
Then Pulang-Gana said sadly, " I received no share of the
property from your uncles. They would have nothing to do with
me, and drove me away." <
" But did you get nothing at all from them ? " asked his
father-in-law.
"Yes," said Pulang-Gana, " my brother Bui-Nasi did give me
something, but I am ashamed to tell you what it is. Here it is,"
and he took out from his bag the lump of earth his brother had
given him, and handed it to his father-in-law.
When Rajah Shua saw what it was that Pulang-Gana had
received from his brothers, he said joyfully : —
" They have given you the most valuable gift it is possible to
176 The Empire Review
imagine. You are now a person of great importance. The earth
is yours. Whoever wishes to plant on it must first make offerings
and sacrifices to you, and pray to you to give him a good harvest.
It is in your power to make the earth fruitful or barren, and to
give mankind a good or a bad harvest as you will."
A few months after, the brothers of Pulang-Gana, at the
advice of Bui-Nasi, decided on the site where they were to plant
paddy that year. It was a large forest some distance away from
their house. First they cut down the smaller trees, and then
they felled the large trees, and when all this work was done,
they rested for some weeks, waiting for the sun to dry up the
timber so that it might be set on fire and the land be ready for
planting on.
One day Pulang-Gana's father-in-law said to him, " I hear
that your brothers have been busy cutting down the trees where
they intend to plant paddy this year. As they gave you the earth
some time ago to be your share of the property, it is only right
that they should ask leave from you before planting on it. Since
they have not done so, you must stop them from planting paddy
there."
" How can I prevent them planting paddy where they like ? "
said Pulang-Gana in dismay. " Is it likely that they will take
any notice of anything I say ? "
" Yes," said his father-in-law, Eajah Shua, " they will have to
listen to what you say, for I will be on your side, and will help
you. I am the god that rules the spirits that live in the under-
ground caves of the earth, and my wife Seregendah has power
over the animals and the spirits which inhabit the forests. As
your brothers have treated you so unkindly, and have given you
no share of the property, and have simply given you a clod of
earth to take back with you, my wife and I will punish them and
reward you by giving you power over everything that grows
on the earth. Before the land is planted, offerings must be
made to you, and invocations must be made to yourself and
myself and my wife Seregendah. Unless these things be done,
the ground will not be fruitful.
" As your brothers have not done anything of the kind, you
must teach them a lesson and prevent them from going on with
their work. This evening at dusk you must go to the newly
cleared forest and cry aloud : ' Come here all you who are the
servants of Seregendah and Kajah Shua,' and name all the wild
beasts of the forest. They will come to you in large numbers.
Then you must ask them, as well as the invisible spirits, who will
be present too, to help you to put up all the trees that have been
cut down."
And Pulang-Gana did as his father-in-law advised him. He
Sea-Dyak Legends 177
went at dusk to the part of the jungle where his brothers had been
cutting down the trees and called to the animals in the name of
Rajah Shua and of Seregendah, and they came in large numbers
and helped him to put up all the trees that had been felled, and
the forest appeared just as it had been before any of the trees had
been cut down.
The next day Bui-Nasi went early in the morning to see if
the fish traps he had set in the stream had caught any fish, and
as he was near the part of the forest where the trees had been cut
down by his brothers and himself not long before, he went on to
see how things were getting on and if the felled jungle was dry
enough to be burnt.
To his great surprise he found all the trees standing, and no
signs of the clearing that had been made ! He hurried home and
told his brothers what he had seen, and they all returned accom-
panied by their friends and followers, and found that what Bui-
Nasi had told them was perfectly true. They were all very much
surprised, as they had never known such a thing happen before.
" I wonder if this is really the part of the forest which we
cleared a few weeks ago," said one of the brothers. "Perhaps
we have mistaken the spot."
" No," said Bui-Nasi in reply, " there is no mistake. Here
are the whetstones on which we sharpened our axes and matchets ;
and here, too, is where we did our cooking for our midday meal."
They held a consultation as to what was to be done.
" This is very strange," said Bui-Nasi. " Some enemy who
is helped by powerful spirits is determined not to let us plant
paddy here. Let us try and find out who has made the trees
that we have cut down stand upright and grow up again as
before. My advice is that we cut down the jungle anew, and
that some of us remain and keep watch here all night. Perhaps
we may be able to catch the culprit."
So the brothers and all their friends and followers set to work,
and before the day was ended they had cleared afresh a large
stretch of jungle.
Twelve men, with Bui-Nasi at their head, were set^b watch,
and the others returned home, discussing among themselves what
had taken place.
Those that were left by the clearing had not long to wait.
Soon after dusk they saw a man come, and standing on the
trunk of a large felled tree, call aloud to the animals of the forest
and the invisible spirits around in the name of Rajah Shua and
Seregendah to come to his help. The twelve men crept up
cautiously behind him and seized him.
"We have you now," they said as they held him fast. "It
is you who have caused us all the trouble of having to cut down
VOL. XII.— No. 68. N
178 The Empire Review
this jungle for the second time. Now we intend to kill you, and
you will not be able to play your tricks on us any more."
It was too dark to see who it was, and Bui-Nasi said : " Let
us have a light and see what he is like. I am sure he must be
as ugly as he is troublesome."
One of them fetched a light, and to their great surprise they
saw their prisoner was Pulang-Gana !
" So it is you, Pulang-Gana ! " said his brother in anger.
" You are up to your old tricks again. You were too lazy to
work before, and would not keep watch over our garden, and you
left us without telling us where you were going. And now, after
several years' absence, you come back and disturb us in our work,
and by some means or other set up the trees we have had the
trouble of cutting down. Though I am your brother, I have no
pity for you. As long as you are alive you will give us trouble,
so we intend to kill you and be well rid of you."
He expected Pulang-Gana to be afraid of him and to plead
for his life. But things were very much changed from the old
days when Pulang-Gana was the despised youngest brother,
beaten and scolded by the others. Now he was the son-in-law of
the gods, and had Rajah Shua and Seregendah to help him, and
he was not at all afraid of his brothers, because he knew well
they could do him no harm.
He shook off those that held him, and told them to listen to
what he had to say. His manner and bearing were very different
from that of one who feared them. They stood round him in
awe, for they instinctively felt that Pulang-Gana was not to be
trifled with, and from what had already taken place, they knew
that he was aided by powerful spirits.
Then Pulang-Gana spoke :
" I have good reason for doing what I did. You have no right
to cut down this jungle or to plant on this land. You have not
asked my leave to do so, and have not paid me the price of the
land. Not long ago, you, Bui-Nasi, gave me a clod of earth as
my share of the property of our father, and so I have now the
right of preventing any from planting on the earth. It is no use
you attempting to kill me. Though you are many in numbers,
it is impossible for you to kill me, because I am now the god of
the earth, and am assisted by Eajah Shua and Seregendah,
whose power you know."
There was silence for a short time, and then Bui-Nasi said :
"No doubt what you say is true, for no one without super-
natural aid could have made the trees that were cut down stand
upright and grow. What do you wish us to do, and how are we
to obtain your leave to plant on the land ? "
Pulang-Gana told them to gather all the people together
Sea-Dyak Legends 179
the next day, and he would tell them what they must do in order
to insure their getting good crops of paddy.
That same night messengers were sent in all directions to tell
the people in the neighbouring villages to come together the next
day, in order that they might learn from Pulang-Gana what they
were to do before cutting down the jungle and planting paddy.
The next morning a very large crowd gathered together, and
Pulang-Gana said to them :
" You must always remember that I am the god of the earth,
and before cutting down the jungle for planting you must make
invocations to me, as well as to Kajah Shua and Seregendah, and
you must ask me for permission to plant on the piece of land
you have chosen. You must also kill some animal — a pig or a
fowl — and offer it as a sacrifice to me, and in addition to this,
some offering of food — rice or eggs, or potatoes, or fruit — must
be made. Then, lastly, you must remember to bury some small
offering in the ground. That is the rent you pay me for the
use of the land, for all the land belongs to me, and I expect rent
to be paid by all who use it.
"And if anything goes wrong in your paddy fields, and the
crops are poor, or, being good, are attacked by insects or wild
animals, then you must call upon Eajah Shua and Seregendah
and myself to come to your aid, and we will help you."
Then for the first time did the new ceremonies come into
force, and aided by the higher powers, men were able to obtain
much better crops than they had done before. And this is why
no Dyak dares to plant paddy without first burying some small
gift in the earth and also making invocations and offerings to
Pulang-Gana, Kajah Shua and Seregendah.
EDWIN H. GOMES.
N 2
180
The Empire Review
INDIAN AND COLONIAL INVESTMENTS*
A COMPLETE change has come over the stock markets during
the past few weeks. The acute depression of a month ago ac-
companied by talk of big people being in difficulties has given
place to what in some departments has developed into quite a
boom. At last it would seem that the factors of favourable
monetary conditions and returning trade prosperity are beginning
to have their effect on Stock Exchange prices, and there has been
a general rise on the month in the securities tabulated here.
Although Home Government securities have failed to respond
very readily to the general advance, India stocks have not lagged
behind. They are strengthened doubtless by the encouraging
progress which continues to be reported from the Dependency.
Mr. Morley produced some striking figures when introducing the
Indian Budget the other day. Five years ago, he said, the net
revenue from railways, canals and forests was £2,750,000 ; to-day
it is five millions sterling, and the railways cover 30,000 miles.
The fares and freights are no less striking. The average charge
for passengers is one-fifth of a penny per mile, and on goods a
halfpenny per ton per mile. Turning to trade, in ten years the
exports have increased from 23 millions sterling to 105£ millions,
while the imports have increased from 46£ millions to 68| millions.
INDIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
When
Title.
Present Amount.
Redeem-
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
able.
INDIA.
£
3$ % Stock M . . .
3 % „ (4 ...
62,535,080
54,635,384
1931
1948
105
94*
3A
3*
Quarterly.
2* % „ Inscribed (t)
11,892,207
1926
79
3*
3} % Rupee Paper 1854-5
. .
(a)
97J
BA
30 June— 31 Deo.
3 % „ „ 1896-7
1916
85J
3i
30 June— 30 Dec.
(<) Eligible for Trustee investments.
(a) Redeemable at a quarter's notice.
* The tabular matter in this article will appear month by month, the figures
being corrected to date. Stocks eligible for Trustee investments are so designated. — ED.
Indian and Colonial Investments
181
INDIAN RAILWAYS AND BANKS.
Title.
Subscribed.
Last
year's
dividend.
Share
or
Stock.
Price.
Viel
RAILWAYS,
Assam — Bengal, L., guaranteed 3 % .
Bengal and North- Western (Limited)
Bengal Dooars, L
£
1,500,000
2,750,000
400,000
3
6
81
100
100
100
88}
147
93
31
4
i
Bengal Nagpur (L), gtd. 4% + Jth profits
Burma Guar. 2} % and propn. of profits
Delhi Umballa Kalka, L., guar. 3J % + }
3,000,000
2,000,000
800,000
4*
4ft
6
100
100
100
107
109
151
3.
4J
3}
East Indian Def. ann. oap. g. 4% + $}
sur. profits (t) j
Do. do, class " D," repayable 1953 (t) .
Do. 4J % perpet. deb. stook (t) . . .
Do. new 3 % deb. red. (t)
Great Indian Peninsula 4% deb. Stook t
Do. 3% Gua. and ^ surp. profits 1925 t
[ndian Hid. L. gua. 4% & J surp. profits t
Madras, guaranteed 5 % by India (t) .
Do. do. 4|%(tt
Do. do. 4} % (t)
Nizam's State Bail. Gtd. 5 % stook .
Do. 8} % red. mort. debs
2,267,039
4,282,961
1,435,650
8,000,000
2,701,450
2,575,000
2,250,000
8,757,670
999,960
500,000
2,000,000
1,079,600
CM
a
3
4
1A
5
If
A]
5
3*
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
125}
91
118$
111
102
124}
116
110
122
92$
-* CO CO CO CO CO CO <* T* •<*•*««
Rohilkund and Kumaon, Limited. .
South Behar, Limited
200,000
379,580
7
4
100
100
149
1074
4J
31
South Indian 4} % per. deb. stook, gtd.
Do. capital stook .......
425,000
1,000 000
*»
7*
100
100
133}
109}
3j
Ci
Sthn. Mahratta, L., 3$ % & J of profits
3,500,000
1,195,600
5
4
100
100
102
108}
4g
3}
Southern Punjab, Limited ....
Do. 3} % deb. stook red
West of India Portuguese Guar, L, .
966,000
500,000
800,000
550,000
M
a
5
5
100
100
100
100
120}
95}
102}
112
i
*g
4,'
BANES.
Chartered Bank of India, Australia, \
and China . . /
Number of
Shares.
40,000
13
20
65}
3i
National Bank of India
48,000
12
12}
36
41
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
This remarkable progress is reflected in the results of the
banks operating in the country. The most satisfactory results
for the past half-year among the Presidency banks are produced
by the Bank of Bengal. The 11 per cent, dividend is maintained,
while five lakhs is transferred to reserve and one lakh to premises
account against only four lakhs to reserve a year ago, and the
carry-forward is only slightly reduced.
Commercial interests in current Canadian affairs are now
directed to the harvest operations, which are at present general
throughout the country, and upon which so much of the Dominion's
prosperity depends. With the continuance of reasonably good
weather conditions there is every reason to hope that another
bumper crop will be harvested, presaging correspondingly big
traffic receipts for the railways.
182
The Empire Review
The Grand Trunk dividend announcement quite upset the
calculations of the speculators who had hoped for an interim
dividend on the Third Preference stock. There was little doubt,
even before the announcement, that the directors could safely
have paid such a dividend, but there was considerable doubt
whether they would do so, or would prefer to adopt the more
cautious policy of waiting until the close of the full year before
making any distribution at all on the stock. The announcement
CANADIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
4 % Inter- \\ Guaran-
colonial) 1 teed by
* % ii 1 Great
1,500,000
1,500,000
1908
1910
101
103
—
11 Apr.— 1 Oct.
4% „ J Britain.
1,700,000
1913
104
i*
4 % 1874-8 Bonds. .
4 % „ Begd. Stock
1,926,300\
5,073,700/
1906-8
/ 1014
I 101i
1 May— 1 Nov.
4 % Reduced Bonds .
4 % „ Begd. Stock
2,078,721\
4,364,415/
1910
/ 102
\ 102
1 Jan.— 1 July.
34 % 1884 Begd. Stock
4,750,800
1909-34
102
—
1 June — 1 Deo.
4 % 1885 Ins. Stock .
3 % Inscribed Stock (t)
3,517,600
10,200,429
1910-35*
1938
103
994
»H
jl Jan.— 1 July.
2J% „ „ (t)
2,000,000
1947
85
3J
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
PBOVINOIAL.
BBITIBH COLUMBIA.
3 % Inscribed Stock .
2,045,760
1941
86
SH
1 Jan.— 1 July.
MANITOBA.
5 % Debentures .
5 % Sterling Bonds .
346,700
308,000
1910
1923
104
109
*&
|l Jan.— 1 July.
4 % „ Debs. .
205,000
1928
102
33
1 May— 1 Nov.
NOVA SCOTIA.
3% Stock ....
164,000
1949
86
3|
1 Jan.— 1 July.
QUEBEC.
3 % Inscribed . . .
1,897,820
1937
86^
*
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
MUNICIPAL.
Hamilton (City of) 4 %
Montreal 3 % Deb.\
Stock . . . ./
482,800
1,440,000
1934
permanent
102
85
35
34
1 Apr.— 1 Got.
11 May— 1 Nov.
Do. 4% Cons. „
1,821,917
1932
108
34
Quebec 4 % Debs. . .
Do. 34 % Con. Stock .
385,000
387,501
1923
drawings
101
95
3|
[l Jan.— 1 July.
Toronto 5 % Con. Debs.
136,700
1919-20*
106
*§
j
Do. 4 % Stg. Bonds .
Do. 4 % Local Impt. .
300,910
249,312
1922-28*
1913
103
100
3|
4
>1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do. 34 % Bonds . .
1,169,844 1929
95
|
Vancouver 4 % Bonds
121,200 1931
103
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
Do. 4 % 40-year Bonds
Winnipeg 5 % Debs. .
117,200 1932
138,000 1 1914
101
107
3J|
4
7 Feb.— 7 Aug.
30 Apr. —31 Oct.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption,
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
Indian and Colonial Investments
183
CANADIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid up
per
Share.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS,
,
Canadian Pacific Shares
Do. 4 % Preference . .
$101,400,000
£7,778,082
6
4
$100
100
172
105
Jf
Do. 5 % Stg. 1st Mtg. Bd. 1915
£7,191,500
5
100
109
3A
Do. 4 % Cons. Deb. Stock
£16,922,305
4
100
112
3A
Grand Trunk Ordinary
£22,475,985
nil
Stock
28}
DB
Do. 6 % 1st Preference
£3,420,000
5
„
122|
^A
Do. 5 % 2nd „ .
£2,530,000
5
it
112$
4J^
Do. 4 % 3rd „ .
£7,168,055
2
it
69
2
Do. 4 % Guaranteed
£6,629,315
4
104*
3 1
Do. 6 % Perp. Deb. Stock
Do. 4 % Cona. Deb. Stock
£4,270,375
£15,135,981
5
4
ibo
100
134
109J
4
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Bank of Montreal ....
140,000
10
$100
255
311
Bank of British North America
20,000
6
50
71
4J,
Canadian Bank of Commerce .
$8,000,000
7
$50
£18
9i
Canada Company ....
8,319
57s. per sh.
1
37
7£|
100,000
£4 per sh.
10*
87
4A
Trust and Loan of Canada. .
50,000
6
6
6?
Do. new
25,000
74
3
34
68
British Columbia Eleotrio\Def.
£210,000
6*
Stock
"2
118$
"8
Railway /Pref .
£200,000
6
Stock
109A
4A
£1 capital repaid 1904.
NEWFOUNDLAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
34 % Sterling Bonds
2,178,800
1941-7-8
9GJ
Bf
3 % Sterling
325,000
1947
85
3*1
4 % Inscribed Stock
320,000
1913-38*
102
3?
1 Jan.— 1 July.
*% „
602,476
1935
107
3A
4 % Cons. Ins. „
200,000
1936
107
wJ
• Yield calculate on earlier date of redemption.
shows that the board have adopted a more conservative policy
than even the most cautious had expected. The results of the
half-year have been so satisfactory that the board has decided to
discount some of the charges of future half-years — that is to say,
the arrears of additional taxation in Michigan imposed upon the
company by the recent legal decision have been charged wholly
against the past half-year's revenue instead of being spread over two
years as the board originally announced was their intention. Thus
the disappointed speculators are given a new ground of grievance
against the board. When successive monthly revenue statements
have upset the market forecasts, because, for instance, the board
has decided to make some extra charge for bridge renewals or
184 The Empire Review
what not, there has been considerable discontent. Now by their
action in the case of the past half-year's accounts the directors
show that even the monthly revenue statements cannot be relied
upon as a basis for dividend estimates. The investor, however,
has nothing to fear from the board's cautious policy, and can
congratulate himself upon the fact that the arrears of which so
much was made a month or two ago are now quite wiped off.
The accounts of the company for the half-year showed an
increase of £292,600 in receipts and an increase of £261,400 in
working expenses, including arrears of Michigan taxation. After
deducting net revenue charges and Canada-Atlantic deficiency,
there was a surplus of £310,100, against £285,000 for the cor-
responding half of 1905. But for the taxation arrears, the
surplus would have been some £64,000 larger.
The Canadian Pacific dividend announcement at the usual
rate of 6 per cent, per annum with $8,268,082 carried forward
against $1,852,000 a year ago, disappointed many who had been
anticipating an increase in the dividend or some sort of a
bonus.
Although Australian Government Stocks had not suffered
materially from the previous depression, they have readily
responded to the improved tone of the last few weeks. Prices
of the leading stocks have appreciated, almost without exception,
and in many instances the advances are of a substantial nature.
The market for Australian Bank shares is also strong, and the
same may be said with regard to pastoral and agricultural com-
panies' issues. That there are remarkable possibilities in the
latter section may be seen from the report of Goldsbrough
Mort & Company for the year to 31st March last. This shows
that the net profits for the period amounted to £103,991 as com-
pared with only £17,436 for the previous year. The shareholders,
whose prospects of a return on their capital must have seemed
very remote a year ago, now receive a dividend of 5 per cent.,
while the value of their holdings has risen to nearly par. This
distribution on the ordinary shares involves, moreover, the pay-
ment of an additional 1 per cent, interest to the " B " debenture
stock holders.
One of the surest signs of the expansion of business in
Australia is to be found in the railway receipts. The experience
of all the States has been favourable in this respect during the
past year, but New South Wales appears to have been specially
fortunate. The railway revenue amounted to £4,234,791 as com-
pared with £3,684,016 in the previous year, while the expenditure
was £2,308,384 against £2,192,147. The tramway receipts, at
£851,483, also show an increase of £37,924, and in this depart-
ment there was actually a decrease in expenditure from £685,682
Indian and Colonial Investments
185
to £665,083. As a result these two branches of the public service
have yielded a surplus of £440,940, after providing interest on
the capital invested, instead of, as in the previous year, a deficit
of nearly £37,000. Recent indications are all in favour of a
continuance of this prosperity, for the State revenue in July
amounted to £920,705 compared with £756,599 in July 1905,
and the railways contributed £62,289 to the increase.
A lengthy summary of the Commonwealth Budget statement,
cabled from Melbourne, amply confirms the favourable pre-
liminary announcements commented upon last month. Sir
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
NEW SOUTH WALES.
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
34% „ „ W
3>0 ,, „ it)
9,686,300
16,500,000
12,500,000
1933
1924
1935
108*
102
89
3i
1 Jan.— 1 July,
ll Apr. -1 Got.
VICTORIA.
4 % Inscribed, 1882-3
4% „ 1885 .
3* % „ 1889 (t)
4 % ii • •
3% „ (t) . .
6,432,900
! 6,000,000
5,000,000
2,107,000
5,496,081
1908-13
1920
1921-6*
1911-26*
1929-49f
102*
104}
100}
101
89
3A
%
Sj7,
1 Apr.-l Got.
1 Jan.— 1 July.
QUEENSLAND.
4 % Bonds ....
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
3i% „ „ (rf
3% ,, „ (t)
10,267,400
7,939,000
8,616,034
4,274,213
1913-15*
1924
1921-30t
1922-47f
102
106*
100
87}
38
3}
3}
3A
[l Jan.— 1 July,
SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
4 % Bonds . . .
4 7
* /O »l ....
4 % Inscribed Stock .
3*% ,, „ <
Q "/ A
{2 »
3 A ii n t)
6,586,700
1,365,300
6,222,900
2,517,800
839,500
2,760,100
1907-16*
1916
1916-36*
1939
1916-26J
After 1916:
101}
103
103}
101
87}
87}
33
3&
1 Jan.— 1 July.
|l Apr.— 1 Got.
[l Jan.— 1 July.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
4 % Inscribed . . .
01 <y /
•*a /o n I • .
3 % „ t . .
3% „ t . .
1,876,000
2,380,000
3,750,000
2,500,000
1911-31*
1920-351
1915-35J
1927J
103
100}
3A
3A
3|
31
15 Apr.— 15 Got.
\1 May— 1 Nov.
15 Jan.— 15 July.
TASMANIA.
3} % Inscbd. Stock t)
H. " . .". I
3,456,500
1,000,000
450,000
1920-40*
1920-40*
1920-40t
100
105
88*
3}
3}
3JL
1 Jan.— 1 July.
°°a
°Tt
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
t Yield calculated on later date of redemption, though a portion of the loan may be redeemed
earlier.
t No allowance for redemption.
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
186
The Empire Review
AUSTRALIAN MUNICIPAL AND OTHER BONDS.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Melbourne & Met. Bd.\
of Works 4% Debs. /
1,000,000
1921
102
3*i
1 Apl.— 1 Oct.
Do. City 4% Debs. .
850,000
1915-22*
104
3A
j
Do. Harbour Trust\
Comrs. 5% Bds. ./
500,000
1908-9
101
[l Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4% Bds. . . .
1,250,000
1918-21*
102
*
)
Melbourne Trams'!
Trust 4}% Debs. ./
1,650,000
1914-16*
104
ss
1 Jan.— 1 July.
S. Melbourne 4*% Debs.
Sydney 4% Debs. . .
128,700
640,000
1919
1912-13
103
102
sf*
|l Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4% Debs. . . .
300,000
1919
102
31
)
Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number ol
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Emu Bay and Mount Bisohofi . . .
Do. 4J% Irred. Deb. Stock ....
Mid. of W. Aust. 4 % Debs., Guartd. .
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Bank of Australasia
12,000
£130,900
£500,000
40,000
li
*J
12
5
100
100
40
*i
96
102
98
If
31
*£
Bank of New South Wales'. . . .
Union Bank of Australia £75 . . .
Do. 4 % Inscribed Stock Deposits . .
Australian Mort. Land & Finance £25
Do. 4 % Perp. Deb. Stock ....
Dalgety & Co. £20
100,000
60,000
£600,000
80,000
£1,900,000
154,000
10
10
4
6
4
6
20
25
100
5
100
6
43
50$
100
6
101
5$
*f
t«
5
N
5/«
Do. 4J % Irred. Deb. Stock ....
Do. 4% „ . .
Goldsbrough Mort & Co. 4 % A Deb.\
Stock Reduced . /
£620,000
£1,643,210
£1,224,525
?
4
100
100
100
110
103
84J
?
HI
Do. B Income Reduced
£727,705
4
100
84}
*li
Australian Agricultural £25 . . .
South Australian Company. . . .
Trust & Agency of Australasia . . .
Tin, $ °/ fJmri Pr«f. ......
20,000
14,200
42,479
87,500
£3
12*
5
21J
20
1
10
64*
50}
-of
4f
HS
4|
Met. of Melb. Gas 5 % Debs. 1908-12.
Do. 4} % Debs. 1918-22-24 ....
£560,000
£250,000
5
4*
100
100
104
103
4f
3
John Forrest, the Treasurer, gave an able exposition of Common-
wealth finance, while his presentment of the leading features of
Australian productive industry and commerce must have been
as pleasant as it was satisfactory. The Commonwealth revenue
for the current year is estimated at £1 1,970,000, an increase of
£90,000 on last year. The expenditure, estimated at £5,000,000,
shows an increase of about £520,000, but includes some
£480,000 to be spent on new works which, as usual, will be
Indian and Colonial Investments
187
charged to revenue. Consequent on the increased expenditure,
the amount to be returned to the States will be reduced to about
£6,949,000, which, however, exceeds their statutory three-fourths
of the customs and excise revenue by £311,000.
The progress made by the Bank of New Zealand during
recent years has been remarkable, but the results for the year to
31st March last show an improvement on the previous excellent
records. After due provision for bad and doubtful debts, donation
to provident fund and bonus to staff, the profits amounted
to £330,329 14s. 3d. against £320,908 in the preceding year.
Deducting interest on the 4 per cent. Guaranteed Stock and
NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
6 % Bonds ....
266,300
1914
105
*i
15 Jan.— 15 July.
5 % Consolidated Bonds
126,300
1906
100|
Quarterly.
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
29,150,302
1929
108
»A
1 May— 1 Nov.
34% ,, „ («)
6,373,629
1940
101
3#
1 Jan.— 1 July.
3% „ „ («)
6,384,005
1945
89
3T
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
NEW ZEALAND MUNICIPAL AND OTHER SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Auckland 5% Deb. .
200,000
1934-8*
107
4i
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do. Hbr. Bd. 5% Debs.
150,000
1917
106
4
10 April— 10 Oct.
Bank of N. Z. shares f
150,000
div. 5%
84
—
Do. 4% Qua. Stock J .
£1,000,000
—
102
•i
Apr.— Oct.
Christchurch 6% Drain-
age Loan . . .
\ 200,000
1926
1214
*A
30 June— 31 Dec.
Dunedin 5% Cons. .
312,200
1908
102
—
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
Lyttleton Hbr. Bd. 6%
200,000
1929
119J
*A
)
Napier Hbr. Bd. 5%\
Debs /
300,000
1920
109
4
[l Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 6% Debs. . . .
200,000
1928
110
1
)
National Bank of N.Z.\
£74 Shares JB24 paid/
100,000
div. 12 %
54
**
Jan. — July.
New Plymouth Hbr.\
Bd. 6% Debs. . ./
200,000
1909
103
—
1 May— 1 Nov.
Oamaru5%Bds. . .
173,800
1920
94
Si
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Otago Hbr. Cons. Bds.\
5% .... /
422,900
1934
108
*A
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Wellington 6% Impts^
Loan /
100,000
drawings
114
5*
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 6% Waterworks .
180,000
it
116
Bi
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 44% Debs.. . .
165,000
1933
105
H
1 May— 1 Nov.
WestportHbr.4%Debs.
150,000
1925
103
Si
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
• Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption,
f £6 13s. 4d. Shares with £3 6s. 3d. paid up.
J Guaranteed by New Zealand Government.
188 The Empire Review
.£16,000 allocated in reduction of premises accounts, there
remained a net balance of £274,329, or about £20,000 more than
the sum available in 1905. Out of this balance the statutory
payment to the Assets Eealisation Board absorbed £50,000,
dividend on the 5 per cent. Preference shares £25,000 and a
dividend at the same rate on the Ordinary shares £25,000. There
remained a surplus of £174,329 for payment to the Assets
Eealisation Board, being £18,000 more than in 1905, and £45,000
more than in 1904. The chairman at the annual meeting of
shareholders drew attention to the fact that since 1895 the Bank
had appropriated out of profits no less a sum than £1,643,445
towards clearing off deficiencies and paper assets in the balance-
sheet and strengthening the position of the Bank.
A special interest attaches to the Bank's report on this
occasion, as in all probability it will be the last framed subject
to the statutory obligations under which the Bank has been
bound for many years as regards the distribution of profits.
These obligations entailed the payment of a fixed sum of £50,000
annually to the Assets Eealisation Board as a first charge on the
profits, and the restriction of the dividend on the Ordinary
shares to 5 per cent. All the remaining net profit was also
payable to the Assets Eealisation Board as long as any deficiency
existed in the value of the properties and assets which were
taken over from the Bank and vested in the Board. It is now
estimated by the directors that this deficiency has been entirely
wiped out, and if this estimate is confirmed by the Government
the Bank will be freed from its statutory obligations and able to
dispose of profits as the directors and shareholders may deem
advisable. Under these conditions, it is obvious that the earnings
would admit of large dividends being paid, but the chairman
plainly indicated that the directors would follow a conservative
course and make the building up of a reserve fund a primary
consideration. Still, an early increase in the rate of dividend
to 10 per cent, was foreshadowed, and it is small wonder that
the Ordinary shares are in active demand at a heavy premium.
South African securities and shares have actively participated
in the improvement in Stock Exchange conditions. The general
market feeling with regard to the new Constitution is one of
relief that the vexed question has at last been settled in one way
or another. The prevailing opinion was expressed by Sir Julius
Wernher the other day at the meeting of the Central Mining
and Investment Corporation, when he said that he hoped the
statement that had been made in Parliament would put an end
to the feeling of uncertainty and give a sense of security for the
future, and that the Transvaal would be allowed to work out its
own destiny. As a matter of fact, the market would sooner see
Indian and Colonial Investments
189
a Boer majority in the Transvaal Parliament than have the
mining industry made the sport of party politics at home.
The last Transvaal monthly gold output return showed a
continued increase in the rate of production. The value of the
output during July of this year exceeded that for the corres-
ponding month of last year by over £300,000. The following
table shows the output month by month for the past few years
and for the year in which the war commenced.
January ....
February . . .
March ....
April
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1899.
£
1,820,739
1,731,664
1,884,815
1,865,785
1,959,062
2,021,813
2,089,004
j£
1,568,508
1,545,371
1,698,340
1,695,550
1,768,734
1,751,412
1,781,944
1,820,496
1,769,124
1,765,047
1,804,253
1,833,295
1,226,846
1,229,726
1,309,329
1,299,576
1,335,826
1,309,231
1,307,621
1,326,468
1,326,506
1,383,167
1,427,947
1,538,800
846,489
834,739
923,739
967,936
994,505
1,012,322
1,068,917
1,155,039
1,173,211
1,208,669
1,188,571
1,215,110
1,534,583
1,512,860
1,654,258
1,639,340
1,658,268
1,665,715
1,711,447
1,720,907
1,657,205
W, 028, 057
May .
J.J.BJT
June. . . .
July .
August .
September .
October . .
November .
December .
Total* . . .
13,372,882
20,802,074
16,054,809 12,589,247
15,782,640
Including undeclared amounts omitted from the monthly returns.
t State of war.
There has been a continued diminution in the number of
natives employed in the mines, but the loss is more than counter-
80UTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
CiPB COLONY.
U% Bonds . . .
4% 1883 Inscribed (t).
4 % 1886 „
3i%1886 „ ft).
3^1886 „ ft.
746,500
3,733,195
9,997,566
13,263,067
7,549,018
dwgs.
1923
1916-36*
1929-49f
1933-431
102
106
103
97*
84i
tf
s
u-
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
1 June — 1 Deo.
15 Apr.— 16 Oct.
1 Jan.— 1 July.
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
NATAL,
4 J % Bonds, 1876 . .
4 % Inscribed . .
j$ "
» ^ ii • •
758,700
3,026,444
3,714,917
6,000,000
1919
1937
1939
1929-491
105
108
98*
85$
4
3A
if
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Apr.— Oct.
1 June — 1 Deo,
1 Jan.— 1 July.
TRANSVAAL.
3 % Guartd. Stock .
35,000,000
1923-53t
98|
3
1 May— 1 Nov.
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
• Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
t Yi«ld calculated on later date of redemption.
190 The Empire Review
SOUTH AFRICAN MUNICIPAL SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Be-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable,
Bloemfontein 4 %
483,000
1954
95
tt
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Cape Town 4 %
1,878,550
1953
103
3«
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Durban 4 % ...
1,350,000
1951-3
99J
4
30 June— 31 Dec.
Johannesburg 4 %
5,500,000
1933-4
96
tt
1 April— 1 Oct.
Pietermaritzburg 4 %
625,000
1949-53
97
*A
30 June — 31 Deo.
Port Elizabeth 4 % .
390,000
1953
98
44
30 June— 31 Dec.
Band Water Board 4%
3,400,000
1935
954
«i
1 Jan. — 1 July.
balanced by the accession of Chinese. The following table gives
the monthly returns of native labour for two years past, and for
March 1903, when the figures were first officially published.
Month.
Natives
Joined.
Natives
Left.
Net Gain on
Month.
Natives
Employed end
of Month.
Chinese
Employed end
of Month.
March- 1903
6,536
2,790
3,746
56,218
May 1904
4,844
6,643
1,799*
70,778
—
June ,,
5,257
7,178
1,921*
68,857
—
July t,
4,683
6,246
1,563*
67,294
1,384
August ,,
6,173
7,624
1,446*
65,348
4,947
September „
9,529
6,832
2,697
68,545
9,039
October. „
10,090
6,974
3,116
71,661
12,968
November „
9,456
6,884
2,572
74,233
19,316
December ,,
8,655
6,277
2,378
76,611
20,918
January 1905
11,773
6,939
4,834
81,444
25,015
February „
14,627
6,705
7,922
89,367
31,174
March „
13,547
8,310
5,237
94,604
34,282
April
9,589
7,979
1,610
96,214
35,516
May
8,586
8,574
12
96,226
38,066
June „
6,404
8,642
2,233*
93,988
41,290
July „
6,023
8,338
2,315*
91,673
43,140
August ,,
5,419
8,263
2,844*
88,829
44,565
September ,,
5,606
8,801
3,195*
85,634
44,491
October. „
5,855
7,814
1,959*
83,675
45,901
November „
5,279
5,992
713*
82,962
45,804
December „
4,747
6,755
2,008*
80,954
47,217
January 1906
6,325
7,287
962*
79,992
47,118
February ,
5,617
6,714
1,697*
78,895
49,955
March ,
6,821
7,040
219*
78,676
49,877
April ,
6,580
6,341
239
78,915
49,789
May ,
6,722
6,955
233*
78,682
50,951
June ,
6,047
7,172
1,125*
77,557
52,329
July „
6,760
7,322
562*
76,995
—
Net loss.
Mr. Beit's munificent bequests will give added interest to
railway construction in Rhodesia. The latest advices as to the
progress of the Cape to Cairo Railway show that the line is
expected to be completed as far as Broken Hill during September.
There will then be a regular service of trains from Cape Town
for a distance of 2,100 miles northwards. It is intended to
continue the construction of the railway in a northerly direction
Indian and Colonial Investments
191
SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Mashonaland 5 "/ Debs
£2,500,000
5
100
91
51
Northern Railway of the 8. African)
Rep. 4 % Bonds /
£1,500,000
4
100
96
"a
*i
Rhodesia Rlys. 5 % 1st Mort. Debs.\
guar. by B.S.A. Co. till 1915. . ./
£2,000,000
5
100
94$
5*
Royal Trans- African 5 % Debs. Red. .
£1,812,977
5
100
93$
*A
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
African Banking Corporation £10 shares
80,000
6
5
4|
Bank of Africa £18f
160,000
10*
6i
11J
Natal Bank £10
148,282
*va
14
»
2$
sf
National Bank of 8. Africa £10
110,000
8
10
15
5A
Standard Bank of 8. Africa £100
61,941
16
25
78
5J
Ohlsson's Cape Breweries .
60,000
40
5
134
14|
South African Breweries . .
950,000
22
1
2J
9i
British South Africa (Chartered)
5,999,470
nil
1
If
nil
Do. 5 7 Debs. Red
£1,250,000
5
100
100
5
Natal Land and Colonization . . .
68,066
8
5
Cape Town & District Gas Light & Coke
10,000
10
10
15$
68
Kimberley Waterworks £10. . . .
45,000
5
7
4
7f
CROWN COLONY SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount
When
Redeemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable
Barbadoes 3}% ins. (t)
375,000
1925-42*
99$x
3J
1 Mar.— 1 Sep.
Brit. Guiana 3% ins. (0
250,000
1923-451
86
3«
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Ceylon 4% ins. (t) . .
1,076,100
1934
111
3|
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3% ins. (t) . . .
2,450,000
1940
94$
3*
1 May— 1 Nov.
Hong-Kong 84.% ins (t)
341,800
1918-43t
99$
3J
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
Jamaica 4% ins. (t) .
1,098,907
1934
108
3$
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3A% ins. (t) . .
1,452,400
1919-49f
99$
3$
24 Jan.— 24 July.
Mauritius 3% guar.\
Great Britain (t) . /
600,000
1940
97
3B
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4% ins. (t) . . .
482,390
1937
108A
3$
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Sierra Leone 3 J% ins. (t)
532,892
1929-54f 100$
ft
1 June — 1 Dec.
Trinidad 4% ins. (t) .
422,593
1917-42* lOlx
sf
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Do. 3% ins. (« . . .
600,000
1926-44f
87
3f
15 Jan.— 15 July.
Hong-Kong & Shang-\
hai Bank Shares . /
80,000
Div.£410s.
£93$
*«
Feb. — Aug.
• Yield calculated on shorter period.
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
t Yield calculated on longer period.
(r) Ex dividend.
to the Congo frontier, but the direct route to Cairo will probably
take a different course from Broken Hill.
The Rhodesian gold output shows continued expansion, July's
production exceeding that for July last year by nearly 40 per
192
The Empire Review
cent. The following table gives the returns month by month for
several years past.
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1902.
1901. 1900.
1899.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz. oz.
oz.
January
42,950
32,531
19,359
16,245
15,955
10,697 5,242
6,371
February
38,037
30,131
18,673
17,090
13,204
12,237 6,233
6,433
March
44,574
34,927
17,756
19,626
16,891
14,289 6,286
6,614
April
42,423
33,268
17,862
20,727
17,559
14,998 5,456
5,755
May.
46,729
31,332
19,424
22,137
19,698
14,469 6,554
4,939
June
47,664
35,256 1 20,402
22,166
15,842
14,863 6,185
6,104
July
48,485
34,693
24,339
23,571
15,226
15,651 5,738
6,031
August
—
35,765
24,669 19,187
15,747 14,734 10,138
3,177
September
—
35,785
26,029 18,741
15,164 13,958 10,749
5,653
October
—
33,383
24,919
17,918
16,849 14,503 10,727
4,276
November
32,861
26,183
15,714
15,923 16,486 | 9,169
4,671
December
—
37,116
28,100 18,750
16,210
15,174 : 9,463
5,289
Total .
310,862
407,048
267,715 231,872
194,268 172,059 91,940
85,313
The only colonial issue during the month has been the small
British Guiana 4 per cent. Immigration loan for £70,000, offered
under the tender system and allotted at the low average of
£100 16s. 11<2. per cent. At this price the issue yields a very
much higher rate of interest than the existing British Guiana
stocks, and, indeed, than all other Crown colony issues.
EGYPTIAN SECURITIES.
Amount or
Dividend
Title.
Number of
for last
Paid
Price.
Yield.
Shares.
Year.
up.
Egyptian Govt. Guaranteed Loan (t) .
£7,805,700
3
100
lOOi
2H
„ Unified Debt
£55,971,960
4
100
iot|
3*2
National Bank of Egypt ....
250^000
8
10
26
a
Bank of Egypt
30,000
16
121
37
53
Agricultural Bank of Egypt, Ordinary
248,000
7*
7
9|
"8
3g
,, „ „ Preferred
125,000
4
10
10
4
» it )) Bonds
£2,500,000
a»
100
93
3f
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
TRUSTEE.
August 21, 1906.
NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS. — The Editor of THE EMPIRE EEVIEW cannot hold
himself responsible in any case for the return of MS. He will, however,
always be glad to consider any contributions which may be submitted to him ;
and when postage -stamps are enclosed every effort will be made to return
rejected contributions promptly. Contributors are specially requested to put
their names and addresses on their manuscripts, and to have them typewritten.
THE EMPIRE
REVIEW
"Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home." — Byron.
VOL. XII. OCTOBER, 1906. No. 69.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
BY EDWARD DICEY, g.B.
IN the article of last month published in The Empire Review
under the title of " The Meeting of the Monarchs," I endeavoured
to form a forecast of the probable character and results of the
then impending interview at Friedrichshof between the King of
England and the German Emperor.
The justice of this forecast has since received a very remarkable
confirmation from a quarter which is supposed to express the
personal views, not only of the educated classes in Germany, but
of the German Government. The Deutsche Revue contained, in
its September issue, an article on "Germany and Foreign Policy,"
which was considered of such importance as to justify proof-
sheets in advance being communicated to the Times as the leading
authority in the British Press on foreign affairs. The above
article appeared in the Times of September 5th, and was recom-
mended to the attention of its readers in the following words :—
The articles published by the Deutsche Revue on international politics are
admitted to be amongst the most authoritative and instructive expositions of
Germany's foreign policy in the German Press. They are, we believe, generally
from the pen of an intimate confidant of the Imperial Chancellor, Prince
Billow, and in this particular instance we have no hesitation in ascribing the
inspiration to the highest quarters ; for internal evidence shows the author to
be intimately acquainted with facts which are not within the general know-
ledge of the public, and which can have been derived only from official sources.
I cannot corroborate the above statement as to the authorship
of this article from any personal knowledge of my own. As I
stated in my forecast published in The Empire Review before the
VOL. 12— No. 69. o
194 The Empire Review
article of the Deutsche Revue had appeared in print, I possess no
special information on the relations between the British and
German Governments not accessible to the rest of the world.
As to the authority attaching to the alleged organ of the Imperial
Chancellor, the Times is far more competent to form an opinion
than I am myself. The one consideration which induces me to
depart from my usual rule of letting my articles stand or fall by
themselves without comment on my part is that the extraordinary
coincidence between the views on the Friedrichshof interview
expressed in these columns and those of the Deutsche Eevue
confirms my opinion that, upon the issues between England and
Germany, sensible and clear-headed men in both countries are
very much of one mind. To show the justice of this opinion, let
me quote a passage or two. Concerning the general character
of the Koyal interview, I expressed my views as follows : —
No reader of the German or British Press can avoid the conclusion that
public opinion, both in England and Germany, has been inclined to believe
that, whatever might be the cause, a certain estrangement had existed between
the King of England and the German Emperor. This being so, it was a wise
and politic act on the part of both sovereigns to take steps to show that if any
such estrangement had ever existed in the past it has vanished for the present
and is not likely to be renewed in the future. ... At the same time, however
correct may be this official description of the Friedrichshof interview as coining
purely and simply within the category of domestic relations, I find it difficult
to believe that no political importance attaches to the meeting of their
Majesties. ... I think it probable that, notwithstanding official denials, the
meeting may, indirectly if not directly, influence the course of European
politics. We may take it for granted that the relations of England with
France under the entente cordials will not be discussed at Friedrichshof. It
is, however, unlikely that the conversation of the King and the Emperor
should have been confined to family matters and to formal expressions of
mutual goodwill. In Germany, in as far as can be learned from the general
tone of the Press, a strong impression prevails that questions of foreign policy
must have fallen under the consideration of the two sovereigns, so closely
allied by common interests as well as by family ties. This impression seems
to be confirmed by the fact that his Majesty Edward VII. was accompanied by
Sir Francis Lascelles, our ambassador at Berlin, the ablest, probably, of our
corps diplomatique, and certainly the strongest advocate of a cordial under-
standing between England and Germany, while his Majesty the Emperor
William II. was accompanied by Herr von Tschivschky of the German Foreign
Office, who enjoys the reputation of being more conversant with foreign affairs
than any living German statesman.
The above extract — quoted verbatim from my last month's
article — expresses my views on the general character of the
Friedrichshof interview. Owing to the exigencies of publica-
tion, the above lines were in the hands of the printers before the
outcome of the interview was made public, either in England or
in Germany.
After the outcome had been made known its general character
Foreign Affairs 195
was thus described in the Deutsche Revue in an article whose
authorship, the Times does not hesitate to say, must have been
inspired in the highest quarters. The statement made in our
Stuttgart contemporary is almost identical with my forecast, and
runs as follows : —
Definite arrangements, which were on neither side contemplated and for
which no preparations had been made, did not take place at Friedrichshof.
But the element of personal estrangement which had seriously affected the
political relations of the two countries has been so entirely removed that it can
no longer serve as a factor in the calculations of those whose interest it is to
maintain unfriendliness between Germany and England. The personal initia-
tive of the King deserves all the more appreciation in that every step had to
be avoided which might have provoked distrust in France and have aroused
doubts as to the sincerity of England's loyalty to the Anglo-French entente
cordiale. The King, just as he had a few months ago given his wannest
approval to the invitation addressed by the Emperor to the British War
Minister to attend the German autumn manoeuvres, also prepared the way for
a political exchange of views by bringing with him to Hornburg the Under-
secretary of State, Sir Charles Harding, who enjoys his special confidence, and
by expressing his desire that the latter should use this opportunity for confi-
dential conversations with the German Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
. . . The fact that Sir Charles Harding was called upon to accompany the
King carries special weight, for it imparted from the very beginning an import-
ance to the meeting much in excess of that of a mere family gathering.
I have dwelt upon the similarity of the views propounded in
the two articles, not with a wish to attract attention to my own
individual prescience, but in order to sustain the assertion for
which I have contended throughout the Anglo-German con-
troversy, that the ideas and views as to Anglo-German relations
are very much the same amongst sensible and educated citizens
of both countries.
Acting upon this principle, I think it may be well to point
out how the ideas of foreign policy, which regulate — or ought to
regulate — the attitude of England towards other Continental
nations, are or are not identical with those expressed in the
article, which the Times considers to be due to the direct inspira-
tion of the Imperial Chancellor. For the present — and, I fear,
for a long time to come — Kussia must remain the chief disturbing
element in European politics. The Czar Nicholas has changed
places with the Sultan Abdul Hamid ; and it is the Czar not the
Sultan who is now the Sick Man of Europe. As yet it is im-
possible to say whether the chances in favour of the Sick Man's
recovery are greater or less than those of his impending dissolution.
At the period of the Bulgarian atrocities the British public were
confident that the Ottoman Empire would be swept out of existence
by the uprising of the Turkish nation, if not by the indignation
of Europe. Thirty years have come and gone since the Russian
armies were encamped on Turkish soil within an easy march of
o 2
196 The Empire Review
Constantinople, and yet moribund Islam is to-day far more vigor-
ous and the Sultan is more completely the Commander of the
Faithful than they were when Mr. Gladstone carried Great
Britain with him in denouncing the enormities of the " Unspeak-
able Turk." Those who, in common with the writer, are old
enough to remember the Midlothian campaign, its brilliant
inauguration and its futile termination, are naturally sceptical
when Mr. Gladstone's successors declare that, in the struggle
between autocracy and democracy, it is the latter who are bound
to win.
Under these circumstances the manifest duty of England
is to maintain a rigid neutrality. In as far as I can perceive,
there is no adequate reason why Englishmen should sympathise,
one way or the other, either with the so-called Kussian Liberals
or the so-called Russian reactionaries. They have both displayed
a complete ignorance of the most elementary principles of liberty,
justice and humanity. Russia at the present day resembles a
Pandemonium, in which the contending parties are struggling to
surpass one another in cold-blooded deliberate savagery far ex-
ceeding any outrages committed by the Turks against Bulgarians
or Armenians. I fail to see how any Englishman, whatever his
creed may be, can entertain, or still more express, any sympathy
for either party in this internecine conflict between the partisans
of the Czar and the Terrorists. Indeed, the one hopeful feature
in the state of Russia is the fact that the prognostications, made
so confidently by the revolutionary party only a few weeks ago,
have been falsified by the event. The Russian troops, instead of
fraternising with the revolution, have so far remained " true to
their salt."
Whatever may be the causes of the loyalty with which
the soldiery have executed the commands of the Czar and
his ministers, there is still a chance — supposing the troops to
continue loyal — the Government may before long be able to say
with truth that, " order reigns in Russia." When the triumph of
order is once more established, it is possible that the Czar may
recognise the absolute necessity of granting some measure of
moderate reform. But this possibility is still far from being a
probability. Should this be so, all that can be fairly said is that
autocratic rule, however reactionary and however unenlightened,
is better for Russia than a reign of terror and the rule of mob-law.
If the Duma, for whose revival the Prime Minister of England
has been ill-advised enough to express his sympathy, should ever
be re-established, the resuscitated Parliament will be one entirely
different in composition and in policy from that to which Sir
Henry bade God-speed.
All who wish well to Russia and who understand the rudiments
Foreign Affairs 197
of the Eussian problem will agree with me in thinking that
England has only one course open to her, and that is to stand aloof
from any form of intervention moral as well as material. No
Englishman can read the accounts of the horrors perpetrated on the
Jews in Kussia, of which the massacre of Siedlce is only the latest
instance, without sympathising with the heartfelt appeal made
by the leading representatives of the Jewish community in the
City to their British fellow-countrymen. Nothing could be more
deserving of British sympathy than the protest
that it is contrary to the laws of justice which obtain throughout the
civilised world that those who have committed terrible outrages upon the Jews
of Siedlce should sit in judgment upon persons whom they — to shield them-
selves— have summarily arrested. We plead with sorrowing hearts that such
persons may be allowed to have a fair trial. ... It is evident that two hundred
souls have been arrested haphazard, and their fate at the hands of their
military judges is a foregone conclusion. We trust that the voice of this
country will prevent that terrible crime.
This wish I endorse most heartily. Common-sense, how-
ever, teaches us that whatever may have been the case at Jericho
in biblical times, walls no longer fall down at the blast of a
trumpet, and a moral protest, even if signed by all the ministers
of every religious domination in the United Kingdom, is after all
only a trumpet blast unless it is supported by force of arms. We
as a nation have no power, even if we had the wish, to invade
Kussia by land. If we chose we could send a fleet to the Baltic to
bombard the fortress held by the Czar's troops. But, as a matter
of fact, we have not the remotest intention of going to war with
Russia or of intervening in any way in the struggle for life or death
now going on between the Russian Government and the Russian
insurrection. The only action we could take would be to inform
the Czar that if the Jewish massacres should be continued, our
diplomatic relations would be discontinued. The example of
Servia does not encourage the hope that such a step would affect
the course of events in Russia, while any rupture with Russia
would be resented by our partner in the entente cordiale. Indeed,
one of the chief objections I have long entertained with regard to the
Anglo-French Agreement is that it fetters our freedom of action
towards Russia. In deference to the appeal in question, and to the
great and well-deserved influence of its authors, a dispatch has
probably been transmitted from our Foreign Office to St. Peters-
burg recommending the unfortunate Jews in prison at Siedlce to
the clemency of the Czar Nicholas II. His Imperial Majesty's
Minister for Foreign Affairs will doubtless reply that the dis-
turbances at Siedlce have been greatly exaggerated ; that they
were commenced by the Jews and have been suppressed by the
troops in the execution of their duty. He will also doubtless
198 The Empire Review
add that the appeal for clemency, though unnecessary in itself,
will be responded to with cordial goodwill by his Majesty as soon
as order is restored; and therewith, if I am not mistaken, the
correspondence will end. We shall have done no good to the
Eussian Jews ; and shall have departed from the policy of absolute
non-intervention in the conflict between the Czar and his
people.
It is matter for genuine regret, in the interest not only of
English but of European peace, that Sir Henry Campbell-
Bannerman should have committed a distinct breach of neutrality
by expressing his confidence in the ultimate triumph of the Duma.
I trust that in future Sir Henry will keep his exuberant sym-
pathies in check, and will adopt the same attitude towards Russia
as that described in the Deutsche Revue article which, according
to the assertion of the Times, is inspired by Prince Billow. In
this article it is distinctly stated that
in the case of Germany, quite as much as in the case of Great Britain, the
idea of any armed intervention in the affairs of Russia is ... absolutely
impracticable, and, even if it were not so, is fatal to the best interests of the
Russian dynasty.
It's an ill wind which blows nobody any good. The truth of
this proverb has been illustrated in the Near East. At the close
of last year a general impression prevailed that a determined
effort would be made in the Balkan Peninsula to overthrow the
rule of Turkey in Europe. A serious insurrection was predicted
for last spring ; and yet, though the summer has come and gone,
the situation remains unchanged. Bulgarians, Servians, and
Greeks, instead of uniting in an attempt to free Macedonia from
Turkish oppression, have been engaged in an internecine warfare.
Greeks and filibusters, supported and encouraged by the Hellenic
authorities, have made raids upon the Bulgarian villages in
Macedonia, massacring their inhabitants, burning down their
dwellings, robbing them of their possessions, destroying their
churches, and murdering their priests. The Bulgarians have
retorted by savage reprisals. The Servians, as usual, have fallen
foul of the Bulgarians. The Roumanians have expelled the
Greeks from their territory ; and the state of things in Macedonia
— the cockpit of the Slav races — is worse to-day than it ever was
in the most evil periods of Islam's uncontrolled supremacy.
Indeed, it is only the presence of Turkish troops in Macedonia
which has averted the complete destruction of this distracted
province by the savage animosity which exists between the
different nationalities which claim to belong to the same creed
and, to a great extent, to kindred races, in all of which the Slav
element is well-nigh predominant. Looking at facts as they are it
Foreign Affairs 199
seems to me that British statesmanship should abandon the idea, so
current during the Gladstonian era, that the Balkan Peninsula
could ever be converted into an independent and homogeneous
State so as to serve as a barrier against the advance of Kussia
towards the Bosphorus.
In the early days of his reign Prince Ferdinand laboured
under the belief, that by adopting the policy of his Prime
Minister Stambouloff, he might be raised to the throne of a
confederated Balkan Peninsula. He soon, however, came to the
conclusion that if he cherished the notion of an independent
Bulgaria, his reign would be brought to an abrupt end by the
same Power and the same methods as those which brought
about the deposition of his predecessor, Prince Alexander. He
therefore threw over Stambouloff, the champion of Bulgarian
independence, and thereby acquiesced, however unwillingly, in
the latter's assassination at the hands of his pro-Russian enemies.
When Stambouloff had been removed, his Highness accepted, in
fact if not in name, the position of a Eussian Pro-Consul, and
whenever order is restored in the Czar's dominions Russia will
declare her Protectorate over the Balkan Peninsula as being by
right a province of the great Slav Empire. If the war with
Japan had been terminated before the outbreak of the Russian
revolution Russia would probably have already asserted her
Suzerainty over the Balkan Peninsula.
The utter disorganisation of Russia, owing to her internal
difficulties, has deferred for the time being any prospect of
further Russian aggression against the Ottoman Empire. If the
respite thus afforded should be taken advantage of by Turkey and
Austria, there might be a possibility of an arrangement being
arrived at by which the Balkan Peninsula could be converted into
a guarantee for the peace of Europe, instead of a source of
constant disquietude. This arrangement would consist in an
extension of the Austrian Protectorate" over Bosnia and the
Herzegovina, to Macedonia, and later on to Servia and Bulgaria.
Under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the above-
named outlying provinces of Turkey have enjoyed a tranquillity
and order such as they have never known in their turbulent
annals. Tribal feuds and racial disputes have been suppressed
by the employment of military force, but in the internal adminis-
tration of the provinces the old laws, the old usages, the old
officials, and the old systems have been retained in as far as is
consistent with the ideas of Western civilisation. The native
administrators have been given clearly to understand that they
will not be interfered with, so long as they govern in accordance
with their own rules and customs, but that any flagrant instances
of oppression and corruption will lead to the immediate dismissal
200 The Empire Review
of their responsible authors. The system, however faulty in
theory, works well in practice. It has now been tried with
success for upwards of a quarter of a century, and at the recent
Dalmatian manoeuvres the native population displayed their open
satisfaction with the Austro-Hungarian Protectorate.
The extension of this Protectorate to Macedonia, if not to
Bulgaria and Servia, appears to be the best solution of the Balkan
problem. Indeed, its advantages are so obvious, that it would
probably be adopted if it were not for the rivalry of other con-
tinental Powers, and still more for the unfortunate dissensions
between Austria and Hungary. I have no hesitation in saying
that the Magyars have forfeited for the time being the sympathies
of Europe by their insane desire to gratify their national vanity
at the cost of their national safety. The existence of the Dual
Empire depends upon its having a common army. Hungary,
whose northern frontiers have no natural defences and are con-
terminous for a long distance with those of Eussia, is liable to
be invaded by Kussia at any moment, unless the former has an
Austro-Hungarian army at her back. Yet in the face of this
constant peril, the Magyars seemed till the other day determined
to convert the Dual Empire into a purely dynastic union, to have
her own regiments commanded by Hungarian officers, and to
employ the Hungarian language exclusively in giving commands
to Hungarian soldiers. In order to support their irrational con-
tentions, her statesmen and her Parliament absolutely threatened
to secede from the Dual Empire. Happily the determination of
the veteran Emperor to accept no change in the composition of
the army, which would diminish its military efficiency in the
event of war, has triumphed over the opposition of the Magyars,
and for a time at any rate Hungary has consented to postpone
the idea of secession. But this irrational and embittered con-
troversy has left behind it animosities which cannot but paralyse
the foreign policy of the Dual Monarchy.
Throughout Europe, save in Eussia, there has been during the
month now ended, a general lull in political controversies.
In France, however, the never-ending ecclesiastical controversy
between the Church and the State has been carried on with
increased acrimony. The abstract rights or wrongs of the
dispute in question, as indeed of all issues connected with
theological dogmas, are not matters on which I feel competent
to express any opinion, but writing as a man of the world, and
as one I trust not altogether devoid of common sense, I can
say with confidence that the feud between the Vatican and
the Eepublic can never be permanently settled except upon
the basis of mutual compromise. The relations between Church
and State always ' seem to me analogous to those between
Foreign Affairs 201
husband and wife. It is only a weak and foolish husband who
attempts to interfere with the religious opinion of his woman-
kind or to dictate what they are to believe or disbelieve. A
strong and sensible husband shrugs his shoulders and leaves
his womankind to follow the creed in which they have been born
and bred. In like fashion politicians, who are, or ought to be,
men of the world, should never attempt to legislate against the
rites, the practices of the Catholic clergy who, to the female
mind, represent the Church of Christendom. The vast majority
of women in France wish to be married by the rites of the
Catholic church, to have their children brought up as Catholics,
to havelthe sacraments administered by their clergy, and to be
buried in consecrated ground by priests ordained by members of
the hierarchy, of which the Pope of Eome is the supreme head
and spiritual Sovereign. If this view is correct, the State, as
represented by the French Chambers, is fighting a battle in which
it is bound to lose at the end.
According to my way of thinking he has already conceded as
much as he can be expected to grant. His Holiness may fairly plead
in his own defence the saying of Joseph II., the Emperor of
Austria, " c'est mon metier d'etre Koi," only substituting for king
the word pope. In accordance with the traditions of the Catholic
Church, Pius X. regards himself as the successor of St. Peter, the
vicegerent of Christ on earth. In common justice the Holy
Father cannot be asked to sanction changes in the status of the
French Church which he regards rightly or wrongly as fatal to the
Catholic religion. Non possumus is the only reply he can be
expected to give to the demands of the Kepublic. Such an
answer, however, is by no means equally incumbent upon the
French Kepublic. Their statesmen make no claim to infallibility.
There is absolutely no reason why they should not modify their
policy, so as to reconcile the Papacy to accepting the separation
of Church and State.
During the last few weeks, the ministerial press in France
has been denouncing the Pope for inconsistency in having
made certain concessions to Germany, and then refusing
to make similar concessions to France. They have, however,
completely overlooked the true lesson of the Kultur Kampf,
Germany is pretty equally divided between Catholics and Pro-
testants. Its reigning dynasty, and the bulk of its Ministers are
strict Lutherans, and at the period when the campaign against
the Papacy was commenced, the practical Government of the
Fatherland was in the hands of Prince Bismarck, the most
powerful and most popular of German statesmen. Yet the great
Minister, who had commenced his campaign by declaring that
he for one would never "go to Canossa," found after a hard and
202 The Empire Review
prolonged struggle, the task of placing the priesthood under the
direct authority of the State was one beyond his power to accom-
plish, and finally escaped from an untenable position by accepting
a compromise. What a Bismarck failed to accomplish is not
likely to be effected by a Clemenceau.
Across the Atlantic the impending presidential contest is
beginning to agitate the American public, though more than two
years still have to elapse before the electorate are called upon to
decide who is to be the next occupant at the White House. I
confess that whenever I read the American newspapers I thank
my stars that I was born under an hereditary monarchy and not
under a republican president. Eadicals of the Keir Hardie and
Lloyd George and John Burns type are always inveighing—
until they get into office — against the extravagance of our civil
list, yet even these gentlemen must be aware that the expendi-
ture on a presidential election, legitimate and illegitimate, far
exceeds the income paid to his Majesty and the members of the
royal family out of the civil list, and that this income is spent in the
country, and is seldom, if ever, used for unworthy purposes. On
the other hand, the vast amounts disbursed in America upon
electioneering preparations are spent in bribery, corruption and
jobbery of a sordid trend. As I stated in last month's Empire
Review, I feel confident that Mr. Roosevelt will in the end come
forward as the Republican candidate, and thus ignore the rule laid
down by General Washington against any president holding office
for more than two terms. If I were an American, " a plague on
both your houses " would be my comment on the suggested candi-
dates for this new presidency.
I have little confidence in Mr. Bryan, whose chief claim to
eminence seems to be his alliterative utterance during his first
candidature, to the effect that " the capitalists of Chicago had
crucified Christ upon a cross of gold." On the other hand, I
disapprove of Mr. Roosevelt's attempt to affiliate the South
American Republics to the United States by promising them that
he will not allow any Old World nation to enforce debts contracted
by them as independent States. And I have no sympathy with
his armed intervention in Cuba on the plea of it being the duty
of the United States to cancel the independence, whose conces-
sion, after the defeat of Spain, was vaunted abroad as a proof of
American magnanimity. Still, I could ignore his ambition to
play a leading part in European and international controversies.
I could shut my eyes to his manifest desire to acquire a fleet
which might prove a formidable competitor with England.
What I cannot stand at any price is his audacity as an American
in assuming the right to decide how the English language should
be spelt in future. I feel inclined to paraphrase the lines which
Foreign Affairs 203
the late Duke of Rutland made famous in his early career and to
say to the President :
Let letters, books and culture die,
But leave us still our old orthography.
The present lull to which I have alluded does not seem likely
to be of long continuance. The desire on the part of Crete for
annexation to Greece has been revived with increased acrimony.
The unrest in the East, and especially in Egypt, shows no sign of
diminution. Hitherto our British policy has been based upon a
conviction that the maintenance of the so-called European concert
is the only effective guarantee against the re-opening of the
Eastern Question. If we are correctly informed, this principle no
longer commands the approval of our present Government. After
prolonged discussion, the Ambassadors of the European Powers
represented at Constantinople had arrived at an unanimous agree-
ment as to the terms upon which Turkey could be allowed to
raise her custom dues by 3 per cent. This permission was
admitted on all sides to be essential to the re-organisation of
Macedonia under European control and supervision. Our able
Ambassador at the Court of the Sultan had given his consent to
the proposed increase of the dues in question, and the signature
of this International compact was regarded as a matter of course,
until our Government suddenly announced that it was not prepared
to sign the Convention , agreed to and approved by the representa-
tive of Great Britain, till Turkey had been asked to make further
concessions. We know too little of the facts of the case to express
opinion as to whether our objections to the Convention were well
or ill-advised. All we can say is that the refusal of our Ministry
to sign an arrangement sanctioned by our own Ambassador, in
common with all his European colleagues, must deal a heavy
blow to the principle of a European concert, and thereby must
necessarily impair, to some extent, the force of the policy on
which we have hitherto relied for the maintenance of peace in
Europe.
Altogether the outlook is not encouraging. The British
nation will, I am convinced, endorse cordially the statement
expressed in what may be described as the Billow manifesto,
" that we await further developments calmly, and with a confi-
dence we have not felt before, that they will lead to a more
friendly shaping of the International situation." Put into plain
English these words mean that the Imperial Chancellor approves
of the Anglo-French Agreement and even of a similar Anglo-
Franco-Kussian agreement so long as they are confined to diplo-
matic and moral support, but that he would disapprove of these
204 The Empire Review
agreements if they exceeded the limits of an entente cordiale and
were to assume the form of an Anti-German coalition.
My answer, as an Englishman, to this contention would be that
the idea of England under present circumstances joining in any
European coalition against Germany is utterly chimerical ; that
the foreign policy of England is matter for herself to decide, and
for herself alone, according to her view of her own interests
and her own welfare. At the same time I could raise no objec-
tion to Germany acting on the same principle and regulating her
foreign policy by her views of her own interests and her own
welfare. Nor, as I think, can England reasonably complain if
popular apprehensions have been excited in the Fatherland by
the extraordinary and exceptional welcome accorded and accepted
by our English officers at the recent French manoauvres, or by
the repeated assertions in the Parisian Press that this welcome
is only the prelude to a military alliance between France and
England. Under these circumstances, I think it would be well
if the British Government were to make it manifest, that, save
under some as yet utterly unforeseen contingency, the entente
cordiale with France is not capable of any further extension. In
such situations as the present, plain speaking is not only the
most honest but the wisest course.
EDWAED DICEY.
The Shifting of Authority 205
THE SHIFTING OF AUTHORITY
DANGER OF PAROCHIALISM
DURING the black days of November 1899 few people who took
an interest in the welfare of the British Empire failed to realise
that a crisis, involving a possible cataclysm, had arisen on the
Imperial horizon. When looking back to that week of trial those
who were most alive to its potentialities for national dissolution
have comforted themselves with the reflection that should a similar
emergency recur, the same rallying to the help of the mother-
country in her distress, of our far flung colonial detachments and
outposts, will again give pause to whatever nation or coalition
may be desirous of encompassing England's downfall. So long
as the menace is from without this patriotic anticipation is
probably not ill-founded ; but, as in the human body, so with the
life of the State, it is not so often death by violence, as the
insidious disease engendered internally, and often undetected
beneath an appearance of vigorous health, which snaps the thread
of existence.
The two great factors which have contributed to the collection
of our widely dispersed dominions under the British Flag have
been sea power and the so called " National " aptitude for coloni-
sation and colonial administration. Upon these two corner-stones
of the Imperial structure we have to rely for its solidarity and
permanence, and it is the aim of this article to suggest that the
recent and seismic changes in the level of Parliamentary repre-
sentation are tending to a most dangerous disturbance of their
foundations.
Some three centuries ago it was first enunciated that " Sea
Power is an abridgment of Monarchy," a truism which the
writings of Captain Mahan and others have only served to
emphasise in the light of the history which has since that day
unrolled itself upon the world's stage. To realise the full meaning
of the statement, however, it is necessary to accept the fact that
sea power, that is the power of imposing the law of yea or nay on
the fleets, armed or mercantile, of other nations, does not hinge
206 The Empire Review
upon the possession of an overwhelming navy or on its strategical
grouping in positions whence it can dominate the fleets and
commerce of the world ; but, on the temper of the directing will,
whether exercised by an autocrat, or by the elected assembly of a
constitutional State, which disposes of the sea and land forces.
It is the skill and determination of the brain and hand which
control the weapon, and not the weight and temper of the blade
itself which count in a clash of arms. It is scarcely necessary to
dwell upon the close relation between the hand and brain of this
simile, and the supreme will of Parliament in its control over the
Imperial armoury.
In dealing with the question of the oft asserted national
aptitude for dominating and administering subservient races and
colonial possessions, it is desirable to glance at the back pages of
our Imperial history, and to attempt to extract from the records
of accomplished fact the real secret of our success both in this
direction, and in the acquisition and utilising of the command of
the sea. Since the days when Bacon contemplated the small
nucleus of the British Empire, and its "Plantations," in the days
of Queen Elizabeth, that Empire has passed through many
vicissitudes and has survived various menaces to its continuity of
existence. The vagaries of the early Stuart regime, the exhausting
struggles of the Civil War, the stern though short-lived discipline
of the Commonwealth and its reaction in the profligacy of the
Restoration and the humiliations of the days of Van Troinp, all
came in swift succession to try the constitution of the growing
State. The errors and tactlessness of the Georgian period, with
its climax in the American War of Independence, and the loss
of the North American Colonies, were a set-off to the victories of
Marlborough and the days of Queen Anne. The twenty years
of the Napoleonic struggle, while testing all the joints of the
national harness, served to increase, to a vast extent, the world-
wide responsibilities of the British Empire ; and the subsequent
seventy years of comparative peace, seriously disturbed only by
the concerted conflict against Russia and the sudden but very
local flare of the Indian Mutiny, gave but the opportunity for
expansion, and the absorption of ever-increasing areas into the
real estate of the Imperial Constitution.
We are now living in an era of self-satisfied contentment.
Like the Pharisee we congratulate ourselves that we are not as
other men are. Such terms as " The greatest Empire the world
has ever seen," " The Empire on which the sun never sets," have
been assumed to be not only a statement of ascertained fact, but
have come to be taken almost as a guarantee of perpetual
continuity. It is accepted with smug complacency that the
British race has peculiar gifts for dominating and administering
The Shifting of Authority 207
the world's surface and all that exists thereon, and so much has
this become an acknowledged fact that foreign nations have
acquiesced, if not generously, at any rate with an envious sense
of inferiority in this respect. That this is a wholly national
qualification in the widest acceptance of the terms does not appear
to be warranted by fact.
From the days of Drake and Raleigh to those of Gordon and
Cecil Rhodes, it will be found that all our " empire builders " have
been men of education and of a certain social standing. Through-
out the centuries of our Imperial expansion the destinies of empires
have been in the hands of an educated class. The pioneer work
of extension, from the days of the "gentlemen adventurers," to
the recent conquest of Nigeria, has been entrusted to men of that
class, and owing to remoteness of locale and difficulties of com-
munication the administration of our over- sea possessions has
been left to the discretion, and in the hands of the same men.
The great sea and land captains who have carried the flag of
England across the seven seas, or who have consolidated her
dominions from Vancouver to Tasmania, and from Jamaica to
Hong-Kong, have been drawn from the same stratum of society.
Drake, Raleigh, Cook, Wolfe, Clive, Nelson, Wellesley, and the
host of other explorers and leaders of men who might be
enumerated, have all been men of some position, and of education
according to the standard of their time.
During this same period of expansion, the home administra-
tion, as embodied in Parliament, and the government of the day —
the kernel of Parliament — has also been in the hands of the same
class. The earliest knights of the shire and burgesses were,
judged by the standard of their contemporaries, men of culture
and erudition. Nothing is more noticeable in English history,
from the Elizabethan age to the mid- Victorian period, than the
fact that nearly all those who have made their mark in home
politics and over-sea administration have been men of superior
educational attainments. During the early part of the nineteenth
century it was almost a necessity for a youthful aspirant to
Parliamentary distinction to have travelled, at any rate in Europe,
even if he had not made the "grand tour;" an experience of
certainly far greater utility in its broadening influence on a
maturing brain, than the world-devouring scampers of the present
day.
Thus both home Government and the over-sea expansion of
the Empire have for the last three centuries been the work of a
particular class, which can perhaps be best described as the
" ruling class " of Englishmen ; and though there may be alleged
against them faults, and grave faults, of both omission and com-
mission— of which the diplomatic ^nd military history of the
208 The Empire Review
events leading to the declaration of American Independence is
probably the most glaring — yet the vast area and general prosperity
of the British Empire stand as a gigantic testimony to the
efficiency of their efforts, and the wisdom of their rule.
In this connection it is interesting to note the deductions of
Dr. von Schultze Gaevernitz in his recently published study of
British Imperialism. He deduces the inference that it is British
" Character " which has achieved the nation's past successes,
locates the foundation of that character on religion, and foresees
the possible eventual collapse of the Empire through the weakening
of that* key stone of religion.
I venture to differ altogether from these views. Though
admitting that " character " has been the great factor in building
up the Empire, yet the teaching of history goes to prove that it
has been the character of a particular class rather than of the
nation ; and that education rather than religion has provided the
tap root whence that character has drawn its strength.
The internal menace to the health of the Empire lies in the
sudden change of balance which the mechanism of Imperial
administration has recently undergone. During the last twenty
years the central administration at home, and as a consequence,
the supervision of the dependencies abroad, has been gradually
slipping from the hands of the class which built up the Empire to
a lower level of the community. Parliamentary, and still more
local, governing power has gradually been dropping from the
hands of the ruling classes. For purposes of local administration,
this, though galling to men who have hitherto held the reins, has
undoubtedly been of considerable advantage as a means of
educating those who will eventually have the administrative
control in their hands, for the higher work of Imperial government.
The devolution process has, however, become most dangerously
accelerated, and since the assembly of the present Parliament it
has daily been more evident that the real direction of the Govern-
ment's policy has been transferred, in Imperial as well as in the
home affairs, to a body of men who, though possibly sincere enough"
in their convictions of right and wrong, have neither the necessary
training, nor the knowledge of the outer world, which is desirable
if they are to deal with the various races and countries composing
the British Empire in an informed and sympathetic spirit.
To some extent the children of the present generation are
suffering for the sins of omission of their fathers. The con-
temporary history of foreign States, the development of social
existence in England, and the lesson of each successive Reform
Bill should have proved to our ancestors that the control of
national administration must gradually settle lower and lower in
the scale of class, and eventually devolve upon the people them-
The Shifting of Authority 209
selves, and it should therefore have been their particular interest
to provide for the coming transfer of authority, by suiting the
education which was being spread through the people to the
responsibilities which must in the near future come into their
hands. Not only did purely British interests demand this
foresight, but our over-sea obligations made it of paramount
importance.
That our predecessors neglected their duties in this respect the
tone of the questions asked by certain Members of the House of
Commons, as well as their speeches and writings, render only too
apparent to those who read them in distant parts of the Empire ;
and that the danger of uneducated interference in Imperial
matters is at last forcing itself upon the convictions of the Govern-
ment is sufficiently proved by the serious warning recently
addressed to the House of Commons by Sir Edward Grey in
connection with certain events in Egypt.
In detecting the mote in our forefathers' eye we must not
deceive ourselves as to the shameful proportions of the beam
which is distorting our own vision. In America, Germany, France,
Holland, and most foreign countries, the first lesson to be instilled
into the childish mind is a patriotic pride in the history, achieve-
ments, and magnificence of the fatherland. In the British Islands
not only is it peculiarly desirable that this sentiment should be
encouraged, but it is absolutely incumbent on the educational
authorities to instruct the rising generation in the peculiar
character and history of the British Empire, and to familiarise
them with the diversity of creeds, races, climates, and interests,
of which it is composed. Yet not only are we far behind other
nations in this respect, but until the most recent times not the
smallest step was taken in this direction.
The religious controversy which is still raging over the Educa-
tion Bill is no doubt a question of the most serious spiritual
importance to its disputants, but it is possibly not too much to
suggest — judging from recent experience of our Parliamentary
Representatives — that if immediate and most comprehensive
measures are not taken to educate those who in years to come will
exercise the franchise to a higher sense of Imperial responsibility,
and to some apprehension of matters beyond the immediate
surroundings of the individual, religion will probably be one of the
few items left, of all our vast Imperial assets, on which the
legislators of the future will be able to display their oratorical
powers and air their personal convictions.
But future prevention will not save the Empire from the
menace of the present, and it is necessary to rouse all those who
prefer national safety to party, and who place Imperial interests
above parochial trivialities, to the peril which the attitude of a
VOL. XII.— No. 69. p
210 The Empire Review
considerable proportion of our present legislators constitutes to
the national existence. It has hitherto been the aim of Parlia-
ment to pilot the Empire ever upwards in the world's history, but
many of its members now seem only desirous of hastening it with
all speed to an eventual nadir. The Government now in office,
despite its enormous nominal majority, has so heterogeneous a
composition that perhaps the one point on which they are all
agreed is that it is their " mission " to expedite the advent of the
millennium by decades if not by centuries. This in itself may be
a most noble aspiration, but it should be accompanied by the con-
viction that the integrity of the British Empire is the primary
responsibility of Parliament. The burning desire to put the whole
world right in ten days argues in itself an ignorance of past history
which speaks rather of the love of interference of the busybody
than of the prudent caution of the statesman. In this connection,
while pity rather than blame should be assigned to the possibly
sincere but ignorant section who wish to run all portions of our
dominions on one standard pattern of insular similarity, and who
are palpably no more fitted to deal with questions of Imperial
policy than is the frothy Babu to control the destinies of India, it
is difficult to find adequate terms in which to refer to the actions
and speeches of more responsible men — to find whom it is not
necessary to look far from the Treasury Bench — who are perfectly
prepared to gamble away the very foundations of the British Empire
for a party cry, and to cut down the national insurance of both
land and sea forces to any extent, so that a delusive and merely
ephemeral reduction in expenditure may be proclaimed. What
the eventual reckoning is likely to be for such so-called economy,
the two hundred millions, of the South African war bill, and its
tale of lives lost, may serve as an indication.
That England's danger in having her Parliamentary chariot
in the hands of such Phaethons is fully realised both at home and
abroad needs but little demonstration. The sudden fall in
Consols at a moment of profound peace, the constant and steady
transfer of capital from British to foreign securities, and the
general feeling of apprehension as to our present circumstances,
which is apparent in both commercial and journalistic circles, form
stronger proofs than could be afforded by even a vote of want of
confidence in the G overnment.
The destinies of Empire, it is realised, are in effect entrusted
to a section of the Government's supporters, of whom it can best
be said that their parochial bringing up, and lack of education and
experience in matters outside their own petty surroundings, have
naturally engendered the insane presumption that all portions of
the British Empire can be made to conform to the methods of
Bermondsey or Bow. Doubtless in many cases they honestly
The Shifting of Authority 211
believe that it would be for the good of our colonists if this were
done. They know nought of India, or Africa, or of our other vast
dominions which exceed the area of their own small island a
thousandfold. These countries are to them as sealed a book as
is the interior of Patagonia, yet they have the assurance of
consummate ignorance, the quality which leads them to interfere
in the domestic affairs of distant lands with the violent invective
of the demagogue, where diplomatic angels would fear even to
whisper advice.
The danger is imminent and grave. At the moment there
exists but one safeguard — the House of Lords, and it is safe to
assume that the Radical extremists will do their best to traduce,
discredit, and if possible destroy, this last bulwark of the Constitu-
tion, for it forms the only obstacle between themselves and those
on whom they wish to carry out the experimental folly of their
so-called " mandates," their fads, and their conscientious con-
victions.
For the future, the remedy against a constant and aggravated
recurrence of the same dangers, with the election of each successive
Parliament, lies primarily in the education of the rising generation,
in such a manner as to fit them to exercise the franchise with
discrimination and regard to Imperial interests. The Empire is
unique in its composition and distribution. For this reason its
governing assembly should be composed of men acquainted with,
and specially educated in, its varied problems and conditions.
This can only be insured by giving special education in these
directions to the whole mass of the electorate. We have, by our
constitution, arbitrarily appropriated to the mother-country the
power of dictating to her offspring. In fairness to them we should
ensure that those who exercise that power are at least acquainted
with the characteristics and material interests of those to whom
they dictate, and who are allowed no means of direct representa-
tion among the dictating body.
It should no longer be possible for our legislators to wallow in
confusion between Potchefstroom and Peshawar, or confess to an
ignorance whether a Eurasian and a Creole are not synonymous
terms. The " Nonconformist Conscience " dismisses with airy
nonchalance questions of religious difference between the Sikh
and the Mussulman, the Parsi and the Buddhist. To many, if not
the majority of Members of Parliament, it is probable that the
distinctions between these various creeds (even where they are
aware that they are religious and not merely racial divergences)
are absolutely unknown. Yet do they differ as materially as the
spark of a lucifer match from the effulgence of the Eontgen rays,
and moreover form the most important and fundamental considera-
tion in the lives of some three hundred millions of fellow-creatures
p 2
212 The Empire Review
on whom our Kadical legislators assume the responsibility of
imposing their sovereign will.
Till recently this ignorance of Parliament in such matters has
been comparatively immaterial, for two reasons. Firstly, the
means of inter-communication between England and her over-sea
dependencies have been so slow and infrequent that all domestic
and local affairs were necessarily left to the men on the spot who
were conversant with existing conditions. Secondly, the level of
Parliamentary representation was higher, and members were
content to hold their peace on matters on which they confessed
themselves profoundly ignorant, and to leave them to the decision
of the Cabinet instructed by men of local experience.
The last twenty years have seen a complete change in both
these respects. Telegraphic and postal arrangements have been
so perfected and accelerated that there are now few portions of the
British Empire where the man on the spot cannot be directly
controlled from Downing Street, and therefore indirectly hampered
in his work by the most benighted district which exercises the
franchise. The ruling spirit of the present Parliament is one of
universal interference — not with matters which do not concern
them — for the conditions of every part of the Empire closely
concerns its head— but with matters on which their ignorance is
conspicuous. Let members demand information by all means, on
any and every subject on which it is of advantage to them to be
instructed, but let them leave the duty of giving a decision to
those whose knowledge and experience enable them to bring a
sound and unprejudiced intelligence to the task. Let not matters
which are vital to the life interests of thousands or millions
of British subjects be subjected to a vote influenced by party
considerations, and given by men whose absolute ignorance
of the question at issue usually forms their only qualification
for recording an opinion.
Nothing tends to produce modesty as regards the attainments
of the individual, or to instil a consciousness of comparative ignor-
ance, more effectively than a sound and liberal education on
historical and geographical lines. If we confer this gift on the
rising generation we shall possibly be very greatly prolonging
our Imperial existence, and may save our fellow-subjects from
continuing to be the plaything of Parliamentary caprice and
blustering infallibility.
E. J. M.
The University of Johannesburg 213
THE UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
BY HUBERT READE
* ME. BEIT'S will has rendered it possible to found an Oxford in
South Africa. By his bequest of £200,000 to the Board of Educa-
tion at Johannesburg for the buildings and equipment of the
University of Johannesburg on the estate at Frankenwald which
he lately gave to the city, and for the construction of a tramway
to it, a bequest which is to lapse if the undertaking is not carried
out within ten years, he has raised the university to an institution
which may do a great work in bringing about racial peace in
South Africa.
As Sir Richard Jebb aptly pointed out in his inaugural
address as President of the Educational Section of the British
Association at Cape Town, the distinction between a university
and a technical institute lies in two things, namely in the breadth
of the education given and in the social life. A technical institute
has, in the main, for its object those studies which may train the
student to make money ; in a university something is also done
to remind him that man doth not live by bread alone. All classes
of mi ads meet together ; the student of theology rubs shoulders
with the budding lawyers and engineers ; the chemist may acquire
a tincture of literature. The non-residential technical institutes
and universities of England and Ireland have done a great and good
work in training our workers in practical and theoretical science ;
they have not been called upon to do as much for English social
and public life. A technical institute and non-residential university
at Johannesburg might do much for science, although the evi-
dence given by some Professors of the University of the Cape of
Good Hope before the Transvaal Commission on Technical
Education of 1902 showed that the work of research, so important
in South Africa, must inevitably suffer if any attempt were made
to combine the university and the polytechnic. It could do but
little to bring together the English and the Dutch, and equally
little to raise the tone of public life in a continent where the
schoolmaster must needs be the chief agent for good. It is true
214 The Empire Review
that non-residential universities are the training-grounds for
Scotland and for Germany, but it is equally true that in the times
before the movement for German unity arose, the German system
of students' societies served rather to keep apart than to unite
men from the different parts of the Reich. In existing circum-
stances it would be a waste of opportunity to allow the social life
of South Africa's chief educational institution to depend wholly
on the voluntary organisations introduced by the students. They
must be brought together not only in the lecture-room and in the
club, but in the cricket-field and in the dining-hall. The life of
Ireland suffers by its water-tight compartment system of education.
Half the bitterness of Irish politics springs from the fact that the
teams of Maynooth and Trinity College, Dublin, do not contend
in the football-field, and that the rising preacher, Father O'Flynn,
has not heard the "howlers " committed by the far-famed Saunders,
that light of the Presbyterian North, in the Greek lecture. The
two Churches would not fight so much if their leading represen-
tatives had appeared together to be wigged by the Dean for
screwing up dons or smashing windows in their callow days.
Bacial hatreds and questions of nationality are running high
in South Africa, and unfortunately the leaders on both sides are
men who have had but little chance of meeting in social life.
How often had Mr. Beit entertained a Dutch predikant to lunch ?
Had he ever heard a discourse by that great orator the Eev. A.
Bosman of Pretoria, whose sermon on General Joubert's death
contains passages which would not seem out of place in Bossuet's
funeral oration on Turenne? Our English political life is the
better because Mr. Balfour and Mr. Asquith, after a war of words
in the House, go and laugh together over the roundabouts at
Earl's Court, and Lord Robert Cecil, Mr. Lloyd-George, and the
Archbishop of Westminster can, if they will, have a friendly chat
on the terrace. Is such intercourse between the chiefs of the
Progressives and the leaders of Het Volk common in South Africa
to-day ? It must be the work of the University of Johannesburg
to bring the future guides of South African life and thought
together in their youth, and give them a starting-point from which
they can go forward on their several roads. Such memories make
for peace.
Mr. Beit's bequest enables the University of Johannesburg to
carry out the task. A residential university at Frankenwald
will be seated amongst surroundings as fair as those of Magdalen
or of New College. It may be impossible to transport the
traditions of Oxford to the veldt, it should not be to convey some-
what of its atmosphere under that clearer sky. The Americans
have reproduced at West Point, if not at Harvard, the outward
semblance of an English college. It would not be difficult for
The University of Johannesburg 215
skilled architects and gardeners to lend a touch of Oxford to the
youngest of her sisters. But South Africa has a character of her
own. The veldt flowers would not bloom besides the Cherwell,
and the old farm-houses of the Cape Peninsula have memories
which appeal to the South African. Could not the buildings of
the new university be modelled on Groot Constantia or on Alphen,
and could not her gardens and woods be so arranged as to form
not only a thing of beaut)7 but one of the greatest centres for
botany and forestry in the world ? Young men who had learnt
to love Frankenwald would not forget her when they passed on
into the outer world, and a beautiful Frankenwald might do much
to soften the ugliness of many a distant dorp. The thought was
not absent from Mr. Beit's mind when he left so large a sum to
be devoted to her buildings.
But the mind is more important than the body, and it is
through the mind that the University of Johannesburg may bring
peace to South Africa. As Mr. Churchill pointed out, the Boer
magnates are already sending their sons to be trained as mining
engineers at the Transvaal Institute. The Boers, however, as
was shown before the Transvaal Education Commission by their
spokesman Dr. Breijdel, are greatly disinclined to leave their sons
in Johannesburg if it can be avoided, and the Boer is, moreover, es-
sentially a country squire of the older English type — a justice of the
peace of Shakespeare's day. Thanks to the exertions of Mr. E. B.
Sargant and of Professor Hele-Shaw, it has been arranged that
the university is to include faculties of agriculture and of educa-
tion, so that the Boers will now have good reasons for letting
their sons study side by side with the English science students,
especially as Frankenwald can give the best practical as well as
the best theoretical teaching in agriculture, horticulture and viti-
culture. Thus the English and the Dutch will learn to know one
another in the lecture-room, in the hall, and in the cricket-field,
if not in the debating society, and the charm of Oxford life will in
some degree be reproduced. Is it impossible that the Dutch
Churches should allow their students to study in a faculty of
theology at Frankenwald ? Oxford now receives Benedictine and
Dominican novices as well as the Nonconformist candidates of
Mansfield College, and surely if the university accepts such
arrangements on the subject as hold good in these instances at
Oxford, those in authority in the Hervormde and Gereformeerde
Churches might be willing to allow their future pastors some
contact with a wider life.
The teaching of Frankenwald is no less important than its
social life, and, as Sir Richard Jebb has pointed out, the existence
of a faculty for education will in some degree necessarily imply the
existence of a school of literature. As he has shown, the English
216 The Empire Review
language and literature can afford useful training for the mind.
I would add that history — the history of the Bible and the tales
of the Voortrekkers — has till lately been the sole mental food
provided for the Boer, and that modern history, if taught in the
right spirit, can exercise that inspiration which Jowett led his pupils
to seek in Plato and in Thucydides. History, more than any other
study, can teach that virtue of tolerance which is so wanting in
South Africa. Moreover, though I am fully aware of all that may
be urged against bilingualism, I would point out that the new
Constitution guarantees the equality of English and of Dutch.
Consequently it is absolutely necessary that the best means of
teaching the Dutch language and literature should be provided,
and I would add that the history of Holland is full of instruction
for those whose lot is cast in South Africa. The old United
Provinces went to ruin because their rulers, holding fast to the
institutions which they had copied from Venice, refused to bend
to the changing times : the aristocracy of England which, before
1832 was also an oligarchy on the Venetian model, remains in
power to-day because it knew how to adapt itself to the demands
of progress. Men trained at Eton and at Oxford and Cambridge
who had grown up on their ancestral manors were more tolerant
than those who had been bred in the counting-houses of Amster-
dam, in the tulip gardens of Haarlem and amongst the pedants of
Ley den.
In the early seventeenth century, the States-General of Holland
was as full of statesmanship as the English Parliament. By the
end of the eighteenth it had stiffened into a more than Russian
rigour. Mutatis nominibus the events which brought about the fall
of Greater Holland were not unlike the events of 1899. It will give
pleasure to the Dutch if the Dutch language and literature are
studied at the university. It would be a waste of opportunity to
leave the history of Holland untouched. Should not a Dutch
chapel and chaplain find a place in this plan. Instruction in
Spanish and Portuguese should be provided to enable the mining
and engineering graduates to find employment in South and
Central America, and in Portuguese Africa.
The faculty of education will provide England with the best
means for influencing the course of life and thought at Franken-
wald. It is to be hoped that social as well as educational considera-
tions will be taken into account in manning the staff, and that the
teachers of literature will be drawn from Oxford and Cambridge.
An English gentleman can do wonders in the professor's chair in
South Africa, and it is no bad thing that her youth should be
brought under the influence of one who has other thoughts than
those of the fight for gold. If, too, the new University is brought
into closer contact with Oxford and with Cambridge, it is not diffi-
The University of Johannesburg 217
cult to see that manyiEnglish students who intend to settle in South
Africa will go through a course in her lecture rooms. The ex-
perience of the training farms in Orangia has more than proved
how useful such a preliminary education under South African
conditions can be made to youths from England. It will be
possible, too, to establish a public school on a small scale on the
English pattern in connection with the faculty of L education,
which may be of advantage to the sons of those who are not rich
enough to send them for education to England or to the Coast.
Magdalen Grammar School, Oxford, is managed by Magdalen
College in virtue of its charter, and the Normal School at Franken-
wald might well be modelled upon it. Mr. Beit's tramway ensures
that the workers at Johannesburg will be able to profit by the
lectures and courses of the university. Its surroundings will
give them no unwelcome change from the dumping heaps of
the Band.
The present Transvaal Institute has a hostel connected with
it which is under the management of some of the professors.
That hostel will doubtless be transferred to Frankenwald, and
will form the first of a series which may develop into halls. As,
at Oxford, those halls will sooner or later unite into colleges, and,
if the rich men of South Africa continue to follow in the path
which Mr. Ehodes, Mr. Beit and Mr. Philipson Stowe have
marked out for them, those who come after us may see the splendid
piles of a Hamburg College, a Neumann College, or a Joel College,
lining a Beit Street which would have no reason to fear com-
parison with the High or with King's Parade.
The charter of Trinity College, Dublin, would seem to afford
an admirable model for that of the University of Frankenwald,
for the powers of expansion given by that charter have often been
thought to furnish the means for solving the Catholic University
question, that is by the creation of a new college in the University
of Dublin, of which Trinity is itself only a college. In any case
the University of Johannesburg should be a Eoyal Foundation
with a Eoyal Charter and a Eoyal Grant of Arms. Would it be
inappropriate if that charter named as one of the objects of
the foundation " the peace and union of Africa under British
rule?"
For Mr. Beit's will has, in reality, made British Africa one.
By his bequest to the Cape-Cairo Eailway he has (save for the
" Wasp's Waist ") linked together Cape Town and Alexandria,
and those best acquainted with Uganda, with British East Africa
and with the Soudan, think it by no means impossible that men
trained at Frankenwald might do admirable work both as adminis-
trators and as agricultural pioneers in those vast regions. In a
word, Mr. Beit has called into existence the " Far North " to
218 The Empire Review
satisf y the land hunger of the Boer, and has given us the means
to make the Boer feel himself the citizen of no mean Empire.
The Dutch colonists in the Hinterland of Mossamedes found their
chief obstacles in the Portuguese Administration and in the
absence of markets for their produce. These obstacles will not
exist in Northern Rhodesia, and if the Afrikanders can be
trained in practical agriculture and ranching under tropical and
subtropical conditions, there seems no reason why they should not
find homes as planters along the Cape to Cairo Bailway. If part
of the Education Fund provided by Mr. Beit's will for Rhodesia
is applied to found experimental farms and agricultural schools on
the lines of the smaller of those in Western Australia and of those
managed by the Boards of Agriculture in the United States and
Canada, it would appear easy for men, who had received their
theoretical education at Frankenwald or in England, to acquire
such a practical training as would enable them to act as directors
of plantations throughout tropical Africa. Thus new prospects
would be opened up for the Boer farmers, and the area at their
disposal for settlement widely extended. Inyanga, the farm near
Fort Salisbury, left by Mr. Rhodes for an Agricultural School,
would certainly be available as one of these stations, whilst funds
for settlers would doubtless be supplied from the Guaranteed
Loan to be raised for objects common both to the English and
the Dutch, which was suggested by Mr. Churchill as one of the
bases for the arrangement as to the Land Settlement Scheme in
the Transvaal and Orange River Colony.
Lastly, if the Civil Service in the two new colonies is to be
recruited by competitive examination, it is for the University of
Johannesburg to furnish its future heads, nor need her graduates
fear to present themselves as candidates for the Imperial army
and Civil Service in the examinations for which science at present
yields the most marks. They will also find all the English
universities opened to them under their " Indian and Colonial
Students Statutes."
Such is the will of Mr. Alfred Beit, yet he has been taxed
with a want of imagination. Is it nothing to have called into
being a South African Oxford, and to have opened up to the
South African a Far North which may in some degree be to
him what the Far West has been to the American ? It is
a pity that we cannot have more of such visionaries as this.
Mr. Beit wished his vast wealth to do service to mankind.
He will have accomplished his wish if it brings tolerance and
refinement to South Africa. The Board of Education in
Johannesburg is entrusted with a task not wholly unlike that of
the Rhodes Trustees. It is to be hoped that they will rise to the
height of their opportunities, for it is certain that if they do they
The University of Johannesburg 219
will receive the help and earn the gratitude of the statesmen and
the educationalists of the Empire. They are the " Heirs of the
Ages," and it will be their fault if they do not gather in the harvest
which has sprung from centuries of experience in education and
sow the good seed anew on the South African iveldt. " Qui
seminant " * would be no unfitting motto for the university which
may lead South Africa into peace.
HUBERT KEADE.
N.B. — This Paper was written before the publication of the
proposals submitted by Lord Selborne to all parties in the two
new Colonies as to the New Guaranteed Loan, nor had I seen
Mr. B. Wise's Report to the British South Africa Company on
Colonisation in Southern Rhodesia, or the interview with Major
Coryndon, Resident in North-Western Rhodesia, which appeared
in the Press on September 14, 1906.
I venture to claim that these documents prove the great work
which can be done if the proposed Land Settlement Board will
work in harmony with the British South Africa Company, the
Education Board at Johannesburg and the trustees of Mr. Beit
and Mr. Rhodes.— H. R.
* Of. Psalm cxxvi. 5 : " Qui seminant in lacrymis in exultatione metent."
220 The Empire Review
THE CARE OF THE SICK AND HURT IN
OUR MERCHANT NAVY
BY HAMILTON GRAHAM LANGWILL, M.D., F.R.C.P.E.
WITH a nation such as ours in whose trade sea-borne com-
merce plays so prominent a part, the welfare of its mercantile
marine is a matter of the highest importance. When introducing
some months ago the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment (No. 2)
Bill, the President of the Board of Trade brought to the notice
of the public some of the faults and shortcomings of the present
condition of affairs in our merchant navy. Into the merits or
demerits of the proposals contained in that Bill I have no inten-
tion of entering, but seek rather to direct attention to one aspect
of the welfare of our large seafaring population, which is
apparently left untouched, viz. the question of providing suitable
training for the officers of our merchant navy in the care of the
sick and hurt members of the crews under their command.
That great and urgent need exists for this reform there can be
no doubt, and I hope in this article to show how such a training
may be effected.
As regards the officers of one large class of merchant vessels
there is no need for elementary instruction in " ship doctoring."
I allude to the passenger liners which always carry a surgeon
as part of their complement. To this branch of our mercantile
marine my subsequent remarks therefore have no reference. But
though in value and tonnage the large fleets of passenger liners
represent a very considerable portion of our merchant navy, yet
the number of vessels which do not carry a surgeon as part of
their complement is far greater. It is on behalf of the officers
and crews of this large class of " tramps," varying from the
" Clippers, wing and wing, that race the Southern wool,"
to the —
" Crawling cargo-tanks of Bremen, Leith and Hull,
. . . The whalers of Dundee,"
that I venture to put forward a plea for medical instruction.
Nor is it merely instruction in the ordinary " first aid "
ambulance work which is required. The condition of affairs is
Care of Sick and Hurt in our Merchant Navy 221
vastly different in the event of a broken leg, or serious illness
occurring at sea compared with a similar incident ashore, in
an engineering shop or factory. On shore the knowledge
of " first aid " possessed by so many of the artisan class, as a
result of the lectures given on ambulance work, often proves of
great value during the short interval which elapses before the
patient is seen by a doctor or removed to a hospital. But
at sea the matter assumes quite another aspect. It may be
days, weeks, or even in long voyages — especially in sailing ships
— months before the sick or injured man can be seen by a
doctor, supposing he survives his injuries so long. The merchant
officers' course of instruction must therefore be more advanced
than that of the ordinary ambulance course. It must also be
more extensive and include instruction in the recognition and
treatment of the commoner diseases as well as accidents, while
arrangements should be made to enable him to acquire that
knowledge while still following his arduous calling, for to attend
an ordinary ambulance class means in nearly every instance
that the officer must leave his ship for some weeks — a sacri-
fice one could scarcely ask of him. Moreover, the instruction
he would get at such a course would largely, if not entirely,
consist in the use of temporary " first aid " means for making
the patient comfortable or preventing danger till the doctor
arrives, an interval which, as I have pointed out in the case of
our merchant officer's patient, may be at least six weeks.
Having briefly indicated the special requirements of the
merchant navy officer, I propose to indicate how these require-
ments may best be met and dealt with. Perhaps the simplest
way of doing this will be to describe what has already been
done in this respect at one of our principal seaports.
It is now more than two years since the Principal of the
Leith Nautical College, whose knowledge of all matters pertaining
to our mercantile marine and particularly the training of officers
is probably unequalled, requested me to draft a syllabus of
instruction in " Ship medicine, surgery, and hygiene " with a
view to starting a course for ships' officers in the Leith Nautical
College. As implied in the title, the instruction goes much
beyond that of the ordinary ambulance course of lectures, medical
ailments as well as surgical affections being dealt with. A
course extending over seven weeks was suggested as being most
suitable, two lectures of an hour each to be given weekly, one in
the afternoon, the other in the evening.
In order to meet as far as possible the difficulty of irregular
attendance (owing to absence at sea), the lectures were arranged
(on the further suggestion of the Principal) so as to " dovetail."
Thus the lectures, of which practically half deal with medical
222 The Empire Review
and half with more purely surgical subjects, are given in such an
order that men who can attend on Mondays as well as Thursdays
may get a complete course of instruction within seven weeks,
while men who can attend only once a week obtain a full course
of instruction by attending only on Mondays or Thurdays of the
two courses. This is managed by reversing the order of lectures
in each course ; thus, if the surgical instruction be given on
Mondays and the medical lectures on Thursdays in the first
course of seven weeks, the reverse conditions are adopted in the
subsequent course, so that in fourteen Mondays (or Thursdays)
the complete syllabus is overtaken. Such an arrangement is
especially suitable at a seaport like Leith where trade is so largely
Continental, the vessels making in many cases weekly voyages.
As far as possible each lecture is complete in itself, so that
although regular attendance throughout the course is eminently
desirable, a ship's officer who may only be in Leith every second
or third week can still follow intelligently the subject of the
lecture on that particular day. The better to enable him to do
so each member of the class is provided with " slips " containing
a summary of the important points of the lecture, making note-
taking unnecessary, the pupils being thus given a concise resume
of the day's lecture which they can revise at their leisure. In
order to keep an accurate record of intermittent attendances, each
member of the class has a card on which the full syllabus is
printed, and in the space opposite the particular lecture of the
day the date of his attendance is recorded and attested by the
Principal.
Attendance on the course of instruction may be begun at any
time, the pupil being at liberty to put in the requisite attendances
during any subsequent courses until he has been present at all the
lectures. After putting in the requisite number of attendances he
may enter for examination on the whole course at the first avail-
able opportunity, and should he pass satisfactorily, the Board of
Trade officially recognise the fact by endorsing his certificate to
the effect that he has proved himself qualified in — what is still
termed — " ambulance work." At present the examinations are
held by the St. Andrew's Ambulance Association, who also grant
their own certificate of proficiency ; but in view of the fact that
the instruction differs from the ordinary " first aid " course, it
might be well — and this is a point to which I desire to draw
special attention — if an examination in ship medicine and surgery
were instituted under Government auspices. This would obviate
one of the very great practical difficulties of the present system of
instruction in Leith under which the pupils have to be taught
really two methods of treatment— "first aid" instruction (required
for examination purposes), and actual ship surgery for practical
Care of Sick and Hurt in our Merchant Navy 223
use in cases where the patient cannot be seen by a qualified
medical man for days or weeks. If an examination in ship
medicine and surgery were instituted under State auspices, held
at fixed intervals at all our large seaports, the time spent at
present in teaching the ordinary " first aid " method of treatment
would be available for fuller instruction in the more useful ship
surgery.
Although a digression from the description of the work done
at Leith, this may be the most convenient opportunity to refer to
another cognate point — the need for the institution of similar
courses of instruction at all our large seaports. If similar centres
of instruction existed, the facilities for acquiring the necessary
knowledge would not only be greatly increased, but also simplified.
For with the existence of such classes (all working on a similar
syllabus), the ship's officers belonging to Leith could put in some
of their attendances at Hull, Glasgow, London, or wherever they
might happen to be. The various seaports, with their courses of
instruction, would thus stand much in the relation of affiliated
colleges, attendance at any of which would qualify as regards the
individual lectures for the Government examination. Under a
scheme like this the time which must elapse before all the officers
of our mercantile marine have been afforded sufficient opportunity
for acquiring the requisite instruction in this very necessary
subject would be greatly reduced and shortened. Nay, more,
why should the system not be in force, as suggested by the
Principal in the syllabus of the Leith Nautical College, throughout
the Empire ? The British seaman and his officer is to be seen
in every port in the world ; surely in ports that fly his own flag it
should be possible to give him opportunities for acquiring useful
medical training and instruction.
To return again to Leith. Seven of the lectures deal with
the usual subjects of an ordinary ambulance course, beginning
with a description of the skeleton and the arrangements of the
bones and joints, so absolutely necessary to an understanding of
the important subject of fractures and dislocations. This is
specially one part of the course in which the teaching requires
to be more advanced than in the usual ambulance lecture.
While " reduction of a dislocation " (replacing the bone in a joint
which has been displaced) is no part of the duty of a " first aid "
pupil, who is merely expected to make the patient comfortable
till medical aid is obtained, the case is very different at sea.
Keduction of some forms of dislocation may be attempted safely
by an officer who has received the necessary instruction, and in
like manner the recognition and proper treatment of the common
fractures may be fairly satisfactorily carried out by a careful officer
who has had some training in the subject.
224 The Empire Review
In regard to the teaching of injuries to bones and joints
a great advance has recently been made by the introduc-
tion of the stereoscopic photograph, which gives the pupil a
picture of the injured limb, as it were, in perspective, thus
bringing out much more clearly the " displacement " (or dis-
tortion) of the limb, often the characteristic feature of a par-
ticular injury. The governors of Leith Nautical College have
provided an excellent stereoscope, and through the kindness of a
well-known surgeon in Edinburgh — himself a lecturer on surgery
— I obtained for the college an excellent collection of stereoscopic
photographs of all the commoner varieties of fracture and disloca-
tion. Thus, when speaking of dislocation of the shoulder- joint —
an injury very liable to occur at sea through a fall on slippery
decks — the lecturer is enabled to show the pupils a stereoscopic
picture of an actual case of that injury in which the contrast with
the normal joint on the opposite limb emphasises the appearance
of the injury in a way that no words can do. The eye as well as
the ear is appealed to, and the lay pupil can thus obtain a better
mental picture of what a person with a " dislocated shoulder "
looks like than many a medical student with all his text-books
was able to get a decade ago. Moreover, the stereoscopic photo-
graph, as a means of teaching, is almost of more value than an
actual patient, because the pupil can go back again and again to
the stereoscope, and so stamp the picture of the damaged limb
upon his brain, whereas the patient who has had the injury
reveals no signs of it the moment the joint is restored. Both for
teaching and revisal purposes the stereoscopic photograph is of
the greatest service.
The other surgical lectures of the course deal with the
remaining subjects taken up in the ordinary ambulance course,
the resuscitation of the apparently drowned, treatment of wounds,
bleeding, fainting, and poisoning cases.
On purely medical subjects it is more difficult to give satis-
factory instruction. The photograph, stereoscopic or otherwise,
is practically useless as an aid in the recognition of internal
disease. Nevertheless into the somewhat hidden mysteries of
medical ailments it is possible to give a lay pupil a fairly useful
insight without the aid of any further " instruments " than he
possesses in his eyes and ears. If some are inclined to quote the
proverb about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing, one can
only retort that surely a little knowledge as to what not to do can
never be dangerous, and the matter of precaution is one of the most
important aspects of the subject. Thus the subject of the various
infectious fevers is pretty fully dealt with, the eruptions, or
"rashes," being illustrated when possible by those coloured
plates now published in good medical atlases. The sources
Care of Sick and Hurt in our Merchant Navy 225
and modes of spread of infection, and the precautions to be taken
in each case are especially emphasised, and the characteristic
symptoms of the commoner fevers — home and tropical — are
detailed in the " slips " given to the pupils.
The use of the clinical thermometer for discovering the presence
and the degree of feverishness is also taught, and in these days
when the latter instrument is so frequently possessed by the
mother of a household, its importance to the ship's officer as an
unerring aid in the recognition of many varieties of disease
scarcely needs pointing out.
Such matters as general medical affections of the lungs,
stomach and the like, are dealt with from the point of view of
symptoms merely. Thus while it is impossible to instruct a lay
pupil how to " diagnose " a certain disease of the lungs, one is
able to give a ship's officer a considerable amount of help towards
recognising the probable conditions associated with the cough
that the member of his crew complains of. In an article of this
kind, one cannot enter into details respecting the symptoms of
diseases, but, taking as an example such a common disease as
pneumonia, it is quite possible to give an officer a fairly clear idea
of the naked eye appearances of a patient suffering from such a
disease with its various characteristic symptoms, such as the
tell-tale form of expectoration, enabling him to recognise a similar
case should it occur amongst his crew.
The value of the lecture is enhanced by subsequent practical
instruction in the hospital wards. By arrangement with the
Directors of Leith Fospital the lecturer is enabled at the end of
the course to take h^3 pupils from the Nautical College to the
medical and surgical wards of Leith Hospital, and to show them
actual instances of the ordinary diseases he has described. In
this way a deeper impression is produced and a clearer mental
picture is left on the mind of the pupil as to how the patient looks.
Moreover, during the ward visit the lecturer is able to point out to
the pupils not merely any naked eye conditions characteristic of
the diseases under treatment at the time (e.g. the typical expecto-
ration of bronchitis or consumption, the dropsical condition in
kidney disease, and so on), but is also able to afford some insight
into such matters as comfort in the nursing of patients.
Treatment is the most difficult matter to teach, not only as
regards the administration of drugs, but also as to diet. All
vessels are required by law to carry a medicine chest (equipped
in a more or less antiquated fashion), but instruction in the
practical use of the drugs themselves is apparently outside the
purview of the Board of Trade. To supply a set of tools and
yet give no proper instruction as to their use seems rather
illogical. All one can do as regards drugs is to indicate
VOL. XII.— No. 69. o
226 The Empire Review
how and when some of the most efficient and reliable should
be employed; but the most important part of instruction in
treatment is to lay down decided rules as to what not to do ; for
in view of the healthy and pure open-air life of a seaman one
can in many cases largely rely upon the vis medicatrix natures.
This is scarcely the place to enter into details of medical treatment,
but as an illustration of how necessary instruction in the non-use
of drugs may be, one may perhaps allude to the fact that while in
one variety of sickness a strong purgative may be an efficient
remedy, in another case, having different and characteristic
features which are carefully explained to the pupil, the same
remedy may have a fatal result. What not to do is often- most
valuable training for the amateur doctor.
In the surgical wards the pupils see cases of fractures and
other injuries actually undergoing treatment with the splints and
other appliances they have been taught to use. Few people are
more apt than nautical men at picking up little practical points
about fixing any apparatus, and when a supposed case of frac-
ture is put up in splints under their eyes, with all the little
details again pointed out, and the result compared with the
actual fracture cases in neighbouring beds, the lesson cannot fail
to be beneficial in the way of familiarising the officer with the
procedure necessary in the event of a similar accident occurring
on his vessel. The importance, therefore, of the hospital visit as
a part of the instruction in ship medicine and surgery can scarcely
be over-estimated. It may be added that permission has also
been granted by the public health authorities to the Leith
Nautical College for their pupils being shown cases of infectious
disease in the fever hospital, if thought desirable, but hitherto
this privilege of further instruction has not been utilised — largely
owing to the fact of the isolation hospital being situated several
miles away.
The recognition of malingering is also dealt with in the
lectures, and during last winter special lectures were given on the
chemistry of dangerous cargoes, attention being particularly
directed to the method of detecting and dealing with the presence
of poisonous gases in ships' holds.
From this somewhat sketchy description some idea of the work
carried on at the Leith Nautical College may be gathered. It is
not put forward as an ideal scheme, but rather as an example of
work actually carried on for more than two years, a pioneer
attempt, as it were, to grapple with a distinct gap in our present
system of training afforded to officers in the mercantile marine.
The classes have been well attended and the lectures and hospital
demonstrations eagerly followed by appreciative pupils. There
may not exist in every instance an institution like the Leith
Care of Skk and Hurt in our Merchant Navy 227
Nautical College entirely devoted to the teaching of all nautical
work, but as part of the technical instruction found in every
large industrial centre, surely a course of ship medicine and
surgery would be appropriate in all our main seaports. Nearly
all ports of any size possess local hospitals in which the practical,
or illustrative, instruction could be given, a matter surely not
difficult to arrange with the respective governing boards.
At present, attendance at any course of instruction, such as
that given at Leith, is entirely optional. It is true that the Board
of Trade officially recognise, by their endorsement of his certificate,
the fact of any pupil possessing an adequate training in ambulance
work, but no rule has been laid down insisting on officers possess-
ing such a training. If the Board of Trade gave notice that
such endorsement of their certificate was compulsory in the case
of all officers in charge of vessels on which no surgeon is carried,
the question would assume a very different aspect. It cannot,
however, be too strongly pointed out that before the State could
logically take up the position two conditions are essential, sufficient
time must be allowed and adequate opportunities afforded to ships'
officers for obtaining the requisite instruction. As I have pointed
out, were such courses instituted in all our large seaports working
on a similar syllabus and recognition granted to the attendance of
the officer on any particular lecture at any centre, the time
quired for obtaining the necessary instruction would be greatly
shortened. The examination also should, if possible, be held under
State auspices. This is the more necessary in view of the fact
that, were the matter delegated to the respective ambulance
associations in the sister kingdoms, a distinctly different standard
would be apt to arise, since the St. John's course of instruction
is considerably shorter than the St. Andrew's. Moreover, our
excellent ambulance associations were scarcely instituted for
giving compulsory education.
Other matters, no doubt, have to be considered in this con-
nection. There is said to be at the present time a scarcity
of ships' officers, so that the imposing of any addition to their
course of training might be inadvisable. The question of finance,
also, has to be borne in mind, but should not be insuperable. If
the small fees payable by the pupils were further supplemented
by a contribution from the local shipowners in the various
districts, the amount of additional State aid required to put the
system of instruction upon a uniform and permanent basis should
not be large, and might be obtained even from the sternest
guardians of the nation's purse.
In the Bill introduced by the President of the Board of Trade
it is proposed, amongst other suggestions, to adopt measures to
ensure that the cooking of food for the crews on our merchant
Q 2
228 The Empire Review
ships shall be performed by men possessing the necessary training.
Now no one would seek to carp at the proposal to provide proper
cooking on our merchant vessels ; but surely an adequate training
of ships' officers in the care of the sick and hurt on board their
vessels is an even greater desideratum, and one equally worthy of
consideration by Parliament. Trained cooks may help to lessen,
perhaps, the dyspepsia so commonly found amongst our sea-
faring community; but a ship's officer, on the other hand,
adequately trained in elementary ship doctoring may be the means
not only of alleviating more serious ailments but of saving many
useful lives.
HAMILTON G. LANGWILL.
Suggested Transvaal Land Bank 229
SUGGESTED TRANSVAAL LAND BANK
FOR EXPANDING THE AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL
INDUSTRIES IN THE COLONY
[Every person who has the country (Transvaal) at heart must be in favour
of a land bank and land settlement. — Mr. Abe Bailey at Southampton,
September 16, 1906.]
EDITORIAL NOTE.
ALTHOUGH in other parts of the Empire the establishment
of agricultural banks has materially assisted colonial settlement,
nothing of the kind has yet been attempted in South Africa. A
few months since, however, in view of the growing interest shown
in the matter, the Transvaal Government appointed a Commission
to inquire and report upon the following matters : —
(1) The advisability of establishing a land bank for the purpose
of assisting the agricultural industry in the Transvaal.
(2) Whether the management of such a bank should be under
the control of the Government, or be guaranteed by
the Government, and if so, under what conditions and
to what degree should such control be exercised or
guarantee given.
(3) What should be the organisation of such a bank, and on
what lines should it be established.
(4) What capital would be necessary for the establishment of
such a bank, and how should it be raised.
(5) On what terms and on what security should loans be
granted by such a bank.
(6) What legislation will be required to give effect to the
recommendations of the commission on the matters
submitted.
(7) Whether co-operative societies or a system of central
store-houses be in any way included in the organisation
of such a bank or affiliated to it.
(8) Generally what steps are necessary to establish such a
bank on a secure footing.
Every care was taken to secure representative persons as Com-
missioners, and the Court of Inquiry appointed by the Acting
Lieut. -Governor possessed the full confidence of the community.
230 The Empire Review
Mr. Hugh Crawford, Chairman of the National Bank, presided,
the other Commissioners being Mr. J. W. Honey, Director of
Customs ; General Louis Botha ; Mr. J. C. Minnaar, late
Eegistrar of Deeds ; Mr. J. A. Van der Byl, and Mr. W. C.
Fricker, the Johannesburg Manager of the Standard Bank.
Captain Madge acted as secretary.
One of the chief witnesses was Mr. A. St. George Eyder, late
Financial Comptroller of the Transvaal Government Departments
of Lands, Surveys, Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Supply. In
addition to his work in the Transvaal he has had wide experience
in New Zealand, where he was Inspector and Manager for the
Land and Loan Company, and afterwards Chairman of Directors,
subsequently becoming General Manager and Secretary of the
Otago Farmers' Co-operative Association, and the Farmers'
Co-operative Insurance Association at Dunedin. Mr. Kyder has
kindly put together his evidence in succinct form for publica-
tion in The Empire Beview, and it will be found to answer
the points of reference in the order named. His observations
can scarcely fail to attract general attention, while they have a
very special interest to all persons directly or indirectly engaged
on the difficult task of developing the agricultural and pastoral
resources of the Transvaal.
VIEWS OP ME. A. ST. GEORGE RYDER, J.P., R.P.A.
(Lately Financial Comptroller of the Transvaal Government Departments of
Lands, Surveys, Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Supply.)
(1) The advisability of establishing a land bank in the
Transvaal.
In order to arrive at a solution of this question, it appears to
me advisable not to rely too much upon theoretical propositions
and quotations from the history of similar banking institutions in
other countries, but rather to consider the following points : —
The conditions prevailing in our own colony with respect to
their bearing on the subject, particularly with regard to
the means and necessities of our farmers.
The extent and nature of accommodation granted to farmers
by local banks and finance companies, the extent to
which such accommodation could with safety be supple-
mented, the nature and extent of the support likely
to be accorded by farmers to such an institution if
established.
The terms upon which a volume of safe and payable business
could be secured sufficient to justify the establishment of
Suggested Transvaal Land Bank 231
such a bank and to ensure its success as a beneficial
and economical factor in promoting and aiding the
development and progress of farming industries in the
Transvaal.
The maximum rate of interest farmers could afford to pay
for accommodation extended to them by the bank and
yet secure to themselves some useful measure of advan-
tage over the existing state of their affairs.
The minimum rate of interest the bank would need to earn
on its loans in order to cover its working expenses,
inclusive of capital charges and the usual provision for
contingencies, and the possibilities of obtaining capital
funds for the bank's purposes at a sufficiently cheap rate
to enable its charges for loans to be fixed low enough
to meet the circumstances of the case, while at the same
time preserving sufficient margin to not only constitute
it a self-supporting institution, but also to render feasible
the gradual accumulation of a reserve with the object of
ultimately dispensing with the necessity for any State
aid or guarantee.
The advantages and benefits likely to accrue to the com-
munity from the operations of an institution of the kind
suggested.
The probable cost of founding the bank and whether the risk,
if any, of guaranteeing its capital stock would, in the
circumstances, be too great a burden to place upon the
State.
A careful review of the above phases of the question, based
upon some years of close observation and study both here and
elsewhere, coupled with a long practical and intimate experience
of the management of similar institutions, has led me to form
opinions favourable to the establishment of an institution of the
kind in the Transvaal, provided that it is founded on tried and
sound principles adapted to local conditions, and that due atten-
tion is paid to the careful observance of practical and business-
like methods in its organisation and management.
I am satisfied that the conditions prevailing at present are not
favourable to the successful founding and operation of such an
institution by private enterprise, upon sufficiently economic lines,
without Government aid or guarantee. If this assistance is to be
given it would be necessary, in order to safeguard the interests
of the State, for the Government to exercise some direct control,
to the extent of the right of veto at any rate, through an officer
appointed for the purpose. On the other hand, the arguments in
favour of a purely State institution are, to my mind, unanswer-
232 The Empire Review
able ; provided it be founded and worked upon sound business
lines, and the management, once established, made independent
of political interference or party influence.
In order to obtain funds at the very lowest possible cost it
is essential, I think, that the necessary capital be raised and
guaranteed by the State. But in order to ensure the greatest
degree of efficiency, safety and economy, it is equally desirable
that the funds be administered or managed by a board, com-
prising say five members, of experienced men of affairs. One
member at least should be a financier with banking experi-
ence in South Africa, another a South African farmer of
good standing and considerable local experience, while every
effort should be made to place on the board gentlemen with
special qualifications and general knowledge of agricultural and
pastoral pursuits, and some experience of the class of business
they will be called upon to transact. Provision should also be
made in the bank's charter for the payment of an honorarium to
each member of the board, except the general manager, if a
member, whose salary would, of course, cover everything. Nomi-
nations for the board should be for a period of five years, subject
to the retirement, without disability as to re-election, of one
member annually.
The whole of the bank's affairs should be managed direct
from the head office, with the assistance of capable inspectors,
until such time as the board can see its way to decentralise with
safety and advantage. Otherwise I fear the initial expenses would
be unnecessarily heavy, and the risks of having important matters
dealt with and left to the judgment of untried officers, at branches,
far too great.
(3) Organisation.
The establishment of the institution should be effected by
special act of the legislature conferring such powers as may be
necessary for the raising of capital, obtaining indefeasible security
over chattels, the conduct of the bank's affairs, and embodying
provisions for the effective control of the bank's business by an
independent board of which the officer fulfilling the functions of
general manager could be a member.
The board should report annually to Parliament through the
Colonial Treasurer. Periodical returns should be drawn up on an
approved basis, duly verified by audit, and published quarterly, or
half-yearly, in the Government Gazette. Similar returns sup-
ported by a complete balance-sheet should be submitted to
Parliament through the State Treasurer annually, but prying into
the private affairs of the bank's customers by political opponents
must be strictly guarded against.
Suggested Transvaal Land Bank 233
The bank should enjoy the same privileges and be granted free
use of the services placed at the disposal of all Government
departments in common, and ultimately the bank should also be
able to take over and administer all Government investment
business, with considerable advantage to the State.
(4) Amount of capital and how to raise it.
I find some difficulty in assessing with any degree of exacti-
tude the amount likely to be required owing to the absence of
reliable data as a basis for calculations. With the aid of the
statistics as are available, however, checked by comparison in
area, with due allowance for disparity of population and difference
in prevailing conditions with those of other colonies, I estimate
that in the course of a very few years about £2,500,000 could be
kept fully employed with safety and advantage. Half that sum
should, however, be ample to begin with, of which less than one-
fifth would probably suffice for short-dated loans and temporary
advances against approved securities of a more or less liquid
character such as bond warrants for produce in store or transit
and guaranteed overdrafts.
The prevailing conditions and indications appear to me to
bar any possibility of raising these or even much smaller sums by
any other means than through the instrumentality of the Govern-
ment, within whose province the duty of considering ways and
means must devolve ultimately. It may not be out of place, how-
ever, to suggest some possible sources from which funds could be
obtained. Of these by far the most desirable would be to divert,
if possible, part of the unexpended portion of the ^635,000, 000
Guaranteed Loan, or failing that to doat a special loan in London
for the purpose, upon the same terms, if that can be done. To
the latter course there should be no serious objection, because
such a loan would be reproductive, and therefore would not
impose any additional burden upon the tax-payers of the Colony,
but on the contrary would have the effect indirectly of lightening
the burden.
Failing the adoption of either of these suggestions I doubt the
possibility of floating capital for the purpose by public subscrip-
tion, and the only feasible way that I can see at present of raising
the necessary funds within the Colony would be for the Govern-
ment to realise some of its investments and apply the proceeds to
the purposes of the bank. Part of the Post Office Savings Bank
deposits could also be utilised perhaps as well as any other
Government Trust Funds bearing low rates of interest. These
sources could possibly be supplemented by the bank accepting
deposits direct from the public upon certain conditions, and by
234 The Empire Review
organising a circulation of £1 notes through the agency of the
Post Office Savings Banks and Money Order Offices, subject to
the issue being restricted to safe limits with regard to its amount
in proportion to the bank's liquid assets.
In certain conditions current accounts could also be utilised
to some extent to provide means towards the granting of small
and temporary advances at short dates.
(5) Terms and security upon which loans should be granted.
Loans should only be granted to approved applicants of
industrious and thrifty character for purposes calculated to
ameliorate the conditions under which our farming population at
present labour, to aid development, and increase agricultural and
pastoral production. Applications for funds to be applied to other
purposes, particularly those of a speculative or problematical order,
or to purely commercial undertakings outside the pale of bond fide
farmers' enterprise, should not be entertained.
All applications for loans should be written on prescribed forms
duly attested and designed to elicit in addition to the applicant's
requirements as complete and accurate a statement as possible of his
position and affairs, nature and particulars of the security offered,
and purposes to which the loan is to be applied. These docu-
ments should be treated as confidential, subject to close scrutiny
and verification as to facts by reference to local authorities. If
the application be an eligible one the security should be valued
and reported upon at the expense of the applicant prior to being
submitted to the Board, before whom all applications received
should come for decision as to whether they are to be accepted,
rejected, or referred back for amendment.
In case of temporary advances against produce in store, however,
most of these formalities might be dispensed with.
There are three classes of securities in which the bank could
deal with safety. The principal class would be first Mortgage
Bonds over Freehold Farm Lands, while next in importance
would come the " Storage Warrants " for approved kinds of
produce, to which I will refer more particularly in my remarks
under head 7 of the terms of reference. Then there is the
guaranty system, under which operative cash credits could be
granted and advances made to deserving applicants upon repay-
ment being assured by the joint and several guarantee of approved
sureties, supported as a general rule by collateral security such as
the deposit of guarantor's land title-deeds under some latent form
of hypothecation.
The bank should not make advances against live stock,
growing crops, perishable produce, or movable property of any
Suggested Transvaal Land Bank 235
kind other than that referred to as approved and covered by store
warrants, with insurance policies and grade certificates attached.
In course of time, however, this rule might perhaps be relaxed to
some extent so far as such products as wool and mohair are con-
cerned, at any rate in districts ascertained to be healthy and free
from liability to epidemics of disease. In such circumstances
advances could with safety be granted against growing " clips "
upon certain conditions ! Insurance policies covering all risks
from sheep's back to London or other market should, however,
form part of all such securities.
With regard to landed securities every care should be exercised
in assessing their value so as to eliminate all speculative elements,
and productive as well as realisable value should be considered.
In order to ensure due care and uniformity of system in this
respect, valuators should be required to furnish schedules in pre-
scribed form showing how their appraisements are arrived at.
These schedules should be closely scrutinised and checked by a
competent officer, who would observe the nature and extent of any
improvements, and note the proportion of unproductive or un-
necessary items under this head, so that due allowance could be
made for any over-burden when the application is being dealt
with.
With regard to buildings : — Only those of substantial materials
and construction, useful and necessary for the profitable occupation
of the property and covered by policies of insurance against loss
or damage by fire, should be considered. All other improve-
ments should be taken into account only to the extent to which
they are necessary, useful, or reproductive, proper attention
being paid to the degree of substantiality and durability that
may safely be attributed to their character. Anything under this
head giving rise to heavy recurring charges for maintenance
should be regarded with grave caution.
The terms upon which loans would issue should be as uniform
as possible in all cases, except that a distinction must be made
between those for long periods on land mortgages, and those of
temporary or short duration on produce in store, or accounts secured
by guarantee, both of which should bear a rather higher rate of
interest to cover the proportionately higher cost of managing this
class of business.
Great care would need to be exercised in guarding against the
undue depreciation of produce securities, not only through the
agency of natural causes, but also through any tendency on the
part of growers or holders to speculate in prices by unduly
delaying or restricting realisations, holding too long, or " carrying
over " to the next " season." Such tactics frequently lead to
disaster and almost invariably to undue fluctuations and a serious
236 The Empire Review
depreciation in prices, with all the attendant evils through the
effects of the usual rush towards the end of the season to realise
at the last moment. The only way to obviate this is to insist
upon steady and gradual realisations or reductions in holdings,
spread over a reasonable period of time prior to the close of the
"season," and by refusing to finance any "carry-over" business
unless under very exceptional circumstances.
Any attempt to "rig the market" by means of financing
through the bank should be rigorously discouraged.
The rates of interest to be charged on loans should be kept as
low as possible, but must necessarily depend to some extent upon
the rate at which the bank can borrow. If this be arranged at
3 or 3^ per cent., as in other cases, there is no reason why more
than 5 per cent, need be charged on land loans, plus say 1 or
!£ per cent, for sinking fund, and 5£ to 6 per cent, interest
on other loans or advances according to amount and duration.
About 2 per cent, would probably be required at first as a
margin between the borrowing and lending rates to cover the
expenses of management or administration, plus a reserve fund
and contingencies, but the ratio of expenses would decrease con-
siderably after the third year, so that ultimately 1£ to 1£ per cent,
should be ample margin on the employment of any capital sum
upwards of £1,000,000 : and less when the £2,000,000 stage is
reached.
Interest on short loans and advances should be computed and
charged quarterly and on land loans collected half-yearly. Redemp-
tions should be effected so far as possible by instalments payable
together with interest and computed on a graduated scale,
increasing by degrees corresponding to the ratio of decrease in
interest, so as to equalise the payments. In cases where loans
are granted for the purpose of effecting reproductive improvements,
time should be allowed for benefit to accrue before the borrower
would be called upon to commence payments in redemption of
principal. Three years should be ample time to allow in all cases,
during which period the borrower would pay interest only. As
an alternative to redemption by equalised instalments combining
both interest and principal, borrowers ought to have the option
of reducing the amount of their loan either by the payment of
lump sums at fixed periods, or at irregular intervals at the end of
any half-yearly period by giving a few months' notice in writing
of their intention to do so. In these circumstances interest
would accrue on the balance only as adjusted from time to time.
No very hard-and-fast rules, however, can be made with
regard to these matters, and much should be left to the dis-
cretion of the board, who would deal with each case on its merits.
Otherwise unnecessary hardship might be inflicted upon borrowers
Suggested Transvaal Land Bank 237
by compelling them to keep up the payment of heavy instalments
during periods of severe depression, without any material advan-
tage to the bank. Whereas with an elastic system they could
minimise their expenditure in times of distress, by paying interest
only which they could still further reduce by paying off convenient
portions of the principal as opportunity offered during periods of
prosperity.
Each loan should be limited to half, or certainly not more
than three-fifths of the ascertained value of the security, and
some limit ought also be placed upon the amount advanced to
any one borrower.
(6) Legislation.
What legislation will be required depends largely upon the
nature of the recommendations of the Commission on the matters
submitted, and ultimately on the form in which they may be
adopted. I think the opinion of counsel with South African
experience of banking and land mortgage affairs should be taken
on this important point.
Looking at the matter from a business point of view, however,
and assuming that an institution is to be established upon lines
similar to those I have indicated, it appears to me that as much
as possible should be included in the enactment or Ordinance
comprising the bank's charter, the principal necessary features of
which I have already referred to in my remarks under head 3 of
the terms of reference. With regard to chattel securities, how-
ever, it may be that this should be made the subject of a separate
enactment, though I would favour its inclusion in the charter, as
a special feature if admissible.
The principal Act, or Ordinance, as the case may be, should
further provide (or enable the provision by regulation) a schedule
of standard forms and rules of procedure, designed with the
object of simplifying and minimising the cost of the execution
and registration of mortgages, liens or other deeds of security
drawn in favour of the bank. With reference to this phase of the
question it would be a distinct advantage if what is known as the
"Torrens" system for the registration and transfer of land titles
could be brought into force in this Colony, even as an optional
measure. Its gradual adoption would not only greatly facilitate
the operations of the bank, but confer considerable benefits upon
every person interested in land transactions.
An " Industrial and Provident " or " Mutual Benefit Societies "
Incorporation Statute, drawn upon lines somewhat similar to those
of the English " Company's Act," would also be necessary to
enable the formation on a sound basis, at minimum cost, of
" Farmers' Co-operative " or " Mutual Benefit " Societies with or
238 The Empire Review
without limited liability. These are required for the purpose
of carrying on by combination any special business such as the
erection and maintenance, or leasing, and management of store-
houses, creameries, tobacco factories, fruit curing and jam factories,
threshing mills, flour and meal mills, minor irrigation and water-
works, or other undertakings closely allied to the farming industry
and conducive to the amelioration of its conditions. This legisla-
tion is necessary because the Transvaal Company Law does not
meet the circumstances of the case, and also imposes unduly
heavy preliminary expenses, which would be a severe tax upon
small concerns and likely to impede or deter, instead of en-
couraging their formation. Such a statute should provide by
schedule (or enable provision by regulation) rules of procedure
and an optional set of standard lor model forms of an elastic
kind covering the constitution of such societies, in order that
their formation, registration and management may be made as
simple and as cheap as possible.
(7) Whether there should be any affiliation or inclusion of co-opera-
tive societies and a system of storehouses in the organisation
of the bank.
A system of storehouses, constructed upon modern principles and
situated in accessible positions at approved centres in the principal
farming districts of the Colony, would undoubtedly be of great
benefit to the communities in which they are established. Such
a system would also greatly facilitate the operations of the bank,
while at the same time enhancing the value and negotiability of
what may be termed its liquid securities, provided, of course,
that the scope of the bank's operations be made to include tem-
porary advances against warehouse warrants for approved classes
of produce. It would not, however, be politic to make any system
of storehouses part of the organisation of the bank, for reasons
that will be patent to any banker, although there should be
no objection to the bank granting loans or making advances
(upon its usual terms, but under certain conditions and within
prescribed limits) to aid and enable their construction by co-opera-
tive enterprise — to which their entire control and management
should also be left, subject to the due fulfilment of any reasonable
conditions that the bank may deem expedient to impose for the
protection of its interests.
Buildings for storage should be made self-supporting by the
collection of moderate rents for the space occupied by each con-
signment, and fees arranged to cover the cost of handling and
management, which should be made a first charge upon the
proceeds of sale of each consignment, or part thereof, as it changes
Suggested Transvaal Land Bank 239
hands, or is removed from the store. These charges should be
levied on the annual turnover of rateable business on a basis of
its proportion to the gross annual expenditure — namely, interest
on capital invested in the buildings and site, inclusive of a small
percentage for amortisation or sinking fund, plus provision for
maintenance and the expenses of management, with due allow-
ance for contingencies, so that there may be some margin of
income in excess of expenditure, which could be appropriated
either as a reserve or for some special purpose, or be distributed as
a dividend on the co-operative principle by way of a rebate to the
contributors. In any case, the relative proportions and rates of
charges would necessarily vary in different districts according to
the circumstances peculiar to each locality and the possibilities
of keeping the buildings either fully and regularly occupied, or
otherwise utilised for remunerative purposes during the "off
seasons." The farmer would be much more than compensated,
however, by the enhanced prices he would be able to command
for his produce through being able to hold it safely stored for
a favourable market, with the aid of temporary advances against
it, from the bank, so as to enable him to provide for the most
pressing of his current expenses without having to realise at any
price that may be ruling for the time being.
Some portion of each store should be constituted a " bonded
warehouse " for the custody of produce pledged by way of security
to the bank, and access should not be possible to this portion
except in the presence of or with the knowledge and consent of
an authorised representative of the bank. A mark and series of
numbers should be allotted to and inscribed upon each con-
signment stored, and receipts or " storage warrants " therefore
specifying such mark and numbers, and the respective quantities
and qualities should be issued to the owner or holder by the
storekeeper, who would make deliveries only upon presentation
or production of such warrant, properly endorsed, for cancel-
lation or reduction of quantities for any portion transferred or
redelivered. The date of issue, the serial numbers, particulars,
and date of cancellation of all such warrants should be re-
corded in a special register kept for the purpose. These war-
rants might be made transferable by endorsement, and when
their utility and reliability became generally known, they would
become negotiable instruments of recognised value, particularly
when supported by insurance cover and some form of standard
grading certificate of authentic origin. Such documents could
then be dealt in with just as much safety as inscribed stock, or
ocean bills of lading for merchantable goods. This system could
not, of course, be made to apply to produce of a perishable nature.
In cases where storage accommodation could not be provided
240 The Empire Review
by co-operative enterprise, either with or without financial as-
sistance from the bank, an alternative course, in preference to
involving the bank as principal in such undertakings, would be
for the Government to provide the necessary accommodation
through one of its administrative departments, such as those of
public works, railways, or agriculture, and gradually recoup its
outlay from revenue charges to be levied on the basis already
outlined. In other instances district co-operative societies could
possibly overcome initial difficulties with the aid of private enter-
prise or by renting premises. All such premises should, however,
be inspected and approved by the bank as suitable for storage
purposes, prior to the granting of advances against any of the
contents thereof.
The chief obstacle in the way of initiating and sustaining co-
operative effort on the lines I have indicated will, of course, be
the difficulty of getting farmers to find the capital required to
provide the necessary margin of security for the bank's advances
to each society. There are, however, ways of overcoming even
this obstacle, serious as it is, and there cannot, I think, be any
two opinions as to the soundness of the policy of helping farmers
to help themselves, rather than to spoon-feed them with direct
State aid which they would in time get to look upon as more of
a right than a privilege, and which consequently could not have
any other effect than that of ultimately destroying those character-
istics of strenuous effort and self-reliance, so necessary for the
welfare and progress of every community.
The bank's connection with farmers' co-operative societies
generally should be restricted to the relations usually existing
between banker and customer, and the same rules that govern
transactions with individuals be made to apply to such corpora-
tions. The bank's operations in this respect should also be
confined to societies of approved legal status duly incorporated
under the provisions of some general or special Act of the Legis-
lature, such as I have outlined under head 6 of the terms of
reference. In any case the Memorandum and " Articles of Asso-
ciation," or other forms of constitution as the case may be, would
need to be carefully examined by the bank's officials prior to
the granting of advances or loans, because such instruments
frequently contain features of an objectionable kind, or else omit
important and desirable provisions, either of which would probably
hamper the bank seriously at times in the course of its dealings
with the security.
The list of shareholders, or contributing members, should also
receive attention with regard to the financial status of the parties,
particularly in cases where uncalled capital may form some part
of the bank's security.
Suggested Transvaal Land Bank 241
(8) Steps necessary to establish such a bank upon a secure footing.
So many matters of detail are essential to this end, that
I feel diffident about expatiating on them after so much prolixity
under other heads. Nevertheless, it is important that they should
be dealt with at some length, because the degree of success
which the bank may achieve in attaining its objects will depend
largely upon the amount of care, foresight and judgment
exercised, not in the design alone, but also in supervising and
carrying out the details;of construction. Once all questions of
capital or ways and means are satisfactorily settled, the bank's
success and safety will depend in a great measure upon the degree
of skill with which its affairs are managed, and this being so,
every care should be taken during construction to place the
management upon the very best footing possible. With this end
in view, the gentlemen who are likely to form the board should
be consulted with regard to all preliminary matters, and the task
of draughting the necessary measures and carrying out the
organisation should be entrusted to someone specially qualified,
possessing sufficient technical knowledge and experience of the
business to ensure thoroughness in every detail of the design and
structure. Experienced legal advice should be obtained upon all
points of law, and professional advice sought with regard to the
details of office organisation, forms of accounts, and records, so
that the maximum degree of simplicity and efficiency may be
attained in all matters.
Probably the best method of carrying out all preliminary
arrangements would be to appoint a provisional board for the
purpose, which would become the board proper when the time
became ripe for appointing that body.
One of the matters that should engage the attention of the
provisional board would be the scale upon which the bank's
operations should begin. It would, I fear, prove fatal to
commit the bank to any very extensive lines of business
before the management had an opportunity of feeling its way.
Another matter requiring much deliberation is the selection
of a staff, which should be small to begin with, and gradually
increased as required, so that the board may have an opportunity
of observing and judging the capabilities of each officer before
entrusting him with any very onerous or responsible duties. In
their selection, serviceable qualities, such as intelligence, ability,
colonial experience, character, record, fitness and capacity for
the work, should count for more than mere scholastic accom-
plishments or attainments, or influence in high places, which
is generally fataLrto discipline and a high standard of efficiency
in service. E'<!mcational tests should, however, be invariably
VOL. XII.— No. 69. R
242 The Empire Review
applied. These should be of a practical as well as theoretical
nature, and designed to ascertain the candidate's fitness for the
particular post he is to occupy. Those officers whose duties will
bring them closely and regularly in contact with the bank's
customers should be chosen with a due regard for their knowledge
and experience of farming matters, of the country, and of the
ways and language of the people.
The bank's chief object being to provide cheap capital by way
of loan for the expansion of agricultural and pastoral industry, its
functions should be confined to that object, and it should not
embark in any other enterprises either on its own or any other
account. Members of the board should not be allowed to borrow
from the bank, and in all cases, irrespective of circumstances, an
ample margin of undoubted security must be retained against all
the bank's advances or loans, and a regular system of inspection
of and reports upon the properties pledged, instituted to ensure
the maintenance of such margin. Chance inspections should
also be made by members of the board individually and by the
general manager from time to time.
Care must also be taken to ensure the bank's expenses being
kept well within the limits of its nett earnings, by pre-estimate
and an exact periodical checking of the actual figures. If rules
similar to these are adopted and adhered to with anything like
judicious management, no question of the bank's safety would
ever arise under ordinary circumstances, and there need be no
doubt as to the benefits that would accrue from its operations,
not alone to the farming population, but to the State and com-
munity at large.
A. ST. GEOEGE KYDEE.
JOHANNESBURG.
The Federal Capital of Australia 243
THE FEDERAL CAPITAL OF AUSTRALIA
By a twenty years' resident in Australia, and an expert witness
before the last Royal Commission held at Sydney.
The Federal parliamentarian farce of looking for a Federal capital site is
still being played by a certain section of the House of Representatives, who have
scoured every portion of New South Wales, from Kiandra's snowy mountains
to the North Coast's coral strand. But New South Wales and Victorian states-
men are alike as far from a decision with regard to a capital as they were on
the day of the proclamation of this new Empire. — Financial News, Australian
correspondence, dated Sydney, August 14th, 1906.
THE Commonwealth of Australia has now been established
over five years, yet no practical decision has been arrived at
as to the permanent seat of the Federal Government.
To understand properly the difficulties surrounding the ques-
tion of the capital site one must review briefly some of the
circumstances under which federation of the hitherto separated
colonies took place. In 1898 a joint convention of a number of
delegates proposed a draft constitution, and on this draft a popular
vote in each colony — New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South
Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia — was taken. In New
South Wales, however, where the federal movement was not over
popular, the necessary number of votes (80,000) was not reached.
Accordingly a second convention met, and terms more acceptable
to the mother-colony being embodied in a new draft, the required
vote was reached in 1899. The majority, however, was not even
then large, the figures being 107,420 for, and 82,741 against. The
other colonies, except Queensland, supplied large majorities.
An important point of dispute was the site of the capital,
which each colony or State, as they were in future to be called,
wished to have within its own borders. As the existing seats of
the State governments were paramount in influence, headed by
the great rivals Sydney and Melbourne, the framers of the con-
stitution compromised the matter by enacting that no existing
capital should be adopted, and to placate the hesitating New
South Wales, it was agreed that the site should be in that State,
R 2
244 The Empire Review
The concession, however, was qualified by the stipulation that the
site was to be not less than 100 miles distant from Sydney, so as
to avoid the danger, as it seemed to the Victorians, of the new
capital being made a suburb or appendage to the older city. The
concession also lost much of its value owing to the southern
boundary of New South Wales being, for the most part, much
nearer to Melbourne than to its own capital, consequently the
site might possibly be so fixed that while being actually within
the boundary of one State, it would be closer to and more in
touch with the capital of the other. As a matter of fact, a great
part of the southern portion of the mother-colony, though paying
taxes to New South Wales, does all its business, and has its
associations, with the much closer market in Melbourne.
It is remarkable, perhaps some would say natural, that though
so many members of the Convention of 1898-99 who framed the
constitution were lawyers, several sections have proved to be
ambiguous and have led to disputes as to their meaning. Such
is section 125, referring to the seat of government, which runs
thus :
The seat of government of the Commonwealth shall be determined by the
Parliament, and shall be within territory which shall have been granted to, or
acquired by, the Commonwealth, and shall be vested in, and belong to, the
Commonwealth, and shall be in the State of New South Wales, and be distant
not less than one hundred miles from Sydney. Such territory shall contain an
area of not less than one hundred square miles, and such portion thereof as
shall consist of Crown lands shall be granted to the Commonwealth without
any payment therefor. The Parliament shall sit at Melbourne until it meet at
the seat of government.
At Melbourne the parliament still sits, and must do so now during
many years to come, for after the vexed question of site is
settled the capital city has to be built.
From the spirit of the whole principle of federation, as well as
from the common sense view, it is clear that, subject to the
geographical limitation referred to, the choice of the site should
remain with the federal parliament. Yet, in the opinion of many
leading lawyers, the section is so worded as to leave practically
the choice to one State, namely New South Wales. Each colony
has a large quantity of Crown lands, so that the expression
" granted to " refers chiefly to these lands, while the alternative
" acquired by " refers to property owned by private persons, who,
of course, even under special legislation, would have to be paid
heavily for it; thus sites consisting chiefly of private lands are
practically excluded. As to the ambiguity, Mr. Bruce Smith, a
leading Sydney barrister, and a member of the Commonwealth
Parliament, has pointed out that the framers of the constitution
assumed either that some State would grant certain territory or
The Federal Capital of Australia 245
that the Commonwealth would acquire certain territory, before
the Parliament chose a site, and therefore the section provided
that the seat of government " shall be determined by the Parlia-
ment," not within territory which shall be granted or acquired,
but within territory which " shall have been" granted or acquired.
He then goes on to quote as follows from the ' Annotated
Constitution,' which is regarded as the standard authoritative
work on the Commonwealth Government :
The chief question which has arisen in connection with these words is
whether the determination of the seat of government rests, in the last resort,
solely with the Federal Parliament, or whether the Federal Parliament is
limited in its choice to sites offered by the Parliament of New South Wales.
The opening words of the section strongly favour the former view ; but it has
been argued that the words " shall be within territory which shall have been
granted to, or acquired by, the Commonwealth," point to a prior act of cession
by the Parliament of New South Wales.
If Mr. Bruce Smith's interpretation holds good, and many
acute legal minds support him, the State of New South Wales
may virtually say, as regards several proposed sites, which I will
call A, B, C, we want A, and we shall grant no land elsewhere.
Private land, being costly, and in some sites scarce, and the
number of sites being limited by other conditions of suitability,
while Crown lands are interspersed nearly everywhere, it is easy
to see that in such case New South Wales might, if she pleased,
force A on the Commonwealth. The answer would probably be,
"As we do not want A, we shall make no selection within its
area, and as the Constitution defines no time-limit as to choice,
we shall go on sitting in and governing from Melbourne till you
in New South Wales come to your senses and agree with us."
However, we are not without legal lights of equal electrical
brilliance on the other side of this Constitutional tangle. Mr.
Isaacs, an eminent Melbourne lawyer, and also a member of the
legislature, after quoting the first sentence of section 125 as
governing the whole, argues thus : —
The seat of government shall be — that is when it exists— within territory, etc.,
etc. ; that is to say, we can determine now, or at any future time, where the
capital shall be. But when it is established — at the moment of its establish-
ment— it shall be within territory which shall have been already granted to, or
acquired by, the Commonwealth. The granting to the Commonwealth, or the
acquisition by the Commonwealth, is antecedent to the establishment of the
capital, but not to the determination of the seat of government.
Mr. Isaacs admits, however, that the refusal of New South
Wales to make the necessary grant would be legal, indeed the
term " grant " implies this, and that its exercise contrary to the
Federal choice would place the Commonwealth in a difficulty.
But that is not all. This wonderful legislative broth, prepared
246 The Empire Review
by so many specially selected cooks, is spoiled by two further
items, even within the narrow limits of the clause quoted, which
have given rise to much acrimonious debate. First as to the
hundred miles limit ; the question is asked whether it was in-
tended that this distance should be measured as the crow flies
or by the nearest railway route? If as the crow flies, several
otherwise good localities would be excluded, as the railways,
owing to hilly country, are very tortuous near Sydney, and it
is urged on behalf of these places that, as the object was to
obtain a site at a given distance from that city, it should be
measured by the route over which the ordinary passenger would
travel, not over a straight line which practically is no guide in the
question of accessibility.
An awful legal possibility here presents itself to the lay mind.
Suppose the railway distance acted upon, and years after some
ingenious lawyer, defending a client defeated by a judgment of the
Supreme Court fixed at the so-called capital, should argue that not
only was the decision against him invalid, but so were all previous
decisions, because the court was illegally established in what he
might be able to prove was not a capital at all. With regard to
the hundred mile clause, the Sydney folk consider that, since it was
framed only to exclude their city and its environment, the evident
intention of the Constitution was that, as far as circumstances
would allow, the site was to be as little as possible outside the
limit. The opposite view, strongly favoured by Victorians, who
look for a site near their own border, was that the choice should
not be thus circumscribed, but should be exercised over the great
extent and variety of attractive features of the whole State outside
the barred circle. To understand the influence of the two great
rival States and cities, it should be explained that the populations
of the former amount to two-thirds, and those of the latter to
over one-fourth of the whole of the six federating colonies.
Again, the clause enabling the Commonwealth to fix the area
of the federal territory enclosing the capital at not less than 100
square miles, has been fought over like another Thermopylae.
The Labour Party, who are thought to have a leaning for a large
area in which socialistic schemes may have ample scope, want 900
square miles ; to this the State which it was proposed to despoil
fiercely objects, arguing that the 100 square miles limit indicates
that an area somewhere about, but not below, that extent, was
intended, and showing that on the contrary contention, by a
reductio ad absurdum, the whole of New South Wales outside the
100 mile from Sydney limit, might be thus annexed.
The whole phraseology of these wonderful clauses, constructed
by what was supposed to be the best statesmen of the day, seems
almost to have been designed for delay through doubtful disputa-
The Federal Capital of Australia 247
tions. It would have been the easiest thing possible to phrase
the first clause unambiguously, and to put maximum as well as
minimum limits in the others, with possibly some easy provision
for altering them, if that course found general acceptance.
Neither can now be done, except by the cumbrous expedient of
amending the Constitution. This requires the consent of both
Houses, followed by that of the majority of the electors, in a
majority of the States.
Having thus referred to the knot yet to be untied, a short
summary of the investigations made to attain that object may
be given, for besides these there has been only "sound and fury,
signifying nothing."
The first step in this direction was taken, in 1899, by the
Government of New South Wales appointing a Commissioner—
the late Mr. Alexander Oliver, then President of the Land Court,
and a distinguished constitutional lawyer — to inspect and report.
His first action was to call for applications from localities which
desired to be candidates. Needless to say, his hands were soon
full. All sorts and conditions of prospective capitals to be de-
veloped were soon placed at the Commissioner's disposal, the
investigation of which, had he lived, would have occupied him
for years yet to come. These he cut down to twenty-three,
still an ample choice. And by further taking climate, accessi-
bility, physical conditions, ownership and value of land, and
similar matters as belonging to the question, he reduced his
possible selections to the three districts, Orange, Yass and
Bombala.
The Commissioner finally decided in favour of the Bombala
district, which lies in the extreme south-east corner of the State,
about 80 miles from the Port of Eden, but at a considerable eleva-
tion. It is about equi-distant from Sydney and Melbourne, about
330 miles from each, and therefore greatly exceeding the limit from
the former, but at present, unlike the other sites, it is not connected
by railways to any place, and to construct these so as to connect
with each of the above cities, and to the port, would cost about
£3,000,000. The other sites are inland, and the choice seems to
have been largely influenced by the fact of proximity to a good
natural port at which, however, another million would have to be
spent.
The Commonwealth Parliament, while recognising the value of
Mr. Oliver's report, considered they should have one of their own,
so a Koyal Commission of experts was deputed to do much the
same work. An architect was made chairman ; and engineering,
commerce, and land valuation were also represented. These
gentlemen were instructed to examine eight sites (including two
of the three selected by the New South Wales Commissioner),
248 The Empire Review
Albury, Armidale, Bombala, Lake George, Orange, Bathurst,
Lyndhurst and Turnut. In their report, dated 16th July, 1903,
the Royal Commission placed Tumut first. Tumut is inland, and
is at present 318 miles by rail from Sydney and 589 miles from
Melbourne, but it is at the end of a small branch line, and if a
more direct line were made to the latter city, the distance to it
would be considerably reduced. A supplementary report on an
additional site, Dalgety, near the Bombala one, was presented in
the following August, but this did not disturb the Commissioners'
preference for Tumut.
But these were not the only investigations. Members of
Parliament thought they would like to see things for them-
selves, so that a series of organised crowds toured over the whole
area, at the expense of the public, a doubtless enjoyable but super-
fluous jaunt, as indeed the public seemed generally and sensibly to
think. A choice of this nature must necessarily rest on dry facts,
which could never be properly realised in a mere rush through the
country in which town councillors vied with others in trying to
typify milk and honey by plentiful outpourings of whisky and
champagne. Negotiations then ensued between the governments
of the Commonwealth and of New South Wales, and the latter
were asked to indicate a preference, this seeming to point to an
acquiescence in the contention of Mr. Bruce Smith already
referred to. But the then State Premier, Sir John See, declined
to do so, regarding the matter as entirely and solely a Federal
responsibility.
The Seat of Government Bill was brought forward in the
Federal Parliament for its second reading on October 6, 1903,
and the name of the site being left blank in the Bill, it was
arranged to fill it up by a complicated series of balloting, each
successive ballot throwing out certain places. The final choice,
to which the Upper House subsequently agreed, fell to Dalgety,
which, though not far from Bombala, Mr. Oliver's choice, is
different from that of either of the reports, and essentially so
from that of the Commonwealth Parliaments' own Commissioners.
This was nearly three years ago, and nothing, practically, has
been done since.
Dalgety is close to the Victorian border, and has all the
disadvantages of Bombala in its present inaccessibility by rail,
and the millions of money and the delay necessary to remedy this
defect, which will also, of course, prolong for years the retention
of the Seat of Government in Melbourne. The railway com-
munication, when made, will never supersede the present main
line between the two great commercial cities, the former being
much longer and more heavily graded, so that the argument that
many of the proposed sites would still remain more or less
The Federal Capital of Australia 249
sequestered spots, unvisited except by legislators and government
officials, will especially apply to this, so far, selected area. As
also the whole of the twenty-three prospective paradises of New
South Wales outside this favoured spot, are naturally hostile, it
is easy to see, and should have been easy to foresee, that that
State is not enthusiastic for the Dalgety site, and a resolution
expressing dissatisfaction with the Dalgety site just come to at
the recent conference of State Premiers shows the discontent of
the other colonies.
Another strong reason for the hesitation of New South Wales
is that the Federal Parliament has resolved, in deciding upon
Dalgety, that the Federal area should comprise no less than 900
square miles, a large slice out of the State, and an annexation to
which she strongly objects, as being contrary to the spirit of the
constitution.
To sum up, there are three main interests involved.
First, that of the mother-State, New South Wales, who wants
the capital within her boundaries, and wants the decision hastened
in order to terminate the present temporary pre-eminence of
Melbourne in this matter, but is hampered in this aim by the
conflicting interests of the different localities within her own
borders, which are aspirants to the distinction. Secondly, there
is Victoria, who naturally favours delay for the same reason
that her great neighbour desires haste ; and thirdly, the other
States, who, while wishing for a permanent home for the Com-
monwealth, still, as far as the members representing them are
concerned, prefer the comfortable headquarters in the city of
Melbourne to a raw capital in the bush, which, for many years
to come, must necessarily be little more than a third-rate township
in the wilderness.
Many persons regret that the exclusion of the existing ready-
made capitals was decided on at the Convention. It would have
been easy, they say, to set apart a portion as Federal territory in
one of these cities, and the predominance of the genius loci, to
which many people object, would, after all, be a less evil than the
great cost, delay and inconvenience of building a new city, the
existence of which would not be the evolution of commercial
necessity. It is also argued by exponents of this theory that
London, Paris, and nearly all the great capital cities of the
world, have developed themselves, they were not chosen, and
they do fairly well.
Sydney is one of the most beautifully situated cities in the
world, with a natural and unrivalled harbour, which can shelter
in deep water all the navies in the world. It has abundance of
coal under its very foundations and within close reach ; it is the
centre of a large trade, and besides being the most populous, is
250 The Empire Review
the oldest city in Australia, and the metropolis of its most
populous State.
Melbourne is only second to Sydney in its port, has wider
streets and nobler buildings, and a cooler climate, and above all, it
has the important advantage of being more central than Sydney
to the other States as a whole. The existence of the actual,
though temporary capital at Melbourne for nearly six years, with-
out any serious detriment to the Commonwealth's prosperity, is, in
itself, a proof that the evils supposed to attach to its association
with one of the present great cities, are not so great as was an-
ticipated. Could not some feasible scheme be devised by which
either of these very desirable places could be chosen ? and there is
one very important reason why such a solution of the question
would be far better that the existing plan. We look for the best
men in the legislature. In the colonies the best men, as a rule,
are those who have proved themselves to be so by success in their
various callings. There is practically no leisured class.
These callings are largely pursued in the great commercial
centres, and unfortunately, for we must take men as they are,
these men will not take up public life at so great a sacrifice to
their business as would inevitably follow the frequent absence
required. Nor could they remove their work to a spot at which
the present non-existence of a large city is a proof that it would
be unsuitable for a trade centre. The comparative unimportance
of Washington and Ottawa shows that it takes more than mere
official primacy to cause commercial pre-eminence.
As the matter stands, if Melbourne is not to remain as a
practically permanent seat of Government, under all sorts of
temporary conditions, an amendment of the constitution, costly
and cumbrous as it is, seems to be inevitable.
VIATOR.
Cotton-Growing in Egypt 251
COTTON-GROWING IN EGYPT
BY W. C. MACKENZIE
IT has been well said that " the Nile is Egypt and Egypt is the
Nile." For the source of the wealth of that country, from the
time of the Pharaohs to the present day, indubitably lies in the
mighty river which gives life to the soil and bread to the eater.
And of that wealth, the cotton crop forms incomparably the
greatest share.
The seat of the cotton cultivation is in the fertile district of
the Delta, in Lower Egypt. It is a common error to suppose that
the fertilising qualities of the Nile are sufficiently effective to
obviate the necessity for using auxiliaries. But notwithstanding
the value as a fertiliser of the Nile mud, the land has to undergo
supplementary preparation to secure a satisfactory crop. Until
recent years, the dust heaps of the old dwelling-houses of the
fellaheen (peasantry) furnished the most common and most valu-
able form of manure. These, however, are now becoming ex-
hausted, farmyard manure taking their place to some extent,
while there is a growing tendency to use chemicals. This
tendency will probably become increasingly marked in the future,
owing to the deterioration of the soil on account of its gradual
exhaustion. Formerly, it was considered injudicious to put a
plot under cotton at more frequent intervals than once in three
years, but every alternate year is now the rule, and there is a
tendency to reduce the period of rest still further. The cause of
this tendency is of course the increasing demand for Egyptian
cotton. The high prices obtained in recent years have naturally
reacted upon the value of the land, which has been driven up
considerably by competition. Land being so much more valuable,
and rents being correspondingly higher, the fellaheen naturally
endeavour to make the most of the soil, and the inevitable result
is exhaustion at an accelerating rate. The seed is planted in rows ;
and while, formerly, a space of from two to two and a half feet
between the holes and between the lines was the rule, only about
half that distance is now general. The result is that the trees
252 The Empire Review
have suffered in strength by the exclusion of the requisite amount
of air and sunlight, consequent upon the excessive closeness of the
plants to one another.
Thus, while the Assouan dam has secured the country against
an insufficiency of water (it undoubtedly saved the 1905 crops from
ruin), and while irrigation schemes have resulted in a constant
increase, in a growing ratio, of the cultivable area, the cotton crop
of Egypt, during recent years, has remained practically stationary.
The increased area is counterbalanced by the smaller yield.
The present yield per feddan (acre) is less than 395 Ibs. English
of cotton, showing a depreciation of about 35 per cent, from the
yield nine or ten years ago. Unless this ratio of depreciation can
be arrested, the future results may be serious ; and it is matter
for congratulation that steps are now being taken to secure the
re-invigoration which the cotton plant requires.
The sowing of the cotton crop commences in February and
continues into April, according to the nature of the crop which it
succeeds. Some watering is required after sowing until the roots
are well formed. About thirty seeds are put into a sowing, and
when the shoots are three or four inches out of the ground, they
are thinned to two shoots. The new flood Nile not arriving until
summer, it is necessary to make provision for the needful water
during the interval. This provision is in the hands of the
Irrigation Service of Egypt, and takes the form of what are known
as " rotations," the principle being that every portion of the
country receives its supply in turn at stated intervals — generally
twelve to fifteen, and occasionally twenty, days. The fellaheen,
with a vivid recollection of past risks, incidental to the insufficiency
of water, find it difficult to exercise self-restraint in its use, the
consequence being that sometimes the crop suffers by an excess of
watering. The result of over-irrigation is seen in an excellent
show of leaf and wood, but a sad lack of cotton pods.
It is well for cotton that it is a hardy plant, for it has to under-
go various risks ere the safety of the crop is finally assured.
Worms are the great source of danger. Unless the young leaves,
upon which they deposit their eggs when in the moth stage, are
quickly removed, a new brood is produced, and the process of
reproduction is continued with disastrous effects on the plants.
Climatic risks commence in late August, when fogs and damp
sometimes prevail, and changes of temperature become of increas-
ing anxiety to the cultivator. Normally, the crop begins to ripen
about the middle of September, and the first picking — which gives
the best quality of cotton — is taken from the lower parts of the
plant. Then the land is again watered, and a second picking is
soon afterwards taken. There remains the third picking from the
top crop, the yield of which, owing to its having borne the brunt
Cotton-Growing in Egypt 253
of climatic risks, is often insignificant. By the end of October
the picking is usually completed.
When picked, the cotton is sent to be ginned at factories
situated in the central towns of the various districts. In Egypt,
the gin in use is the Platt knife-gin, which separates the seed
from the cotton without tearing the fibre. The saw-gin, which
is used in America, tears the fibre from the seed, and similar
treatment would ruin Egyptian cotton.
Some of the largest ginning establishments in Egypt have
steam presses attached to them, and bales of cotton are thus
made ready for shipment on the spot. But in most cases the
cotton is sent for shipment to Alexandria in large and relatively
loose bales. This system permits of a second selection in
Alexandria, before the cotton is finally packed in steam-pressed
bales for shipment to Europe and elsewhere. The bales, each of
them weighing about 750 Ibs., are densely packed, and the
expense of pressing is counterbalanced by the saving in freight
(owing to the smaller space which the cotton occupies), as well
as by the good conditions of delivery which the pressing secures.
In Lower Egypt, the Brown Egyptian (Mit Afifi) is the
quality chiefly grown, the other and finer qualities being
relatively unimportant as to quantity. One of the latter qualities
(Yannovitch) is an extra fine creamy cotton, which makes an
excellent substitute for the superior quality of American cotton
known as Sea Island. The largest crop so far obtained in Lower
Egypt was in 1897, when a total of 6,100,000 cantars (a cantar
equals 99 Ibs. English) was reached. It is estimated that, with
the annually increasing area under cotton, the Delta, with more
careful cultivation than is at present the custom, should be
capable of yielding something like 9,000,000 cantars, which would
mean a considerable addition to the wealth of the country.
In Upper Egypt the cotton industry was in past years greatly
hampered by the difficulties inherent in a basin system of irriga-
tion, but now that this system is being replaced by perennial
irrigation, cotton-growing is making great strides. The produc-
tion has increased from 300,000 cantars in 1898 to the present
yield of 1,000,000 cantars ; and it is thought that a further increase
of 500,000 to 1,000,000 cantars can, in course of time, be secured.
But those who are the best judges agree in the view that the
coming country for the cultivation of cotton grown from Egyptian
seed is the Soudan. Its capabilities for growing cotton of a
good quality have already been proved. Its soil is considered as
good as Egyptian soil for cotton, while it has the added advantage
of being virgin land. The two factors which militate against an
early exploitation of the Soudan for the cultivation of cotton
are the scarcity of labour and the water problem. But the
254 The Empire Review
population is steadily increasing, and labour, under the conditions
of security now prevailing, is gradually becoming more plentiful,
while, for the problem of irrigation, a solution will certainly be
found sooner or later. It is merely a question of the best and
the most economical method (and the least prejudicial to Egypt)
of harnessing the Nile for the service of the Soudan ; and the
matter is now under the consideration of the Irrigation authorities.
When the labour and water difficulties finally disappear, nothing
can hinder the rapid development of the illimitable possibilities
of the Soudan for cotton culture, among other sources of proved
wealth.
The principal market for Egyptian cotton is of course Lanca-
shire, but an important and expanding trade is also conducted
with numerous spinning centres on the Continent of Europe, as
well as with America and Japan. Of the total exports in 1904-5,
about 400,000 bales went to Lancashire, against about 440,000
bales to other markets.
The seed which is separated from the cotton fibre is now an
important article of commerce. Of the total yield of cotton in
seed, the proportion of seed is, in weight, about 65 per cent. In
1904-5, nearly 400,000 tons were exported from Alexandria to
various markets, the principal being Hull, which took over one-
half of the total quantity. As with cotton, so with seed, the
Continent is becoming an important factor, owing to the
expansion of the crushing industry. As is well known, a valuable
oil is extracted from the seed, and from the residue are manufac-
tured cakes, which contain excellent properties for feeding cattle
and sheep. The crude oil is refined, and in its refined condition
is used for various purposes. Soap-making is one of its most
important functions. A more thorough process of refining makes
it suitable for edible purposes, and in that form it is largely used
on the Continent. Probably it would be difficult to enumerate
all the articles into the composition of which it frequently enters.
But the " gentle reader " may guess, without in many cases being
far wrong, that the soap in his bathroom, the cooking butter in
his kitchen, and the olive oil on his table, all have a more or less
common derivation, partially or wholly ; and that derivation is
the seed of the cotton plant.
WM. C. MACKENZIE.
Builders of the British Empire 255
BUILDERS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
SIR AUGUSTUS C. GREGORY, K.C.M.G.
BY JOSHUA E. GREGORY
WHEN we think to-day of the prosperous colony of Western
Australia, with its gold-mines, railways and cathedrals, and of
the beautiful capital, Perth, with its handsome buildings and
its wide streets lighted by electricity, it is difficult to realise that
less than eighty years ago it was a wild uncultivated district.
In 1829 the British flag was hoisted there, and in the same
year a little band of men and women set out from England to
seek their fortunes in the distant country.
Many of these early settlers were of gentle birth, accustomed to
comforts and luxuries, but in the new colony they were con-
fronted by many hardships. The natives were hostile, servants
insufficient ; the climate and its seasons were not understood,
with the result that crops failed and stock died. Goods were
often unobtainable, for vessels came out from England but once
in six months, and provisions were sometimes at famine prices.
Yet in spite of all difficulties the gallant little band worked
on together, facing privations and hardships, cheering one another,
and looking forward with brave, far-seeing eyes to a prosperous
future, which, alas ! was long in coming. When the story of
that early settlement is written, it will be one of plucky endurance,
of troubles bravely borne, of kindliness and good-fellowship,
a story of which England may be proud.
Captain Joshua Gregory (the eighth in succession of that
name) was one of the first settlers. He had entered the army,
78th Highlanders (Seaforth), at a very early age and took part
in the battle of El-Hamet, Egypt, when only sixteen. Volun-
teering for a " forlorn hope," he was wounded through the
lungs, and never completely recovered, although the genial
climate of Australia prolonged his life.
He landed in the colony in October 1829, accompanied by his
wife and his five sons, and when he died a few years later the
mother undertook the education and training of her boys. She was
256 The Empire Review
a noble woman, clever and highly accomplished, and inspired
them with her own high principles, her energy and courage. A
friend speaking of her said : " She was a very pretty little woman,
with sweet, courteous manners, full of fun, a charming person-
ality. Her sons owed everything to her."
She had the happiness of seeing her efforts bring forth fruit,
for the young men grew up warmly attached to her and to each
other, making an honourable name for themselves and taking a
prominent part in the history of their adopted country. They
were gifted with much natural ability, and under their mother's
direction stored their minds with a vast amount of knowledge, and
at the same time became first-class carpenters, blacksmiths and
builders. They had a special aptitude for mechanics, mensura-
tion and natural science, and they all entered the Government
service as surveyors. Augustus, the second son, was born at
Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire, in 1819, and was only ten years old
when he arrived in Western Australia. He was always quiet
and studious, and at an age when boys are usually at public
schools playing cricket and football, he and his brothers were
obliged to turn their attention to the more serious things of life ;
for they were hard times, those early days in the Colony, and
heavy responsibilities fell upon even young shoulders. " Ah," he
said, many years later, " it was well for us, after all, that we
were obliged to fight our way from such an early time in life."
And who knows ? Perhaps it was better so, for the noble spirit
comes through the fire of danger and difficulty stronger and
braver than before, more ready to do and dare.
The first thing which brought Augustus Gregory into public
notice was the fact of his making a knife when he was quite a
boy. They were living then on the Swan Eiver, about twelve
miles from Perth. By melting down the iron-ore, he made some
steel which he turned into a penknife, with a kangaroo bone for
a handle. It was shown to several people, who expressed their
doubts as to its authenticity, for getting steel was a difficult
matter. The Governor, Sir James Stirling, hearing of it, sent
someone to inquire. The boy took some of the iron-ore, melted
it down, and made a little ingot of steel, and that settled the
matter.
When he was about twenty years of age, he took up surveying
as a profession, and soon got a good appointment on the Govern-
ment staff. Being a junior officer, he often undertook work the
older surveyors were inclined to avoid ; this brought him into
contact with headquarters, and he won golden opinions for his
promptitude and careful attention to duty. He relates how one
Sunday, on his way to church, he was asked by the Governor if
he could be ready to start the next day on a 300 miles journey.
Builders of the British Empire 257
Gregory quietly suggested that the day after would be better, for
the provisioning of a ship was part of the preparation, and he was
ready on the Wednesday morning.
In 1846 the known country of Western Australia had become
fully stocked, and the settlers were anxious to discover fresh runs.
Gregory proposed that he and his brothers should attempt an
exploration of the interior, and applied for three months' leave of
absence for the purpose. Not only was leave of absence granted,
but the expedition was arranged under the auspices of the Govern-
ment, who provided the horses, and the public subscribed £5 for
the equipment. So, on August 7th, 1846, he started with his two
younger brothers, Frank and Henry, with four horses and seven
weeks' provisions.
It was no pleasure party that first expedition ; they travelled
through dense thickets of gum and cypress, through impenetrable
wattle-scrubs and over dreary flats of sand and dry salt lakes.
In endeavouring to cross one of these lakes, the hard surface-crust
of salt and gypsum gave way, and three of the horses were
bogged. " After a long, ineffectual struggle," says Gregory, in
his diary, " they became quite exhausted, and we waded through
the mud to the opposite shore, about half a mile, and cut some
small trees and with them, combined with tether-ropes and
saddle-bags, formed two hurdles twelve feet long and two feet
wide. These were with much difficulty taken to the horses, and
by placing them alternately before each animal, worked them
over the soft mud and, after six hours of severe exertion, reached
the firm ground. Then we had to travel three miles through soft
dust of white gypsum, into which we sank from one to two feet."
On the 9th of September, while examining the bed of a river,
they discovered two seams of coal, and that evening the first fire
of Western Australian coal burnt cheerfully in front of the camp.
After many days of weary travelling good grassy land was
found, and having accomplished their object they returned to
civilisation. The expedition lasted forty-seven days, during which
they traversed 953 miles. The discovery of coal and country
available for settlement was deemed of much importance, and
some further explorations of shorter duration were undertaken by
the brothers, which resulted in the discovery of fifty or sixty
thousand acres of fine pasture land.
Two years later, in 1848, the pressing need of fresh country
again made itself felt, and the settlers organised an expedition
and applied to the Government to grant the services of Augustus
Gregory as leader of the party.
The Colonial Secretary wrote as follows : —
I am directed by the Governor to inform you that you have been appointed
to direct the exploring expedition about to proceed northwards, on account
VOL. XII.— No. 69. s
258 The Empire Review
of the zeal, energy, and enterprising spirit that have been exhibited by
you on other occasions, and called into action with credit to yourself and
with advantage to the public interests.
The party consisted of Augustus Gregory as leader, Charles,
his youngest brother, and four others. Between them they had
two saddles, ten pack-horses and three months' provisions. They
proceeded northwards, but only to find a barren, sandy country,
varied by dense thickets of acacia and cypress. Days passed and
the same dreary scene met them, a succession of low ridges of
drifted sands, high scrubs and thorny bushes. The soil was poor
and stony, and so dry and parched that often a search for water
was fruitless, and their supply depended upon native wells which
they came upon at intervals, and which yielded a very small
quantity. They suffered terribly from thirst, for the sun was
scorching and the nights were dewless, and the horses much
fatigued and nearly starved. When the last sandy ridge was
passed, an immense plain stretched out before them, " not a hill
nor a valley was visible, the whole country seemed to settle down
into one vast, impenetrable thicket, with a surface as level as
the sea."
For some time they endeavoured to make their way through
it, with the greatest difficulty. The saddle bags were torn to
pieces, and the horses became quite exhausted with dragging their
packs through the thorny bushes. "At 5.15," to quote from
Gregory's diary, " we were compelled to halt for the night,
without a single blade of grass for the horses ; water it was
hopeless to look for."
The next morning, finding it impossible to proceed, for the
horses were scarcely able to travel, they returned to the well of
the last camping-place, only to find it nearly dry. After digging
fresh trenches and waiting for an hour a little water oozed in, but
not more than a gallon for each horse. After drinking his share
" Bob," Gregory's horse, walked off at a quick pace. Bather
surprised at this they followed him, and found him drinking from
a nice little pool which he had discovered for himself. It was a
pleasant find for the weary men, for they were worn out with
their long march, and the horses had been sixty-five hours without
water.
They rested a little while and then set out once more, but the
same dreary country was encountered ; there was no food for the
horses and no water, nothing but sand-hills covered with coarse
scrub and a gigantic species of grass which they called " bayonet
grass," because of its sharp, thorny points. They pushed on,
weary and disheartened ; but one day hope came to them : the
country seemed suddenly to improve, they began to find patches
of good, grassy land and pools of fresh water, and the trees became
Builders of the British Empire 259
green and fresh, in striking contrast to the brown, parched valley
they had left behind. On October 27th they found themselves at
the foot of Wizard Peak. Leaving their horses they ascended,
and when they reached the summit a glorious sight met their
view ! Miles of beautiful grassy country stretched out before
them. It was the promised land at last ! They could go back now
with good news, and gladly they turned their faces homeward.
The return journey was comparatively easy ; they had few
adventures to chronicle, except the discovery of a valuable lead
mine, now in the centre of the Geraldine Mining District, and
some encounters with the natives, happily of a friendly nature.
One evening a party of seventy or eighty came to the camp and
envinced a desire for the peaceable amusement of eating damper
and fat bacon. On another occasion the blacks stole a frying-pan,
with which they dug a well and returned it the next day.
The party reached Perth on November 12th, having travelled
1,500 miles during the ten weeks they were out. On his return
Gregory was hailed as a public benefactor; and the Governor,
Fitzgerald, expressed a wish to examine the lead mine which he
had discovered. So on December 1st he again set out, accompanied
by the Governor and four others. On this occasion the natives were
very troublesome, and made a fierce attack upon them, which is
described in Gregory's journal. " Several natives came after us,
at first about eight or ten in number, but they gradually increased
till they exceeded fifty, when they altogether changed their
friendly attitude and began to bring up their spears. The
country was covered with dense wattle thickets, and the natives
took advantage of the ground to completely surround the party,
and began to throw spears and stones. One man caught Mr.
Bland by the arm, threatening to strike him with a dowak. The
Governor, perceiving that unless some severe example was made
the whole party would be cut off, fired at one of our assailants.
A shower of spears, stones, kylies and dowaks followed, and a
spear struck the Governor in the leg just above the knee with
such force as to cause it to protrude two feet on the other side,
which enabled me to break off the barb and withdraw the shaft.
The Governor, in spite of his wound, continued to direct the
party, and although the natives made many attempts to reach us
with their spears we were enabled, by keeping to the most open
ground, and by an occasional shot, to avoid their attacks, but they
followed us closely for seven miles."
The fight lasted six hours, but at last they reached the beach
and got the party and horses on board the vessel in safety. The
Governor was much pleased with Gregory's conduct on this
occasion, and wrote a very strong despatch calling the attention
of the Home Government to his services.
q O
H -
260 The Empire Review
Modest and unassuming as he was, Augustus Gregory had yet
acquired considerable fame as a successful explorer, and in 1855
the Imperial Government organised an expedition, and he was
asked to take command of the party. It had the two-fold purpose
of exploring the interior and of searching for traces of the ill-fated
Leichardt who, with his party, had been missing for seven years.
The Duke of Newcastle, the then Secretary of State for the
Colonies, addressing the Governor of Western Australia said :
" Her Majesty's Government are fully aware that such projects,
especially where they involve so much combination, can only be
submitted generally to the leader of such an expedition, to whom
great latitude must be left as to the mode of carrying his instruc-
tions into execution. They have come to the determination of
offering the command of the expedition to Mr. A. C. Gregory,
and I trust that, notwithstanding its arduous and responsible
nature, he will accept the charge. They have been induced to
take this course both by the very high testimonials which have
been given to the abilities and fitness of this gentleman for the
purpose, by such authorities as they have been able to consult in
England, and also by your own report concerning him, particularly
that contained in your despatch of January 6th, 1852."
Gregory accepted the leadership, and his younger brother
Henry was appointed assistant commander. There were sixteen
others, including Mr. T. Baines, the artist, and the far-famed
botanist Dr. Mueller, afterwards Baron von Mueller, who spoke
of Gregory as his beloved and honoured chief. They had fifty
horses and 200 sheep, and provisions consisting of flour, salt pork,
preserved beef, rice, peas, preserved potatoes, sago, tea, coffee,
vinegar and lime juice, sufficient to supply the party on full
rations for eighteen months.
Starting from the Victoria River in the northern territory,
Gregory ascended this important highway to its source, and
crossing the watershed at the height of 1,660 ft. above sea level,
followed a stream which he named Sturt Creek. Leaving the
Victoria he advanced to the Gulf of Carpentaria, crossing the
Albert, the Flinders, and the Gilbert rivers, this last he also
traced to its source. Then passing south to the Burdakin water-
shed, crossing the high lands which he named the Newcastle
Ranges, he followed the Burdakin River, and after crossing the
Mackenzie reached the coast south of the Fitzroy. Great diffi-
culties and hardships were encountered. The expedition suffered
terribly for want of water, and often food, and were obliged to
resort to dried horse flesh. Indeed two of the party were dis-
covered one day in the act of eating a huge snake, rather to the
amusement of the others, who, hungry as they were, preferred to
look on at the savoury banquet !
Builders of the British Empire 261
During this expedition the natives were very troublesome, and
one of the exploring party, a good, conscientious man, talked a
great deal about universal brotherhood, "he was not quite sure,"
he said, " that he would be justified in firing upon a black fellow
even in self-defence." One day, however, a number of natives
made a severe attack upon them, but departed after a slight resist-
ance. Later on a black fellow was discovered in a tree, wounded
in the thigh by a revolver bullet. "Leave him there," said
Gregory, "he has had a lesson as to our power." He was, of
course, obeyed, but the man who had talked so much about
humanity, looked back regretfully. " It's a pity we didn't pot
that fellow in the tree," he said, " he was such a nice shot."
Of Leichardt they found few traces. In one spot several trees
were marked with iron axes, and later they came upon a camp of
his. The ashes of the fire were still visible, and a large tree was
marked I j but a hollow at the foot showed that whatever
had been deposited there had long since been removed, and
nothing could be found.
Speaking of this journey many years later, the great explorer
said, " We had no grand misfortunes ; it is true we were wrecked,
and had to fight a little, but we came out on the right side. We
were seventeen months isolated." Lightly as he spoke of it,
however, it was a most important work, perhaps the greatest in
the whole of Australian exploration, and so creditably did he
perform his arduous undertaking that he won a royal award, the
founder's gold medal of the Eoyal Geographical Society, Sir
Eoderick Murchison remarking that it was " an award which
would be approved of by the geographers of all countries."
Two years later Augustus Gregory was asked to take charge
of a party sent from New South Wales in search of Leichardt.
But they were not successful in finding any traces beyond the
upper branch of the Barcoo Biver, where they found one of the
lost explorer's camps.
They followed the Barcoo to Cooper's Creek and went on
down to Adelaide, where they had a grand reception. " I rode at
the head of the party," said Gregory, " followed by the men and
horses ; there were twenty-eight horses, twenty of them loose with
their packs on. We went right into the middle of the crowd, and
the horses were so well trained that there was not the slightest
trouble. When the crowd pressed upon them, they did not kick,
but just lifting a hind leg occasionally, would push the people
back. A photograph of the party was taken and of the crowd.
Later on, wishing to leave my own picture with the Commissioner
for Crown Lands, I visited a photographer. After taking the photo-
graph he went as usual into his dark room. Presently he rushed
262 The Empire Review
out, exclaiming excitedly, ' I recognise you now — you are the
explorer ! ' "
In 1859 Gregory was appointed Surveyor-General of Queens-
land, in which capacity he served until 1875, and accomplished
much important work. He was geologist for the southern district,
and furnished five very valuable papers during his term of office.
He was President of the Koyal Society and of the Eoyal
Geographical Society of Australasia, and was called upon by the
Queensland Government on a number of occasions for special
reports, and for assistance in geological and geographical investi-
gation.
In 1874 he was created a companion of the order of St. Michael
and St. George, and in 1903, a knight of the same order. He
was district Grand Master of the Queensland Lodge of Free
Masonry under the English constitution, and in 1882 he became
a member of the Legislative Council.
Kindly and generous and full of unfailing courtesy, Augustus
Gregory was beloved by all who knew him, none asked his help
in vain. He had a vast amount of knowledge, and few embarked
upon scientific investigation without consulting his advice, and none
who asked it came empty away. "A most remarkable man,"
said Sir Horace Tozer, "perhaps the most remarkable man we
have ever had in Australia, he was a complete encyclopedia, there
was nothing he didn't know." As an explorer, his ready wit, his
resource, and facility of invention were of immense importance.
Whilst on his North Australian expedition, empty preserved meat
tins, which many would have thrown away, were converted by
him into sheets of tinned iron, nearly equal to new, and then into
pannikens of graduated size, much to the comfort of the party.
On another occasion a stout sewing-needle was converted into a
fish-hook, and with a few threads and a young sapling, a fishing-
rod was made, then, having caught sufficient fish, the needle was
straightened and tempered for future use.
He was careful and accurate about even the smallest details,
and, added to his many talents, he possessed high mental and
moral attributes, without which the best success in life is
unattainable.
Between him and his brothers existed a marvellous bond of
trust and affection. While in the same colony, they all shared a
common banking account, and drew on it as they pleased. And
although Augustus and Henry had not met for more than thirty
years they wrote constantly to the last, tender, affectionate letters,
full of interest in each other's welfare. William, the eldest, did
not long survive his father. Francis, who died in 1888, himself
conducted two expeditions, and held several important posts under
Government. Henry, who died in 1903, and Charles in 1874,
Builders of the British Empire 263
also held Government appointments, and took part in the explora-
tions under their brother Augustus.
Of them all it may be said that they were upright, honourable
men, kindly and generous, endowed with exceptional mental
powers. They were all imbued with a deep sense of religion,
which, though rarely spoken of, influenced their lives. When
Charles, the youngest brother, died, Francis, who had been
nursing him tenderly, and was with him to the end, wrote to
Henry telling him of his death. " Our dear brother Charles," he
writes, then, after the details of the illness, he adds, " Just before
daylight he sat up for a few moments and said he knew he must
go soon. His last words were, ' I see my God waiting on the
edge of the eastern waters to carry me over ' ; after a short pause
he added, ' At great cost.' He then sunk into a calm sleep."
As the years passed away, Augustus Gregory still took a leading
part in all that concerned the welfare of Australia, and to the last
he might be seen in his place in the Legislative Council, a
picturesque figure, with his snowy hair and beard, and his keen
eyes full of tender kindliness. For some time before his death
his friends noticed that he was failing, but he still continued to
fulfil his duties, and the end came almost suddenly.
On July 25, 1905, it was announced that Sir Augustus C.
Gregory had died at his residence, Rainsworth, after a brief
illness of pneumonia, aged 85 years. The body was placed in the
Masonic Hall, where it lay in state, and more than 1,500 persons
passed through the chapelle ardente during the few hours that it
remained there. The funeral was a public one, and the large
number that attended it showed what a high place he had filled
in the esteem of his fellow-citizens.
And so the last of the plucky little band of brothers passed
away as an ear of corn fully ripe. He served his generation
faithfully, giving his fine intellectual powers for the good of his
fellows, and the noble example of life well spent.
JOSHUA E. GREGORY.
264 The Empire Review
THE PROBLEM OF THE SEA-DYAK
IN SARAWAK
BY THE REV. EDWIN H. GOMES, M.A.
OF the natives of Sarawak the Sea-Dyaks are by far the
most numerous and energetic. On the banks of the large rivers—
the Batang Lupar, Saribas, Kalaka, and Eejang — the Sea-Dyaks
are to be found, and from that race the Government of Sarawak
obtain the Bangers which garrison the different forts in the
country. Let me begin by attempting to picture the home-life
of the Dyak.
He and his family live in a long house in which several families
congregate together under the headship of one man. This house
is built in a long straight line and is raised on posts about ten or
more feet off the ground. The floor is made of laths of split palm
or bamboo, and the walls and the roof are of palm-leaf thatch.
Along the whole length of the house there stretches a long covered
verandah, on one side of which are a row of doors. Each of
these doors leads into a separate room, occupied by a family and
serving several purposes. It serves as a kitchen, because in one
corner there is a small fireplace, where the food is cooked. It is
also a dining-room, because when the food is ready, mats are
spread in this room and the inmates eat their meals there. It
is also a bedroom, because here they sleep at night. The long
verandah is a public place, open to all comers, and used as a road
by travellers, who climb up the ladder at one end, walk through
the whole length of the house, and go down the ladder at the
other end. Here the men carry on various occupations — make
nets, baskets, &c., and even boats if they are not of too great a
size. Here too the women do their work, such as pounding rice,
making mats, weaving cloth, and the stranger comes and goes,
or squats to have a talk with some inmate of the house, and to
eat the betel-nut and pepper-leaf mixtures. The length of this
house varies according to the number of families living in it, and
these range from three or four to forty or fifty.
The Sea-Dyak marries at an early age and lives in a house of
The Problem of the Sea-Dyak in Sarawak 265
this kind with his wife and children. His wife since her marriage
has grown into a tired-looking untidy woman, very different from
the bright merry girl of ten years ago. How can she help it ?
She has four children to look after, and the youngest is still an
infant, who needs a great deal of her attention. She has to fetch
the water required and do the cooking for the family. She has
to attend to the drying and pounding of paddy.* In addition to
all this, there is the worry and commotion connected with each
year having to move the household for some months to the little
hut put up in their paddy farm some little distance away.
The Sea-Dyak has year after year to try and get as much
paddy as possible. He rises on work-days early in the morning,
partakes of his frugal meal of rice and salt, or rice and salt fish,
varied, if he is very lucky, by a piece of wild pork or venison,
which he has received as a gift or bought from some hunting
friend. His wife bundles up for him his midday meal in the
apathe of the Penang palm, and he goes off to his work, returning
home late in the evening.
There are days when he does not go to work on his paddy
farm, but spends his time in getting firewood or mending things
in his room, or in sitting about in the common verandah chatting
with his friends.
When the paddy has grown a little and the time for weeding
draws near, the family remove to the little hut put up in the
paddy swamp. In the weeding the Sea-Dyak is helped by his
wife, the younger children being left in charge of the elder for the
greater part of the day, while their parents are at work. "When
the weeding has been done, the family return to the long Dyak
house for a month or so. Then they go back to their hut to
watch the ripening paddy and guard it against attacks of birds
and beasts.
Paddy-planting is the chief occupation of every Sea-Dyak, but
he has plenty of time for other things, and his life is not quite so
monotonous as may be supposed. The actual work of paddy
planting, and things connected with it, such as the building of
farm huts and the getting ready of farming implements, takes up
seven or perhaps eight months of the year. The Sea-Dyak has
therefore a certain amount of time during which he can visit his
friends, make boats, or hunt for jangle produce.
On certain occasions the Sea-Dyaks muster in great force.
At a feast a large number of them appear dressed in such finery
as they possess ; and they eat more than is good for them, and
drink enough bad Dyak tuak1[ to make them very sick and to
give them a bad headache for the next few days. At a large
* Rice in the husk.
f A native drink obtained from rice.
266 The Empire Review
tuba-ashing * crowds of them congregate with their hand-nets
and fish-spears, and a pleasant sort of picnic is spent, attended, if
fortunate, with the procuring of much fish.
The Sea-Dyak has his bad times. When he has had a bad
crop, he has to think of some means to raise money, not for
luxuries in dress and food, but for the plain necessaries of rice and
salt, upon which many Dyaks have to live for several months in
the year. On these occasions he will work for the Chinaman in
the nearest bazaar for some low wage, or he sells firewood to them
for whatever they will give for it. If he possesses such things,
he sells off some old brass gun or gong to buy food for his family.
If he is reduced to borrowing paddy from his neighbours, he has
to pay back the following year double the amount he has received.
He is cheerful and more or less contented with his life. If
his lot is a hard and uneventful one — "the tale of common
things " — he knows of no other and is quite satisfied with it.
He knows little of the outside world. He reads no books or
newspapers. The scope of his conversation is limited to matters
of farming or of boat-building, varied perhaps by some local Dyak
scandal or some experience he has gone through, when, in his
younger days, before he settled down as a sober married man, he
went out gutta-hunting to distant lands. He has no wish to
improve himself. His -father and grandfather lived in long Dyak
houses, and what was good enough for them is good enough
for him. Why should he worry himself about building better
houses or farming in some new and more improved way ? He
will not meddle with matters that are too high for him. And yet,
notwithstanding this calm and even life that he leads from child-
hood to the grave, an uneasy suspicion is haunting the minds of
many of those who are most interested in the Sea-Dyak, that his
life is not what it ought to be, that it shows few signs of progress,
that it is too stagnant to be healthy, that it falls far short of the
ideal of human perfection. Narrowing the matter down to its
smallest dimensions and stating it in its baldest form, the problem
of the Sea-Dyak resolves itself into this : What is there lacking
in his life, and how can these absent elements be supplied ?
Below the type of the Sea-Dyak I have tried to depict, there
is a lower stratum consisting of the failures. These are the lazy
Dyaks, the poor workers, who never have, by any possible chance,
enough paddy at the harvest to last them through the year ; who
live perpetually in an atmosphere of debt, who eke out their
livelihood by selling wild ferns and bamboo shoots — for the little
paddy people will give for such things — who live a hugger-mugger
life, depending a good deal on the charity of their neighbours. Of
* A poison obtained from the bark and roots of certain plants ; used for killing
fish in rivers.
The Problem of the Sea-Dyak in Sarawak 267
this class I say nothing. It is not numerous and does not come
within the scope of this article. Another class I pass over consists
of the few rich men whose wealth is continually increasing, who
sell paddy year after year ; who, when there is more work than
they can conveniently do, can always afford to get extra labour
by paying for it. The class I am dealing with is the " common
or garden variety," which is to be met with in large numbers in
any Dyak community.
I am not losing sight of the fact that this description of the Sea-
Dyak and his circumstances is not complete. There is another view,
the view from within, so to speak, which must be taken into account.
It is not quite fair to speak of the Sea-Dyak only as a generalised
abstraction. However much the outside circumstances of his life
may be like that of his fellows, we must not forget that each man
and each woman is an individual, with individual hopes and aspira-
tions, with individual springs of action. True this individuality in
many cases remains dormant and does not show itself, it is thrust
away and bound down in fetters by the conditions of his life, but
something of it is there, more or less, in each separate character.
Nor do I for a moment suppose that the Sea-Dyak is a " fortuitous
aggregation of atoms that will shortly be dispersed throughout
space." No; he is something more than that. There is something
divine in him holding those fleeting atoms together and making
them one. Though he is journeying through a world of tragic
meaning, to the significance of which he seems to be for ever blind,
I recognise in him an immortal spirit journeying on to eternity.
What of the Sea-Dyak's future ? Individually his outlook is
not particularly bright or promising. He will plant paddy year
after year, in his own way, on the different patches of farming-
ground which he owns, and some years get a better crop and
some years a worse. Occasionally he will get into trouble and
bring his case before the Government, and be punished for his
wrong-doing by a fine or by imprisonment. Adultery and divorce
will be elements in the lives of those who are wanting in morals.
Squabbling over farming-land or fruit-trees occupy the attention
of others. So his life drags on till the inevitable end comes, and
death takes him away to make room for others.
It may be asked : What are the missions, Church of England
and Roman Catholic, doing to improve the Sea-Dyak? I believe
they are doing the best they can, but that does not amount to
much. There are so many things to contend against. First
there is the natural inability of the Dyak to keep his attention
fixed upon any one subject for any length of time. How difficult
it is to prevent the conversation drifting into some commonplace
topic when one is talking about serious matters ! Then again,
when are they to be taught ? They come home generally from their
268 The Empire Review
work late in the evening and then they are tired and take no
interest in anything, being greatly in need of rest. Again, how
difficult it is to have a quiet conversation in a Dyak house ! The
common verandah is suitable for many things, but it is far too
noisy to be convenient for teaching. They are often away from
their homes for months. The missionary, who generally has a
large field to cover, finds he cannot visit many villages in his
parish more than once in three months. How much of such
teaching is likely to be remembered ? Of course, things are not
so bad where the Church and mission-house are. There regular
services are held, and these the Sea-Dyak has the opportunity of
attending ; he can also come up to the mission-house and talk
over matters with the missionary in charge or the schoolmaster
or the catechist. But how many mission-houses with resident
missionaries are there among the large and scattered population of
Sea-Dyaks in Sarawak ?
The up-country mission schools, which the Government
liberally support, admit boys at an early age when they are most
susceptible to receiving new ideas. Here they are cut away from
Dyak surroundings and live with the missionary and school-
master. One naturally hopes that each one of these boys
returning to his home will be a " shining light " — an example to
others, leading them to the right way, and no doubt many of the
old schoolboys, though not all, affect for good, in more ways
than one, the homes to which they return. I am also perfectly
aware that among the Sea-Dyak Christians of Sarawak there are
some striking examples of those who remember what has been
taught them and whose faith is a living personal force governing
their lives. But what I maintain is that the cases are so few as
compared to the general bulk of the Sea-Dyak population, and that
the people live such an unsettled life that missionary effort, as it
is exerted in Sarawak at the present time, can but touch the
outside fringe of the matter and cannot affect to any very great
extent the problem of the Sea-Dyak.
The Government by maintaining discipline in the different
districts, by punishing crime and regulating trade, is no doubt
instilling into the mind of the Sea-Dyak important notions of law
and order. The recent importation of Hakka Chinese, to show
the Dyaks how paddy ought to be planted, is an important move
in the right direction, but one feels doubtful whether it will have
the desired effect upon the Sea-Dyak. One remembers the proverb
which says how easy it is to lead a horse to the water and how diffi-
cult it is to make him drink, if he does not feel inclined to do so.
The future of the Sea-Dyak, judged collectively, is somewhat
doubtful. There are those who say that he is slowly, but none
the less surely, improving and that he will at no very distant
The Problem of the Sea-Dyak in Sarawak 269
time reach the stage of progress to which most of the Malays in
the country have attained. That his means of earning his
livelihood will not then be confined to paddy-planting and
occasionally working jungle produce, but that he will work sago,
and also go in for fishing and boat-building on a large scale.
Others, however, mutter dark things concerning the Sea-Dyak's
primitive methods of farming and his unwillingness to give them
up, and they paint a dismal picture in the distant future, of
villages crowded by half-starved men and women, who find that
the worn-out land around them will not bear fruitful crops as in
the old days, and they draw attention to the fact that insufficiency
of food will as usual produce a weakly and sickly race.
Whatever may be the ultimate fate of the Sea-Dyak, there
are certain lines of development in the immediate future which
seem to be fairly intelligible. The Sea-Dyak will go on living in
the same kind of house as his ancestors have done much the
same kind of life year after year. He will go on farming in his
present primitive way till the soil around is worn out. Then he
will ask leave of the Government, as has been done in many cases
lately, to remove to some new and uncultivated country, and to
be allowed to cut down the jungle on the hills there. Enormous
tracts of lowland jungle exist in the lower reaches of the rivers on
whose banks the Sea-Dyaks live ; but though they are willing to
plant their paddy on swampy soil which has been cleared of jungle
generations ago, they do not seem to care to cut down lowland
jungle and prepare such land for planting. Perhaps the reason is
that it is harder work, and that after the trees are felled, it takes
six or seven years before the roots have rotted, and the soil has
settled, and the land is fit for planting paddy on. What the Sea-
Dyak likes is to be allowed to remove to some country with plenty
of wooded hills. There the old sequence of events will repeat itself.
The new land, rich virgin soil, will under his devastating hand
become exhausted and worn out in time. It does not take long to
impoverish land if no attempt is made to enrich it.
I have touched lightly on some of the factors in this problem.
There are many who have lived in the country who can easily fill
in the outlines and complete the picture. So many of us have in
some way or other come into contact with the Sea-Dyak — a warm-
hearted, hospitable, cheery figure — satisfied with little — living in
the present with no thought of the future — quite content if he
have food to eat and tobacco to smoke ; and yet, for this reason,
because he is so satisfied with his lot, most unwilling to absorb
new ideas, seemingly for ever unconscious of the significance of
his life, ignorant of the infinite possibilities for good or evil which
exist in him.
EDWIN H. GOMES.
270 The Empire Review
THE IDEAL COMMERCE PROTECTOR
WITH the lessons of the manoauvres fresh in our memory, it
may not be out of place to consider the means we should employ
for the protection of our commerce and for the destruction of that
of an enemy in time of war, and to ask ourselves in the light
of recent experiences if the means now adopted are really
adequate.
The damage claimed to be done by the hostile fleet during the
short time it was at large on the trade routes was one of the most
striking features of the manoeuvres. This amount was variously
estimated, but even at the lowest figure it is sufficiently high to
cause apprehension as to what might occur in war. It must also
be remembered that danger to commerce, in a protracted war,
will not be confined to the beginning of hostilities. At any time
a cruiser might make a dash for the trade routes and do incalcul-
able damage before it could be stopped. It appears then
that we require a greater number of ships for the protection of
our commerce, and it is proposed to discuss here the best kind of
vessel for that purpose.
The first obstacle to meet in endeavouring to provide a large
number of cruisers for commerce protection is their enormous cost.
The big armoured cruiser is nearly as expensive as the battle-
ship, and the two classes are becoming more and more merged
into each other. The cost of the Duke of Edinburgh class is
about one million one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, while
that of the Minotaur class will probably be considerably more.
In these circumstances it is obvious that the number of these ships
which can be laid down each year must be very strictly limited.
But before deciding to build a larger number of cheaper ships we
must determine whether they would fulfil the objects of their
existence equally well. These objects would seem to be as
follows : —
They must be capable of engaging and overcoming the
commerce destroyers of the enemy, i.e. their cruisers and
fast-armed liners.
The Ideal Commerce Protector 271
They must be able to show a clean pair of heels to the
enemy's battle fleet if need be.
They must be able to keep the sea for a long time.
They must be able to maintain their speed in rough
weather.
Let us now consider these conditions shortly.
Firstly. The enemy will employ cruisers and large liners
specially armed, which cannot be employed in the battle fleet, for
the destruction of our commerce.
All foreign powers are at present so very inferior to us in battle-
ships that they would probably put as many of their armoured
cruisers as possible into their battle fleet. They would doubtless
realise that though a considerable amount of pecuniary loss, annoy-
ance, and even interference with plans might be caused by attacks on
our commerce, yet it is on the battle fleet that the issue of the
war depends. In the case of Germany for instance, all the
armoured cruisers would be employed with the battle fleet — they
are too slow for commerce destruction — while the small protected
cruisers of the Bremen class would be used for that purpose,
together with the large and fast liners of the Hamburg-American
and North German Lloyd companies. These liners would in
reality be a much greater menace to our commerce than the
cruisers, as they are able and accustomed to make their speed in
all weathers. Of course, it is possible that occasionally the
armoured cruisers, or at any rate some of them would make a
raid, but in that case our big armoured cruisers could be detached
from the battle fleet and sent in pursuit. We see then that our
commerce defenders must be capable of overhauling the fast liners,
which necessitates a speed of 24 knots at least. They must be
capable of overcoming these liners and the protected cruisers of
the enemy, and should be able to put up a fight with the armoured
cruisers should they encounter them.
Secondly. Our proposed cruiser must be able to show a clean
pair of heels to the hostile battle fleet. Latterly there is a growing
tendency for the speed of the battleships to increase and to
approximate to that of armoured cruisers. The Dreadnought is
to steam at 21 knots, and it is quite likely that battleships may
reach a speed of 22 or 23 knots in the course of the next few
years. A margin of one knot is not sufficient, as the chance of a
breakdown in some of the boilers must always be taken into con-
sideration. For these reasons our commerce protectors should
have a speed of not less than 26 knots an hour. In the light of
recent engineering improvements there is no doubt that this speed
is possible.
The third point deals mainly with the question of coal supply.
Enough coal should be carried to enable the cruiser to steam
272 The Empire Review
10,000 miles at economical speed, allowing for an occasional spurt
at full speed.
The fourth and last point has to do with the size of the ship.
A 3,000 ton ship, such as any one of the Scout class, may be
able to do 25 knots in smooth water without much difficulty.
But put her in a rough sea and it is doubtful if she will reach 18.
Even ships of 7,000 tons like the Edgar lose a great deal of their
speed in a seaway, and it is not until a displacement of 10,000
tons is reached that this difficulty is overcome. This is shown by
the two classes of cruisers, the County and Diadem classes, whose
displacement is roughly 10,000 tons, as these ships lose very little
of their speed in rough weather. We can therefore take it that
10,000 tons is the minimum displacement consistent with speed-
maintaining qualities.
It only remains to enunciate the details from the foregoing
particulars.
The displacement should be 10,000 tons. If a greater dis-
placement were given, the cost would be largely increased, and it
is necessary to keep this down to the minimum consistent with
the fulfilment of the requirements above mentioned. This dis-
placement of 10,000 tons would also be sufficient for the armament
and armour with which it is proposed to provide the vessel, as
detailed below. The length of the ship should be about 480 feet,
or 40 feet more than that of the County class of much the same
displacement. This extra length will make it easier for the
vessel to make her speed. The other dimensions would probably
be those of the County class cruisers, a beam of about 65 feet and
a mean draught of 24£.
Turning now to the question of the armament, we must bear
in mind that our ship may have to engage the armoured cruisers
of the enemy, and so must carry some guns that are capable of
piercing the armour on them. For this purpose the 9 • 2-inch gun
would seem to be the most suitable, as it is an extremely powerful
gun for its weight. This weight, however, is sufficiently great to
make it impossible for her to carry many of these weapons, and
so we would propose to limit the number to two, one forward and
one aft. We cannot however be content with only two heavy
guns, and therefore we must support the primary armament by
the guns of either 7 '5-inch or 6-inch calibre. The latter has
generally been condemned as being too weak, so that in all
probability the 7 '5-inch would be best for our purpose. Not
more than four could be carried, as the weight would otherwise be
excessive, but if they were arranged at the four corners of the
citadel, we would be able to make the most of them, as we would
by this means obtain an ahead or astern fire of one 9 • 2-inch and
two 7 '5-inch, and a broadside fire of two 9 '2-inch and two
The Ideal Commerce Protector 273
7 '5-inch. This number of guns should be sufficient for all
intents and purposes, as in an engagement with an armoured
cruiser she could keep out of range of the 6-inch guns of the latter,
and by this means the seeming disparity in armament would be
neutralised. In addition to the heavy guns we must provide her
with an anti-torpedo boat armament. For this purpose 12-
pounders are now considered too weak, and so we would select the
new 18-pounder gun of 3 • 5-inch calibre. Ten of these would
probably prove sufficient if mounted as follows : three on each
broadside between the 7 • 5-inch guns, and a pair in the bows and
a pair in the stern. Add half a dozen 3-pounders and two sub-
merged torpedo tubes, and her armament is complete.
I pass on to the question of the armour. This also must be
kept down to the minimum thickness to avoid any superfluous
weight. Under these circumstances a waterline belt 4 inches
thick continued to cover the side of the lower deck, and backed
by a 2-inch protective-deck, would suffice. The six big guns
should also be protected by 4-inch armour, and 1-inch screens
should be erected between the 18-pounders on the broadsides.
The conning tower should have 8 inches of armour on it. The
speed of the ship will enable her to choose her own range for
fighting, and the heavy armament she carries should also help
to keep her opponents at a distance. Consequently all that is
absolutely necessary is to make her safe from 6-inch guns at 5,000
yards range, as she is not likely to be opposed to a vessel carrying
a greater number of heavy guns than she does herself. The
speed as mentioned above should be 26 knots and a sufficient
horse-power provided to ensure this. Probably 30,000 would be
required.
As regards fuel, there should be room in her bunkers for 3000
tons of coal, and she should be able also to carry 500 tons of oil
fuel. This would give her a radius of 4,500 miles at full speed,
and probably more than 12,000 miles at cruising speed.
It is difficult to arrive at a correct estimate of the cost of such
a vessel as has been described, but judging by the cost of other
ships, probably £850,000 would suffice. That is to say she would
cost about one-half the amount that the big new armoured cruisers
cost. She would not be any good for fighting in the line of battle,
but she fulfils all the requirements of a commerce protector.
The Cawdor programme laid down that four large armoured vessels
would be commenced each year. Therefore, for the same outlay,
we could build three battleships and two commerce protectors,
or two battleships and four commerce protectors each year.
Whether or not the present Government will carry out this
programme remains to be seen. But when the shipbuilding
programme for this year has been so greatly reduced, one cannot
VOL. XII.— No. 69. T
274 The Empire Review
help fearing that they do not intend to do so. This causes grave
apprehension to those who realise that a strong navy is really an
exceedingly cheap insurance premium. The amount insured
cannot be calculated in figures. It is our national existence, and
any so-called economy in the shipbuilding programme should be
vigorously opposed by all patriotic Englishmen. We want a large
number of battleships to render ourselves invincible by any com-
bination of opponents, and we also require a large number of
cruisers which will keep the ocean highways open at all times to
our commerce. These results cannot be achieved without spending
money, but, as stated before, a sounder investment does not exist.
The following table summarises the details : —
Length 480 feet.
Breadth 65 „
Draught (mean) ..... 24 £ „
Displacement ..... 10,000 tons.
I.HP 30,000 „
Speed 26 knots.
Armament (primary) .... Two 9 '2-inch guns.
,, (secondary) .... Four 7 • 5-inch guns.
„ (small) .... Ten 3 '5-inch guns and six 3-pdrs.
Torpedo Tubes 2 (submerged).
Armour : —
Belt ...... 4 inches.
Lower Deck Side . . . . 4 „
Protective Deck . . . . 2 ,, (sloping).
Protecting Guns . . . . 4 „
Conning Tower . . . . 8 „
E. E.
Indian and Colonial Investments
275
INDIAN AND COLONIAL INVESTMENTS*
THE cheerful recovery which it was pleasant to record in onr
last issue proved unfortunately to be but transitory. The past
month has found the Stock Exchange again in the dumps, and
gilt-edged securities of all kinds have suffered. America has been
the main cause of depression, the burst of stock manipulation
there having caused such a demand for gold that the money
markets of the world have had to suffer, our own bearing the
brunt. The consequent rise in money rates accompanied by
an advance in the Bank rate itself has naturally exerted an
adverse influence on the securities tabulated here, although owing
to the continued advance at the commencement of the period the
quotations in many cases show a rise since a month ago.
A development of much importance to those interested in
Imperial finance is the extension of banking facilities within the
Empire, and some considerable steps in this direction have been
taken lately. An institution with the ambitious title of the Bank
of India is being formed in Bombay with a capital of a crore of
rupees in hundred-rupee shares. The bank, it.is said, will not yet
enter into foreign exchange business, but a European manager is
to be appointed. Then there is to be another such institution in
Calcutta, while in Canada business has been started by the
INDIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
When
Title.
Present Amount.
Redeem-
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
able.
INDIA.
£
3J % Stock (t) ...
62,535,080
1931
103
3A
Quarterly.
3 % „ tt) . . .
54,635,384
1948
92J
SA
ii
2} % „ Inscribed (t)
11,892,207
1926
77
SA
3i % Rupee Paper 1854-5
. .
w
97J
30 June— 31 Deo.
8 % „ „ 1896-7
1916
«*
sf
30 June— 30 Dec.
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
(a) Redeemable at a quarter's notice.
* The tabular matter in this article will appear month by month, the figures
being corrected to date. Stocks eligible for Trustee investments are so designated.— ED.
T 2
276
The Empire Review
INDIAN RAILWAYS AND BANKS.
Title.
Subscribed.
Last
year's
dividend.
Share
or
Stock.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Assam — Bengal, L., guaranteed 3 % .
Bengal and North- Western (Limited)
Bengal Dooars, L. . ...
£
; 1,500,000
2,750,000
400,000
3
6
3*
100
100
100
874
147
95*
Qfi
Bengal Nagpur (L), gtd. 4% 4- Jth profits
Burma Guar. 2£ % and propn. of profits
Delhi Umballa Kalka, L., guar. 3J % +1
net earnings . . . . . . j
3,000,000
2,000,000
800,000
4*
44
6
100
100
100
105
109
151
3
East Indian Def. ann. cap. g. 4% + %)
sur. profits (t) J
; 2,267,039
HI
100
1254
Do. do, class " D," repayable 1953 (t) .
Do. 4£ % perpet. deb. stock (t) .
Do. new 3 % deb. red. (t)
Great Indian Peninsula 4% deb. Stock (t}
Do. 3% Gua. and & surp. profits 1925 (t}
[ndian Mid. L. gua. 4% & J surp. profits^]
Madras, guaranteed 5 % by India (t) .
Do. do. 4$ % (t)
Do. do. 4* % (t)
Nizam's State Bail. Gtd. 5 % stock
; 4,282,961
1,435,650
: 8,000,000
2,701,450
2,575,000
2,250,000
8,757,670
999,960
500,000
2,000,000
1,079,600
h
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
138
1314
91
1184
1104
102
1234
116
, 109
122
92*
81$
Si
8|i
4
Rohilkund and Kumaon, Limited.
South Behar, Limited
200,000
379,580
7
4
100
100
149
109*
$
South Indian 4$ % per. deb. stock, gtd.
Do. capital stock
Sthn. Mahratta, L., 3J % & J of profits
Do. 4 % deb. stock
425,000
1,000,000
3,500,000
1,195,600
7*
5
4
100
100
100
100
1324
1084
102
1084
3*
4
344
Southern Punjab, Limited ....
Do. 3J % deb. stock red
West of India Portuguese Guar. L. .
966,000
500,000
800,000
550,000
Oi
"3
5
100
100
100
100
120*
95J
1024
1114
8*1
N
4,7
BAKES.
Chartered Bank of India, Australia,'!
and China . /
Number of
Shares.
10,000
13
20
67
48,000
12
12*
37i
*
4
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
United Empire Bank, whose title suggests the fulfilment of that
broader idea for the establishment of a bank whose operations
shall extend to every corner of the British dominions. The
United Empire Bank, however, is apparently to be a purely
Canadian affair.
Amid the general depression of the past few weeks, Canada's
wonderful development, as indicated by the big traffic returns of
its railways, has counted for little in the stock markets, and many
of its securities are much lower on the month. The first monthly
revenue statement of the ;Grand Trunk Railway's new half-year
indicated a continuance of the cautious policy. Out of an increase
of d£77,500 in receipts, only £8,700 was saved in net revenue,
The main line itself out of a gross increase of .£49,700 saved only
£1,200 net. There is, of course, no reason officially given for the
Indian and Colonial Investments
277
large increase in working expenses ; but in the absence of any
indication to the contrary it may be presumed that liberal appro-
priations are being made for the upkeep of the line. In the case
of such a railway as the Grand Trunk, it is absolutely necessary
that proper provision should be made for repairs and renewals,
and none but the speculator on the look-out for quick profits is
likely to cavil if the directors err a little on the right side. Had
they adopted a less conservative policy in the past, they could not
CANADIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
4 % Inter- \\ Guaran-
oolonial/ toed by
* % ti i Great
1,500,000
1,500,000
1908
1910
102
103
—
11 Apr.— 1 Oct.
4 % „ J Britain.
1,700,000
1913
105
»&
4 % 1874-8 Bonds. .
4 % „ Regd. Stook
1,926,300\
5,073,700;
1906-8
/ 102
\ 102
— \
i
1 May— 1 Nov.
4 % Reduced Bonds .
4 % „ Regd. Stook
2,078,721\
4,364,415/
1910
/ 102
\ 102
- J
1 Jan.— 1 July.
3J % 1884 Regd. Stook
4,750,800
1909-34
101*
1 June — 1 Dec.
4 % 1885 Ins. Stook .
3 % Inscribed Stook (t)
3,517,600
10,200,429
1910-35*
1938
103
98
V.
|l Jan.— 1 July.
2i% „ „ (t)
2,000,000
1947
84x
«A
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
PROVINCIAL.
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
3 % Inscribed Stook .
2,045,760
1941
86
»H
1 Jan. — 1 July.
MANITOBA.
5 % Debentures . .
5 % Sterling Bonds .
346,700
308,000
1910
1923
104
109
*j*
}l Jan.— 1 July.
4 % ,, Debs.
205,000
1928
102
3B
1 May— 1 Nov.
NOVA SCOTIA.
3% Stook ....
164,000
1949
86
3f
1 Jan.— 1 July.
QUKBKC.
3 % Inscribed . . .
1,897,820
1937
84x
33
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
MUNICIPAL.
Hamilton (City of) 4 %
Montreal 3 % Deb.\
Stook . . . ./
482,800
1,440,000
1934
permanent
103
85
3H
3J
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
1 May— 1 Nov.
Do. 4 % Cons. „
1,821,917
1932
108
3i
Quebec 4 % Debs. . .
Do. 3J % Con. Stook .
385,000
387,501
1923
drawings
102
95
51
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Toronto 5% Con. Debs.
136,700
1919-20*
106
4|
Do. 4 % Stg. Bonds .
Do. 4 % Local Impt. .
Do. 3}% Bonds . .
300,910
249,312
1,169,844
1922-28*
1913
1929
103
100
94
3|
4
N
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Vancouver 4 % Bonds
121,200
1931
103
3|
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
Do. 4 % 40-year Bonds
117,200
1932
102
35
7 Feb.— 7 Aug.
Winnipeg 5 % Debs. .
138,000
1914
107
4
30 Apr. —31 Oct.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
(t) Eliftible for Trustee investments.
(*) Ex dividend.
278
The Empire Review
CANADIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid up
per
Share.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS,
*
Canadian Pacific Shares
$101,400,000
6
$100
183|
3J
Do. 4 % Preference .
£7,778,082
4
100
103£
•H
Do. 5 % Stg. let Mtg. Bd. 1915
£7,191,500
5
100
109
3A
Do. 4 % Cons. Deb. Stock
£16,922,305
4
100
112
8ft
Grand Trunk Ordinary
£22,475,985
nil
Stock
26}f
nil
Do. 5 % 1st Preference
£3,420,000
5
ii
121
H
Do. 5 % 2nd „ .
£2,530,000
5
ii
114
*l
Do. 4 % 3rd „ .
£7,168,055
2
ii
66tf
3
Do. 4 % Guaranteed
£6,629,315
4
ii
104*
8W
Do. 5 % Perp. Deb. Stock
Do. 4 % Cons. Deb. Stock
£4,270,375
£15,135,981
5
4
100
100
134
llOz
BH
3|
BANES AND COMPANIES.
Bank of Montreal ....
140,000
10
$100
254z
8*g
Bank of British North America
20,000
6
50
714
*,{
Canadian Bank of Commerce .
$8,000,000
7
$50
£18
3|
Canada Company ....
8,319
57s. per sh.
1
37
?a
100,000
£4 per sh.
10*
93
*li
Trust and Loan of Canada. .
50,000
*i
5
6
6;
Do. new
25,000
7*
3
Ii
el
British Columbia Eleotrio\Def .
£210,000
6*
Stock
A
118*
o
»*
Railway /Pref .
£200,000
5
Stock
111*
4T7H
To
* £1 capital repaid 1904.
(x) Ex dividend.
NEWFOUNDLAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
3J % Sterling Bonds
2,178,800
1941-7-8
95
3ft
3 % Sterling
325,000
1947
85
4 % Inscribed Stock
320,000
1918-38*
102
3f
1 Jan. — 1 July,
* Xo ii ii
502,476
1935
107
3&
4 % Cons. Ins, ,,
200,000
1936
107
3&
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
so satisfactorily have surmounted the effects, for instance, of the
severe winter of a year or two ago, or of the adverse Michigan
taxation decision at the beginning of this year. Of course, the
uncertainties attending such a policy are more trying to the stock-
holders at the present stage of the company's history than they
would be if dividends were being earned on the Ordinary stock.
But the railway is gradually progressing towards that happy
consummation.
Canadian Pacific shares have furnished a decided exception to
the general decline of prices during the past week or two. They
are about a dozen points higher than a month ago, being buoyed
Indian and Colonial Investments 279
up not only by the big traffic returns but also by expectations of
some sort of bonus in respect of the land holdings of the company.
The gross increase in traffic receipts, shown by the statement for
July, was $1,339,000, of which as much as $734,000 was saved as
net revenue.
In four out of the six Australian States the budget statements
have been delivered during the past month, and they quite justify
the favourable anticipations that had been formed regarding them.
The New South Wales Treasurer announced his surplus at
.£896,124, the revenue having amounted to £12,291,367 and
expenditure to £11,395,243. That the prosperity of the State
has surpassed all expectations is evidenced by the fact that the
estimated surplus was only £45,391. The increase in receipts
seems to have been well spread over most departments, but the
principal contributors were railways and tramways with an in-
crease of £463,498, and revenue from the Commonwealth which
yielded an increase of £269,270. For the current year a decrease
of about £180,000 in receipts is expected, but this is due to
some special allowances and not to any anticipated falling off in
general revenue. The expenditure is estimated at £11,512,019,
an increase of £116,776, after including a sum of £350,000 to be
devoted to reduction of the public debt. The surplus is estimated
to reach the substantial amount of £598,536.
Victoria's financial record for the past year, though not quite
so brilliant as that of New South Wales, is nevertheless an
excellent one. The revenue was £7,803,958 or £658,205 beyond
the estimate, and here again the railways contributed very largely
to the increase. The total expenditure reached £7,128,430, which
was slightly under the estimate, and there was a realised surplus
of £675,528. Of this £500,000 has been applied in reduction of
the accumulated deficit. For the current year the outlook as
regards surplus is by no means so favourable. Revenue at
£7,554,568 is estimated to show a falling off of nearly £250,000,
while expenditure on the other hand is expected to increase by no
less than £421,000. The estimate of receipts is, however, framed
on a moderate basis and under present conditions is quite likely to
be exceeded, in which case the expected surplus of £4,343 should
be correspondingly increased. The State has a loan of £4,000,000
maturing next July, and the Premier stated that £2,500,000 of
this had already been arranged for locally, a further £1,000,000
would be offered in London in 3£ per cent, stock at par to holders
of the maturing securities, while £500,000 would be repaid out of
the redemption funds.
Queensland during the past year has made another great step
forward in the restoration of her finances to a healthier condition.
The revenue figures have already been announced, but the
280
The Empire Review
Treasurer confirmed the previous report of a surplus amounting to
£128,000. He dwelt on the adverse effect of federation upon the
finances of the State, and his assertion that Queensland had paid
a heavier price for federation than any of the other States is no
doubt justified. Thus for the current year the revenue under the
control of the State is expected to show a healthy expansion
estimated at £100,000, but this increase will be more than
swamped by the shrinkage in Commonwealth receipts, so that a
total falling off in revenue of £12,000 is anticipated. The year
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
NEW SOUTH WALES.
4 % Inscribed Stock t)
34% „ „ 0
3% „ „ t)
9,686,300
16,500,000
12,500,000
1933
1924
1935
108*
100
86
34g
1 Jan. — 1 July,
jl Apr.— 1 Oct.
VICTORIA.
4 % Inscribed, 1882-3
4% „ 1885 .
3* % „ 1889 0)
4%
3 % „ (Q . .
5,432,900
6,000,000
5,000,000
2,107,000
5,496,081
1908-13
1920
1921-6*
1911-26*
1929-49f
101
105
100
102
88J
34
34
34
N
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
|l Jan.— 1 July.
QUEENSLAND.
4 % Bonds ....
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
34 % >» n (t)
3% „ „ (i)
10,267,400
7,939,000
8,616,034
4,274,213
1913-15*
1924
1921-30f
1922-471
102
106
99J
86i
N
34
J>5
[l Jan.— 1 July.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
4 % Bonds ....
47
4 % Inscribed Stock .
3i% „ „ (tt
3% „ „ M
3% „ „ M
6,586,700
1,365,300
6,222,900
2,517,800
839,500
2,760,100
1907-16*
1916
1916-36*
1939
1916-26$
After 1916$
101*
103
101
874
3g
3l*
3|
1 Jan. — 1 July,
jl Apr.— 1 Got.
1 Jan. — 1 July.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
4 % Inscribed .
3 % n (4 • •
3% „ )<) . .
1,876,000
2,380,000
3,750,000
2,500,000
1911-31*
1920-35f
1915-35$
1927$
100
88
88
3|
34
38
3|
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
jl May— 1 Nov.
15 Jan.— 15 July.
TASMANIA.
34 % Inscbd. Stock (t)
or H ., w
3 % . . (fl
3,456,500
1,000,000
450,000
1920-40*
1920-40*
1920-40f
100
105
89
34
34
1 Jan.— 1 July.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
t Yield calculated on later date of redemption, though a portion of the loan may be redeemed
earlier.
I No allowance for redemption.
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments,
(z) Ex dividend.
Indian and Colonial Investments 281
AUSTRALIAN MUNICIPAL AND OTHER BONDS.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Melbourne & Met. Bd.j
of Works 4% Debs. /
1,000,000
1921
103
3*1
1 Apl.— 1 Oct.
Do. City 4% Debs. . 850,000
1915-22*
104
3i7«
Do. Harbour Trust) KQQ QQQ
Comrs. 5% Bds. . / '
1908-9
102
—
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4%Bds. . . . 1,250,000
1918-21*
102
3|
Melbourne Trams)! , RJ4n n^
Trust 4J% Debs, .fl 1'oou'w
1914-16*
104
07
31
1 Jan.— 1 July.
S. Melbourne 4$% Debs. ' 128 , 700
1919
103 4T»e
Sydney 4% Debs. . . 640,000
1912-13
102 3$
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4% Debs. . . .
300,000
1919
102 3f
Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Emu Bay and Mount BischoS . . .
12,000
1*
5
u
IS
Do. 4J% Irred. Deb. Stock ....
Mid. of W. Aust. 4 % Debs., Guartd. .
£130,900
£500,000
4
100
100
96
102
a1
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Bank of Australasia
40,000
12
40
97s
4}5
Bank of New South Wales ....
100,000
10
20
46
1 B
^ J5
Union Bank of Australia £75 . . .
60,000
10
25
52$
4f
Do. 4 % Inscribed Stock Deposits . .
£600,000
4
100
100
4
Australian Mort. Land & Finance £25
80,000
6
5
6*
J|
Do. 4 % Perp. Deb. Stock ....
£1,900,000
4
100
102
Dalgety & Co. £20
154,000
6
5
6
5
Do. 4* % Irred. Deb. Stock ....
£620,000
q
100
110
Do. 4% „ . .
£1,643,210
4
100
103
9m
Goldsbrough Mort & Co. 4 % A Deb.\
Stock Reduced J
£1,224,525
4
100
86
N
Do. B Income Reduced
£727,705
4
100
86
4|
Australian Agricultural £25 . . .
20,000
£3
21*
694
4s,
South Australian Company. .
Trust & Agency of Australasia . . .
14,200
42,479
12*
20
50^
1
441
Do. 5 % Cum. Pref. .
87,500
5
10
43
Met. of Melb. Gas 5 % Debs. 1908-12.
£560,000
5
100
104
4
Do. 4J % Deba. 1918-22-24 ....
£250,000
4
100
103
3
(x) Ex dividend.
is expected to close with the modest surplus of £3,000, but this
is after providing for some remission of income-tax.
Though the cables reporting the South Australian budget do
not give the exact figures of the State balance-sheet, they show
that the financial position is distinctly favourable. The Treasurer
spoke in an optimistic vein, and stated that the past year had
been the best experienced. The surplus amounted to £87,500,
the largest for fifteen years, and this after £185,000 had been
appropriated from revenue for reduction of the public debt, and
282
The Empire Review
£87,000 expended in replacing railway stock and relaying railway
lines. Estimates for the current year are not given, but a fair
surplus is anticipated.
The report of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney,
Limited, for the half-year to 30th June shows no remarkable
increase in the way of profit, but it is none the less in every way
a most satisfactory document. For several years the earnings of
the Bank have been very steady with generally a slight upward
tendency. During the period now under review they amounted
to £66,021, which compares with £65,204 a year ago and £65,263
for the December half-year. The dividend at the usual rate of
10 per cent, per annum absorbs £50,000, and the now regular
NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price. Yield.
Interest Payable.
5 % Bonds ....
5 % Consolidated Bonds
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
3J% „ ,, (t)
3% „ „ (t)
266,300
126,300
29,150,302
6,373,629
6,384,005
1914
1908 i
1929
1940
1945
105 4J
100* —
107| 3J
100 34
89 3J
15 Jan.— 15 July.
Quarterly.
1 May — 1 Nov.
1 Jan. — 1 July,
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
NEW ZEALAND MUNICIPAL AND OTHER SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Auckland 5% Deb. .
200,000
1934-8*
107
*i
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do. Hbr. Bd. 5% Debs.
150,000
1917
108
*A
10 April— 10 Oct.
Bank of N. Z. shares f
150,000
div. 5%
8|
—
Do. 4% Qua. Stock J .
£1,000,000
—
102
H
Apr. — Oct.
Christohurch 6% Drain-
age Loan
} 200,000
1926
124£
«i
30 June— 31 Dec.
Dunedin 5% Cons. .
312,200
1908
102
—
1 Apr,— 1 Oct.
Lyttleton Hbr. Bd. 6%
200,000
1929
119*
*&
)
Napier Hbr. Bd. 5%\
Debs /
300,000
1920
109
44
[l Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 5% Debs. . . .
200,000
1928
110
*J
)
National Bank of N.Z.\
£7$ Shares £2J paid/
100,000
div, 12 %
5i
to
Jan.— July.
New Plymouth Hbr.\
Bd. 6% Debs. . ./
200,000
1909
103
—
1 May — 1 Nov.
Oamaru 5% Bds. . .
173,800
1920
95J
5£
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Otago Hbr. Cons. Bds.\
5% /
422,900
1934
108
*/«
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Wellington 6% Impts.)
Loan /
100,000
1914-29*
111
*&
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 6% Waterworks .
130,000
1929
114
5
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 4^% Debs. . . .
165,000
1933
106
•1
1 May— 1 Nov.
Westport Hbr. 4% Debs.
150,000
1925
101
38
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
f £6 13s. 4d. Shares with £3 6s. 8d. paid up.
j Guaranteed by New Zealand Government.
Indian and Colonial Investments 283
addition of £15,000 is made to reserve fund, which is thus raised to
£1,115,000. But while the profits have remained almost stationary
the balance-sheet figures show considerable change as compared
with a year ago. Deposits have very largely increased, so that
during the year the directors have been able to augment the money
at short call in London by no less than £1,420,000, and to invest
a further £320,000 in Government stocks. As advances and bills
discounted remain at about the same level, the proportion of
liquid assets to liabilities is much larger and amounts to 10s. Qd.
in the pound.
Sir Joseph Ward has delivered his first budget statement as
Premier and Colonial Treasurer of New Zealand in succession to
the late Mr. Seddon. The approximate returns of revenue and
expenditure were commented upon in this article some months
ago when announced by Mr. Seddon before his death. The actual
figures given by his successor are even more favourable, showing
a realised surplus of £788,795 or £13,000 more than in the earlier
announcement. This includes the balance of £761,000 brought
forward from the previous year after transferring £500,000 to the
Public Works fund. The Treasurer stated that the policy of close
settlement had been vigorously pushed forward and that £820,652
had been expended in the purchase of estates for that purpose.
For the current year the revenue is estimated to realise £7,867,000,
being an increase of £217,000, while expenditure is set down at
£7,575,972, leaving an estimated surplus of £291,028. It is pro-
posed to borrow £1,000,000 for public works, but the Treasurer
expects to be able to raise this amount locally.
By the definite abandonment of the Transvaal thirty-million
war contribution loan, the issue of the first instalment of which
has been impending for many a month past, one shadow.has been
removed from the markets in South African securities, but there
have been plenty other depressing influences to take its place.
Among the very few new issues of the month was that of a
small loan by the Corporation of Harrismith, Orange River
Colony. The £45,100 of 5 per cent, stock was readily taken up
at the attractive price of par, and now stands at about a point
premium.
The policy of consolidation to which the month's Band
amalgamation schemes are an important contribution should be
welcomed by all those interested in the mines. While here and
there it may be difficult to reconcile the conflicting interests of
the various shareholders there can be no doubt as to the benefits
that will accrue generally through economy of working, especially
in these times of slender labour and financial resources. The
biggest scheme in hand, of course, is that of the four deep
companies of the Gold Fields group — the South Geldenhuis
284
The Empire Review
Deep, the South Kose Deep, the Hand Victoria and the Band
Victoria East — to be amalgamated as the Simmer Deep. These
four blocks of claims seem admirably adapted for consolidation,
and the amalgamation will not necessitate any call upon the
shareholders for fresh capital.
The Transvaal gold output continues its steady expansion, the
production for August being again the highest recorded. If the
output continues to increase at its present rate the total for the
year will exceed last year's by about 20 per cent. The following
table shows the returns month by month for some years past
and for the year in which the war commenced.
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1899.
January ....
February . .
March ....
April
£
1,820,739
1,731,664
1,884,815
1 865 785
£
1,568,508
1,545,371
1,698,340
1 695 550
£
1,226,846
1,229,726
1,309,329
1 299,576
£
846,489
834,739
923,739
967 936
£
1,534,583
1,512,860
1,654,258
1 639 340
May .
1 959 062
1,768,734
1 , 335 , 826
994,505
1,658,268
«v
2 021 813
1,751,412
1,309,231
1,012,322
1,665,715
July
2 089 004
1,781,944
1 307,621
1 068,917
1,711,447
August .
September .
October .
November .
December .
2,162,583
1,820,496
1,769,124
1,765,047
1,804,253
1,833,295
1,326,468
1,326,506
1,383,167
1,427,947
1,538,800
1,155,039
1,173,211
1,208,669
1,188,571
1,215,110
1,720,907
1,657,205
fl, 028, 057
Total* . . .
15,535,465
20,802,074
16,054,809
12,589,247
15,782,640
* Including undeclared amounts omitted from the monthly returns.
t State of war.
SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Ee-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
CAPE COLONY.
4J% Bonds . . .
4 % 1883 Inscribed (t) .
4 % 1886 „
3*% 1886 „ «)•
3% 1886 „ (t).
£
746,500
3,733,195
9,997,566
13,263,067
7,549,018
dwgs.
1923
1916-36*
1929-49f
1933-43f
103
106
102z
97
83
*A
if
II
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
1 June — 1 Deo.
15 Apt.— 15 Oct.
1 Jan. — 1 July.
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
NATAL.
4J % Bonds, 1876 . .
4 % Inscribed . .
3{% „ . .
3%
758,700
3,026,444
3,714,917
6,000,000
1919
1937
1939
1929-49f
103z
106
97£
84*
4A
n
3|
3*6-
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Apr.— Oct.
1 June — 1 Deo,
1 Jan.— 1 July.
TRANSVAAL.
3 % Guartd. Stock .
35,000,000
1923-58f
98J
B£
1 May— 1 Nov.
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
t Yield calculated on later date of redemption.
(x) Ex dividend.
Indian and Colonial Investments 285
SOUTH AFRICAN MUNICIPAL SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable,
Bloemfontein 4 % .
483,000
1954
95
g
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Cape Town 4 % . .
1,878,550
1953
103
SH
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Durban 4 % ...
1,350,000
1951-3
991
4
30 June— 31 Deo.
Johannesburg 4 %
5,500,000
1933-4 i 92
*J
1 April— 1 Oct.
Pietermaritzburg 4 %
625,000
1949-53
97
*A
30 June — 31 Deo.
Port Elizabeth 4 % .
390,000
1953
99
4
30 June— 31 Deo.
Rand Water Board 4 %
3,400,000
1935
94
*A
1 Jan. — 1 July.
There is still no cessation of the gradual diminution of native
labour at the mines, the total number of hands being lower at the
end of August than at any time since November 1904. This
table shows the returns for the past two years and for March 1903,
when they were first published :
Month.
Natives
Joined.
Natives
Left.
Net Gain on
Month.
Natives
Employed end
of Month.
Chinese
Employed end
of Month.
March . 1903 6,536
2,790 3,746
56,218
_
July . 1904
4,683
6,246
1,563*
67,294
1,384
August .
6,173
7,624
1,446*
65,348
4,947
September
9,529
6,832
2,697
68,545
9,039
October .
10,090
6,974
3,116
71,661
12,968
November
9,456
6,884
2,572
74,233
19,316
December
8,655
6,277
2,378
76,611
20,918
January 19
05
11,773
6,939
4,834
81,444
25,015
February
14,627
6,705
7,922
89,367 31,174
March
13,547
8,310
5,237
94,604 i 34,282
April
9,589
7,979
1,610
96,214 35,516
May
8,586
8,574
12
96,226 38,066
June
6,404
8,642
2,233*
93,988 41,290
July
6,023
8,338
2,315*
91,673 43,140
August
5,419
8,263 2,844*
88,829 44,565
September
5,606
8,801
3,195*
85,634 44,491
October .
5,855
7,814 1,959*
83,675 ! 45,901
November
5,279
5,992
713*
82,962 45,804
December
4,747
6,755 2,008* 80,954 47,217
January 1<
06 6,325
7,287 962* 79,992 j 47,118
February
5,617
6,714 1,697* 78,895 i 49,955
March
6,821
7,040 219* 78,676 49,877
April
6,580
6,341 239 78,915 ; 49,789
May
6,722
6,955 233*
78,682 50,951
June
6,047
7,172 1,125* 77,557 52,329
July
6,760
7,322 562* 76,995
August
6,777
7,526 749*
76,246 —
* Net loss.
The Ehodesian land settlement scheme now brought into
actual being by the Chartered Company is a germ with vast
possibilities. The inauguration is on a very modest scale, but the
scheme seems to have been worked out with admirable attention
to detail. Mr. C. D. Wise, who left England nearly a year ago,
made his preliminary report on the subject in May, and the
286 The Empire Review
SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Mashonaland 5 % Debs, .....
£2,500,000
5
100
94
5A
Northern Railway of the 8. African \
Rep. 4 7 Bonds /
£1,500,000
4
100
96
"18
Rhodesia Rlys. 5 % 1st Mort. Debs.\
guar. by B.8.A. Co. till 1915. . ./
£2,000,000
5
100
97
5£
Royal Trans-African 5 % Debs. Red. .
£1,812,977
5
100
93
5A
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
African Banking Corporation £10 shares
80,000
6
5
5
6
Bank of Africa £18f
160,000
10J
6*
HI
5S
Natal Bank £10
148,232
14
*
2*
+~m
gf
National Bank of 8. Africa £10
110,000
8
2
10
15^
5J
Standard Bank of 8. Africa £100
61,941
16
25
77
Ohlsson's Cape Breweries .
60,000
40
5
14
14J
South African Breweries
950,000
22
1
2J
lOf
British South Africa (Chartered)
5,999,470
nil
1
1&
nil
Do. 5 % Debs. Red
£1,250,000
5
100
101
415
Natal Land and Colonization . . .
68,066
8
5
64
4i
Cape Town & District Gas Light & Coke
10,000
10
10
154
6|
Kimberley Waterworks £10. . . .
45,000
5
7
44
7|
CROWN COLONY SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount
When
Redeemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable
Barbadoes 3 J% ins. (t)
375,000
1925-42*
99J
3*
1 Mar.— 1 Sep.
Brit. Guiana 3% ins. (t)
250,000
1923-45f
86
3iJ
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Ceylon 4% ins. (t) . .
1,076,100
1934
111
3|
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3% ins. (t) . . .
2,450,000
1940
94
8*
1 May — 1 Nov.
Hong-Kong 8J% ins (t)
341,800
1918-43f
98z
BA
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
Jamaica 4% ins. (t) .
1,098,907
1934
109
N
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3*% ins. (t) . .
1,452,400
1919-49f
100
3*
24 Jan.— 24 July.
Mauritius 3% guar.\
Great Britain (t) . /
600,000
1940
97
3fc
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do. 4% ins. (t). . .
482,390
1937
108*
34
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Sierra Leone 3 J% ins. (t)
532,892
1929-54f
1004
3/5
1 June — 1 Deo.
Trinidad 4% Ins. (t) .
422,593
1917-42*
lOli
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Do. 3% ins. (t) . . .
600,000
1926-44f
87
8§S
15 Jan.— 15 July.
Hong-Kong & Shang-1
hai Bank Shares ./
80,000
Div.£410s.
£92J
4{l
Feb. — Aug.
* Yield calculated on shorter period.
(<) Eligible for Trustee investments.
t Yield calculated on longer period,
(x) Ex dividend.
company has now commissioned him to proceed again to Ehodesia
and start operations on a central farm, which will be prepared
to receive settlers. The company's aim will be to assist settlers
to take up farms already prepared for their occupation, by
the support and facilities offered them, rather than by giving
them raw land at prairie value. The scale of prices for the land
Indian and Colonial Investments
287
will be below the maximum, but it will not be sold so cheaply as
to discourage and undermine similar undertakings, and to depre-
ciate the general market value of land in the country. The
general principles to be pursued are that temporary accommodation
and opportunities for practical experience shall be provided ; that
a portion of land shall be cultivated before the arrival of the
settler ; that occupation of land shall be enforced ; that payment
for land, house and improvements shall be spread over a number
of years with interest on the unpaid balance ; and that assistance
shall be given in providing live-stock and co-operation in marketing
produce. Alternate blocks of land will be reserved with a view to
sale by the Chartered Company at an improved value.
Another record was achieved by the Bhodesian gold output
for August, and another month will bring the total for the first
nine months of the year up to that for the whole of last year, as
will be seen from the following table giving the returns for several
years past :
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1902.
1901. 1900.
1899.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz. oz.
oz.
January
42,950
32,531
19,359
16,245
15,955
10,697 i 5,242
6,371
February
38,037
30,131
18,673
17,090
13,204
12,237 6,233
6,433
March
44,574
34,927
17,756
19,626
16,891
14,289 6,286
6,614
April
May.
42,423
46,729
33,268
31,332
17,862
19,424
20,727
22,137
17,559
19,698
14,998 5,456
14,469 . 6,554
5,755
4,939
June
47,664
35,256
20,402
22,166
15,842
14,863 > 6,185
6,104
July
48,485
34,693
24,339
23,571
15,226
15,651 1 5,738
6,031
August
50,127|
35,765
24,669
19,187
15,747
14,734 10,138
3,177
September
—
85,785
26,029
18,741
15,164
13,958 10,749
5,653
October
—
33,383
24,919
17,918
16,849
14,503 10,727
4,276
November
—
32,861
26,183
15,714
15,923
16,486 I 9,169
4,671
December
—
87,116
28,100
18,750
16,210
15,174 j 9,463
5,289
Total .
360,989
407,048
267,715
281,872
194,268
172,059 91,940
85,313
The disastrous typhoon has had no appreciable effect on Hong-
Kong securities. As regards the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank
it is anticipated that the calamity may, in the long run, have a
favourable rather than an adverse effect, as it will necessitate a
larger turn-over of money. The balance-sheet for the past half-
year shows that the bank is in an excellent position to withstand
such shocks. The current and deposit accounts amount to
$208,239,143, and there is $41,102,407 cash in hand, and
$8,500,000 coin lodged with the Hong-Kong Government against
the note issue of $14,320,466. The sterling reserve stands at
$10,000,000 and the silver reserve at $10,250,000.
It is interesting to note that the development of British rubber
cultivation has extended to such an undeveloped part of our
Empire as Uganda. Of the Mabira Forest (Uganda) Kubber Com-
pany's capital of £120,000, the Crown Agents for the Colonies,
288
The Empire Review
by whom a lease of the forest has been granted, have stipulated
that £80,000 must be spent in the development and exploitation
of the property. The area is about 150 square miles, and some
2,000,000 rubber trees are already in growth. As the forest lies
on the north-west shores of the Victoria Nyanza, the product can
be shipped across the lake to Port Florence and carried down to
the coast by the Uganda Eailway.
EGYPTIAN SECURITIES.
Title.
Amount or
Number of
Shares.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
Egyptian Govt. Guaranteed Loan (t) .
,, Unified Debt
£7,805,700
£55,971 960
43
100
100
99
104£
3
3*§
National Bank of Egypt ....
Bank of Egypt
250,000
30,000
8
Ifi
10
12*
26f
37*
3
5Jt
Agricultural Bank of Egypt, Ordinary
„ ,, ,, Preferred
» » » Bonds .
248,000
125,000
£2,500,000
•-*) r»?>
t~ •* CO
,3
100
Q3
10
93
0
Ht-W <*»
CO rH CO
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
TRUSTEE.
September 20, 1906.
NOTICE TO CONTEIBUTORS. — The Editor of THE EMPIBE REVIEW cannot hold
himself responsible in any case for the return of MS. He will, however,
always be glad to consider any contributions which may be submitted to him ;
and when postage-stamps are enclosed every effort will be made to return
rejected contributions promptly. Contributors are specially requested to put
their names and addresses on their manuscripts, and to have them typewritten.
THE EMPIRE
REVIEW
" Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home." — Byron.
VOL. XII. NOVEMBER, 1906. No. 70.
AMERICAN FISHING RIGHTS AND NEW-
FOUNDLAND
POSITION OF THE ISLAND COLONY
BY THE EDITOR
To anyone who, like myself, has been a close observer of the
difficulties which have beset Newfoundland for so many years
in respect to the fishing rights of foreign nationals, the new
political trouble, which threatens to involve a reopening of the
whole problem of American fishing rights on the Atlantic coast
of British North America, will not have come altogether as a
surprise. In this article I do not propose to deal with the larger
question, but as far as possible to confine my remarks to the
immediate issue which lies in the meaning to be placed on certain
articles in the treaty concluded in 1818 between this country and
the United States dealing with the rights of America to partici-
pate in the coast fisheries of Newfoundland. These rights have
been the subject of numerous diplomatic agreements, but, as far
as I am aware, no international tribunal has ever passed judgment
on their construction.
Whether, instead of allowing the United States to take diplo-
matic action, it would not have been wiser had Newfoundland
approached the mother-country in the first place with the sugges-
tion of some new treaty arrangement being entered into, is a
matter which merits consideration. It may be that this was
done and the overtures declined. Of this we have no evidence.
On the other hand, all Britons will sympathise with the desire
of the Colony to preserve intact the prerogatives of responsible
VOL. XII.— No. 70. u
290 The Empire Review
government. Nor should we condemn, without the most careful
examination, legislation passed to prevent what the Island fisher-
men regard as an encroachment by citizens of a foreign Power
on the rights and privileges of British colonists. Opponents
of Sir Eobert Bond's policy may remind me that the issue
was forced to the front by tactics of retaliation initiated
with the object of punishing the United States Government
for refusing reciprocity. Admitting this to be the case, it does
not alter facts, nor invalidate any question of constitutional
principles. Retaliation is the usual practice adopted by all
Powers on terms of amity with each other when negotiating
commercial treaties, and the methods of one Power only differ
from those of another in degree, being more or less aggressive
according to the fiscal policy of different nations. Newfoundland
has always sought a quid pro quo, and so long as she obtained it,
or thought she was going to obtain it, things went smoothly ; but
when the United States adopted a non possumus attitude, the
fullstop came, and the Newfoundland Government took the
ordinary course to enforce the attainment of Colonial wishes.
Whether Sir Eobert Bond, in the legislation he introduced to
meet the case, consulted the opinion of the fishermen themselves
or gave preference to the interests of the St. John's middleman,
is another story. That is not an international question, and is
altogether beside the point.
That the Colonial Government should have hesitated to
accept what it elected rightly or wrongly to regard as the
dictation of the United States in the matter of the modus
vivendi, is natural enough, but how far it was justified in with-
holding consent is a matter which cannot be decided offhand.
The mother-country must be taken, I think, to have the interests
of the Empire at heart, and the interests of the Empire are
bound up in the interests of every part. I do not say it was
the case with Newfoundland, but too often the part, forgetting
its relation to the whole, insists on the whole taking its policy
from the part. Even assuming the part to be advocating an
Imperial policy, the whole must remain judge of expediency,
and this position colonies at times fail to appreciate. So
much then for my general enunciation. Let me now turn to
particulars.
With the full knowledge of what might happen, the Colonial
Government passed the Foreign Fishing Vessels Act in 1905,
following it up by an extending, and, as I shall presently show, in
an important matter, an amending Act in May of this year. The new
legislation altogether changed the position of affairs, and threw
the United States Government back on their rights under the
1818 Convention. Now the herring-fishing on the west coast of
American Fishing Rights and Newfoundland 291
Newfoundland begins early in October, and as it is in these waters
that American citizens have certain fishing rights under the
Convention named, and these rights have never been officially
interpreted, it became necessary for his Majesty's Government
to enter into a temporary engagement with the United States
pending, and without prejudice, further discussion of the con-
ditions on which these rights are to be exercised. It is this
temporary engagement which has given cause for resentment on
the part of the Colonial Government, who contend not only that
it was concluded against the advice and in spite of the protests
of the Newfoundland Ministry, but that it over-rides the Act of
1906 which is awaiting the Koyal Assent, as well as certain pro-
visions in two other enactments — the Act of 1905, and the Bait
Act of 1893 — now forming part of the Colonial legislation. So
far as the contention affects the 1905 Act, I do not think the
indictment is even traversed ; but it should be pointed out that
this Act contained no suspending clause, and therefore came into
force without having to be approved and confirmed by His Majesty
in Council, whereas the 1906 Act does contain a suspending clause
and cannot come into force until His Majesty in Council so
pleases.
With regard to the provisions of the 1905 Act, displaced by
the modus vivendi, these are, as they stand, improper provisions,
for they interfere with the free ingress and egress of American
fishing vessels in territorial waters. I understand that the
Newfoundland Government argue that, inasmuch as the seventh
section of the Act provides that " nothing in this Act shall affect
the rights and privileges granted by treaty to the subjects of any
State in amity with His Majesty," all treaty rights are reserved
to American fishing vessels. But I would venture to point out
that whatever may have been the Government's intention, as
it is these very treaty rights which are at issue, the section in
question is valueless, except to invite the United States Govern-
ment to commence an action against the British Government,
where again no award could be made pending interpretation.
As to the Bait Act, no mention of it is made in the official com-
munique giving the terms of the arrangement, and I can only
conclude that the Newfoundland Government see some possible
evasion of its provisions by the permission given in connection
with recruiting. But this brings me to the question of con-
cessions on both sides. That I must leave till later on. All
I desire to do here is to support the Foreign Office pronounce-
ment that " the assertions that the claims of Newfoundland have
been overlooked are entirely unwarranted," so far as their action
concerns the Acts of 1905 and 1906.
We come, however, to another and, as I think, a somewhat
u 2
292 The Empire Review
more serious matter in the implied admission that the modus
vivendi was signed without the consent of Newfoundland. It
is no excuse to say, as the Foreign Office says, "much delay
took place because the Colonial Office was continually referring
matters to the Newfoundland Government." That may be true
enough, but it is not a satisfactory answer to the very real
objection advanced by Sir Eobert Bond in his official organ that
the modus vivendi was concluded " against the advice and in spite
of the protests of the Colonial Ministry." That the Imperial
Government had very good reason for taking the course they did
there can be no doubt. But why withhold the explanation?
Without professing to any inspired information, I suggest that
bearing in mind the occurrences at Fortune Bay, and the deter-
mined attitude both of the Newfoundland and United States
fishermen, the Imperial Government did not wish to risk a
claim for damages, knowing, as they must know, that in the
event of the claim being successful, and the Colonial Treasury
being unable to meet it, the money would have to be found by
the British taxpayer. Still, after all is said and done, one can
understand the Newfoundland Government hesitating to give
way, while it is by no means certain that, in agreeing to an
arrangement without the consent of the Colony, the Imperial
Government has not committed a breach of the principle laid
down in Lord Taunton's historic dispatch.
This dispatch is generally regarded as Newfoundland's Magna
Charta, and will probably be cited many times in the approaching
negotiations with the United States, so it may be well to repro-
duce it here.
DOWNING STREET, March 26, 1857.
Sir, — When her Majesty's Government entered into the Convention with
that of France, they did so ua the hope of bringing to a satisfactory arrangement
the many complicated and difficult questions which have arisen between the
two countries on the subject of the Newfoundland fisheries. But they did so
with the full intention of adhering to two principles which have guided them,
and will continue to guide them — namely, that the rights at present enjoyed by
the community of Newfoundland are not to be ceded or exchanged without
their assent ; and that the constitutional mode of submitting measures for that
assent is by laying them before the Colonial Legislature.
For this reason they pursued the same form of proceeding which had before
been pursued in the case of the Reciprocity Convention with the United States,
and which was in that case adopted and acted upon by the Newfoundland
Legislature. It was in perfect uniformity with the same precedent that it
appeared necessary in the present instance to add a condition respecting parlia-
mentary enactment, in order that, if necessary, any existing obstacles to the
arrangements in the series of Imperial Statutes might be subsequently removed.
The proposals contained in the Convention having been now unequivocally
refused by the colony, they will, of course, fall to the ground. And you are
authorised to give such assurance as you think proper that the consent of the
community of Newfoundland is regarded by her Majesty's Government as the
American Fishing Rights and Newfoundland 293
essential preliminary to any modification of their territorial or maritime
rights. — I have, &c.
H. LABOUCHEHE.
To GOVERNOR DARLING, &c., &c., Newfoundland.
I am old enough to remember the circumstances under which
the modus vivendi with France was arranged in 1890 with regard
to the Lobster Fisheries and the installation of British and French
lobster factories on the coast of Newfoundland, and I recall the
fact, not altogether uninteresting, that what has happened now
happened then. Hence doubtless the statement attributed to Sir
Kobert Bond, " Newfoundland has been sacrificed once more."
Here perhaps it may be opportune to recite briefly the story of
the circumstances which led up to the modus vivendi with France
and the various stages of the subsequent negotiations until the
final settlement of the fishery and the Treaty Shore difficulties
by Lord Lansdowne in 1904.
After repeated negotiations France finally declined to interfere
in respect to the bounties given to French fishermen, whereupon
the Newfoundland Government with, it is commonly supposed,
a view of retaliation, passed a Bill prohibiting the sale of bait.
This Bill the Imperial Government refused, to sanction, and I
think I am right in saying that Lord Dunraven, who at the
time was Under- Secretary of State for the Colonies, in consequence
of this refusal to recognise Colonial legislation tendered his resigna-
tion to Lord Salisbury. Notwithstanding the first rebuff the
Colonial Government persevered with their measure, passing it
a second time, when the Act was allowed and came into operation
from the end of the following fishing season. This took place in
1887 and 1888. Five years later these Acts were repealed as the
natural sequence of a consolidating enactment, and the Act of
1893, commonly alluded to as the Bait Act, came into operation.
It is this law which the Newfoundland Government say is
infringed by the modus vivendi with the United States. Mean-
while arose the lobster difficulty, and very bitter was the feeling
engendered between the French and Newfoundland fishermen.
So strong did this feeling become that pending a settlement
between France and England a modus vivendi was suggested.
The terms, drafted on that occasion also by the other side, were
submitted to Newfoundland, and, as in the present instance,
protested against, in the case of France, by both Houses of the
legislature. Negotiations followed, but still the Colony held out.
At last Lord Knutsford, then Colonial Secretary, intimated to the
Newfoundland Government that no change could be made in the
terms, and that the tnodus vivendi must come into force.
Smarting under what they deemed an aggressive policy, the
Colonial Ministry now endeavoured to get the Home Government
294 The Empire Review
to settle once and for all the question of French rights. Their
proposals were submitted in due course by the Foreign Office
but refused by the French Government. As time was going on,
Lord Knutsford pressed the Colony to renew the modus vivendi
for another year, but the Ministry refused the request on the
ground that the arrangement was " hostile to the interests of the
Colony." Whereupon France sought to meet the position by
proposing arbitration on "the disputed points of the Treaty
interpretation," and M. Waddington submitted terms for an
arbitration agreement, an essential condition being that the modus
vivendi be renewed. Without waiting for the adhesion of New-
foundland or even giving the Colonial Government an opportunity
of discussing the arbitration agreement, it was accepted and signed
by the representatives of the two Powers. Referring to the trans-
action in the local legislature Mr. (now Sir Robert) Bond is
reported to have said that the first intimation of what had
occurred was a cabled dispatch from Lord Knutsford to the
Premier informing him that " an agreement had been signed the
day previous for an arbitration and that full particulars would be
sent as soon as possible." When the particulars were received,
the Colonial Government refused to agree to them on the ground
that by so doing they would be giving up the rights of the Colony
as set out in Lord Taunton's dispatch.
The difficulty then arose how to proceed with the arbitration
and how to enforce the modus vivendi should occasion require,
as it did require owing to the decision of the Supreme Court of
the Colony in favour of a claimant who had erected a factory
contrary to its provisions. The situation was met by Lord
Knutsford reviving certain sections of an Act passed in the
reign of George IV. and introducing a Bill in the House of
Lords for the purpose of carrying into effect engagements
that had been made respecting fisheries in Newfoundland. The
Speaker of the House of Assembly and the President of the
Legislative Council cabled to Lord Dun raven a Resolution passed
by the Newfoundland Legislature asking him to urge the delay of
what they styled "imperial coercive legislation" so as to enable
the Colony to present its views before the British Parliament.
The delegation came to England and were heard at the Bar of the
House of Lords. Sir William Whiteway, who as Premier acted
as the spokesman for the Colony, promised if the Bill were with-
drawn that a temporary Act should be passed to enable the
Imperial Government to carry out its engagements with France
respecting fishing in Newfoundland during negotiations for settling
the difficulty concerning the Treaty Shore. The delegates also
undertook to pass a permanent measure in two years' time;
accordingly the Bill was withdrawn and the temporary Act duly
American Fishing Rights and Newfoundland 295
became law. But the Newfoundland Legislature, hoping to
obtain better terms with a change of Government at Westminster,
declined to pass any permanent Act, thus repudiating the action
of the delegation in this respect. M. Waddington not unnaturally
felt aggrieved and pointed out to Lord Salisbury that if the British
Government could not find means for the execution of the arbitra-
tion Convention other than in a temporary manner it would be
impossible for France to ratify definitely the agreement. Conse-
quently the arbitration was not proceeded with, but the modus
vivendi was renewed and renewed again for different periods until
the final settlement of the French Shore Question in 1904, but
it was never renewed without much negotiation between the
Colonial Office and the Newfoundland Government, and its
renewal always met with the strongest opposition from the
Colony.
Let us now examine the progress of the controversy as to
American fishing rights in Newfoundland and trace the steps
which have led up to the necessity for the present modus vivendi
between Great Britain and the United States. To do this
effectively one must go back to the outbreak of the War of
Independence in 1775. Before that time all British colonists
enjoyed equal privileges in fishery matters, but at its close and on
the conclusion of peace it became a question how far such
privileges should be restored to persons who were no longer
British subjects. After much negotiating a compromise was
arrived at and embodied in the Treaty of Paris, 1783. Then
came the war of 1812, which of course put an end to all the rights
previously secured by the United States with regard to fishing in
British waters. In the negotiations preceding the Peace of 1814,
the rights of American fishermen again came up for consideration,
and the preposterous claim put forward on behalf of the United
States Government of immemorial and prescriptive rights was
naturally rejected by our representatives. In the end the Treaty
was signed without reference to the fisheries question. As may
be expected with the position undefined troubles arose and
American vessels began to trespass in British waters. The
President of the United States then approached Great Britain
with a view to re-opening the whole question and effecting a
settlement in an amicable manner. These overtures were
accepted and a Commission appointed to deal with the matters
in dispute.
In the result the Convention of 1818 was entered into by the
two Powers. This Convention ceded to the inhabitants of the
United States the liberty for ever in common with British subjects
to take fish of every kind on that part of the southern coast of
Newfoundland which extends from Cape Ray to the Bameau
296 The Empire Review
Islands, on the western and northern coast of Newfoundland,
from Cape Ray to the Quirpon Islands, and also on the coast,
bays, harbours and creeks from Mount Joly on the southern coast
of Labrador, to and through the Straits of Belleisle, and thence
northwards indefinitely along the coast. Further, the Convention
gave to the inhabitants of the United States the liberty for ever
to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbours and
creeks on the southern part of the coast of Newfoundland as above
described and the coast of Labrador. But to this privilege was
added the proviso that, as soon as any part of the coast mentioned
became settled, the liberty given to the American fishermen to
dry and cure fish was not to be exercised on such portions of the
coast without previous agreement with the inhabitants, proprietors
or possessors of the ground. Except for purposes of repairing
damages, purchasing wood and obtaining water, the United States
renounced for ever any liberty before enjoyed or claimed by
Americans as to taking, drying or curing fish within three miles
of the coast not included in the limits named. But the Conven-
tion added, in connection with this last-named privilege, " the
American fishermen shall in no manner whatsoever abuse the
privileges hereby reserved for them."
Notwithstanding this treaty, the American fishermen con-
tinued to make encroachments, contrary to the letter and to the
spirit of the understanding, and matters did not resume a more
normal condition until the United States Government bad issued
a notice warning American citizens that they must observe the
provisions of the Convention. Things were in this unsettled state
when, in 1847, the Canadian Parliament approached the mother-
country on the question of establishing reciprocal free trade
between the Dominion and the United States. This, of course,
reopened the question of the Canadian fisheries, and advantage
was taken of the opportunity to invite Newfoundland to join in
the proposed treaty of reciprocity. The Island Government at
first refused the invitation, but after a while they grasped the
advantage to Newfoundland and became a party to the negotia-
tions, which resulted in what is known as the Reciprocity Treaty
of 1854. For ten years things worked smoothly enough, but in
1865 the United States gave notice to terminate the Reciprocity
Treaty. Lord Monck then, with the object, it is said, of mini-
mising the loss to American citizens as regards the fisheries in
British North America, adopted a licensing system, which was
maintained for four years and then discontinued, owing to the
neglect of the masters of American fishery vessels to provide
themselves with licences. The unwisdom of Lord Monck's action
was seen in the disputes which arose, more especially in the
Canadian waters, and negotiations were once more opened
American Fishing Rights and Newfoundland 297
between the Governments of Great Britain and the United
States for a settlement of the fisheries question.
These negotiations resulted in the Treaty of Washington,
1871, which, in effect, was another reciprocity treaty, and
governed the relations between the United States and New-
foundland for twelve years, when it expired by the efflux of
time. By Article 22 of the Treaty of Washington it was agreed
that commissioners should be appointed to assess the compensation
due either to the United States Government or to the Government
of Great Britain, according as it was shown that the privileges
accorded to the citizens of the United States were of greater or
less value than those accorded to British subjects under the
Treaty. This commission met at Halifax, and the claim of the
British Government in respect to the Colony of Newfoundland
alone, over and above any alleged advantages conferred on British
subjects under the fishery articles of the Treaty of Washington,
was a gross sum of $2,880,000. The United States Govern-
ment denied that the commission ought to award any sum either
to Canada or Newfoundland, asserting that the advantages con-
ferred on British subjects were vastly greater than any that have
been or will be realised by the citizens of the United States. As
for the Colony of Newfoundland, its only practical connection
with the Treaty was, they argued, the enjoyment by its inhabi-
tants of the privileges of free importation of fish and fish oil into
United States markets. It was urged, further, that, under the
Convention of 1818, the Americans eDJoyed extensive privileges,
but that there were no fisheries in the territorial waters of New-
foundland of which the Americans at that date made any use.
These arguments, although put forward with much force by
eminent lawyers, availed nothing, as the Commissioners, "having
carefully and impartially examined the matters referred to them
according to justice and equity," awarded the British Government
the sum of $5,500,000. This amount was duly paid over by the
United States Government, and it may be presumed that New-
foundland took its share. I have referred at length to the
Halifax Fisheries Commission, as in the present controversy
the award has already been referred to by the United States
critics as placing America in the position of purchaser, whereas
the payment was only the price of a few years' fishing. The
arguments used also offer some index of what we may expect
when the United States Government presents the case it is now
preparing.
Scarcely had the Halifax award been made than we had the
occurrences at Fortune Bay. Some twenty-two vessels had
come from Gloucester for the purpose of taking herring in the
winter of 1877-8, and the expected schools of herring arriving on
298 The Empire Review
a Sunday the Americans at once got out their boats and seines
and commenced proceedings. Now the use of seines for catching
herring at this season of the year (between October 20 and
April 12), or for barring herring at any season of the year, and
the catching of herring on Sunday, were then as now prohibited
by the local legislation, and the Island fishermen, enraged at this
open violation of the Colonial laws, attacked the visitors, breaking
their nets and forcing them to desist from fishing. In replying
to the United States claim for damages, Lord Salisbury very
rightly pointed out that the Americans had committed three
distinct breaches of the Colonial law. But he then proceeded
to lay down the following dictum, which may prove an awkward
precedent when we come to negotiate with the United States as
to their rights under the 1818 Convention : —
If, at the date of the signature of the Treaty of Washing-
ton, certain restraints were by the municipal law imposed
upon the British fishermen, the United States fishermen
were, by the express terms of the Treaty, equally subjected
to those restraints; and the obligation to observe, in common
with the British, the then existing local laws and regulations
which is implied by the words " in common " attached to the
United States citizens as soon as they claimed the benefit of
the treaty.
What induced Lord Salisbury to use the limiting words " at
the date of the Treaty of Washington," I am at a loss to under-
stand," seeing that no ground for any such reservation is disclosed
in the preceding negotiations. Apparently he was led to adopt
this view after consulting the circular issued in 1856 to the
Collector of Customs at Boston, since he quotes it as proving
conclusively his point. The circular ran as follows : —
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON.
MARCH 22, 1856.
SIR, — It is understood that there are certain Acts of the British North
American Colonial Legislatures, and also, perhaps, executive regulations, in-
tended to prevent the wanton destruction of the fish which frequent the coasts
of the colonies, and injurious to the fishing therein. It is deemed reasonable
and desirable that both United States and British fishermen should pay alike
respect to such laws and regulations, which are designed to preserve and
increase the productiveness of the fisheries on those coasts. Such being the
object of these laws and regulations, the observance of them is enforced upon
the citizens of the United States in the like manner as they are observed by
British subjects. By granting the mutual use of the inshore fisheries, neither
party has yielded its right to civic jurisdiction over a marine league along its
coasts.
Its laws are obligatory upon the citizens or subjects of the other as upon
its own. The laws of the British provinces, not in conflict with the provisions
American Fishing Rights and Newfoundland 299
of the Reciprocity Treaty, would be as binding upon the citizens of the United
States within that jurisdiction as upon British subjects. Should they be so
framed or executed as to make any discrimination in favour of British fisher-
men, or to impair the rights secured by American fishermen by that Treaty,
those injuriously affected by them will appeal to the Government for redress.
(Signed) W. L. MARCY.
For myself I cannot see anything in this wording to justify
Lord Salisbury's limitation. The circular expressly enjoins the
masters of United States fishing vessels using the territorial
waters to observe local legislation, provided such legislation does
not discriminate in favour of British fishermen. And as the
American fishermen in the occurrences at Fortune Bay com-
mitted three distinct breaches of colonial law which did not
discriminate in favour of British fishermen, clearly in this respect
they had done what they were expressly enjoined not to do by the
circular. All the circular does as regards limitation is to except laws
of British provinces, irrespective of the date at which the laws were
placed on the Colonial Statute book, " in conflict with the provisions
of the Reciprocity Treaty," and by way of example it cites dis-
crimination in favour of British fishermen or legislation that impairs
treaty rights. Similarly it is open to the United States Government
to argue in the present case that recent Newfoundland legislation
conflicts with the provisions of the 1818 Convention ; but it is
not open to them to say that American fishermen are not bound
to observe any Colonial law not in force at the time the 1818
Convention was signed.
The circular itself confirms this conclusion. The general
tenour and gist of the circular is to direct American fishermen
that they must observe local laws and regulations and such
observance is deemed " reasonable and desirable." It is only
when the legislation conflicts with treaty rights that any exception
may be made and then only by appeal to the Government. The
question of date does not enter into the matter. Obviously if a
conflicting local law were in force at the time of signing the
treaty and its repeal had not been asked for before signature,
the Americans would have the same redress as if the law had
been passed subsequent to the signing, for all legislation is sub-
ject to treaty rights. The whole question is one of " conflict,"
not of date. Again, if it were intended to lay down the ruling
that American fishermen were not to be bound by local laws of
any kind the circular would have said so. But it does just the
reverse, since it propounds as a general instruction they are to
be so bound. Moreover, the circular is dated 1856, barely two
years after the Reciprocity Treaty was signed. This in itself
goes far to corroborate my interpretation. The very opening
words recite "It is understood that there are certain Acts .
300 The Empire Review
and also perhaps executive regulations." Now supposing the
authorities at Washington intended to refer only to legislation
since 1854, the wording would have been very different. Direct
attention would have been called to laws passed since 1854.
It is difficult to see on what ground the United States
Government got over Mr. Marcy's ruling, or by what precedent
they supported their contention in the Fortune Bay case that the
Treaty of Washington did not require them to observe local
legislation. On the other hand, it was natural, after Lord
Salisbury's dictum, they should put forward the plea that as the
Sunday law was passed subsequent to the Treaty, in this respect
their claim held good. But as the use of seines for herring
fishing was prohibited by the Act of 1862, the same point could
not be taken, so in this respect the Americans had to fall back on
the somewhat vague plea that the matter was considered by the
Commissioners in making the Halifax award, as it was pointed
out by the British representatives that in taking herring the
Americans would use large seines, and thus not only do their
work more speedily than the British, but perhaps to such an
extent as to reduce the supply. In the end the British Govern-
ment offered £15,000 by way of compensation on condition that
it was accepted in full of all claims arising out of any interruption
of American fishermen on the coasts of Newfoundland and its
dependencies up to February 1881, and without prejudice to
any question of the rights of either Government under the
Treaty of Washington. This sum was accepted by the United
States Government and the incident closed. But it has a distinct
bearing on some of the matters now at issue.
A few years after the Treaty of Washington had expired Mr.
Chamberlain endeavoured to bring about a final settlement of the
fishing questions on the Atlantic coast of North America, and
a treaty was arranged and signed, but the American Senate
declined to ratify it and the matter fell through. Pending the
negotiations and expected ratification a modus vivendi was ar-
ranged for two years, at the end of which time Mr. Bond essayed
to negotiate a treaty himself between the colony and the United
States. Again the document was executed, but on Canada en-
tering an objection proceedings on the British side were stayed.
Meanwhile, as if to assist matters with the United States, an
Act of Friendship was passed by the Colonial Government giving
the Governor and Council power to issue licences to foreign
fishing vessels and enabling them to enter any port on the coast
of the island for the purpose of purchasing bait, ice, seines, lines
and all other supplies and outfit for the fisheries. This suited the
Americans very well, as they could now by the Colonial law
purchase herrings in any quantity from the Newfoundland fisher-
American Fishing Rights and Newfoundland 301
men and sell them in the United States markets, duty free, as
the product of American industry. It would appear that this
practice was a common one at an earlier period in the West Coast
fishery, and I am unable to trace the exact time when it was
suspended.
When, however, in 1902 the ratification of the Bond-Hay
Treaty, which had superseded the Bond-Blaine Treaty, was
refused by the United States Senate, the Colonial Legislature
resorted to tactics of retaliation, passing the Foreign Fishing
Vessels Act of 1905 which repealed the 1893 Act of Friendship.
The new law not only forbade the purchase of bait and all other
fishing requisites allowed in the former enactment, but by section
(1) gave power to justices and others to board and search any
foreign fishing vessel being within any port on the coasts of
Newfoundland or hovering in British waters within three miles of
any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbours in the island, and
bring them into harbour. And by section (3), if any bait, fishes,
or fishing requisites were found on board, this was to be primd
facie evidence that the same had been purchased within British
waters. These provisions, for the reasons above stated, are dis-
placed by the modus mvendi.
The 1905 Act also prohibits the sale by any Newfoundlander
of bait or fishing requisites to the Americans, and forbids the
engagement of any person to form part of the crew of any foreign
fishing vessel in any port or on any part of the coast of the island.
These restrictions put an end to the sale of herring by the New-
foundlanders to the Americans, but did not prevent the visitors
from using colonial crews, for the masters of the American
vessels evaded the prohibition respecting the engaging of colonial
fishermen by inducing them to cross over to Sydney (Cape
Breton island), whence after being shipped before the American
Consul they were brought down to the Bay of Islands as part
of the American crew — an obvious violation of the 1818 Conven-
tion, since the privileges therein named are confined to the
" inhabitants " of the United States. It is, however, but fair to
remark that, as the Act of 1905 forbade the engagement of native
fishermen in territorial waters, if they wished to work for the
Americans they must either adopt this means of doing so or
engage themselves outside the three mile limit.
The Foreign Fishing Vessels Act of 1905 may, I think, be
regarded as Sir Kobert Bond's special creation, but he must
excuse me if I point out that he seems to have read a meaning
into the 1818 Convention which it is not open to Newfoundland
to entertain. When introducing the Bill he is reported to have
made the statement that the bays, harbours, and creeks on
the western side of the island, did not form part of the
302 The Empire Review
" coast " within the meaning of the 1818 Convention, from which
he drew the conclusion that the American fishing vessels had no
right of entry into the enclosed waters on that part of the coast. In a
word he swept away the term " territorial waters." Unfortunately,
however, for Sir Robert Bond's contention, during the proceedings
of the Halifax Commission the Newfoundland Government put in
a map showing the western seaboard coloured blue, and specifying
that this part of the coast represented " the American right of
fishing under the Treaty of 1818." But for this, Sir Eobert
Bond's reading of the treaty might perhaps have stood, as the
treaty in dealing with the seaboard of Newfoundland certainly
refers only to " coast," whereas in the case of Labrador "coasts,
bays, harbours, and creeks " are mentioned.
It was, no doubt, with this view in his mind that he drafted
and passed sections (1) and (3). That he subsequently discovered
his error is clear from the Act of 1906, in which he introduces
the following amending sections : —
Sect. (13). All foreign vessels exercising rights under any treaty or con-
vention shall b« amenable to all the laws of the Colony not
inconsistent with such rights under treaty or convention.*
Sect. (14). Nothing in this Act shall affect the rights and privileges
granted by treaty to the subjects of any State in amity with
this treaty, and sections (1) and (4) hereof shall not be held
to apply to any foreign vessels resorting to the waters of this
Colony for the exercise of treaty rights*
The Act of 1906 also met the evasion by masters of foreign
ships with regard to engaging Newfoundlanders to form part of
their crews. As I have already pointed out, this Act, unlike that
of 1905, contained a suspending section, and has never been
approved and confirmed by His Majesty in Council. Such, then,
is the diplomatic history and the present position of affairs in
Newfoundland with regard to the fishing which has been carried
on by American fishing vessels with more or less interruption
since the Treaty of Paris, 1783.
I do not think there can. be much doubt that as in the case
of the modus vivendi with France in 1890, and the arbitration
agreement, so it has been in the case of the modus vivendi
with the United States. The arrangement has been made
without the consent of Newfoundland. But it is an error to
suppose, as I have seen it stated, that all the points which the
Colonial Government has been at pains to enforce by legislation
against the Americans have been conceded by the modus vivendi.
This is very far from being the case. For under the terms of the
modus vivendi masters of American fishing vessels will have to
report at a Custom House on arrival in and departure from
* The italics are my own.
American Fishing Rights and Newfoundland 303
Colonial waters — a matter on which Sir Robert Bond laid great
stress last year — as well as to pay light dues ; they will have to
abstain from Sunday fishing, a possible concession on their side
in view of the principle advanced by us during the Fortune Bay
negotiations, and they may not purchase bait or any fishing
requirements in Newfoundland. On these last two points the
law of 1905 remains intact. Neither can Colonial fishermen
sell bait or fishing requisites to the Americans under penalty of
infringing the Colonial law. And recruiting in territorial waters
is absolutely forbidden.
On the other hand, they can use purse-seines — nets prohibited
at the time the arrangement was entered into by the laws and
fishing regulations of the Colony.* This, on the face of it, is an
undoubted concession, but the permission must be read with its
qualification — " subject to due regard being paid to the use of
such implements to other modes of fishing." And I shall pre-
sently show it will be by no means easy for the American fishing
vessels to use purse-seines in Bonne Bay, Bay of Islands, and
Fortune Bay, without running great risk of infringing the quali-
fying clause, which in itself is a refutation of the somewhat
extravagant accusation that the modus vivcndi was a surrender
to the United States.
In order to indicate in as clear a way as possible the true
meaning and the limiting influence of the concession, I propose
to give here a little information about purse-seining, a method of
fishing only practised by American fishermen so far as I can
ascertain. Opinion differs as to the date when purse-seines were
first heard of, but some American authorities cite the date of
their invention as 1814, and the habitat of the inventor, Rhode
Island. Others say that the first purse-seine used in the United
States was made in 1826, and give its dimensions as 284 meshes
in depth and length 63 fathoms. In the coming diplomatic battle
this question of date may be of some moment, but setting aside
ancient history, it is generally accepted in America that this net
did not come into general use till 1850. After being in use for
twenty years purse-seining attracted much hostile attention, and
from 1870 to 1882 scarcely a year passed without disputes arising
between the American fishermen using purse-seines and those
fishing with the more ordinary methods. These disputes led to
frequent petitions being sent up to Congress, and in 1882 a com-
mission of inquiry sat to consider these complaints. This Com-
mission recommended protective legislation. It may therefore
be assumed, I think, that as far back as 1882 the United States
Government were convinced of the evil consequences attending
the use of purse-seines in the North Coast fisheries.
* The use of purse-seines was prohibited by the Newfoundland Government in 1900.
304 The Empire Review
Purse-seines are used in the menhaden, mackerel, and herring
fisheries, and while this method of fishing does not seem to have
affected the mackerel supply, it has utterly destroyed the men-
haden fishery in certain districts, the fish being driven out to sea,
while similar results are reported from some of the herring resorts.
A very good idea of what a purse-seine is may be gained by
consulting the information laid before the United States Com-
mission of Fish and Fisheries published as a State document in
1887. From this book I make the following extracts : —
The purse-seine is the most effective apparatus ever
devised for the capture of either mackerel or menhaden. It
has almost superseded all the forms of apparatus used in
these fisheries. By its use, even in the open sea, immense
schools of fish are easily secured in a small fraction of the
time required when the hook and line and gill-net are chiefly
employed. The purse-seine, however, is not adapted for
fishing in very shallow water, unless on a smooth bottom, so
that gill-nets and haul-seines are still used in rivers and in
hauling fish ashore.
"When set in the water the purse-seine is a flexible wall
of twine hanging from a corked line on its upper edge and
extending from 75 to 150 feet beneath the surface, and from
750 to 1,800 feet long. This wall is made to encircle the
school of fish, and then the lower edge is gathered up by a
rope, passing through rings, thus forming an immense bag.
The largest seines are for use in water 45 to 60 feet deep,
and the smallest in water about 20 feet deep. The usual size
of mesh in the seines is 2£ inches ; some are 2£ inches. The
seines are of 140 feet depth and are about 700 meshes deep.
Two kinds of seines are used in the mackerel fishery, the
large and the smaller seine ; the large seine is 190 to 225
fathoms in length and 20 to 25 fathoms in depth. A seine
about 200 fathoms is usually 1000 meshes deep. . . . The
catch of a purse-seine may vary from 1 barrel to 500 or 600
barrels. Very large quantities are sometimes taken.
In operating the seine a large, heavy weight called the
purse-weight, or "Long Tom," is used, which is placed upon
the vertical ropes at the end of the seine by the use of snatch
blocks and allowed to run down to the bottom of these ropes,
thus holding the ends of the lead line before the pursing
begins.
Seine boats are about 25 feet long, resembling in shape
an ordinary ship's yawl, but the boats now in use resemble
the whale-boat shape. . . . Most of the steamers carry four
seine boats ; two are used in setting the seine, one called the
purse boat and the other the mate boat.
In the herring fisheries purse-seines are used in the same way
as in the menhaden and mackerel fisheries. They have a great
advantage over ordinary seines, for being set in deep water the
American Fishing Rights and Newfoundland 305
vessels can be brought alongside and the herrings landed on deck
by dip nets, a great saving of time and labour. The Gloucester
fishing-vessels did not begin purse-seining till 1865. They seem
to have adopted the new method owing to excess in hauling
depleting the supply inshore and driving the fish into the deeper
water. The use of purse-seines enabled them to fish at any dis-
tance from the shore. In this way the boats often secured good
catches while the haulers caught nothing. But on the western
coast of Newfoundland, that part now under discussion, the
herring were mostly taken by gill-nets and the fishing was carried
on entirely by native fishermen, who objected then as now to
purse-seining. Hence the Gloucester masters used to buy the
herring from the Newfoundlanders. Thus it will be seen that as
long as the Gloucester masters could purchase herring they only
needed to hire a few men to salt the fish and sail the vessel on
the passage, but when provided with an outfit for taking the fish
themselves a crew of ten men was required.
From what I have written it is apparent that purse-seining
in the bays and the western coast of Newfoundland can hardly
be carried on side by side with other modes of fishing with-
out danger of conflicting interests arising. The herring con-
gregate in and about the islands and inlets, and unless the
bottom is clear purse-seines cannot be used in shallow water,
while the enormous size of the seines and the different appliances
used in conjunction with them must render the operation of the
American fishermen difficult even in deep water within the
territorial limits. Hence it would seem that the proviso inserted
by the Imperial Government in the modus vivendi takes away
whatever advantages are given by the concession. That this has
proved to be the case is now placed beyond doubt by the following
despatch, which reaches us just as we go to press :
ST. JOHN'S, October 20.
The agents and skippers of the American herring vessels in the Bay of
Islands to-day signed a written agreement to abandon the use of purse-seines
to take herrings during the remainder of the fishing season. They allege that
this is done as a concession towards the Colonial fisherfolk, who strongly resent
the employment of these contrivances, but the latter declare that the Americans
found it impossible to employ purse-seines among the inlets where the nets of
the local fishermen are moored. Hence, because the modus vivendi forbids
them to interfere with appliances of the Colonial fishermen, but allows them
to hire colonists to operate their nets, this agreement prevents friction or
jealousy among then* own crews and enables the universal employment of
nete. — Renter.
On the question of recruiting, except that the masters of
foreign vessels will not be able to recruit in territorial waters, I
do not see anything to prevent them from evading the spirit of
the concession in the same way they evaded the Act of 1905.
VOL. XII.— No. 70. x
306 The Empire Review
For the time being the modus vivendi, subject to the new arrange-
ment as to purse-seining will take the place of the Colonial Statute
Book so far as concerns colonial legislation affecting American
fishery rights in Newfoundland waters. And one can only hope
that the negotiations with the United States will not follow the
example of the negotiations with France which, as I have shown,
continued for fourteen years before the settlement of 1904.
The temporary understanding may not be all Newfoundland
would desire, or all that the Imperial Government endeavoured
to obtain ; but in these matters a give and take policy must be
the policy pursued. As I have demonstrated, neither the attitude
of the Colonial Government nor, as Sir Eobert Bond would call
it, the " coercion " of Newfoundland, marks any new era in the
political history of the Colony. It has always been so, and so it
will always be. Lesser interests disappear before greater interests,
and the possessors of the lesser interests dislike and resist the
process. Federation with the Dominion of Canada seems the
only way out of the difficulty. A great Dominion, if it cannot
dictate to the mother-country is not likely to go down before the
requirements of a foreign Power, and a foreign Power is hardly
likely to press humiliation on a great Dominion or to invite Great
Britain to do this unpleasant work.
It is often said, and I must confess with a certain amount
of truth, that whenever Great Britain deals with the United
States, more especially when the interests at stake are those
of British North America, the United States generally scores
most points. The fact is that our methods of diplomacy and
the United States methods of diplomacy are as wide apart as
the poles. The United States have very few interests to consider
except their own, they are in fact a new world, with new men
and new ideas. They have no tender spots, as is the case with
Great Britain, to glide over, with the result that when they go
in to win they are in a better position than we are, and they
never hesitate to take the utmost advantage of that position.
Taking, then, everything into consideration, I cannot but think
that the terms of the present modus vivendi are not so one-sided
as they might have been, or as at first sight they appeared to be,
and that instead of a surrender the Imperial Government have
only yielded when to push the point might have courted disaster.
Indeed, now that the vexed question concerning the use of purse-
seines is settled, .if we except these going without the consent of the
Colony, there seems nothing left but the recruiting concession for
Newfoundland to complain about, and even that has its other
side, to which attention has already been drawn.
CLEMENT KINLOCH-COOKE.
Foreign Affairs 307
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Bv EDWARD DICEY, C.B.
I.
PRINCE HOHENLOHE'S MEMOIRS.
OF the events of last month the one which has attracted most
public interest is the publication of the Hohenlohe Memoirs.
It is difficult to understand what motives could have prompted
any member of the late Chancellor's family to make public the
private diaries of an eminent statesman in violation of common
decency as well as of diplomatic usage. Whatever these motives
may have been, their practical, if not their intentional, effect has
been to supply the opponents of the reigning Emperor and of
his State policy, both at home and abroad, with fresh weapons of
attack.
The relations between the sovereign and his Imperial Chancellors
are of a far more intimate character than those which, at any rate
within our own time, have ever existed between the sovereigns of
England and their prime ministers. Yet no single one of the
premiers who have held office in England during the nineteenth
century has ever disclosed State secrets, or published their own
personal opinions as to the policy which may or may not have found
favour with their sovereigns. In as far as we are aware, neither
Lord Melbourne, Sir Kobert Peel, Lord Aberdeen, Lord Derby,
Lord Palmerston, Lord Beaconsfield, Mr. Gladstone and Lord
Salisbury have either directly of their own will or indirectly by
their heirs or literary executors made public private information
acquired during their tenure of office.
I doubt, myself, whether the disclosures furnished by the pre-
mature publication of Prince Hohenlohe's private diary will
produce any serious modification of the estimate which public
opinion has already formed as to the history of the last thirty
years. I am convinced it will somewhat lower the opinion
hitherto entertained as to the Prince's capacity as a statesman.
Judging by his memoirs, I should gather the Prince to have been
x 2
308 The Empire Review
a very worthy personage, an excellent father of a family, a
holder of strong religious convictions, a good administrator under
supervision, a man of high education, well versed in the minor
arts of diplomacy ; in fact, a sort of German Guizot, possessed
with an exaggerated estimate of his own superiority.
For the last thirty years there has prevailed a general con-
viction in France, and even in England, that in 1875 Germany
was prepared to re-invade France and was only hindered from
doing so by the declaration of Eussia that, in such an event, she
would join her armies to those of the Republic. Yet, if Prince
Hohenlohe is to be believed, neither the Emperor nor Prince
Bismarck nor the German Government ever contemplated the
re-invasion of France at this or any other period. The whole
affair seems to have been got up by M. Gontaut-Biron, the then
French Ambassador at Berlin, who, according to the Hohenlohe
version, had informed the Russian Government, on the alleged
authority of the Empress Augusta, of the bellicose designs attri-
buted in France to Prince Bismarck, and had secured the co-
operation of the late Chevalier de Blowitz, who took an active
part in working up the scare which had been started in Berlin by
the representative of France at Berlin.
In those days public opinion in France was ready, even more
than it is to-day, to accept any imputation on the good faith of
Germany as gospel truth without any adequate proof. For various
reasons the well-known correspondent of the Times was not a
persona gra ta in French society, and was not regarded seriously by
any leading statesman of the Republic with the exception of M.
Thiers. When, however, he presented himself in Paris as a friend
of France, and as a person conversant with the designs of Prince
Bismarck, Count Moltke and the Emperor William, who felt it
his bounden duty to warn the French Government of the intrigues
which were being carried on at Berlin to bring about a second
entry of German armies into the territories of the French Republic,
he undoubtedly created a scare which the President and his
Ministers had not the power, even if they had the will, to dispel.
The Times itself seems to have hesitated at first about giving the
imprimatur of its high authority to these rumours of an impending
German invasion in order to complete the annihilation of France
as a first-class Power. To quote Prince Hohenlohe's words, " It
was only when, as the Times believed, it had convinced itself of
the accuracy of Blowitz that it had the letter printed. It " — the
publication of the Blowitz letter denouncing Germany as intending
to invade France again — " was a tactless performance in the
French interest invented by Blowitz with which he thought that
he was doing good and that he was working in the cause of the
peace of Europe."
Again, it is a satisfaction to me to find in the Hohenlohe
Foreign Affairs 309
memoirs a corroboration of the views I expressed at the period
when the enthusiastic partisans of the entente cordiale were
perpetually assuring the British public that — to use the phrase
of the showman in ' The Old Curiosity Shop ' — Codlin, not Short,
France, not Germany, was our friend. My views were, and still
are, to the effect that, previous to the entente cordiale, France had
secretly endeavoured to bring about an International Conference
with the avowed object of discussing our military occupation of
Egypt, and that this attempt to force the hand of the British
Government had been frustrated by the refusal of Germany to
take part in the proposed Conference. This statement is confirmed
by the following extract from the then Chancellor's diary dated
27th October, 1886. " The French Ambassador at Berlin wanted
to act with Germany in the Egyptian Question. But Bismarck
thought that France was too uncertain an ally to make it worth
Germany's while to quarrel with England." I have never asserted
that Germany in refusing to co-operate with French intrigues for
forcing England to quit Egypt — intrigues which were continued
from the date of our military occupation to that of the Marchand
mission — was actuated solely, or even mainly, by any disinterested
regard for British interests, but was due to a conviction on the
part of the German Emperor and his Ministers that German
interests were better served by an alliance with England than by
a coalition with France. Whatever may have been the motives of
German policy, the fact remains that to this policy we owe the
undisturbed acceptance by Europe of British rule in the Valley of
the Nile and, in consequence, the uncontested command of our
highway to India. In politics it may be wise to forgive, but it is
folly to forget ; and I, for one, can never forget that, upon an
issue which concerned the vital interests of the British Empire,
it was France which sought to bring about our ejection from
Egypt, Germany which, by her refusal to side with France,
paralysed the hostile action of the French Republic.
In like fashion, if we can accept the Hohenlohe statement,
England owes no small gratitude to Germany for the refusal of
the Emperor William II. to renew the close alliance with Eussia
which formed the basis of Bismarck's policy. His Majesty declined
to follow his great Chancellor's advice, because he held that by so
doing he would be guilty of disloyalty to the Triple Alliance and
especially to Austria-Hungary. No doubt this was the main con-
sideration which led the Kaiser to decline renewing the Franco-
Russian compact, even at the cost of discarding the services of his
great Minister. But the author of the Triple Alliance between
Germany, Austria and Italy was far too versed in world-politics not
to have realised the fact that the conclusion of a secret Treaty
between Germany, France and Russia must of necessity have facili-
tated the fulfilment of France's aim and intent to subvert our
310 The Empire Review
supremacy in Egypt, and must also have placed Bussia in a position
to carry out her long-cherished schemes of aggrandisement at the
cost of our Indian Empire, which she had already manifested by
approaching her military frontiers to the confines of our Indian
dominions. By refusing to identify the policy of Germany with
that of Bussia, then as now the friend and ally of France, His
Majesty, whether intentionally or otherwise, saved England in all
human probability from a war with Bussia upon the North- West
frontiers of British India. This fact is well worth bearing in
mind in any endeavour to cast a balance in the standing account
between the Fatherland and our own mother-country.
With regard to the relations between the reigning Emperor
and the first as well as the greatest of his Chancellors, the
Hohenlohe diary fails to throw much light on the merits or
demerits of either party to this painful controversy. We all knew
already that Prince Bismarck was a singularly masterful man,
determined to carry out any policy on which he had set his heart,
impatient of any interference, and prepared to effect his purpose
by any means within his grasp. Human nature is much the same
in royal as in family life ; and there must be very few families
which cannot recall similar conflicts between a young heir and
an aged guardian. There may be faults on both sides. The
guardian may be unable to realise that the lad he has known for
years as a child has grown up to full manhood, and is wishful to
manage his own affairs for himself and not to be kept any longer
in leading-strings; the heir may be inconsiderate towards his
former mentor, may hardly appreciate at their true value the
services his guardian has rendered to him in bygone days, and
may well deem the ideas of a former generation inferior to those
of his own. Whatever may be the personal affection and respect
each may entertain for the other, they are bound by the laws
of nature to fall asunder.
Between youth and age the former must win in the end. In the
tragi-comedy of human life, as on the stage, harlequin always
carries the day as against pantaloon. Germany's young sovereign
would have been less than human, and the old Minister would
have been more than human, if the contest for supremacy had
ended otherwise than it did. I have often thought that British
sentiment on the enforced resignation of the great Chancellor was
better voiced by Tenniel's drawing of " the old pilot leaving the
ship " than by any of the countless articles, pamphlets and books
which have appeared on the controversy in question. The old
pilot may, naturally enough, have believed that his enforced
retirement from the helm of State was an act of signal ingrati-
tude ; but it is equally natural that the young captain should
have entertained a firm conviction that stronger arms and
younger brains were required to carry the vessel of State safe into
Foreign Affairs 311
port. When this is admitted there is no more to be said as to
the rights and wrongs of a controversy which can only be finally
decided by the judgment of future generations when our time has
passed into the domain of history.
II.
GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES.
Many long years ago there appeared in the pages of Punch a
picture of a British working-man, who was represented as making
an appeal for relief which had apparently been refused, and under
it, if my memory serves me correctly, there appeared the following
conversation :
Workman. Well, sir, if you refuse, I shall have to do the deed my soul
abhors.
Guardian. What, kill yourself ?
Workman. No, sir, work.
The phrase seems to me to depict more accurately than any other
the sentiment of the British Parliament and the British public
when, as now, it is called upon to make up its mind definitely
as to what are the present, and what, still more, have got to be
the future, relations between the British Empire and the
British colonies. If both Parliament and public had the courage
to speak the honest truth, their reply would, I am convinced,
closely resemble that of Punch's working-man, couched as
follows : Why, we should have to do the deed our soul abhors
— think.
It is, I know, an ungrateful task to point out to my fellow-
countrymen that the relations between Great Britain and the
Greater Britain beyond the seas have got to be thought out
seriously and soberly by our representatives and by our electorate
if we are to avoid the necessity of being called upon suddenly to
face a very arduous problem which may call for immediate solu-
tion at any moment, and which in all human probability we must
be called upon to solve at no distant date.
The subject in question is far too complicated to be dealt with
at any length in this article. All I can hope to do is to point out
as briefly as possible the conditions of the problem I have indicated,
and to explain the general causes which render its early solution
a matter of vital interest alike to England and to her colonies.
I do not think I am underrating the intelligence of the British
public if I say there are few amongst them who could give any
trustworthy narrative of the remarkable chapter of British history
which records the transformation of these small islands into a
world- wide Empire. The real explanation of this apparent
anomaly is that the history of the British Empire is best ex-
312 The Empire Review
pressed by the words of Topsy in ' Uncle Tom's Cabin,' who, when
asked as to the history of her childhood, answered, " 'Spects I
growed." With hardly an exception our colonies have been created
by a series of private adventurers or traders, who, partly from greed,
partly from the instincts of a ruling race, and, perhaps more than
all, from love of adventure, provided vessels, crews and freights
at their own cost and risk, and who went forth without any
distinct authority from their own Government to seek their
fortunes in the remote countries of a then well-nigh unknown
world.
Sometimes by fraud, sometimes by violence, sometimes, though
less often, by honest barter they opened up trade with the native
populations of these savage or half-civilised territories, and built
forts at their trading stations so as to keep the trade in their own
hands. In the course of years these forts grew into cities, alliances
were formed with the native princes, and their assistance
was obtained in thwarting the efforts of Spanish, Portuguese,
French and Dutch adventurers to oust our countrymen
from their coign of vantage. To try and depict the bold
buccaneers, who were the founders of the British Empire, as
actuated by higher motives than love of gain and adventure, as
the author of ' Westward Ho ! ' and his admirers have tried to do,
is a sheer absurdity. But it may fairly be said that they were
more humane, or perhaps less inhumane, than their European
rivals, that their policy as pioneers inclined them to conciliation
rather than extermination, and that they were not actuated by
the fanatical lust of cruelty which distinguished the Spaniards in
Mexico and Peru. In accordance with the British public opinion
then prevalent, more virile perhaps than that of to-day, the
pioneers of the British Empire enjoyed the respect of their fellow-
countrymen at home, though they received little assistance, except
from the merchants of the City and of Bristol, and had scant
recognition of the " yeoman's service " they had, one and all,
rendered to England.
Indeed, the only instances, up to the close of the seven-
teenth century, in which the mother-country tried to assert
her supremacy over the colonies, were to be found in a futile
attempt to tax her North American provinces, in the despatch
of British criminals as slaves to Virginia, and in the conversion
of Australian provinces into penal settlements during the eighteenth
century. England was too completely absorbed by the revolution,
which ended in the deposition of James II., by the campaigns of
Marlborough, and by the reign of terror in France to pay any
due attention to her outlying provinces ; and it may be said that
after the loss of our North American provinces, who, one by one,
detached themselves from the mother-country, the dominant
sentiment of the day, not only amidst our governing classes, but,
Foreign Affairs 313
I am bound to admit, amidst the great mass of the British public,
was that whenever any British colony manifested a desire for
independence England should take no steps to retain her allegiance,
but should follow the policy recommended to the United States
during the Secession War by the democratic party in the
Northern States, and bid " their wayward sisters depart in peace."
Strange as it may seem to us, the Imperialist sentiment could
hardly be said to exist amidst the generation which passed the
great Keform Bill of 1832 and ten years later adopted Free Trade
as the basis of our commercial policy. I could never ascertain
any evidence of when or where Mr. Disraeli used the phrase,
"these wretched colonies " in speaking of our possessions beyond
the four seas ; but if he ever did so he only voiced the common
sentiment of his generation. It was not only at the Colonial
Office, but in the country at large, that, in the early years of
Queen Victoria's reign, the diminution, if not the dissolution,
of the bonds connecting Great Britain with her colonies was
regarded as " a consummation most devoutly to be wished." It
is therefore intelligible enough that when the colonies began to
demand self-government their demand should have been accorded
without any serious opposition on the part of the mother-country.
I do not think our forefathers can justly be blamed for their
colonial policy in this particular respect. Eailroads were then in
their infancy ; the power of steam as a means of locomotion was
hardly realised ; and electricity was regarded as a negligible
quantity. Nobody could then anticipate that within a quarter of
a century steamships would have displaced the sailing vessels
which had hitherto formed the sole means of communication
between the home government and the colonies, or still less that
before the end of the nineteenth century submarine telegraphs
would have practically annihilated the transmission of news by
sailing vessels or steamships. It is obvious that if the substitution
of self-government for Crown government had in all our important
colonies been deferred for any considerable period the relations
between the mother-country and her children beyond the seas
might well have become so embittered as to convert the demand
for self-government on the part of the latter to a demand for
secession. To speak the plain truth, our forefathers unconsciously,
and perchance unwittingly, kept open the path for the British
Empire of the future by acceding to requests which in their
opinion, and possibly their hope, would lead to its early dissolution.
My chief if not my sole complaint with the policy of the
Imperial Government during the first half of the last century is
that in granting self-government to our leading colonies they
omitted to provide against the obvious danger of any disagreement
between the mother-country and her self-governing colonies on
questions of foreign policy. It was only towards the middle of
314 The Empire Review
the nineteenth century that the question of our relations with our
colonies came under public notice. India was still ruled up to
1857 by a private English company in the name of England, and
up to that date our other possessions beyond the four seas, in as far
as they had any recognised governments, were Crown colonies,
that is, States administered by a governor appointed by the British
Ministry of the day and who, subject to the approval of the home
authorities, exercised almost dictatorial powers. After Trafalgar
and "Waterloo the supremacy of England over the sea had attained
a height which it had never had before and which perhaps it has
never had since : and our colonies as a body were well content
with any system, however illogical and arbitrary, which under the
Union Jack secured their immunity from foreign attack.
With the advent of the forty years of peace after the banish-
ment of Napoleon to St. Helena there commenced a rapid and
extraordinary development of material wealth throughout the
British colonies. Their population and their wealth increased —
to adopt Mr. Gladstone's phrase at a far later date — by leaps and
bounds. A demand grew up in all parts of the British Empire
for local self-government in respect of local affairs, and this
demand gained a ready acceptance at the hands of the British
governments of the day, whether they happened to call them-
selves Whigs or Tories. It was my fortune when a lad to hear
a great deal about colonial affairs from a relative who held a high
official position at Downing Street. In common with most of
his contemporary officials this gentleman recollected the days
of the War of Independence, and entertained a firm con-
viction that all our colonies as they waxed fat and strong would
follow the example of North America and throw off their allegiance
to the mother-country and demand recognition as independent
States. I gathered from his remarks that not only in his opinion,
but in that of most, if not all, of the Ministers under whom he
had served, this contingency was regarded as being no loss if not a
positive benefit to Great Britain. The accuracy of this opinion
is confirmed by the fact that as late as 1850 Lord John Eussell,
being then Prime Minister of England, made a speech in Parlia-
ment to the effect that whenever any of the British colonies
manifested a desire for independence their demand would meet
with no opposition on the part of the home government.
His Lordship's words, as reported in Hansard's Parliamentary
Debates of 8th February, 1850, are as follows : —
I trust we shall never again have to deplore such a conflict [as that with
the North American colonies] . I anticipate with others that some of our
colonies might so grow in population and wealth that they may say our
strength is sufficient to enable us to be independent of England. The link [of
dependence] is now become onerous to us. The time has come when we
think we can in amity and alliance with England maintain our independence.
Foreign Affairs 315
I do not think that time is yet approaching. But let us make them, as far as
possible, fit to govern themselves; let us give them, as far as we can, the
capacity of ruling their own affairs ; let them increase in wealth and population ;
and whatever may happen, we of this great Empire shall have the consolation
of saying that we have contributed to the happiness of the world.
The possibility that our colonies might wish to remain
permanently incorporated in the British Empire, or that their
incorporation might be a boon to the parent State, seems never
to have entered the brain of the well-known Whig Premier.
In the course of the next few years most of our important
colonies expressed a wish for self-government. This wish was
gladly acceded to by the British Government of the day, and
from that period their internal administration passed entirely
out of the hands of the Imperial Government. No arrangement,
however, was even suggested to determine the status of our self-
governing colonies in regard to foreign States. In theory they
still remain integral parts of the British Empire, subject to any
obligations contracted by the Imperial Government. We are
confronted, therefore, with a most serious dilemma. At various
times in our history we have made treaties with foreign Powers
by which we have placed them on the footing of the most
favoured nation throughout all British possessions, no matter
where these possessions are situated, and have given the subjects
of the Powers with which the treaties were made free right of
access to all British territories throughout the globe. On the
faith of these treaties, the Powers with whom they have been
contracted claim that their citizens have the right to trade with
our colonial ports on the footing of the most favoured nation,
and to have the full rights of access to any colony forming part
and parcel of the British Empire. To this claim the British
Government can only reply that having granted Home Kule to
the self-governing colonies, it has no power to interfere in any
way with their fiscal arrangements or with their immigration
laws. Thereupon the claimants suggest that they are entitled
to uphold the claims guaranteed to them by treaty, and in case
of need to employ force in order to effect their purpose.
In reply our Government has no choice, except to state in
diplomatic language that as the colonies are part and parcel of the
British Empire, an attack on one of them by any foreign Power
would be regarded as an attack on England. The net result
is that England has been placed by her want of foresight in a
position from which she cannot retire without disgrace, and which
she cannot retain without breaking her plighted word. Already
issues of this nature have been raised between England on the
one hand, and Germany, France, the United States and Japan
on the other. If the state of public sentiment at home in regard
to our colonies had remained what it was in the first half of the
316 The Empire Review
nineteenth century, the deadlock in which England is now placed
might have been removed by England's declaring to her self-
governing colonies that they must repeal all legislation which
rendered impossible her discharge of her own treaty obligations,
or must not rely in future on her coming to their assistance in
the event of their being attacked.
Happily, as I deem, myself, British sentiment about our
colonies has undergone a complete change, from the date when
an English Premier, the then head of the Liberal Party, almost
invited Greater Britain to sever their connection with Great
Britain. The extraordinary development of steam-power, and
still more of electricity, which dates from the era of the Hyde
Park International Exhibition in 1851, has rapidly cancelled the
element of distance, which hitherto had appeared a fatal obstacle
to any practical confederation of the Parent and the Children
States. The discovery of vast mineral wealth in Australia,
and later on in Canada and South Africa, caused an immense
emigration from Great Britain to the colonial Eldorados, and
thereby strengthened the ties of race and language which bind
together the colonies and the mother-country. Englishmen at
home soon learnt to understand that the colonies were a source
of wealth and power, not, as had heretofore been supposed, a
source of loss and weakness. At the same time Englishmen
beyond the four seas began to realise that the discoveries of
science, which had brought England in close communication with
her colonies, had also made them far more liable to attack from
other European Powers and had, therefore, rendered the protec-
tion of the British colonies, by the British fleet, absolutely indis-
pensable if their independence was to be preserved.
Moreover as the years went by, as the influence of Mr. Gladstone
died away, as popular faith in Free Trade being the harbinger of an
industrial millennium was dispelled by the logic of facts, and as the
rapid succession of wars in Europe, beginning with the invasion
of Schleswig-Holstein and ending with our war with the Boers
in South Africa, opened men's eyes to the truth that the world is
now — as it always has been from the beginning, and as it always
will be to the end — ruled not by moral force, but by physical force,
the old warlike instincts which lie at the heart of every ruling race
revived once more. Thus when a leader came forward unex-
pectedly in the person of Mr. Chamberlain and proclaimed the
evangel of Imperialism he met with a ready response on the part
of his fellow-countrymen.
I am no prophet, and I have no wish to make any forecast as
to the ultimate issue of the Fiscal controversy. This much,
however, I will venture to predict, that the Imperialist reaction
to which the greatest Colonial Minister of our times has given
rise will survive even if its author should unhappily be withdrawn
Foreign Affairs 317
from public life. The present state of British sentiment ought
to be assisted materially by the Colonial Conference of the coming
year in arriving at a compromise by which the relations of the
British colonies with foreign Powers may be placed on a satis-
factory and rational footing.
III.
THE BRITISH ADDRESS TO THE DUMA.
All's well that ends well. I am afraid the above statement
hardly applies to the abortive project of the Eighty Club. I
acknowledge knowing little or nothing of the Club in question. It
is some consolation to me to reflect that my ignorance is shared
by the vast majority of my fellow-countrymen. A debating society
such as the Oxford and Cambridge Unions may be of use to lads
in statu pupillari in giving them a certain amount of practice in
public speaking. Attendance at such resorts as Cogers Hall
could be excused as furnishing an excuse for smoking and drinking
and staying out later than usual. But even in my salad days a
discussion forum whose members took themselves seriously,
counted divisions, passed votes of censure and played the part of
a mock Parliament or a sham legislature, seemed to me the lowest
form of human imbecility. I have now learned there is a yet
lower form of human folly, and that is a club of obscure nobodies,
who after the fashion of " the three tailors of Tooley Street " call
themselves " We, the people of England," and in that capacity
tender expressions of sympathy or protests of disapproval to
foreign nations and governments.
The deputation which visited Buda Pesth in order to
inform the Magyars that England admired the action they
had taken in the endeavouring to overthrow the Dual Empire
was foolish enough, but this deputation contained within its
ranks two or three members, of whom Mr. Henry Norman
was the most conspicuous, who knew something about foreign
politics and who spoke with some authority as men of note
and character. However this may be, the cranks who ap-
pointed themselves representatives of England to bid God speed
to the anti-Austrian party in Hungary were Solons in comparison
with the busy bodies who undertook to present an address to the
defunct and discredited Duma, and to protest against the alleged
persecution of the Muscovite assassins, bomb throwers, and cut-
throats who have made the very name of the Duma odious to all
thinking men not only in Russia but abroad.
Mr. Massingham and his colleagues carry no weight and exer-
cise no influence in their own country, but as representatives of the
rag-tag and bobtail who are supposed to form the extreme wing
318 The Empire Review
of the Liberal party in England they possessed, or were credited
abroad with possessing, an authority utterly incommensurate
with their intrinsic importance. Even Sir Henry Campbell-
Bannerman refused to countenance in any way their attempt to
present an address said to be signed by three hundred Liberal
members expressing their confidence that the Duma would soon
recover from its temporary dissolution and would thereby com-
mand the respect and confidence of the British nation. The
authors of the insane idea to proceed to Russia as representatives
of England have not only rendered the Eighty Club ridiculous, they
have not only brought discredit upon the Liberal party, but they
have succeeded — a far more difficult task — in bringing England
into contempt abroad. If the qualification for membership of the
Eighty Club comprised a sense of humour they would unanimously
perform an act of political hari-kari and vote their own dissolu-
tion. But if they fail to perceive the absurdity of their present
position there is no more to be said. Against stupidity the gods
themselves fight in vain.
IV.
MOROCCO AND FRANCE.
I have often contended in these columns that under the
decision of the Algeciras Conference France did not in any way
secure the advantage which she had hoped to realise by the
Anglo-French Agreement. What France desired to obtain by
her convention with England was the incorporation of the
Shereefian Kingdom with her Algerian territories. What she
actually obtained was the recognition of her right to intervene,
in conjunction with Spain, in the affairs of Morocco, supposing
that armed intervention should be required in order to protect the
lives and properties of European residents. This limited right of
intervention — as was expressly declared by the Conference — is
not to be allowed to develop into annexation. To the French
public, as a body, the extension of French influence in Morocco, or
indeed, for that matter, in any portion of her North African
possessions, was, and is, a matter of comparative indifference.
The two things which France had at heart were, first, to avoid
any risk of a war with Germany single-handed, and secondly, to
secure, as the result of the Conference, a diplomatic victory which
might be represented as a moral defeat of Germany. As soon as
the second object was obtained by the decision of the Conference,
that the duty of maintaining order in Morocco should be con-
ferred on a joint Franco- Spanish police force, France claimed to
have got the best of the controversy by excluding Germany from
all part in the reorganisation in Morocco. Thus French sus-
Foreign Affairs 319
ceptibilities were appeased, and from that time the Government
of the Republic seems to have lost all interest in the work of
regenerating Morocco by the process which has been euphe-
mistically described as "pacific penetration." This seems to me
the only rational explanation of the fact that, though six months
have elapsed since the termination of the Algeciras Conference,
not a single step has been taken, in as far as the public are aware,
towards the organisation of the semi-military force which was to
secure peace and order throughout the dominions of Muley Abdul
Aziz.
Up to the date at which I write, the convention drawn up
by the Conference has not been even ratified by the Governments
of France or Spain. The reasons alleged for this extraordinary
delay are that the two Powers to whose hands the task of
Moroccan reconstruction was delegated at Algeciras have been
too much occupied — in the case of the former by the conflict
between Church and State, and in the case of the latter by the
royal marriage — to attend to the task of forming the force
required to restore order in Morocco. This delay has un-
doubtedly encouraged the Moors, who, as fanatical followers of
the Prophet, dislike all unbelievers, and, as Orientals, detest
European reforms, to rise in insurrection in the western pro-
vinces of the kingdom which are conterminous with those of
French Algeria. The hinterland of Morocco, outside of Tangier
and Fez, is a terra incognita, so that it is utterly impossible to
form any opinion as to the outcome of this obscure uprising, or
to say how far it is sanctioned, if not encouraged, by the Sultan
and the Maghzen. But it seems possible, if not probable, that
raids across the French frontier may prove the first active
manifestation of the unrest which has spread, and, I fear, is still
spreading, throughout the East.
Under such a contingency it is, to say the least, upon the
cards that the question of how far England under the Anglo-
French Agreement might be called upon to give military assist-
ance to France in case of need may well crop up again. Any
day we may be brought face to face with a fresh and serious
complication of the Morocco controversy, and it would be well
if our Government were to lose no time in letting the French
nation understand clearly what in their opinion are the obliga-
tions incurred by England under the Anglo-French Agreement.
Upon this point I am afraid, from what I heard and learnt
during recent visits to France, that the French public, not only
in Paris but in the provinces, are labouring under a complete and
dangerous delusion.
EDWAED DICEY.
320 The Empire Review
THE NEW HEBRIDES CONVENTION
BY THE EDITOR.
M. Cambon, the French Ambassador in London, and Sir Edward Grey,
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, definitely signed on Saturday a con-
vention approving the arrangement which was concluded on February 27, 1906,
on the subject of the New Hebrides, by Sir Eldon Gorst and Mr. Hugh
Bertram Cox on behalf of the British Government, and M. Saint-Germain,
Senator, and M. E. Picanon, Governor of New Caledonia, on behalf of the
French Government. The convention, which is of some length, comprising
sixty-eight articles, has for its object the reorganisation of the administration
of the New Hebrides ; it guarantees the respective interests of French, British,
and natives, and fixes the conditions of land-owning in the Archipelago. —
Times, October 22.
SEEING the many local interests at stake and the important
matters of imperial and colonial policy involved in the Cabinet
decision, it was somewhat unfortunate that no direct representa-
tive of the Commonwealth or New Zealand Governments was
invited to serve on the Joint Commission which sat last February
in Downing Street and drew up "an agreement " ad referendum
with regard to the New Hebrides.
This omission is the more regrettable in view of the nature of
the knowledge possessed by two of the French Commissioners —
M. Ficanon and Captain Bourge. For some time M. Picanon
has been Governor of New Caledonia, part of his duty being to
make periodical tours of inspection in the New Hebrides and
report to headquarters. Captain Bourge came straight to con-
sultation from commanding the steamship Paciftque, which for
several years has done the principal carrying trade between
Sydney, Noumea and the New Hebrides, employment which
enabled him to acquire very special information as to the harbours
and waterways on the islands. Without in any way minimising
the knowledge and acumen of the British Commissioners, it
cannot be said that any one of them possessed the same or even
similar experience to that of either M. Picanon or Captain Bourge.
Our representatives were men of the highest official training, and
their intimate acquaintance on paper and by hearsay evidence
with the points at issue left nothing to be desired, but it cannot
The New Hebrides Convention 321
be denied that as a body they lacked the perception of the expert,
and when it came to matters of practical detail this want must
have made itself manifest. At any rate, it led to the opinion
being freely expressed in Australia as well as by British residents
in the New Hebrides, that the absence of expert knowledge in
the British personnel and its prominence on the other side
prompted the statement made by M. Saint Germain, the head of
the French representation, in the columns of the Figaro that his
mission had been " an almost unhoped-for success."
It was again unfortunate that the first official note to the press,
while setting out that " the agreement " settled all questions and
disputes as regards the administration of the New Hebrides, said
nothing about communicating the document to Australia and
New Zealand. Nor was the situation improved by the fact that
it was from a French journal that the Colonial Governments
first learned the main conditions of the arrangement. It is true
that on the day following the two statements referred to, a full
pronouncement was made beginning with the words that the
" basis of agreement," as the document was then styled, would
be communicated to the Australian Commonwealth and New
Zealand Governments " with the least possible delay." This
pronouncement served to allay the fear that the matter was to-
be settled without further consultation with the Colonies, but it
did not deter Mr. Deakin, the Commonwealth Premier, from
publicly expressing his surprise that " no official intimation " had
reached him about the reported settlement. In fact, things at
the Antipodes did not become quiescent until ten days later, when
Mr. Churchill informed the House of Commons that it had been
made perfectly clear that what he now described as the " draft
convention " would be communicated to the Commonwealth and
New Zealand Governments, a statement he appropriately sup-
plemented by the additional information that the draft would not
be confirmed "until His Majesty's Government had an oppor-
tunity of considering the views of those Governments."
The replies from Australia and New Zealand were in due
course received and considered, and their substance formed the
subject of further negotiation between Paris and London. That
certain amendments in the draft were suggested has for some
weeks been an open secret, and it was greatly hoped in the
Antipodes that it might be found possible to include these amend-
ments, or the more important of them, in the Convention.
Apparently this has not been found possible ; at any rate, the
propositions on which Australia and New Zealand set especial
store have not been adopted, since we learn from the Times
correspondent in Sydney (October 22) that " great disappointment
is expressed over the New Hebrides Convention, in which nearly
VOL. XII.— No. 70. T
322 The Empire Review
all Mr. Deakin's and the late Mr. Seddon's suggestions are ignored.
The Federal Government has disclaimed responsibility for the
results."
I do not pretend to any knowledge as to the contents of the
colonial dispatches, nor have I any inspired information as to the
articles of the Convention, but I may say that I have a close
acquaintance with what has been done and what has been left
undone in the New Hebrides during the last twenty years. When
the Joint Naval Commission was under consideration I enjoyed
the confidence of the leading Australian and New Zealand states-
men of the day on what was then commonly referred to in both
hemispheres as " the New Hebrides question." If at the present
time the conditions are not quite the same my information is
brought up to date by a letter which I have just received from
a British landowner in the New Hebrides, who begs me to do
again what I did in 1887, and put " the real issues of the case
before the British Parliament before ratification." Unfortunately
it is too late for anything I may say to have any effect upon the
Convention, but it may be timely to place on record the New
Hebrides story, so that when the matter comes to be discussed in
Parliament members may have before them the details from an
independent source.
Two facts must be borne prominently in mind — the value of
the islands for strategic purposes in the defence of the Empire,
and their value for commerce and settlement. With these
matters in sight it may be convenient to give here a few
particulars as to the islands themselves, their trade and their
inhabitants. The New Hebrides lie between 13° 16' and 20° 15'
south latitude, and 166° 40' and 170° 20' east longitude, and are
included in the definition of the Western Pacific given in the
Declaration made between Great Britain and Germany in 1886.
The group consists of about thirty-five islands including the
Banks and Torres Islands, the whole embracing an area of about
3,840,000 acres. The islands are of volcanic origin, extend 400
miles N.N.W. and S.S.E. and have a native population now
estimated at 100,000, which is considerably below the estimate
given in the colonial records of twenty years ago. The Admiralty
report for 1903 places the number of the British settlers at 214,
and the number of the French at 255. According to my corres-
pondent the French exceed the British on five islands which lie
chiefly in the southern and central sections of the group; on
another five islands the British exceed the French ; while on two
the numbers are equal. In the Banks and Torres Islands the
British preponderate.
Santo, the most northern island, has the greatest area, being
66 miles long and 22 broad, and contains a good harbour.
Mallicolo, the second largest island of the group, is situated
The New Hebrides Convention 323
between Api and Santo ; it has a good landing-place on the
western side with deep water close to the beach. Vat6 (some-
times called Efate), or Sandwich Island, is 35 miles long and
about 15 broad. The features of this island are its magnificent
bays and harbours. Havanna Harbour, formed by the mainland
of Vate and two other islands, is by far the finest harbour in the
New Hebrides, and some people say, if you except Sydney, it is the
finest in that part of the Pacific. Here also is the commercial
settlement of Vila, the most important place of business in the
group. South of Vat6 lies the large island of Api, fertile, wooded
and thickly populated. Aneiteum, situate at the extreme south,
is about 40 miles in circumference ; it has a good harbour,
spacious and sheltered from all points except the west; the
entrance is wide and free from obstruction, and safe anchorage for
vessels of any size is obtainable. Tanna, 16 miles from Aneiteum,
about 25 miles long and 12 broad, is perhaps the richest and most
beautiful island of the group. Port Besolution, situated at the
extreme north-east of the island, has a fair harbour. North of
Tanna lies the less fertile but equally mountainous island of
Erromango, triangular in shape, with a sea-board of nearly 75
miles. It was here that the great missionary John Williams was
murdered. St. Esprit Island is a convenient place for watering,
as boats can easily pull into the river Jordan which flows into the
Bay of St. Philip : the ordinary trade winds blow beautifully
fresh and cool over the land, causing the temperature to be some
four degrees lower than the other islands. The remaining islands
of any importance are Pentecost, possessing two good watering-
places towards the south-west — Lepers Island, with its magnificent
mountain Aoba, and Ambrym, the latter a perfect gem.
As in dealing with a foreign Power the strategical side of the
question is the more important, I have laid special stress upon
the harbours and watering-places, but, as I have said, the matter
also has its commercial and colonisation side. Trade and settle-
ment go hand in hand, and whatever may be the case now, it is
absolutely certain that these two matters will eventually play an
important part in, if they do not in fact decide, the sovereignty of
the islands in years to come. Copra, maize (in some places three
crops a year), bananas and coffee form the chief island exports.
Last year the value of the Australian trade with the New
Hebrides, which may be said to be the whole of the British trade,
amounted to £59,496. Of this, the imports into the islands are
given at £25,923, and the exports from the islands at £33,573.
The value of the French interchange was nearly double in both
instances.
Now this should not be, even if we accept, for the sake of
argument, M. Etienne's extravagant statement in the Frenck
Y 2
324 The Empire Review
Chamber of Deputies (January 21, 1902), that French citizens-
own 1,900,000 acres of land in the islands — practically half the
territory. This still leaves the other half free for British
enterprise, and according to the figures given above, numerically
the British settlers are not greatly inferior to the French settlers.
Doubtless, there is something to be said in explanation of the
discrepancy deducible from the fact that the French are subsidised
by their Government to the extent of £34,000 per annum, but
even this does not account for the difference in the value of
the French as compared with the British trade. The low figures
on our side are undoubtedly brought about by the fiscal attitude
of Australia towards the British settlers, who are fast being ruined
by the high customs duties which practically prohibit the trade
with Australia'of such staple produce as maize and bananas. With
so high a tariff wall raised against them, it is impossible for the
British to compete with the French settlers, who not only enjoy
the full right of French citizenship, but are able to pass their
goods into New Caledonia practically duty free.
A preference must be granted by the Commonwealth to
the produce of British settlers in the New Hebrides, or not
only will our trade with the islands grow less and less, but
the number of British residents will diminish in like propor-
tion. It may be that a section of the Labour Party in the
Commonwealth is opposed to any encouragement being given
to British settlers, by reason of the fact that their produce
is the result of black labour. But if the islands are to have a
population of British subjects, that population must in the main-
be supplied from Australia, and if the Commonwealth wants to
prevent the plea of effective occupation being raised by France in
the near future, this narrow-minded view must be thrust aside
with no uncertain hand, and the duties on the exports from the
New Hebrides, so far as they affect the produce of British settlers,
be very considerably reduced.
In order to understand the duties of the Joint Commission
appointed in accordance with the Declaration between the United
Kingdom and France dated April 8, 1904, it may be well to
point out that after specifying that the two Governments agree to
draw up in concert an arrangement which, without involving any
modification of the political status quo, shall " put an end to the
difficulties arising from the absence of jurisdiction over the natives
of the New Hebrides," the Declaration goes on to state that the
Governments in question undertake to appoint a Commission " to
settle the disputes of their respective nationals in the said islands
in regard to landed property," the competency of this Commission
and its rules of procedure to form the subject of a preliminary
agreement between the two Governments. Presumably the new
arrangement is to take the place of the Joint Naval Commission
The New Hebrides Convention 325
composed of British and French naval officers on the Pacific
station appointed in 1887, charged with the duty of " main-
taining order and protecting the lives and property of British
subjects and French citizens in the New Hebrides," and for the
better observance of the regulations compiled to enable the Joint
Naval Commission to carry out their functions. At any rate it
would seem that the object in view when the 1887 Convention
was under consideration was virtually the same as that enter-
tained by the two Governments when signing the Declaration
of 1904.
Here it may be well to mention that the natives, other than
those who have come under the purview of the missionaries, are
practically uncivilised ; in some cases they are still cannibals, and
their natural weapons are clubs, spears, bows and arrows, and
tomahawks. It was thought that the presence of warships would
sufficiently safeguard Europeans from native attacks, but this has
not proved to be the case. In some islands a state of terror pre-
vails, and as long as no whites are injured this condition of things
cannot be met by the Joint Naval Commission. In many places
white men's lives and property are unsafe, and several districts
are inaccessible by reason of the hostility of the natives who
inhabit them. The situation has been rendered worse by the scant
observance on the part of the French of the regulation which
forbids the sale of arms and intoxicants to the natives. It is even
asserted that in this way land has passed into the possession of
French settlers which, had the regulations been strictly adhered to,
would not have been the case. In fact, the chaos and confusion
that, under the old tripartite arrangement, prevailed in Samoa, is
an exact counterpart of affairs in the New Hebrides to-day.
Now let us see what are the main conditions of the draft
agreement communicated to the Australian Commonwealth and
New Zealand Governments. We were told semi-officially that
the Draft Convention, which consisted of fifty articles,* was a
"perfectly equitable" arrangement. The precise nature of the
document has not yet been divulged, but so far as the main
points are concerned we learn from the same source the following
information : —
Both Great Britain and France will retain power over
their own people, and the administrative rights of both
countries remain the same as before, no British or French
rights having been surrendered. The islands will not be
divided, and neither party assumes any independent control
over the group. The most important provision is the creation
of British and French courts with British and French judges,
who will each administer their own legislation in the case of
their own subjects. It is also proposed to appoint a special
* The actual Convention contains sixty-eight Article*.
326 The Empire Review
tribunal to deal with land claims. The tribunal will be
presided over by a third judge, who will be appointed by a
friendly Power. The deadlock which has hitherto existed in
the punishment of offenders will now be removed, as the
judicial rights of each country are clearly defined.
An important omission in this communique was supplied by
M. Saint Germain, who informed the Figaro that " among their
other labours was the creation of municipalities."
I very much fear that the decision not to divide the islands
has caused some disappointment in certain circles at the Antipodes,
especially amongst the British settlers in the New Hebrides
who, in common with the late Mr. Seddon, favour a settlement
of the difficulties by a division of sovereignty between England
and France. M. Etienne, leader of the Colonial Party in the
Chamber of Deputies, put forward the same suggestion. Various
reasons have been advanced for this course, prominent among
them being that only sovereign rights can give control over
the natives and determine what nationals shall and shall not
own land. As, however, the whole thing is settled, and I see
no reason to suppose that Australia pressed the point, while it is
not at all certain that Sir Joseph Ward entertains the same view
as his predecessor, I do not propose to say much on the subject.
But as the question appears to have been raised during the pro-
ceedings of the Joint Commission, and will probably be raised
again, it may be well to cite the division which my correspondent
suggests as the best in all the circumstances. He says : —
In view of overlapping land claims, the true line of conduct
in any partition between the two Powers concerned of the
New Hebrides should be on the basis of national interest and
propinquity to already acquired territory, such being the only
policy which the exigencies of the political situation require
or justify. This involves a compromise and give-and-take
basis, a principle upon which the greater part of the British
Empire in all countries has been founded.
Admitting, then, the necessity for a readjustment of the
whole situation and the reasons that justify a partition of
territory, Great Britain should take the northern half and
thus make her possessions continuous and compact. In that
case the Torres and Banks Islands, Santo, Aore, Malo, Aoba,
Maeywo and Pentecost would be in the British portion.
France would have Mallicolo, Ambrym, Api, Mai, Nguna,
Tongoa, Vat6 (Sandwich), Erromango, Aiiiwa, Tanna, Fotuna
and Aneityum, making French possessions in the Western
Pacific continuous and avoiding any buffer region. In Great
Britain acquiring Santo, which has an area of about 1,500,000,
acres, it would offset the two important islands of Mallicolo
and Vat6 passing to France, more especially as the commercial
settlements of Vila on Vate Island and Port Sandwich on the
The New Hebrides Convention 327
island of Mallicolo are practically French ; it would be sure
to create friction to include these two islands in the British
claim.
There can, from the Imperial standpoint, be no doubt that the
British Commissioners have taken the correct course in not
agreeing to any division of the islands. For, supposing my
correspondent's view — and presumably it does not differ very
widely from the views of other supporters of division — to be
adopted, we should be handing over to the French Havanna
Harbour and Port Sandwich, to say nothing of other strategic
points, thus providing a foreign Power gratuitously with a splendid
naval base in the direct land route from Sydney to America and
Canada, and in the commercial highway between New Zealand,
China and Japan. It may be that land claims could be transferred
where it was necessary, but many difficulties would be certain to
arise. And it must always be borne in mind that what has been
found possible in the case of Newfoundland after many years may
yet be found possible in the case of the New Hebrides.
The establishment of Civil Courts in the place of the Joint
Naval Commission, and the creation of a special Tribunal to deal
with land claims are steps in the right direction ; but after all it is
not only land claims and the offences of British and French
nationals which have to be considered, and while the agreement
indicates a decided effort to deal with land disputes and law-
breakers so far as British and French settlers are concerned, it
seems to leave untouched the wider and more pressing matter of
native control. Neither is any mention made as to enforcing the
regulation forbidding the sale of arms and intoxicants to natives.
British settlers in the past have suffered severely from the different
interpretations placed upon the law by British and French officials.
It is not very easy to see what alternative is possible, but
there is no doubt that in British and French courts presided over
respectively by British and French judges British settlers still fear
that the French judges will administer the law in their way and
the British judges in their way, with the result, as experience
has shown, that the French settlers will be the gainers and the
British the losers. A more satisfactory solution would, I think,
have been a single court with British and French judges sitting
on the same bench, having jurisdiction over all offenders, including
natives. That there would still be difficulty with the natives I
admit, but a joint court might have done something to meet the
question of native control and at the same time have prevented
the present anomalous position of having apparently no court to
deal with offences committed by nationals other than those of
England and France. A similar position must arise in the case
of the Land Tribunal, for I am not aware of any principle of
international law which entitles judges of one, two or even three
328 The Empire Review
nationalities to determine land claims of other nationals dwelling
in countries where no rights of sovereignty exist. As I under-
stand the position, there are American, German, Dutch, Portuguese
and Spanish nationals who have land claims to present. It would
be interesting to know to what court these claimants are to go for
redress.
Municipalities are objected to both by Australia and New
Zealand, and will certainly not give satisfaction to the British
settlers. Presumably this was one of the points advanced on the
French side, seeing that it is not the first time that a request of
a similar nature has been put forward on the part of France — and
refused. The proposition should have been strenuously opposed
by the British commissioners. It may be that the matter was
left for further discussion, and this was the reason why no
mention is found of municipalities in the communique to the
British press. But it is significant that M. Saint Germain should
have lost no time in explaining to the French people through the
columns of the Figaro that " among their other labours was the
creation of municipalities." If it were a concession it was a most
dangerous concession, for it virtually gives to France nearly all
she would have secured by partition, except actual sovereignty.
In considering the effect of creating municipalities one must
disregard the fact of numerical equality between British and French
settlers. That does not enter into the question. What, however,
it is important to know is the fact that the British settlers are
scattered all over the islands, while the French settlers are con-
gregated in settlements, and that these settlements are at the chief
commercial centres and in and about the chief strategical localities.
The French Government has made it its business to induce their
settlers to concentrate, and concentration is insisted upon in the
Charter of the French New Hebrides Company. I am told that
there would be difficulty in finding sufficient number of British
settlers at one spot to form even one municipality, while as regards
the French citizens, the reverse is the case. It may therefore be
assumed, then, that one of the immediate results of sanctioning
the creation of municipalities will be to bring the important
island of Vate, with the commercial centre of Vila and Havanna
Harbour, practically under French jurisdiction. Other places of
strategical importance not unlikely to pass to the control of
France, if municipalities be set up, are Port Sandwich and the
island of Epi.
And this is, I am afraid, what has happened, since we learn,
again from the Times correspondent, that " Sydney traders with
great personal knowledge of the islands declare that the Conven-
tion establishes French predominance at all the strategically
important places, and endangers the British trade-route between
America and Australia."
The New Hebrides Convention 329
It would be idle to deny that the French position in the New
Hebrides is stronger in every way than it was twenty years ago.
The same cannot, I think, be said of the British position, and if
things are allowed to drift the time will come, it may be in a few
years, when we shall have France putting forward the pleas of
trading interests and effective occupation as a precedent to French
sovereignty. We all know what happened in Samoa, and what
happened there stands a good chance of being repeated in the
New Hebrides with the substitution of France for Germany.
Even during the sittings of the Joint Commission it cannot have
escaped notice that the French Commissioners rightly or wrongly
felt themselves arguing from the standpoint of superiority. And
the Temps, which generally voices the views of the French
Foreign Office, as soon as the result became known and when it
was seen that the draft Convention was not being received with
acclamation in Australia and New Zealand, was careful to point
out that " the agreement exhibits genuine good will on the part of
France since France with much larger interests treated England
on a footing of equality." This pronouncement may be taken
to represent the official feeling in France with regard to the
French position in the New Hebrides. With the entente cordiale
fresh upon us there was a natural tendency on both sides to meet
one another, but all said and done it is well known that France
finds it convenient to mark time, seeing that the maintenance of
the status quo for a few more years will enable her to further
subsidise, consolidate and settle. It is also convenient to us to
continue the same political situation in the islands if not for the
same purpose, for no one can accuse either the Imperial Govern-
ment, the Commonwealth Government, or the New Zealand
Government, of subsidising, consolidating, or settling.
The surest way to check the advance of France in the New
Hebrides is for Australia to come to the rescue. After all it is
an important matter to the Community whether or not a group
of islands distant only 1,200 miles from her shores and lying in
the midst of her great commercial highways to the western world,
shall pass under the sovereignty of a possibly hostile Power.
What Australia has to do is to lower her tariff walls against
British settlers in the New Hebrides, or at any rate against the
produce produced on British owners' estates, though it be admitted
free, and to do all in her power to promote British settlement in
the islands. If this be done, when next the affairs of the New
Hebrides come up for consideration, the British case will be on a
very different footing to what it is to-day. But it is no good
shutting the stable door after the horse is stolen.
CLEMENT KINLOCH-COOKE.
330 The Empire Review
THE NAVY AND THE COLONIES
BY CHARLES STUART-LINTON.
" WAR " said De Toqueville, "is an occurrence to which all
nations are subject, democratic nations as well as others. What-
ever taste they may have for peace, they must hold themselves
in readiness to repel aggression."
Let, then, the grand old Eoman maxim, Si vis pacem para
bellum, be remembered. A state of preparedness for war is the
surest guarantee of peace. To make our defeat most improbable,
or to be encompassed only at a tremendous cost, would operate to
incline our foes to refrain from a clash of arms so long as a
peaceable solution of any incident might be possible.
One of the greatest reasons, therefore, to be urged for national
unity is the protection and power all would gain at the least
possible cost in such a case. This is undoubtedly a community
of interest such as before has seldom existed among so widely
scattered a people. Our common interests are so vast and closely
interwoven that few appreciate them, even in a slight degree.
To many, they seem hard to determine ; for instance, the vast
extent of commerce of this great Oceanic Empire, a commerce
afloat that is now annually worth between £1,100,000,000, and
^61,200,000,000, and which is yearly increasing. It would seem
that for the colonies, with their undeveloped resources, this is
but the beginning of their commercial existence, and that to
them the efficiency of the British Navy is one of primary im-
portance.
It was the theory of naval and military experts, in the earlier
years of the last century, that the Empire was too large for a
proper scheme of defence, many of its parts being vulnerable. This
theory, however, which, to a certain extent, was once true, has
been shattered, owing to the evolution of naval conditions, which,
every few years, forces naval experts to consider new methods.
Our former source of uneasiness — vulnerability — is with the
more perfect organisation an element in our favour.
The potential strength of our essentially Oceanic Empire may
be realised when its many strategic positions are considered. In
The Navy .and the Colonies 331
every sea we hold minor Gibraltars. The Southern or Cape route,
to the East is well fortified ; here are the stations of Cape Town,
Sierra Leone, St. Helena and Mauritius. In spite of the Suez
Canal, this route still remains one of our greatest trade lines. All
along the principal route to the Far East, by way of the Mediter-
ranean and Bed, Seas, there are heavily fortified stations, Gibraltar,
Malta, Aden, Bombay, Calcutta, Trincomalee, Singapore, Hong
Kong and Wei-Hai-Wei. All these are splendid naval bases. In
Oceana are also fortifications, at King George's Sound, Thursday
Island, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Hobart, Adelaide, Welling-
ton, Dunedin and other places. Thence eastward across the
Pacific are more stations for the protection of British interests ;
Vancouver and Esquimalt in the North Pacific. Crossing the
American continent we have Halifax on the North Atlantic, and
Southward the Bermudas and St. Lucia, Jamaica and other
stations in the West Indies. In the South-western Atlantic we
hold the Falkland Islands. Again, the construction of the
Panama Canal will add considerably to the strategic value of
Australia and the West Indies.
Surely, therefore, no other nation ever held such choice
strategic positions. With this in view it should not be difficult
to realise that the integrity of each member is essential to the
integrity of the whole. Under such conditions, Canada, with her
Pacific coast, cannot afford to remain indifferent to the mainten-
ance of British prestige in the Far East as against Russia, Japan,
or other Powers. It is vital to the integrity of Australasia, also,
that we permit no further European encroachments in Oceana,
and also that we maintain a sort of Monroe Doctrine in the
Persian Gulf. Thus, it is seen, that the welfare of one is the
concern of all, and that injury inflicted upon any part affects the
entire system.
Great Britain, by virtue of her position, has been compelled
to keep pace with the other Powers in their unparalleled increase
of naval armaments.
In 1903, the cost of Imperial defence had increased to
£87,487,000 ; including Army estimates, £34,425,000 ; Imilitary
expenditure of India, £17,782,000 ; contributions of Crown
Colonies in aid of Army votes, £355,000. For 1904-5, the
expenditure for the Navy was £36,889,000 under estimates ;
£5,111,000 under Works Acts ; in round figures £42,000,000. As
Mr. Chamberlain observed, at the Colonial Conference of 1902,
" The weary Titan groans beneath the orb of his too vast fate."
According to the figures of 1902, given out at the Colonial
Conference, which was less than those subsequently, Imperial
defence involved an expenditure per head of the population of
the United Kingdom of £1 9s. 3d,, while in Canada, defence
332 The Empire Review
involved an expenditure of only 2s. per head of the population,
about one-fifteenth of that incurred by the taxpayer in the
United Kingdom. In Australia it was about 3s. 3d. ; in New
Zealand, 3s. Ad. ; and in the Cape of Good Hope and Natal,
between 2s. and 3s. respectively.
The annual ocean commerce of the United Kingdom is,
roughly speaking, about £830,000,000. In the last fifty years
the trade of the United Kingdom has increased fivefold, while
the trade of the colonies and dependencies has increased to nearly
ninefold. In the not far future the ocean commerce of the rest
of the Empire will become equal, and gradually outvalue that of
the United Kingdom. A great share of the colonial trade was
trade in which the taxpayer in Great Britain and Ireland had no
interest in buying or selling. A great deal was either inter-
colonial trade, or trade between the colonies and foreign States.
This vast and increasing independent trade has the same protec-
tion from the British Navy as the trade of the United Kingdom
itself.
The United Kingdom for 1905 appropriated £35,500,000 for
ships, men and stores ; and £7,989,337 for naval works ; a total
of £43,489,387. India, with an expenditure of £74,000,000, and
an annual commerce of nearly £170,000,000, contributes £103,000
to the support of the Navy. The colonies, with an expenditure
of £62,000,000 and an annual commerce of £234,000,000, con-
tribute £328,000. In other words, according to the cost of 1902-3,
on a basis of population, the United Kingdom expended 15s. 2d.
per head ; Australia, 10£d. ; New Zealand, 6%d. ; Cape of Good
Hope (white), Is. l%d. ; Natal (white), 4s. 5fd. and Canada nil.
If, however, the expenditures were divided equally per head among
the white population of the Empire, the charge per head would
amount to Is. Q%d.
Again, the united revenues of the colonies exceed the revenues
of the United Kingdom. The British taxpayer has, therefore,
cast on him nearly the whole burden of protecting the interests
which belong to his kin over-sea equally with himself; he has
also to pay for the protection of interests which are not his own,
but entirely those of his fellow-citizens in Greater Britain. This,
to any impartial observer, seems a terrific inequality in the
distribution of Imperial responsibilities and burdens. It is im-
possible that this will be permanent, or even continue a great
while longer. In the days when the colonies were in their infancy,
and were poor and had no industries, they were not in a position
to take a share in the defence of the Empire. And, what is more,
in their unsettled state, they offered but little attraction to the
rapacity of the Powers. The rapid increase in material prosperity
and wealth of the colonies has, however, changed this, and in
The Navy and the Colonies 333
their present condition of expansion they promise some day to
rival in riches the United Kingdom.
Many in the colonies are in favour of taking a proportionate
share in Imperial defence, and many claim that they have already
contributed greatly towards the same by establishing and providing
for local defence. Especially is this so in Canada. Canadians
claim that by building the great transcontinental railways from
ocean to ocean, which are in reality great " Imperial highways,"
they have done' more~ for defence than if they had contributed a
sum direct to the Imperial Army and Navy. They also point to
the expenditure of a large sum on their militia, police, and in the
establishment of a splendid military college. The Canadian
Government is also increasing the strength and efficiency of the
militia, raising it on a war footing to 100,000 men.
While defence for local interests is always to be commended
and encouraged, the fact remains that these contributions are
indirect in their form, and are far from providing for an efficient
national system of organisation for the naval and military forces
of the Empire.
Canada has a merchant marine fourth in importance among
the nations, 'yet she contributes absolutely nothing towards the
upkeep of the Imperial Navy upon which she relies for the pro-
tection of her merchant marine. Colonial merchants can sail
and trade the world over, and are treated with respect, their lives
and property being secure on account of their flag, and the
protection given them by the British Navy. If, however, any-
thing does go wrong, then, in every principal port of the world,
the colonial merchant can at once seek the protection and advice
of a British Consul, which officer is paid for exclusively by
the taxpayer in the United Kingdom. In spite of these very
patent facts, some argue, as a reason against contributing to
the Navy, that Canada and her interests need no protection from
the British Navy. Even statesmen, like Mr. Clifford Sifton,
support such views. In an address before the Canadian Club
of Ottawa in 1903, on various Imperial problems, Mr. Sifton
agreed with Sir Charles Tupper, that it was a fallacy to suppose
the British Navy was larger than it would have to be if it had
not to defend Canada. " Great Britain," he said, " would still
need to maintain the same navy if Canada were not in the British
Empire."
Even supposing that such a statement were correct, it is
hardly compatible with the dignity of Canada that she enjoy
protection for her merchant marine without paying for it, even
though in so doing it did not add one iota to the cost of the Navy.
Now suppose, for instance, during the period of the Japanese-
Kussian war, when Russia carried the rights of a belligerent to
334 The Empire Review
their utmost, and minimised those of a neutral, that the Knight
Commander, which was sunk by a Bussian cruiser, had been a
Canadian merchantman, or one of the Canadian-Pacific boats ?
Would not the same representations have been made by the Home
Government, and the same compensation been demanded ? The
case of the Agnes Donahue, a Canadian vessel, whose crew was
seized, imprisoned and ill-treated by the Government of a South
African Eepublic is an instance. Quite a stir was made in the
Canadian Parliament and the press, and the crew was released
only on the demand of the Home Government. At the outbreak
of the war between Russia and Japan, Canadians in the Far East
applied for protection, and a cruiser was accordingly sent to
convey them to a place of safety. During the same war, a mixed
crew of Canadians and Americans of a certain merchantman was
seized and imprisoned by the Russians. The Canadians, on the
demand of the British Ambassador, were released promptly.
Through the slower action of the United States, the release of its
citizens was delayed. Yet Mr. Sifton and others have said that
Canada has no interest in the Navy and, in fact, needs no naval
protection.
Aside, therefore, from the question of her commerce, and the
protection by the Navy of her people when abroad, it may be
suggested that Canada's Pacific coast-line would be open to
Bussian attack. The rise of Japan as a great naval power must
also, in the future, be considered. It has been answered, " we
rely on the protection given by the ' Monroe Doctrine.' >: Sir
Frederick Borden, the Minister of Militia, publicly stated this to
be his views on the question in 1906. Has it come to this, a
British people resting in security under a protection given them
by a foreign State ? This is not in accord with the past glorious
history of our Canadian compatriots. It is unbefitting the dignity
of a great State like Canada to cherish for a moment such ideas.
The Monroe Doctrine, which we originated and now jointly
support, is not infallible, and is liable to be challenged. This
doctrine, or the American Navy, would not protect Canadians
abroad, or their merchant marine of 652,613 tons, which ranks
directly after Japan, and is larger than that of Russia or Spain.
But that such an argument is held by the majority of our fellow-
subjects I decline to believe, as I know the great Dominion.
On the contrary, many are enthusiastically in favour of supporting
the Navy. Mr. Frank E. Hodgkins, K.C. of the Toronto bar, in
an article entitled " Canada's Opportunity," in a Canadian
magazine says :
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, in discussing Canada's liability for the Grand Trunk
Pacific Eailway, told his hearers at Sorel, P. Q., that it would only amount to
$14,000,000, and that he said was just one year's surplus. In this he was
The Navy and the Colonies 335
quite right, the Finance Minister of Canada having in his budget speech in the
House of Commons on the 7th of June, 1904, reported that he had a surplus
for the year ending 30th June, 1903, of $14,348,166.17, and that the average
surplus for the eight years, from 1896 to 1904, was $7,238,011.49. It is,
therefore, possible, and indeed easy, for Canada merely out of her surplus
revenue, to build, at a cost of $5,000,000, one battleship a year. If she did so,
then in eight years the great newly-formed Atlantic Squadron of eight battle-
ships could be doubled. That fleet can reach the shores of Canada in six days.
But if her contribution were only one battleship every two years, the sum of
$2,500,000 a year would, in the same period, increase that squadron to the
strength of the new channel or home fleet of twelve battleships.
The present Government in Canada, however, has for some
time contemplated the establishment of a local or Canadian navy
to be confined for the most part to local waters, which navy
would be separate from the Imperial Navy. Indeed, that navy
is already in existence in the shape of H.M.S. Canada, with a
ship's company of seventy-five men.
This idea seems, on its face, both unwise and extravagant. A
navy solely for the Dominion would have to be of no mean
strength in ships, men and guns, and all other supplies necessary
to a naval command. In other words, a navy for such a purpose
would have to be kept up to the European standard, otherwise it
would be a useless expense. The United States, as a neighbour,
and Kussia and Japan in the Pacific would,have to be considered.
The estimates of the United States Navy in 1905 were £22,906,127.
The United Netherlands, with one-half the commerce of Canada,
spends annually about £1,400,000 on their navy. Therefore, a
navy for the Dominion, at the most conservative estimate, could
not be of any effective use unless the Government were prepared
to vote at least three to four millions sterling. The cost of one
first-class cruiser would be at least £500,000. It would be
necessary, also, to have several second-class cruisers, as well as
a number of gunboats, not to apeak of depots and stores, naval
yards and other supplies, which are necessary for the equipment
of an efficient navy. This would then amount to £1,000,000 a
year, including the interest per annum on the capital cost. For
a navy requires men, and men require food, pay, clothing, and so
forth. The Canadian Government should also take into considera-
tion that ships of war of the present day become obsolete in a
few years, and it is extremely costly to replace them. The
officers and men of such a navy would become " stale " if they
were confined year after year in the same ships, and in the same
place, subject to the same influences. To preserve a high
standard of efficiency, and " morale " in a fleet, it is necessary
that there should be periodical changes in a ship's company, and,
above all, that the squadrons in a fleet be ordered to go on ex-
tended cruises, visiting various other countries. In the case of
336 The Empire Review
a Canadian navy, this could not be, and the result would con-
siderably affect the " morale " of the fleet.
The same reasons against local naval forces apply to the other
colonies. There was also, some time ago, considerable discussion
in Australia for the establishment of a separate navy, to be main-
tained solely for the local defence of Australia, and for the navy
to be confined solely in Australian waters, both in peace and war.
But the position of Australia and New Zealand in regard to
Imperial defence must receive special consideration. In former
times, before the great improvements in the use of steam, etc.,
Australia enjoyed a certain amount of immunity from attack.
But this is by no means any longer the case. The rise of Japan
as a newly-armed and dominant Power in the Far East ; the en-
croachments of Russia ; the occupation of the Philippines by the
United States, and of the Samoan Islands by Germany, destroy
this former isolation, and are facts opposed to Australian and
New Zealand interests. The opening of the Panama Canal in
the near future, and the encroachments of Russia, and her
influence in Persia, point to the Indian Ocean, the North Pacific,
and the China Sea as the theatre of the coming struggle. Then,
too, the results of the Russian-Japanese war changed the balance
of power in the Pacific. Some years ago the dominant power in the
Pacific was China. The rapid progress and modern development of
Japan resulted in a war with China, from which struggle Japan
emerged as the dominant Power. But, owing to the intervention
of the Powers, Japan was deprived of the fruits of her victory,
and Port Arthur, an important naval base, which she was entitled
to by right of conquest, fell into the hands of Russia. The
Imperial British Government saw in this acquisition by Russia
a power which could, in case of a war, seriously disturb the
British Empire, by an attempt to invade India, and to seriously
menace the territory and commerce of Australasia and other
British dominions. It was, no doubt, chiefly owing to these
considerations that we entered into a defensive alliance with
Japan, which has been generally considered a proceeding of
good statesmanship. Now that Russia has been forced out of
Manchuria, Japan, with the assistance of China, controls and
preserves the integrity of Manchuria and Korea. The great
result from Japan's war with Russia is that her power and
prestige will have been enormously enhanced. She has become
recognised as a great world-power. It is in this regard that a
grave danger to the British Empire may arise.
The trouble will be caused by the exclusion Acts in force
in Australia and other colonies against Asiatics. China has lately
shown the United States, by the agitation on the part of her
citizens in boycotting American products, that she is far from
The Navy and the Colonies 337
satisfied with the exclusion Acts. This may be but the rumble
before the storm.
Japan has consuls at the principal towns in Australia and
warships, which make periodical visits to the ports, besides a
regular line of merchant vessels trading between the two countries.
Japan, therefore, regards these Acts with great dissatisfaction,
and remembers the days when Chinese and Japanese ports were
opened unwillingly, under the moral suasion of the cannon. So
it is not in the least improbable that Japan will, in the future,
take up vigorously the rights of her subjects, protesting against
the exclusion Acts in Australia, backed up by China, whose forces
will be organised under Japanese army and naval officers.
The Japanese Empire will feel that, having emerged victorious
from a war with a European Power, she is entitled to the same
rights and privileges as the other great Powers, more especially
as she is in alliance with the foremost of those Powers. She
would appeal, therefore, to the Imperial British Government
against such unjust discrimination. Should the Parliament of
Australia then refuse to repeal, or, at least, to modify the
exclusion Acts, the Home Government would be powerless to
do any&ing. Our reply then would be that we had no control
over legislation in the British dominions, thus acknowledging the
fact that the Empire is not much better than a disjointed and
loose confederacy, with little or no real central power.
This might involve the British Empire in a war with Japan,
who would be supported by China. These exclusion Acts are
problems vital to Australia and the rest of the Empire, problems
by which, sooner or later, we shall be confronted. The gravity
of it is evident when it is seen that China, with her teeming
millions, is situated near the great Australian island-continent
peopled by four million souls. The unexpected sometimes
happens. If, in years to come, Russia, Japan and China come
together, an arrangement might be entered into whereby Japan
and China would be given a free hand towards the invasion of
Australia, in turn for assistance given Russia to conquer India.
We would be called upon, not only to fight for the protection of
India, but it would be a life and death struggle for Australasia
and the rest of the Empire. This latter eventuality is certainly
less probable than the first, but it should be borne in mind that
the isolation of Australasia is quite a thing of the past, and that
she is now confronted, more or less, by all these foregoing con-
siderations. Any talk, therefore, as to separation from the
Empire, supplementing it by a doubtful independence, is clearly
not only disloyal to the motherland, but most traitorous to the
true welfare of Australia. It will thus be seen how vitally
important the primacy of the British Navy is to the integrity of
VOL. XII.— No. 70.
338
The Empire Review
Australia and New Zealand. A local navy for Australia, from
these foregoing considerations, is not to be thought of. Australia
should, in the near future, take a substantial share in Imperial
defence as well as in local defence.
That the colonies have so far been released from all such
considerations or burdens is due to the fact that they have, in
their infancy, been under the protection of a Power which has
upheld the " Command of the Sea " unchallenged for over a
century. Every year, however, they are increasing in wealth and
trade, and it will not be very long before they begin to rival even
the United Kingdom. The time has come when these colonies
must take a share in the common defence of the Empire. If they
were independent nations they would annually have to expend a
good round sum for their national insurance. Signs are not
wanting, however, to show that our kin beyond the sea are
beginning to realise what is due from them to their motherland.
CHAELES E. T. STUART-LINTON.
Great Britain in North China 330
GREAT BRITAIN IN NORTH CHINA
BY KENNETH BEATON.
THE influence and position of Great Britain in North China
offer a striking illustration of that moral ascendency which she
acquires even in countries which are not subject to her rule. She
stands, apparently, on an equal footing with the other Powers.
She is the principal and the most consistent advocate of the Open
Door in trade and politics, and she claims no privileges which she
is not content to share with even the smallest of the European
States. Yet she always remains at the head of them, in practice,
if not in theory.
In Peking the British is the most imposing and beautiful of
all the Legations. In Tientsin the British concession is the
centre of almost everything : it has the leading residential street,
the leading shopping street, the leading hotel, the best public
gardens, the only theatre and concert-hall. These are small
matters, perhaps, in a question of Imperial politics, but they are
not without significance. I was over two years in North China,
nearly all the time in Tientsin ; and now that it is past, and I
begin to see things in perspective, the peculiar and striking moral
ascendency of our country there comes home to me with greater
force from day to day. I say moral ascendency, perhaps for want
of a better word ; but I certainly can think of none better, for
that ascendency was not won by the sword alone, and it does not
depend upon any military and naval display.
North China, for our present purpose, consists mainly of
Peking and Tientsin. I might also include Niuchwang, Chifu,
and Wei-Hai-Wei, but not being very well acquainted with them
I may be excused for leaving them out of account.
Peking is the capital of that incoherent mass which we call
the Chinese Empire ; and without being in any sense representa-
tive of the whole of China, it is an essentially and thoroughly
Chinese city. A native of Peking cannot converse with a native
of Southern China ; their languages are different, and they have
nothing in common except the queue, the dress, and what one
z 2
340 The Empire Review
may call the yellow. Yet Peking, as the headquarters of the
dynasty to which China offers the outward signs of submission,
and as the home of the Mandarin tongue — the official dialect, so to
speak, which is the only one that is useful all over China, because
all educated officials can speak it — Peking is essentially a Chinese
city. Europeans have no settlements there ; only their Legation
compounds. Since the Boxer troubles in 1900, those compounds
have been enlarged and fortified, and spaces have been cleared
around them as a measure of safety against future risings ; but
apart from this, a European Minister lives among Chinese sur-
roundings just as the Chinese Minister in London lives among
English surroundings.
There are occasional social functions between Europeans and
Chinese, but on the whole the two races keep separate. There is
always a lurking sense of suspicion. The Chinese secretly — and
very naturally — hate us, as grasping upstarts who come to the
country unbidden, and are not wanted ; we always have a feeling
that another Boxer disturbance may be raging a month hence, and
that all we value may be in danger ; for to us the Chinese mind
is as a sealed book. And this comparative isolation of the
Europeans tends to accentuate the Chinese aspect of Peking.
The old, old spirit has not yet been driven out by an invasion of
Western methods. You have to thread your way in places through
a crush of Chinese pedestrians, Chinese carts, and Chinese chairs
through the side-windows of which you catch sight of a Chinese
lady, her black hair plastered down and worked round a frame-
work of gilt paper and artificial flowers, her skin powdered white,
and the lips and cheeks covered with a thick smear of rouge ; or
perhaps it is a fat, sleepy-looking old Mandarin, clad in layers of
silk and fur, glancing lazily at you through large circular bone-
rimmed spectacles which make him look heavier than ever. Even
the main thoroughfares are an extraordinary medley of sights,
sounds, and smells; the roads in an appalling state of neglect,
which the Chinese seem to take as a matter of course ; the
buildings squalid and insignificant; for though many Chinese
gentlemen have great hoards of wealth, they spend nothing on the
exterior of their houses. There are very few two-storied buildings,
and there is no private architecture that strikes the eye.
Everything is essentially Chinese; the gaudy tinsel of the
processions, and the utter squalor through which they move ; the
wealthy Mandarins who are carried through the streets in chairs,
and the filthy beggars, covered with sores and wrapped in sacking
as foul as the " wonk "-dogs one sees gorging on rubbish-heaps
by the roadside.
In a place that has kept so much to its old traditions, where
foreigners are in such a minority, and so isolated, there is not
Great Britain in North China 341
much scope for any assertion of superiority among themselves.
The Minister of a small State may be Dean of the Diplomatic Body,
and may take precedence in that capacity over the representatives
of greater Powers. In those limited circles of which Peking
society consists — hardly anyone outside the Legations, the banks,
and the Imperial Customs — there must be a large measure of
equality and fraternity, of give and take. French and English
are, as usual, the leading languages; but the members of the
Diplomatic Services naturally come to speak a variety of foreign
languages in the course of their travels, so that it is not un-
common to hear an Englishman speaking Italian to his neigh-
bour, or a German conversing with his in Eussian, or even
Polish !
Yet it is in such a society as this that the peculiar strength of
the Englishman asserts itself, — what I have called his moral
ascendency. No doubt it is due, in very large measure, to the
fact that we have had so many able men representing us, from
the days of Sir Rutherford Alcock and Sir Harry Parkes, and that
our late Minister, Sir Ernest; Satow, has always upheld the best
traditions. It has also been largely due, in the last few years, to
the presence of British officers, who have taken the lead as usual,
in the athletic side of social life. And only those who have lived
in Peking and in China generally, can appreciate the influence of
two British personalities so entirely different, and yet each so
striking, as Sir Robert Hart, the Inspector-General of Chinese
Imperial Customs, and Dr. Morrison, the Peking Correspondent
of The Times.
The average reader at home who has never travelled, and
whose knowledge of politics in the broader sense is probably on a
level with that of a Labour Member, may perhaps suppose that
"the I.G." of Customs is simply a counterpart, on a large scale,
of other Inspectors who go round asking questions to find out
whether subordinates are doing their work. It would be difficult
to explain that he is — or was until quite lately — one of the most
powerful autocrats in the world ; nominally a servant of the
Chinese Empire, but actually an adviser whom it always obeyed ;
a man who handled millions, controlled the policy of one of the
largest Empires in the world, and promoted, transferred, or
dismissed any of the thousand-odd officials of all nationalities
absolutely at his own pleasure. The popular idea of a newspaper
correspondent is also — though less strikingly — at fault. Our
average reader may imagine a man who pries into things, leads
an exciting and adventurous life in search of information, and
sends racy letters and telegrams in an irresponsible way to the
London office. He is not prepared to find a toiler who is ac-
customed to twelve hours a day, or more, of hard work, who has
342 The Empire Review
eyes and ears all over this vast Empire, who is a model to all
intelligence officers — for nothing escapes him — and of whom the
Diplomatic Body stand in considerable fear !
In almost every aspect of social life the supremacy o£ the
Anglo-Saxon element makes itself felt. There is a racecourse a
few miles out of Peking, where a meeting is held twice a year.
The spirit of it is British, though like everything else of the kind
in Peking, it professes to be strictly international ; one cannot
imagine the programmes being printed in any language but
English. There is a golf club, which is entirely British and
American. At the international club one hears and sees every
variety of language and costume; but the billiard tables, the
notice-boards, the tennis courts, and the general arrangement of
things, are decidedly English, and even the artificial skating rink
—though the best performers come from countries where winter
is more severe than in ours — has been made what it is under the
skilful supervision of an officer of the Eoyal Engineers ! About
the polo ground there could hardly be any doubt.
These are small matters, perhaps, but they are not without
significance. The British communities in North China are not
always the most numerous, yet they almost invariably take the
lead. Our late Minister was the most striking personality in the
Diplomatic Body ; there was no one who had more influence over
the Chinese, or who was more trusted by them, and the reason
was that he personified, in an exalted position, that rectitude and
loftiness of purpose which are distinguishing marks of an English
gentleman. We never sent a prince out there, as some of our
"allies" have done more than once. Our Minister has never gone
clattering about with a mounted escort of lancers in attendance,
to catch the public eye. On the contrary, if complaints were
raised from time to time, it was about the extreme anxiety our
officials and officers always showed to avoid ceremonial entirely,
and keep themselves apart. Yet in spite of it, they were
always to the front when there was anything to be done, and
almost every phase of social life in Peking bore witness to their
influence.
Tientsin, in its social aspects, is widely different from Peking,
yet it illustrates in an even more marked degree what our partners
in the entente cordiale have called the supremacy of the Anglo-
Saxons. The Europeans do not live in the heart of the native
city, as in Peking ; they occupy " concessions " outside it. The
Japanese and the Austrian concessions adjoin the native city;
the French, Italian, and Russian come next; the British,
American, German and Belgian are further off, down the river.
The American concession is, for all practical purposes, merged in
the British; the United States have never kept any troops in
Great Britain in North China 343
North China, and have never nationalised their concession in the
same way as the other Powers. The British and Japanese con-
cessions are the largest in area ; in all other respects, I think it is
safe to say that the British is the most important of all, and it
constitutes a most striking commentary on the text I have chosen
— British moral ascendency — and on those principles of freedom
and the Open Door of which Great Britain is the strongest
advocate.
In Peking, society is mainly diplomatic ; in Tientsin it is
commercial and military, and if the troops are going to be with-
drawn, it will be purely commercial. Tientsin is a large trading
centre with easy access by river to the sea ; most of the trade of
Mongolia and North-West China converges upon it, either
directly or through Peking, and the most important trading firms
are those which collect this produce of the country, and the
shipping firms which carry it down the coast to Shanghai and
beyond, or eastward to Korea and Japan. Its wealth and influence
increase year by year, and it has been mentioned as a coming
rival to Shanghai. But it has not the same geographical
advantages, being further from the sea, and on a more difficult
river ; and the presence of some 4000 European troops, that are
liable to be withdrawn at any time, makes a difference to the
revenue which is not sufficiently appreciated; when they are
removed, an important source of prosperity will be cut off. As
things stand, Tientsin is one of the most important of the " treaty
ports." It connects Peking with the sea. Though not itself
situated on the sea, coasting steamers come all the way up the
river to its Bund, or wharves, and unload their cargoes direct.
It is also the chief city of the province, and the residence of the
Viceroy, Yuan Shi Kai, a man who holds a most important
position in the Empire, and who is perhaps destined to play a
still greater part in the politics of the Far East.
And how do we stand in Tientsin ? I may be suffering from
some form of megalomania which sees all things British in a
favourable light, but it certainly seems to me that Great Britain
comes first here as elsewhere. The traveller from foreign parts
who approaches Tientsin — unless he has been travelling across
country — either comes all the way up to the Bund in his steamer,
or leaves the steamer at Tangku, the nearest seaport, — adjoining
the old Taku forts, which were razed to the ground after the Boxer
rising, — and runs up to Tientsin by train. If he sails up to the
Bund, no matter what the nationality of the ship may be, it is at
the English Bund that she will be moored. It is the best — in
fact the only one that counts at all. When young Prince Adal-
bert of Prussia paid a visit to Tientsin and Peking two years ago,
his gunboat was moored at the British Bund ; so wai the one
344 The Empire Review
which brought some of Miss Roosevelt's suite when she did the
same last year; and I remember the arrival of a new German
coasting steamer coming out on her first voyage. She was duly
announced to be quite the finest thing ever seen in those parts
until that day, and was made the occasion of a national demon-
stration on the part of our allies ; she took up a position straight
in front of the British Consulate, much to the annoyance of some
of the staff, who lost their beauty-sleep in consequence !
If our traveller, instead of keeping to the steamer, preferred
to cut off a few hours, by taking the mail train from Tangku to
Tientsin, he will have left the steamer at the seaport and found
himself getting into a train which, to all intents and purposes,
is British, with Chinese employes. Theoretically it is the exact
reverse. The Imperial Eailways of North China, as the line
which runs from Niuchwang along the coast to Tientsin and
Peking is called, are under Chinese management, but there is
still a sprinkling of British employes in all grades of the adminis-
tration. The line was taken over by the allies in 1900, and
eventually came under the control of the British military author-
ities. They worked it up again to the state of high efficiency
to which British engineers had brought it before the troubles
arose. With fine engines and rolling-stock, a well-laid line over
which the trains run to a speed of over forty miles an hour, and
modern comforts in the form of dining-cars and good carriages,
it speaks well for the disinterested and most able work of our
countrymen. It has been restored to Chinese administration, but
they have retained some of the British staff, and on almost every
train the conductor and one or two other officials are British.
Several of them are ex-N.C.O.'s from our field force in North
China. Time-tables and notices are in English; the Chinese
station-masters and clerks speak English, many of them fluently ;
and it is all this which gives the impression of a British line with
Chinese employes which our traveller, not knowing the facts of
the case, will feel.
Tientsin has two stations, Tientsin City and Tientsin Settle-
ment. The former is nearer the native city and Yuan Shi Kai's
residence, from which a fine broad road leads up to it. Tientsin
Settlement station feeds the European concessions, and is the
one at which our traveller from the sea will arrive first. The
station itself is in the Russian concession, on the north bank of
the river. He will cross the river by the International Bridge,
built by the French, will wend his way through the French
concession, and in due course will find himself in Victoria Eoad,
in which are nearly all the most important stores, the finest
commercial buildings, and the Gordon Hall — the headquarters of
the British Municipality, which is used also for concerts, dances
Great Britain in- North <j China 345
and other large social gatherings. Under the walls of the Gordon
Hall, and in front of the Astor House Hotel is Victoria Park, the
public gardens of Tientsin ; beyond that, and at right-angles to
Victoria Eoad, runs Meadows Eoad, one of the leading residential
quarters of the Settlement. At one corner of the British con-
cession is a recreation ground for cricket, football, hockey and
lawn-tennis ; at another corner, the furthest limit of the conces-
sion to which the houses, which are springing up everywhere,
have not yet reached, is the racecourse. It is a tradition that
where a dozen Englishmen are gathered together there will a
racecourse surely be found ! The racing, which is confined to
China ponies, is not of a very high order ; but it arouses consider-
able local interest, and gives people occasion to meet together and
enjoy themselves.
A visit to these distant regions forms a wholesome antidote to
that tendency to cry wolf where there is no wolf, which is unfortun-
ately so strong among some Englishmen at the present day. We
are told everything is going wrong ; that our trade is slipping away
from us, and our supremacy among the nations is doomed. The
class of Englishman who talks like this is not the one who goes
abroad and sees things as they are. One does occasionally hear
one's countrymen abroad muttering in a quiet way against foreign
rivals, but it is not in any faint spirit. It is more as a strong
wrestler might mutter who felt his foot slip for a moment ; far
from giving way, he would put three-fold energy into his next
effort, and would finally prevail. There is no need to boast about
our position in these communities, and I have called attention
to it solely in the endeavour to counteract that tendency to
self-depreciation which is no less unnecessary, and hardly less
undignified. We hear too much about following the example of
others, and imitating this or that " study in efficiency " ; it would
be far better for us if we paid more attention to our own ideals
before other people's. Our countrymen abroad stand out among
the men of other countries for all those qualities that make a
nation great. In the Far East there are no greater names in
commerce than that of Jardine, Matheson & Co., to take the
first example; there is no finer financial corporation than the
Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank; there is nothing else of its
kind to compare with the Imperial Maritime Customs of China,
for which an Englishman is responsible ; and the position of
Great Britain, as I have tried to show by general facts, is one of
striking ascendency.
It is sometimes said that we are living too much on our old
reputation, and that the great names I have quoted belong to a
generation which had its day before two, at any rate, of our most
formidable modern competitors had grown to their present
346 The Empire Review
strength. That I would never admit. It is obvious that our
rivals are stronger now than they were fifty years ago, and no
less obvious that they must have their share of the world's pros-
perity. But there is room in the world for us all ; it is a poor
spirit that shrinks from rivalry, and it is that spirit that we can
never too strongly condemn. Great Britain has never stood
higher in the world than she does at the present day ; no one
knows that better than the Germans, and I have never heard it
stated by any so-called Jingo with half the strength and half the
dignity of a German professor addressing an audience composed
exclusively (so far as he knew) of German students, in Berlin
University, who said : " England steht noch immer hoch an der
Spitze der groessten Maechte," — "England still stands high at
the head of the greatest Powers." And she owes this in great
measure, perhaps, to the men of past generations who raised her to
that pinnacle, but not less to the thousands of her sons abroad who
are working to-day in the same spirit, and who keep her there.
To select only the representative men — are Lord Curzon, Lord
Milner, Lord Cromer, Lord Kitchener and Sir John Fisher types
of a race that has had its day and is now on the decline ? And
are they exceptions ? Surely not ; everyone who has travelled
and seen Greater Britain knows that they are only representative
of many others whose work is not so much before the public, but
whose spirit is not less lofty. We have had great men before
them, and we shall have others when they are gone.
Nowhere do we find surer proof of this than in China; for
the predominant position of Great Britain there has been built up
by men whose names are not in the same sense household words,
and it is maintained by a succession of Englishmen who are not
great, but in whom the spirit of their forefathers is as strong as
ever. It is not by a series of accidents that they are always to
the front in the social life of Peking ; nor is it purely by chance
that their concession is the most prominent one in Tientsin, or
that the railway they have supervised, for instance, is such an
exceedingly good one. It can only be due to something inherently
good in their methods and ideals, and we can be proud of this,
and thankful for it, without being boastful. Far from striving
after effect, true Englishmen hold it in traditional contempt.
They go to work quietly, but earnestly, expecting no applause,
and taking no rewards. It is in the same spirit that they take
up the white man's burden in the remote places of India and
Egypt, among new-caught, sullen peoples, half devil and half
child.
It is not these men who need to be told to " wake up," so
much as the people at home, who sit in judgment on them. It
is the man who stays at home and cries wolf who will be beaten,
Great Britain in North China 347
not the man who keeps a true heart and is prepared to fight the
enemy, be he armed with a great gun or a large capital, be he
supported by strong battalions or State subsidies ! Great Britain
is only one among many in China, yet her influence there always
has been, and still continues, very strong ; and she owes it
entirely to the same inherent qualities, to the steady pursuit of
the same ideals, which make her rule beneficent and just. The
men she should imitate are her own best men, past and present ;
not blindly, but in the same way that they followed, and are still
following, others who had gone before.
KENNETH BEATON.
348 The Empire Review
AUSTRALIA AND THE EMPIRE
BY RICHARD ARTHUR, M.L.A. (New South Wales).
(President of the Immigration League of Australia.)
A FEW years ago England gave the lives of 25,000 men, and
expended a sum of £250,000,000 in the struggle to keep South
Africa for the Empire. It was an immense price to pay, but the
sacrifice was made cheerfully, in the knowledge that the existence
of the Empire was at stake, and yet it is possible that the
disastrous conflict might have been averted if, thirty years before,
those in authority in England had been gifted with some foresight
and willing to devote time to study the political condition and
potential dangers in the South African community.
It needs little reading of the future to affirm that around
another great British Colony there are gathering portents of a
storm which, if unheeded and unguarded against, will break with
ruin and irreparable disaster. The English in Australia are the
furthest outpost of the white races — a community whose local
habitations were determined by a British Government — in a
continent which appears as if destined by nature to be an outlet
for the surplus peoples of Asia ; but such transcendental con-
siderations did not influence English statesmen in the eighteenth
century, and the Anglo-Saxon breed planted by Australasian seas
has increased till it now numbers some four million souls. These
persons occupy a territory of nearly three million square miles.
Perhaps a third, or even half, of this territory is of little value,
though even its dreariest wastes have yielded vast mineral
treasures, or have brought forth the fruits of the earth under the
magic touch of irrigation. But the remainder of the land is
capable of supporting a population of at least a hundred millions.
The present population may be said to fringe merely the coast on
the East and South, while Northern Australia, in all probability
the most fertile land of the continent, has a population of
one person to each 700 square miles. Moreover, these four
millions, from a decrease in the birth-rate and a practical cessation
of immigration, are increasing so slowly that, should present
Australia and the Empire 349
conditions hold, Australia twenty years hence will only have a
population of five millions, or one and two-third persons to the
square mile.
For many years this failing birth-rate and the check to the
influx of new blood, which not only the abandonment of state-
aided immigration, but the placing of obstacles in the way of
persons desiring to come to Australia gave rise to, held no
significance for Australian politicians, who, engrossed in their
struggles for the sweets of office and the various shibboleths that
served from time to time as party cries, had no leisure to mark
the signs of the times in the greater world outside Australia. The
sense of the remoteness of this continent from the rest of the
world, a sense that was developed in the early day when sailing
vessels took six months to reach these shores from Europe, has
persisted till lately and given the Australians a feeling of security,
and of immunity from any possible aggressor, the fear of which is
ever in the thoughts of small communities with powerful and
ambitious neighbours.
Though the tumult of wars and rumours of war and strife
might reach us faintly from afar, in this Arcadian corner of the
earth, we were to be left to work out our destiny without let or
hindrance. To further this end we would build a wall of isolation
round ourselves, and keep — to use a favourite phrase — " Australia
for the Australians." And so we began by shutting out the
Chinese ; emboldened by success we applied the same measure to
all other coloured races, and in a lesser degree of stringency to
Europeans, even to our kin in the Old Land. Protests there
were more or less loud against such international discourtesy,
but Australia was engrossed in her sport and her parochial politics
and did not heed them. Then of a sudden there burst upon the
ears of a startled people the roar of the guns around Port Arthur.
With this fled away all the dreams of peace and security and
Australia awoke to the stern reality of things.
Here was a handful of people gathered in one corner of a
continent yet asserting their indisputable title to the whole of it
against all-comers. And present validity was given to this title,
not by any inherent strength in Australia herself, but by the
extrinsic protection of the British Navy. And only a fortnight
distance away had arisen a nation with a well-based claim to the
hedgeway of the Pacific, while an even mightier one was shaking
off the sleep of centuries, and seeking the knowledge of the
Western world. Both of these powers, Japan and China, had
been flouted by Australian legislative enactments, and both of
them have their territories overfilled and are from year to year
ravaged by famine. If they have not yet learnt, they will soon
learn the possibility of expansion oversea. Then their expansion
350 The Empire Review
will be to the South. Who shall deny that covetous eyes have
already been cast at the northern territory of Australia, where
fifty million Mongolians might live at ease? And since the
Australians are making no attempt to colonise this great and
fertile tract of country, it might be argued with reason that any
nation which would be prepared to do so had a claim to step in
and develop the territory.
This awakening of the Australian people, or, at least, of the
more far-seeing of them, has brought about a realisation of the
fact that the only way to give effect to the "White Australia "
policy is by a reversion to immigration on a huge scale. And it is
further recognised that now is the appointed time. International
relationships are so adjusted at present that for a number of
years Australia will be free from the possibility of aggression.
The British battleships, it is true, have gone from the Pacific,
and their withdrawal is regarded by many as an ominous indica-
tion of the future defencelessness of Australia ; but still, the
horizon is clear at present. But twenty or thirty years are but
as a day in the history of a nation, and one never knows what
international complications may arise to cloud the horizon.
The demand of the people here for a " White Australia " is
a perfectly legitimate one. Were the gates of Australia thrown
open, this continent in twenty or thirty years would in all pro-
bability be swamped with Asiatics — people, doubtless, with many
estimable and valuable qualities, but whose customs and standard
of living are altogether different to those of the Anglo-Saxon race.
A few million Japanese and Chinese in Australia would bring
about an " Uitlander " problem in an acute form. They would
agitate for political and social equality, and unless this were
granted, would probably invoke the interference of their respec-
tive nations. And a Japanese or combined fleet off Sydney and
Melbourne would be the beginning of the end as far as Australia
for the Anglo-Saxon was concerned. These considerations make
immigration the question of questions in Australia to-day. There
are some, it is true, who would still cling to the fatuous policy of
exclusion and believe, in spite of demonstration to the contrary
offered by Canada and the United States, that the influx of more
people will lower wages and intensify the want of employment.
But these form a dwindling minority, and when the stream of
immigration sets in they will be afforded a proof of the baseless-
ness of their fears. Both the Commonwealth and the State
Governments are devising schemes for the encouragement of
immigration, and the Immigration League of Australia, of which
I have the honour to be president, and which has its headquarters
in Sydney, has been formed to allow private citizens to co-operate
in the movement. But it is felt that the Imperial Government
Australia and the Empire 351
has vital interests at stake in this matter also, for reasons it may
be worth while to set forth.
Firstly, Australia is the only purely Anglo-Saxon Colony
which the Empire possesses. In South Africa and even in
Canada there is a motley mixture of races and nationalities, and
it is possible that at some time or other one or other of them may
attempt to secede from the Empire. But we in Australia have
realised that our fate is bound up inextricably with that of
England. The integrity of Canada has the additional guarantee
of the Monroe Doctrine, while that of Australia depends entirely
on the British Fleet. Since this is so, every emigrant who leaves
the United Kingdom for Australia and his descendants can be
counted as permanent subjects of the Empire, and there is room
in Australia for the over-flow of Great Britain for the next
hundred years. Again, a powerful Australian nation would be
an immense source of strength to the Empire in the Pacific.
Even with her considerably smaller population, Australia would
be able, from her geographical position, to play a no small part
in the day which will inevitably come, when the possession of
India by the Empire will be threatened.
Once the transcontinental railway is completed, troops could
be landed in Calcutta from Melbourne or Sydney in a fortnight.
And an Australia of ten or fifteen million people could easily
raise an army, 150,000 strong, to fight side by side with the
troops of the Northern Country on the Indian frontiers. From
another aspect — the commercial, Australia [in proportion to her
population is by far the best customer that England has. If we
consider the commercial relationships between Great Britain and
Canada and Great Britain and Australia, we find that while in
1902-3 Canada exported £24,000,000 worth of goods to England,
she only took back £10,000,000. On the other hand, Australia
exported £20,000,000 of goods and took £24,000,000. This meant
that we were better customers to the extent of £14,000,000 than
Canada.
These and other considerations lead me to the point I wish to
maintain, that it would be to the interest of Great Britain to
co-operate with the Australian Colonies in seeking to divert some
at least of the stream of emigration which is at present flowing
across the Atlantic — much of it to the United States — to Australia.
These Colonies have cost Great Britain practically nothing in the
past. Australia is the only daughter State for which costly and
sanguinary wars have not been needed to take and to retain
possession. Her contribution towards the British Navy is
undoubtedly a miserable one, but it is greater than that of any
of the other colonies, and there is every reason to believe that
very shame will compel us to increase it greatly.
352 The Empire Review
If, therefore, the Commonwealth is prepared to spend large
sums on assisted immigration, the Mother Country might well
contribute'her quota to the cost. If she would give one-tenth of
the sum expended a few years ago in retaining South Africa, and
the Australian Governments voted an equal sum of £25,000,000,
there would be available £5,000,000 a year for ten years to deal
in a manner for which the occasion calls, with the transference
and settlement in Australia of the surplus population of the
United Kingdom. Here is a proposal which should take
precedence of all others at the coming Colonial Conference next
year.* The subject is one which demands the highest qualities of
statesmanship, especially a willingness to make heavy sacrifices in
the present for the future welfare of the Empire.
The waste land of Australia must be filled up, its garrison
must be reinforced at all costs. As I said before, it is madness
to dream that five million people can hold a continent for all
time. We appeal to the Northern Land to come over and help
us in this our hour of distress. Every consideration should
prompt her not to ignore this appeal, but to so act in the future
that Australia shall be the brightest and most lasting jewel in
the Crown of Empire. The true Greater Britain across the seas
will be found under the Southern Cross, and, joined together by
the bonds of affection and common interests, England and her
mighty daughter shall stand welded together and naught shall
make them rue.
RICHARD ARTHUR.
* With this proposal I am in entire accord, but
Mr. Arthur must forgive me if I venture to point out
that the proposal is not quite so novel as it seems to him
to be. A similar suggestion, only without the figures,
will be found in the articles on emigration and colonisa-
tion which have appeared over my signature in this
Review. — EDITOR.
Memories of Maoriland 353
MEMORIES OF MAORILAND
I.
BY E. I. MASSY
MY first sight of beautiful New Zealand was in 1901, that
fair country called Aotearoa (land of the Long White Cloud) by the
Maoris, when in the distance they beheld the " Promised Land,"
the land of their dreams, so anxiously sought across the vast
waste of waters. Wearied by peril and privation, their eyes rested
at last on the Ultima Thule of their hopes, the haven of their
desire, where the longed-for happiness would be attained. So we,
travellers of a later day, felt somewhat as our Maori brothers
must have done, when after a voyage of 12,000 miles we also
had attained our end, and after seven weeks of incessant travelling,
the gallant ship had brought us to the feet of Imperial Aotearoa.
Night had folded the land in her protecting embrace and the
distant beauties were veiled, though the waters of the Sound
and the nearer hills were steeped in the glittering and silvery
radiance of a summer's moon.
Land of the Long White Cloud, I have travelled many a
league since that witching night when first I gazed upon your
lovely shores, and naught more fair have I beheld. Dear, far-
off land, with deepest gratitude I remember many happy days
spent in wanderings by lake and forest, mountain and geyser.
Vanished days that never will return, save in memory, that
legacy of joy or sorrow that fate bequeaths her mortal children.
The early hours of morning found us in our place alongside
the wharf at Wellington, and later on we set out on foot to take
a look at the town. The capital is anything but beautiful ; the
houses are somewhat huddled together, and at a distance convey
the idea of being built in tiers, rising one above the other. To
my mind the only beauty of Wellington is its picturesque position,
lying as it does at the head of the Sound. But if Wellington
possesses no special beauty, it has the distinction of being the
windiest place in all New Zealand; indeed, in this respect it
VOL. XII.— No. 70. 2 A
354 The Empire Review
emulates Trieste. Leaving the Royal Oak Hotel on one occasion
I crossed the pavement to get to my cab ; a sudden gust of wind
nearly blew me down, and with a vicious twist, almost succeeded
in wrenching my hat off my head. I remarked to the driver
who was placidly holding the door open, " Is Wellington always
like this ? "
" Oh no, it is a fairly quiet morning, sometimes it is ever so
much worse ! "
My stay in the capital was not long, for we were anxious to
get to New Plymouth, so we secured passages in the Union
Company's coasting steamer Takapuna. We had a rough
passage, the vibration being very great, for the machinery was
too powerful for the boat. One of the stewards remarked,
" There's nothing can stop her when once she starts, she goes
straight through everything ! " And so we found it to be, for
we simply tore through the water; the sea breaking in sheets
over the game little vessel as she bounded along like a startled
deer with the hunters on her track. Nearing New Plymouth
the coast outline is very picturesque, the rocks being bold and
quaint in shape, and at their base the foaming breakers dashed
with great force. The township, which has sprung up very
rapidly, consists of shops and houses built of wood; in itself
it is ugly, but the district of Taranaki, to which it belongs, is
the centre in the North Island of a very considerable dairying
industry, and is most beautiful.
The Eeservation grounds or gardens of New Plymouth are
pretty and well kept up ; there is one most exquisite view. In
the foreground of the landscape is a light rustic bridge over a
small lake, and in this sheet of water Mount Egmont, which
rises in an almost perfect cone, is reflected clearly as in a mirror.
The beautiful mount with its crown of dazzling snow is 8,260 feet
high, the view from the summit being very wonderful ; so I was
told by those who had ventured on the ascent. I heard a most
curious story about this rustic bridge. The friend who told me
had been spending the evening with some people on the far side
of the Gardens, and was on his way back to the town through the
Reservation grounds.
The night was by no means dark, as there was a moon, and
objects were distinctly visible even at a distance. Skirting the
edge of the little lake he strolled leisurely along ; the evening was
lovely, he was in no hurry, and was thoroughly enjoying the
walk. Approaching the bridge he noticed a man, walking
hurriedly ahead of him, step on to the woodwork. On reaching
the centre, he gave a spring over the railings and threw himself
into the lake, disappearing beneath the surface of the water.
My friend, who was much shocked and startled, ran quickly
Memories of Maoriland 355
forward, and reaching the spot from which the man had dis-
appeared he gazed down into the lake, and was amazed to see
it quite unruffled ; not a ripple stirred its placid and mirror-like
surface. He frankly confessed he had never in his life been so
utterly disconcerted ; an icy shiver ran down his spine as he looked
suspiciously over his shoulder, with the undoubted knowledge
that he had seen a visitant from the other world, and felt it was
" Gey uncanny."
His leisurely strolling had come abruptly to an end, and he
now stepped out at a brisk pace homewards. He found the
obliging landlord of the hotel still sitting up, and inviting him to
take a glass of his own good whiskey, mentioned the extraordinary
adventure, asking if anyone had had a similar experience. The
landlord nodding his head replied : " Sir, you are not the first, or
by any means the only person who has seen that apparition,
which occurs at intervals. The spirit, for such I suppose it must
be, is that of a poor fellow who was, I believe, an architect, whose
distraught and sadly troubled brain caused him to commit suicide
from that very spot on the bridge where you saw him this
evening leap over the railings and disappear."
"It is a sad story," said my friend, "let us hope that his
unhappy spirit may some day find peace and be at rest."
Among the many charming spots in these beautiful grounds,
you can get a glimpse of fairy-land by visiting the retreat of the
glow worms, a green and shady nook full of moss and ferns,
where countless numbers of these little creatures congregrate,
like glittering jewels in the cool dampness of the shady recesses
formed by the overhanging bank.
During my sojourn at New Plymouth I stayed at an hotel in
the upper part of the town, and having only just come out from
home I thought things were very primitive. On my arrival I
was shown into a room, I should say a cubicle, without any
fireplace ; it contained a small iron bed, a washstand, two chairs,
a chest of drawers and a looking-glass. I was told it was one of
the best single rooms in the hotel. Whilst waiting for my luggage
I took a survey of the apartment, which was not difficult to do,
considering its limited area. Tiring of this occupation I thought
of asking for some hot water ; but I looked in vain for a bell, no
such a thing was to be seen ; I pulled the bed out from the wall,
and even gazed up at the ceiling with no better success.
"Humph," I grunted to myself, "it is more primitive than I
thought. I'll look in the passage."
Luck, however, was not with me ; but in the distance I saw
a chamber-maid hovering about, and to her I beckoned. She
strolled very leisurely towards me, not hurrying herself in the
slightest degree, quite conveying the idea she considered to-morrow
2 A 2
356 The Empire Review
would do just as well as to-day; and when eventually she did
arrive I said, " Would you kindly bring me some hot water, and
as I may not see you again, for there is no bell in my room, please
give me another can at 9 o'clock this evening." The girl looked
me up and down from head to foot in the most utter amaze-
ment, and for a moment did not speak ; recovering herself, she
smiled in an indulgent way, as if I were a lunatic whom it
was safer to humour, and tossing her well-frizzled head (for she
wore no cap), replied in a cheerful voice, " Eight you are," and
then flounced out of the room, slamming the door behind her with
great energy ! I had a hearty laugh over the amusing little scene,
and found out when I had been longer in the country that the
servant question was as great a trouble in this far-off part of the
world as elsewhere. The problem of domestic service is year by
year becoming more serious. I can only say that whilst in New
Zealand I met many people, the owners of charming houses, who
were compelled for a time to shut them up and live in hotels,
literally worn out mentally and physically by that incubus of
modern times, the domestic of the twentieth century.
The beautiful district of Taranaki was at one time covered
with dense bush; it is now intersected by a railway and has
fairly good roads. Pretty homesteads are dotted about, and the
land being rich in quality the grazing is excellent ; the district
consequently is very prosperous, and the dairy produce unsur-
passed. We visited one of the many creameries in the neighbour-
hood— it was situated a few miles out of New Plymouth — and
sent a card into the manager, who welcomed us most kindly and
showed us over the factory. The farmers bring the milk in large
metal cans such as are used in dairies at home ; it is then tested,
and they are paid according to quality. The milk is then put
into the separator, the cream being run into large tanks, and the
skim milk, which is returned to the farmers, is taken home to
feed their calves and pigs. The contents of the tanks are made
up into butter, everything being done by machinery, and the
produce put into wooden boxes ready for transport.
The butter is delicious, and I do not remember during my two
visits to New Zealand, that extended over a period of three years,
having ever tasted any that was not perfectly good and sweet, and
of excellent quality. Indeed, it seemed to me to be very superior
to the Normandy, Brittany, Danish and other butters with which
our home markets are so freely stocked ; and I feel sure that
were larger quantities imported into Great Britain that the New
Zealand butter could not fail to be highly appreciated, had it a
chance of being better known. I feel wrathful when I think of
the dear simple-minded Britisher consuming margarine and other
such delicacies, when he might get good wholesome colonial
Memories of Maoriland 357
butter. How is it that Great Britain always gives preference to
the products of the whole world, whilst she overlooks the teeming
riches of her own Empire ? But before dismissing my subject of
dairy farming, I cannot resist repeating a story I recently heard
of a man who had returned from a tour in Taranaki, and was
asked by a friend what it was like. " Oh ! " he replied, " it is
nothing but cows." There is cow everywhere, even in the names
of the townships ; what with Cowpokonui (Kaupokonui), Cowpongo,
Cowpuni — I wonder why they don't change the name of the whole
district to Cowland !
In turning over the leaves of the past I remember many
amusing incidents, and not the least amongst these was a little
journey I once took down to the New Plymouth Breakwater
with some members of Pollard's Opera Company. A friend had
asked me to go with her to meet a sister who was coming from
Wellington. We started, and arriving at the station found it a scene
of the wildest confusion ; so quickly securing our tickets we beat a
hasty retreat and took refuge in the train. The carriage was a very
large one, and after we were seated it began to fill rapidly, as one
after another a merry troupe of girls crowded in, escorted by their
admirers, who hung on to the doorsteps and crowded up to the
windows. The farewells, which were touching, were accompanied
by votive offerings of flowers and chocolates.
The much worried and careworn-looking manager, who had
rushed up to see that everything was right, and the young ladies
comfortably installed, was assailed by a pitiless running fire of
questions. " Has my Saratoga been labelled ? Where is my bonnet-
box ? Oh, Mr. , you promised to see to that dress basket."
The unhappy man, who found the situation getting much too
serious to cope with, smiled anxiously, as with some soothing
remarks of a general nature, he raised his hat and — fled — followed
by some of the men, who, faithful to the end, were going down to
give their lady friends a proper ' ' send off . ' ' The train at last started,
and our fellow-travellers began to settle down, and a very pretty
crew they were ; just brimful of fun. But the noise that had for a
short time subsided again increased, until the carriage was a very
pandemonium. A nice-looking girl sitting next to me, said in an
apologetic tone, " I hope we are not worrying you with our noise,
but you really must excuse us, we are trying to keep our spirits up,
as our friends say we shall have a very rough passage to Wellington ;
so we are trying to be happy whilst we can, for we shall be so sick
— so very sick."
The noise then quieted down, until I was the innocent cause
of another outburst. The sun was shining in very brightly just
on our heads, so as there were no curtains to the carriage, I had
the happy thought of opening my parasol. In a moment I
358 The Empire Review
startled by cries of " Shut it up, put it down. It will bring us bad
luck." The girl next to me gave me a horrified look. " Oh, do
please shut your parasol." " Certainly," I replied ; " but what is
the matter ? " " Don't you know it is dreadfully unlucky to put
up a parasol unless you are out of doors ? Why, if we did such
a thing in the theatre we should get into great trouble ; and be
dreadfully scolded." I was much amused, and laughingly said,
" I had never in my life knowingly brought evil luck to anyone."
Thus saying, I of course kept the offending parasol severely closed
for the rest of the journey. So we reached the breakwater and
found half a gale of wind blowing, and our bright little friends who
had scrambled on board now stood crowded together at the side
of the boat smiling and laughing bravely as the steamer cast off
from her moorings. The disconsolate admirers stood hat in hand,
whilst handkerchiefs were waved and hands kissed in farewell.
But in the midst of sentiment and goodwill stern reality forced
itself (as it usually does), for the steamer feeling herself free,
kicked up her heels, giving an awful plunge into the watery abyss,
when she emerged victorious on the crest of a giant wave, our
pretty friends had like a cloud of butterflies on a rainy day
disappeared from the changing scene.
Leaving New Plymouth by steamer on our way to Auckland,
we reached the wharf at Onehunga, and a short journey by rail
took us to the city, which is situated on the lovely Hauraki Gulf,
whose glorious blue waters encircle the shore like the waist of a
young beauty adorned with a girdle of sapphires. I do not think
I have ever seen anything more strikingly beautiful than this
brilliant sparkling blue sea and the harbour washed by its waters.
I have frequently seen Sydney, of which the Australians are so
justly proud, and can never make up my mind as to the rival
merits of Sydney and Auckland. The city is not in itself
beautiful, but possesses, with its wonderful harbour and pic-
turesque suburbs, a reserve fund of loveliness that is a " joy
for ever."
Of these suburbs Remuera is one of the most charming. Here
some fine houses are to be seen facing the Hauraki Gulf, and
the views are quite entrancing, forming a series of landscapes in
miniature, the perfection of which words cannot convey. Mag-
nificent panoramas are also visible from Mount Eden, a lofty
hill, once a volcanic mountain 644 feet high, about two miles
from Auckland, and quite easy of ascent. Wherever the eye
rests, either near, or to the distant horizon where Barrier Island
rises, or turning towards the Waitakerei Eanges that bound the
Tasman Sea, the sight is superb, for to the natural beauties of
form are added the glories of colour; those powerful agents that
render our glorious world instinct with life. From six volcanic
Memories of Maoriland 359
hills in the immediate vicinity of Auckland very fine views can
be obtained ; they are Mount Hobson, Mount St. John, Mount
Wellington, Mount Albert, One-tree-hill, and the Three Kings.
Near the last named are some extensive lava caves, formerly the
burying places of the Maori people.
The district of Auckland abounds with delightful excursions.
I remember going one day by steamer to North Shore, and
walking to an hotel built on the edge of a fresh-water lake called
"Pupuke." The lake was evidently an old crater and of very
great depth. We went into the hotel, and after tea were taken
up to a tower that commanded the lake, and looked down
on a fairy-like scene. The pale green sheet of water was
edged round its entire circumference with a belt of magnificent
Pohutukawa, or Christmas trees as they are called, for they
come into full bloom just at that season, every tree being a
glowing and gorgeous mass of deepest crimson blossoms. The
sea lay beyond, and the fresh waters of the lake were apparently
separated only by a narrow grass-covered bank from the salt waters
of the Gulf. It quite looked as if one cut from a spade would
destroy the frail restraining barrier, and let the sea in to overwhelm
both lake and trees. The illusion was perfect, though I was told
that the lake was really about two hundred yards distant from
the ocean.
A most interesting spot, within a few hours by steamer from
Auckland, is Kawau Island, formerly the property and residence
of Sir George Grey. I spent a most delightful ten days on this
beautiful island. The steamer leaving Auckland, skirts the coast,
passing sandy bays fringed with Pohutukawa trees and through
many groups of islands, until it arrives at the small but pretty
landlocked harbour of Little Omaha. The house, which is large
and very comfortable, faces the bay and its little landing-stage ;
and the view from the front windows is charming. There is game
of all sorts in the island ; pheasants, quail, deer, wallaby (a small
species of kangaroo) and racoons, beside, of course, the ubiquitous
rabbit that is ever with the sportsman in the colonies. The sea
teems with fish and there is plenty of sport. Many a pleasant
fishing excursion was organised amongst the ladies whilst the men
were out shooting. One day they came back with a wallaby they
had shot. The animal was skinned, and I subsequently had it
beautifully cured in Auckland ; the tail was made into soup.
We had often heard of Wallaby tail soup, and were deter-
mined not to lose this opportunity of tasting the delicacy. In due
course the soup graced the dinner-table ; we thought it horrid ;
it was so dreadfully strong in taste, and the odour was quite
overpowering.
The garden, which is at the bacls of the house, was full of
360 The Empire Review
curious plants, shrubs, fruit and flowers that Sir George Grey,
who was a great botanist and a passionate lover of flowers, had
collected at great expense from all parts of the world. It is
not very well kept up. Out of the furniture that had formerly
been in the house during Sir George Grey's time, there remained
a set of book-shelves and a very beautifully inlaid cabinet with
coats of arms on the panels. Bound one of the shelves of the
book-case ran the motto, " Learn from the past ; use well the
present ; improve the future." The truth and utility of the
maxim struck me very forcibly, and seemed to recall all I had
ever heard of that good man ; and as I stood in the solitude of
the large room in the house set in the midst of that lonely island,
I felt that the spirit of the great man must be near, the truth of
the saying came to my mind : " He being dead yet speaketh."
New Zealand has honoured and mourned many illustrious
dead, but they are not forgotten, they lie enshrined in that
grandest of Pantheons, the heart of the people. The late Premier,
Eichard John Seddon, had truly gained the heart of the people.
He was a man of wide views, great commonsense combined with
justice, keen insight and untiring energy; a true patriot who
loved the old country where he was born, and gathered to his
large heart New Zealand, the land of his adoption, which in his
last hours he so beautifully called "God's own country." Peace
be with him.
E. I. MASSY
(To be continued.)
Indian and Colonial Investments
361
INDIAN AND COLONIAL INVESTMENTS '
AMID another month of general inactivity and depression in the
Stock Exchange Canadian securities stand out as a welcome
relief. Indeed, there has been quite a boom in some of them,
encouraged by the unabated prosperity of the Dominion and the
prospects of another fine grain harvest. Apart from these few
instances of advance, there will be found among the securities
tabulated here yet another tale of declining prices. The gradually
increasing monetary stringency, culminating in the unusual
occurrence of a 6 per cent. Bank rate, has been the principal
depressing influence. Intrinsic factors, thanks to trade prosperity
on all hands, have still been mostly to the good, bat their effect
has been dissipated by the all-powerful factor of dear money.
Indian commercial progress is reflected in the recent half-
yearly report of the National Bank of India. The balance-
sheet shows deposit and current accounts amounting to ^69,852,826,
nearly a million more than a year ago. The net profits of the
year amounted to £88,676, against £72,712, and more than half
of them went to increase the reserve and balance carried forward.
The dividend, which is only an interim one, was at the rate of
12 per cent, per annum, against 10 per cent, a year ago. The
dividend for 1905 was made up to 12 per cent, by the declaration
INDIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present Amount.
When
Redeem-
able.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
INDIA.
£
3J% Stock (t) . . .
62,535,080
1931
103f
g
Quarterly.
3 % „ (<).-.
56,724,530
1948
92*
,,
2$ % „ Inscribed (t)
11,892,207
1926
77
3^
ii
3J % Rupee Paper 1854-5
. .
(a)
97*
3A
30 June— 31 Deo.
3 % „ „ 1896-7
• •
me
85$
4
30 June— 30 Dec.
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
(a) Redeemable at a qnarter's notice.
* The tabular matter in this article will appear month by month, the figures
being corrected to date. Stocks eligible for Trustee investments are so designated. — ED .
362
The Empire Review
INDIAN RAILWAYS AND BANKS.
Title.
Subscribed.
Last
year's
dividend.
Share
or
Stock.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Assam— Bengal, L., guaranteed 3 % .
Bengal and North- Western (Limited)
Bengal Dooars, L
£
1,500.000
2,750,000
400,000
3
6
8ft
100
100
100
87J
145$
3|
JA
05
Bengal Nagpur (L), gtd. 4%+Jth profits
Burma Guar. 2} % and propn. of profits
Delhi Umballa Kalka, L., guar. 3f % +\
net earnings /
3,000,000
2,000,000
800,000
4
f*
100
100
100
105
150
4
East Indian Def. arm. cap. g. 4% + $\
sur. profits (t) /
2,267,039
HI
100
1 OQl
J.<4Cln
4f
Do. do, class " D," repayable 1953 (t) .
Do. 4$ % perpet. deb. stock (t) . . .
Do. new 3 % deb. red. (t)
Great Indian Peninsula 4% deb. Stock (t)
Do. 3% Gua. and & surp. profits 1925 (t)
Indian Mid. L. gua. 4% & J surp. profits(t)
Madras, guaranteed 5 % by India (t) .
Do. do. 4| 7 (t)
4,282,961
1,435,650
8,000,000
2,701,450
2,575,000
2,250,000
8,757,670
999,960
3
3
4
5
4f
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
136J
90$
109*
102
122J
115
3|
3T5«
|
Do. do. 4A%(0
Nizam's State Bail. Gtd. 5 % stock .
500,000
2,000,000
1,079,600
H
5
3*
100
100
100
108
120J
93A
3
llohilkund and Kumaon, Limited. .
South Behar, Limited
200,000
379,580
7
4
100
100
149
109*
3g
South Indian 4& % per. deb. stock, gtd.
Do. capital stock
425,000
1,000 000
71
100
100
132^
107$
615
Sthn. Mahratta, L., 3J % & J of profits
Do. 4 % deb. stock
3,600,000
1,195,600
5
4
100
100
102*.
4
33
Southern Punjab, Limited ....
Do. 3& % deb. stock red
West of India Portuguese Guar, L. .
Do. 5 % debenture stock
966,000
500,000
800,000
550,000
i|
5
5
100
100
100
JOO
120*
93*
102$
COKCHRJ .
J-i-l.T-HtHc-OO1^
CO CO ^ ~3
BANES.
Chartered Bank of India, Australia,)
Number of
Shares.
40,000
13
20
National Bank of India
48,000
12
12*
372a;
4
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
(*) Ex dividend.
of a bonus of an actual 2 per cent, in the second half of the year,
as well as the final dividend at the ordinary of 10 per cent, per
annum. The present declaration for the first half of the current
year looks as if the directors intend to put the shares permanently
on a 12 per cent, basis.
The leading shares in the Canadian section have been
Canadian Pacifies and Hudson's Bays, both of which rose to higher
levels than have ever previously been touched. The main factor in
the advance of the former was the announcement at the meeting
at Montreal that out of the land revenue of the current year a
distribution of 1 per cent, will be made to the shareholders, the
shares being thus put on a 7 per cent, basis. The extra 1 per
cent, is to be found entirely out of the interest on the cash pro-
Indian and Colonial Investments
363
ceeds of land sales and deferred payments. The principal realised
by land sales is to be invested until some definite plan for its
employment has been formulated.
In the case of Hudson's Bay shares the advance has been
prompted not so much by present profits as by estimates in
authoritative quarters of the company's vast land holdings.
Still, even present revenue may be sufficient to justify the
advance. The cash receipts from land sales for the half-year
CANADIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present When Re-
Amount, deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
4 % Inter-n Guaran-
colonial / 1 teed by
4% „ Great
1,500,000
1,500,000
1908
1910
100
101
—
11 Apr.— 1 Oct.
4% „ J Britain.
1,700,000
1913
103
&t
4 % 1874-8 Bonds. .
4 % „ Begd. Stock
1,926,300\
5,073,700/
1906-8
/ 102
\ lOOx
-}
1 May— 1 Fov.
4 % Reduced Bonds .
4 % „ Begd. Stock
2,078,621\
4,364,515/
1910
/ 102
\ 102
\
1 Jan.— 1 July.
8J % 1884 Begd. Stock
4,750,800
1909-34
101
—
1 June — 1 Dec.
4 % 1885 Ins. Stock .
3 % Inscribed Stock (t)
3,527,800
10,381,984
1910-35*
1938
103
97
s
|l Jan.— 1 July.
2J% „ „ (<)
2,000,000
1947
84x
•ft
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
PBOVINCIAL.
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
3 % Inscribed Stock .
2,045,760
1941
85
3ff
1 Jan,— 1 July.
MANITOBA.
5 % Debentures .
5 % Sterling Bonds .
346,700
308,000
1910
1923
104
109
*A
ll Jan.— 1 July.
4 % „ Debs.
205,000
1928
102
SH
1 May— 1 Nov.
NOVA SCOTIA.
3% Stock ....
164,000
1949
86
m
1 Jan.— 1 July.
QUEBEC.
3 % Inscribed . . .
1,897,820
1937
84a5
H
1 Apr.— 1 Oot.
MUNICIPAL.
Hamilton (City of) 4 %
Montreal 3 % Deb.\
Stock . . . ./
482,800
1,440,000
1934
permanent
101
85x
8i«
3J
1 Apr.— 1 Oot.
1 May— 1 Nov.
Do. 4 % Cons, „
1,821,917
1932
106*
M
Quebec 4 % Debs. . .
Do. 3} % Con. Stock .
385,000
470,471
1923
drawings
102
94
3S
Jl Jan.— 1 July.
Toronto 5 % Con. Debs.
136,700
1919-20*
109
*&
Do. 4 % Stg. Bonds .
Do. 4 % Local Impt. .
300,910
249,312
1922-28*
1913
103
100
8«
3
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 3J % Bonds . .
1,169,844
1929
94
3*1
Vancouver 4 % Bonds
121,200 1931
101
3
1 Apr.— 1 Oot.
Do. 4 % 40-year Bonds
117,200 1932
102
3*i
7 Feb.— 7 Aug.
Winnipeg 5 % Debs. .
138,000 1914
103
4&
30 Apr. -31 Oct.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption,
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments,
(x) Ex dividend.
364
The Empire Review
CANADIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid up
per
Share.
Price.
Yield.
EAILWAYB.
*
Canadian Pacific Shares .
$101,400,000
6
$100
184|
3*
Do. 4 % Preference . . .
£7,778,082
4
100
107
3ft
Do. 5 % Stg. 1st Mtg. Bd. 1915
£7,191,500
5
100
109
3&
Do. 4 % Cons. Deb. Stock .
Grand Trunk Ordinary
£19,421,797
£22,475,985
4
nil
100
Stock
111J
26H
tt
Do. 5 % 1st Preference
£3,420,000
5
it
119
*&
Do. 5 % 2nd „ .
£2,530,000
5
it
112
2
Do. 4% 3rd „ .
£7,168,055
2
it
67*
215
Do. 4 % Guaranteed
£6,629,315
4
ti
102Ax
3g
Do. 5 % Perp. Deb. Stock .
£4,270,375
5
100
134
311
Do. 4 % Cons. Deb. Stock .
£15,135,981
4
100
llOx
if
BANES AND COMPANIES.
Bank of Montreal ....
140,000
10
$100
257
3£
Bank of British North America
20,000
6
50
7ii
4T%
Canadian Bank of Commerce .
$10,000,000
7
$50
£19
3S
Canada Company ....
8,319
57s. per sh.
1
37
711
Hudson's Bay
100,000
£4 per sh.
10*
102
31
Trust and Loan of Canada. .
50,000
H
5
6i
"8
6
Do. new .......
25,000
71
3
3*
6§
British Columbia Electric) Def .
£210,000
?
Stock
U2
127i
°8
*li
£200,000
6
Stock
112J
4|
* £1 capital repaid 1904.
(x) Ex dividend.
NEWFOUNDLAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
3 J % Sterling Bonds
2,178,800
1941-7-8
95
3}
3 % Sterling
325,000
1947
85
311
4 % Inscribed Stock
320,000
1913-38*
102
3f
1 Jan. — 1 July.
* /O II II
502,476
1935
107
3^
4 % Cons. Ins. „
200,000
1936
107
3C
• Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
ended September 30 amounted to £147,600, against £119,200 for
the corresponding period of the preceding financial year, while
the deferred payments amounted to £218,600, against £190,900.
Thus the company seems in a fair way to paying for the current
year at least the £4 a share declared for the last financial year.
This Canadian railway and land boom has afforded a favourable
opportunity for the issue of two Canadian prospectuses, one by a
railway company and the other by a new land company. The
railway issue was that of the Canadian Northern Quebec Bailway,
offering at 98 per cent, a million sterling of 4 per cent. Perpetual
Debenture Stock guaranteed by the parent company, the Canadian
Indian and Colonial Investments 365
Northern, which is responsible for so much of the railway exten-
sion that is proceeding at an unprecedentedly rapid rate in the
Dominion.
The land issue was that of the Southern Alberta Land
Company, offering 266,667 one-pound shares out of its authorised
half -million of capital. Nearly 400,000 acres have been acquired,
and the company intends to erect irrigation works and re-sell the
land at a profit. The issue was eagerly snapped up, being sub-
scribed more than ten times over.
While the chairman of the Grand Trunk Kailway had some
rather unpleasant announcements to make at the meeting about
further increased taxation, the Third Preference stockholders can
take heart from his assertion that he would be very much dis-
appointed if the results, provided the traffics kept up, as he did
not doubt they would, did not show at the end of the year some
increased dividend. As to the Grand Trunk Pacific Eailway, he
anticipated that a year hence they might certainly see 1,200 miles
completed, 200 miles of the Lake Superior Branch and 970 miles
of the main line from Winnipeg to Edmonton. It is proposed
shortly to offer a million sterling of debentures to provide for
rolling stock.
Except as regards the quantity of business transacted, Aus-
tralian Government securities have not been much affected by the
unfavourable monetary conditions. It could not be expected that
they would altogether withstand the prevailing depression, but
the decline in quotations has been by no means general, and in
hardly a single case does it exceed one-half per cent. As regards
Australian affairs, a feeling of optimism still prevails, and is in
fact gaining strength. For a long time the external trade of the
Commonwealth has shown a healthy expansion and there now
appear to be distinct indications that internal trade is also becoming
more active. This development, it need hardly be said, is on
entirely sound lines and follows quite naturally on the run of good
seasons with the consequent improvement in the financial
position.
Some evidence of the increased activity in trade is supplied by
the Australian banking returns for the second quarter of this year.
During the past two years deposits with the Australian banks
have very largely increased while advances have been restricted.
Now, however, there appears to be a reversal of the movements,
since the June returns disclose a decrease of £109,000 in the
average total of deposits and an increase of £1,407,000 in the
advances as compared with the previous quarter. A year ago
the movements were the other way about, and the change
now shown may fairly be ascribed to an increased demand
for money due to improving trade. The banks will doubtless
366
The Empire Review
welcome the new tendency, as for some time they have been
unable to profitably employ all their surplus funds in Australia.
Ill-fortune still attends the efforts of the Federal Government
in the direction of taking over the State debts. The scheme out-
lined by the Federal Treasurer in his recent budget speech
necessitated a revision of the constitution to provide for the
taking over of the debts contracted since federation was accom-
plished in addition to those previously existing. The bill to
effect this was passed by the House of Eepresentatives, but has
failed to obtain the requisite absolute majority in the Senate, and
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
NEW SOUTH WALES.
4 % Inscribed Stock (t
34% „ „ it
8% „ „ (t
9,686,300
16,500,000
12,500,000
1933
1924
1935
109
99*
86
34
8A
SH
1 Jan. — 1 July.
|l Apr.— 1 Oct.
VlCTOBIA.
4 % Inscribed, 1882-3
4% „ 1885 .
3* % „ 1889 (t)
« % ii •
3% „ (0 . .
5,454,700
6,000,000
5,000,000
2,107,000
5,464,714
1908-13
1920
1921-6*
1911-26*
1929-49f
101
105
99*
102
88^
•1
34
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
!l Jan.— 1 July.
QUEENSLAND.
4 % Bonds ....
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
34% „ „ tfi
3;% „ „ (4
10,267,400
7,939,000
8,616,034
4,274,213
1913-15*
1924
1921-SOf
1922-47f
102
106
99
86
BH
iff
Qfi
8tf
|1 Jan.— 1 July.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
4 % Bonds .
4 %
4 % Inscribed Stock .
34% ,, „ t
°/0 II II *
3 % it ,i t
6,586,700
1,365,300
6,246,300
2,517,800
839,500
2,760,100
1907-16*
1916
1916-36*
1939
1916-26$
After 1916J
1014
101
101J
100
87
87
31
3il
34
3^
BA
1 Jan. — 1 July.
[l Apr.— 1 Oct.
>1 Jan. — 1 July.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
4 % Inscribed .
34% „ *) . .
3% „ jr. .
3% „ t) . .
1,876,000
3,780,000
3,750,000
2,500,000
1911-31*
1920-351
1915-35J
1927J
1014
98
86
88
3f
VB
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
•1 May— 1 Nov.
15 Jan. — 15 July.
TASMANIA.
34 % Insobd. Stook (t)
Of N „ (*)
3 % . . (t)
3,656,500
1,000,000
450,000
1920-40*
1920-40*
1920-40f
994
105
89
3|
N
q_9
OVa
1 Jan. — 1 July.
16
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
t Yield calculated on later date of redemption, though a portion of the loan may be redeemed
earlier.
£ .No allowance for redemption,
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
Indian and Colonial Investments 367
AUSTRALIAN MUNICIPAL AND OTHER BONDS.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
| deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Melbourne & Met. Bd.\
of Works 4% Debs. /
1,000,000
1921
101
3$
1 Apl.— 1 Oct.
Do. City 4% Debs. .
850,000
i 1915-22*
104
SA
Do. Harbour Trust^
Comrs. 5% Eds. . J
500,000
! 1908-9
102
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4% Bds. . . .
1,250,000
1918-21*
102
3S
Melbourne Trams\
Trust 4*% Debs. ./
1,650,000
1914-16*
104
4
1 Jan.— 1 July.
S. Melbourne 4*% Debs.
128,700
1919
103
*i
1
Sydney 4% Debs. .
640,000
1912-13
102
3}g
}1 Jan.— 1 July,
Do. 4% Debs. . . .
300,000
1919
102
3*
1
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Emu Bay and Mount Bischoff . . .
Do. 4} % Irred. Deb. Stock ....
Mid. of W. Aust. 4 % Debs., Guartd. .
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
12,000
£130,900
£440,000
40,000
1*
•
12
5
100
100
40
**
97
102
97
IS
4|
8
Bank of New South Wales ....
Union Bank of Australia £75 . . .
Do. 4 % Inscribed Stock Deposits . .
Australian Mort. Land & Finance £25
Do. 4 % Perp. Deb. Stock ....
Dalgety & Co. £20
100,000
60,000
£600,000
80,000
£1,900,000
154,000
10
10
4
6
4
6
20
25
100
5
100
5
46
52
100
9
102
6
4
IP
5
Do. 4* % Irred. Deb. Stock ....
Do.4°/ „ . .
Goldsbrough Mort & Co. 4 % A Deb.\
Stock Reduced /
£620,000
£1,643,210
£1,217,925
?
4
100
100
100
110
103
86
tf
4
Do. B Income Reduced
£727,695
4
100
86
48
Australian Agricultural £25 . . .
South Australian Company. . . .
Trust & Agency of Australasia . . .
Do. 5 % Cum. Pref
20,000
14,200
42,479
87,500
£3
12*
5
21*
20
1
10
HS-WaUr*
Ol r-l C
SO 0 ii
*A
*M
42
Met. of Melb. Gas 5 % Debs. 1908-12.
Do. 4* % Debs. 1918-22-24 ....
£560,000
£250,000
5
4
100
100
102
101
**
the matter is now consequently shelved. When and how it will
be taken up again may depend largely upon the results of the
general election which is now imminent, but the present failure is
the more to be regretted because the conference of State premiers
and opposition leaders which has been sitting at Melbourne
appears to have been anxious to reach a satisfactory settlement
with the Commonwealth as regards the terms and conditions of
the debt transfer.
Western Australia's financial position has undoubtedly suffered
in consequence of federation, and her treasurers experience difficulty
368
The Empire Review
in making up by internal taxation for the decreasing customs
revenue received from the Commonwealth. The budget statement
shows that the revenue of the past year fell short of the expenditure
by £73,000, and there is an accumulated deficit of £119,000. A
better outcome is anticipated for the current year, the revenue
being estimated at £3,592,000 — an increase of £39,000— while the
expenditure is set down at £3,588,000, which will show a reduc-
tion of £44,000 on the previous year. There should thus be a
small surplus to go in reduction of the accumulated deficit. Since
the establishment of the Commonwealth the customs revenue of
Western Australia has decreased by about £250,000. This is
undoubtedly a heavy price to have paid for federation, and it is
NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
1 '
5 % Bonds ....
266,300
1914
105
4
15 Jan.— 15 July.
4% Inscribed Stock (t)
29,150,302
1929
105J 3f
1 May — 1 Nov.
3} % Stock (t) . . .
8,065,063
1940
100
N
1 Jan. — 1 July,
8 % Inscribed Stock It)
6,384,005
1945
89
a*
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
NEW ZEALAND MUNICIPAL AND OTHER SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Auckland 5% Deb. .
200,000
1934-8*
109
4^
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. Hbr. Bd. 5% Debs.
150,000
1917
107*
4/F
10 April— 10 Oct.
Bank of N. Z. shares f
150,000
div. 5%
8f
—
—
Do. 4% Qua. Stock J .
£1,000,000
1914
103
3*1
Apr.— Got.
Christchurch 6% Drain-
) 200,000
1926
124*
41
30 June— 31 Deo.
age Loan
/
Dunedin 5% Cons. .
312,200
1908
100
—
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
Lyttleton Hbr. Bd. 6%
200,000
1929
119J
4Jj
Napier Hbr. Bd. 5%\
Debs /
300,000
1920
109
*&
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 5% Debs. . . .
200,000
1928
110
4/g
National Bank of N.Z.\
£7$ Shares £2J paid/
100,000
div. 12 %
4
6&
Jan.— July.
New Plymouth Hbr.\
Bd. 6% Debs. . ./
200,000
1909
103
—
1 May— 1 Nov.
Oamaru 5% Bds. . .
173,800
1920
95
51
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Otago Hbr. Cons. Bds.'l
5% /
432,700
1934
108
«i
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Wellington 6% Impts.)
Loan /
100,000
1914-29*
111
*A
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 6% Waterworks .
130,000
1929
114
5
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 4J% Debs. . . .
165,000
1933
107
4^
1 May — 1 Nov.
Westport Hbr. 4% Debs.
150,000
1925
101
3*
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption,
t £6 13s. 4cZ. Shares with £3 6*. 8d. paid up.
J Guaranteed by New Zealand Government.
(,r) Ex dividend.
Indian and Colonial Investments
369
not altogether surprising, however regrettable it may be, that a
feeling of disappointment exists and has given rise to the move-
ment in favour of secession.
The Transvaal gold output for September showed a decrease
of j£17,008 on the month, but that was attributable to the shortage
of a day as compared with August. The following table gives
the monthly returns for some years past, and for the year in
which the war commenced.
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1899.
January ....
February . . .
March ....
April
£
1,820,739
1,731,664
1,884,815
1 865 785
£
1,568,508
1,545,371
1,698,340
1 695 550
t
1,226,846
1,229,726
1,309,329
1 299,576
846,489
834,739
923,739
967 936
1,534,583
1,512,860
1,654,258
1 639 340
May .
1 959 062
1,768,734
1,335,826
994 505
1,658,268
2,021,813
1,751,412
1,309,231
1,012,322
1,665,715
July .
2 089 004
1,781,944
1 307 621
1 068,917
1 711,447
August .
September
October .
November
December
2,162,583
2,145,575
1,820,496
1,769,124
1,765,047
1,804,253
1,833,295
1,326,468
1,326,506
1,383,167
1,427,947
1,538,800
1,155,039
1,173,211
1,208,669
1,188,571
1,215,110
1,720,907
1,657,205
[tl, 028, 057
Total* . . .
17,681,040
20,802,074
16,054,809
12,589,247
15,782,640
* Including undeclared amounts omitted from the monthly retunis.
t State of war.
The native labour return for September was more satisfactory
than for many a month past, showing as it did a net increase of
1,612 hands on the month. In no month since April last has
SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
CAPES COLONY.
«% Bonds . .
4 % 1883 Inscribed (t)
4 % 1886
3*% 1886 „ (t)
8>0 1886 „ (t)
t
746,500
3,733,195
9,997,566
13,263,067
7,549,018
dwgs.
1923
1916-36*
1929-491
1933-43f
lOla:
105
102
97
83
*I7«
SA
3*
3
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
1 June — 1 Deo.
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
1 Jan.— 1 July.
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
NATAL.
4J % Bonds, 1876 .
4 % Inscribed . .
<*,% »
d /O II • .
758,700
3,026,444
3,714,917
6,000,000
1919
1937
1939
1929-49f
103
106
97J
84*
#
3f
8*1
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Apr.— Oct.
1 June — 1 Deo.
1 Jan.— 1 July.
TRANSVAAL.
3 % Guartd. Stock .
35,000,000
1923-53f
97
3*
1 May— 1 Nov.
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption,
t Yield calculated on later date of redemption.
(.e) Ex dividend.
VOL. XII.— No. 70.
2 B
370 The Empire Review
SOUTH AFRICAN MUNICIPAL SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable,
Bloemfontein 4 %
483,000
1954
95
«
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Cape Town 4 % . .
1,878,550
1953
102
311
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Durban 4 % ...
1,350,000
1951-3
100
4
30 June— 31 Dec.
Johannesburg 4 %
5,500,000
1933-4
92
4
1 April— 1 Oct.
Pie termaritz burg 4 %
625,000
1949-53
97
*ft
30 June— 31 Deo.
Port Elizabeth 4 % .
390,000
1964
99
*A
30 June— 31 Dec.
Band Water Board 4 %
3,400,000
1935
95
**
1 Jan. — 1 July.
there been any increase at all, and it is necessary to go back as
far as March 1905 to find a larger increase. The following table
gives the returns month by month for two years past and for
March 1903 when they were first officially published.
Month.
Natives
Joined.
Natives
Left.
Net Gain on
Month.
Natives
Employed end
of Month.
Chinese
Employed end
of Month.
March . 1903
6,536
2,790
3,746
56,218
July . 1904
4,683
6,246
1,563*
67,294
1,384
August . ,,
6,173
7,624
1,446*
65,348
4,947
September „
9,529
6,832
2,697
68,545
9,039
October. „
10,090
6,974
3,116
71,661
12, 968
November ,,
9,456
6,884
2,572
74,233
19,316
December „
8,655
6,277
2,378
76,611
20,918
January 1905
11,773
6,939
4,834
81,444
25,015
February „
14,627
6,705
7,922
89,367
31,174
March „
13,547
8,310
5,237
94,604
34,282
April
9,589
7,979
1,610
96,214
35,516
May „
8,586
8,574
12
90,226
38,066
June „
6,404
8,642
2,233+
93,988
41,290
July
6,023
8,338
2,315*
91,673
43,140
August „
5,419
8,263
2,844*
88,829
44,565
September „
5,606
8,801
3,195*
85,634
44,491
October. ,,
5,855
7,814
1,959*
83,675
45,901
November „
5,279
5,992
713*
82,962
45,804
December „
4,747
6,755
2,008*
80,954
47,217
January 1906
6,825
7,287
962*
79,992
47,118
February „
5,617
6,714
1,697*
78,895
49,955
March „
6,821
7,040
219*
78,676
49,877
April „
6,580
6,341
239
78,915
49,789
May „
6,722
6,955
233*
78,682
50,951
June „
6,047
7,172
1,125*
77,557
52,329
July
6,760
7,322
562*
76,995
52,202
August ,,
6,777
7,626
749*
76,246
53,835
September „
8,367
6,755
1,612
77,858
54,922
* Net loss.
Now that the last shipment of coolies has arrived in South Africa
there must needs be an increase in Kaffirs to repair the inevitable
wastage of Chinese, if the Band's labour supply is to be main-
tained. It will be many months before the new Transvaal
Parliament will have an opportunity of putting the importation
of Chinese into operation again.
Ehodesia's gold output for September showed a loss on the
Indian and Colonial Investments 371
SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
£2,500,000
5
100
88&
5fi
Northern Railway of the 8. Afrioani
Rep. 4 % Bonds /
£1,043,280
4
100
•••*»
96
8
H
Rhodesia Rlys. 5 % 1st Mort. Debs.\
guar. by B.8.A. Co. till 1915. . ./
£2,000,000
5
100
97J
5J
Royal Trans-African 5 % Debs. Red. .
£1,812,977
5
100
93
BA
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
African Banking Corporation £10 shares
80,000
6
5
5
6
Bank of Africa £18f
160,000
lOi
61
9J
6*1
Natal Bank £10
148,232
*V2
14
^4
2*
v*
5
7H
National Bank of S. Africa £10
110,000
8
•
10
15
5&
Standard Bank of 8. Africa £100
61,941
16
25
73s
&A
Ohlsson's Cape Breweries .
60,000
22}
5
12J
<T
South African Breweries
950,000
22
1
2
11
British South Africa (Chartered)
6,000,000
nil
1
11
nil
Do. 5 % Debs. Red
£1,250,000
5
100
10l|
42
Natal Land and Colonization .
68,066
8
5
6i
38
61i
Cape Town & District Gas Light & Coke
10,000
10
10
14*
6*8
Kimberley Waterworks £10. . .
45,000
5
7
3
7|
month, but as in the case of the Band return the shorter length
of the month as compared with August must be held responsible
for this. The following table shows the returns month by month
for several years past.
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1902.
1901. 1900.
i
1899.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz. oz.
oz.
January
42,950
32,531
19,359
16,245
15,955
10,697 ! 5,242
6,371
February
38,037
30,131
18,673
17,090
13,204
12,237 , 6,233
6,433
March
44,574
34,927
17,756
19,626
16,891
14,289 i 6,286
6,614
April
42,423
33,268
17,862
20,727
17,559
14,998 : 5,456
5,755
May.
46,729
31,332
19,424
22,137
19,698
14,469 1 6,554
4,939
June
47,664
85,256
20,402
22,166
15,842
14,863 ! 6,185
6,104
July
48,485
34,693
24,339
23,571
15,226
15,651 i 5,738
6,031
August
50,127
35,765
24,669
19,187
15,747
14,734 10,138
3,177
September
48,410
35,785
26,029
18,741
15,164
13,958 10,749
5,653
October
—
33,383
24,919
17,918
16,849
14y503 1 10, 727
4,276
November
—
32,861
26,183
15,714
15,923
16,486 9,169
4,671
December
—
37,116
28,100
18,750
16,210
15,174 9,463
j
5,289
Total .
409,399
407,048
267,715
231,872
194,268
172,059 ,91,940
35,313
It is satisfactory to note that the aggregate output for the first
nine months of this year exceeds the total for the whole of last
year by more than 2000 ounces.
There is increasing interest in Rhodesian land propositions,
a new promotion being apparently on the cards. If the Chartered
Company's experimental central farm proves successful its example
372
The Empire Review
will doubtless soon be emulated by the other companies owning
large tracts of land in Rhodesia.
CROWN COLONY SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When
Redeemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable
Barbadoes 3£% ins. (t)
375,000
1925-42*
99£
8A
1 Mar.— 1 Sep.
Brit. Guiana 3% ins. (t)
250,000
1923-45f
86
ffl
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Ceylon 4% ins. (t) . .
1,076,100
1934
111
3|
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3% ins. (t) . . .
2,850,000
1940
92J
B*
1 May — 1 Nov.
Hong-Kong 3$% ins (t)
1,484,300
1918-43f
98£
•A
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
Jamaica 4% ins. (t) .
1,098,907
1934
109
N
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3£% ins. (t) . .
1,452,900
1919-49t
100
H
24 Jan.— 24 July.
Mauritius 3% guar.\
Great Britain (t) . /
600,000
1940
97
3J
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do. 4% ins. (t) . . .
482,390
1937
108$
8A
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Sierra Leone 3 \% ins. (f)
626,284
1929-54f
100J
H
1 June — 1 Dec.
Trinidad 4% ins. (t) .
422,593
1917-42*
101
3*
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Do. 3% ins. (t) . . .
600,000
1926-44f
87
3«
15 Jan. — 15 July.
Hong-Kong & Shang-j
hai Bank Shares . /
80,000
Div.£410s.
£95
*«
Feb. — Aug.
* Yield calculated on shorter period. t Yield calculated on longer period.
(«) Eligible for Trustee investments.
The development of Egypt has recently come home to the
mother-country with special force owing to the exceptional de-
mands which it is making on our gold supplies. Much of the
EGYPTIAN SECURITIES.
Title.
Amount or
Number of
Shares.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
Egyptian Govt. Guaranteed Loan (t) .
„ Unified Debt
£7,805,700
£55 971 960
3
4
100
100
99
104£
3
'•'<\t
National Bank of Egypt ....
Bank of Egypt
300,000
40,000
8
16
10
12i
27J
37*
2H
5JL
Agricultural Bank of Egypt, Ordinary
,, „ ,, Preferred
»> » » Bonds .
248,000
125,000
£2,500,000
7*
4
3*
5
10
100
92
10
911
co t*>- co
HIM W-JH
oxw o
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
increased demand has been due to the abnormal cotton specula-
tion, but the greater activity of the country's industries is also
responsible.
The institutions formed within recent years to finance culti-
vators and owners of building estates are still doing an increasing
business, as the further bond issue of the Land Bank of Egypt
served to remind us. Although the Bank was formed only last
year it has had occasion to place another 45 million francs worth
of its 4 per cent, bonds, bringing the total up to 70 million francs
out of an authorised 125 million.
TEUSTEE.
October 20, 1906.
THE EMPIRE
REVIEW
"Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home." — Byron.
VOL. XII. DECEMBER, 1906. No. 71.
THE CENTRAL EMIGRATION BOARD
FOE several years past I have been endeavouring to press upon
the Imperial and Colonial Governments the importance of coming
to an understanding whereby a common policy of emigration and
immigration within the Empire might be financed and adminis-
tered. I do not say that my endeavours have been repulsed, or
that they have passed unnoticed ; on the contrary, I think I may
say that, on the whole, they have been well received, and, in some
quarters, even regarded with appreciation. But various reasons,
in part political and in part economic, have stood, and still stand,
in the way of any combined effort being undertaken.
Meanwhile, the Governments of New Zealand and certain
Australian States have come forward with facilities, offering
reduced fares in specified cases, while the Government of
Western Australia holds out to agriculturists the further induce-
ment of free land and the services of a State Bank. Canada,
however, has far out-distanced her sister colonies in the en-
couragement given to British emigrants. Not only are emigrants
to the Dominion given the option of taking up land free and
allowed borrowing powers on easy conditions, but these facilities
are rendered popular and convenient by the adoption of a wider
and more generous immigration policy than prevails in the other
colonies. Again, the Canadian policy is strengthened and made
more effective by a liberal expenditure of public money and
the active and ready co-operation of the shipping and railway
companies.
To meet these overtures on the part of the colonial govern-
ments, and especially those of Canada, I ventured, in the early
part of last year, to make some proposals in this Review,
expressing at the same time a hope that the Imperial Govern-
ment would see its way to adopt them. These proposals, in
VOL. XII.— No. 71. 2 c
374 The Empire Review
principle, were endorsed by the report of Lord Tennyson's depart-
mental committee, but that the committee's recommendations
should be put into operation by an expiring Government was
hardly to be expected. And I cannot say that the Ministry of
to-day shows any signs of moving in the matter, although it is an
open secret that sympathy with emigration is not lacking in the
ranks of the Cabinet.
With the country at large, however, things are different; there
is a marked tendency in favour of the emigration cause, and the
ear-marking of certain public moneys for emigration purposes has
provided that cause with an additional incentive. Moreover, the
weak spots in a back-to-the-land policy here are being found out ;
both the small farmers and the working classes are beginning to
recognise that the prospects on the land in Canada are very far
in advance of the prospects in a country where the possibilities of
making the land pay and of finding work of a permanent character,
are each year growing smaller and smaller. The result of this
awakening was seen in the increased exodus to Canada last year ;
and with the new facilities offered and the increasing prosperity
of the Dominion there is every reason to suppose that the number
of candidates for emigration in the ensuing spring will be of
considerable dimensions.
Now let us see what machinery there is at hand to deal with
the anticipated increase. How are the would-be emigrants to be
transported and brought into touch with the work awaiting them
on the other side ? How are the Colonial Governments to make
sure that a fitting selection will be made, no false hopes raised
and the provisions of their emigration enactments properly
observed ? Apart from the ordinary shipping agent, whose
business is commercial and does not therefore come within my
purview, these matters have been largely attended to by philan-
thropic and denominational societies, who, in most cases, recoup
themselves in part for their intervention by the bonuses paid by
the Dominion Government and the commissions paid by the
shipping and railway companies. It is therefore obvious that, in
the case of societies accepting these refunds, when an emigrant's
transport money and outfit is found by a third party, the emolu-
ments cited are all profit, not, of course, necessarily net profit,
for this must depend on the other expenses incurred.
Bearing this in mind, and also the fact that a new era is
approaching in emigration work, the moment seems opportune to
introduce a new Emigration Body, a body that makes emigration
its sole object; a body free from all extraneous influences, and
untrammelled by the claims of denominations or philanthropy.
Accordingly, after consultation with persons in authority and
men well versed in public affairs, men, too, having a personal
The Central Emigration Board 375
acquaintance with colonies and colonial life, I have formed the
Central Emigration Board. We shall, I hope, tread on no man's
toes. We come upon the scene in no sense as rivals of existing
institutions, and with no desire to interfere with the prerogatives
of the older societies. We are, in short, an experiment to see
what can be done in the way of emigration on the lines above
indicated, and how emigration on those lines is appreciated b
the public on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Central Emigration Board has, in short, been formed to
encourage and assist in promoting the emigration of desirable and
suitable persons from the United Kingdom to the British colonies.
The work will be conducted in strict accordance with the
immigration laws, rules and regulations in force in the several
colonies, and the Board's machinery will be open to all classes
of the community desiring to settle in the colonies. It is specially
hoped that the services of the Board may be of use to the Distress
Committees under the Unemployed Workmen Act, 1905, as well as
to other public bodies desiring to put into effective operation their
statutory powers relating to emigration.
It is intended to make the Board in every way representative,
as will be seen by the names of those gentlemen who have already
joined ; these include, Sir Clement Kinloch-Cooke (chairman),
Lord Hindlip, Sir William Chance, Bart., Sir Edward Stern,
Lieut.-General Sir Edwin Collen, G.C.S.I., C.B., Sir Charles
Bruce, G.C.M.G., the Eev. H. Eussell Wakefield, the Hon. B. K.
Wise, and Mr. Harold Boulton, M.V.O., with Mr. Edmund Storie
as Hon. Organising Secretary. Other names will be shortly
announced, as well as those of the president and vice-presidents.
The offices of the Central Emigration Board are 70 & 71,
Temple Chambers, London, E.G. All communications should be
addressed to the General Secretary at that address.
THE
2 c 2
376 The Empire Review
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
BY EDWARD DICEY, C.B.
I.
PRINCE BTJLOW AND THE EEICHSTAG.
To form an opinion as to the external policy of Germany is
comparatively an easy task for Englishmen who are content to
look at facts as they are, to discard the misrepresentations of
the Germanophobe press abroad as well as at home, to give the
German Government and the German people some credit for
common-sense and common honesty. It is a far more difficult
task for English publicists to form any trustworthy opinion as to
the merits or demerits of Germany's home policy. Even amongst
educated Englishmen very few are to be found who could give
an intelligent account of the political institutions of the Father-
land, of her leading politicians, of her political parties, of the
issues upon which they are divided and of the relations between
the various States which, under the hegemony of Prussia,
constitute the German Empire. Not for the first time we are
assured from a variety of quarters, German as well as foreign,
that the session — to quote the words of the Frankfurter Zeitung,
the ablest and most influential organ of the so-called Particularist
party — will show that "a turning-point has now been reached,
when the nation must realise that genuine constitutionalism is an
inevitable necessity for Germany."
Whether drastic political reforms are or are not so desirable is
a matter which Germany, and Germany alone, must decide for
herself personally. I am strongly of opinion that any controversy
on this subject by the British or the Continental press is calcu-
lated to give offence without producing any serious effect upon
the decision at which Germany may arrive, or fail to arrive. I
do not therefore intend to express any opinion of my own, even
if I felt any confidence in its intrinsic value, as to the relative
advantages or disadvantages of modifying the existing constitution
of Germany in the direction of Parliamentarism. All I feel
justified in doing is to present certain considerations, which are
apt to be overlooked in England, and which tend to show that
the agitation in Germany for more complete Parliamentary
government is not so formidable as one might suppose from the
utterances of the Berlin correspondents of our leading newspapers
Foreign Affairs 377
and still more from the reports of the French press, which
naturally welcomes any popular movement calculated in their
opinion to impair the authority of Germany.
The first consideration is that the position of Prussia is
fundamentally different from that of the other States which
compose the German Empire. All previous experience has
shown that whenever a conflict has been raised between the
Parliament and the Hohenzollern dynasty the sympathy of the
Prussian nation has sided with the latter rather than with
the former. For reasons I have already stated in a recent number
of The Empire Review this sympathy is not likely to have ex-
perienced as yet any important change. The great industrial
development of Germany in general, and of Prussia in particular,
since the war of 1870, has undoubtedly altered the proportions
of the rural and the urban electorate. The towns have increased
at the cost, relatively if not positively, of the country villages.
In Prussia, as in! all other continental States, the operatives take
much greater interest in politics than the peasantry, and are more
amenable to Socialist influences. Some day or other Social Demo-
cracy may become a peril in Germany, as elswhere, to the estab-
lished order of things, but this day still seems to me far distant.
The plain truth is that the German working classes, in as far
as they have any definite views regarding Parliamentary reform,
view it with indifference, if not with positive disfavour, as being
incompatible with genuine Socialist legislation. In their eyes
Parliamentary institutions mean the supremacy of the well-to-do
middle classes, who are even more hostile to Socialism than the
nobles, the Junkers and the Agrarians. The demand in Ger-
many for Parliamentary reform is practically confined to doctors,
lawyers and professors, who, though their learning may be
recognised, have little or no influence with the electorate. More-
over, there is a deep-rooted conviction amongst all classes of the
community that Germany owes not only her unity but her inde-
pendence, far more to the Hohenzollern dynasty than to statesmen
and politicians, and that any curtailment of Imperial authority
would be attended with grave danger to the Fatherland. I am
not discussing bow far this conviction is sound or unsound. All
I assert is that such a conviction does exist, and that so long as
it exists any disagreement between the Parliament and the Kaiser
must inevitably eventuate in the discomfiture of the party in
favour of Parliamentary reform. I can see no evidence to support
the contention that the German public has become convinced of
any urgent necessity for constitutional reforms. For good or for
bad the Emperor represents the ideas, the ambitions, the aims,
the likes or dislikes of his fellow-countrymen, as faithfully as
King Edward VII. represents those of the British nation.
At the same time it is clear that the well-merited respect and
378 The Empire Review
gratitude entertained in Prussia for the dynasty of the Hohen-
zollerns and its present representative are not shared to a like
degree by the other States of the German Empire, and especially
by such States as Bavaria, Saxony, Baden, Brunswick, and
Wurtemberg, which have played no mean part in the history of
the Fatherland, are ruled by dynasties of their own, and enjoy
almost complete local independence, except in regard to Imperial
affairs. In all probability the self-denying ordinance by which
the then reigning sovereigns of twenty-six States invited the King
of Prussia to assume the title of Emperor of Germany was not
quite as spontaneous as it appeared at the period of the invitation
being given. It is possible that some of the sovereigns who
tendered allegiance to William I. at Versailles may have regretted
subsequently their reduction to the position of vassal rulers. It
is certain that at times their subjects have considered themselves
aggrieved by the increased taxation to which they have been
subjected under the Empire. But in as far as I am aware, the
idea of secession from the Empire has never been contemplated
seriously by any single State. The explanation of this general
acquiescence is obvious. The unification of the Fatherland may
not have been attended by all the results which were anticipated
by its authors, but, notwithstanding, the idea of any return to
the old state of things before the war with France would be
scouted to-day by all but an^ insignificant minority of the German
people, south as well as north. There is scarcely a German who
does not feel with pride that his status abroad and at home is
altered for the better by being a citizen of a great and independent
Empire instead of being the subject of a comparatively petty State.
The tendency of a portion of the German press to use tall talk
with respect to their lately acquired grandeur is proof, if proof
were needed, how highly all Germans value the increased estima-
tion in which they are held abroad since the consolidation of
Germany into an united Empire has been converted from a
vague dream into an accomplished fact. A Prussian might
reasonably hope that even if the Empire were broken up he
himself would still remain the citizen of a great Power. But no
such delusion could be entertained in either Bavaria or Saxony,
not to mention the smaller States. Both at Munich and Dresden
the plain facts that the creation of an united Germany was the
achievement of the Hohenzollern dynasty, and that the mainten-
ance of an united Germany can only be secured under the
Hohenzollern dynasty, are recognised and acknowledged. Our
English critics of German institutions tell us daily that the
government of the Kaiser is a system of absolutism. Time after
time we have been assured that the German press is the servile
instrument of an unscrupulous Government, and yet we are
informed by the same critics that in Germany there is absolute
Foreign Affairs 379
freedom of discussion, and that this freedom is inconsistent with
personal rule. It is manifest to the meanest intelligence that a
system of administration under which there is practical freedom
of utterance cannot be fairly described as absolutism.
I fail to see how the compulsory resignation of General
von Podbielski affords any indication that the Reformers are
likely to force the hands of the Imperial Government in their
demand for reform. Germany and England are the only two
European countries in which statesmen and ministers are not
allowed by public opinion to increase their income by partici-
pating in the profits of private business firms. In France, in
Italy, in Spain, in Austria, not to mention Eussia, no discredit
attaches to a politician because he is associated, directly or in-
directly, with bank, insurance or limited liability companies,
syndicates, boards and private businesses. I acknowledge — and
am proud to acknowledge — that in England association with
trading adventures tells against the political prospects of any
legislator who is anxious for advancement. It is unfortunate for
the late Prussian Minister for Agriculture that he should have
been apparently a sleeping partner in a firm bearing the, to
English ears, eccentric name of Tippelkirsh, which is accused,
with or without reason, of having been connected with discredit-
able transactions in German South-West Africa; but it is clear
that the real gravamen of the Minister's alleged offence is that he
is suspected by his Liberal opponents of having made use of the
veterinary precautions employed by the Government to prevent
the introduction from abroad of diseased cattle into Germany,
in order to benefit the home stock-owners who, with scarcely an
exception, belong to the Agrarian party.
The imputation, which has brought General von Podbielski's
ministerial career to an abrupt termination, bears a curious
resemblance to the charge brought against Mr. Chamberlain
and the Unionist party, that the real object of the Tariff
Eeformers was to raise the price of imported wheat and thereby
to put money into the pockets of the landowners at the cost of
the British working classes. The cry in question was undoubtedly
the main cause of the Unionist defeat, but there is no reason to
suppose that the outcry raised against the late Prussian Minister
for Agriculture will be attended with a similar result. The net
outcome of the anti-Podbielski agitation is that in Prussia there is
one Minister the less and one Knight of the lied Eagle the more.
So far there is no indication that an agitation for Parliamentary
reform is about to be seriously made by the German Liberals or
is calculated to command the support of the German people. The
recent remarkable speech of the Imperial Chancellor is that of a
statesman who feels strong enough to speak the plain truth with-
out fear of giving offence and thereby running the risk of defeat.
380 The Empire Review
Nothing could be more lucid than Prince Billow's description of
the form of government by which Germany has been administered
under the Hohenzollern dynasty.
In his opinion a mistake was made in comparing the German constitutional
system with those of countries which had a purely parliamentary system of
government and where the monarch's exercise of power is purely formal. . . .
There was no form of government which would suit all countries any more
than there is a coat which would fit every man or a medicine which would
cure every disease. In Germany a parliamentary government was impossible,
if only because none of the great parties had, or in view of German religious
and economic conditions, probably ever would have, an absolute majority. In
Germany the ministers were not the organs of parliament and its temporary
majority. They were the men who possessed the confidence of the Crown, and
the legislative ordinances were not the ordinances of a minister, who was really
independent of the monarch and dependent upon the majority of the day ; they
were the ordinances of the government of the monarch. The check upon this
arrangement and the guarantee for a constitutional system lay in the fact that
what the monarch ordained as acts of government, were only effective in so far
as his Majesty could find a minister, who carried them out on his own responsi-
bility and who could refuse to carry them out, who could tell the monarch that
if he demanded this or that, or did or said this or that, he (the minister) could
no longer remain in office . . . and that he would be unable to undertake the
responsibility for it (such an utterance) before the Crown, the country and
history. But, on the other hand, the idea that in Germany the monarch must
have no views of his own regarding the State and the government, that he
must only think with the brain of his ministers and that he must only say
what had been drawn up for him by his ministers, is a fundamental error. It
is inconsistent with German Constitutional Law, and it is also contrary to the
wishes of the German people. The German people does not want a shadow of
an emperor. It wants an emperor of flesh and blood. The action and the
utterances of a strong personality, such as even his adversaries will admit our
Emperor to be, are far from amounting to an. infrigement of the Constitution.
Can you cite a single instance in which our Emperor has put himself into
opposition to the Constitution ?
I am convinced no fair-minded person will deny that the case
of the two parties to the suit of the Parliament v. the Empire has
never been stated so clearly and so impartially as in the words of
Prince Billow, above quoted. It is easy to argue that Ministerial
independence is not an adequate guarantee for the maintenance of
the German Constitutional system. It would be no less easy to
prove, A priori, that our own Constitutional system could never
work satisfactorily in practice. As a matter of fact, Parliamentary
government suits our people and works well. The reason of this
is that the system, however defective theoretically, has been
worked honestly. In like manner the German Constitutional
system may work satisfactorily if there is reason to believe that
the Ministers who, according to Prince Biilow, guarantee the
permanence of the present system, are high-minded and patriotic
men. In no European country, with the possible exception of
England, are honesty and patriotism amidst the official classes so
common as they are in the Fatherland ; and, while this remains
Foreign Affairs 381
the case, there need be no fear of any breach of the Constitution,
even if the present occupant of the Imperial throne were not a
sovereign whose loyalty to his plighted faith is above suspicion.
The frankness with which the Chancellor has discussed the
relations between Germany and foreign Powers is somewhat at
variance with the traditions of diplomacy. With regard to France
he made no secret of his conviction, that
correct relations between Germany and France were entirely within the bounds
of possibility, and was prepared to say that all Germans without distinction of
party hoped that the number of Frenchmen, who on principle deprecated a
war of aggression, would increase, while the number of Frenchmen who only
were averse from war because it might end badly for France, would diminish.
In particular he thought there might be " some rapprochement
between France and Germany in the commercial industrial and
financial spheres." In regard to England, he expressed himself
far more cordially but with equal frankness. He said : —
There are no really deep political differences between Germany and England.
There have been feelings of umbrage between the two nations of an unpractical
and unintelligible character, for which, as commonly happened, both parties
were equally to blame ; but there has never been any act of hostility. Both
countries are commercially independent and are commercially interdependent,
and therefore must give and take. Commercial competition need not involve
political opposition, not to speak of war. The names of Goethe and Kant, of
Shakespeare and Darwin, symbolise the intellectual community of the two
nations. ... I hope that the journalists of the two countries have learnt to
know each other, and that patriotism and fidelity to their respective con-
victions would in future be compatible with the avoidance of malice and mala
fides in their polemics. I also recognise without arriere pensee the position
which England has long ago won throughout the world. Germany's attitude
on the Egyptian question proves that this is no mere faqon de parler. Since
Prince Bismarck's days, Germany has always recognised the good effects of
the joint (Anglo-Egyptian) administration for the development of Egypt ; and
in Egypt she has placed no obstacles in England's path, even when she had a
formal right to do so.
As those sentences are identical with the views I have
consistently expressed during the Anglo-German controversy in
this Review, I am justified in expressing the opinion that the
common- sense of the British public will read, mark and digest
them as a fair and frank statement of this controversy from a
German point of view. If so there ought to be no difficulty in
coming to an understanding on a plain and honest basis of mutual
good-will and respect.
II.
THE CLEMENCEAU MINISTRY.
It is a curious coincidence that, at the same time while Prince
Billow at Berlin was propounding to the Beichstag the policy
which, in his opinion, could best establish the German Monarchy,
M. Clemenceau, as Prime Minister of France, was propounding
382 The Empire Review
the policy which, in his opinion, was best qualified to establish
the French Kepublic. I am well aware that the British press,
with few exceptions, has hailed the advent to power of the
journalist Premier as a guarantee for the maintenance of a
pacific policy on the part of France, and as a barrier against any
revolutionary agitation. So far, the course of events has justified
the scepticism expressed in my last month's article on foreign
affairs as to a Clemenceau regime being calculated to promote
peace abroad or moderation at home. To anyone acquainted with
the estimate of the new Premier entertained by his fellow-
countrymen, it will be no surprise to learn that M. Clemenceau
has already treated the President of the Eepublic, M. deFallieres,
as a quantite negligeable, has composed his Ministry of Socialists
and partizans of the Commune, and has avowed himself a staunch
adherent of Socialism.
In these circumstances M. Clemenceau seems unlikely to
enlist British sympathies on behalf of Proudhon's doctrine
enunciated in the days of the Second Kepublic that " La pro-
priete" c'est le vol." Under the Third Kepublic, M. Clemenceau
has improved upon this definition of Proudhon, by adding the
corollary that robbery ceases to be robbery when it is effected
by taking property away from its legal owners and transferring
it by force to the Proletariat. The dogma attributed to the
Jesuits that the end justifies the means, is now endorsed not
only by M. Viviani, the Minister of Labour, but by his colleagues
in the Clemenceau regime, and by the Chamber, who decided
by an overwhelming majority that the speech he delivered in
the Chamber of Deputies on his accession to office as the first
Minister of Labour should be placarded at the public cost in
every Commune throughout France. The chosen apostle of the
latter day Socialist evangel, not content with advocating the
right of labour to participate in all property earned by industry
and thrift, proceeded to deliberately insult the enormous multi-
tude of French citizens who entertain a belief in any kind of
religion or in the existence of a Supreme Being. The words he
employed for this purpose leave no possibility of doubt as to their
significance.
The Eevolution [it is eminently characteristic of a Frenchman that he
should take it for granted that the French Eevolution is the only revolution
known to mankind] , the Republic of 1848, the Third Republic, had emanci-
pated the citizen. That had not sufficed. They [we presume the Socialists
are the party to which M. Viviani alludes] had fought against the religious
chimera. Altogether, and with a magnificent gesture, they had extinguished
in tJie heavens stars that would never again be lighted. But did they fancy
their work was done. It had only just begun.
The words I have underlined seem to me a most extraordinary
compound of childish vanity and senile foolishness. Even the
Foreign Affairs 383
most ignorant of mankind must be aware that belief in a Supreme
Deity is held by an overwhelming majority of the human race,
that this belief has prevailed for countless ages, and that so far it
shows no signs of having lost its hold on the minds of men. The
fact, if fact it is, that absolute Atheism is the creed of a section of
the French nation, does not prove that the creed has been adopted,
or is ever likely to be adopted by France as a nation. The
mystery of the world's creation never has been solved, and
probably can never be solved, if at all, on this side the grave. I
am well aware that such a subject is not one that can be dis-
cussed with propriety in the pages of a review devoted to the
consideration of mundane affairs. I am still better aware that I
am not personally competent to discuss it with advantage. All I
feel justified in saying is, that if it is impossible to prove the exist-
ence of a Supreme Power, it is still more impossible to disprove
its existence. Under these circumstances, I am utterly at a loss
to comprehend what could have induced the French Socialists to
assume an infallibly greater infallibility than that claimed by the
Pope of Home, and to announce urbi et orbi that any belief in an
over-ruling Deity is an exploded chimera. The declaration that
there is not, never has been, and never can be a God, has been passed
by the Chamber, without any protest on the part of M. Clemenceau
and his colleagues, and with their consent and approval the speech
of M. Viviani, including the words I have underlined, has been
printed and placarded in every hamlet throughout France. To
shake a red rag in the face of a bull may be an act of courage, but
it has never yet been considered an act of wisdom.
Probably the general view of mankind in regard to the order
of the Universe is best expressed in the English language by Lord
Macaulay, the most lucid and level-headed of English writers, in
a passage of his article on Gladstone's well-nigh forgotten treatise
on " The State in its Kelations with the Church." The passage
runs thus :
But the hopes and fears of man are not limited to this short life and to this
visible world. He finds himself surrounded by the signs of a power and wisdom
higher than his own ; and in all ages and nations, men of all orders of intellect,
from Bacon and Newton, down to the rudest tribes of cannibals, have believed
in the existence of some superior mind. Thus far the voice of mankind is
unanimous.
It is against this hereditary belief, sanctioned as no other article
of faith has ever been by the consensus humani generis, that
M. Viviani has raised his puny protest, which M. Clemenceau,
as Prime Minister, has formally endorsed in the name of the
French Republic. Such is the message which the Socialist
Ministry has addressed to France. Strange as it may appear to
the authors of this new Evangel, the stars in their courses keep
on moving in their accustomed order, and will shine as brightly,
384 The Empire Review
in spite of the " magnificent gesture " by which Messrs. Clemen-
ceau, Viviani and Co. claim to have swept them into space never
to be relit again.
I confess the chief result of this silly rhodomontade of
M. Viviani's, which M. Clemenceau has adopted as his message
to his fellow-countrymen, is to shake my confidence in his
statesmanship, not only in domestic but in foreign affairs. I am
assured by his English admirers, who regard him as a " heaven-
born " Minister, that his accession to power is a guarantee for
the preservation of European peace. I wish I could feel certain
about this. He is, I admit most readily, a very clever speaker, a
brilliant journalist and an astute politician, but these qualities are
not inconsistent with a lack of statecraft.
I have some personal reason for my doubts on this point.
Last year I published an article in The Empire Review narrating
an interview I had had with M. Clemenceau some eight years
before, and which I thought threw considerable light on his
political character. I am too old a journalist to entertain any
delusion as to the shortness of memory characteristic of all
readers of ephemeral literature. M. Clemenceau had never held
office at the date of which I speak, and from a variety of causes
was not regarded in his own country as a serious politician. The
article I allude to is, I have no doubt, well-nigh forgotten nowa-
days, and I trust my readers will excuse me if I repeat the
account of the interview in question, now that M. Clemenceau
has become a very important factor in French politics.
Some eight years ago I happened to be at Carlsbad, and there (through rny
friend the late Admiral Maxse) received a message from M. Clemenceau, with
whom I had only a bowing acquaintance, to the effect that he should like to
have an interview with me in order to secure my co-operation (as a publicist)
in an enterprise with whose object he was certain (he said) I should sympathise.
Subsequently he paid me a visit, at which he proceeded to propound his ideas
with the marvellous lucidity of statement so much more common amidst
Frenchmen than amongst Englishmen. He commenced by asking me to
admit that France never would be contented so long as Alsace and Lorraine
remained German provinces. He added that, so long as France was dis-
satisfied, there could be no lasting peace in Europe.
Subject to certain qualifications I was prepared to make the admissions
demanded.* If that is so, M. Clemenceau continued, you will surely agree with
me that if the great European Powers combined to impress upon Germany the
paramount necessity of converting Alsace and Lorrance into a neutral State,
acting as a buffer between France and Germany, the Government of Berlin
could not possibly resist the pressure of an united Europe. I demurred to this
contention on the ground that all the arguments in the world would not induce
the Fatherland to forgo the rewards of her hard-fought and hard- won victory ;
that to the best of my belief no single European Power was prepared to go to
war with Germany in order to compel her to surrender Alsace and Lorraine ;
and that, to my certain knowledge, my own country had not the remotest idea
See September Number, 1905.
Foreign Affairs 385
of taking up arms for the sake of emancipating the Alsatians and Lorrainers
from Teutonic rule. Besides, I added, Alsace and Lorraine would prove too
small an area to be an effective buffer.
About the latter objection (M. Clemenceau replied) I am entirely in accord
with you. In order to make the neutral State formidable, and a real barrier
against aggression on the part of either of its neighbours, I propose that
Germany should be called upon to cede the left bank of the Rhine to the buffer
State. After that there was no more on my part to be said. I explained that
I should simply stultify myself by arguing in the (British) Press that Germany
should be deprived of the left bank of the Rhine (as far as Mayence) in order
to reconcile France to the loss of Alsace and Lorraine. France, according to
M. Clemenceau, would never accept any settlement for her lost provinces un-
less this settlement involved some humiliation for Germany. I mention this
incident, which fell within my own experience, not on account of its intrinsic
importance, but because it serves to show the sentiment about Alsace and
Lorraine which prevails even amongst level-headed Frenchmen. No Minister,
no public man, no influential politician in France has, as yet, had the courage
to come forward and say that Alsace and Lorraine must in common-sense be
written off as assets in the national balance-sheet of the French Republic.
It seems to me that a politician who could, out of his own
mind, originate a scheme so absurd and so unjust, and above all
so impracticable, is not a statesman to be credited with political
ability and to command public confidence at home or abroad.
I am not aware whether any action was ever taken by M.
Clemenceau to carry out his scheme of forming a league of the
European Powers in order to coerce Germany into abandoning
the fruits of her victorious campaign, but if so it certainly met
with no response on the part of the Continental Powers. The
only explanation I can suggest is that M. Clemenceau was led
astray by two delusions common to most Frenchmen. The first
delusion is that France enjoys the sympathy and respect of all
the leading Powers of Europe on account of her intellectual
superiority. The second delusion is that England would welcome
any opportunity of destroying the strength of Germany as a
commercial competitor, and of defeating her possible rivalry as
a naval Power. I am not therefore surprised to learn that the
Prime Minister of France is a strong advocate of an entente
cordiale between England and Russia, similar to that which exists
between England and France. If he could induce our Government
to join the Dual Alliance he would have made a material advance
towards the attainment of the ideas foreshadowed in the interview
to which I have referred. I doubt greatly whether we realise in
England the extent to which Frenchmen are convinced that Eng-
land would gladly form an Anglo-French offensive and defensive
alliance, if by so doing we could crush the growth of Germany.
I am quite aware that in the opinion of the thick and thin
supporters of the entente cordiale the new Premier of France is
the right man in the right place. We are assured by his many
admirers in the British press that M. Clemenceau is not only a
386 The Empire Review
clever master of parliamentary tactics, an assertion which I fully
admit, but also a man of strong common-sense, and fully alive to
the facts which dominate the policy of the French Kepublic and
therefore opposed to any bellicose action, an assertion which,
pending further evidence, I decline to endorse. The first duty
of a patriotic French statesman, to my thinking, is to remove the
causes of offence, political, economic, and theological, which
divide the French nation into hostile camps, and not to identify
himself with any one party to the detriment of all others. What
so far has been the policy of the Premier ? For the first time in
the history of the Third Eepublic he has chosen his colleagues
amidst the ranks of the Socialist party, the partisans of the
Commune, and the most rabid of the Bed Republicans.
It may be said with truth that the support of the Socialist party
is absolutely essential to M. Clemenceau's obtaining a majority in
the Chambers, and that therefore as an Opportunist he had no
choice except to purchase the support of the Socialists on their
own terms, and only carried out the policy of his great exemplar
Gambetta. But Gambetta, whatever his other defects may
have been, was a man of genius, which M. Clemenceau is not.
Though his Ministry has been in office only a few weeks, he has
contrived to alienate not only the Catholics, but all the vast section
of the French nation which detests Socialism, which hates the
memories of the Commune, which desires the maintenance of law
and order, and which attaches extreme importance to the rights of
property and to the claim of the individual to manage his own
affairs in as far as is consistent with his duty to the State.
Straws show which way the wind is blowing, and a recent
incident in the Chamber of Deputies which has attracted little
notice abroad seems to me to show the utter indifference evinced
by the new Ministry to the sentiments which command the
respect of average common-place French citizens. On the first
occasion of addressing the Chambers, M. Viviani, not content of
having deposed the Deity in the name of the Chambers, advocated
the claims of labour to a share in property. He advocated these
claims in the following words : " Liberty of thought, liberty of
speech, liberty of writing were not everything. The working
classes demanded social liberty as well. Liberty for a man was
the power to act. Where does Social liberty reside," he asked, and
his answer was " in property." Now, if words have any meaning,
this utterance is intended to convey that the right to property is
one of the chief, if not the chief rights of labour. It follows
logically that as property is for the most part exclusively in the
hands of the well-to-do classes, the inherent right of labour to
property can only be enforced by taking away property from its
existing holders and by handing it over to the working classes.
Again, the new Minister of War, Colonel Picquart, whose chief
Foreign Affairs 387
claim to the supreme command of the French Army seems to be
his personal unpopularity amidst French officers as a body, has
inaugurated his regime by compelling every officer to take a
solemn oath of strict allegiance to Republic institutions under
pain of dismissal from the military service if he declines to swear
that he is not only prepared to obey the orders of the Republic
but that he believes in the abstract superiority of the Republic
over every other form of government. If these things are done
in the green leaf what may we expect in the dry ?
Between the rival programmes of Germany and France, of the
Imperial Chancellor and the Republican Premier, British sympathies
will side with the former, not with the latter. M. Clemenceau, if I
am correctly informed, has never modified the opinion he expressed
to me at Carlsbad that there never can be peace in Europe until
France is satisfied by the restoration of Alsace and Lorraine to
the French Republic. In common with the immense majority of
Frenchmen he entertains a conviction that France has gained so
much of late years in her military organisation as to be certain of
success provided in case of need she has England at her back.
On the strength of this belief, which England regards as an utter
delusion, he is indifferent to the maintenance of the peace of
Europe. M. Clemenceau is treading a dangerous path, which
may lead to a war wherein England, contrary to his sanguine
hopes, will certainly take no part or share.
III.
THE MONEOE DOCTEINB.
It is not obvious to ordinary apprehension why Mr. Root, as
the mouthpiece of President Roosevelt, should have selected the
present moment for reaffirming the Monroe doctrine in its most
extravagant form. Addressing an American audience at Kansas
City, the Secretary of State, if he is reported correctly, used the
following words : —
The famous declaration of President Monroe arrayed the organised and
rapidly increasing power of the United States as an obstacle to European
interference, and made it for ever plain that the cost of European aggression
would be greater than any advantage that could be won even by successful
aggression. . . . The particular circumstances which led to the declaration no
longer exist. No Holy Alliance now threatens the partition of South America.
No European colonisation on the west coast threatens to exclude us from the
Pacific Ocean.
If this is so, it follows logically that the causes of this pro-
nunciamento having disappeared, the declaration has become null
and void. On the contrary, Mr. Root proceeds to state —
that the principle of the Monroe doctrine is as wise an expression of sound
388 The Empire Review
political judgment to-day, as truthful a representation of the sentiments and
instincts of the American people, and as living in its force as an effective rule
of conduct whenever occasion shall arise, as it was on December 2, 1823.
As a matter of fact, the Monroe doctrine has never been
accepted by any one of the European Powers except in so far as
England can be said to have accepted it ad hoc as calculated at
the time of its assertion to assist the South American States in
their attempt to emancipate themselves from the rule of Spain.
Moreover, it was accompanied by an announcement on the part
of all the leading statesmen of the generation by whom the
declaration was formulated, and by statesmen of many succeeding
generations, that, as a necessary corollary, the United States would
refrain from any intervention in European affairs. This engage-
ment has been disregarded time after time. The most important
of its many infringements was committed when, at the instance
of the American Kepublic, Great Britain was virtually compelled
to submit the claim of British Guiana to arbitration. Under
the Roosevelt administration the United States have repeatedly
asserted their claim to intervene in European affairs, and have
thereby repudiated the understanding under which the European
Powers had consented to raise no formal protest as to the validity
of the Monroe doctrine.
Encouraged by the indifference of the Continental Powers to
an unjust contention, by which Great Britain has been hitherto
the chief, if not the sole sufferer, the Government of Washington
has construed an obsolete and one-sided declaration as justifying
the Republic of the West in regarding any attempt on the part of
any European State to employ armed force against any South
American States which has repudiated its legal obligations, as an
unpardonable offence. The United States are thereby placed on
the horns of a dilemma. If the South American Republics are
independent States, they have a legal right to contract loans with
European countries, and if they decline to pay their legal obliga-
tions, the States whose subjects have been thereby deliberately
defrauded have an equally legal right to levy execution on the
defaulters. If, on the other hand, the South American Republics
are not independent States and cannot legally contract foreign
loans, the United States become responsible for their loans, and
must either levy execution themselves or reimburse the subjects
of European Powers who have suffered by the default of these
South American debtors. When the conclusion is once brought
to the American mind, both President Roosevelt and Mr. Root
will have to withdraw their spread-eagle utterances or to take the
consequences of their inconsiderate action. It is idle for them to
take their stand upon a one-sided declaration, made eighty-three
years ago, and which is as obsolete to-day as the manifesto of the
Holy Alliance. EDWARD DICEY.
Australia as She Is 389
AUSTRALIA AS SHE IS
ON THE EVE OF A GENERAL ELECTION.
BY G. H. M. ADDISON (of Brisbane).
" NOT one of us knows everything, not even the youngest of
us," was a common expression of a leading Australian judge.
Australia is the youngest of all nations, therefore a little of the
misdirected enthusiasm of youth, a little overweening confidence
in her own powers, and a little rash experiment on dangerous
lines may well be forgiven her. When a Roman statesman, after
centuries of civilisation, had to ask, "What is truth?" it is
hardly strange that so young a country should often lose her way
in searching for the same virtue. Before federation Australia
consisted of a group of States differing radically in their fiscal,
racial and internal policy. In fact, a collection as heterogeneous
as were the States of Greece before the Persian invasion. When
the union of these unsympathetic elements was effected it was
not cemented by the blood of either martyrs or patriots, nor was
it the result of outside pressure. Federation in fact was not
so much an evolution, as the solving of an academic political
problem. The initial difficulties in the way of this consummation
were interstate jealousy, especially between New South Wales
and Victoria, and the inexcusable ignorance displayed by every
State as to the essential conditions of the others.
After many tentative meetings of delegates the conference
that finally fixed the basis of union met without any representa-
tion from Queensland. There was a strong feeling amongst a
large party in Queensland that the policy of that State should be
an effort to delay federation for some years. Queensland's
strength lies in her enormous wealth in raw products, a wider
local market for which would greatly compensate her for the loss
of many of her minor industries inevitable on the inauguration
of a uniform tariff. Unfortunately at the time that federation
was inaugurated a drought had commenced robbing her of the
raw products, so that there was for a time no profit in that direc-
tion to set against the inevitable loss in the other. Queensland
VOL. XII,— No. 71. 2 D
• 390 The Empire Review
in posse the wealthiest of all the States in esse was the most
unfortunate, and it was certain that if she then entered the
federal ranks it would be with less influence than her great
resources might reasonably lead her to expect. The untimely
death of Mr. T. J. Byrne for a time left Queensland politics in
a chaotic condition, and with undue haste that State rushed into
the Federal ranks without having had any opportunity, as did the
other minor States of the union beforehand, of safeguarding her
interests.
The importance of Queensland to the consummation of
federation lay in the fact that her territory is north of New
South Wales on the eastern coast of Australia. Now the two
rival cities for supremacy in the new Federation were Sydney
and Melbourne. In the absence of Queensland from the union,
Sydney would be at the extreme end of commerce and further
than Melbourne from every State capital. For this reason it was
evident that the attitude of New South Wales towards federation
would be largely influenced by that of Queensland. The leading
orators of Australia, both federalists and anti-federalists, made
Queensland a verbal battle-ground, and when finally she threw
in her lot with the union, it was realised that at last federation
was an accomplished fact.
The preliminary federal franchise, although not so demo-
cratic as that afterwards adopted, was in advance of the franchise
in many of the States and gave the Labour Party a stronger force
than was at first anticipated. In fact, the representatives of this
class platform formed a compact party that would have effective
strength when any split occurred amongst its opponents. And
a split on the fiscal question was inevitable from the first. While
Sir Edmund Barton, the first Federal Premier, had around him
some of Australia's best politicians (unfortunately after the death
of Sir Henry Parkes and Sir Thomas Mcllwraith Australia
possessed few statesmen) there were enough leading men outside
his ranks to form a troublesome opposition. In fact, after the
first session, which was largely devoted to perfecting the machinery
of legislation, the only guarantee that the Government would
continue in office was in their partially pandering to the Labour
Party. At this time while the members of the Labour Party were
generally accused of socialistic leanings and individual members
were known to go far in that direction, the party as a whole
had not, as afterwards happened, declared itself socialistic. It
numbered many good men no more extreme in their aims than
the average English Radical.
On the other hand, there were some of a different stamp ;
men who had half digested a few of the more simple facts in
political economy, and on these based illogical deductions and
Australia as She Is 391
posed as if they thought the whole science one of their own
discovery. These, however, obtained no prominence even in their
own party, and on the rest the wider horizon and the greater
responsibility entailed by membership of the house soon began to
exercise a sobering influence.
The first serious evidence of the Labour Party's influence on
legislation was in the removal of the tax on tea and kerosene.
This was a great blow to the finances of the smaller States,
and as intended, forced direct taxation, in the shape of either
income or land tax, on those States which had previously been
able to exist without either.
A prominent cry at the first Commonwealth election was " A
White Australia," and it was at once recognised that whether this
question was to be settled on statesmanlike lines or with the
dangerous thoughtlessness of the political fanatic, depended
largely on the strength of the Labour Party in the Federal
Parliament. The point was not left long in doubt, for soon a
series of measures were passed dealing with coloured labour and
the question of general alien immigration, some of them so
extreme as to shock the more well-balanced colonial thinker and
to evoke strong criticism on this side of the globe.
It must not, however, be forgotten that whatever mistakes of
exaggeration were made at that period were made on a noble
impulse and in pursuit of a high ideal. Surrounded as Australia
is by all kinds of coloured nationalities and having America before
her eyes as an example of the evil of mixed coloured races, it is
perhaps excusable that she should go to some extreme in settling
this question. A question that required immediate settlement,
seeing that already we had in the country a fairly large population
of half castes principally Asiatics, and the policy to be effective,
had to aim at prevention rather than cure.
The faults of administration rather than those of legis-
lation were, however, responsible for most of the incidents
in connection with Australia's immigration policy, which would
be laughable if they were not so serious in their results — the
six hatters, the Shipwrecked Mariners, examining an Austrian
in Modern Greek, the affair in connection with the Rajah of
Johore and all the absurdities in the Customs administra-
tion, a group of incidents that make one regret that Gilbert
is not alive to chronicle them, were all based on a bigoted
and in some cases strained reading of the Acts. The various
members of a civil service entirely new had no precedents to
guide them and probably little knowledge of the mental attitude
of the ministers regulating their various departments. Conse-
quently, when exceptional cases arose, a strict compliance with
the literal reading of an Act at times led to absurdities. These
2 D 2
392 The Empire Review
incidents were felt by all to be a humiliation and aroused more
indignation in Australia than in England, so that there is little
danger of their repetition.
After a period of administration under the sufferance of the
Labour Party, Mr. Deakin, who followed Sir Edmund Barton as
Federal Premier, decided that this triangular condition of parties
was opposed to the best interests of the Commonwealth. He
therefore agreed to leave the final settlement of the fiscal
question in abeyance, and his following formed a coalition with
Mr. G. H. Eeid. This alliance seemed a guarantee that liberal
legislation would be affected without any dangerous tampering
with the fundamental principles of political economy. Mr. Deakin
himself, while promising his loyal support, refused to take office
in this new ministry, and soon went back on his previously
avowed opinion and took up the battle of protection in partially
recognised alliance with the Labour Party. Australia is now on
the eve of a general election, in which Mr. G. H. Reid, taking up
the banner of freedom for all classes, will endeavour to force a
clean-cut issue against Socialism and its allies. If the result of
State elections can be taken as a guide, they show that there is a
sound majority still left in Australia in favour of progress and
reform on the sound lines of political economy rather than
dangerous experiments on the unknown fields of a Socialistic
Utopia.
Australia has never been slow to recognise the tie of kinship,
and although often smarting under the feeling of having been
misunderstood by her kinsmen across the waters, has by her past
conduct earned our belief in her readiness to stand or fall for the
preservation of the integrity of the Great Empire of which she is
proud of forming a part.
G. H. M. ADDISON.
BRISBANE.
The Native Problem in Natal
393
THE NATIVE PROBLEM IN NATAL
BY MAURICE S. EVANS, C.M.G., M.L.A.
NOTE.
[Sir Henry McCallutn has again given evidence of his care and
consideration for the native population of Natal by appointing a
Commission " to inquire into and report upon matters concerning
native policy and administration and legislation affecting natives."
In view of recent events it may perhaps be timely to recite the
special references. They run as follows :
1. The definition of the word
" Native."
2. The amendment of the Code of
Native Law, and its extension to the
Province of Zululand.
3. Exemption of Natives from the
operation of Native Law.
4. The marriage of Natives amongst
themselves, and with others than
Natives by Christian rites.
5. Acts relating to identification and
other passes.
6. Contracts between Native tenants
and their landlords.
7. The Courts Act of 1898.
8. The limitation of interest upon
money lent to Natives.
Bills recently prepared by the
Government dealing with the subjects
above enumerated will be placed be-
fore the Commission for consideration,
together with papers relating thereto,
and the Commissioners will be at
liberty to extend their inquiries into
all matters which may be relative to
these measures.
9. Education ; industrial training ;
the ecclesiastical control of religious
activities.
10. Labour and the relation of land-
lord and tenant with reference in
particular to the following questions :
(a) The law of Masters and Native
servants.
(6) Bents and the terms of occupa-
tion of private lands by Natives ; the
rendering of personal services in lieu
of rent or in repayment of loans.
(c) Touting for labour.
(d) Facilities for promoting the sup-
ply of Native labour.
(e) The regulation and limitation of
togt labour ; the employment of
Natives as ricksha pullers.
(/) Municipal and township regula-
tions affecting the employment of
Native labour.
(g) The entry into and the departure
from the Colony of Native labourers,
whether by land or sea ; the transit of
Native labourers to other Colonies.
11. The political and administrative
aspects of the work of the Natal
Native Trust; the control of lands
vested hi the Trust whether as loca-
tions or mission reserves.
12. The desirability or otherwise of
the control by. Magistrates of the
police employed in duties connected
with the Magistrates' offices and courts.
394
The Empire Review
13. The adequacy or otherwise of the
machinery employed in the administra-
tion of Native affairs, and in the ad-
ministration, of justice between natives
and the qualifications to be required
of persons engaged in such administra-
tion ; the powers of Native chiefs ; the
advisability or otherwise of separating
the Native judicial and political busi-
ness from the duties of the Magistrates'
Courts.
14. The cost of administration and
the fair share therein of the Native
population with particular reference
to the sufficiency or otherwise of the
present contribution to revenue by
Natives in this Colony.
15. The illicit sale of liquor to Natives
and restriction of beer drinking.
16. Generally to inquire whether any
of the existing laws require amend-
ment with a view to removing any just
cause of dissatisfaction on the part of
the Natives.
Mr. Maurice Evans is himself one of the Commissioners, and,
although his article was in print before the inquiry was instituted,
the views and opinions he expresses may be taken to represent
the line of examination he is likely to follow during the course of
the proceedings. Like the references above quoted, Mr. Evans
travels over a wide area, and much of what he says is applicable
to the native community generally in South Africa. — ED.]
THE Native Question is both large and complicated. It is also
a question on which strong and various views are held, and any
writer may well feel the utmost diffidence in dealing with it. Such
diffidence I certainly feel. After years of thought and observa-
tion, I recognise the difficult nature of the problem more and
more, and realise how little I know of the underlying instincts
and mental habits of the native. And so it is with every person
who is brought into near relations with the native races. While
in the Legislative Assembly I was much struck with the fact that
when native questions came up for discussion, the members, who
were expert linguists, and who had been in close touch with
these people all their lives, invariably differed in their opinions
as to the manner in which given legislation would be regarded by
the natives. Never did they all agree, seldom did two or three
views coincide; often there were as many opinions as expert
members.
The late unrest provides an example of this. Before the un-
fortunate affair at Byrne, the Government assured us, presumably
voicing the opinion of the Native Department, that there was
not the slightest cause for anxiety — the natives were perfectly
loyal and quiet. Within a few days, Martial Law was proclaimed,
and Ministers spoke as if we were in the greatest danger from a
general rising. I know men out with the columns who still state
that no evidence was visible of any combination, in fact, they
say the natives were as alarmed as ourselves. Others insist that
The Native Problem in Natal 395
the Colony was only saved by a hair's breadth. Years ago I hung
on the breath of the "native expert" — I cannot say I do so
to-day. I go to him for facts on some particular question, but
only a few experts are competent, by outside experience, breadth
of view and education, to express their experience in broad
generalisations. These few we want, and badly want, to give
expression to their opinions now, and so help to solve this
momentous question. Feeling, as I do, that the ultimate test of
our race in South-East Africa rests on the manner in which we
deal with the Native Question, I regard it a duty, imposed on
all having the welfare of our race and of the natives at heart,
to do what they can to elucidate the problem. In venturing to
express my opinions, I am most willing to alter or to cancel
anything I may say, if further light can be thrown on any aspect
of the question, and while I can truthfully say that for years
this matter has never been out of my thoughts, I recognise that
the best efforts of many minds are necessary for its solution.
Indeed, to a large extent I am but editing, collating information
and opinions, gained from many men in all parts of South-East
Africa, with the hope that others, better qualified, may help
on the work.
Many persons are impressed with the immense importance
of doing more than has been done in the past, and express
the view that " something must be done," without giving the
subject the hard mental attention that it demands. I must
deprecate this attitude ; to do something without being fairly
certain of our road and its destination may be fatal. Never
forget and never hurry is the true method to adopt. We want
a line of policy which must be well considered, and which must
continue for years to come, founded on a plan thought out calmly
and judicially, and followed in the same spirit. And yet no step
should be taken which should be irrevocable. We are sure to
make mistakes, however wisely we plan, and it should be possible
to retrace or alter without destroying the structure. For years
Natal as a whole has been sunk in apathy on this matter, the
danger now is that public attention, being excited by the late
unrest, we may rush in without sufficient thought and irremediable
damage ensue. I have said that Natal, as a whole, has been
sunk in apathy, but this is not universally the case. I know
many men who will not, in ordinary circumstances, mention the
Native Question, though for years they have felt it ever present
as a black cloud looming over them — men who, not cowards or
alarmists, far from it, yet have felt an ever-present sense of an
essential duty left undone, and which will have to be faced in the
future by them or their children. Despairing of a solution, some,
on account of this hidden yet ever-present problem, would leave
396 The Empire Review
the Colony, but feel it their duty to remain, loath to tear up
their roots which are in the land. Others are more hopeful,
though not seeing a clear lead. To both I appeal to come forward,
and try to find a satisfactory solution.
I range myself with those who hold a reasonable optimism. I
feel we have a fine race of people given into our charge, people
who, while rapidly changing, are not degenerate, who under
right guidance are capable of much, and under firm, considerate
and wise rule are very easily governed. Our economic position
in Natal is not what its well-wishers would desire ; the raw
material lies to our hand in the natives — a great, undeveloped
asset. But above all, our duty, our clear palpable duty, is in
facing our responsibility, and as the ruling race to think for and
of the natives, leading them along the right lines of development.
No individual or race can stand still, advance or recede they
must, and we must control and direct on the higher lines, or
worse will be our fate and theirs.
Perhaps it would have been better for the native races,
better for ourselves in some respects, had we never come into
contact. Many colonists think that our social and economic
conditions would have been sounder had we found this an empty
land, or practically without any native races as was Australia ;
they hold that we are weakened in fibre by their presence, and
much that might have been done, had we been thrown on our
own resources for all our progress, has been left undone. From
the native point of view also, it is open to academic argument
whether he was not happier and more contented even under
the arbitrary rule of a Tyaka or Dingaan. The system was in
many ways suited to his stage of development, the outcome of
the genius of the race, and certainly it resulted in an exceptionally
fine race physically, and to a certain extent mentally and morally.
But these to-day are questions for a debating society. We have
come upon the scene, the whole environment of the native
is being rapidly altered, and we must deal with things as
they are.
Half-a-century ago, or more, the natives were living under a
political and social system, simple indeed, but suited to their needs,
one which provided for their particular temperament and require-
ments. Under it, occupation of some kind was provided for all
members of the body politic ; all they wanted had to be manu-
factured by themselves, and there was opportunity for the exercise
of a certain amount of manual skill and ingenuity. For the men
the military organisation kept them in disciplined subjection, and
war expeditions and hunting worked off their superfluous energy,
while the social and home-life included much of interest,
such as ancient customs and folk-lore. To develop their wits
The Native Problem in Natal 397
and keep them alert was the ever-present danger of some
arbitrary action on the part of their chiefs acting either on his
own initiative or working through the witch doctor. Taking it
all in all, their life provided for at least their physical and social
instincts, and was adapted to their needs. Now much is changed.
Military organisation, with its attendant discipline and interest,
are forbidden, and hunting is largely of the past. The skill and
labour required in the manufacture of their simple weapons and
agricultural and domestic utensils are no longer called for — the
" winkel " supplies their needs. Some of their old customs are
forbidden by the white man, and others, with their interesting
folk-lore, are being rapidly forgotten.
In place of all this they now have a life, secure it is true — no
chief can eat them up — but what of interest is there in their
lives? Their physical energies are still present, but the old
outlets are no more. A full natural life has been artificially
restricted, vigorous action and pleasure no longer go hand in
hand. Idle in the sense of not doing much continuous work they
were in the past, but they were not condemned to inactivity, and
their strict social code kept them well under control. Idle they
still are, but in a different sense, little pleasurable activity is
possible for them, and the day that would have been passed in
making weapons or hunting is now passed in listless laziness.
Unfortunately, too, the control which kept them under discipline
is weakening, and irresponsible and dangerous independence is
taking its place.
An active, full-blooded, virile people kept under these con-
ditions is unnatural and dangerous. The old order provided for
the letting of blood when the native became plethoric, even to
those in high places. Here we have a race actually only in the
pastoral, hunting, and fighting stage, yet artificially placed under
the rule of a race in the industrial-commercial stage, and the con-
ditions applicable to and governing the latter, made applicable to
the former. Left to themselves the Zulus might have gone on in
the old mode for many generations, possibly gradually and harm-
.lessly evolving a higher mode of life, but arbitrarily and within a
few years to have their customs and social code broken into by a
civilisation gradually evolved through hundreds, nay thousands,
of years must be disastrous.
What then is to take the place of these old activities and
customs gone for ever? What is to give them the interest in
life, and activity which are necessary for a strong race such as
they are ? I confess I can think but of one which will fit in with
our civilisation — demand such exertion from them as will keep
their physical energies duly exercised, and at the same time give
them an interest in life, which we can recognise and encourage.
398 The Empire Review
On this last I place great stress. An uninterested people is a
degenerate people, and a degenerate people is a dangerous people,
especially when it has the physical power of numbers. The
remedy is the old one — work ; and to fill the gap properly, to take
the place of what we have taken away, it must be more than
mere work, done because circumstances drive. The ideal would
be willing work done with hope.
We are constantly talking, especially in these later days, of a
native policy, and a tackling of the native question, but I have
not seen defined in unmistakable and set phrase what that
policy is or should be. I think it would be well if I now so define
it. To the missionary it may be one thing, to the man in the
street another, to many, I fear, it only means keeping the native
in abject subjection and ensuring the lowest class of manual
labour at the lowest possible figure. To these last I would say,
their ideal is impossible — if we don't lead the native the native
will drive us. But I am trying to look at it from the statesman's
standpoint, and I would define a native policy as one that aims at
gradually making the surroundings and conditions of the native
such, that in his humble way he may be a satisfied citizen of the
country without any desire to fight against constituted authority.
Encourage the native to work and gradually do more and better
work, giving him hope and a lead along the only possible line of
development for his good and the good of the Colony.
This, I grant, only deals with the economic and political sides
of the question, and our natives have also a strong emotional side.
I know the opinion of the South African Native Commission, as ex-
pressed in their report, is that for the true and lasting development
of the native, provision must be forthcoming for this side, and the
suggestion is made to encourage missionary work amongst them.
Now I know that many of my fellow-colonists think that missions
have done the native actual harm, transforming an honest, simple
man into an educated scoundrel. Others, who do not go so far,
have little or no sympathy with missions. Much of this is due,
I think, to misapprehension. They see an unpleasantly self-
conscious, over-clothed dandy, who has lost the simple, natural,
polite manners of his people, and whose self-assertion grates upon
the white man. They think also that an unduly large proportion
of native criminals belongs to this class of native. But it does
not necessarily follow that all the unpleasant or all the native
criminals, or even many of them, owe their objectionable habits
to association with mission work.
Missionaries and mission stations differ, of course. To those
persons who rail at all I would say, go and look at the Inanda
Girls' Station, under the rule of Mrs. Edwards. There girls are
taught not only the elements of an ordinary primary education, but
The Native Problem in Natal 399
habits of order and cleanliness, house-work, laundry-work, and
systematic labour in the fields. I think the harshest critic of
missions would come away from such a visit deeply impressed
with the work accomplished. I think, perhaps, on many stations
more attention might be given to the manners of the pupils,
which, I admit, sometimes contrast unfavourably with those of
the kraal native. Attention to this would go far to remove the
prejudices of many critics. I am endeavouring to elucidate the lines
upon which our natives may be led to higher things, the policy
we must follow if we are to properly train his dormant faculties,
and make him of value to himself and the State, and we must
admit the value of the mission training on his emotional and
moral nature.
While the Government can do much to encourage the greater
development of the native's physical and mental faculties, can use
wise control and discipline, and prevent outrageous laxity and
insubordination, I do not see how they can instil principles and
provide the inward guide to conduct. That is the special function
of the missionaries. Therefore, when satisfied that the missions
are being worked on right lines, when the Government feels that
the teaching will result in increased loyalty, discipline, and proper
control, it should be the duty of the Native Affairs Department
to give much greater encouragement to missions than has been
given in the past, recognising that they are undertaking a class
of work almost impossible to the secular Government, and yet
absolutely necessary to the all-round and satisfactory progress of
the native.
The South African Native Commission consisted of men of
both British and Dutch descent, of wide experience in native
matters, but no commissioner could be regarded as specially repre-
senting the interests of missions. Yet we find the following
opinions and recommendations in the Commission's most valuable
report : —
For the moral improvement of the native, there is available no
influence equal to that of religious belief (Clause 283).
The Commission considers that the restraints of the law furnish
an inadequate check upon the tendencies towards demoralisation, and
that no merely secular system of morality that might be applied,
would serve to raise the natives' ideals of conduct, or to counteract the
evil influences which have been alluded to, and is of opinion that hope
for the elevation of the native race must depend mainly upon their
acceptance of Christian faith and morals (Clause 286).
It does not seem practicable to propose any measure of support or
aid to the purely spiritual side of missionary enterprise, but the Com-
mission recommends full recognition of the utility of the work of the
churches which have undertaken the duty of evangelising the heathen,
and has adopted the following resolution : — (a) The Commission is satis-
fied that one great element for the civilisation of the natives is to be
400 The Empire Review
found in Christianity ; (b) The Commission is of opinion that regular
moral and religious instruction should be given in all Native Schools
(Clause 289).
Apart from any definite line of policy, which appears to have
been quite absent from the minds of the native authorities,
sufficient has been shown to clearly indicate that the administra-
tion of the Native Affairs Department has been exceedingly lax,
that the officials supposed to look after native interests have
been negligent, and that there has not been that close investiga-
tion and constant watchfulness and thought which are absolutely
essential to the wise and good government of natives. Every-
one who has had experience of governing natives, those who
have been most successful with them, know that constant vigil-
ance and forethought are necessary. You must show them that
you can predict, anticipate events and order things accordingly.
But your hand on ordinary occasions must be light. Unnecessary
interference and overmuch regulation must be avoided ; when,
however, occasion requires, the hand that is ordinarily light must
be heavy and strong. You must provide the mental power and
prescience the natives lack, and your rule must be that of the
iron hand in the velvet glove.
How lamentably the Native Affairs Department has failed in
this respect is shown by recent events. But my object is not to
cast stones, little can now be gained by going over the past. I
want to help to build for the future. At the same time we must,
and at once, put right the defects in administration so clearly
proved to exist. First, it is essential that our magistrates should
be men who, by age, character, ability and experience, are fitted
to command the respect and willing obedience of the natives. "We
all know that this has not been the case in the past. Boys have
been placed in charge of large native districts, and it is impossible
for them to have the necessary control. The private character of
others has been such that the natives openly scoffed at them.
We all know the influence strong character and personality have
upon these people. The influence for good a respected magistrate
can exercise is immense. Take an example. In a district with
a large native population there had been a weak, incompetent
representative of the Government, and the natives were dis-
respectful on the roads and at the Court. A strong magistrate
was appointed, and without any undue exercise of authority,
within a month, the whole attitude of the native population in
the district was changed for the better. The Colony cannot
in this matter afford to be bound by red tape, rules of the service,
seniority, and all the excuses made by or for incompetence. The
best and most suitable men must be got, and Parliament should
absolutely refuse to listen to the grievances or supposed grievances
The Native Problem in Natal 401
of persons who, while unfit, think they should get or keep
appointments on which the good government, nay, the safety of
the Colony depends.
Another important detail which must be put right is the
attitude of the clerks and indunas of the Court to natives attending
the Court on business. In far too many instances the conveni-
ence of these people seems to be a matter of utter indifference to
those placed in positions of authority, often, in addition, natives
are treated in the roughest manner. A good magistrate will not,
of course, allow these things, but many magistrates exercise little
control over those under them, and there is much improper use
of authority. Instances could be given of natives who have
travelled scores of miles being unable to get attention, others
where they have been called upon without sufficient cause, others
where the treatment has been unjust.
Until some three years ago it was possible for a chief, on
going through certain reasonable formalities, to obtain an inter-
view with the Secretary for Native Affairs, when he was able to
state his grievances, make requests, and give information, and so
keep the head of the department in touch with what was troubling
or interesting the people in his district. This practice served also
as a safety-valve. No greater mistake could have been made than
the regulation prohibiting any chief from visiting the Secretary
for Native Affairs unless he had first made a deposition before the
Kesident Magistrate stating his business and his reasons for the
visit. This deposition has to be sent to the head of the depart-
ment, and on the statements made therein permission is granted
or refused. I know this interposition is felt, in some cases, to
be unwise and unjust by the chiefs, and instead of visiting Pieter-
maritzburg and giving information, getting advice and keeping
the department in touch with the people, the chiefs simply stay at
home nursing grievances which might, by a few words and the
exercise of a little tact, be removed. The greatest possible good
might accrue from interviews between chiefs and their rulers
when managed with dignity, tact and discretion. We want to
know all we possibly can regarding the feelings, wishes, aspira-
tions, and difficulties of these people.
The utter want of thought and care in making the chiefs, and
through them the people, acquainted with important changes in
the laws and regulations affecting them has been manifest during
our time of disquietude. One would have thought the utmost
solicitude would have been shown by the Native Affairs Depart-
ment to make those affected by the poll tax fully acquainted with
its provisions, that the proper channels for conveying information
would have been used, the chiefs officially and clearly informed
so that no possible misconception would arise. But what do we
402 The Empire Review
find ? After the magistrates were going round to collect the tax,
four or five months before it was due, there were chiefs who had
never been officially informed, who had, as they said, only heard
it " with their mouths" and not through their ears. These chiefs
naturally felt out of touch with Government, and resented what
appeared to be a slight put upon them. How could they be
expected to keep due authority over their people and make them
observe the law when the authorities did not trouble to make
them acquainted with their duty ! Imagine the feelings of a
chief who, when approached by his people for accurate informa-
tion, could only say that the Government had given him no
information, and who was only able to approach Government for
the information through the magistrate. Yet the chief is held
responsible for his tribe.
In the greater light thrown lately on native affairs it has
transpired that much feeling has existed amongst the natives with
regard to the imposition, by regulation, during the last two or
three years, of £3 per hut on natives having huts on mission
reserves, whereas previously a far smaller amount was demanded.
Many persons also consider — and I am one of them — that the old
practice of calling upon chiefs to furnish men for the road parties
is wrong in principle, and works much mischief. In the case of
strong chiefs it puts an arbitrary power into their hands which is
often used with slight regard to justice. In the case of old or
weak chiefs it is exceedingly and increasingly difficult for them
to comply with the demands of the Government. We have been
doing much, consciously and unconsciously, to reduce the power
of the chiefs, and yet we demand from them the exercise of a
despotic authority, which in some instances we have weakened to
naught. Examples could be given in which heavy and increasing
fines have been imposed for not providing the stated number of
men when compliance was practically impossible. The economic
value of this forced labour may be seen by anyone who takes the
trouble to watch the operations of an average road party. Far
better pay full wages and get willing workers, or let the road
contracts out to men who can meet both these requirements.
A great evil, at present not under control of Government, but
which demands the serious attention of Parliament, is the practice
of Europeans lending money to natives at very high rates of
interest. It is quite common to demand 2s. 6d. per month as
interest on a loan of £1 ; 150 per cent, per annum ! and there are
many instances of natives being " eaten up " by interest — cow and
calf together. Some magistrates recognise these practices, others
do not, and this differentiation causes additional grievances. The
simple fools go on paying these high rates, and I don't suppose
they would regard it as a grievance common to all — for a native,
The Native Problem in Natal 403
having made a bargain, regards it as his own fault if it is a bad
one — but those natives who have lost their all through these
usury transactions have an effect on general native opinion. And
it is general native opinion which makes the attitude of the people
towards the Europeans and the Government. Nothing but harm
to our race can come from this practice.
Great loss occurs to natives through the facility with which
they enter upon litigation and the costs imposed upon them, by
reason of the employment of solicitors in their cases. There are
many honourable men in the profession of the law who would
scorn to deal unfairly with the natives in the matter of law
charges and advice. But others there are whose only aim seems
to be to prolong litigation and make as much as they can out of
the native, irrespective of his interests. The result is not only
heavy loss to those engaged in a suit, but most unfortunately a
feeling arises among these people that a judgment may be bought ;
and that not the justice of his cause, but the length of his purse
will get the verdict of the Court.
Mr. Plant, Inspector of Native Schools, has written a most
valuable book, ' The Zulu in Three Tenses,' which should be read
by every colonist desirous of studying the native question. In
this book the author makes the following statement and
recommendation :
On account of the peculiarities of the native mind and
their very keen sense of fairness, it is very important that
the justice of the magistrates' decisions should be fully
recognised by them. To secure this, it would be well that
Courts for the trial of native cases, that is cases between
one native and another, should be Courts of Equity, as
distinct from Courts of Law. No law agent of any kind
should be allowed to practice in these Courts ; there should
be no third party between the magistrate and the parties
bringing the case ; the evidence should be heard in full, and
the decision should be based on the evidence adduced.
There are those who will find fault with this view, and bring
forward all kinds of reasons to show why it is impossible to act
upon it, but when, as shown in the cases cited above, the interests
of colonists and native alike demand that the present practice
shall cease, surely the opinions of a section cannot be allowed to
stand in the way of reform.
Perhaps even a greater evil is the excessively high rents
charged to natives for the right to squat on private lands.
The system of kafir farming, by which land-owners, resident and
absentee, are enabled to get a return in rent from natives to keep
their lands unproductive in the proper sense of the term, has
been one of the main reasons for the lack of agricultural develop-
404 The Empire Review
ment in Natal. At the same time the high rent demanded and
obtained from the natives has been the cause of much dissatisfac-
tion among them in the past, and if continued will be one of the
most potent causes for trouble in the future. The rents so
charged run from £2 to £5 per hut, and generally carry with
them rights which the land-owners claim are fair equivalents for
this rent. Usually the native tenant is allowed the choice of
ploughable land, and can run as many head of stock as he
chooses. At first sight this seems a fair return for the rent
charged. But the native is such a slovenly cultivator, and his
stock brings in so little in the shape of ready money, that he
often finds it difficult to meet the rent charge, and all over the
Colony dissatisfaction is growing on account of the difficulty
they experience in paying these rents.
We are endeavouring, in Natal, to begin to tax the land,
which undoubtedly is a right method of raising revenue, and has
had, in many countries, the collateral benefit of causing land to
be put into the market and beneficially occupied, which before
was only ineffectively occupied, or held for speculative purposes.
I am afraid though, this result will not be effected to the same
extent in Natal. The kafir farmer, who will be principally
affected by the measure, will compensate himself for the enforced
payment, by introducing more natives on his farms, and making
up for the tax by demanding more rent. What then is intended
by the Government and the Legislature to be a beneficial measure,
forcing land into cultivation and increasing the revenue by con-
tributions from a class who should pay and have been hitherto
free, may only result in bringing native troubles closer to our
doors.
In Cape Colony, I understand, there is an Act providing that
any farm having more than a certain limited number of native
tenants becomes a private location, and the landowner is liable
for a certain sum per head to Government for all over the
stipulated legal number. I am told that the effect is what one
would predict — the landowner pays the tax and recovers from the
tenants. Would it not be possible in Natal to improve on this ?
While enacting the provision, that the presence of over a certain
number of huts on a farm constituted it a private location, also
provide that the question of rent, and the privileges of the tenant,
must be under the supervision of the Governor in Council, whose
duty, in this regard, must be to prevent unfair and dangerous
rack-renting. Permission to establish a private location must be
obtained from the Executive, and would only be granted when it
was established that the terms and conditions between landlord
and tenant were fair and equitable.
I know this suggestion will be condemned as an unwarrantable
The Native Problem in Natal 405
interference with the right of a man to do what he likes with his
own, but we in Natal are in a peculiar position, and have little of
precedent to guide us, so must work out our own salvation on
original lines, due to our exceptional environment. The danger
to the State in allowing the present practice to continue un-
checked is admitted by all acquainted with the country districts,
and if precedent is demanded by those feeling such an innovation
to be dangerous to the rights of private property, I would refer
them to the land legislation of Ireland passed both by Conserva-
tive and Liberal Governments in the mother-country.
Sir J. Liege Hulett, in a recent speech, stated that the
relations between the natives and the Natal Police were very
unsatisfactory. He accused the latter of immorality, and the
charge is, unfortunately, in cases, a true one. The question is
difficult and delicate, but undoubtedly it must be faced by Govern-
ment. Those in authority should not tolerate it for a moment,
but see that drastic punishment follows the offence. We are
trying as a race to command the respect of a subject-people,
while those persons representing our authority are, in too many
cases, bringing our race and our Government into contempt and
disrepute. No action a white man can commit so quickly brings
loss of prestige than that referred to by Sir Liege Hulett.
In too many cases also the police are new to the country, are
quite unable to speak the Zulu language, are mere boys, and
cannot command the respect of the natives. I know the difficulty
experienced in getting responsible colonial men to join the force,
but an alteration in this respect must be made. The change
initiated by the late Mr. Escombe by which the police are removed
from the authority of the Magistrates has, in the opinion of many,
been a mistake, belittling the Magistrate in the eyes of the natives,
and taking away a control which tended to efficiency.
In the same category is the illicit sale of liquor to natives,
which goes on, with little or no check, certainly with no efficient
check, in town and country alike. It is bad enough when white
and coloured men and women of indifferent character make
unholy gains by pandering to the lowest passions of the natives,
but it is worse when the practice is connived at by the police. How
can we expect our natives to continue to respect our authority
and law, when, all over the country, they see white men continually
breaking it ! Anyone who travels through the country with open
eyes may see natives freely obtaining the drink forbidden by the law,
and the very men paid to see the law carried out allowing it to be
broken before their very eyes. The wonder is not that the natives
get out of hand, and lose their respect for the European and his
laws, but that they are so much under control and as law-abiding
as they are. This evil will grow, and a heavy reckoning will
VOL. XII.— No. 71. 2 E
406 The Empire Review
come, unless the rapid demoralisation caused by this unholy
traffic ceases.
Another matter for which the Native Affairs Department
cannot be blamed, but which is largely responsible for the attitude
of our natives towards Europeans, is the indiscreet manner in
which many white people treat the natives with whom they come
into contact. The native expects a European to act with dignity,
and when, as is too often the case, he finds not dignity, but undue
familiarity, his respect for the white man ceases. In our towns
he sees much that lowers his respect for us, and it is the duty of
every European to see that in his dealings with natives his actions
are such as will uphold our prestige, that nothing is done to lower
our race in his eyes.
In all I have said about the Native Affairs Department, I do not
wish it to be inferred that I charge them with wilful harshness
and injustice to our native population. The slanders on Natal
and its colonists made by some politicians and newspapers in the
old country are utterly untrue. But we have been slack in our
administration, often careless as to the effect on the native mind.
In short, our faults have been those of laxity, perhaps more mis-
chievous in the long run than a harsh strong rule.
MAUEICE S. EVANS.
(To be continued.)
The Working of Taxation on Unimproved Land 407
THE WORKING OF TAXATION ON
UNIMPROVED LAND
IN NEW SOUTH WALES. By W. H. HALL (Acting Government
Statistician), and L. S. SPILLER (First Commissioner of Taxation).
IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. By ARTHUR SKARCY (Deputy Commis-
sioner of Taxes).
IN NEW ZEALAND. By P. HEYES (Commissioner of Taxes).
NOTE.
[EAELY in April Lord Elgin sent a telegraphic despatch to
the Governors of New South Wales, South Australia and New
Zealand, asking them to send, as soon as possible, " any reports
or other information available as to the working of taxation on
unimproved land, both for municipal and State purposes."
The information that the Colonial Secretary specially desired
to obtain was the effects of land value taxation —
(1) On the building trade.
(2) On rent.
(3) On the incidence of taxation on house property and vacant
sites respectively.
(4) On land speculation.
The replies have just been published as a Parliamentary paper,*
and as the information was doubtless invited with the object of
assisting the Home Government in formulating their plans for
carrying out the legislation it is proposed to introduce in connec-
tion with the taxation of land values in this country, these replies
possess a very immediate interest to the taxpayers in the Mother-
land. I have therefore collated the principal documents, and by
a little re-arrangement of the letter-press reproduced them in
facsimile form. I do not propose to offer any comment on the
information. The documents speak for themselves, and readers
will be able to draw their own conclusions as to the bearing of
the facts cited therein on the legislation contemplated by the
Home Government. — Ed.J
* Australasia [Cd. 8191].
2 E 2
408 The Empire Review
NEW SOUTH WALES.*
(a) BY W. H. HALL (Acting Government Statistician).^
TAXATION ON UNIMPEOVED LAND.
For Municipal Purposes.
Up to the present no system of land tax on land values has
been resorted to for municipal purposes. It is proposed, however,
to adopt this principle under the Shires Act and the Local Govern-
ment Extension Bill, but the effect of it will not be known for at
least twelve months after it has been in operation.
For State Purposes.
The land tax of the State is levied on the unimproved value
at the rate of Id. in the £. A sum of £240 is allowed by way of
exemption, and where the unimproved value is in excess of that
sum a reduction equal to the exemption is made ; but where
several blocks of land within the State are held by a person or
company, only one amount of £240 may be deducted from the
aggregate unimproved value. In cases where land is mortgaged,
the mortgagor is permitted to deduct from the tax payable a sum
equal to the income tax paid by the mortgagee on the interest
derived from the mortgage of the whole property including im-
provements.
The lands exempt from taxation comprise Crown Lands not
subject to the right of purchase, or held under special or condi-
tional lease, or as homestead selections ; other lands vested in
His Majesty, or his representative ; lands vested in the Eailway
Commissioners ; lands belonging to or vested in local authorities ;
public roads, reserves, parks, cemeteries, and commons ; lands
occupied as public pounds, or used exclusively for or in connection
with public hospitals, benevolent institutions, and other public
charities, churches and chapels, and University and its affiliated
colleges, the Sydney Grammar School, and mechanics' institutes
and schools of art ; and lands dedicated to and vested in trustees
and used for zoological, agricultural, pastoral, or horticultural
show purposes, or for other public or scientific purposes.
In the event of the tax remaining unpaid for a period of two
years after it has become due, on giving another year's notice,
* In addition to the documents given here certain other reports from the Local
Government Advisory Board were also included, but these are not printed in the
Blue Book.
t The report is addressed to the Under-Secretary for Finance and Trade.
The Working of Taxation on Unimproved Land 409
the Commissioners may lease the land for a period not exceeding
three years, or, with the sanction of a Judge of the Supreme
Court, sell so much of it as may be necessary to meet the payment
of the tax, with fines, costs, and expenses in addition.
TABLE SHOWING REVENUE DERIVED FROM LAND TAX.
Year.
Land Tax.
Year.
Land Tax.
£
£
1897
139,079
1902
301,981
1898
364,131
1903
314,104
1899
253,901
1904
322,246
1900
286,227
1905
323,267
1901
288,869
[ NOTE. — The fluctuations shown in the first two years are due to the difficulties
inseparable from the introduction of a system of direct taxation; the returns for
1899 and subsequent years, however, are under normal conditions.
EFFECTS OF LAND VALUE TAXATION.
On Building Trade.
It is difficult to state definitely how far the imposition of a
land tax has benefited the building trade. That suburban building
has considerably advanced during the past ten years goes without
question, but there is no doubt that much of the extension is due
to the facilities for settling in the suburbs afforded by the excellent
tramway system. There are, however, estates in the vicinity of
Sydney, which, after having been locked up for years, have been
placed on the market by purchasers, who may be considered as
purely speculative builders, since they not only sell the land, but
also contract to erect buildings for speculative purchasers.
On Rent.
It is true that rents for residential premises in the immediate
vicinity of the metropolis have been greatly reduced of late years
The reduction is, however, due but slightly to the operation of
the land tax, the chief cause being the opening up of newer and
more select localities through the extension of the metropolitan
tramway and railway systems. As regards the suburbs beyond
the influence of the tramway system, experience shows that, in
general, there has not been any material alteration in rents for
ordinary tenements. In the larger class of houses, however,
substantial reductions have been made, and these reductions may
be said to be partly due to the operations of the land tax, but in
far greater measure to the change in the circumstances of the
people.
410 The Empire Review-
On House Property and Vacant Sites.
The operation of the tax has been to a certain extent to reduce
the value of house property, and in a stronger sense has affected
the value of land hitherto held for purely speculative purposes.
It has had the effect of forcing large areas of country lands on to
the market which otherwise might have been allowed to remain
inactive, and in this way the producing interests of the country
have been benefited.
On Land Speculation.
It cannot be said that there is, at the present time, much bond
fide land speculation in the city and suburbs, as purchasers in the
main have a fixed object in view, and there is little buying for
purely speculative purposes. In the country, however, as pointed
out in the preceding paragraph, numbers of large estates have
been broken up and sold at advanced prices. It may be remarked
in this connection that the demand for good living areas in the
country is just now considerably in excess of the supply.
Conclusions.
On the whole it may be said that the land tax has had no
very appreciable effect on any of the conditions referred to, except
perhaps as regards the sub-dividing of cumbersome estates in the
country ; and the fear lest the tax should be increased has possibly
had a larger influence on operations than the mere imposition of
the tax itself warranted. In any case, the subject is one in which
it would be extremely difficult to make accurate statistical
comparisons.
STATISTICIAN'S OFFICE,
SYDNEY.
W. H. HALL (Acting Statistician).
(b) BY L. S. SPILLER (First Commissioner of Taxation).
TAXATION OF UNIMPROVED LAND.
I have to refer you* to the report forwarded by the Lieu-
tenant-Governor to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the
7th April, 1905, in connection with the operation of Land and
Income Taxes in the State of New South Wales (ordered to be
printed by the House of Commons on 20th June, 1905, under the
title " Graduated Income Tax" (Colonies)), and to state that no
other reports have been printed concerning the subject in this
State.
* This report is also addressed to the Under-Secretary for Finance and Trade.
The Working of Taxation on Unimproved Land 411
For Municipal Purposes.
With regard to taxation of land on an unimproved basis for
municipal purposes I have to state that, up to the present, no
such system has been instituted, but the Local Government
(Shires) Act and the Local Government (Municipalities) Bill
provide for a Municipal Land Tax on the basis mentioned. As
neither of the measures mentioned has yet come into really active
operation, some time must elapse before any information can be
afforded as to the working of a municipal land tax.
EFFECTS OF LAND VALUE TAXATION.
On Building Trade.
Kegarding the effect of land taxation on the building trade, it
may be mentioned that some considerable headway has been made
in the suburbs, caused somewhat by the land tax forcing the
sale of unoccupied lands, which in many cases have been purchased
by a class of speculative builders who, on receiving a small deposit,
build to order, on time payment, on an increased rental basis.
The facilities for locomotion afforded by the electric tramway
system have also proved a factor in this suburban development.
On Rent.
This suburban development has affected the rentals in the
metropolitan area of the small (more particularly terrace) proper-
ties, many people preferring to reside in small cottages in the
suburbs (which are served with cheap and up-to-date electric
tramway systems) rather than occupy terrace houses in the city
area. Rents of large residences have declined considerably, but
to what extent the land tax has been a lever it is difficult to
say. It has certainly operated to some extent, but there have
been other factors at work.
On House Property and Vacant Sites.
Values of residential properties have been reduced, principally
in the city and immediate suburbs, by reason of the development
of the more outlying areas. These have suffered a reduction in
value in many districts. The tax has considerably affected land
held solely for speculation, and has certainly compelled many
owners to sell for a lower figure than previously required.
On Land Speculation.
In the city and suburbs very little land speculation has been
in operation. Buyers now, in view of the land tax, mostly
secure properties with the definite idea of speedily making a
412 The Empire Review
home and not, as heretofore, waiting for a rise in values. In the
country the effect has been to break up a number of land
monopolies and secure improved conditions of larger and closer
settlement, with considerable profit to the speculator and advan-
tage to the purchaser.
Conclusions.
Taking the operation of land tax as a whole, it is not con-
sidered that it has had any pronounced effect on the lands
generally save in the country, where the apprehension exists
that the tax may be increased at any time. This apprehension
has brought about the sale and settlement of holdings which
would have otherwise remained in a less productive condition.
DEPABTMENT OP TAXATION,
SYDNEY.
L. S. SPILLER
(First Commissioner of Taxation).
SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
BY ARTHUR SEABCY (Deputy Commissioner of Taxes).
TAXATION ON UNIMPROVED LAND.
For Municipal Purposes.
Although the Land Values Assessment Act for municipal
rating on unimproved land values was passed in 1893, no Corpora-
tion has yet availed itself of the provisions thereof, consequently,
no information as to its working and effect can be given as
requested. The only information bearing on the subject that I
can find are the Land Values Assessment Act, 1893, and the
amendments thereto, and two Parliamentary Papers, (1) No. 79,
August, 1893. — Showing the unimproved land values in Corpora-
tions and the approximate rating thereon to produce the same
revenue as under the present rating; (2) No. 117, November,
1896. — Showing land taxes payable (for State purposes) and the
rates payable municipally.*
For State Purposes.
In regard to the tax upon unimproved land values for State
purposes, the tax on unimproved land values was first collected in
1885 under the Taxation Act of 1884 (herewith). The scheme
of assessment and notices and the difficulties of launching the
system are fully detailed in the " Tax Commissioner's Report,"
dated October 25th, 1885. f At the outset of the imposition of
* These papers are not printed in the Blue Book,
f See Blue Book.
The Working of Taxation on Unimproved Land 413
the land tax there was considerable diversity of opinion as to the
meaning of " Unimproved Value," the chief trouble being as to
country lands ; many holders of valuable lands having in their
lifetime seen, and personally carried out on their own land, the
clearing of country from its original natural state, bringing it up
to the perfection of cultivation ; and their opinion as to unimproved
value was its value in its virgin state. However, the generally
accepted meaning of unimproved value now is as described in the
original Act. " ' Unimproved Value ' as applied to any land shall
mean the actual value of any land less the value of all improve-
ments, if any, on such land," or, to put it shortly, the amount
for which the land would sell without visible improvements. See
observations on the nature of unimproved value on back of Land
Tax Return required from land holders in 1885 (attached hereto).*
The early difficulties of the land tax have gradually disappeared,
and it is now thoroughly engrafted on the State system of revenue,
being well understood by the bulk of the public, and working with
little or no friction, the tax being paid freely and well at due date,
both direct to the Taxation Office, and at the local Post Offices,
where payments are received for one month only, up to due date,
a system of collection, which, judging by the number of persons
who avail themselves of it, is popular. A perusal of the forms,
notice to taxpayer, directions to postmasters, statement of taxes
collected, and summary of postmasters' statements, the latter for
use at the Taxation Office, will give a clear idea of the method ; and
after the money has been duly received, the dockets detached from
taxpayers' notices and forwarded by postmasters are made a quick
means of bringing the amounts received to the credit of the
various taxpayers by a comprehensive system of checking and
sorting. In 1899 and 1900 there was a great outcry by a section
of the community against the Taxation Office, and a Taxation
Acts Commission was appointed by Parliament, the finding of
which was favourable to the land tax, the opening sentence of
their report on the land tax being : — " Your Commission find that
the administration of the land tax has not yet been such as to
cause much complaint."
The land tax until 1895 was a uniform one of an all round ^d.
in the £, but in that year under the Taxation Act Amendment
Act, 1894, an additional ^d. in the £ on values above £5000, and
20 per cent, on and added to the taxes payable by absentees was
also collected. These rates continued until 1903, when the all-
round tax was increased to %d. in the £, the additional on values
above £5000 remaining &i^d., with the absentee tax charged only
on the %d. in the £ on each tax reverting again for 1904 to rates
jn force prior to 1903. In 1905 the rates were an all round fd.
* See Blue Book,
414 The Empire Review
in the £, and %d. in the £ on values above £5000, with absentee
20 per cent, on total of both taxes. For 1906 the rates prior to
1903 are in force.*
On Building Trade.
The effect on the building trade has been beneficial owing to
the sub-division of suburban lands and the building of residences
as previously mentioned.
On Rent, House Property and Vacant Sites.
On rented or house property and vacant sites, whatever might
be the effect, if rating on unimproved values was applied munici-
pally, so far as taxation on unimproved values for State purposes
goes, the effect is not appreciable, as this class of property consists
of small pieces of land on which the tax is, comparatively on each,
of no great amount ; besides it must always be remembered the
numbers of persons in this State who are the proprietors of their
own residences.!
On Land Speculation.
In regard to land speculation the tax must certainly have a
deterrent effect, but as a burnt child dreads the fire, so are the
people of South Australia chary of land speculation after the
losses generally sustained with the collapse of the " Land Boom "
of the early eighties. The speculative builder is not unknown,
buying suburban lots and building residences on the chance of
finding purchasers, but in the main the result to the speculator
has been disastrous. This phase of speculation is, however, in
no wise affected by taxation.
EFFECTS OF LAND VALUE TAXATION.
There are no data or reports extant bearing on the points
raised, but from general observation during the first years of the
collection of land tax little or no appreciable changes were trace-
able thereto, but after 1895, with the application of the additional
and absentee land taxes, together with increased rates of income
tax on income derived from property also imposed under the
Taxation Act Amendment Act, 1894, it became distinctly notice-
able that large holders of land were realising and disposing of
their lands as opportunity offered, especially so with regard to
absentee owners, where they could sell and were untrammelled
by any trust restrictions. Considerable areas of suburban land,
* For details of rates of land tax, see Blue Book.
t A return of owners in grades at last assessment, Parliamentary Paper, No. 76,
Nov. 1905, was enclosed, but this paper is not printed in the Blue Book.
The Working of Taxation on Unimproved Land 415
formerly the property of large owners, have been sub-divided, and
many persons have purchased a plot of land for residential
purposes and built thereon. For years past there has been a
gradual closing up of all vacant land around the city, a great
deal of which may be attributed to the land tax, more particularly
since the application of additional and absentee land taxes in
conjunction with the increased rates of income tax imposed at
the same time ; but much of the movement would have occurred
irrespective of taxation, with the gradual growth and advance-
ment of the State.
The introduction of taxation did most certainly have an effect
on land values as thereafter there was a decline, but other causes
must also be taken into account when considering land values, as
at that time land was at an inflated value just at the finish of a
" Land Boom," and values without taxation would have fallen
to a fair value according to the uses to which land could be put.
Again, to show that an all-round taxation is not a dominant factor
in regard to values, witness the recent great rise in value of
country lands throughout the State with the introduction of
improved methods of agriculture, and more especially artificial
manures ; the values now being as high or higher than before
taxation was introduced. With regard, more particularly, to
suburban and town lands the effect has been a steadying one, as
the values after a great drop, more attributable to the breaking
up of the land boom of the early eighties than taxation, have
recovered, particularly in the suburbs, to a normal state, there
being now little or no fluctuation, but a fair value according to
position and the use to which the land may be put.
ABTHUB SEABCT
(Deputy Commissioner of Taxes).
NEW ZEALAND.
By P. HEYES (Commissioner of Taxes).
TAXATION ON UNIMPROVED LAND.
For Municipal Purposes.
To enable the system of rating on unimproved value to be
adopted by any local authority, the Act provides that a petition
signed by not less than 15 per cent, of ratepayers be presented to
the local authority, asking that a poll of the ratepayers be taken ;
a poll must then be taken, and if the proposal is carried it comes
into force. A rescinding proposal can be carried at a poll by the
same means as one for adoption, but not until three years have
416 The Empire Review
elapsed, and vice versa ; rejection of a proposal bars it being again
brought forward for a similar period. Up to the 31st March,
1906, there were altogether 78 polls taken under the above
provision. Of these 75 were for the purpose of adopting the
system of rating on the unimproved value, the proposal being
carried in 63 cases and rejected in 12. In two cases a poll was
taken to revert to the old system and lost in each instance ; in
another case, where the proposal had previously been lost, a
second poll was taken after a lapse of three years, and the new
system of rating adopted.
There are 113 boroughs in New Zealand (in addition to other
local authorities), and of these 18 rate on the " capital value,"
52 on the " annual value," and 43 on the " unimproved value,"
the aggregate capital value of rateable property in each case being
"capital value" £2,101,223, "annual value" £26,482,067, "un-
improved value " £30,670,834. Of the four chief cities in New
Zealand (Auckland, population 37,740; Wellington, population
58,552 ; Christchurch, population 49,808 ; and Dunedin, popula-
tion 36,075), Wellington and Christchurch have adopted the
system of rating on the " unimproved value." In no case where
the system of rating on the " unimproved value " has been carried
has the former system of rating been reverted to, and the rate-
payers as a rule, with few exceptions, are decidedly in favour of
the system, and the approval is strengthened as time goes on and
the effect of it is seen.
For State Purposes.
In 1891 the Property Tax Act then in force was repealed and
replaced by the Land and Income Assessment Act, under which
a land tax was imposed on land and mortgages of land, and an
income tax on all income other than income derived from land
and mortgages of land. Improvements on land were exempted
up to £3000. In 1893 an Amending Act was passed, by which
all improvements on land were entirely exempted, and in 1896 an
Act was passed by which the principle of taxation on the " unim-
proved value " was extended to local rating by enabling local
authorities to adopt the system on a poll of the ratepayers being
taken, and a majority voting in favour of its adoption.
From the year 1893, the year when the system began to be
initiated, to 1905, over £30,000,000 has been expended on im-
provements during that period of twelve years, and during the
last three years of that period, since the extension of the system
gradually to local rating, the expenditure on improvements has
shown a greater rate of increase, the total for those three years
being nearly £15,000,000. The increase during the first nine
years of the period referred to was 20 per cent., and during the
The Working of Taxation on Unimproved Land 417
last three years, 30 per cent. There can be no doubt whatever
that the total exemption of improvements on land from all rates
and taxes has led to a very large increase in the outlay on im-
provements, which comprise materials and labour, and the
beneficial effect of this on trade, and the demand for labour has
been great. It is estimated that the expenditure on buildings
since 1893 amounts to £17,000,000 free from all rates and taxes,
except in those cases where local authorities have not yet adopted
the rating on unimproved values.
In my opinion the exemption of all improvements (in conjunc-
tion with the lands for settlement and advances to settlers policy
of the Government) has, to a large extent, contributed to the solid
prosperity of the Colony.
The exemption of all improvements led to a very liberal outlay
of capital on land, which has rapidly increased as the system was
extended to local rating, and thus increased the demand for
labour. As already stated, the expenditure on improvements on
land increased in a few years so much so that the supply of labour
and materials could scarcely keep pace with the demand, and has
continued so to the present time. This increased expenditure on
improvements conduced also to an increase in the unimproved
value. The result is that expenditure on improvements not only
enhances the unimproved value of the property on which the
expenditure was effected, but the [increase in one property in-
creases the value of the adjacent properties, e.g., the following case
came recently under my notice : A man purchased an unimproved
section, put up a large building on it, and before the building was
completed, sold the property at a profit of £3,000. This increase
was, of course, in the unimproved value, and the adjacent sections
increased in value to an almost equal extent. The same occurs
in the country — a man purchases 500 acres, expends £2 per acre
in improving, sells for £3 per acre more than he purchased — this
increases the unimproved value £1 per acre, and the adjoining
sections are almost equally increased. This has also been the
result in the case of the purchase and sub-division by the Govern-
ment of large estates for closer settlement. For taxation pur-
poses one sale in a locality does not necessarily involve an in-
creased valuation on the adjacent properties to the full amount of
that sale ; discrimination is used by estimating how far sales can
be generally effected at the same price. This explains how the
exemption of improvements leads to increase of capital value, and
increase of unimproved value as surely follows increase of capital
value ; there are very rare exceptions to this rule.
In like manner the closer settlement policy of the Government
in the purchase and sub-division of large estates leads to im-
mediate large expenditure on improvements, and an increase in
418 The Empire Review
the unimproved value necessarily follows the expenditure of
capital on improvements, which are entirely exempt from rates
and taxes, and the effect of these conduces largely to increased
trade, which necessarily means increased profits for income tax.
A study of the table of land tax and income tax revenue for each
year from the commencement shows, first, the drop in land tax
consequent upon total exemption of improvements, then increase
consequent upon the increase in unimproved values, largely owing
to increased expenditure of capital on improvements ; then in
1896 the advent of the Lands for Settlement Act shows the loss
of tax on resumption of large estates more than recouped by
increase in unimproved values, while the income tax shows a large
and continuous increase year by year.
EFFECTS OF LAND VALUE TAXATION.
There are no published reports on the lines asked for by the
Secretary of State, and I have, therefore, sent circulars to all
local authorities where this system has been adopted, asking for
special reports. Replies have been received in most cases, and
copies thereof are enclosed * with an index and digest of the reports
attached. In the large majority of cases the system has only
been a short time in force, and in these cases no opinion is
expressed as to the merits or otherwise of the system. It is
extending more rapidly as the effect is seen in the places where
it is adopted, and it becomes better understood. The reports, as
will be observed, show the results to have been beneficial. From
the reports received, and the most reliable sources of information
available based on personal observation and inquiry, I am of
opinion that the effect of the system of rating on the unimproved
value would be correctly summarised on the lines required as
follows : —
On Building Trade.
The effect has certainly been to greatly stimulate the building
trade. The object and tendency of this system of taxation is to
compel land being put to its best use, so that the greatest amount
of income may be derived from it, and rendering it unprofitable
to hold land for prospective increment in value. It has been the
direct cause of much valuable suburban land being cut up and
placed on the market, and thus rendered more easily available for
residential purposes, and of the subdivision of large estates in the
country, resulting in closer settlement. The effect on urban and
suburban land has been very marked. It has compelled owners
of these to build or sell to those who would ; it has thus caused a
* See Blue Book.
The Working of Taxation on Unimproved Land 419
great impetus to the building trade. An owner of land occupied
by buildings of little value finding that he has to pay the same
rates and taxes as an owner having his land occupied by a valuable
block of buildings must see that his interests lay in putting his
land to its best use. The rebuilding of this City (Wellington)
which for some years past has been rapidly going on is largely
attributable to the taxation and rating on land values, so that the
supply of building materials could not at times keep pace with
the demand.
On Rent.
The tendency of this system of taxation is not to increase
rent, but, on the contrary, as the tax becomes heavier it tends
to bring into beneficial occupation land not put to its best use,
and so reduces rent, the improvements being entirely free from
all rates and taxes. In some cases, where land suitable for
building-sites is limited, high rents have been maintained not-
withstanding the tendency of the system.
On House Property* and Vacant Sites.
The effect has been to cause vacant sites being put to their
best use by expenditure on improvements. On vacant sites the
rates and taxes are increased and continue to increase as the
adjacent sites which have been improved increase in value. It
thus becomes unprofitable to continue to hold land unimproved.
The taxation, on building property, where the improvements
exceed the unimproved value, is decreased ; where the unimproved
value exceeds the improvements the taxation is increased.
On Land Speculation.
The tendency is to discourage speculation, as the tax partially
or wholly discounts the rise in value, but land speculation has
not ceased in some districts where the system has been adopted,
because — (1) The tax has not been sufficient to render speculation
unprofitable in the large cities, though it has been a factor to be
reckoned with. (2) The rapid increase in values has caused
speculation in spite of the tax. Land speculation in this Colony
of late years has chiefly arisen in the purchase of estates which
have not previously been put to their best use by the owners,
principally consisting of suburban lands which, after being acquired
and improved by subdivision into residential allotments and by
reading, result in the extensive building of residences, also in
country lands large blocks of land suitable for subdivision into
small farms. The effect of this has been rather beneficial than
otherwise, because, in addition to the land being put to its best
* No mention is made of " house " property.
420 The Empire Review
use, it tends to reduce rents and values of residential sites by the
large increase of these made available. The form of speculation
in land unused and held for a prospective increment is rarely
met with in recent years.
Copies of the Eating on Unimproved Value Act, with extracts
from the New Zealand Year Book * of Articles re " Eating on
Unimproved Value Act," Eesults of Polls taken, and re Valuation
of Land, and explanatory Memorandum in reference to the
Government Valuation of Land Act, are also sent, as giving further
information which may be useful.
LAND AND INCOME TAX DEPARTMENT, WELLINGTON.
P. HEYES (Commissioner of Taxes).
* Not printed in Blue Book.
Army Schools from Within 421
ARMY SCHOOLS FROM WITHIN
INEQUALITIES AND POSSIBILITIES
BY AN ARMY SCHOOLMASTER.
LET me say at the outset that I approach my subject in no
spirit of controversy. My intention is merely to review the main
facts relative to the interior economy of a department that has
recently received an unusual amount of attention in military
circles. And it may perhaps be that, in the present fever of army
reform, when every branch of the Service seems to be passing, in
turn, under the microscope of public scrutiny, the subject will
prove of more than passing interest to the average civilian.
Army schools are established for the purpose of affording
soldiers and their children the opportunity of acquiring a sound
and useful education. To a man who has somehow missed his
chances in civil life here is an allurement whereby he may make
good his deficiencies, rebuild his hopes and, by a fresh start, lay
the foundation of an honourable career, for to the man who enlists,
the doors of the schoolroom open once more,' and open free of any
cost to himself. On enlistment a recruit undergoes an educational
test, and advantage is taken of the occasion to bring to his notice
the benefits to be derived from army schools. These benefits are
further explained by a notice entitled, " Reasons why a soldier
should attend an army school," to be found hanging up in schools,
barrack-rooms, and other conspicuous places. It is there pointed
out that attendance at school enables a soldier to prepare himself
not only for promotion in the Service, but for employment on
discharge, seeing that an educational certificate carries weight
with employers. Similar opportunities of self-improvement are
not to be found in civil life.
Except in India, where British army schools are controlled
from Simla, the army schools at home and oversea fall under the
control of the War Office ; but all details of administration are
in the hands of the general officers commanding. The Simla
authorities observe the War Office mandates as far as local
circumstances permit. A school is under the direct command
either of an officer specially appointed by the general or of the
officer in immediate command of the troops where the school is
VOL. XII.— No. 71. 2 P
422 The Empire Review
situated. Inspectors act under general officers commanding.
Garrison and regimental schools are conducted by army school-
masters (for adults and elder children) and army schoolmistresses
(for elder girls and infants) ; smaller detachment schools are under
acting schoolmasters and acting schoolmistresses. Assistance is
also given in some schools by pupil teachers, generally boys and
girls desirous of becoming schoolmasters and schoolmistresses.
Army schoolmasters and schoolmistresses are teachers who
have been specially trained under War Office arrangements. They
form a distinct army department, conditions of admission to which
are fully explained in pamphlets of instructions issued by and
obtainable from the War Office. The Duke of York's Koyal
Military School, Chelsea, and the Eoyal Hibernian Military
School, Dublin, are the centres of students in training for army
schoolmasters, and the Model School, Aldershot, is the training
centre for army schoolmistresses. Certificated civilian masters
and mistresses and others can enter the department under speci-
fied conditions. The terms of engagement entail service at any
station at home or abroad, foreign service being done in tours of
five years at a time.
I cannot say that the status of the army teacher gives general
satisfaction. About twelve months' probation must be passed in
the rank of second class staff sergeant. Upon confirmation in his
appointment an army schoolmaster ranks as a first class staff
sergeant and remains in that grade eight years before he can step
to the warrant rank. It seems an anomaly that whereas a band-
master receives the warrant rank immediately he is appointed, a
schoolmaster, a man of better education, must wait about nine
years for the same privilege. Surely if a man is fit to be a school-
master he is also fit to be a warrant officer ! Again there is a
marked tendency to increase a schoolmaster's work and responsi-
bilities, but no compensating improvement is made in his position
and prospect. The ultimate prize is a retiring pension of £200
a year, reserved, however, for the very few schoolmasters selected
for inspectorships. And even these pensions must be earned by
spending the best part of one's declining years away from home,
subjecting oneself to climatic and other risks, and renouncing
generally most of the things that go to make up enjoyment
of life.
The fully trained army schoolmaster is not to be confused
with the soldier holding an acting schoolmaster's certificate. An
army schoolmaster in charge of a school may be assisted by
soldiers educationally and otherwise qualified. To provide a
sufficient staff of these soldier assistants, training centres are
formed under army schoolmasters at certain stations in England
and India. A man who passes successfully through one of these
Army Schools from Within. 42 3
centres is granted by the War Office an acting schoolmaster's
certificate ; he is then qualified not only to assist an army school-
master-in -charge but also to take charge of a detachment school.
A discharged non-commissioned officer holding an acting school-
master's certificate is, under certain conditions, eligible for
employment as an uncertificated teacher under the Board of
Education. In this respect the fully trained army schoolmaster
is treated, unfairly, on an equality with his subordinate, the acting
schoolmaster, though there is as much distinction between the
two as there is between the certificated and uncertificated teacher
of civil life. Notwithstanding the fact that the War Office
recognises certificated civil-trained masters the Board of Education
grades an army-trained master no higher than an uncertificated
teacher, although the army and civil master, as teachers, are on
the same level.
The course of secular literary instruction for children corre-
sponds as nearly as possible with that prescribed for civil children
by the Board of Education. The Army Schools Act, 1891, states
that " where any scheme in force for the regulation of any
endowed charity or charities, established or approved before or
after the passing of this Act, includes any provision for the
benefit of children who are or have been scholars in a public
elementary school, an army school shall be deemed a public
elementary school within the meaning of those provisions." Thus
the gates of learning are thrown open to soldiers' children as
widely as they are to children of civilians. Needless to say,
however, the difficulties attendant upon the career of a soldier's
child, who travels hither and thither over the Empire at the beck
and call of military exigencies, are far greater than those with
which the civilian's child has to contend.
The curriculum for adults extends over dictation, composition,
arithmetic, English history, geography and map reading. Attain-
ments in these subjects are tested by means of examinations for
first, second and third class certificates. Map reading, geography
and English history are confined to the first class certificate, and
the test in arithmetic, composition and dictation is graded for the
three classes. The second and third class arithmetic includes
regimental accounts. Every soldier must, as a rule, obtain a
third class certificate to qualify for the higher rates of pay, and a
second class certificate is a necessary acquirement for a non-
commissioned officer ; promotion to the warrant rank is unattain-
able without the first class certificate. Besides this obligatory course
of study there are inducements for a soldier to further qualify in
optional subjects. Men holding the first class certificate may be
examined at their option in European or Oriental modern
languages, in Pitman's shorthand, or in typewriting. Money
2 F 2
424 The Empire Review
prizes are awarded for success in shorthand. All ranks are
allowed to sit at the examinations in military engineering, tactics,
topography, military law, administration, organisation and
equipment, and military history, held for the promotion of
officers.
Thus stands military elementary education at the present time,
but, if certain reports are to be relied on, many changes are im-
pending. It is a matter touching the annual expenditure of no less
than ;£61,000 of the revenue, and is therefore of serious import,
not only to the army itself, but to the nation. And affecting, as
it does in its details, the King's dominions over the seas, it is a
matter of even imperial moment. Let us take care lest military
elementary education suffers by a confusion of abolition and re-
adjustment !
AEMY SCHOOLMASTER.
A General Merchant's Views on Protection 425
A GENERAL MERCHANTS VIEWS ON
PROTECTION
BRITISH TRADE WITH GERMANY REVIEWED
I MUST tell you at once that I am a Free-trader. Whatever
policy may be the best for new countries like the colonies, which
are sparsely populated and have to raise the greater part of their
revenue from customs dues, because no other means of obtaining
the amount of funds necessary for administrative purposes are avail-
able, I am convinced that Free Trade is the best policy for this
country. On the other hand, we possess a comparatively small
area of territory, have a teeming and ever-increasing population
to clothe and feed, and enormous financial liabilities to meet ;
besides, one must not forget that Great Britain occupies an
insular position, and that our navy has to defend not only the
entire Empire and the commercial highways connecting this
country with foreign nations, but also the trade routes between
foreign countries and our oversea possessions. I might give
further reasons for my belief, but these will, I think, suffice.
If we could give the colonies a preference without this country
having to adopt a protective tariff against her best customers, I
should say by all means give that preference, provided, of course,
we received something in return, but although I have watched the
fiscal controversy from the beginning, I cannot see how this is to be
done. Perhaps when the Premiers assemble in Downing Street
next April for the Colonial Conference, some light will be thrown
upon this aspect of the matter. As a commercial man I confess
I do not wish to see our foreign trade interfered with. I
admit that a protective policy might be exceedingly useful to
some manufacturers here, but I do not see how it can possibly
benefit the home consumer, while the general merchant must go
to the wall or have his business very much curtailed. And as
that is the class of trader to which I belong, I am naturally
opposed to Protection in any form. All the same, I fail to see
what the question has to do with party politics, although I can
easily understand that the party which preaches from the Free-
426 The Empire Review-
trade pulpit is likely to gain many more supporters than the
party which holds the Protection fort.
I am not approaching this subject from the Imperial side.
I don't pretend to dictate to the self-governing colonies what
they should do, and I do not wish to take up your space or bore
your readers with my views on the Imperial idea. Nor do I
think it at all necessary, seeing that Mr. Chamberlain has stated
the cause from that side with remarkable force and clearness of
vision. But I am no little Englander. All I ask is to be allowed
to look at home first. I would therefore invite my readers to put
aside for the moment the Imperial aspect and look with me at
the fiscal question from the standpoint of the general merchant.
I do not worship Free Trade as a fetish, and I don't care
whether my father or grandfather did or did not. I speak for
myself and others who, like me, do their business mainly with
foreign countries. That business we cannot afford to lose or even
risk. I know Tariff Eeformers say we shan't lose it or even risk
it, all will be as before, except that we shall have a scientific tariff.
To this I reply, one must remember science is not the exclusive
property of Tariff Eeformers, and that other nations besides
England understand how to apply scientific methods to their
tariffs ; and if I were asked whether Germany or this country
knew most about science and scientific methods I should have to
reply that Germany stands first. Like the stockbroking business,
trade is best when there are no foreign complications on the
horizon. I do not allude to special industries, but to trade gene-
rally. Any upsetting or scientific rearrangement of our foreign
trade is, I am convinced, the worst thing that can happen to
the general merchant. I do not deny that our fiscal system is
extremely useful to our foreign competitors, but if it were not so
we should not do the amount of foreign trade we do. Admitting
that to lower tariffs in France, Germany and Eussia on certain
articles would benefit certain pockets, what, I ask, is the use of
forcing France, Germany or Eussia into making three scientific
tariffs to meet our scientific tariff? To me it seems that all a
scientific tariff would do for us is to rob Peter to pay Paul.
My fiscal opponents are never tired of twisting and turning
statistics to meet their own views. There is a very old saying
that figures can be made to prove anything, and I confess sometimes
when I see my tariff reform friends handling statistics, I am led to
believe in the truth of this saying. Not long ago I came across a
leading article in the Times* founded on a letter in which the
writer, signing himself Tariff Eeformer, drew certain deductions
from statistics he cited out of the German Blue Book on the trade
of Germany in 1905. The Times, adopting its correspondent's
* October 4, 1906.
A General Merchant's Views on Protection 427
views, strongly inclined to the conclusion that the conditions of
German-British trade, while being very favourable to Germany,
were most unfavourable to England, because, so it was alleged,
Germany takes from England mainly raw materials and semi-
manufactured goods, sending them back to England as finished
articles. After attributing this state of things to the difference
between the tariff systems in the two countries, the article pro-
ceeds to suggest that we ought without further delay to set aside
our Free Trade system in favour of Tariff Reform.
Now although the actual figures quoted are taken from a
German official source and must therefore be correct, they are
compiled from a very partial point of view. For example we
hear nothing about the raw materials imported from Germany
into England amounting in value to some £10,000,000. Yet this
large supply of raw materials must be a great advantage to
manufacturers here. Again, our export of raw materials and
semi-manufactured goods is commented on as being most dis-
advantageous to British trade, and the exports of finished wares
declared to be the sole desirable aim of a sound commercial
policy. But where, I ask, is the line to be drawn between
finished and semi-manufactured goods ? A close inspection will
show that the point in question is a distinction which may exist
from a technological point of view, but which is useless to the
economist for deducing trade statistics. For instance, referring to
textile industries we are told to regard yarns as semi-manufactured
goods, and woven material as finished goods ; and the fact that
England sends to Germany £6,550,000 worth of yarns is looked at
most unfavourably. But nothing is said about Germany sending
to England £5,900,000 worth of cloths and woven articles (textile
fabrics). Yet both the processes of spinning and of weaving are
alike important and necessary in order to convert the raw material
into clothing, and an almost equal amount of labour is required
in both cases. That spinning is mostly carried on in England,
and weaving in Germany, are matters concerning the historic
development of both countries, and can perhaps be traced back
to the difference in their respective climatic conditions. But
that English national economy would gain by the spinning being
done in Germany, and the weaving in England, is a matter that
can scarcely be seriously maintained.
Further, the article alludes, I am pleased to say with satisfac-
tion, to the fact that a considerable amount of machinery is ex-
ported from this country into Germany, machinery being regarded
by the writer as finished goods ; but surely this view conflicts with
the tariff reformer's programme, seeing that the machinery in
question consists, to a great extent, of machines for spinning and
weaving purposes. For if the export of this kind of machinery
4 '2 8 The Empire Review
were to increase, more yarns would be exported from England to
Germany and more finished articles come back. To be consistent
the tariff reformer ought to oppose the export of textile machinery
to Germany. But how could such a policy be said to be in the in-
terest much less the progress of British industry or British trade !
Even in his estimation of finished goods the writer of the
article errs in his premises, for he classes the whole German export
of sugar under the heading of finished goods, overlooking that
about 40 per cent, is unrefined sugar, that is to say, a semi-manu-
factured article. Furthermore some allowance should be made
for the fact that a considerable part of the sugar we receive from
Germany does not serve at once as an article of consumption, but
goes into preserved fruit factories, the owners of which might
probably be inclined to call the unrefined sugar raw material.
I have often seen the statement made that the extraordinary
development of German exports is due to her protective tariff.
My own diagnosis of the case does not bear out this conclusion. If
one carefully examines the rate per cent, on the value of imported
articles, the highest rate, apart from the purely financial duties, is
found to be on foodstuffs and luxuries. These articles on the
average have to bear 20 per cent., whilst the average tax on manu-
factured goods is only 10 per cent, of the gross value, the duty
falling as low as 4 per cent, on machinery, and 3 per cent, on leather
goods, which are articles where the English competition is mostly
felt. Neither do the duties on iron show that German fiscal policy
aims at favouring the importation of semi-manufactured goods, and
endeavours to shut out the finished articles ; for the duty on raw
iron is about 16 per cent, of its value, on halfcloth 11 to 12 per
cent., and on machinery, as I have already mentioned, only 4 per
cent.
If one examines in detail the articles on which the export of
Germany is exceptionally high, it will be seen that it cannot be
the height of the duty, as is so often alleged to be the case
by the advocates of protection, which limits English com-
petition in these articles. I should rather look for the reason
in other directions — higher wages, labour troubles, the con-
servatism of British manufacturers, shorter hours of work,
less effective commercial education, apathy in respect to new
designs and new methods of business. Surely it cannot be
seriously argued that the German imports of hosiery, coloured
picture-prints, embroideries and laces, pianos, toys, colours
and other chemicals are due to the scientific construction of
the German tariff when these articles are admitted partly free
of duty, as in the case of coal-tar, colours and coloured picture-
prints, and on others the duty is so low that it may be ignored.
I am told that the German manufacturers of these goods could
A General Merchant's Views on Protection 429
well dispense with the existing duty without incurring any risk
of loss of trade. I should like to see the experiment tried, if only
to see whether or not it would alter in the least the reciprocal
exchange of these goods between Germany and England.
As far as iron is concerned, the conditions are just the
reverse. Yet the duty on tinned sheet-iron (about 20 per cent, of
its value) has not prevented British manufacturers from increasing
their exports to Germany from £135,000 to £405,000 during
the last decade. Neither do I think that the new German tariff
shows that the German Government is endeavouring to keep our
productions out of the German markets. On the contrary, it
was chiefly the agricultural duties that were raised, while on a good
number of articles imported from this country important reduc-
tions were made.
Again, we are often told that Protection is necessary for
this country in order to save us from the effects of foreign com-
petition, and in support of this contention tariff reformers cite that
the protective policy of Germany was the outcome of foreign com-
petition. But history is against any such contention. The problem
Germany set herself to solve was how to diminish the imports,
not of a finished article, but of an English semi-manufacture, and
with this object in view a duty was accordingly put on raw iron.
But, in spite of this, the value of English raw iron imported into
Germany during the last few years amounts to more than £800,000
per annum. So it, can scarcely be claimed that the new policy
has proved a triumphant success. However, even admitting the
German protective tariff to be the cause of the flourishing state of
German industries, one cannot lay down as a principle of political
economy that the adoption of the same means will always and in
every country produce the same results.
Great Britain mainly owes her great position in the commercial
world to the fact of her being the go-between in so many com-
mercial transactions. She is in fact the world's carrier, and, to
a great extent, the world's clearing house. Being an inland
country with a limited coast-line, Germany can never compete
with Great Britain in these respects. Germany must always be
obliged to allow many of her exports to pass through English
hands, and to leave a large amount of her profits with the English
commission-agent. We have tried ourselves in many ways to
keep separate in our official trade returns those imported articles
that are consumed in England, and those which are to be re-
exported. But I cannot say we have accomplished the object
in view with any degree of accuracy. According to the returns of
the Board of Trade for the year 1904, it would seem, perhaps,
that the re-exported amount of goods of German origin is small.
But in these statistics, considerable quantities of goods do not
430 The Empire Review
appear which have not been directly re-exported, but which
come firstly into the hands of wholesale dealers or manufacturers
and are sent by them out of the country again, perhaps unchanged,
perhaps in a state of improved manufacture. If England intends
to close this commercial channel, the German manufacturers
will probably be content, for this will give them the means of
freeing themselves from the English commission-agent. But
whether the commission-agent will regard the matter in the same
light is another thing.
It is a grand idea this plan of an Empire producing all the
raw materials that any industry can require, manufacturing within
the Empire all those raw materials, and exporting only finished
goods to foreign countries. But is it practical? Where are the
British colonies which can give us cotton and copper in sufficient
quantities ? I have noticed the same ideas put forward by
American writers and American politicians. In the United
States, if I remember rightly, the proposal was made to export no
more raw cotton, but to manufacture all the cotton produced
within the country, and bring it on the market in the shape of
cotton goods. (I wonder what Lancashire would say to this?)
But neither in the United States nor in this country is the experi-
ment likely to be made.
I do not pretend to any literary style, and I have no doubt
others could have done better, but granted my deductions are
open to criticism, I do not think my facts can be traversed. I
have gone at length into our trade with Germany because
Germany is our best customer and we are Germany's best
customer. But I have no doubt I could find equally good matter
to support my case from other sources. I see no objection to
giving the Government the power to retaliate, but before we talk
of retaliation we must be quite sure that we have good grounds
for taking action, but retaliation and protection are as far apart
as the poles, and by no stretch of the imagination can they be
made one and the same policy. But whatever may be the views
on retaliation and protection one thing is certain — Great Britain
will not hazard the splendid prosperity of her exports for the
purpose of trying a scheme of which so many of its parts are
unknown quantities.
GENEBAL MEBCHANT.
Old Cape Town 431
OLD CAPE TOWN
VAN RIBBBCK AND HIS COMRADES
BY E. L. McPHERSON.
TO-DAY in South Africa we are so busy making history and
watching the forward movement of events that we have little
time to look back into the store-house of the past. In the Trans-
vaal and the Orange Kiver Colony the talk is of new constitutions
and of the gigantic work of administration. Natal has just come
off victorious from what seemed the beginning of a great native
war, while here in Cape Town we are confronted with a new
problem — pauperism .
The years have been lean, and in the track of the war came
the failures and " wasters " of the old world, and there has grown
up a population idle, vicious, and discontented. There are men
who would work if they could find employment, and their
position is cruel. They have sore grievances against fate, and
not the least of these is that in the name of the unemployed
there has been an outbreak of hooliganism unprecedented in the
annals of Cape Town. The idle coloured roughs of the city
recently broke out into rioting, and for days in the eastern
quarter of the town there was danger to life and property.
With problems such as these and an ever-deepening gloom
in the commercial outlook, it is small wonder that we have little
time to look into the past, and yet there is no colony which has
a more romantic history than the Cape Colony, and there are
few cities that retain more picturesque corners than does Cape
Town. The new-comer who hastens from the steamer to the
railway-station on his way to Johannesburg, may be pardoned
for thinking Cape Town the most insignificant city that ever
grew up in one of the grandest settings in the world. Table Bay
flashes blue and silver beneath the grey wall of Table Mountain,
and the sentinel Lion looks from over a forest of silver-trees
across to the long range of the Hottentots Holland, and such a
setting seems to demand more of the town that lies in Table
432 The Empire Review
valley than sky-scrapers and rows of shops that might have been
uprooted from any modern city and planted in their present sites.
But a closer acquaintance with Cape Town reveals much
that is beautiful. Adderley Street, vulgar and modern, ends in
the avenue of oaks that runs between the grounds of Govern-
ment House, a long, low, picturesque dwelling, built with the
wide stoep that characterises the Dutch architecture, and the
Municipal Gardens which have grown up in the spot where
Van Riebeck first planted cabbages and peas for the refreshment
of scurvy-stricken mariners who called at "The Tavern" on
their way from Holland to Batavia or on their homeward journey
from the East.
But the lover of the picturesque will not rest satisfied with the
avenue and the gardens. He will seek the western quarter of
the town, where the narrow, crooked streets climb up Signal
Hill, and he will imagine himself within an Eastern city. In
Chiappini Street stands a mosque whose minarets dominate the
low, flat-roofed houses, where the Malays, the descendants of the
old slave population, make their homes ; they are picturesque
folk, these Malays, and the gay green, red and orange of the
women's dress and the red fezs of the men seem in accord with
the bright sunlight and the clear sky. Sometimes a priest, in
gown of violet or rose-pink, may be seen threading his way
through the streets of this quarter, which, dirty and squalid
though it be, has a charm which cannot be resisted.
But interest does not cease with the Malay quarter, and if
the visitor be content to return once more to the main street and
take the electric car up towards the mountain, he will, in a
quarter of an hour's time, leave behind him the trim villas and
asphalted pavements and find himself in the neglected parkland
of the Orangezicht estate. On the journey up he will have
passed by the beautiful old ruin that stands a mournful witness
of the vanished pomp of the Van Bredas. A few yards from the
asphalted pavement rise two pillars of brick between which
once swung the slave-bell. The house still stands, forlorn and
crumbling, looking across the bay. It is shorn of its pride and
beauty, but once it was a stately dwelling-place and from its
windows might have been seen the rich spice-laden vessels riding
at anchor far below. There still stands a stately avenue of trees,
and the clusters of neglected fruit-trees tell of orchards that
once flowered and bore rich harvest. Away to the right on the
mountain slope may be seen that labyrinth of oaks, and that ruined
pleasaunce where, according to legend, one of the sons of the
house wore out weary years of leprosy. This story has been
finely told by " Bip van Winkle," a poet who more than any
other has caught the \ glamour and romance of the Cape, and
Old Cape Town 433
from his poem, " The Deserted Garden," a few stanzas may be
quoted.
He was a noble youth, the legend says,
Versed in all learning, with all graces fraught,
But chiefly of his playing is the praise;
Ah, at what bitter cost the joy was bought !
From servile hands he sought
To learn the flute's sweet mastery ; the slave
A leper was, and the flute's ebon tip,
Passing by evil chance from lip to lip,
Music and death in mingled potion gave.
And then, an exile on the mountain-side,
He built this hermitage; at his command
The rugged slope became a terrace wide ;
Orchards and groves and avenues he planned
Here, while the sluggish tide
Of his disease rose slowly to the flood,
He made his desert garden passing fair
And pruned his orchard trees of peach and pear
And pomegranate with blossoms red as blood.
And so he lived, and few or none came nigh,
And most forgot that he had ever been;
But sometimes in the forest ways he might be seen,
And those who passed him by
Said that his hands were full of mountain flowers,
And sometimes when the mountain shadows long
Darkened the Bay, a half-remembered song
Breathed through the stillness of the evening hours.
The vanished splendour of the old Dutch mansion with acres
broad enough to hold within their limit a hermitage for the
stricken youth, no less than the Malay quarter, bring before the
imagination a picture of the pomp and wealth of the days of the
Dutch East India Company, and in dwelling on this picture the
dreamer is apt to forget the struggle of the first settlers, those
heroic pioneers who faced life in a strange country where man
and beast were alike hostile, and it is the purpose of this article
to present to the reader some of the difficulties of this gallant
band.
In the annals of colonial history there is perhaps no more
interesting and heroic figure than Johan Van Eiebeck, the first
commander of the settlement established by the Dutch East India
Company at the Cape of Good Hope in the year 1652. In
his thirty-third year Van Eiebeck was appointed head of the
garrison for the new station, and his life previous to that time
had been a good preparation for the task. The son of a sea
captain, Anthonius Van Kiebeck, he had voyaged with his father
and had already made the acquaintance of China, Japan and
Formosa. Leaving Holland at the end of 1651, he landed on the
434 The Empire Review
shores of Table Bay in April 1652, and during the ten years that
followed he laboured to establish a colony and to grow fruit and
vegetables for the refreshment of the weary, scurvy-stricken crews
bound for the East or for Holland. His task was a gigantic one,
and his heroism and that of his followers is revealed in the
journal kept by him for the benefit of the Company. This simple
direct story of struggle against man, beast, and rough weather
has been translated into English by Mr. H. C. V. Liebbrandt,
Keeper of the Archives of Cape Colony, who has done yeoman
service in rendering into English the crabbed and mutilated
manuscripts.
The Company had recognised the zeal and ability of Van
Biebeck and the Eesolution of the Chamber, Amsterdam, con-
taining his appointment runs as follows : —
The meeting accepts Johan Van Riebeck, with the rank of merchant and
commander of the men now proceeding to the Cape of Good Hope in the ship
Drommedaris, for a period of five years, and with a monthly salary of 75 francs ;
and he is to remain there until the work has been brought to good order.
That period lengthened out to ten years, and those years were
years of ceaseless toil : it was not until May 1662 that the
Commander handed over his trust to Zacharias Wagenaer, and
left to take up office as President of the Government of Malacca.
The plan of forming a garden settlement at the Cape had long
been considered, and as far back as July 1649 we read the
following passage in a report signed by Leendert Janz and
N. Proot :—
By making a fort and garden adequate to the requirements of the crews of
the Company's passing vessels in the Table Valley, protecting the whole with
a garrison of 60 or 70 soldiers and sailors, and likewise providing the establish-
ment with a proper staff of experienced gardeners, a great deal of produce can
be raised, as will be shown further on.
The soil is very good in the Valley, and during the dry season the water
can be used for irrigation as required. Everything will grow there as well as
in any other part of the world, especially pumpkin, watermelon, cabbage,
carrot, radish, turnip, onion, garlick, and kinds of vegetables, as those who were
wrecked in the Haerlem can testify.
The report goes on to show what benefit has been derived from
time to time by the scurvy-stricken mariners from a little sorrel
gathered during their brief stay at the Cape and by the eating of
fresh meat obtained from the natives. The making of butter
and cheese is suggested, and it is proposed, too, that a hospital
should be erected where the sick might be left until they
recovered health. The report further points out that when
the men go ashore to take in water they are obliged to go
into the sea up to their necks, no matter how cold it may
Old Cape Town 435
be, and that frequently sickness results. It is proposed that a
jetty should be built, or the water led along in wooden pipes.
At exactly what date a landing-place was constructed we do not
know, but in March last, when excavations were being made
in connection with the enlargement of the railway station, a rude
stone stairway was discovered 'which evidently used to lead down
to the water. There is nothing to show at what date the steps
were cut in the rock, but in all probability it was done after the
landing of Van Biebeck, as the steps are close to the spot where
the fort stood. The docks of to-day are some distance to the left,
and Adderley Street runs on past the old landing-place, for of late
years much land has been reclaimed from the sea.
It was in April 1652 that the Drommedaris, the Reijger, and
the Goede Hoop arrived in Table Bay, bringing with them Van
Biebeck and his gallant crew. On April 9th Van Biebeck went
ashore to mark the site of the fort, and on the next day the
following entry appears in the Journal : —
The men commenced to work early in the morning with picks, spades, etc. ;
the ground is soft, and the making of embankments difficult ; the ground is
mixed with underwood. He fears that heavy rains will destroy the works
unless serviceable sods are found, and is busy marking off the canals, which at
one point join the river ; so that we trust to be able to lead the latter into
them. Men very badly acquainted with their duty.
The last sentence sums up many of Van Biebeck's difficulties.
Even in those early days the labour problem was a vexed one,
and we find Van Biebeck wishing he had some industrious
Chinese to work under his direction, for as he remarks in one
place, that it takes a great deal to feed a Netherlander. Gardening
was to be the main work of the settlement, and he says regret-
fully in another place, " a few Chinese would be welcome as
gardeners."
In May, a month after landing, the sowing of seeds began,
and Van Biebeck speaks once more of " the necessity of importing
Chinamen and other industrious people," for at the moment of
writing they had no help save " four or five beach-rangers with
lean bodies and hungry stomachs," the cause, doubtless, of their
being willing to work in return for the barley, bread, and wine,
supplied by the Company. Winter was close at hand, and as a
shelter against the storms of June, great efforts were being made
to complete the fort. On the 6th of that month there appears
an entry, which brings vividly before the eye the plight of the
first colonists :—
Weather too severe to do much to the fortifications and dwellings, which
latter we could not so cover in with planks and tarpaulins that the bread and
other dry stores could be made safe from the rain. This evening the wife of
436 The Empire Review
the Catechist gave birth to a son, the first child born within the fort. The
Catechist is as yet the only occupant, since the day before yesterday, of the
fort; all of us are still dwelling in tents, but hope to occupy the fort next
week, which will be better quarters.
There is something touching in this record of the birth of this
first little colonist, for whom the neighbours had evidently made
haste to prepare a warm, dry nest.
But weather was not the only enemy with which the settlers
had to cope. The whole land was peopled with big game. There
is frequent allusion to the loss of sheep which were carried away
by lions or other wild beasts. On January 23, 1653, Van Riebeck
wrote : —
Last night the lions appeared to storm the fort, for the sheep within it ;
they roared horribly, as if they wished to tear everything to pieces ; wall too
high for them to scale.
To-day it is difficult to realise the danger from wild beasts.
But little game is to be met within the region of Cape Town ;
the delicate footprints of the reh-buck may occasionally be seen
on the slopes near Constantia, but in those early days the stately
eland, now only to be met with in the remoter regions of the
north, browsed in the green places on the mountain side.
In the mountains near Somerset West, a place some forty
miles from Cape Town, a few leopards are still to be found, and
at Wellington in August of this year one such sheep-stealer was
caught and photographed, but in Van Riebeck's day they came
boldly into the little settlement. In the Journal on June 1, 1655,
there is the following entry : —
Had again a leopard in the fowl-house during the night through carelessness
of the fowl-keeper, who had left the elide below the door open, so that three of
the five geese given us by Mr. Goens to breed from have been killed. To kill
the leopard or catch him, the Superintendent of the Hospital and the groom
(who, with the horses and the sick, live under one roof, only separated from
each other by partitions made of rushes) had entered the fowl-house, and when
the former, who is a very bold man, had shot and slightly wounded the brute,
it jumped upon him and stuck some of its claws into his head, biting him at
the same time so severely in the arm that he was obliged to let the animal go,
which also slightly wounded the groom on the head, but not worth speaking
of. Very strange indeed, but the other, who had often had to do with leopards
on such occasions, and wounded them, was severely bitten in the arm. A
remarkable sight was seen in the cattle-kraal, where said hospital, fowl-
house, etc., are located. Becoming aware of the presence of the leopard, the
animals all collected in a body, with the horns towards the door, and forming
a crescent, so that the leopard had enough to do to keep clear of the horns
when escaping, though in our opinion the animals sufficiently showed their
terror by bellowing. It has often been seen by us that leopards, lions, and
tigers could do no harm to the cattle, which have often formed a circle, with
the calves behind them, and so protected that not one could be carried off,
which has often been wonderful to witness.
Old Cape Town 437
Among such difficulties did the little band, numbering 130,
of whom twenty were women and children, face life in the first
years of colonisation.
Some sixty of these men were soldiers, and in the ranks of the
first-comers mention is made of a head-gardener, a surgeon, a
catechist, a sick comforter, and from this it will be seen that an
effort had been made by the Company in fitting out this expedi-
tion to establish the little community on a comfortable basis.
But these first years must have been a time of peril and discom-
fort which would have broken the courage of men less bold. The
country to which they came was wholly uncultivated. They had
to bring bread from Holland until such time as wheat should
have grown and ripened, and of comfort during the wet season
they had none.
They had to contend against the south-easter, which, as
dwellers in Cape Town of to-day can bear witness, is destructive
as well as trying to temper and spirits. More than once we read
of the raging wind blowing away the newly-sown seeds, and the
extract given below from the Journal under the date December 30,
1652, tells both of the settlers' discouragement and success : —
Wind having blown severely for five or six days, we found the gardens much
injured — the peas blown to pieces, also the beans, which were beautiful — seed
of the cabbage lettuce suffered, strange to say, no injury — collected it in this
calm weather — likewise that of radish, spinach, endives, etc. Will in conse-
quence of the drought not be able to sow again before February or March.
The return fleet will find all our vegetables run to seed except carrots, turnips,
radish, and beetroot — cabbage will also be ready and in quantity — every day
we eat mutton — the churn is fairly going, and we have set aside already
8 Ibs. of butter — the people receiving butter milk, which may also refresh the
men of the coming ships. In want, however, of appliances to make cheese.
Matters bucolic promising well — eating fresh butter at table, using the Dutch
butter for food. Preparing to bake bread from the new wheat to have every-
thing straight for the refreshment of the ships, which will henceforth be fairly
possible ; but from April to October the best refreshment in the shape of
vegetables will be had, and for the ships in February and March the most
cattle, carrots, cabbage, turnips, etc., milk the whole year through, for which
purpose cattle should be kept. Bought a cow and five sheep.
From this extract will be seen what was the main work of the
settlement, and this work they carried on bravely in spite of all
manner of difficulties, including mutinies, bad weather and failure
of crops. Theirs was a heroic struggle, and the value of their
work is difficult to appraise unless the reader remembers the sore
straits to which sailors were reduced in the days of long voyages,
when nothing but salt food was available and when the crews
were decimated by scurvy.
E. L. McPHBBSON.
CAPB TOWN.
VOL. XII.— No. 71. 2 G
438 The Empire Review
FOREIGN POLICY AND COLONIAL
INTERESTS.
BY LIEUT.-COLONEL ALSAGER POLLOCK.
IT has recently been propounded, as a principle, by a New-
foundland newspaper, that " the affairs of a self-governing colony
shall not form the subject of correspondence between the Imperial
Government and a foreign State without the concurrence of the
colony interested." In other words, the Government of the
United Kingdom is to support, by force of arms if necessary, a
colonial contention, whether or not it considers that contention
to be one worth fighting for.
In existing conditions the proposal is clearly unreasonable ;
but in others which so many of us desire to see consummated, the
original proposition might very properly be accepted if amended
so as to read "without the concurrence of the Imperial Council,
and should war result every British colony represented upon that
council shall furnish its proportion of troops and contribute
towards the expenses of the war, on a population and revenue
basis." In short, if the words " Imperial Government " had their
proper meaning, then indeed a perfectly sound principle would
naturally be attended by its logical consequences. Clearly, if the
British Government is expected to harden its heart in face of a
foreign Power, in order to safeguard the interests of any British
colony, it has an obvious right to expect definite assurances of
adequate support in men and money, not only from the colony
immediately concerned but from the entire British Brotherhood.
It is doubtless true that in the event of the motherland becoming
involved in war owing to having resolutely championed a colonial
cause, support would not be wanting from the Empire at large ;
yet it would assist matters very much if the exact extent to which
such support would be given, had been previously decided : and,
moreover, the knowledge that it would indeed be forthcoming
could scarcely fail to exercise a wholesome influence, in the
direction of peace, with the Power whose interests might be in
conflict with our own.
Foreign Policy and Colonial Interests. 439
Such conditions do not at present exist ; there is no Imperial
Council, and consequently no Imperial army, while upon the other
hand any colony by declining to accept a compromise, however
reasonable, might, if it chose, place the British Government on the
horns of a dilemma — war with a great Power or the secession of a
colony. Politicians are often light-hearted, and it is conceivable
that a colony having actually seceded in the circumstances suggested,
might then find itself facing single-handed the further discussion of
the disputed matter. In such a case it is more than probable that
if the foreign Power subsequently proceeded to press its views by
force of arms, Great Britain herself and the remaining colonies
would, however reluctantly, join in the fray, and in the end the
long-suffering British taxpayer would be left to pay the bill. This
does not seem quite what is called " business " ; and it is therefore
evident that so long as the United Kingdom is alone held liable for
the expenses of Imperial wars, so long must she insist upon retaining
absolute discretion in dealing diplomatically or otherwise with
international questions — even at the risk of a colony deciding to
" Cut the painter." But if the colonies in general would agree
to a Federation of the Empire, upon terms of proportionate
responsibility for all strictly Imperial interests, then indeed
Greater Britain would have earned a right to speak and vote on an
Imperial Council, and so influence directly the policy of the United
Empire of Great Britain and Ireland and the British dominions
beyond the seas.
Whether the cry be " Call us to your Councils," or " Come
join our Councils," the logical result of the desired consummation
must be complete co-operation upon absolutely equal terms, every
portion of the Empire guaranteeing to furnish its proper quota of
troops and money to meet the necessities of any war Imperially
undertaken. The Newfoundland fisheries dispute will prove a
blessing in disguise if it opens the eyes of home-born and colonial
Britons to the advantages of combination. It is, indeed, hard
upon a colony if, for the sake of peace, any of its interests, how-
ever insignificant, are sacrificed upon the altar of British party
expediency or political incapacity of the kind to which we are
far too well accustomed ; but it must not be forgotten that it is
nevertheless hard upon the Motherland to be expected to pour
out her millions for the sake of an issue that can be measured in
thousands. If, however, we had standing behind an Imperial
Council, in addition to an invincible British Navy, the necessary
complement of the latter, an efficient and adequately numerous
Imperial army, then neither Great Britain nor her colonies would
have further need to fear diplomatic defeats. Thus supported,
the language of our diplomacy might safely be limited to "yea"
when quite convenient and " nay " when otherwise. A strong
2 G 2
440 The Empire Review
Power which says "nay," delicately but firmly, with sufficient
promptitude, is seldom in danger of war in these days when
there is a general aversion to being unmistakably the aggressor.
Indeed, most wars result from the very diplomatic methods of which
politicians are so inordinately fond. Encouraged by the apparent
reluctance of an opponent to say out exactly what he means, a
Power may proceed so far that its honour becomes involved, and
then quite against the present wishes or original intentions of
either side, war becomes inevitable. In diplomacy, the " first
word," if it be well and quickly said, is as valuable as the " first
blow " in a fight.
Meanwhile, the British colonies are now, most of them, not
only old enough, but strong enough, to assist their parent in the
management of the family property, and also in defending it
against the encroachments of ordinary trespassers or of litigious
neighbours seeking to establish " rights of way " upon it. Let
the colonies, then, not merely assent to assist, but claim to do
so by right of birth. So long as the British Navy can hold
the sea, a British Imperial Council with, say, a million good
soldiers, British and Colonial, at its back, would seldom be asked
to eat its negative. In other words, being Imperially strong,
Great Britain and her Colonies might count almost with certainty
upon enjoying, in honour, that peace which is so necessary to
their commercial prosperity.
A. W. A. POLLOCK, Lieut. -Colonel.
Indian and Colonial Investments
441
INDIAN AND COLONIAL INVESTMENTS*
IN spite of the maintenance of the Bank rate at the abnornal
height of 6 per cent., acute depression in investment securities
has given place to quite an encouraging demand, which augurs
well for the conditions of the Stock Exchange when the dear
money bane has been removed. Canadians are again the feature
of the markets, with Hudson's Bay shares and Canadian Pacifies
still to the fore.
Indian Government Stocks remained fairly steady during the
decline in gilt-edged securities at the beginning of the month.
They yield a good deal more than the direct obligations of the
Home Government although, of course, the security is practically
identical. In any sustained revival in investment stocks they
would, no doubt, advance more rapidly than the other securities
of the highest class.
The reported discoveries of gold and diamonds in various parts
of the Dominion have added a little speculative glamour to the
more solid attractions which Canadian securities nowadays offer
to the capitalist. But the renewed boom which Canadians have
enjoyed during the past month is still founded on the firm basis
of rapid and successful agricultural and industrial development.
Hudson's Bay's have again led the advance, having risen no
INDIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
When
Title.
Present Amount.
iledeein-
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
able.
INDIA.
£
3J % Stock (t) . .
8 % „ (t) . . .
62,535,080
66,724,530
1931
1948
108}
92*
sf
Quarterly,
ii
2J % „ Inscribed (t)
11,892,207
1926
78
3^
it
3} % Rupee Paper 1854-5
3 % „ „ 1896-7
••
(a)
lyl6
96|
84
3A
30 June— 31 Dec.
30 June— 30 Deo*
(0 Eligible (or Trustee investments.
(a) Redeemable at a quarter's notice.
* The tabular matter in this article will appear month by month, the figures
being corrected to date. Stocks eligible for Trustee investments are so designated.— ED.
442
The Empire Review
INDIAN RAILWAYS AND BANKS.
Title.
Subscribed.
Last
year's
dividend.
Share
or
Stock.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Assam — Bengal, L., guaranteed 3 % .
Bengal and North-Western (Limited)
Bengal Dooars, L.
1,500,000
2,750,000
400,000
3
6
34
100
100
100
87$
145$
94$
4§
Bengal Nagpur (L), gtd. 4%+ Jth profits
Burma Guar. 2$ % and propn. of profits
Delhi Umballa Kalka, L., guar. 3$ % + )
net earnings /
3,000,000
2,000,000
800,000
4*
6
100
100
100
104$
108$
152$
SH
4i
East Jndian Def. ann. cap. g. 4% + li
sur. profits (t) /
2,267,039
511
100
122$
m
Do. do, class " D," repayable 1953 (t) .
Do. 4$ % perpet. deb. stock (t) . . .
Do. new 3 % deb. red. (t)
Great Indian Peninsula 4% deb. Stock (t)
Do. 3% Gua. and ^ surp. profits 1925 (t)
Indian Mid. L. gua. 4% & J surp. profits(f)
Madras, guaranteed 5 % by India (t) .
Do. do. 4f%(fl
Do. do. 4$ % (t)
Nizam's State Rail. Gtd. 5 % stock .
Do. 3J % red. mort. debs
4,282,961
1,435,650
8,000,000
2,701,450
2,575,000
2,250,000
8,757,670
999,960
500,000
2,000,000
1,079,600
5$
3
4
$*
5
4|
4
5
34
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
137$
131$
89$
118$
111$
101$
122$
115
108
117$»
93$
4
jji
4*S
31*
Rohilkund and Kumaon, Limited.
South Behar, Limited
200,000
379,580
7
4
100
100
145$
1094
4
South Indian 4$ % per. deb. stock, gtd.
Do. capital stock
425,000
1,000,000
4$
74
100
100
132$
107$
fifs
Sthn. Mahratta, L., 3$ % & J of profits
Do. 4 */ deb. stock
3,500,000
1,195,600
5
4
100
100
102$
106$
3§
Southern Punjab, Limited ....
Do. 3$ % deb. stock red
West of India Portuguese Guar. L. .
Do. 5 "/ debenture stock. . . .
966,000
500,000
800,000
550,000
5
100
100
100
]00
94
101$
3li
4A
BANKS.
Chartered Bank of India, Australia, \
and China . ...../
Number of
Shares.
40,000
13
20
64$
*I8
4
National Bank of India
48,000
12
124
37|a;
4
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
(x) Ex dividend.
less than twenty points since these tables were compiled a
month ago.
The renewed rise in Canadian Pacific shares has led the
railway boom although, of course, the company is a big land-
owner as well. The development of its traffic is proceeding with
remarkable rapidity. For instance, for the first nine months of
the year the gross receipts have amounted to some 48£ million
d ollars, against 37£ million dollars for the corresponding period of
last year, thus showing an increase of 30 per cent. On the other
hand the working expenses have increased by only 17 per cent.,
the expense ratio having diminished from 68 to 62 per cent. The
result is that the net earnings have increased by as much as
Indian and Colonial Investments
443
per cent, which, on such a great system, is a remarkable indica-
tion of the wonderful progress of the Dominion.
The other great Canadian railway, the Grand Trunk, has been
very much less fortunate, but considering the large amount that
has been included in the working expenses for the first half of
the current year in respect of Michigan taxation arrears, its
results are by no means unsatisfactory. For the first nine months
of the year the gross earnings have increased by 10 per cent.,
while the expenses, including the taxation arrears, have increased
CANADIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Ke-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
4%Inter-n Guaran-
oolonial/ 1 teed by
4% „ | Great
1,600,000
1,500,000
1908
1910
100
101
—
11 Apt.— 1 Oct.
4% „ J Britain.
1,700,000
1913
103
3A
4 % Reduced Bonds .
4 % „ Begd. Stock
2,078,621\
4,364,515)
1910
/ 102
\ 102
— \
- I
1 Jan. — 1 July.
3£ % 1884 Begd. Stock
4,750,800
1909-34
lOOx
—
1 June — 1 Dec.
4 % 1885 Ins. Stock .
3 % Inscribed Stock (t)
3,527,800
10,381,984
1910-35*
1938
103
100
3&
}l Jan.— 1 July.
21% .. .. (*)
2,000,000
1947
84
»A
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
PROVINCIAL.
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
3 % Inscribed Stook .
2,045,760
1941
85
BH
1 Jan.— 1 July.
MANITOBA.
5 % Debentures . .
5 % Sterling Bonds .
346,700
308,000
1910
1923
104
109
4
\l Jan.— 1 July.
4% „ Debs. .
205,000
1928
100
4
1 May— 1 Nov.
NOVA SCOTIA.
3% Stook ....
164,000
1949
86
8«
1 Jan.— 1 July.
QUEBEC.
3 % Inscribed . . .
1,897,820
1937
84
3*
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
MUNICIPAL.
Hamilton (City of) 4 %
Montreal 3 % Deb.\
Stook . . . ./
482,800
1,440,000
1934
permanent
102
85
35
31
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
[l May— 1 Nov.
Do. 4 % Cons. „
1,821,917
1932
106
3$
1
Quebec 4 % Debs. . .
Do. 3} % Con. Stook .
385,000
470,471
1923
drawings
103
94
3|
jl Jan.— 1 July.
Toronto 5% Con. Debs.
136,700
1919-20'
109
4*
Do. 4 % Stg. Bonds .
Do. 4 % Local Impt. .
300,910
249,312
1922-28*
1907-13*
104
100
3f
d
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 3} % Bonds . .
1,169,844
1929
94
4
Vancouver 4 % Bonds
121,200
1931
101
8*1
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
Do. 4 % 40-year Bonds
Winnipeg 5 % Debs. .
117,200
138,000
1932
1914
102
107
m
7 Feb.— 7 Aug.
30 Apr.— 31 Oct.
' Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption,
(t) Eligible for Trustee Investments.
(») Ex dividend.
444
The Empire Review
CANADIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend I Paid up
for last per
Year. | Share.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Canadian Pacific Shares
1,014,000
6
$100
188
SJ^
Do. 4 % Preference .
£7,778,082
4
Stock 108
JH
Do. 5 % Stg. 1st Mtg. Bd. 1915
£7,191,500
5
i 109
Do. 4 % Cons. Deb. Stock
£19,421,797
4
i 111J
3A
Grand Trunk Ordinary
£22,475,985
nil
28A
73
Do. 5 % 1st Preference
£3,420,000
5
118
Do. 5 % 2nd „ .
£2,530,000
5
111
Do. 4 % 3rd „ .
£7,168,055
2
69J
Do. 4 % Guaranteed
£6,629,315
4
1024
3$
Do. 5 % Perp. Deb. Stock
£4,270,375
5
135
3ft
Do. 4 % Cons. Deb. Stock
£15,135,981
4
110
3|
BANES AND COMPANIES.
Bank of Montreal ....
140,000
10
$100
257
3S
Bank of British North America
20,000
6
50
72
Canadian Bank of Commerce .
200,000
7
$50
£19
H
Canada Company ....
8,319
57s. per sh.
1 37
Hudson's Bay
100,000
£4 per sh.
10*
123
3i
Trust and Loan of Canada. .
50,000
5
6
Do. new
25,000
7A
3
gi/P
63
British Columbia Electric \Def.
£400,000
6
Stock
125|a;
8
Railway /Pref.
£300.000
5
Stock
1124
3
* £1 capital repaid 1904.
(as) Ex dividend.
NEWFOUNDLAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
34 % Sterling Bonds
2,178,800
1941-7-8
94
N
3 % Sterling
325,000
1947
84
3ff
4 % Inscribed Stock
320,000
1913-38*
103
3|
1 Jan. — 1 July.
*% ..
488,306
1935
107
3*J
4 % Cons. Ins, „
200,000
1936
107
W
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
by 12£ per cent. Thus the net earnings have advanced by 4 '17
per cent. Of course the improvement has been much greater
during the last three months of the period after the taxation
arrears had been wiped off.
Canada has had its financial trouble during the past few weeks
in the difficulties of the Ontario Bank, but thanks to the prompt
and patriotic action of the Bank of Montreal the cloud has been
dispelled with comparatively little temporary inconvenience to
the public.
It is evident from the course of the market in Australian
Government securities that their comparative cheapness is being
Indian and Colonial Investments 445
realised by investors. Far from having been depressed by the
high value of money, as might reasonably have been anticipated,
these stocks have been in good demand, with the result that
prices show a fairly general rise. The amount of business trans-
acted has been larger than for some time past, and it is clear
that the sound prosperity which Australia is now enjoying is
beginning to have its natural effect on the stock-markets. Every
mail brings fresh evidence of the favourable conditions ruling in
the southern continent. The excellent rains recently reported
have set at rest all anxieties, and there is a consensus of opinion
that the present season is likely to give better results than even
the three previous seasons.
Australian revenue returns are quite in consonance with the
other signs of prosperity. For the first quarter of the current
financial year — i.e., to the end of September — the following
increases are shown in the State revenues as compared with the
corresponding period in 1905 : — New South Wales £305,261,
Victoria £169,843, Queensland £89,495, South Australia £28,036
and Tasmania £5,634. Only in Western Australia was there a
decrease, and even that only amounted to £1,999. Taken all
round the results are better than anticipations and, given a con-
tinuance of the present healthy conditions, there seems every
prospect of the modest budget estimates being improved upon.
The Commonwealth customs revenue also bids fair to exceed
the treasurer's estimate, the receipts for the first quarter showing
an increase of £261,395.
Improved railway receipts were responsible in great measure
for the excellent financial results announced by the various State
Treasurers for the year ended 30th June last. The official
railway returns since issued show substantially increased takings
in all the States except Tasmania, where there was a small
decrease of £2,388. The total receipts of all the States amounted
to £12,824,804 against £11,841,983 for the previous year, an
increase of £982,821. Of this sum only a small propor-
tion, namely, £129,432, was absorbed by increased working
expenses. There was therefore a gain of no less than £853,389
in net revenue, of which £434,538 fell to the share of New South
Wales and £208,719 to that of Victoria. In these two States, as
well as in South Australia, there was a large surplus profit after
providing for interest on the capital employed, while in Western
Australia there was likewise a balance on the right side. The
railway receipts afford the best possible test of national prosperity,
and it is gratifying to note that they have continued to show
expansion during the current year.
Thanks to the easy condition of the money-market in Australia,
the States are in a favourable position as regards the repayment
446
The Empire Review
or renewal of loans falling due in London next year. New South
Wales has obligations to the extent of £2,000,000 maturing next
January, and it is understood that provision has already been
made for repayment of this amount. South Australian Govern-
ment 4 per cent. Bonds to the amount of £1,000,000 also mature in
January, and one-half of these will be paid off in cash. The Govern-
ment had ample funds for repayment of the balance, but has
offered holders the opportunity of exchanging their Bonds to the
extent of £500,000 for 3£ per cent, inscribed stock with 1 per
cent, bonus. As to the Victorian loan of £4,000,0000, due on
1st July, 1907, the Premier stated some time ago that £2,500,000
had been arranged for locally, and that £500,000 would be repaid
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
NEW SOUTH WALES.
4 % Inscribed Stock (t
34% ,, ,, It
3% „ „ \t
9,686,300
16,600,000
12,500,000
1933
1924
1935
109
99*.
88
1
1 Jan.— 1 July.
|l Apr.— 1 Oct.
VlCTOBIA.
4 % Inscribed, 1882-3
4% „ 1885 .
3*,o% ,, 1889 (t)
* % H •
3% „ (t) . .
5,454,700
6,000,000
5,000,000
2,107,000
5,464,714
1908-13
1920
1921-6*
1911-26*
1929-49J
101
105
100*
102
89
3J
q a
It
34
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
|l Jan.— 1 July.
QUEENSLAND.
4 % Bonds ....
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
34 % ,, „ tt)
3.'% „ „ (t)
10,267,400
7,939,000
8,616,034
4,274,213
1913-15*
1924
1921-30f
1922-47f
102
1064.
99*
87
33
To
|l Jan.— 1 July,
SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
4 % Bonds . . .
4% ,
4 % Inscribed Stock .
WESTERN AUSTBAIJA.
6,405,300
1,365,300
6,246,300
2,517,800
839,500
2,760,100
1907-16*
1916
1916-7-36*
1939
1916-26J
1916 or
after.
1014
101
103}
100
87*.
874
if
of
1 Jan.— 1 July.
}l Apr.— 1 Oct.
il Jan.— 1 July.
4 % Inscribed . . .
34% „ » . .
3% „ A . .
3% „ 4 - .
1,876,000
3,780,000
3,750,000
2,500,000
1911-31*
1920-35f
1915-35J
1927J
102
974
874
3|*
3
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
[l May— 1 Nov.
15 Jan.— 15 July.
TASMANIA.
34 % Insobd. Stock (t)
±% „ w
3 % . .ft)
3,656,500
1,000,000
450,000
1920-40*
1920-40*
1920-40f
100
105
89*
3|
P
1 Jan.— 1 July.
w"2
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
t Yield calculated on later date of redemption, though a portion of the loan may be redeemed
arlier.
i No allowance for redemption. (<) Eligible for Trustee investments.
Indian and Colonial Investments
447
AUSTRALIAN MUNICIPAL AND OTHER BONDS.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Melbourne & Met. Bd.\
of Works 4% Debs. /
1,000,000
1921
101
W
1 Apl.— 1 Oct.
Do. City 4% Debs. .
850,000
1915-22*
102
3g
)
Do. Harbour Trust \
Comrs. 5% Eds. ./
500,000
1908-9
102
ll Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4% Eds. . . .
1,250,000
1918-21*
102
s*i
)
Melbourne Trams')
Trust 4J% Debs. ./
1,650,000
1914-16*
104
H
1 Jan.— 1 July.
8. Melbourne 4J% Debs.
128,700
1919
103
*A
Sydney 4% Debs. . .
640,000
1912-18
102
3
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4% Debs. . . .
300,000
1919
102
3«
Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Emu Eay and Mount Bischofi . . .
Do. 4J% Irred. Deb. Stock ....
Mid. of W. Aust. 4 % Debs., Guartd. .
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Eank of Australasia
12,000
£130,900
£440,000
40,000
V
lj
?
12
5
100
100
40
«1
97
102
96
1«
H
35
5
Bank of New South Wales ....
Union Eank of Australia £75 . . .
Do. 4 % Inscribed Stook Deposits . .
Australian Mort. Land & Finance £25
Do. 4 % Perp. Deb. Stock ....
Dalgety & Co. £20
100,000
60,000
£600,000
80,000
£1,900,000
154,000
10
10
4
6
4
6
20
25
100
5
100
5
100
6|
102
5J
4|
4f
$
64
Do. 4$ % Irred. Deb. Stock ....
Do. 4% „ . .
Goldsbrough Mort & Co. 4 % A Deb.\
Stock Reduced /
£620,000
£1,643,210
£1,217,925
?
4
100
100
100
110*
101
90*
*A
»«
4§
Do. B Income Reduced
£727,695
4
100
89
£ T
Australian Agricultural £25 . . .
Soutb Australian Company. .
Trust & Agency of Australasia . . .
Do. 5 % Cum. Pref
20,000
14,200
42,479
87,600
£3
19}
5
21*
20
1
10
514
.4
4}
Met. of Melb. Gas 5 % Debs. 1908-12.
Do. 4£ % Debs. 1918-22-24 ....
£560,000
£250,000
5
4
100
100
102
101
5
out of the redemption funds, while £1,000,000 was to be offered
in London in 3£ per cent, stock at par to holders of the maturing
securities. It is now announced, however, that £3,000,000 will
be taken up locally by the Savings Bank and others in 3£ per
cent, stock at par without commission or any charge whatever.
Altogether there will be a considerable transference of debt from
Great Britain to Australia, which is an excellent feature so long
as the local money-market is not unduly depleted, which there
seems to be no reason to fear at present.
New Zealand Government securities have participated with
448
The Empire Review
Australian in the upward movement, and some of the issues show
a rise of 1 per cent, during the month. The Bank of New Zea-
land ordinary shares have been in demand and are now quoted at
£9 10s. per share with £3 6s. 8d. paid. When the last New
Zealand budget statement was delivered, it was announced that
a loan of £1,000,000 would be required during the current year,
and it now transpires that £900,000 of this has been obtained
locally at 4 per cent, and under.
NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price, i Yield.
Interest Payable.
5 % Bonds ....
266,300
1914
106
*A
15 Jan.— 15 July.
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
1 29,150,802
1929
106J
1 May— 1 Nov.
3J % Stock (t) . . .
! 8,097,096 1940
101
3i6
1 Jan. — 1 July.
3 % Inscribed Stock it)
6,384,005 | 1945
89 3J
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
NEW ZEALAND MUNICIPAL AND OTHER SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Auckland 5% Deb. .
200,000
1934-8*
109
4i
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do.Hbr.Bd. 5% Debs.
150,000
1917
107
*A
10 April— 10 Oct.
Bank of N. Z. shares f
150,000
div. 5 %
8|
—
Do. 4% Qua. Stock J .
£1,000,000
1914
101
3}f
Apr. — Oct.
Chrlstchurch 6% Drain-
age Loan . . .
} 200,000
1926
124£
*A
30 June— 31 Dec.
Dunedin 5% Cons,
312,200
1908
100
—
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
Lyttleton Hbr. Bd. 6%
200,000
1929
119}
Hi
Napier Hbr, Bd. 5%\
Debs /
300,000
1920
109
*A
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do. 5% Debs. . . .
200,000
1928
110
*t
National Bank of N.Z. t
£7$ Shares £2$ paid/
New Plymouth Hbr.\
Bd. 6% Debs. . ./
100,000
200,000
div. 12 %
1909
5i
101
5«
Jan.— July.
1 May— 1 Nov.
Oamaru 5% Bds. . .
173,800
1920
95
5«
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Otago Hbr. Cons. Bds.\
5f . . . . /
432,700
1934
108
*&
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Wellington 6% Impts.^
Loan /
100,000
1914-29*
111
±&
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 6% Waterworks .
130,000
1929
114
5
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 4i%Debs.. . .
165,000
1933
105
*&
1 May — 1 Nov.
WestportHbr. 4%Debe.
150,000
1925
102
n
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
• Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption,
t «6 13*. 4d. Shares with £3 6*. 8d. paid up.
J Guaranteed by New Zealand Government.
South African gold-mining shares are still neglected, and the
fact is not surprising in view of the uncertainty with which the
Imperial Government chooses to envelope the labour question.
The industry is healthy enough apart from this all-important
Indian and Colonial Investments
449
problem. But until the problem is solved there is very little
hope of a revival in the market. The annual report of the great
Consolidated Gold Fields Company of South Africa is, as usual,
an interesting commentary on the general situation. In this
document the directors express the opinion that had the outlook
as regards unskilled labour been free from doubt they could have
safely recommended a distribution, but until all doubts are
removed as to an adequate supply of unskilled labour, more
particularly in the case of companies having commitments in
respect of debentures for which the Gold Fields Company has
assumed liability, they hesitate to recommend a course which
would diminish the company's cash resources. Should, however,
the policy of the Transvaal Government as regards unskilled
labour dispel this doubt during the current financial year and be
authorised by the British Government, they would consider them-
selves fully entitled to distribute an interim dividend.
SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
CAPE COLONY.
4J% Bonds . . .
4% 1888 Inscribed (t).
4 % 1886
3* % 1886 „ (t).
3>e1886 „ (t).
746,500
8,733,195
9,997,566
18,229,666
7,550,524
dwgs.
1923
1916-36*
1929-491
1933-43f
101
104
102$
98
84*
$
w
4t
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
1 June — 1 Deo.
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
1 Jan.— 1 July.
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
NATAL.
4 J % Bonds, 1876 . .
4 % Inscribed . .
3p% ,, - .
3 %
758,700
3,026,444
3,714,917
6,000,000
1919
1987
1914-39f
1929-49f
104
106
97A
85*
H
a
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Apr.— Oct.
1 June — 1 Deo,
1 Jan. — 1 July.
TRANSVAAL.
8 % Guartd. Stock .
35,000,000
1923-53f
97
Bi
1 May — 1 Nov.
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
t Yield calculated on later date of redemption.
SOUTH AFRICAN MUNICIPAL SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Bloemfontein 4 %
483,000
1954
96$
4i
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Cape Town 4 % . .
1,878,550
1953
102
»H
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Durban 4% . . .
1,350,000
1951-3
101
4
30 June — 31 Deo.
Johannesburg 4 %
5,500,000
1933-4
92
4i
1 April— 1 Oct.
Pietermaritzburg 4 %
625,000
1949-58
98
4J
30 June — 31 Deo.
Port Elizabeth 4 % . ! 390.000
1964
99
4A
30 June— 31 Dec.
Rand Water Board 4 %
3,400,000
1935
95
«•
1 Jan. — 1 July.
450 The Empire Review
SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Mashonaiand 5 */ Debs. . .
£2,500,000
5
100
87*
544
Northern Bailway of the 8. African}
Bep. 4 7 Bonds. ....../
£1,043,280
4
100
"•a
95
"Te
*&
Bhodesia Blys. 5 % 1st Mort. Debs.\
guar. by B.S.A. Co. till 1915. . ./
£2,000,000
5
100
95i
6&
Boyal Trans-African 5 % Debs. Bed. .
£1,863,200
5
100
93
5|
BAKES AND COMPANIES.
African Banking Corporation £10 shares
80,000
6
5
4*
6&
Bank of Africa £18f ......
160,000
10*
6}
94
6i
Natal Bank £10
148,232
•rang
14
*
2*
2
5
0
7
National Bank of S. Africa £10
110,000
8
3
10
1*4
54
Standard Bank of 8. Africa £100
61,941
16
25
72
5&
Ohlsson's Cape Breweries .
60,000
22}
5
12
3
South African Breweries . .
950,000
22
1
2
11
British South Africa (Chartered)
6,000,000
nil
1
1-r9.
nil
Do. 5 % Debs. Bed
£1,250,000
5
100
102
43
Natal Land and Colonization . . .
68,066
8
5
6|
^8
61
Cape Town & District Gas Light & Coke
10,000
10
10
l4
6i«
Kimberley Waterworks £10. . . .
45,000
5
1
4|
7A
The output of gold from the Transvaal during October con-
stituted a record well above the previous highest return, even after
allowing for the fact that it included 14,968 ounces of gold reserves
disclosed by certain of the companies in accordance with the new
policy of abandoning the practice of holding secret reserves for
the purpose ot equalising rnonthy returns.
The following table gives the value of the output month by
month for some years past and for the year in which the war
commenced. It will be seen that the aggregate for the first ten
months of the year very nearly reaches the round twenty millions
sterling.
January .
February . .
March .
April ....
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1899.
£
. ! 1,820,739
. ; 1,731,664
. : 1,884,815
. : 1 865 785
£
1,568,508
1,545,371
1,698,340
1,695,550
1,768,734
1,751,412
1,781,944
1,820,496
1,769,124
1,765,047
1,804,253
1,833,295
£
1,226,846
1,229,726
1,309,329
1,299,576
1,335,826
1,309,231
1,307,621
1,326,468
1,326,506
1,383,167
1,427,947
1,538,800
£
846,489
834,739
923,739
967,936
994,505
1,012,322
1,068,917
1,155,039
1,173,211
1,208,669
1,188,571
1,215,110
£
1,534,583
1,512,860
1,654,258
1,639,340
1,658,268
1,665,715
1,711,447
1,720,907
1,657,205
fl, 028, 057
May ....
! 1,959,062
. ! 2,021,813
July ....
. i 2,089,004
August .
September
October .
November
December
i 2,162,583
i 2,145,575
! 2,296,361
i
Total* . .
. ^19, 977, 401
20,802,074
16,054,809 12,589,247
15,782,640
* Including undeclared amounts omitted from the monthly returns.
t State of war.
Indian and Colonial Investments
451
A satisfactory increase was shown also by the native labour
return. There was a net gain of 2,458 Kaffirs during October,
as will be seen from the following table summarising the official
returns for many months past and for the month in which they
were first officially published. The figures for October do not
include the Kobinson group, which has seceded from the Native
Labour Association.
Month.
Natives
Joined.
Natives
Left.
Net Gain on
Month.
Natives
Employed end
of Month.
Chinese
Employed eud
of Month.
March . 1903
6,536
2,790
3,746
56,218
_
July . 1904
4,683
6,246
1,563*
67,294
1,384
August . „
6,173
7,624
1,446*
65,348
4,947
September „
9,529
6,832
2,697
68,545
9,039
October. „
10,090
6,974
3,116
71,661
12,968
November ,,
9,456
6,884
2,572
74,233
19,316
December ,,
8,655
6,277
2,378
76,611
20,918
January 1905
11,773
6,939
4,834
81,444
25,015
February „
14,627
6,705
7,922
89,367
31,174
March „
13,547
8,310
5,237
94,604
34,282
April „
9,589
7,979
1,610
96,214
35,516
May „
8,586
8,574
12
96,226
38,066
June „
6,404
8,642
2,233+
93,988
41,290
July „
6,023
8,338
2,315*
91,673
43,140
August „
5,419
8,263
2,844*
88,829
44,565
September „
5,606
8,801
3,195*
85,634
44,491
October. „
5,855
7,814
1,959*
83,675
45,901
November ,,
5,279
5,992
713*
82,962
45,804
December „
4,747
6,755
2,008*
80,954
47,217
January 1906
6,325
7,287
962*
79,992
47,118
February ,,
5,617
6,714
1,697*
78,895
49,955
March „
6,821
7,040
219*
78,676
49,877
April „
6,580
6,341
239
78,915
49,789
May „
6,722
6,955
233*
78,682
50,951
June ,,
6,047
7,172
1,125*
77,557
52,329
July
6,760
7,822
562*
76,995
52,202
August „
6,777
7,526
749*
76,246
53,835
September „
8,867
6,755
1,612
77,858
54,922
October. „
9,845
7,337
2,458
76,035f
—
* Net loss.
f Exclusive of Robinson group.
While the gold shares have remained dormant, interest in
South African diamond mines has reached a very high level with
all the qualifications of an excited boom. The speculation has
of course been very much overdone in many cases, and several
people will have cause for regret when the reaction comes and the
worthless companies are weeded out. But the excitement at least
serves to remind the public of the mineral wealth of the new
South African colonies, and of the loss to the nation of any policy
calculated to hamper the legitimate operations of the mining
industry.
Khodesia's gold output for October was the smallest since that
for April, but it still shows a very substantial increase over the
return for the corresponding month of last year. The following
.table gives the returns month by month for several years past.
452
The Empire Review
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1902.
1901. 1900.
1899.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
January
42,950
32,531
19,359
16,245
15,955
10,697
5,242
6,371
February .
38,037
30,131
18,673
17,090
13,204
12,237 6,233
6^433
March .
44,574
34,927
17,756
19,626
16,891
14,289 i 6,286
6,614
April
42,423
33,268
17,862
20,727
17,559
14,998
5,456
5,755
May. . .
46,729
31,332
19,424
22,137
19,698
14,469
6,554
4.939
June
47,664
35,256
20,402
22,166
15,842
14,863
6,185
6,104
July . .
48,485
34,693
24,339
23,571
15,226
15,651
5,738
6,031
August .
50,127
35,765
24,669
19,187
15,747
14,734
10,138
3,177
September .
48,410
35,785
26,029
18,741
15,164
13,958
10,749
5,653
October
45,664
33,383
24,919
17,918
16,849
14,503
10,727
4,276
November .
—
32,861
26,183
15,714
15,923
16,486
9,169
4,671
December .
—
37,116
28,100
18,750
16,210
15,174
9,463
5,289
Total .
455,063
407,048
267,715
231,872
194,268
172,059
91,940
35.313
Encouraging progress is recorded in all the Crown colonies
where the British Cotton-Growing Association is assisting the
cultivation of Lancashire's raw material.
CROWN COLONY SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When
Redeemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable
Barbadoes 3$% ins. (t)
375,000
1925-42*
99
3^
1 Mar.— 1 Sep.
Brit. Guiana 3% ins. (t)
250,000
1923-45f
86
3|
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Ceylon 4% ins. (t) . .
1,076,100
1934
111
3^
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3% ins. (t) . . .
2,850,000
1940
93
1 May — 1 Nov.
Hong-Kong 3*,% ins (t)
1,485,733
1918-43t
99$
3A
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
Jamaica 4% ins. (t) .
1,098,907
1934
109
3i
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3$%ins.(*) . .
1,452,900
1919-49f
99}
3&
24 Jan.— 24 July.
Mauritius 3% guar."»
Great Britain (t) .}
600,000
1940
98
34
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do. 4% ins. (t) . . .
482,390
1937
110
3*
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Sierra Leone 3 J% ins. (£)
626,284
1929-54f
99
3T9B
1 June — 1 Dec.
Trinidad 4% ins. (t) .
422,593
1917-42*
101
3*f
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Do. 3% ins. (t) . . .
600,000
1922-44f
87
311
15 Jan.— 15 July.
Hong-Kong & Bhang- 1
hai Bank Shares . /
44,000
Div.£410s.
£93$
HI
Feb. — Aug.
Yield calculated on shorter period. t Yield calculated on longer period.
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
EGYPTIAN SECURITIES.
Title.
Amount or
Number of
Shares.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
Egyptian Govt. Guaranteed Loan (t) .
£7,805,700
3
100
99
3
Unified Debt
£55 971 960
4
100
102
31
National Bank of Egypt ....
300,000
8
10
27i
2H
40,000
16
12*
36*
iff
Agricultural Bank of Egypt, Ordinary
,, „ » Preferred
496,000
125,000
?
5
10
9|
10
3f
4
» Bonds .
£2,500,000
3i
100
90
3S
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
November 20, 1906.
TRUSTEE.
THE EMPIRE
REVIEW
"Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home." — Byron.
VOL. XII. JANUARY, 1907. No. 72.
THE TRANSVAAL CONSTITUTION AND
THE COLOUR QUESTION
BY SIR CHARLES BRUCE, G.C.M.G.
I.
THE Two CONSTITUTIONS.
IN an article on the Transvaal in The Empire Review in June,
1905, I defended the Lyttelton Constitution as the best means
whereby the policy of His Majesty's Government from the origin
of the war could be maintained without solution of continuity to
its ultimate aim. It placed the Transvaal in a constitutional
position in which it was hoped that the British and Boer races,
"as people of practical genius who had learned by long experience
to make the best of circumstances," might co-operate in working
out such a scheme of reconciliation as would justify the early
grant of Responsible Government to the Transvaal and Orange
River Colony and lead, eventually, to the federation of South
Africa in one system.
I assume that the recently-issued Letters Patent providing for
the constitution of Responsible Government in the Transvaal are
to be taken as indicating a change of methods rather than a
change of policy, but I can only associate myself with those who
find it difficult to believe that the new methods are likely to
promote an earlier reconciliation or an earlier attainment of the
ultimate aim than the Lyttelton Constitution. Neither Constitu-
tion has professed to be more than a stepping-stone to a per-
manent settlement, while the new arrangement seems almost to
invite conflict on vital issues.
It seems an irony of fate that a Liberal Ministry — many of
VOL. XII.— No. 72. 2 H
454 The Empire Review
whose supporters are so concerned about the exclusion of labour
and the lower ranks of trade from a voice in the government of
Bussia — should be responsible for a constitution which by limiting
the franchise to the white population excludes from all share in
the exercise or control of the Government of the Transvaal
practically the whole of the labouring population and a large
proportion of the class of small traders who are the principal
agents of cheap supply to the labour class. Be this as it may,
the Government has shown a full sense of its responsibility in
the reservation of powers to control the so-called Responsible
Government in legislation affecting the interests of the classes
excluded from the franchise. On paper it may seem that the
reservations will secure to these classes the protection afforded
by the Lyttelton Constitution ; but there is all the difference in
the world between legislation and administration, and the transfer
of the executive from the control of the Imperial Government to
the control of a local legislature involves the consequence that
measures enacted for the protection of natives in accordance with
principles approved by the Imperial Government may have to be
administered by officers responsible to a legislature hostile alike
to the letter of the law and the spirit in which it has been
enacted. It is useless to play the ostrich and pretend not to see
that one of the main causes of the South African War was the
difference between the English principle of equal civil rights
for white and black and the fundamental law of the Transvaal
Eepublic, while it is not even professed that the principles of
the fundamental law, inspired by religious convictions, have been
abandoned.
Eeferring to this point Mr. Bryce has said :
"In the two Dutch Republics the English principle of
equal civil rights for white and black finds no place. One of
the motives which induced the Boers of 1836 to trek out of
the Colony was their disgust at the establishment of such
equality by the British Government. The Grondwet (funda-
mental law) of the Transvaal Republic declared, in 1858, and
declares to-day, that ' the people will suffer no equality of
whites and blacks, either in State or in Church.' Democratic
republics are not necessarily respectful of what used to be
called human rights, and neither the ' principles of 1789 ' nor
those of the American Declaration of Independence find
recognition among the Boers.
******
"Political rights have, of course, never been held by
persons of colour in either of the Dutch Republics, nor has it
ever been proposed to grant them. Boer public opinion
would scout such an idea, for it reproaches the people of
Cape Colony now with being ' governed by black men,'
Transvaal Constitution and the Colour Question 455
because the electoral franchise is there enjoyed by a few
persons of colour."
And again he justly observes that the Boers are a genuinely
religious people, adding that, while many nations have been in-
spired by the Old Testament, few indeed are the instances in
which any has paid regard to the New.
Now, my contention is that, apart from all religious considera-
tions, reason based on history, on the example of other nations,
on our own experience, and on the facts of the economic position
of the Transvaal, demands the adhesion of the Empire to the
principle of equal civil rights for black and white, dictated, inde-
pendently, by the faith we profess and by political expediency.
II.
THE OUTLINES OF HISTOEY.
Let us take counsel of history. Modern researches into the
natural history of the human race have recognised three main
types: the Caucasian, including the white European and the
brown East-Indian ; the Mongolian, including the red Indian of
America and the yellow Chinese, Japanese and Malays of Asia ;
and the negro or black man mainly habitant in Africa. And
similar researches have determined that colour has no relation
to natural mental characteristics, being merely what I may call an
anti-corrosive pigment resisting solar influences, and, in combina-
tion with other physical characteristics, enabling the coloured
man to live in an environment in which the existence of the
white race is limited to two or three generations.
Very few words will suffice to trace the history of the rela-
tions of the white man to the coloured races in its main outlines.
The imperial adventurers of the sixteenth century who, " with
profits as their lode-star and greed as their compass," first
obtained absolute control over the most beautiful and fertile
regions of America, exploited their resources by the use of the
natives in accordance with the policy which may be stated in
three words, " submission or extermination." And the conditions
of submission were hard. They included a threefold obedience
to the State, to the Church and to individuals of an alien race.
To the State they were forced to submit in respect of institutions,
and to the Church in respect of a creed to which they were by
their nature, history and inherited pride in the traditions of their
past hostile or invincibly opposed. To individuals they were
forced to submit as slaves, bound to labour under conditions for
which their environment, working through the process of ages,
had rendered them totally unfit. When this policy had brought
2 n 2
456 The Empire Review
about the practical extermination of the native races as instru-
ments for the development of material resources, they were
replaced by negroes imported from Africa physically equipped
for the labours to which the natives had succumbed, and forced
to work under even severer conditions of slavery.
The abolition of slavery or compulsory labour in the British
dominions proved the necessity for a new policy in substitution.
The hopes of those who believed that the black man in personal
freedom, under no economic pressure, would be found a willing
and efficient agent in the labours of cultivation were disappointed,
and it soon became certain that some of the most fertile regions
of the earth must be abandoned or cultivated under a new system.
Under the new system the African negro, who had succeeded
the American red man, was in turn superseded by an Asiatic
immigration of yellow men from China, and brown Caucasians
from East India. But the conditions of employment were
changed.
The new comers were introduced under a system of voluntary
short-term contracts which they accepted under the economic
pressure of over-population in their country of origin. During
the period of contract scrupulous care was taken to respect their
religion and personal law, and to protect their interests against
caprice or injustice on the part of their employer. At the expiry
of the contract they had generally the option of return to their
country of origin, a renewal of contract for a shorter term on
more favourable conditions, or residence under laws according
equal rights to every civilised man. The system has been carried
on for more than half a century, perfected by a continuity of
operation approved by both political parties. It has been adopted
under analogous conditions appropriate to local circumstances in
Mauritius, Ceylon, and the Far East. Every detail of legislation
affecting it is subject to the approval of the Government of India,
and as the system has been sanctioned by two of His Majesty's
Ministers, ex- Viceroys of India, it may be assumed that it is free
from any of those conditions of service or residence of a servile
character which the Government emphatically declare their
refusal to tolerate in the Transvaal.
III.
PBESIDENT KOOSEVELT'S MESSAGE.
Let us take counsel of example. The struggle for the control
of the tropics, and, in particular, the scramble for Africa have
now for some years threatened the peace of the world, and are to
a large extent responsible for the ever-increasing burden of naval
Transvaal Constitution and the Colour Question 457
and military expenditure. But, in public opinion, the struggle
has been regarded almost solely as a conflict between the Powers
for the control of territories to be exploited in their own interest.
It is now being borne in upon the Powers that they have
overlooked " the man who counts," the man qualified by the pro-
cess of ages to develop the natural resources of tropical lands, or,
more broadly, the heat-belt which lies between the northern and
southern temperate zones. As the only man so qualified is the
coloured man, it follows that if the struggle for the control of the
Tropics has been a white man's question, the beneficial use of
the areas which are the object of the struggle, is a question of
the relations of the white man to the coloured races. In the
United Kingdom, and in our colonies, in Germany, in Belgium,
the question is agitating parliaments, and it has been dealt with
in President Eoosevelt's recent message to Congress with charac-
teristic energy. It is a phase of the labour question of no less
importance to the peace and prosperity of the Empire than the
questions which concern the relation of capital to labour in the
United Kingdom.
There is a curious analogy between economic conditions
existing in the United States which supply the motive of
President Eoosevelt's message, and the economic conditions in
which, after an interval of a few days, a new constitution has
been conferred on the Transvaal. Historically, President Koose-
velt's message is the logical consequence of Abraham Lincoln's
message addressed to Congress on the 4th of March, 1861.
Lincoln propounded the doctrine of the Federal Supremacy over
State rights in the declaration that " the central idea of secession
is the essence of anarchy," and within a few weeks the validity
of the judgment was referred to the arbitrament of war in the
test-case of slavery.
When that tribunal had established the Federal Supremacy
and abolished the immediate cause of the secession movement,
it was hoped that the relations between white men and the
coloured races in the United States would adjust themselves on
the principle of equal rights for every civilised man. But the
civil war which abolished the institution of domestic slavery as
an organised system for the supply of cheap labour, was quickly
followed by the introduction of a new system of supply based on
the organisation of economic pressure in such a way as to impose
on the labouring classes a yoke hardly less intolerable than slavery
itself. I need not seek to demonstrate the severity of the system.
1 The Jungle ' may be thought an exaggerated statement of its
physical and moral consequences just as ' Uncle Tom's Cabin '
was thought an exaggerated statement of the consequences of
slavery. But, that the new system has led to consequences in
458 The Empire Review
many respects as deplorable as the old is universally admitted
Whether it is to be readjusted by social reforms or displaced by
State Socialism is the dominant question of internal politics in
the United States, just as the labour question is in the United
Kingdom.
In the economic competition which underlies the new system
the emancipated negro and his descendants have played an im-
portant part, and the severity of the conflict between the white
and coloured population has been constantly increasing. Because
the army of national coloured labour, originally recruited in
Africa, is constantly reinforced by auxiliary contingents of
volunteer emigrants from Asia attracted by a wage-rate which at
its lowest is far superior to their possible earnings in their country
of origin. A survey of the ethnical factors in this economic
competition shows that the red man has practically disappeared,
while the white man, who displaced him, is engaged in a formid-
able economic conflict with the black and yellow races.
I need not recite the energetic terms of President Roosevelt's
Message in referring to " the epidemic of lynching and mob-
violence " which has broken out in the conflict. This orgie will
presumably be suppressed by the severest penalties dealt out with
an impartial hand ; but it must be remembered that it is the
direct consequence of the civil and social code of slavery which
placed the womankind of the coloured races at the disposal of
their white masters. As regards the general question of the sexual
relations of diverse races, it is certain that all the serious evils
that have arisen have had their origin in immoral intercourse.
Were these relations limited to honourable marriage under the
general marriage laws of the country, it seems probable that no
social dangers would follow. Such marriages are not viewed
with favour either by the white race or any of the coloured races,
and would be few in number. How to suppress the immoral
relations of the sexes in the great urban areas of modern civilisa-
tion which are the refuge of criminals, prostitutes and vagrants
in every rank of society, is a question outside of my competence.
All I can do is to emphasise President Roosevelt's conclusion,
that in this, as in every other phase of the colour question, " there
is but one safe rule in dealing with black men as with white men
— it is the same rule that must be applied in dealing with rich
men and poor men — that is to treat each man, whatever his
colour, his creed, or his social position, with even-handed justice,
on his real worth as a man."
Of particular interest is that part of the Message which relates
to the supremacy of the Federal Government in the matter of the
treatment of the Japanese in California. President Roosevelt
declares that in this matter everything that it is in his power to
Transvaal Constitution and the Colour Question 459
do he will do to enforce their rights, and will employ to that end
all the forces, military and civil, of the United States which he
may lawfully employ. It will be an evil day for the Empire
should it ever be declared that His Majesty's Government have
no power to claim for His Majesty's Indian subjects in the Trans-
vaal such rights as President Roosevelt is prepared to claim in
every State of the Union for the friendly but alien Japanese.
IV.
RESULTS OF EQUAL RIGHTS.
Let us take counsel of our own experience in the territories
of the Empire under the direct control of the Imperial Govern-
ment exercised on the English principle of equal civil rights for
black and white, in India, in the Far East, and in Africa. Mr.
Morley not long ago recommended all who desire to understand the
state of things prevailing in British India to study Mr. Sidney Low's
work, ' A Vision of India,' and I can refer to no more appropriate
work. India is governed by Indians for India under British
direction. Including military officers in civil employ, and others,
about 1,200 Englishmen are employed in the civil government of
232 millions of people, and in the partial control of :62 millions. On
the average four members of the ruling race for every million of
its subjects. The principle of administration which has secured
this apparently miraculous result has been, that, while obedient
in our conduct to our own religion and personal law, we have
respected the obedience of each of the varied groups of the native
races to their religion and personal law.
Sir Frank Swettenham's work on ' British Malaya ' explains
how, in that country, a handful of Englishmen have established
a Government on similar principles, having gained the confidence
of the country by making the interests of the people their first
consideration, and treating white men and coloured races of
diverse elements with absolute impartiality. But rather let me
present the following picture of what has been done in Sarawak,
drawn by so experienced a student of administrative methods as
Mr. Alley ne Ireland :
The impression of the country which I carry away with me is that of a land
full of contentment and prosperity, a land in which neither the native nor the
white man has pushed his views of life to their logical conclusion, but where
each has been willing to yield to the other something of his extreme con-
viction. There has been here a tacit understanding on both sides that those
qualities which alone can insure the permanence of good government in the
State are to be found in the white man and not in the native ; and the final
control remains, therefore, in European hands, although every opportunity is
taken of consulting the natives and of benefiting by their intimate knowledge
of the country and of the people.
460 The Empire Review
It may, however, be said that the conditions of India and the
Far East differ essentially from the conditions of Africa, and
that the character of the brown Caucasians and of the yellow
Mongolians differs essentially from the character of the African
negro. I can only say that the records of Nigeria, of Uganda,
of the Soudan show that the same principles work with the same
results in Africa. Within the few years that have elaped since
the reconquest of the Soudan, Lord Cromer has been able to
declare that if it were not for the possible danger of attack by
wild animals, any individual could pass unarmed through the
whole country under the Soudan Government. The province of
Kordofan, which alone has an area greater than the whole of
France, is governed by some thirty British and Egyptian officials.
In short, the English principle of equal civil rights for black
and white has secured and maintained among the three main types
of coloured races, among people of the most diverse manners,
languages, religions, and general interests a supremacy of dis-
interested protection on the one side and loyal attachment on the
other. And what is more, it has in every case established this
supremacy on the ruins of a tyranny exercised by the stronger
party for its own interests, submitted to by the weaker from the
law of necessity.
V.
APPLICATION TO THE TEANSVAAL.
And now to take counsel of reason in applying to the circum-
stances of the Transvaal the lessons of history, example, and our
own experience. I assume that the picture Mr. Alleyne Ireland
has given of the present condition of Sarawak represents with
accuracy the condition of things we desire to establish in the
Transvaal.
The problem of the development of the resources and in-
dustries of the Transvaal presents three alternatives. Either the
white man must do the work himself, or he must get it done by
the native negro, or he must call in the assistance of coloured
races of the Caucasian or Mongolian type, that is, Indians or
Chinese. Now as regards the first alternative we are confronted
by the difficulty that in the Transvaal the white man will not do
the work, claiming exemption from manual labour on the ground
that it is beneath his dignity and would destroy the existing
relationships between the white and black races, which are con-
sidered even more important than a full labour supply.
The question was thoroughly threshed out by the Transvaal
Commission in 1903.* The Commission also dealt with the
* Blue Book, Cd. 1896.
Transvaal Constitution and the Colour Question 461
question of the second alternative and came to the conclusion
that it was impossible to have the work done by the native Kaffir,
either by suasion, or compulsion, direct or indirect, or by abroga-
tion of the native tribal and land tenure systems which kept him
out of the labour market. It was recognised that any form of
compulsion or the destruction of the native social system would
sooner or later have exactly the same result as had been ex-
perienced in America — the practical extinction of the native races.
As was recently admitted by the Transvaal Leader, it is im-
possible to kill off the Kaffirs " by the same curious processes
that have been used to decimate the aborigines in other
countries."
So that unless the country and its industries are to lie idle
there remains only the third alternative, the alternative adopted
in tropical areas where the white man is not available for manual
labour, not because he will not but because he is physically unable
to undertake it, and also adopted in Natal. Even in the Trans-
vaal it is admitted that the Indian trader who acts as a connecting
link between the native and the poor white on the one hand and
the wholesale dealer on the other, is an invaluable economic
factor in the commerce of the Colony. The fact that he stays in
the Colony is the proof that he is wanted, for it was in the power
of the Transvaal Eepublic to get rid of him at any time. The
policy has been to restrict the number of Indians entering the
country by the most humiliating and exasperating conditions,
and so limit their influence as a factor in economic competition.
The recent action by the Secretary of State, an ex- Viceroy of
India, in disallowing the Transvaal Asiatic Law (Amendment)
Ordinance, and the reservation introduced into the new Constitu-
tion in respect of legislation affecting non-white inhabitants in the
Transvaal, show that the Government is in sympathy with the
British Indians, and recognises the danger to the Empire of
allowing indignities to be imposed by a British Colonial Govern-
ment on His Majesty's Indian subjects. That question was fully
and ably discussed in a recent article on Indian affairs in the Times,*
and in a more recent article on the subject of the Transvaal
Constitution the Times suggests that the only way of dealing with
the question is by some thorough discussion with all the self-
governing Colonies and India, and the establishment of a real
modus vivendi which shall avoid the injustice of present measures,
and yet save the white population from a destructive economic
protection. If such a modus vivendi can be arrived at it will
remove one difficulty which seems to make the ultimate aim of
the Government — the federation of South Africa in a single
system— impossible. But the experience of the United States
* The Times, November 30.
462 The Empire Review
seems to indicate that in the long run a permanent settlement
will be found only in the policy of President Roosevelt, which
is the policy of the people of England — equal rights for every
civilised man.
If I have dealt with the colour question only as one of political
expediency it is not that I underrate its religious bearings. Mr.
Bryce has reminded us that in their dealings with black men
many white nations have been inspired by the Old Testament,
few have paid regard to the New. It is hardly too much to say
that the most serious of all England's difficulties alike in home,
colonial and foreign affairs have had their origin in the frequency
with which we, in common with other nations of Christendom,
have professed the faith of the New Testament while practising
and enforcing the ethical code of the Old. Either Christianity
must be treated as a system outside of and distinct from our
political system or our political system must be made to conform
to the teaching of Christ, not to an ethical code inconsistent with
it. The Ethiopian Church is the logical outcome of our strange
inconsistency ; it is the latest, but not the least serious, peril to
the peace of Africa; it ought to have been, and may still be,
made an auxiliary of union and peace.
And so I close, being myself daily confirmed more and more in
the belief that the salvation of the Empire depends on the deter-
mination of all its constituent parts to recognise the doctrine of
equal rights for every civilised man.
CHABLES BRUCE.
Foreign Affairs in 1906 463
FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN 1906
BY EDWARD DICEY, C.B.
I.
THE CHANGE OF GOVEENMENT.
THE year 1905 was mainly occupied by the war in the Far
East. That which has just ended was chiefly concerned in
settling the terms of peace after the war was concluded. Through-
out the past twelve months we have had rumours of war; but
these rumours, one after the other, have died away, and 1907
opens under more pacific auspices than its immediate pre-
decessor.
The last important act of the Unionist Government was
the renewal of the treaty of alliance between Japan and
Great Britain. It is commonly asserted by the friends of the
ex-Premier that he remained in office long after the results of
every bye-election during 1905 had shown unmistakably that
the Government no longer commanded the confidence of the
constituencies, mainly, if not solely, because he regarded the
continuance of the Anglo-Japanese alliance infinitely more
important to England than any question of home politics or
party interests. On the strength of this conviction he, it is said,
retained office till the renewal of the treaty had been signed and
sealed, though he was well aware that by so doing he imperilled
the prospects of the party which he led. If this explanation is
correct, Mr. Balfour displayed a patriotism which is rare in
political life. It is easy to be wise after the event, and to say
that if the treaty in question had not been renewed before the
dissolution it would have been equally signed by his successors
in office. But the experience of the last year has rendered me,
and not me alone, extremely doubtful how far Sir Henry Campbell-
Bannerman could have been relied upon to renew the alliance
with Japan if he had not been called upon to face an accomplished
fact. It would have been asserted with a certain show of
plausibility that the war between Bussia and Japan being
464 The Empire Review
terminated, there was no necessity for committing England
again to an alliance which might possibly involve us in unforeseen
complications, and would certainly increase the difficulties in the
way of our arriving at an entente cordiale with Russia, the
expediency for which was strongly impressed upon us by France.
This assertion would infallibly have been supported by the Little
Englanders, the pro-Boers, the Labour party, the Irish Nationalists,
the Radical opponents of Imperialism, and by all the extreme
partizans of the Anglo-French Agreement.
Judging from the way in which the Liberal Ministry have
invariably given way to the extreme wing of their supporters, I
confess to doubting whether they would have had the backbone to
press the renewal of the Japanese alliance upon a reluctant party.
I may be told that Sir Edward Grey, as Minister for Foreign
Affairs, has carried out faithfully and ably the foreign policy of
Lord Lansdowne. But while doing full justice to Sir Edward
Grey's ability and knowledge of foreign affairs, I may express a
doubt whether he would have upheld the absolute necessity for
maintaining our offensive and defensive alliance with Japan at the
cost of withdrawing from the Ministry, and a still greater doubt
whether, if he had told the Premier he should resign office sooner
than not be allowed to renew the treaty with Japan, he would
not have been thrown over by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.
If these doubts are justified, Mr. Balfour may say with a good
conscience that he preferred the welfare of England to his
personal interests and the interests of his party. But I can
see no object in disputing the potent fact that the conduct of the
Unionist Ministry in apparently clinging to office to the last
moment was one of the chief causes which contributed to their
wholesale defeat at the General Election. If Mr. Balfour had
dissolved Parliament at the close of the session, the Liberals
would possibly, if not probably, have won a decisive majority,
and the defeat of the Conservatives would have been a defeat and
not a rout, and would have given the Opposition a strength which
the Ministerialists could not afford to neglect in formulating their
policy.
I fail to see myself how the overwhelming Liberal majority is to
be converted into a minority before the present Parliament expires
by age, except by the outbreak of a war to which England might be
a party. But in my opinion, an European war would be so terrible
a calamity to Europe in general, and to England in particular,
that I would sooner have the Liberals remain in office for the
next six years than have their tenure of power cut short by war.
It may therefore be worth while to point out that there is no
intrinsic reason why the foreign policy of the Liberal party should
not be as pacific as that of the Conservatives. Public interest in
Foreign Affairs in 1906 465
foreign affairs has always hitherto been confined to the well-to-
do and educated classes. Every now and then the masses have
been carried away by outbursts of enthusiasm or indignation as
the case might be, in favour of some cause which appealed to
their imaginations, unenlightened by any intelligent under-
standing. It was so when Garibaldi, as the supposed Liberator
of Italy, was the idol of the British populace. It was so when
Kossuth was welcomed in London as the champion of Hungary.
It was so when, during the Midlothian campaign, the Turks were
held up to execration on account of the alleged Bulgarian atrocities.
It was so to a marked degree when the -importation of Chinese
labourers into the Transvaal was denounced as an outrage upon
humanity.
I am no believer in the saying Vox populi vox del ; and I am
a sceptic about humanity ever being converted to altruism, but I
have come to one definite conclusion about the working of the
ordinary British mind, whenever the safety or the dignity of the
mother-country is assailed, or supposed to be assailed from abroad.
On such occasions all sentimental or humanitarian agitations
vanish like smoke before a breeze. I am old enough to remember
the outbreak of the Crimean war, I can recall the era of the
Indian Mutiny, I can recollect the days when war with the
United States was regarded as a foregone conclusion, owing to
the violent seizure of the confederate envoys on board the Trent,
a British mail steamer sailing under the Union Jack ; I have not
forgotten how, when in the early days of the Second Empire, a
number of French colonels expressed a pious aspiration to invade
England and revenge the wrongs France, in bygone times, had
suffered at her hands. Great Britain responded by calling the
volunteers into existence, and thereby creating a force which
exists to-day and which has not seriously diminished in strength,
even though we all vie with one another in declaring that the
entente cordiale has rendered absurd the notion of any future
conflict arising with France.
The conclusion I draw from these reminiscences is that all
the gush, all the sentimentalism and all the talk about the settle-
ment of possible causes of conflict between England and her
neighbours, being removed in future by International Law laid
down by Courts of Arbitration, will disappear whenever the
British public, with or without reason, comes to the conclusion
that England's honour and England's safety are at stake. I am
not discussing the question whether our national tendency to
disregard all other considerations when our Imperial interests or
our Imperial pride are concerned is in accordance with the highest
code of morality. All I contend is that it is in accordance with
the instincts of our national character as a ruling race ; and these
466 The Empire Review
instincts are not likely to be modified for many long years, or
even for many generations.
The reason why I call attention to this subject is that it
confirms my own forecast as to the pacific attitude of the party
now in power. The Liberals of to-day owe their overwhelming
majority in the present Parliament to the fact that the Electorate
under our existing franchise is mainly composed of the working
classes, who believe that they are more likely to be treated on
the footing of the most favoured portion of the community under
a Badical than under a Conservative administration. So far the
result has justified their opinion. There seems to be no limit to
the concessions the Premier and his colleagues are prepared to
make to popular clamour sooner than lose the support of the Irish
Nationalists, the Socialists and the delegates of Labour. The
Ministry, if we give them credit for ordinary intelligence, must,
however, be well aware that if once there is talk of war, or if
contingencies should arise under which England might be called
upon to choose between war or peace without honour, the
patriotism or — if you prefer the phrase — the Jingoism of the
British nation would discard all ideas of social reforms and call
out for a strong Government able to carry out the will of the
people, saying in answer to any suggestion of aggression, " Thus
far and no farther."
If this is so there is no ignoring the conclusion that what used
to be called " a spirited foreign policy " is one not likely to be
adopted by the present ministry. Personally, I think a period of
general indifference to foreign affairs is a boon to England. None
of the burning questions of the Continent at this moment touch any
vital interest of England. "We can afford, therefore, to look after
our own affairs without troubling ourselves, except as matters of
speculative interest, whether France does or does not get the best
of her controversy with Germany about Morocco, whether
Russia obtains Parliamentary institutions, whether Greeks or
Bulgarians commit more or fewer outrages in Macedonia, or
whether Magyars or Teutons get the upper hand in the dual
Empire. The fact that these and similar questions interest me
personally does not seem to me to justify any expectation that the
British nation takes part, on one side or the other, at the risk of
our position as spectators being converted into that of active
participants. The shirt, according to the French proverb, is
always nearer than the coat. Upon like principle, the interests
of the British Empire, that is of Great Britain and Greater
Britain, are far nearer to us than those of the Continental Powers
of Europe ; and on this account I see no cause for dissatisfaction
in the prospect of the Government of England remaining for
some years to come in the hands of a party committed, by the
Foreign Affairs in 1906 467
exigencies of their position, to a policy which, whatever else it
may be called, cannot be described as spirited and still less as
bellicose.
II.
THE ENTENTE CORDIALE.
I am afraid the exaggerated importance still attached to the
Anglo-French Agreement in France is the one thing likely to
cause trouble. During a recent visit to Paris I was informed on
every side that the vast majority of Frenchmen, without distinc-
tion of party or politics, were firmly convinced that England had
committed herself in fact if not in name to an offensive and
defensive alliance, and was actuated by such a jealousy of the
industrial and naval competition of Germany, that apart from
any treaty obligations, she was willing, if not anxious, to come
to the armed assistance of France in the event of her being
threatened by any aggressive action on the part of Germany. I
told one of my informants that to the best of my belief no such
idea was entertained by the British Government, and that
if the idea had been entertained, any attempt to carry it into
execution would be so unpopular in Great Britain as to bring
about the downfall of the Ministry by whom it might be suggested.
My informant, who had resided for many years in England,
replied, " I know your country too well not to share your views,
but I am bound to tell you, that if any occasion should arise on
which England might be called upon to act in accordance with
the assurances she is believed to have given, and if she should
refuse to do anything beyond giving her moral support, she would
be regarded as having betrayed France, and would be far more
hated by the French nation than she ever was in the days when
she was known throughout the length and breadth of the country
as perfide Albion" Should this be the truth, both the late and the
present Ministry are severely to blame, if they have not given the
French Government and people clearly to understand that, barring
some unforeseen and most improbable contingency, which might
modify British policy, England is under no obligation to go
beyond the moral support specified under the Anglo-French
Agreement as given by her at the Conference of Algeciras, and
has most assuredly no intention of going to war for the purpose
of assisting France to wrest her lost provinces from the hands of
Germany.
I have always doubted how far the enthusiasm for the entente
cordiale, which we were assured twelve months ago was so
universal amidst the British public, is a genuine representation of
popular British sentiment. I should be the last to decry the great
468 The Empire Review
advantages which England has derived from having had a free
hand granted to her in Egypt. But I regret to say Egypt is not a
subject which interests the British working man. He would, in
common for that matter with most people, be utterly at a loss to
explain the character of an unavowed protectorate, and he fails to
understand what is meant by " spheres of influence," or by the
statement that France is our natural ally and our true friend.
The masses of the Electorate have been taught for generations
that France has always been our hereditary foe. They may have
discarded the teaching of their sires and grandsires, and may
have learnt to doubt whether Frenchmen, as a nation, really live
on frogs or wear wooden shoes. Englishmen, however, from the
highest to the lowest are slow at taking in an idea, and when they
have once got an idea into their heads they are still slower in
getting rid of it.
We are in many respects the most good-natured people in the
world ; we are always ready to shake hands with our adversaries
when a fight is over, but our good-nature does not go the length
of forgetting that our adversary has played us many a scurvy
trick and dealt us many an unfair blow. It is therefore a tall
order to come and ask the British workmen to believe it is France
not Germany whom we ought to look upon as the guardian of
British interests and the champion of our Imperial mission. I
am not therefore surprised to find that, when the shouting is
over, the British public have lost any keen desire for further
fraternisation, and see no reason why, in virtue of the entente
cordiale, they should turn their backs upon their German
kinsfolk with whom they have far more in common than they
have, to repeat the late Lord Salisbury's well known phrase, with
" the decadent Latin nations."
III.
THE EBVOLUTION IN KUSSIA.
When the year now ended was in its youth the overthrow of
the autocracy in Russia and the substitution of a Parliamentary
Government for the rule of the Czar was regarded by the vast
majority of the British Press as an absolute certainty. We were
told day after day that we were witnessing the " uprising of a
great people," that the massacres of October had sealed the doom
of the Czar and the bureaucracy ; that the newly-elected Duma
had displayed moderation and self-control unexampled in revolu-
tionary history; and that Nicholas II. would have, before the
year was over, to resign himself to the position of a constitutional
Foreign Affairs in 1906 469
Sovereign whose sole duty would consist in signing the decrees
dictated to him by his Ministers.
This optimistic view was not taken by the French Press. The
explanation is obvious. The downfall of the Czar would deal a
death-blow to the Dual Alliance, and would create a financial
panic in France which might well prove fatal to the existence of the
Third Eepublic. It was only in Germany that the triumph of
the Duma was regarded as improbable. My own doubts on this
subject, which were shared by only a small section of the British
Press and which were published in The Empire Review, were due, if
I may speak for myself, to a conviction that the Russian nation
in its present phase of intellectual development is utterly unfitted
for constitutional government ; that the professors, doctors and
lawyers who advocate Parliamentary rule as the panacea for all
the evils of Russia had no hold whatever on the masses ; that
the real backbone of the popular movement consists, in the rural
districts, of the land-hunger of the peasant, which can only be
satisfied by the confiscation of the landed property and its division
amidst the tillers of the soil, and, in the urban districts, of the
desire to carry out the crude Socialist ideas which have appealed
to the imagination of the artizans in the towns. I hold also that
the conviction of both peasants and workmen is that confiscation
and communism are far more likely to be carried out by an
autocratic Czar than by a Constitutional Parliament.
The justice of these views became apparent as soon as the Duma
fell, as it was bound to fall, under the control of the champions of
anarchy and nihilism. It was not only the nobility but the whole
property-owning classes of the Empire which grew alarmed at the
prospect of Communistic rule of an even more extravagant kind
than that of the Paris Commune being introduced into Russia.
The abrupt dissolution of the Duma was welcomed by the vast
majority of the property-holding classes. Again we were assured
that by dissolving the People's Parliament the Czar had signed
his own death-warrant : that any attempt to restore autocratic rule
would be crushed by the uprising of the Russian people ; that the
troops would join the revolutionary party, and that any attempt
to thwart the popular will would be resisted by the whole force
of an indignant people. Again these prognostications have proved
fallacious. With few and insignificant exceptions the army re-
mained true to its salt ; and as soon as their loyalty became mani-
fest the Government began to put down all outrages against the
law with an iron hand. The revolutionists retorted by savage
reprisals and a series of outrages which, to use President Kruger's
well-known though unfulfilled phrase, " staggered humanity."
The new Premier, M. Stolypin, so far has justified his policy of
punishing all offences against the law with stern punishment, no
VOL. XII.— No. 72. 2 i
470 The Empire Review
matter whether those offences were committed by revolutionaries
or reactionaries. I am too deeply convinced of the utter disorgan-
isation of Eussia to pledge myself to the assertion that M. Stolypin
will prove the saviour of his country or command the continued
confidence of his Imperial master, but I may say that in my
opinion the possibility of restoring law and order has materially
improved under his direction. I for one must decline to look
far ahead in all matters concerning Eussia, but this I do say, that
even if the Duma should re- assemble in the coming year, it will
be a very different body from the Duma in whose impending
resurrection Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was unwise enough
to express his personal belief.
IV.
THE ALGECIEAS CONFEBENCE.
I remember at the time of the great Gorham ritualistic
controversy ever so many years ago, the editor of a leading
Anglo-Indian paper published an article on the news received
by the last English mail. The article consisted of seven words :
" The Gorham case the Gorham case." I cannot recall what
the missing word was, but I am sure it was not " bless." If I could
remember the lost word, I should be inclined to repeat the article
in question and apply it to the Algeciras Conference. As, however,
the subject occupied far more attention than it deserved in the
British Press during the early months of last year, I can hardly
pass it by without any comment.
When the Conference ended there was a great outcry
in the French Press about the way in which France, sup-
ported by England in virtue of the entente cordiale, had baffled
the machinations of Germany, and had thereby secured a great
moral victory. I have always been utterly sceptical as to
the value of "moral victories," and have invariably noticed
that whenever individuals or nations claim a moral victory it
is because they have failed to obtain the practical victory upon
which they had reckoned. It is so, I think, in this par-
ticular instance. No reasonable person can doubt that when
France and England agreed together that the former Power
should give the latter a free hand in Egypt in consideration of
the latter giving the former a free hand in Morocco, France
accepted the agreement, not in order to establish an abstract
principle, but to gain a positive personal advantage. Under the
free hand, she anticipated that she would be able to occupy
Morocco with French troops in order to safeguard her Algerian
Foreign Affairs in 1906 471
provinces, and by this occupation to establish a French pro-
tectorate over Morocco.
The Conference, however, paid no attention to the Anglo-
French Agreement, as being a private understanding between
two European Powers, which, though binding on these Powers
had no authority in regard to third parties. I need hardly
say that this interpretation of the Anglo-French Agreement, as
I have always contended, rests solely upon two facts, firstly
that we occupy Egypt by British troops, and secondly that our
administration of the land of the Nile has not interfered as yet
with the principle of the Open Door, and is consistent with
conferring the same rights in Egypt on all foreigners as those
possessed by our own countrymen. In consequence every Foreign
Power has hitherto acquiesced in our occupation of Egypt; an
acquiescence in which Germany has taken the lead, and has
therefore discountenanced all proposals for convoking an
European Conference to discuss the relations between England
and Egypt.
Again, no reasonable person, as I have said, can doubt that
the real object of France in signing the Anglo-French Agreement
was the belief that if she could occupy Morocco with French
troops on the plea of protecting the European residents, she
might follow our example in Egypt and establish a Protectorate
over Morocco similar to that she has established over Tunis. If
this were her object France has so far completely failed in her
ambition. Germany would have probably preferred to have the
restoration of order in the Shereefian kingdom entrusted to an
international force, but she finally consented to this duty being
entrusted to a Franco- Spanish force subject to European super-
vision. For obvious reasons Spain has every interest in not
having Morocco converted into a province of French Africa, and
may therefore be trusted to oppose any policy which would lead
to the establishment of a purely French Protectorate, and would
necessarily involve the conversion of Morocco into a French
colony administered solely in the interest of French trade to the
detriment of all traders not belonging to French nationality.
In other words, the award of the Algeciras Conference has been
to knock the Tunisification of Morocco — to employ a barbarous
word — upon the head. France, therefore, has been deprived of
the main object for which she entered on the Anglo-French
understanding, while Germany has succeeded in her main con-
tention that such an understanding is null and void as respects
the non-signatory Powers till it has been submitted to and ap-
proved by an European conference. Since it has become manifest
that all idea of establishing a French Protectorate over Morocco
must be abandoned, at any rate for the present, the ardour of the
2 i 2
472 The Empire Review
French Republic for redressing the wrongs of the European
residents in Tangiers seems to have cooled down. It is six
months since France and Spain received their joint mandate to
restore order in Morocco, or in plain language, to attack Baisuli,
who cumulates the functions of a Governor of the province in
which the chief European town of Morocco is situated with those
of brigand and cut-throat, and yet Raisuli is still all-powerful.
V.
THE KHEDIVE AND THE "TIMES."
Resident as I am now in Cairo for a short period I cannot
conclude this sketch of Foreign Affairs without recording my
extreme regret that the Times should have lent the weight of its
leader columns to an article which, in effect, charges the Khedive
with supporting Mustapha Pasha Kamil, the representative of
the so-called Egyptian National Party. The direct suggestion
made against the Prince is that he is helping to finance the
El Lewa. a paper having the avowed aim and object to bring to a
close the British occupation and to replace Egypt under Turkish
rule.
It is no concern of mine to form any opinion as to why the
Times should have thought proper to make this apparently
unprovoked attack upon the personal character of a Prince who
has many claims on the consideration of England, and who is the
joint Sovereign with His Majesty King Edward VII. in the
condominium of the Soudan. Nor can I, or anybody, prove a
distinct negative to the allegations brought by the Times corre-
spondent in Egypt, and apparently endorsed by the powers at
Printing House Square.* But as a veteran journalist, as a
publicist who has been personally interested in Egypt, its politics,
and its fortunes for close upon forty years, and as a visitor who
has been on intimate relations with the three Khedives — Ismail
Pasha, his son Tewfik, and his grandson Abbas II. — I feel it my
duty to point out the intrinsic improbability of the charges to
which the Times has given the imprimatur of its authority.
I take the following extracts from the despatch f of the Times
correspondent in Cairo, on whose information the leading article
in question was based : —
There is no object in disguising the fact that a fresh move in the anti-
Governmental campaign is contemplated for which the Palace is largely respon-
sible. Mustapha Pasha Kamil is once again in full favour with the Court, and
* Times, November 27, 1906.
t Dated November 17, 1906.
Foreign Affairs in 1906 473
is without question once again in possession of considerable resources. Forti-
fied by these, he has announced his intention of forming a company with a
capital of jeE20,000 for the publication of an Anglo-French edition of (his
Arabic paper) El Lewa under the English title of The Egyptian Standard.
*****
I fear there can be no doubt that a considerable portion of the capital
subscribed by the Palace party consists of sums received on account of the
bestowal of grades and decorations, the sale of which is fast becoming an
offensive scandal, and will, it is believed, be drawn upon to enable the editor of
El Lewa to open his polyglot campaign.
* * * * *
His Highness the Khedive is already spoken of by the ultra-Nationalists
as the principal supporter of their programme, despite the readiness which
their leaders evinced in the spring to support Ottoman pretensions to the
possession of the key of his dominions. How far the Khedive is aware of the
extent to which his name is utilized by the Palace party and the ultra-
Nationalists or Pan-Islamists cannot be accurately known outside the Court,
but the fact that it is so utilized in support of a barren and disintegrating
agitation against the British occupation of Egypt and all its supporters and
allies — native as well as foreign — is of evil import for the future.
In the case of a private person, the individual maligned
would be entitled to seek reparation before the courts of
law. But in the case of a Prince, who is in name if not in
fact, the reigning sovereign of an independent State, any resort
to legal proceedings is obviously out of the question. The
only redress the Prince can hope to obtain is by the British
Government declaring officially that the charges in question
were brought without their knowledge or still less with their
approval, and that they have no reason to doubt the truth of
his Highness's recent declaration to Lord Cromer that he had
never given a penny to Mustapha Pasha Kamil or El Lewa, and
that to the best of his belief and knowledge, no member of the
Khedival family had contributed to the funds required by the
Nationalist editor to start his paper. I am not in the secrets of
the Foreign Office or of the British Agency, and therefore it
would be impossible for me to deny the possibility of their
bureaux possessing evidence incriminating Abbas II., but failing
the existence of this evidence his demand for some official repudia-
tion of these charges seems, I think, reasonable in itself and one
which may fairly be made under the peculiar circumstance of
the case.
As a persistent advocate of a British Protectorate over Egypt,
I hold, as I have always held, that England, in her own interest,
must be the paramount Power in the Valley of the Nile, and this
conviction necessarily involves the admission that the Khedival
Government must be subordinate to that of the British Govern-
ment. And I am convinced that the reigning Khedive realises
this necessity. On the other hand, I fail to follow what I
take to be the view of the Times, that the Prince should
474 The Empire Review
necessarily be expected to remain grateful to England for having
deprived him of the influence and authority which, up to the
time of our military occupation, appertained to the holder of the
Khedival throne. Happily for England, for Egypt and for
himself, his Highness is fully aware that in existing conditions he
must come off the worst in any effort he may make to emanci-
pate himself from the tutelage of the British Protectorate.
Whatever his merits or demerits may be, he is a very intelligent
and long-headed Prince ; and it is on that account I am unable
to understand how — pending evidence to the contrary — he should
ever have associated himself with the Nationalist programme.
Whatever else he may be, the Khedive is lord and master of the
Palace party, supposing such a body to have any existence in
reality, and he knows Egypt far too well not to be aware that
even if he wished to give any moral support or, still more, any
pecuniary assistance to the Nationalist agitation, the fact would
be communicated at once to the British authorities in Egypt.
In the earlier years of his Khedivate he did undoubtedly make
an attempt to assert his command over the Anglo-Egyptian army,
but the failure of his attempt was not of a kind to encourage any
repetition of an anti-British policy. Since the collapse of his
assertion that he was still master of his own troops, he has, in as
far as I am aware, acquiesced in the present system under which
he remains the ruler of Egypt de jure, while Lord Cromer, as
representative of England, remains the ruler de facto. Since the
Anglo-French Agreement, Abbas II. has realised the plain fact
that he has lost the support of the one Power which could
possibly have assisted him in throwing off the yoke of England.
On the occasion of the Sultan's attempt to reassert his claims in
the Sinai Peninsula, he supported the rights of Egypt, and, if I
am correctly informed, wrote a despatch to the Sultan, at Lord
Cromer's instance, declaring that, in the event of Turkey trying
to alter the lines of demarcation between the Ottoman Empire
and the Vassal State, his troops would join with the British in
repelling any act of aggression. If this be so, it seems incredible
that, within a few weeks, he should have embarked on an insane
attempt to overthrow the British military occupation by an
alliance with the Nationalist party.
Concerning the charge of having raised money by selling titles
and decorations, it hardly needs refutation. A stranger does not
require forty years or forty months or forty weeks' residence in
Egypt not to be aware that from time immemorial titles and
decorations were paid for either in meal or malt, that is, by
services rendered or by backsheesh. Even in England at the
present day similar rewards are not infrequently the result of
pyaments to "party" purposes. I hardly comprehend, then,
Foreign Affairs in 1906 475
why what is regarded as a legitimate transaction in England
should be denounced as disgraceful in Egypt. Again, neither
the Times nor its correspondent seem to be aware that Egypt
possesses no decorations of her own, and by her convention
with Turkey has a right only to a limited number of Turkish
orders, such as the Osmanli and the Medjidi. Of this limited
number by far the largest proportion are appropriated by the
British Agency as rewards for British officials in the Khedival
service, who, in Lord Cromer's opinion, have done good work in
Egypt.
As to posts of emolument, the Khedive has no means of selling
these to any would-be purchasers, even if he was so minded.
The disposal of all such posts rests with Lord Cromer and Lord
Cromer alone. His lordship's patronage is exercised most con-
scientiously, and, from his own point of view, most wisely. Every
candidate for office well knows that the fact of his nomination
or recommendation by the Khedive would be rather detrimental
than otherwise to the chance of his application being favourably
received at the British Agency.
EDWAKD DIOEY.
476 The Empire Review
OUR PROTECTORATE IN EAST AFRICA
ITS PROGRESS AND POSSIBILITIES
BY THE LORD HINDLIP
OUR East Africa Protectorate is bounded on the south by
German East Africa, on the east by the Indian Ocean, on the
north by Italian Somaliland and Abyssinia, and on the west by
Uganda. I mention these matters as, in spite of the fact that
geography is in future to be eliminated from the Foreign Office
examination on the ground that it can easily be picked up after-
wards, I think some of my readers may like to have before them
the exact bearings of the territory I propose to deal with in this
paper. It is only in the last two years that the Protectorate has
attracted much attention from the mother-country. Before that
time it was occasionally brought to the notice of the public by
incidents such as the Uganda Mutiny, the transfer of the country
from the old East Africa Company to Imperial control, and by a
question or so in the House of Commons. But no particular
sympathy was shown in its welfare. Now, however, the posi-
tion is very different, and the many and varied agricultural and
commercial industries which have sprung up in the East Africa
Protectorate have awakened and continue to awaken the keenest
interest in the heart of the Empire.
With these few opening sentences let me take the reader to
the place itself.
A pleasant surprise awaits the traveller when his ship brings
him in sight of the East African coast near Mombasa and for a
long distance southwards. Instead of the arid waste he has seen
in passing through the Suez Canal and the Ked Sea, and along
the Somaliland coast from Guardafui, or the bare hills on the
South African coast, he will be inclined to wonder whether by
some mischance his ship has brought him, not to the African
coast, but to some rich tropical island in the East Indies. He
will see cocoanut trees growing in profusion, while at Mombasa
and other old Portuguese posts, mango trees are fairly plentiful.
The whole coast in fact is covered with green trees and vegetation.
Mombasa itself is an island, and, as may be gathered from its
native name, Mvita, meaning the island of war, was the scene of
Our Protectorate in East Africa 477
many sanguinary struggles between the Portuguese and the
Arabs. The remains of ancient fortifications still exist along the
east coast wherever the old settlements were made. The chief
port for the Protectorate, Kilindini, is on the other side of the
island ; it is certainly one of the finest of the many fine harbours
in the Protectorate, and capable of holding a large number of big
ships. Mombasa, and a strip of ten miles in breadth the whole
length of the coast of the Protectorate, still remain within the
dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar.
The coast belt for a distance inland of some twenty miles will,
I think, attract a considerable amount of attention during the
next few years, owing to its richness and suitability for tropical
products, such as rubber, cocoanuts, fibres and cotton. In
German East Africa, at and near Tanga, not very far distant
from the southern frontier of the British Protectorate, and along
the Usambara railway, which runs a short distance from Tanga
towards the district of Kilimanjaro, great success has been met
with by the business-like German planters, who, equipped with
a thoroughly scientific knowledge, have been planting rubber
and sisal.
There is no doubt that immense strides have been made by
the Germans in rubber and sisal cultivation. Only the other day
a representative of a London firm told me that owing to the
scientific methods applied by the Germans to the sisal fibres, the
sisal from German East Africa was worth £35 to £38 a ton as
against £3Q for the Mexican and £22 for the Indian product.
This in itself emphasises the difference between German and
other methods, and so good is this fibre that merchants are only
too eager to buy it in advance, because they know it will be in
good condition. Accurate statistics of rainfall and similar matters
easily available in German East Africa are deficient in British
East Africa, and several would-be investors have told me that
they have abstained from investing in our Protectorate owing to
the absence of these and similar data.
Passing from the south of the coast-belt northwards past
Mombasa, the Tana river, with the exception of the first eighty
miles of its course, where mosquitos exist in myriads, appears to
present great possibilities in the way of products of a tropical
nature, including cotton, and in many respects both the country
and the river seem to have characteristics similar to the Nile.
Lamu, an island a short distance north of the false mouth
of the Tana, the real channel being silted up, is at present
the headquarters of the trade of this district. All along the
coast, from the Tana southwards into German territory, a con-
siderable and profitable trade is done in mangrove-bark, which
is shipped to Germany and to America. Further north again,
478
The Empire Review
almost at the northern limit of the coast lands of the Pro-
tectorate, lies Kismayu, near the mouth of the Juba river, a
river which will probably in the future play a not unimportant
part in the development of Southern Abyssinia and the inter-
vening country inhabited by the Somalis.
I now pass on to describe the country through which the
Uganda Bailway passes.
Leaving Mombasa, the line crosses to the mainland by the
Makupa bridge. After the first twenty miles or so, the bush
The figures underneath the station indicate the elevation.
Distances from Mombasa : —
Athi River
311 miles.
Nakuru . .
. 449 miles.
Nairobi .
327 „
Njoro . .
• 461 „
Kikuyu .
342 „
Elburgon .
. 474 „
Limuru .
352 „
Molo . .
• 484 „
Naivasha
391 „
Kisumu . .
. 584 „
Voi 103 miles.
Tsavo .... 133 „
Kibwezi ... 196 „
Kiu 267 „
Kapiti Plains . . 288 „
becomes thicker and interspersed with many fibrous plants, and
water is very scarce. With the exception of Voi, in the Teita
district, there is nothing of much interest until Makindu is
reached, 209 miles from the coast and at an elevation of 3,280
feet, and for the next 58 miles to Kiu there is some very fair
grazing land, which should do well for indigenous cattle, goats
and sheep, but here again water is a difficulty. One or two
abortive attempts at boring have been made by the railway
people, but I do not know to what depth the experiments have
gone. I firmly believe that water could be supplied by means of
artesian wells, which should tap some of the underground rivers
said to exist somewhere under this part of the country.
Just before the train reaches Voi (mile 103), the traveller may
expect to get his first sight of East African big game. The last
time I went up the railway, a little over a year ago, a small herd
of giraffes was seen close to the track. Voi (elevation 1,830 feet)
Our Protectorate in East Africa 479
is practically the end of the Taru desert, which used to form,
in the old days, the bete noire of the traveller from the coast
to the interior. From here there is a caravan road, over which
motor-wagons now run to Taveta and the German district round
Kilimanjaro. Several concessions have been taken up near Voi
for the gathering and cultivation of fibres, the Voi river naturally
attracting people to this part.
Dinner is usually at Voi, which is reached as a rule shortly
after dusk, and the country traversed during the ensuing night
is not of a very attractive character. The first object of interest
in the morning which is sometimes visible from the train, is the
snow-capped peak of Kilimanjaro, rising in solitary grandeur
from the level plain, and from here to Nairobi, across the
Kapiti and Athi plains, the line runs through what is practically
an enormous zoological garden. These plains, extending from
mile 280 to Nairobi at mile 328, are chiefly remarkable for the
quantity of game, and for the myriads of ticks which practically
take possession of clothes and bedding and even oneself ; in the
wet season when the grass is long, the ticks make life almost
unbearable. The herds of harte beeste, wilde beeste, zebra and
gazelles pay but little attention to the passing train, while lions
have not unfrequently been seen by passengers. The whole of
the district south of the railway, practically from Voi to Nairobi,
forms the game reserve, which, I hope, will be jealously guarded
for some time to come.
Near Machakos (mile 276), elevation 5,250 feet, which I
consider to be the beginning of the white man's zone, consider-
able success has attended the efforts of an old pioneer of the
country in cultivating fruit, the apples grown there being in very
great demand.
Nairobi, at an elevation of 5,450 feet, is now practically the
capital of the Protectorate. The site is an unfortunate one; a
mile or two into rising ground would have made all the difference,
for, owing to the lack of fall for the necessary drainage, almost in-
superable difficulties present themselves to the sanitary authorities
and the department concerned with the streets. The town, apart
from the residential portion, has been condemned over and over
again by every medical officer who has seen it. The Govern-
ment have now despatched a sanitary engineer to make a report.
The headquarters of the Bail way, troops and Land Department
are at Nairobi, and, with the exception of the Customs Depart-
ment, which must necessarily be at the coast, all the Government
headquarters will no doubt be established here shortly. Plague
has broken out at Nairobi on more than one occasion, and is
likely to do so again and in a more virulent form unless the
native markets, Indian bazaars, and other places where filth
480 The Empire Review
collects, are properly supervised and placed under stringent
sanitary regulations and entirely removed from the European
quarter of the town.
Nairobi, during the four years or so that I have known it,
has made rapid progress. Tin shanties and wooden shacks now
give way to more solid buildings of stone of good quality,
which is plentiful in the vicinity. Cricket and football grounds,
a racecourse and an agricultural show, all find their place in or
near the town. Hotels, which four years ago were practically
non-existent, have sprung up, and really excellent accommodation
can be obtained. The value of land has increased enormously,
and although it is perhaps difficult to believe that the present
inflated prices are justified, there is apparently at present no sign
of a slump. Land in the residential quarter which a few years ago
was practically valueless, now changes hands in many instances
at from £50 to £80 an acre, and possibly more.*
I think the chief object of interest at Nairobi is the French
Roman Catholic Mission, a few miles out of the town. Here,
under the direction of Father Burke, a very considerable acreage
has been put under coffee, which has done very well, and com-
mands good prices on the French market. Coffee throughout
the Kikuyu district appears to thrive, the trees beginning to
bear in about two and a half years. Like everything else in a
new country, it has its detractors, and some say that the trees
will exhaust themselves too quickly ; personally I am inclined
to doubt the prophecy. Almost every species of garden produce is
grown at the Mission in profusion, and I have seen peach-trees
only three years old and grown from stone, literally weighed down
with fruit. Some of the natives are being taught carpentering
and other useful crafts, and in another part of the Mission a
school is being carried on for European children.
Some fifty miles south of Nairobi, at an altitude of about
2,500 feet, lies the Lake of Soda, called by the natives Lake
Magadi. Although many lakes in the surrounding country
contain soda, none contain it to such an extent as this one.
The whole surface of the lake is covered with a coating of soda,
which, I am told, is from six to eight feet thick, and is con-
tinually increasing. The East Africa Syndicate own a concession
to work this soda, but so far little has been done with it.
Leaving Nairobi, the railway begins to climb the Kikuyu
Escarpment and it is here that the beautiful and attractive
country begins. Signs of colonisation are everywhere visible
on both sides of the line, snug homesteads are springing up and
* Town plots in the main business streets in Nairobi have risen in value from
about £100 at the commencement of 1906 to £500 now. This is according to the
last mail from East Africa.
Our Protectorate in East Africa 481
land is being brought into cultivation. After cresting the Kikuyu
Escarpment, the track brings one down to the fine grazing land
round Naivasha, Gilgil, and Elmenteita, which used to form a
portion of the grazing lands of the Masai. This territory has been
eagerly snapped up by settlers. Near Naivasha is the Govern-
ment stock farm, which I think is now certainly one of the best,
if not the best thing in the country. Here Mr. Hill shows with
great pride the results of his experiments in stock-raising and
crossing of the native cattle and sheep with imported stock, and
on the whole the results are very satisfactory.
The first cross with a native ewe and imported merino, from
the point of view of the :wool, is certainly encouraging. The
carcase, as is only to be expected, is poor. The second cross is,
I think, disappointing, probably owing to the fact that the
difference between the first cross and the native animal is so
marked. The merino sheep which were brought from South
Africa to the Government farm, although I believe in bad
condition and suffering from scab on arrival, have on the whole
done well. The crossing of the native cattle with imported
stock, Herefords, Shorthorns and Guernseys, has also been so
far successful, though it remains to be seen whether it will be
better to cross with imported stock, or whether, as I understand
is the opinion of many in South Africa, it will be better to breed
up by selection from the pick of the native cattle, which appear
to be more or less immune from many diseases. The native cattle
are small, but taking to the eye, and are extraordinarily docile.
Their yield of milk is very small, but its quality makes up to a
large extent for its quantity, and can almost be compared to the
quality of the Jersey. The hump entirely disappears in the first
cross. The cross is a much bigger animal, a calf a week old
being nearly the same size as a native calf of four or five weeks.
At Gilgil, the head station of the East Africa Syndicate, a
flock of some four or five thousand merino sheep, imported from
Australia at the beginning of the year, can be seen from the
train. I do not know how these sheep have done, but it is to
be hoped that this bold experiment will prove a success, as a
wool industry would be the making of the country. No doubt
if sheep are to succeed, they will do so on the land between
Naivasha and Nakuru, where the grass is short and sweet, having
been heavily grazed by the Masai flocks. The rainfall from
Naivasha almost to Nakuru is not sufficient for agricultural
purposes, and cultivation, if attempted, would mean irrigation.
The next station to Elmenteita is Nakuru, at an elevation of
6,000 feet, situated some three miles from the northern shore of
the lake of that name, and this in the future is likely to be a
large agricultural centre ; it is practically the end of what is at
482 The Empire Review
present considered the best country for sheep. Blue gums and
black wattles planted some three and a half years ago have grown
to a very considerable height, and it is confidently expected that
a large industry will be formed, as in Natal, for the growing of
black wattle and the exportation of its valuable bark.
To the north of Nakuru and Gilgil, at a little distance from
the railway, is the Likipia Escarpment and Plateau, now a
reservation for the Masai, a nomadic tribe with a great reputation
for bravery, which personally I believe to be exaggerated. Their
favourite occupation has always been that of raiding tribes
weaker than themselves, and stealing cattle, an occupation they
indulge in far too frequently, and it will undoubtedly give rise to
serious trouble if their thieving propensities are not checked.
The Masai are used by the Government as allies on their punitive
expeditions, a form of policy by no means generally accepted, as
in the view of many it tends very strongly to maintain a spirit of
tribal animosity.
North of Nakuru, and west of the Likipia Escarpment,
stretches a portion of the Eift Valley to Lake Baringo, approxi-
mately one hundred miles from the railway. The country round
Baringo used to be ideal for the sportsman, but it is unsuitable
for settlement, dry, except in the rainy season, and hot. Game
used to be very plentiful. I remember one day some four years
ago, seeing nine different species, all within an hour's walk from
my camp, and two or more species could probably have been found
without any difficulty. Since that time, however, this district
has been heavily shot over, and I believe a good deal of the game
has been driven away.
Lake Baringo itself is worthy of a little notice. It swarms
with fish, and on, I think, two islands in the middle of the lake
are hot springs where cooking can be done without any difficulty.
Crocodiles abound in the lake, but for some reason or other, they
have never been known to interfere with the natives, who, it is
not an exaggeration to say, practically kick them out of their way.
I have seen them fishing up to their necks in water, paying no
heed to the crocodile.
North of Baringo, and slightly west, is the country inhabited
by the Suk, a very friendly pastoral tribe who resemble very much
the Karamojo and Turkhana. I have seen it stated that the Suk
claim relationship to the Masai, but I do not think this is likely
to be correct; their dress and appearance have no resemblance
to the Masai, neither have their customs.
Between Nakuru and Njoro (elevation 7,000 feet) on the
south side of the line lies the main station of the property in
which I am interested. Here crossing Hampshire sheep with
the native has proceed quite a respectable animal of a totally
Our Protectorate in East Africa 483
different type to the native, and I think that the second cross
with the Merino should prove about the best for this part of the
country. North of the railway, beginning at Njoro, is Lord
Delamere's grant of land.
As Nakuru is left, the railway commences to climb up the Mau
Escarpment ; at Njoro, a distance of twelve miles, it has climbed
1,000 feet, and shortly afterwards, near Elburgon, some sixteen
miles from Njoro, where Lord Delamere has established a saw
mill, the scenic effects in the forest are very grand. Giant junipers
rear their heads into the mist, which prevails at this high elevation.
Dank masses of creepers and lichens cling to the moisture-laden
branches, and long streamers of the greybeard moss wave mourn-
fully in the wind. From far down in the dark rifts and gorges,
almost shut out from the light of day by the dense vegetation,
comes the sound of mysterious running waters, and as the train
flashes round the curves, plunging on its way through the gloomy
labyrinths of the forest, to the traveller the mighty voice of
Nature speaks in more inspiring language.
On leaving Londiani, where the road to the Kavine starts, the
descent of the escarpment begins, the line still passes through
gorgeous scenery and forest, through Lumbwa to Fort Ternan
(5,000 feet), which, I think, is the end of the white man's
country. Fourteen miles farther on, with a drop of some
800 feet, is Mohoroni, and now the railway runs more or less
on the level, through a hot and uninteresting plain, which con-
tinues down to the shore of Kavirondo Bay, with the Nandi hills
some few miles to the north. After passing two more stations,
Kisumu, the terminus of the railway, is reached, and a journey
of 584 miles, lasting approximately forty-six hours, is ended.
Near Mohoroni, cattle-grazing may possibly be carried on,
but beyond that point semi-tropical products will be the rule.
Cotton, ground nuts, rice and similar products should do, but the
plain is not the district for a settler's permanent home. A small
Indian settlement which was started a few years ago at Kibos has,
I believe, been fairly successful, and more Indians are now to be
imported. In German territory, on the south-east shore of the
Victoria Nyanza, near Mwanza, I understand that Arabs and
Indians have large plantations of rice and ground nuts, and do
a very considerable trade, and I see no reason why the same
should not exist in this valley.
It is most unfortunate that political and financial considera-
tions caused it to be deemed necessary to carry the railway
through this valley, and make the port on the Victoria Nyanza
at Kisumu. The original survey across the Guas Ingisho to
Port Victoria would have opened up a country superior in every
way to the Nyando Valley, capable of supporting a considerable
484 The Empire Review
population and surpassing it in practical products. At Port
Victoria a good harbour could have been made with some eighteen
feet of water, while at Kisumu there is only about eight feet, and
from the amount of refuse which is continually being washed
into the bay and the harbour, it is not unlikely that in a few
years dredging will have to be resorted to. Owing to the shallow-
ness of the water at Kisumu, the boats plying on the lake have
to be of very light draft, and are consequently unable to carry as
much cargo as they should do.
I now propose to briefly describe the country north of the
railway and the Nandi country, known as Guas Ingishu, on
which the Zionists at one time cast such covetous glances.
Leaving the line at Londiani, a march of about twenty miles
along a very moderate cart road, through undulating and well-
wooded country, which is really part of the Mau Forest, brings one
to Eldama Eavine, or, as the natives call it, Shimone, which means
a waterfall. This I think is one of, if not the most picturesque
stations in the Protectorate, situated on the top of a hill at
an elevation of some 7,000 feet. It commands a magnificent
view over the plains to Lake Baringo, and, a little to the
west, of the Kamasia hills. Beyond this range is the valley
known as the Kerio Valley, inhabited by Kamasia, Elgeyo, Mutei
and Margweti tribes, the last-named being not too favourably
disposed to the Administration.
Reports of the discovery of diamonds in this valley, and also
in the plains between the railway and Baringo, have been circu-
lated from time to time, and have, I believe, caused some land
to change hands at comparatively high prices, but that is all.
Possibly it may be correct, as stated by various persons ac-
quainted with the mining conditions obtaining in other countries,
that discoveries have been made in East Africa, but owing
to the mining laws in force, it is not worth anyone's while to
proclaim a find.
Leaving Kavine Station, the native track on to the Guas
Ingishu leads westwards through a portion of the Mau, or perhaps
more correctly the Elgeyo Forest, and the first night the camp is
pitched in a small clearing, the track not leaving the forest for
another couple of hours' march the following day. Juniper, a
species of cedar, and podocarpus, are the chief trees in the forest,
where, I believe, a timber concession is held, but a great danger
to be guarded against in timber concessions up-country, which,
however, I do not think applies to timber on the coast, is that a
very large proportion of the cedar-trees are hollow.
The majority of persons, and the number all told is but small,
who have attempted to get on to the plateau proper, have been
disheartened by the long grass met with the first day or day and a
Our Protectorate in East Africa 485
half after leaving the forest, and unless one goes through this
small belt of the country after the grass has been burnt, it does
not give one the impression of being good grazing land, as the
grass has a very rank appearance. This would, I am sure, be
rectified once the country was taken in hand. On the two occa-
sions that I have been through this part of the country, my first
objective has been a hill called Sirgoit ; on the first occasion it
took me six days, and on the second occasion seven days to reach it
from Ravine, and I noticed each time that the grass got much finer
and shorter on about the fourth or perhaps the fifth day's march,
while the pick of the whole country and the favourite feeding-
ground of the game has been that piece of the country which
surrounds Sirgoit for a distance of practically ten or twelve miles
in each direction. *•
This last tract of country, which on two sides, the south and
east, is bounded by dense forests, the Nandi f^resta on the south
and the Elgeyo forest on the east, is not suitable for small
holdings ; it is essentially a country for large ranches, as the
homestead would have to be built on the fringe of the forest and
the stock-runs extended out into the open plain. When transport
facilities have improved I have no doubt that cultivation will be
carried on as well as grazing, but this also will have to be done
on a large scale. If the country is given up to small holders they
will never be able to make a living at anything, and the whole of
the centre of the plateau will be unused.
Near Sirgoit is a small lake of the same name, known only to
a few who have visited it, and even forgotten or unknown to
many of the remains of the Guas Ingishu Masai, who used to
inhabit this plateau. On the plateau are to be found some curious
remains of old stone kraals, or cattle-pits, relics of a bygone race.
These kraals, or at any rate all I have seen, are circular or oblong,
but I could not see any traces of a roof, and they are built out in
the open plain far from any timber or even bushes.
A short distance north of Sirgoit the bush country begins, and
continues with different species of bush up to the edge of the
plateau, looking over Turkwell Valley. For some two days' march
or more the country is still good for grazing, but afterwards the
grass is rank, and rivers and swamps are the great obstacles to
progress. This bush is the home of the five-horned giraffe, which
caused so much discussion when brought home by Sir Harry
Johnston. These beautiful animals are comparatively plentiful
in this particular district, and as the country is uninhabited except
for a few Wandarobo hunters, the animal is not killed for its hide
as in other parts.
From the northern edge of the plateau a marvellous view is
obtained of the whole surrounding country. To the east and north-
VOL. XII.— No. 72. 2 K
486 The Empire Review
east are the wild, rugged Suk hills. North is the Turkwell River,
which winds through the Karamojo district towards Lake Rudolph.
Mount Debasien rises majestically to a height of over 9,000 feet
sheer out of the level plain, and seems to dwarf even Mount
Elgon, whose enormous size, and the fact that it rises on one
side from a high plateau, detracts from its height of 14,200 feet.
West of Debasien stretches another vast plain as far as the eye
can see ; one might imagine that there was nothing until the Nile.
The Turkwell River is the boundary between East Africa and
Uganda, and let us retrace our steps along the slopes of Mount
Elgon back to Kavirondo. Before reaching Kavirondo, the
country called Engabumi, or the Country of the Cave Dwellers,
is passed. Some of these caves are very large. The first I found
was a long, narrow chamber, measuring some 210 feet to the
extreme end, the doorway being carefully closed up with branches
and logs. The two largest are situated in a picturesque horse-
shoe shaped kloof with a waterfall in the centre. The first was
practically divided by fallen boulders, and the two compartments
were connected by a kind of passage at the back, and a long,
narrow tunnel again connected this passage with a smaller cave,
the distance from one extremity to the other being 400 feet and
the greatest height 20 feet. The largest cave in the group in this
part of Elgon was shaped like the figure 8, divided into two by a
stockade across the middle, the outer portion being used as a
granary, the inner as a dwelling. This was the most perfect cave
I saw, its measurements being nearly 309 feet from front to back,
about 150 feet across and about 30 feet high, but the size of the
cavern possibly made the roof appear lower than it really was.
I only found one cave into which it was unpleasant to enter.
The origin of these caves has given rise to some speculation,
but I do not think that they are anything more than the results
of volcanic disturbances ; they are much too extensive to have
been the work of rude savages using inferior weapons, and
although I had been asked to examine them for any marks which
might have been made by instruments, all the marks I found
were explained by a Gabumi, or cave dweller, who told me that
they chipped off pieces of the walls with the butt end of their
spears to provide a form of salt for their cattle.
Almost directly after leaving the caves, the northern end of
the Kavirondo country is reached. This is for the most part
treeless and without interest, very thickly populated, and the
cultivation of matama, bananas and sweet potatoes is carried on
to a very large extent. The Kavirondo own considerable numbers
of cattle and sheep. Most of their villages in the north are sur-
rounded by earthen walls and a ditch, and in some places by
hedges of cacti and euphorbia.
Our Protectorate in East Africa 487
The Kavirondo are remarkable for the fact that their younger
women wear absolutely no clothing, but while dispensing with
clothing they do not despise personal adornment, beads and iron-
wire being freely worn. A peculiar ornament is a grass tail tied
round the waist generally by a string of beads. I believe that
this is an emblem of marriage, and to touch one of these tails is
a great breach of good manners, the offender being, I believe,
liable to a fine of five goats. The men do not despise clothing,
their chief pride seemingly being their head-dress, generally made
of basket-work surmounted by numbers of beads, shells and
ostrich-feathers. Smoking is a universal habit among men and
women. The Kavirondo natives are fair labourers for agricultural
purposes, working for a low wage, and, unlike many tribes, are
willing to leave their own country for a year or more.
One object which is sure to attract the attention of the
traveller through Kavirondo, is the quail decoy, consisting of a
pole fastened either vertically in the ground, or horizontally on
two sticks, from which are suspended numbers of conical-shaped
wicker cages, each containing a quail, whose call attracts others,
who in turn are caught by snares set round the poles.
South and south-west of the Mau Escarpment lies the Sotik
and Lumbwa, both pre-eminently suitable for stock, and by far
the finest cattle in the Protectorate come from the Sotik. The
country on the south-west slopes of Mau, before the Sotik country
proper is reached, is more unlike Africa than anything I have
ever seen or heard of. It is a wooded country at an elevation of
somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, with large open clearings
some thousands of acres in extent, and with belts of trees, gener-
ally on each side of clear streams. This country is very well
watered and is, I think, the finest grazing-land for cattle in the
country.
One large clearing, practically in the forest, is worth a short
description. To the extent of some thousand or two acres,
surrounded on all sides by forests largely consisting of cedar and
bamboo, the ground is practically covered with red and white
everlastings, and in the early morning, when the ground is white
with apparently rime, it is as pretty a sight as one could wish for,
and one which I, at any rate, never expected to see in Africa.
Grasses here never seem to be very different to those usually
found elsewhere, and resemble very closely those one is accus-
tomed to see in the grazing-lands of Scotland. In this part of
the country, even in the middle of the day, one does not look
for a shady tree, but rather is inclined to sit in the sun for
comfort.
This little sketch of our Protectorate in East Africa, incom-
plete as it is, will be still more so without a few words on the
2 K 2
488 The Empire Review
Kikuyu country, between Nairobi and Fort Hall, but of this part
I can only speak from hearsay.
Land has been taken up in this direction to a very large
extent, but apparently very little has been done towards its
development, and a railway between Nairobi and Fort Hall is
badly wanted. Labour in Kikuyu is cheap and plentiful ; it is
indifferent in quality, the price paid being from six to eight
shillings a month, including food. It would appear to be the
country where the comparatively small farmer will do better than
in other parts, owing chiefly to the number of streams, and I
should imagine that the soil is more fitted for cultivation than
for grazing. Coffee seems to do well, and many people are
trying fibres, chiefly ramie and wild banana. At and beyond
Fort Hall, except on the hills of Kenia, the country falls away to
lower levels, and here cotton is being grown, and will no doubt
be produced in large quantities if railway facilities are forth-
coming. Northwards of Kenia, between Rudolph and the
Abyssinian border, little is known of the country ; the natives
there possess considerable numbers of sheep and cattle.
And now a word or two in conclusion on the country as a
whole. It has, I think, a future, but is not by any means a
country for a man to go to without capital, and the chief reason
for this is not the country itself, but the system which obtains
there. If a man could start working his land on his arrival
in the country, it would be a different state of affairs, but owing
to the country being practically unsurveyed, a man has to wait
months before he gets his land, and as often as not, after he has
spent some six months looking for land, living in hotels or even
camps, he has not sufficient capital left to develop his land when
he gets it.
The country has many possibilities; it has no specialised
industry, and probably the best thing for a man to do who wishes
to make money, and not only to provide himself with a permanent
home in the country, is to take up land in the Highlands, where
he and his family can live as they would in Europe, and also to
take up some land in the coast belt, where he can grow rubber
and other valuable crops, which should bring him a handsome
return. In this way he will be able to live in a healthy climate,
and pay periodical visits of inspection to what will probably be
his most valuable asset.
There are many industries which could be carried on in the
Highlands, one of the most promising and at the present time
most profitable being dairy farming, but settlers own compara-
tively few cattle, and the price of cows and their small yield of
milk, together with other risks, make it impossible at the present
time for butter to be produced cheaply enough to compete with
Our Protectorate in East Africa 489
Australia and New Zealand. The breeding up of herds is always
a slow process, and really the only chance that the majority of
colonists have of stocking their farms is when the Government
has had trouble with some tribe, and sells the cattle they confis-
cate. Pigs have been found to do remarkably well, and the
bacon industry would naturally go hand in hand with dairy
farming.
I do not think that the country will ever compete in cereals
with Canada and America, although there will always be a
considerable local market. The export trade as far as crops go
will have to consist of more valuable products, and probably oil
seeds, coffee, black wattles, tobacco, fibres, rubber, cotton and
copra will be most extensively grown. It is only to the last
of these, however, that capital will be attracted in the first
instance, to any extent.
It is a thousand pities that the land is in such a state of
chaos, and I believe I am only quoting the words of Sir Charles
Eliot, spoken at a lecture which was given either at the end of
last year or the beginning of this, when he said that among the
more senior officers of the Administration, there was no one con-
versant with the question of land settlement in other colonies. If
the Government wish to have the beautiful Highlands inhabited
by a prosperous white population, it is absolutely essential that
there should be an official to deal with the situation who has had
experience of white colonists, and it is satisfactory to note that
in the recent appointment of a Land Officer, the Government
appear to be making an effort in this direction.
To facilitate administration, it would probably be much better
to amalgamate East Africa and Uganda ; many expenses would
thus be saved. At present the country is crying out for capital
for the development of the coast, railways, and a hundred and
one things inseparable from all industries, without which
practically no industry in the world can be carried on. I am
firmly of the opinion that there is capital waiting to go into the
country, if it can only find or force its way in, and I do not
understand why it is made so difficult for capitalists to invest.
The imports in August last were valued at over 1,000,000 rupees,
over £70,000, and the exports at half a million, an increase, I
think, taking a rough monthly average of some 80 per cent,
in two years on imports and of 100 per cent, in fourteen months
on exports. Considerable attention is being paid to the East
Coast of Africa, and unless facilities are given for the investment
of capital in the British Protectorate, it will only go farther south
—to German and Portuguese territory.
HINDLIP.
490 The Empire Review
THE PROBLEM OF THE UNEMPLOYED
IT seems rash for anyone having no special qualifications to
enter on the discussion of so difficult a problem as that of the
unemployed ; but, while musing the fire kindles, and a feeble
flame may help to warm the sympathies of those more able to
deal with the matter, both by word and deed.
Fifty years spent in very close contact with working folk, to
a thinking man must necessarily leave some useful impressions,
and one conclusion I have arrived at is, that money and effort
expended on the unfortunate unemployed, after the1 age of forty-
five, is useless in any other way than providing something nearly
akin to the workhouse, without its degradation. I call to mind,
however, a notable exception. Many years ago a young lad in
my district was always getting into trouble. There was nothing
wrong in the boy, but he seemed to chafe against discipline and
longed for a freer life. A friend of mine who was returning to
Canada undertook to give the boy a start on the other side, so I
persuaded him to go. Some years afterwards he wrote begging
me to send his sister out to him, as he had bought ground, built
himself a house, and kept his own horses for agricultural purposes.
On hearing this, I suggested he should have his father out too, for
the man was very badly off, earning only 2*. 6d. a week and an
occasional meal. He was also approaching sixty years of age,
and very feeble. The son at once consented to the necessary
arrangements being made, and both father and sister sailed to
join the young farmer. Great was my astonishment to hear very
soon afterwards that the father was getting £8 a month, which
continued until his death, the demise of the old man being
recorded in a long paragraph in the local Canadian paper. Had
he remained in this country he would inevitably have ended his
days in the workhouse.
However, to return to my conclusion, which means that the
hope of doing useful work in the way of employment or emigra-
tion lies among the young of our teeming population, and indeed
The Problem of the Unemployed 491
the best field for work is among the children — for employment at
home they should be selected immediately they have passed the
standard of age or efficiency in the school. And here comes in
the need of much care and discrimination, and, of course, of
organisation — all boys and girls are not adapted for the same
employment; some are qualified by nature for outdoor work,
some show special talent for mechanical work, and so on. This
is equally the case with girls. It has come under my observation
that the time which usually elapses between the child leaving school
and entering regular employment is the most dangerous period of
its life ; in many cases the parents take small interest or trouble
in seeking employment for their children, and are content to have
them at home doing odd jobs, running errands, not always im-
proving errands, and leaving the child's future to chance.
Perhaps I may illustrate my meaning by one or two examples.
Some eight years ago, while in command of a company of The
Boys' Brigade, my interest was awakened in one of the boys who
looked very miserable, but who was smart and attentive at drill.
I ascertained that his father was a navvy, out of employment,
who had lost his wife and was living in a very hand-to-mouth
way. Questioning him as to the boy's future, the father admitted
he had no plans, so I suggested that, with his consent, I would
try to place him in the country where he would learn farm-work.
To this he agreed, and an outfit being provided, I took the lad to
a small farm in Sussex, kept by a widow and her two sons — the
lad was to live in the house and have a shilling a week for pocket-
money — everything but clothes to be found — and a promise was
given that any money placed in the Post Office Savings Bank
should be supplemented by £1 at the end of the first year, if the
report of the boy's industry and behaviour was satisfactory. This
turned out to be the case, and a small charity fund in my parish
handed me the £1, which was duly added to the Post Office savings.
The lad's wages were now raised a shilling a week and he grew
in stature and in self-respect day by day ; the lad has now reached
manhood and has left the farm where he was trained to enter the
service of a neighbouring farmer, where he lives in the house, has
all found and six shillings a week regularly, besides extra for
harvest. I saw him a few months ago, and he told me he was
perfectly happy, he was still adding to his savings, and had no
desire to return to town life. He can earn his living in any
agricultural district, can milk, plough, feed cattle, or do every
kind of farm- work.
As far as I can gather, this is the material that is wanted in
Canada ; why cannot we manufacture it here, for our own good,
and for that of the Empire at large ? It is, of course, a question
whether it would not be still better to send the children to
492 The Empire Review
Canada at an earlier age as suggested by Sir Clement Kinloch-Cooke
in the very sound and excellent scheme put forward by him in
these pages, in the case of orphaned and deserted children
educated and cared for by the Board of Guardians. Certainly it
would be a great advantage to the children themselves as well as
to the ratepayers if the Government were to appoint an authority
to make provision for the reception of these children in Canada,
where they could receive an education to fit them for colonial life.
But in the case of children who are properly cared for by their
parents here, it seems only right that they should remain at our
schools until they have passed the required standard ; and after-
wards, with the consent and aid of their parents, be trained in
industries suited to their capacities. Much may be and has been
done by the County Councils in providing evening classes, but
this does not go far enough, and I am certain that, if the Govern-
ment of this country would, at least, provide training-schools for
agricultural and mechanical work, we should thin the ranks of
the wastrels in our streets.
Take the ordinary case of even a well-disposed and steady
boy on leaving school ; there is very little difficulty in finding
employment while he is quite young, at a low wage, in some shop,
grocer, greengrocer, or shoemaker, where he is required to take
out parcels, and do things of various kinds, but when he reaches
the age of sixteen or seventeen, he asks for more money, and is
then told he is getting too big for his work and is discharged,
another small boy being taken on. Meanwhile he has learnt no
trade or industry ; in the summer he can probably obtain work in
a market-garden, or on golf links, but at the approach of winter
he is again discharged, and can only get through the winter by
living on his parents, with casual work from time to time. If he
has chest measurement enough, which is seldom the case, he
possibly enlists in the army ; and this is the very best thing he
can do in the circumstances.
May I give yet one more illustration of the value of selected
work for lads on leaving school ? Another member of the Boys'
Brigade above mentioned was sent to a farm in Bedfordshire ; at
the end of a month he begged to come home, as he could not
stand the walking with the plough. On his return he asked me
to take him into the stable, which I did, and after about a year's
training he went into larger stables under a coachman, as groom ;
there he did very well indeed, and when the coachman left he
was promoted to that position, where he is now, and where I
hope he may be for many years, having already done six years'
service. A large number of the Brigade Boys have gone into the
navy or army, and that is well for them and for their country,
but hundreds and thousands of our boys and girls are growing up
The Problem of the Unemployed 493
without any preparation for skilled work; they marry early
without any resources, and are entirely dependent on casual
employment. If we cannot train the young here, it is easy to do
so in Canada, and our Government would do well to create an
organisation to deal with the matter, first by appointing a Board
of Emigration to act with Boards of Guardians in the case of the
orphaned and deserted children, as Sir Clement Kinloch-Cooke
proposes, and secondly, by establishing some co-operation with
County Councils, in the selection of suitable boys and girls for
emigration to our colonies.
Quite recently, a young man, known to me from childhood,
who had been earning 16s. a week till he was no longer required
from slackness of trade, emigrated to Canada. Fortunately,
when quite young he was sent to an orphan working school,
where he received industrial training which qualified him for
emigration. I append an extract from a letter I have just
received from him : —
I am working at a Farm at 25 dollars a month and all found, am very
comfortable, with good people, but I have to work very hard. I work from
5.80 in the morning till 9 at night. When I get up in the morning I have to
milk the Cows, feed and groom down the Horses and harness them ready for
work. I then feed the Pigs and Fowls, and churn the milk — that is what they
call doing the chaws — and then I have breakfast. After that I go into the
fields till dark, then do my chaws, and go to bed. I like my work fairly well,
but I should like to get on my own Trade of Saw Mills. The wages for
Sawyers is 40 dollars a month and all found.
There are many phases of the unemployed problem not im-
mediately apparent. Perhaps the most serious is the demoralising
effect on the workers themselves. Last winter I was given three
instances of this by a practical builder. On one occasion, he told
me, a man begged of him in the street, adding that he had been
out of work for a long time. My friend asked him what work he
could do, and the man replied he was a slater, " Very well,"
said the kind-hearted builder, " come to my yard to-morrow
morning at six o'clock and you shall have a job." Next morning
came but the man did not put in an appearance, but the following
morning about ten o'clock he arrived and was at once put to
work. He worked well all day, and before leaving the foreman
told him to be sure and be punctual the next morning. Not-
withstanding the warning the man did not arrive till nine ; he
was then told that if this occurred again he could not be kept
on. The next morning he came at ten, whereupon he was paid
for his two days' work and discharged.
A few weeks later a lady came to the builder and said she
was interested in a poor man with a family who had been out of
work for some time. " Can you do anything for him," she asked.
494 The Empire Review
The answer came at once, " Yes ; if he will come to my yard at
six to-morrow morning I will give him work." The man turned
up at nine, and, as in the other case, was at once put to work,
but was told that unless he came in future at six the work could
not be continued. The next morning he arrived again at nine,
was again cautioned, but was put to work. In spite of this
clemency, however, the third morning he did not come till ten.
He was then paid for his two days' work and discharged. " I
really don't think you want work," remarked the employer. " I
don't know as I do," the man replied, and shouldering his basket
he departed to the nearest public-house, where he spent his two
days' earnings before he went home to his half-starving wife and
children. Apparently he was not an habitual drunkard, but the
victim of a hopeless struggle against difficulties. My friend
informed me that both these men worked well. The third
instance was a similar one ; the man would not come to work
early in the morning. I think there is little doubt that habits
of sloth and carelessness, forced upon these men at first by
lack of employment, had become too strong for their weak
principles.
In the case of casual work it is quite in the ordinary course of
things for the man to go to his work about nine o'clock in the
morning. Daily I meet a number of young men from seventeen
to twenty turning out, after breakfast, smoking cigarettes, with
their hands in their pockets, on their way to the golf links ; in
the same district may be seen a gang of men in the market garden
working steadily, who are nearly all Belgians or Danes, or any
other nationality than English. It is not generally known what
a large number of foreigners are employed in the market gardens
around London ; they know how to work, which many of our
poor do not, because they have never had any training. A few-
years ago I asked a neighbour if he could give employment to a
young man in whom I was interested, and who did understand
garden work ; his reply was : most of my hands are just returning
to France for the winter, they have earned enough this year to
keep them till next season, when they will return to work again.
From many conversations with employers on the subject it seems
that these men are always to be depended upon. I suppose the fact
of their enterprise in seeking work in another country is a proof
of their earnestness, but it is very sad to think of our people being
out of employment while there are thousands of foreigners taking
their places. Happily I can point to many lads who are working
steadily and learning the business of their particular calling, but
they are not the majority among the poor.
" Back to the land " sounds well, but what does it mean to
those who have spent the best of their lives in the city slums.
The Problem of the Unemployed 495
What can they do when they get there ? They may on a labour
colony do some useful work ; and the very best way of helping an
able-bodied man is to give him some work, but as a class, to make
homes of their own in the country, the prospect is too discouraging.
There are many small holders doing well in the country, but they
are all well-acquainted with their work ; they get up early, and late
take rest, and eat the bread of carefulness, and even then, financially,
they are not better off than the man who can regularly earn 25s.
in the city. Morally they have many advantages ; healthy sur-
roundings, plenty of exercise in the open air, some employment
for their children out of school hours or in their holidays, the
early training of their children in the respect of their parents and
of themselves ; and the lad or girl coming from such a home as
this is likely to become a useful member of the community. I
am afraid, however, that the day for small holdings is past in this
country, except in the immediate neighbourhood of good markets
and on exceptionally good land. Foreign produce comes BO
cheaply and plentifully that only low prices can be obtained :
even milk is now so cheap, from the extensive use of condensed
milk, that it does not pay to send it any distance ; and to feed
stock with the view of fattening them for the market is quite
beyond the small holder.
My late brother some years ago let out the land attached to
his vicarage in Bedfordshire in allotments with the view of
keeping the people in the country. The number of allotments
was 65, the rent being from 25s. to 45s. an acre, and the quantity
varying from a quarter of an acre to five acres, the rent of the
cottages being from £5 to £6 per annum. In 1881 the population
of the parish was 670 ; at the census of 1901 it was 440, so the
experiment in this case failed to keep the people in the country.
While writing I read that an experiment is to be tried on land
in Essex. I much hope it may be successful, and I shall watch
with interest the career of the small holders, but the man who
has £100 capital is not the man who is becoming demoralised by
want of work, and for whom we are so anxious to find a remedy.
It is the man without any capital whose daily toil alone provides
him and his wife and family with the necessaries of life that we
want to see in full employment, and no matter how healthy and
strong the man may be or what his experience as a labourer,
whether on a farm or as a navvy, it seems impossible to find him
work in this country. Everything seems to point to emigration.
Surely, then, it is wise to train our youth in this direction.
HENRY SAWYEB.
496 The Empire Review
ALUMINIUM AND STEEL
THE ELECTRIC FURNACE
BY E. RISTORI, Assoc.M.Inst.C.K, F.R.A.S.
[When Madame Ristori* died last October, mention was
made of her great love for England, a feeling she shared
with her own and her husband's family. A nephew on her
husband's side, the Marquis Ferdinando Guiccioli, first gentle-
man-in-waiting of the Dowager Queen Margherita of Italy, is
married to an English lady, and one of her nieces, with her
husband M. Majeroni, settled in Australia some thirty years ago.
Another nephew is also in business there.
The best known member of Madame Eistori's family, at least
in England, and the only one who bears her name, is her nephew,
Mr. E. Ristori, the well-known Consulting Engineer. He it was
who assisted Mr. Nordenfelt, the famous inventor, to develop
the machine and quick-firing guns now used so extensively in
all the armies of the world. Subsequently he became associated
with Mr. Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and founder of
the famous Nobel prizes ; indeed it was mainly due to Mr.
Ristori that the Nobel smokeless powder, called balistite or
cordite, was introduced in the different countries. It is a matter
of history that smokeless powder revolutionised the art of modern
warfare. The principal scientific work, however, associated with
Mr. Ristori 's name is the introduction of the aluminium industry
into this country, and for the last fifteen years he has paid con-
siderable attention to the development of electro-metallurgy.
—ED.]
ALTHOUGH I do not think I can add much to what I have
already written on the subject of aluminium, more especially in
the Encyclopaedia Britannica, I gladly comply with the request
which has reached me from the Editor of The Empire Review to
write a few words on this and kindred subjects, and I propose
* Marquise Capranica Del Grille.
Aluminium and Steel 497
in this paper to deal shortly with the modern methods of pro-
ducing aluminium and steel by means of the electric furnace.
But while I use the term generally, it is not to be assumed that
the same type of furnace is employed in all cases. In fact there
are four well-defined types of furnaces used in electro-metallurgy
—the electrolytic furnace, the induction furnace, the arc fur-
nace with single electrode, and the arc furnace with multiple
electrodes.
First as regards aluminium. This metal was only separated
in the middle of the last century, and remained for many years
almost a rare product. At first it was sold at 50s. to 70s. per lb.,
and used in very small quantities mainly for ornaments, such as
the making of expensive opera glasses ; but its qualities were seen
to be so good, more especially the lightness of the metal (it being
only one-third the weight of copper, iron or brass) that it was soon
recognised the day would come when aluminium would not only
be sold at a very much reduced price, but that its use would
become general. That day is fast approaching, and the develop-
ment of the industry represents one of the great pages in the
history of the industrial world. Twenty years ago the world's
maximum annual output of aluminium barely exceeded three
tons. Now it reaches between 13,000 and 14,000 tons, and before
another decade closes we shall probably see 50,000 tons produced
and used annually. The great prosperity of the new metal is due
to the invention of the electric furnace and the use of water power
for the production of electric energy at a small cost.
Previous to the introduction of the electric furnace, aluminium
was produced by a chemical process involving the use of a large
quantity of sodium metal which was, and still is, a very costly
product. In the sixties and the seventies a small quantity of
aluminium was produced in this way in a factory near Newcastle-
on-Tyne, but its production was after a while discontinued in
England, and for some years the metal was only made in
France. In 1886 two large companies were started in England
for making aluminium by the same chemical process, with the
advantage, however, that by some new invention the cost of the
sodium required was much reduced, with the result that these
companies were able to produce the metal and sell it with profit
at 20s. per lb. The larger of the two factories was said to be
capable of producing fifty tons of metal yearly, then considered
a large quantity. The two enterprises had an unlucky history,
for within three or four years from the start the new electric
process came to the front enabling aluminium to be put on the
market at 4s. or 5s. per lb.
In a short time three factories were started working the
new electric process invented by M. P. T. L. Heroult in France
498 The Empire Review
and by Mr. C. M. Hall in the United States. One factory was
situated in Switzerland at the Falls of the Rhine, another at
Isere in France, and a third in the United States. In 1893,
believing that similar works might also be started in this country,
I set myself the task of finding the necessary elements. It was
not thought possible then that any water-power of sufficient
magnitude for the purpose could be obtained in the United
Kingdom. But this proved to be erroneous, for in a compara-
tively short time I found three large water-powers — one in
Wales of 5,000 hp., and two in Scotland of 6,500 hp. and
16,000 hp. respectively. Foyers on Loch Ness was the spot
I selected for the initial attempt ; there the first modern
aluminium factory in this country was erected in 1895, and in
June of the following year we began to produce the metal. The
other water-power in Scotland, which is now being developed,
is situated near Loch Leven, and a second large aluminium
factory will shortly be erected there.
Auxiliary works are always required in the aluminium
industry, the most important being a factory where the raw
material, bauxite, can be refined by separating the pure alumina
from the other components, silica, iron and titanium, which
are invariably found even in the best bauxites. For this
purpose I chose a spot on the sea-shore at Larne, in County
Antrim, where the land is very suitable, and here we erected a
large alumina factory, which at the present time is being con-
siderably enlarged. Another auxiliary factory needed was one
for making the carbon electrodes, quantities of which are
used in the process. This we started at Greenock, where
certain facilities were obtainable. At the outset we had to face
the difficulty that the metal cannot all be sold in the form of cast
ingots ; this meant that a great portion of the output had to be
turned into sheets, rods, wire and bars. On the Continent most
of the rolling-mills met this difficulty easily, but in this country
I experienced so much difficulty in persuading existing firms to
do the work that I was compelled to erect our own rolling and
drawing-mills at Milton in Staffordshire. In this way we
gradually set up complete combinations of all the elements
necessary for the new industry.
In a paper read by me before the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers in July, 1898, I endeavoured to indicate some of the
uses to which aluminium might be put, and to forecast the
possible development of the industry. Events have shown, in
very many instances, the correctness of that forecast. I do not
propose to take my reader all through the list ; it will suffice to
mention a few products which, even at that date, it seemed to
me would be materially affected by the development of aluminium.
Aluminium and Steel 499
One of the most obvious uses to which the metal would be put
appeared to be in the replacement of copper, tin, and German
silver in the manufacture of many small articles such as door-
fittings, coat- and hat-hooks, cigar- and cigarette-cases, photo-
graph-frames, photographic apparatus, scientific instruments,
plates and dishes, spoons and forks, name-plates, boot-trees,
carriage-fittings, business- and visiting-cards. This replacement
seemed the more inevitable in view of the saving in weight, which
is considerable, and the fact that aluminium does not become
discoloured, as is the case with other metals, especially in a
smoky atmosphere like that of London. One has only to visit
the fancy bazaars at the great metropolitan shops and stores to
see what has taken place in this direction.
Another wide use of aluminium, which I indicated in 1898,
was in electrical work of every kind. A very considerable de-
velopment has taken place in this respect, and numerous over-
head transmission lines for taking electrical energy from central
stations, such as water-power stations, to long distances have
been successfully constructed in aluminium. More especially
would I refer to the well-known line in California, which is over
one hundred and twenty miles in length, and to the network of
lines belonging to a French company that supply power along the
Eiviera from Toulon to Ventimille. The metal is also being used
very largely in the manufacture of electrical fittings, and here the
development would have been greater but for the scarcity of the
metal itself. During the last two years the demand for aluminium
has been so much in excess of supply that the price has gone up
in sympathy with copper and other metals, but as soon as the
supply increases and, as a consequence, the price diminishes, we
may certainly expect a further movement in its use for electrical
fittings. I did not think the metal would be of any service in
the case of insulated cables on account of the cost of the insu-
lating material due to the larger section of the aluminium as
compared with copper; subsequent events have proved the
correctness of this reservation, for copper still maintains its
supremacy for that purpose.
Another important development I ventured to suggest was in
the application of the new metal to cooking utensils, which, if
constructed of aluminium, weigh one-third of those made in
copper. Moreover, aluminium is absolutely non-poisonous, and
the use of copper for cooking purposes is exceedingly dangerous
unless it is continually being tinned. On the other hand, alu-
minium does not require any such precaution, and can be used
with the most absolute safety. Aluminium utensils may now be
seen in almost every shop and are becoming very popular. The
adaptation of aluminium for use in lithography was also included
500 The Empire Review
in my forecast ; it can be employed in the same way and with the
same results as stone, but with the great advantage that where
large stones can only be used on one flat face, comparatively thin
aluminium sheets can be bent over for use with rotary presses.
In 1898, experiments were being made with aluminium in con-
nection with the motor industry, at that date in its infancy.
The metal now enters largely into the construction of all motor
vehicles, and there is no reason why it should not be equally
largely used in the construction of road carriages and railway
carriages ; for with aluminium at a reasonable price there must
be a large economy realised in the cost of traction, the carriages
being lighter, and this economy should more than compensate
for the extra preliminary cost of the frame itself.
The use of aluminium for military purposes has fully justified
my prophecy. During the recent campaign in the East it was
much patronised by the Russian and Japanese armies, and no
doubt it will soon be utilised on a similar scale by the military
authorities in other countries, seeing that the advantages in
reducing the weight which the soldier has to carry are very great.
I have already referred to the metal in its relation to metallurgy,
and this perhaps represents one of the greatest uses to which
aluminium is put to-day. Practically all the steel works and
all the foundries in the world are now manufacturing with
aluminium. So far as regards shipbuilding the great develop-
ment has yet to come, but ten or twelve years ago several boats
and launches were built of aluminium and did well. Even a
small torpedo boat was similarly constructed, but it did not give
quite such good results as in the case of the boats and launches,
which were specially made for African expeditions. It was at
my suggestion that the Chart House on the White Star Liner
Celtic was made in a light aluminium alloy, and the experiment
may, I think, be said to be successful. But the difficulty in
employing aluminium largely in shipbuilding lies in the price of
the metal and the quantity required. With the production
largely increased and the consequent reduction in cost, I feel
sure we shall see aluminium much more extensively used in naval
construction.
The electric furnace is also largely used for other electro-
metallurgical purposes. For instance, one type is now much
used in the production of carbide of calcium (an ingredient for
making acetylene) ; another type is used for making iron, steel,
and alloys such as ferro-silicon, ferro-manganese, and fern>
chrome And it is easy to foresee that within a few years a
large proportion of iron and steel will be manufactured in this
way. An important advantage of the electric furnace is that it
is no longer necessary in the manufacture of good steel to start
Aluminium and Steel 501
with pure raw materials. The furnace offers such adaptability
that the refining of any class of raw material can be accomplished
with ease and at small cost. But not only will the electric
furnace enable the best class of steel to be produced at a much
less cost than by any of the known methods, but it must create
new centres of industry, as it will no longer be necessary for iron
and steel works to be placed where coal is found.
By means of the electric process it will be possible to
make steel without any coal at all, and to smelt the iron
ores, using only a very small quantity of carbon, which need not
necessarily be mineral coal, but can be either in the form of
charcoal or lignite. The effects of this invention can scarcely
fail to be far-reaching. Iron and steel works will be able
to prosper in Canada where cheap water-power is abundant.
Indeed, the Dominion Government is fully alive to the import-
ance of the developments in electro-metallurgy, and a few years
ago they sent a Commission of experts over to Europe for the
express purpose of visiting the different works where electro-
metallurgical processes were in use. The Commission published
a careful and exhaustive report, and experiments on a large
scale are now being carried out both in Canada and the United
States.
Similar developments are likely to take place in India, in
Australia, and especially in New Zealand and Central and South
America, where water-power is abundant. In short, the most
enterprising and far-seeing of metallurgists speak with confidence
of the great future in store for this branch of the world of
industry.
E. BISTORI.
66, VIOTOBIA STBBBT, S.W,
VOL. XII.— No. 72. 2 L
502 The Empire Review
LAND INDUSTRIES IN AUSTRALIA
By J. S. DUNNET
THE productive enterprises in Australia, especially in the
Eastern States, are making rapid strides. Besides large areas of
Crown lands which are passing into the hands of farmers, much
settlement is taking place on private estates, subdivided to meet
the demand. The maximum benefit of this will not be fully
felt for some little time yet, as the delays inevitable in the task
of pioneering render a return slow at the beginning.
For many years the expenditure of loan moneys tended to
unsettle agrarian expansion, for it concentrated large bodies of
men at various constructive industries. Even when these
avenues of employment closed up by the reduction of loan
expenditure, it was not easy to divert the industrial flood into
other channels. But there was a beginning, and the flow in the
right direction is now sweeping onward encouragingly. These men
now find that they were losers by neglecting the many resources
of the soil. The dairying and wheat industries are the main
attractions.
There is no country in the world where the dairy cow thrives
better, and the equipment of all the deep-sea boats with cool-
chambers bridges the difficulty which, in the early stages of the
industry, seemed insuperable. Whereas a few years ago the
States could not meet their own demands for dairy produce,
they expect to export this season to Great Britain, South Africa,
and the East, butter and cheese to the value of over £3,000,000.
Many of the most thrifty settlers have during the past eight or
ten years amassed fortunes in this industry and their success has
inflated values of suitable land and raised the price of serviceable
cattle. Land worth £2 and £3 an acre eight years ago to-day
finds buyers at £30 and £40. The dairy farmer enters upon a
business in which the risks are much fewer than in many
other primary industries. He is sure of his monthly cheque;
he is certain to get a return even in the driest season, if he has
had the foresight to conserve fodder ; while he can add to his
banking account by following up auxiliary industries within
Land Industries in Australia 503
easy reach, and which absorb the spare time of himself and
family. At one time it was thought the industry could not be
made to pay beyond the coastal belt, but scores of miles inland
the wheat farmers are already paying considerable attention to it,
and promise to show much enterprise in the conserving of fodder.
When dairying first started the methods of production were
very crude. The preparation of silos was not dreamed of ; the
farmer's ideas of what should be done to obey cleanliness were
vague; he knew nothing of the scientific handling of milk or
cream. But all this ignorance is passing away, and in a year or two
Australia will be just as up-to-date in butter and cheese produc-
tion as Denmark. Over that country she has many advantages.
There is practically no winter, so that cattle do not require
stabling ; there is plenty of land for expansion ; cattle thrive well
in any part of the country ; and the farmer can raise many crops
to assist his dairying income.
In the early days of settlement in Australia large tracts of
the best country passed into private ownership, and for a long time
this monopoly made for stagnation. Now these properties are
being subdivided and settled, and whereas they used to support
a handful of families raising cattle and growing wool they now
sustain scores and hundreds of families. In addition to these
areas, the government in each State is unlocking reserved land as
fast as they can build railways to them, for it is useless throwing
the areas open to settlement while they are inaccessible. Not
long since Australia was hit very hard by a drought which was
easily a record in severity, but she is not likely to be caught
napping again. The questions of fodder conservation and irriga-
tion are claiming more attention than formerly. One or two of
the States are preparing to establish large irrigation works in the
inland country, where thousands of people may thus be provided
with a means of earning a good living, or even doing much better
if they are thrifty and energetic. Much attention is also being
given to the raising of sheep for export purposes, and as the
farmers intend to take up the industry on a thoroughly practical
basis they will soon catch up to New Zealand in producing
quantity if they do not quite reach the standard of quality.
In the northern part of the Commonwealth, notably Queens-
land, great prosperity is being experienced in the sugar districts.
The increased fillip is due to the Federal bounty paid for white-
grown cane. Australia is the only country in the world which
raises sugar without black or coloured labour. It was thought at
first that whites could not do the arduous work of the industry,
but this idea is rapidly being dissipated by the way whites are
adapting themselves to the task. This year sees the departure of
the 8,000 Kanakas who were formerly employed in the enter-
2 L 2
504 The Empire Review
prise. They go back to their islands, most of them much better
off for the years they have spent in the canefields. Many new
industries are attracting attention. Cotton is one of these. An
experimentalist at Cairns has produced a new variety which is so
prolific as to revolutionise cotton production the world over. If
his claims are right the new variety will yield cotton to the value
of £100 per acre — practically quadrupling the very best returns
of the past. Seeds of this variety, called " Carvonica," are being
sent to many parts of the world. The Indian Government is
exempting from taxation all lands planted with it. Queensland
lends itself specially to the production of new varieties of crops.
There are many indigenous insects which do the work of fer-
tilising. One inoculates the red clover, at one time considered
the monopoly of the humble bee; an experimentalist has pro-
duced a couple of new roses ; another has crossed the two best
varieties of sweet potatoes ; another has raised a new strawberry
called "the phenomenon," which ripens before midwinter and
throws out such strong leaves that they shade the fruit from
frost.
Besides the industries referred to there are many others of a
sub-tropical and tropical character which are making great head-
way in response to the movement of the people towards the
industries of the soil. Encouraged by the great development,
the various State Governments are instructing their officers to
do more than ever on the State farms to encourage settlement. It
is generally admitted that Australia's hope in the future is through
the men on the land, for her resources in that respect are illimit-
able. The boom created through mines and mining is generally
of the bubble character, and at any moment threatens to be
pricked. Not so with the industries of the soil. Much is being
done to encourage youths to leave the congested cities for the free
and healthy life of the open fields, where the thrifty and indus-
trious may rise to affluence. And there are signs of a rich
response. The next ten years in Australia should see expansion
unparalleled in its history.
All this will have a most important bearing upon the real
development of the country. At present the Labour movement
is strengthened by the unity which characterises the classes
supporting it. They are welded together in a solid mass and
arrayed against the thrifty members of the community who have
acquired a little land and property. By their cohesion and their
numbers they loom up menacingly in front of the agrarian classes.
But every unit established upon the land becomes an addition
to the solid classes who are devoting their time and money
to opening up the great natural resources of the country. At
the present rate of agricultural expansion a very few years will
Land Industries in Australia 505
see the yeomanry with the voting power back in their hands to
set against the organised phalanx of the mining and city labouring
classes. The last named are a discontented lot. They never seem
satisfied with the rates of wages paid and, while they have had
grounds for grievances in the past, are not made of the stuff
to launch out into the productive avenues where the chances
of success are so great. The State has gone out of its way
to make land settlement attractive to discontented Unionists,
but invariably they pin their faith to the political movement to
make them affluent at someone else's expense rather than work
out their own salvation on the land. There are excellent oppor-
tunities in Australia for men of the right type, with a little means,
to start. The thrifty cannot fail. Everywhere the Common-
wealth is prosperous, and especially amongst the agricultural and
pastoral interests a specially good time is being experienced.
J. S. DUNNET.
SYDNEY, N.S.W. V
506 The Empire Review
MEMORIES OF MAORILAND
II.*
BY MRS. MASSY
•
I WAS fortunate enough, during one of my many visits to
Auckland, to witness the departure of the ninth contingent for
the war in South Africa. Hearing when they were to leave we
made our way to Queen Street, the main street of Auckland
debouching on the quay, taking up our position at the bottom,
and watched the march past.
The band played some bright inspiriting music as the troops
stepped out briskly, with an easy-swinging pace. They looked
very smart and workmanlike in their easy-fitting uniforms of
khaki, their gaiters and the jaunty terai hat turned up at one
side with its daring little plume of cock's feathers that fluttered
defiantly in the breeze. How picturesque and practical, too, was
this head-gear compared with the heavy, flat-topped cap with
which our troops are disfigured. I believe the shape of a cap or
the cut and colour of a uniform often affects recruiting ; for the
British soldier is touchy about his appearance, and likes to look
to the greatest advantage (small blame to him) ; indeed Tommy
Atkins is not above indulging in a little pardonable swagger when
escorting his " best girl "for a walk. However, I must say no
more, as many reforms are looming in the near future for our
Army, and even the question of the much-abused cap may receive
attention in due course. But to return to the subject of the ninth
contingent.
We could not but remark not only the smart and workmanlike
appearance of the men, but their physique. They were all of
good average height, wiry, strong and alert-looking, with healthy
bronzed faces which gave one the idea that they had lived a great
deal in the open air ; they were not growing and weedy youths,
* No. I. appeared in the November number.
Memories of Maoriland 507
but well-seasoned men, and these, we were told, were not as fine
even as those of the contingents that had preceded them to the
war. The farewells had been said and the men, with laughing
cheery faces, shouted, " We're off, we are going to fight alongside
the troops from the old country." Relations and friends waved
their handkerchiefs replying, " God bless you, boys, come back to
us soon," as the steamer moved gently away. When she was
clear and well out from the wharf she was surrounded by the
Auckland Yacht Club squadron, for, like a flock of white swans,
they hovered round the big steamer, spreading their snow-white
sails, which looked like wings, as they gracefully glided outwards
into the blue and glittering waters of the Hauraki Gulf. Mean-
while cheer after cheer rent the air and echoed from ship to shore,
but the eyes of the earnest watchers on land were misty and dim
with unshed tears at the thought of those brave hearts that now
beat so gaily yet never might return ; and they moved slowly and
sadly away, with many a backward glance as the vessel faded into
the far distance freighted with its precious cargo.
They had loyally given of their hearts' best.
Our first stay in Auckland was not a very long one as we
were anxious to visit Kotorua, the centre of the wonderful Hot
Lakes District, that strange region of which we had heard such
marvellous accounts. So, taking the quick through train which
left in the morning (for there is only one express a day), we
started for Rotorua. The journey was delightful and the scenery
at times most charming, especially near the little township of
Mercer, through which flows that large and beautiful river the
Waikato. Not very far from here we passed Ngaruwhia, where
there is an annual regatta, of which I shall speak later on. Thus
we had plenty to interest us till the good-natured old guard, a
well-known entity on the Auckland-Eotorua line, put his head in
at the door of the carriage saying : " Ladies and gentlemen, we
are coming to a very fine bit of native bush, you will see it best
by standing outside on the platform of the carriage."
We went out and stood as he directed. The engine, puffing,
snorting and tugging the long chain of cars with powerful jerks,
drew us slowly but surely upwards, and as the pass gradually rose
the outlook was very fine ; the trees, of which there were an
immense variety, with creepers, ferns and tree ferns (Pungas),
were very beautiful and of great size. At one time we were
running along a narrow neck of land with a deep and splendidly-
wooded ravine on either side, and a little while after leaving the
ravine we emerged into the open track and obtained our first
glimpse of the beautiful Lake of Rotorua, with Mokoia Island in
the distance, the ancient home of Hinemoa and Tutanekai. How
lovely it looked in the light of the westering sun, decked in the
508 The Empire Review
glowing colours of the closing day, with the fresh cool breeze
gently ruffling its placid surface ! It is one of those pictures that
will ever remain indelibly impressed upon my mind.
On reaching the railway station, we met our friends, who had
kindly taken rooms for the party at Brent's Bathgate House ; and
as the hotel was not more than ten minutes' distance from the
station, we walked up, sending the luggage on by omnibus. On
leaving the railway platform one of the party, turning abruptly to
me, said, " Do you smell it ? " " Smell what ? " I asked, surprised
at the question. "Why, the sulphur from the hob springs."
And as we rounded the corner of the station, the most horrible
nauseating odour greeted our olfactory nerves. "Is it always
like this ? " " Shall we ever get accustomed to it ? " I remarked.
" Oh ! yes," came the reassuring reply, " you will soon not mind
it at all ; besides, the odour of these springs is not to be compared
to one at Wackarewarewa, which smells of decomposed boiled
meat.
We soon arrived at our destination, and, passing through a
pretty garden where a fountain was throwing its spray into a
stone basin full of goldfish and water plants, we were welcomed
by the kind proprietor, Mr. S. T. Brent, and his pleasant wife.
After taking possession of our rooms and making a hasty toilette,
we adjourned to the dining saloon, a fine room filled with small
separate tables, and were waited on by a staff of neat-looking,
pretty girls, in white cap and apron, a great improvement on the
hot and greasy-looking waiter shuffling or creaking about, with a
serviette of doubtful whiteness thrown over his arm. Dinner
being ended, our friends proposed a turn in the gardens, which
were lighted by electricity.
We first visited the bath-house, consisting of a large swimming
bath for ladies, whilst another of rather larger dimensions, called
the Duchess Bath, was available on certain days alternately for
ladies and gentlemen. This bath was opened by the Princess of
Wales during the royal visit to Eotorua. Besides the public
baths there are private baths to be had at a slightly increased
cost. The gentlemen also had their baths, both public and
private. Two kinds of chemical water are in use at the Eotorua
Bath House, the strongest being the Priests' Bath (Te Pupuni-
tanga). This water comes bubbling up from the natural flooring
of the bath, which is sand and gravel, and is acidic. The other
is Madame Rachel's bath (Whangapipiro). This is alkaline and
silicious, and much milder in its effects than the former. Some
of these acid baths have nothing to equal them in the world. In
fact the district is literally honey-combed with mineral springs,
all possessing varied and most valuable properties. I remember
that on the high road to Wackarewarewa a tiny stream of the
Memories of Maoriland 509
purest a! am water runs across the road, coming from apparently
nowhere.
Leaving the bath-house at Rotorua, we proceeded to the
gardens ; the paths being lighted by electricity, the effect was
most weird ; as we approached a small concrete tank, which was
surrounded by strong iron railings, we saw several miniature
geysers throwing up jets of boiling water ; these were constructed
by the late Mr. Malfroy, and have been playing for years, the
water being artificially supplied by one of the natural boiling
springs in the grounds.
The scene was indeed strange, the bluish and ghostly light, the
steaming and bubbling of the geysers, the nauseating odours and
the hollow sound of the pathway under our feet gave one a feeling
of uneasy insecurity. We were taken through a wide road that
got narrower as we proceeded ; it was bordered by high hedges ;
the light here was very dim ; as we were beyond the range of the
electric globes, the ground that seemed to become more hollow as
we advanced resounded most unpleasantly, and I felt in an
absolute panic lest the path would break through and land us
against our will in the realms of Pluto. Our friends cautioned
us never at any time to leave the beaten track, as the ground was
very dangerous, from the deep holes called porridge-pots, that
were filled with hot liquid mud that bubbles incessantly. Seen
for the first time, it makes a deep and lasting impression, and we
were all glad (at least the strangers of the party) to find ourselves
safely back at the hotel.
The following morning we sallied forth to view the gardens
by daylight ; they are most beautifully kept, the lawns like velvet,
and a profusion of flowers in the highest state of cultivation.
One very large plot of ground was covered with rose bushes
bearing magnificent blooms ; this bed is quite close to the large
open spring of boiling Rachel water, the vapour and fumes of
which pass over the flowers, and does not appear to injure either
their colour or perfume ; indeed, they seem to thrive in the strange
and nauseous atmosphere.
There is a fine bowling-green with croquet and tennis lawns, a
band-stand and a pretty little refreshment-house (Te runanga).
Here some nice-looking Maori girls in their national costume
waited on us under the direction of a lady-manager, who provided
excellent coffee and cakes, with cream ices that could not be
bettered anywhere. Near the tea-house is " The Queen's Drive,"
a broad carriage road about a quarter of a mile long, running in
a straight line down to the Rotorua lake ; this road is edged by
very wide flower-beds on either side, a glowing mass of colour,
forming a most brilliant approach to the lake.
Not far from the croquet-ground is an aviary with some large
510 The Empire Review
cagea constructed with communicating doors ; here were specimens
of birds indigenous to New Zealand, and a few animals recently
imported from America, amongst them five racoons, and these
funny little creatures became most popular. Great numbers of
people assembled daily to see them fed at 4 o'clock by the
official in charge, who was very proud of them, for they
were beginning to get quite tame, and would take food from
his hand and cling to his arms and legs. However, one day
when he went to feed them in the morning there came a great
shock to the poor old man, for two out of the five had disap-
peared ; the little rascals had with their sharp teeth gnawed
through the strong wire netting, and had got away.
Then there was trouble — messengers were sent in all directions,
and, after hours of fruitless search, they reported the coons as
having been seen in the kitchen garden, feasting on the best
they could get ; but every subsequent account of their locale
differed from the preceding one. Day after day passed and the
authorities at last got desperate, for the newspapers were taking
up the " coon scandal " vigorously in the absence of war news
and a scarcity of earthquakes. Every man who owned a gun
was hugely rejoiced one morning to see a notice in the leading
daily paper offering a reward of ^10 to anyone who would shoot
the missing coons. This tempting offer only made matters worse,
and the tone of the papers, that was decidedly sarcastic, became
more acrimonious and ran somewhat as follows : —
It is quite scandalous to hear that two out of the five
racoons so recently imported at great expense from America
should have been allowed to escape. So much money has
already been spent on adding to the little zoological collec-
tion at Botorua, the least that could have been done was to
look carefully after the animals when they were there;
besides which, the squandering of public funds on first
importing these pests into the country and then offering
rewards for their destruction is quite shameful. Have the
colonies not yet learnt a bitter lesson from rabbits, sparrows,
weasles, and such terrors that have become the plague of the
country, and now, forsooth, coons !
With a few more hard words the commotion at last subsided.
Nobody claimed the reward, for no one shot the coons, so the
jovial little pests were, I hope, none the worse after making their
daring bid for the joys of liberty.
About two miles from Rotorua is situated one of the great
geyser centres of the thermal district, the little Maori village of
Wackarewarewa. Omnibuses and motors ply constantly back-
wards and forwards for the convenience of sightseers ; the road
Memories of Maoriland 511
is very bad, and by the time the wretched horses have clambered
to the top of one mound, they flounder hopelessly down into the
next hollow and dust obscures everything ; but the road has been
like this for years and is likely, I fear, to remain so. At last we
arrived and pulled up near the little bridge that spans the stream
flowing at the foot of Wackarewarewa. Here we paused to see
the Maori children dive from the bridge into the stream, and
this they do in a most expert way. Then other children assembled
and clamoured to be allowed to dance the haka, the national
dance, in which all the dreadful accidents of war are portrayed,
the capture and massacre of the enemy, all in mimic pantomime,
accompanied by the most revolting grimaces.
Leaving the bridge, we entered through a gate into the geyser-
ground and were taken in charge by a Maori guide, who took us
round the geysers and pointed out each object of interest and
narrating any legend belonging to it. I first saw the geysers at
Wackarewarewa under the guidance of my old friend Sophia
early in 1901, and on my second visit to New Zealand some two
years later, I noticed a very great difference; there was a con-
siderable diminution of energy; indeed, just before I left the
country after my second visit, Pohutu, the largest and most
active of the geysers, had not played up for many months.
The torpedo— which was in the centre of a pool of water, and in
appearance resembled a huge black greasy-looking bubble, and used
to burst with the dull report of a shell that could be heard at any
part of the reservation — was now hardly audible. The cauldron,
that at times flung its boiling waters twenty feet above its rocky
basin and then overflowed into the little watercourse valley,
never rose now (it was the signal or indicator when Pohutu was
going to play) ; and the various porridge pots and little fumaroles
were all much less active than before. It is an undoubted fact
that the thermal energy in Wackarewarewa is gradually lessening,
though it is quite impossible to say where the pent-up forces will
break out again. I was talking one day with Mr. Clark, the then
caretaker of the geyser grounds, a clever man but quite an oddity
in his way, and was asking his idea on the eruption at Martinique
which had taken place a short time before. " Well," he replied,
" it is very hard to say, for we who live here in safety " — at this
moment Pohutu, the big geyser, with a thundering roar threw up
a grand column of water. I looked at Mr. Clark as the word
" safety " left his mouth to the accompaniment of the geyser's
roaring. Safety, indeed, I thought to myself, with all this
boiling and seething under our feet, but not a muscle of Mr.
Clark's face moved, and he went on quite composedly to say that,
although it might be different where volcanoes were concerned,
he considered that by far the safest place in New Zealand was
512 The Empire Review
amongst the thermal activity, as this was the safety-valve that
let out the mischief and prevented a great " blow up." To this
I meekly assented, for I knew nothing at all about the matter, so
could not venture to argue with an expert.
One of the curious sights of Wackarewarewa is the soaping of
the Wairoa Geyser. This soaping of the geyser is done when
any special visitors wish to see it, and permission has to be
obtained from one of the Government officials at Wellington.
The process is interesting. The permission being granted an
hour is fixed (usually about 3 P.M.), the spectators assemble at a
safe distance, whilst a chosen few go with the caretaker and
guides to the mouth of the geyser, which is protected by a wooden
cover; this is removed, and a bag containing two or three bars of
yellow soap shredded into small pieces, is handed to the lady who
is to have the privilege of awaking the geyser from its sleep, the
contents of the bag are shaken in, and then the spectators retreat
out of range of the boiling spray. The interval of about seven or
eight minutes is the quickest for the geyser to come into action,
but of later years it takes longer. A roaring noise begins, and
then the white foaming soap-suds rise and then sink rapidly ; it
rises a few feet higher each time, falling again, and this is repeated
many times till Wairoa attains its full energy, and in one magnifi-
cent upward burst it dashes into the air as if eager to meet the
blue sky and brilliant sunshine after its long sleep in the earth's
dark recesses.
I have seen Wairoa soaped eighteen times, and never do I
remember seeing it twice the same. On one never-to-be-forgotten
occasion by some peculiar effect of sunlight, a most vivid and
perfect rainbow spanned the foaming white column of water.
The Maoris have a superstitious dislike to the soaping of the
geyser. They shake their heads and talk of Atoua (God) being
angry, they think it unwise to interfere with the forces of nature,
and perhaps they may be right.
An amusing story was told of the late Mr. Seddon in connection
with the soaping of Wairoa Geyser. It sometimes happens that
the geyser although soaped refuses to play, and on one occasion
when the late Premier was present the geyser was in a bad
humour, and although a double quantity of soap was thrown in
it would not play up. Whilst Mr. Seddon and the disappointed
spectators were expressing their annoyance, a good-humoured
voice called out of the crowd, " Ah, Dick, you can soft soap the
people, but you can't soap the geyser quite so easily." Two or
three of the smaller geysers play occasionally, the Pigeon and
the Prince of Wales' Feathers, but the energy is no longer as great
as of old.
Before we say good-bye to Wackarewarewa I must tell
Memories of Maoriland 513
another story in connection with Wairoa Geyser that was going
round and creating much amusement. The daughter of a dis-
tinguished visitor having expressed great anxiety to be allowed to
soap the geyser herself, a telegram was sent to Wellington asking
for the necessary permission, and when the astonishing reply
came back, it read as follows : " Certainly let Miss soap
herself!"
E. I. MASSY.
(To be continued.)
514
The Empire Review
INDIAN AND COLONIAL INVESTMENTS*
CONSIDERING the stringency of the money market the closing
weeks of 1906 have afforded a good deal of encouragement to
investors. The flow of money for employment in Stock Exchange
securities that always follows in the wake of trade revival has
been much in evidence. Its effect, however, has been more
appreciable on one or two favoured securities than on the
markets as a whole. Thus it behoves the investor to pick his
securities wisely. Fashions in investments have changed since
the last cycle of Stock Exchange prosperity.
The activity in new fields of speculation is not without a
cheering influence on gilt-edged securities, and it will be seen
that, when dividend deductions are allowed for, the prices of most
of the Colonial Government securities tabulated here show a
general improvement on the month, from India stocks down-
wards. Now that the reports of the Indian Kail ways for the
first half of 1906 are practically all issued the satisfactory fact
is to be noted that, with the exception of the Burma Bail-
ways, they all show substantial improvement in gross receipts.
The financial trouble in Madras is blowing over; but, while it
lasted, it had an unpleasant effect on business in the ancient
Indian city. The lesson to be drawn from the affair is the
INDIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present Amount.
When
Redeem-
able.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
INDIA.
£
3* % Stock (i) ...
3 % „ a . . .
62,585,080
66,724,530
1931
1948
103J
92}
a
Quarterly.
2} % „ Inscribed (t)
11,892,207
1926
77J
ii
3J % Rupee Paper 1854-5
. .
(a)
96ft
3AJ
30 June— 31 Deo.
8 % „ „ 1896-7
1916
84
3&
30 June— 30 Dec.
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
(a) Redeemable at a quarter's notice.
* The tabular matter in this article will appear month by month, the figures
being corrected to date. Stocks eligible for Trustee investments are so designated. — ED.
Indian and Colonial Investments
515
INDIAN RAILWAYS AND BANKS.
Title.
Subscribed.
Last
years
dividend.
Share
or
Stock.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Assam— Bengal, L., guaranteed 3 % .
Bengal and North- Western (Limited)
Bengal Dooars, L
1,500,000
2,750,000
400,000
3
6
31
100
100
100
87*
145*
92J.X
1
Bengal Nagpur (L), gtd. 4% + |th profits
Burma Guar. 2} % and propn. of profits
Delhi Umballa Kalka, L, guax. 8J % +
8,000.000
2,000,000
} 800,000
4*
**
6
100
100
100
106
111
150}
7
4
East Indian Def. ann. cap. g. 4% + {
BUT. profits (t)
J 2,267,039
Stt
100
122}
*H
Do. do, class " D," repayable 1958 (t) .
Do. 4$ % perpet. deb. stock (t) . . .
Do. new 8 % deb. red. (t)
Great Indian Peninsula 4% deb. Stock
Do. 3% Gua. and ^ surp. profits 1925
Indian Mid. L. gua. 4% & J surp. profits
Madras, guaranteed 5 % by India (t) .
Do. do. 4f%«)
Do. do. 4} % (t)
i 4,282,961
1,435,650
8,000,000
t) 2,701,450
t); 2,675,000
4; 2,260,000
: 8,767,670
999,960
500,000
1
1A
5
4}
4}
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
188}
132}
91
116}
HOix
102}
123}
116
108
1
481
3
Nizam's State Bail. Gtd. 5 % stock .
Do. 8} % red. mort. debs. . . .
2,000,000
1,079,600
5
Si
100
100
119
93}
*tt
844
Rohilkund and Kumaon, Limited.
South Behar, Limited
200,000
879,580
7*
4
100
100
142}
109*
4
•
South Indian 4$ % per. deb. stock, gtd
Do. capital stock
Sthn. Mahratta, L., 3J % & J of profit?
Do. 4 % deb. stock
425.000
i 1,000,000
3,600,000
1,196,600
•i
7}
5
100
100
100
100
131}
107}
101}a;
106}
3i:
4§
22
Southern Punjab, Limited . . . .
Do. 3} % deb. stock red
West of India Portuguese Guar. L,
Do. 5 % debenture stock
966,000
500,000
800,000
550,000
tf
?
5
100
100
100
100
121}x
93}
102}
111}
3!
a*
47,
BANKS.
Chartered Bank of India, Australia,
Number of
Shares.
} 40,000
13
20
64
•IB
*A
National Bank of India
48,000
12
121
37fa;
4
(0 Eligible (or Trustee investments.
(x) J£x dividend.
obvious advisability of all the private banking firms putting their
businesses on a public basis, including the issue of periodical
balance-sheets, to show customers how their money is being
employed. The great joint-stock banks of India cannot fail to
derive benefit from the position of affairs that has been disclosed
by the recent failures of private banking firms.
Canadian securities again commanded a very large proportion
of the month's Stock Exchange activity. Canada 3 per cent,
stock reached par before the dividend was deducted from the
price. It thus attains to a higher level than some of the stocks
that are a direct obligation of the Home Government.
But Canadian Pacifies have been the feature, soaring well
above the double century. The last monthly revenue statement,
516
The Empire Review
that for October, showed an increase of $1,224,000 in gross
earnings, of which $511,000 was saved in net earnings. Other
indications of the enormous development that is taking place are
that the company has 1,208 miles of new track under construc-
tion, and that thirteen million dollars' worth of rolling stock is on
order.
The Grand Trunk Railway is making headway on a smaller
scale, but extra working expenses continue to absorb the bulk of the
increase in gross earnings. For instance, while the gross receipts
CANADIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
4 % Inter- U Guaran- i 500 OOO
1 rfW
colonial/ 1 teed by i|«W»*w
4% „ | Great i 1,500,000
1908
1910
100
101
_,_,
1 Apr.—l Oct.
4% „ J Britain. 1,700,000
1913
103
B|
4 % Reduced Bonds . 2, 078, 621 \
4% „ Regd. Stock ! 4,364,515/
1910
/ 103
1 lOlx
1 Jan.— 1 July.
84 % 1884 Regd. Stock
4,750,800
1909-34 i 100
—
1 June — 1 Dec.
4 % 1885 Ins. Stock .
3 % Inscribed Stock (i)
3,527,800
10,381,984
1910-35*
1938
102x
983
5*
ll Jan.— 1 July.
»*% .. ,, W
2,000,000
1947
85
«A
1 Apr.—l Oct.
PROVINCIAL.
BBITISH COLOMBIA.
3 % Inscribed Stock .
2,045,760
1941
85*
3|
1 Jan. — 1 July.
MANITOBA.
6 % Debentures . .
5 % Sterling Bonds .
346,700
308,000
1910
1923
105
111
i
}l Jan.— 1 July.
4% „ Debs. .
205,000
1928
103
3Ji
1 May— 1 Nov.
NOVA SCOTIA.
3% Stock ....
164,000
1949
85
3|
1 Jan.— 1 July.
QOBBEC.
3 % Inscribed . . .
1,897,820
1937
84
SHf
1 Apr.—l Oct.
MUNICIPAL.
Hamilton (City of) 4 %
Montreal 3 % Deb.}
Stock . . . ./
482,800
1,440,000
1934
permanent
103
85
33
B|
1 Apr.—l Oct.
11 May— 1 Nov.
Do. 4 % Cons. „
1,821,917
1932
107
8A
Quebec 4 % Debs. . .
Do. 3} % Con. Stock .
385,000
470,471
1923
drawings
103
94x
3
>1 Jan. — 1 July.
Toronto 5 % Con. Debs. ! 136,700
1919-20*
109
4^,
1
Do. 4 % Stg. Bonds .
Do. 4 % Local Impt. .
300,910
249,312
1922-28*
1907-13*
104
101
4
VI Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 3} % Bonds . .
1,169,844
1929
95
311
)
Vancouver 4 % Bonds
121.200
1931
101
4
1 Apr.—l Oct.
Do. 4 % 40-year Bondg 117 ', 200
1932
102
31g
7 Feb.— 7 Aug.
Winnipeg 5 % Debs. . 138,000
1914
107
4
30 Apr.— 31 Oct.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption
(0 Eligible for Trustee investments.
(*) Ex dividend
Indian and Colonial Investments
517
CANADIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid up
per
Share.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
Canadian Pacific Shares . .
Do. 4 % Preference ....
Do. 5 % Stg. 1st Mtg. Bd. 1915
Do. 4 % Cons. Deb. Stook . .
Grand Trunk Ordinary . . .
Do. 5 % 1st Preference . . .
Do. 5 % 2nd
1,014,000
£7,778,082
£7,191,500
£19,421,797
£22,475,985
£3,420,000
£2,530,000
*
6
4
5
4
nil
5
5
$100
Stook
206}
108
109
llOx
29|
119
HI*
1
3|
Do. 4 % 3rd
£7,168,055
2
69
4
Do. 4 % Guaranteed
Do. 5 % Perp. Deb. Stook . .
Do. 4 % Cons. Deb. Stock . .
£8,129,315
£4,270,375
£15,135,981
4
5
4
103
135
110
«F
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Bank of Montreal . . . .
Bank of British North America
Canadian Bank of Commerce .
Canada Company ....
Hudson's Bay
140,000
20,000
200,000
8,319
100,000
10
6
8
57a. per sh.
£4 per sh.
$100
50
$50
A.
257g
73
£18$
40J
120
3$
4*
r
Trust and Loan of Canada. .
Do. new ....... i
50,000
25,000
7*
74
5
0
6
3i
6S
British Columbia Eleotrio\Def. i
Railway /Pref . i
£400,000
£300,000
6*
5
Stock
Stock
129*
110
*i
4i
£1 capital repaid 1904.
Ex dividend.
NEWFOUNDLAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
3} % Sterling Bonds .
2,178,800
1941-7-8f
94
3J
3 % Sterling „ .
325,000
1947
84
3i
4 % Inscribed Stook .
• 10 II II
320,000
483,306
1918-38*
1935
101
105x
3
»H
1 Jan. -1 July.
4 % Cons. Ins. „
200,000
1936
105x
m
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption,
t Yield calculated on latest date.
(•) Ex dividend.
for the first four months of the half year show an increase of
£267,000, only £40,800 of that is saved in net receipts.
The Bank of Montreal, which has considerably enhanced its
prestige by the prompt way in which it went to the assistance of
the Ontario Bank, has enjoyed an increase in deposits from
£24,485,594 to £26,692,082 during the financial year ended
October 31st. Simultaneously the profits have increased from
£336,710 to £369,417, and while maintaining the dividend at
10 per cent, the directors are able to make a contribution of over
£200,000 to the Best out of their large carry-forward. With
VOL. XII.— No. 72. 2 M
518 The Empire Review
this addition the Rest amounts to no less than £2,260,000 against
a paid-up capital of £2,958,000.
Hudson's Bay shares have been put in the shade a little by
the great rise in Canadian Pacifies. They have had their own
big spurt during the month but have relapsed again. Meantime
ihe directors announce an interim dividend of £1 a share, which is
twice as large as was declared a year ago. But this interim
dividend is of course little guide to what will be paid for the
whole year. The directors have doubtless increased the interim
dividend in response to the request of certain shareholders that it
should bear a more reasonable proportion to the final distribution.
A fair amount of business has been transacted in Australian
Government securities, which continue to show themselves inde-
pendent of adverse monetary influences. Prices have not changed
to any great extent, but, after allowing for dividend deductions,
the movements recorded have been in favour of holders. The
year 1906 has undoubtedly been a good one for Australian
finance, and its close sees the general position and prospects very
materially improved as compared with twelve months ago. The
productive capacity of the Commonwealth has shown a healthy
development and the leading export commodities have commanded
excellent prices; the States have fared well in the way of
increasing revenues, while their difficulties as regards loan
requirements have been lightened by the easy monetary situation
in Australia. Quotations for the various Government and public
securities have advanced considerably ; the position of the agricul-
tural and pastoral companies has vastly improved, with the
natural result of a substantial appreciation of their share values ;
miscellaneous trading companies have done well and the banks
have experienced steady prosperity. Altogether the record is an
exceedingly good one, and prospects for the new year appear
equally favourable.
Australian oversea trade has shown wonderful expansion in
recent years, and the figures for 1906 seem likely to exceed all
previous records. Up to the end of September the exports
reached a total of £45,125,846, being an increase of £12,482,044
over the same period in 1905. Of this increase £6,809,800 is
accounted for by the growth in gold exports, principally during
the last part of the period, but there remains a large proportion
represented by greater shipments of general merchandise, and
this is well spread over all classes of production. Imports
amounted to £32,876,464, an increase of £5,452,129, of which
£4,939,576 is made up of general merchandise and only £512,553
of gold. Taking imports and exports together, the external
trade of Australia for the nine months totals £78,002,310, or
nearly 18 millions more than in the first nine months of the
Indian and Colonial Investments
519
previous year. As the Australian season was somewhat late in
1906, there is every reason to anticipate that the figures for the
last quarter of the year will show an equal, if not a larger, expan-
sion in exports.
Though one of the smallest of the Australian banks, the
Western Australian Bank has had a long career of prosperity,
which is being well maintained at the present time. The report
for the half-year to 24th September announced net profits of
£24,058, comparing with £23,056 in the previous half-year and
£24,718 in September 1905. The balance brought forward from
last half-year was £29,508, making an available total of £53,566,
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
NEW SOUTH WALKS.
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
9,686,300
1988
1074
2f
1 Jan.— 1 July.
3*% „ „ t
3% „ „ (t)
16,500,000
12,600,000
1924
1936
1S|
34
3H
Jl Apr.— 1 Oct.
VICTORIA.
4 % Inscribed, 1862-3
5,454,700
1908-18
101
—
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
4% „ 1886 .
6,000,000
1920
103
3£
34% „ 1889(<)
4%
5,000,000
2,107,000
1921-6*
1911-26*
99
101
3rt
*A
1 Jan.— 1 July,
3% „ (ft . .
6,464,714
1929-49t
89
«A
QUEENSLAND.
4 % Bonds ....
10,267,400
1918-18*
103
8H
)
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
34% „ „ (A
Vo ,, ,, W
7,989,000
8,616,034
4,274,213
1924
1921-SOf
1922-47f
106
984
864
3}
Hi
3*4
[1 Jan.— 1 July,
SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
4 % Bonds .
6,405,300
1907-16*
1014
—
1 Jan.— 1 July.
4 %
4 % Inscribed Stock '.
1,366,300
6,246,300
1916
1916-7-36*
101
103
4
3i
}l Apr.— 1 Oct.
34% „ „ *
2,517,800
1939
99|x
34
1
3% „ „ A
839,500
1916-26J
864
34
f 1 Jan.— 1 July.
3°/ M
X n n t)
2,760,100
1916 I or
864
34
1
after.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
4 % Inscribed . . .
1,876,000
1911-81*
102
3|
16 Apr.— 16 Dot.
34 % „ 0 . .
3>e ,, t) . .
3,780,000
8,760,000
1920-35t
1915-35J
98
874
3ft
)l May— 1 Nov.
3% „ t) . .
2,600,000
1927J
89
3|
16 Jan.— 16 July.
TASMANIA.
34 % Insobd. Stock t)
8,666,600
1920-40*
974
32
i
4% „ „ «
1,000,000
1920-40*
105
3«
}l Jan.— 1 July.
3 % . . . t)
460,000
1920-40t
88
BH
"Tl
1
• Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
t Yield calculated on later date of redemption, though a portion of the loan may he redeemed
earlier.
t No allowance for redemption. (I) Eligible for Trustee InTMtmente.
(x) Ex dividend
520
The Empire Review
AUSTRALIAN MUNICIPAL AND OTHER BONDS.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Melbourne & Met. Bd.\
of Works 4% Debs. /
1,000,000
1921
101
4
1 Apl.— 1 Oct.
Do. City 4% Debs. .
850,000
1915-22*
102
4
)
Do. Harbour Trust\
Comrs. 5% Eds. . /
500,000
1908-9
103
—
[l Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4% Bds. . . .
1,250,000
1918-21*
102
4
I
Melbourne Trams)
Trust 4J% Debs. ./
1,650,000
1914-16*
104
*A
1 Jan.— 1 July.
S. Melbourne 4i% Debs.
128,700
1919
103
4
I
Sydney 4% Debs. . .
640,000
1912-13
102
4
\1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 4% Debs. . . .
800,000
1919
102
4
Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Title.
Number of
Shares or
Amount.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
RAILWAYS.
*
Emu Bay and Mount Bischoff . . .
12,000
1*
5
4£
11
Do. 4J% Irred. Deb. Stook ....
£130,900
4
100
99£
*i
Mid. of W. Aust. 4 % Debs., Guartd. .
£440,000
4
100
102
8|
BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Bank of Australasia
40,000
12
40
96
5
Bank of New South Wales ....
100,000
10
20
45
Union Bank of Australia £75 . . .
60,000
10
25
56
4j7B
Do. 4 % Inscribed Stook Deposits . .
£600,000
4
100
101
3*|
Australian Mort. Land & Finance £26
80,000
6
5
7
4|
Do. 4 % Perp. Deb. Stook ....
£1,900,000
4
100
102
3£
Dalgety & Co. £20
154,000
6
5
6
5
Do. 4J % Irred. Deb. Stook ....
Do. 4% „ „ . .
£620,000
£1,643,210
100
100
110
101
3H
Goldsbrough Mort & Co. 4 % A Deb.\
£1,217,925
4
100
90$
*§
Do. B Income Reduced
£727,695
4
100
90
4A
Australian Agricultural £25 . . .
20,000
£3
21J
74
4*
South Australian Company. .
Trust & Agency of Australasia . . .
14,200
42,479
124
20
1
51J
4*|
Do. 5 % Cum. Pref
87,500
5
10
101
4|
Met. of Melb. Gas 5 % Debs. 1908-12.
£560,000
5
100
102
*%
Do. 4J % Debs. 1918-22-24 ....
£250,000
4
100
101
41
out of which the directors have declared the usual dividend at the
rate of 20 per cent, per annum and transferred £25,000 to reserve
fund, leaving a balance of £13,566 to be carried forward. The
reserve fund now amounts to £375,000, the paid up capital
being £150,000.
In spite of the fact that the finances of Western Australia are
not just now so flourishing as those of most of the States, the
Government is evidently determined upon a policy of develop-
ment. It is announced that the Legislative Assembly has
Indian and Colonial Investments
521
authorised the raising of a loan of no less than ,£2,467,000 to be
devoted to public works of a reproductive character, principally
railways, for the purpose of developing agricultural districts and
the newer mining centres. The agricultural possibilities of the
State are doubtless immense, and the extension of railway facilities
is necessary to their development. Some of the mining districts
which will benefit by the projected railways are of a distinctly
promising character, and in view of the declining tendency in
the yield of the older goldfields, the Government is wise in
extending encouragement to the newer ones. The raising of so
large a loan will place some present strain on the State finances,
but the future results should provide ample compensation.
NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
5 % Bonds ....
266,800
1914
106
4f
15 Jan.— 15 July.
4 % Inscribed Stock (t)
29,150,302
1929
107$
3*
1 May— 1 Nov.
3J % Stock (t) . . .
8,122,125
1940
100
^A
1 Jan.— 1 July.
3 % Inscribed Stock (t)
6,384,005 I 1945
89J
8*
1 Apr.— 1 Oot.
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
NEW ZEALAND MUNICIPAL AND OTHER SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Auckland 5% Deb. .
200,000
1984-S*
109
*i
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. Hbr. Bd. 5% Debs.
150,000
1917
107
4£
10 April— 10 Oct.
Bank of N. Z. shares f
150,000
div. 5 %
9
—
—
Do. 4% Qua. Stock; .
£1,000,000
1914
102
Hi
Apr.— Oot.
Ohristohurch 6% Drain-
age Loan . . .
J 200,000
1926
124}
80 June— 31 Dec.
Dunedin 5% Cons.
Lyttleton Hbr. Bd. 6%
812,200
200,000
1908
1929
101
119}
5
1 Apr.— 1 Oct.
Napier Hbr. Bd. 5%\
Debs /
300,000
1920
110
4|
11 Jan.— 1 July.
Do. 5% Debs. . . .
200,000
1928
111
4|
National Bank of N.Z.\
£7} Shares £2$ paid J
New Plymouth Hbr.\
Bd. 6% Debs. . ./
100,000
200,000
div. 12 %
1909
101
•H
Jan.— July.
1 May— 1 Nov.
Oamaru 5% Bds. . .
178,800
1920
96
5*
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Otago Hbr. Cons. Bds.\
6% /
442,600
1934
108
M
1 Jan.— 1 July.
Wellington 6% Impte.l
Loan /
100,000
1914-29*
111
**
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 6% Waterworks .
180,000
1929
114
5^
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
Do. 4}% Debs.. . .
166,000
1938
105
43
1 May— 1 Nov.
Westport Hbr. 4% Debs.
150,000
1925
102
8T
1 Mar.— 1 Sept.
• Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption,
t «C IS*. 4d. Shares with £8 8». M. paid op.
t Guaranteed by New Zealand Government
522
The Empire Review
The terms of the Transvaal Constitution afford no relief to
the South African Mining Market. The gloomy uncertainty of
the labour problem still remains. Nevertheless, the month has
not been void of encouraging features. The declaration of a
batch of dividends, some at increased rates, notably the declara-
tion of a first dividend on Modderfontein shares, has served as a
reminder that in spite of the unsatisfactory outlook for the future
the mines are earning good profits for their shareholders. Then
there has been the announcement that the experiments with a new
drill in the Robinson mine have been attended with satisfactory
results, foreshadowing considerable economy of labour.
Although the aggregate output of gold from the Transvaal
during November was 7,263 ounces in weight, or £30,736 in value
less than the return for the preceding month, the diminution was
more than accounted for by the shorter length of the month. As
SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Ke-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
CAPB COLONY.
4*% Bonds . . .
4^ 1883 Inscribed (t).
4 % 1886 „
3i%1886 „ m.
8>e1886 „ (t).
746,600
3,733,195
9,997,566
18,229,666
7,550,524
dwgs.
1923
1916-36*
1929-49f
1988-431
101
105
103
98*
86
3*
Q3
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
1 June — 1 Dec.
15 Apr.— 16 Oct.
1 Jan. — 1 July.
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
NATAL.
4} % Bonds, 1876 . .
4 % Inscribed . .
•* Xo II • •
768,700
3,026,444
8,714,917
6,000,000
1919
1987
1914-391
1929-49f
104
107
98
1
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Apr.— Oct.
1 June — 1 Deo,
1 Jan.— 1 July.
TRANSVAAL.
3 % Guartd. Stock .
35,000,000
1923-581
97
8|
1 May — 1 Nov.
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
* Yield calculated on earlier date of redemption.
t Yield calculated on later date of redemption.
SOUTH AFRICAN MUNICIPAL SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When Re-
deemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable.
Bloemfontein 4 %
483,000
1954
96}
4i
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Cape Town 4 % . .
1,878,550
1953
102
3tf
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Durban 4% . . .
1,350,000
1951-8
101
80 June — 31 Dec.
Johannesburg 4 %
5,500,000
1938-4
92
4*
1 April— 1 Oct.
Pietennaritzburg 4 %
625,000
1949-53
98
*4
30 June— 31 Deo.
Port Elizabeth 4 % .
390,000
1964
99
4A
SO June— 31 Dec.
Band Water Board 4%
3,400,000
1935
95
4§
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Indian and Colonial Investments
523
SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS, BANKS AND COMPANIES.
Number of
Dividend
Pa 1.1
nut
Shares or
for lut
r&lu
Price.
Yield.
Amount.
Year.
up.
RAILWAYS.
Mashonaland 5 "/ Debs.
£2,500,000
5
100
87
5f
Northern Railway of the S. African)
Rep. 4 "/ Bonds /
£1,043,280
4
100
95
*A
Rhodesia Rlys. 5 % 1st Mort. Debs.\
guar. by B.S.A. Co. till 1915. . ./
£2,000,000
6
100
92
5A
Royal Trans- African 5 % Debs. Red. .
£1,863,200
5
100
93
64
BANKS AND OOMPANUB.
African Banking Corporation £10 shares
80,000
6
5
4*
68
Bank of Africa £18f
160,000
10A
6J
9,
6$
Natal Bank £10
148,232
3
14
*
24
9
|||
7JL
National Bank of 8. Africa £10
110,000
8
10
14, |
1 •
»A
Standard Bank of 8. Africa £100
61,941
16
26
70
51*
Ohlsson's Cape Breweries . .
60,000
22}
5
9*
"M
South African Breweries
950,000
22
1
2x
11
British South Africa (Chartered)
6,000,000
nil
1
If
nil
Do. 5 % Debs. Red
£1,250,000
5
100
102
42
Natal Land and Colonization . . .
68,066
8
5
6f
*B
«
Cape Town & District Gas Light & Coke
10,000
10
10
1**
65
Kimberley Waterworks £10. . . .
45,000
5
7
5
7
(x) Ex dividend.
a matter-of-fact, the production per day was the highest ever
recorded. The following are the returns month by month for the
past four years, and for the year in which the war commenced.
January .
February
March .
April. .
May . .
June.
July . .
August .
September
October .
November
December
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1899.
£
£
£
£
£
1,820,739
1,568,508
1,226,846
846,489
1,534,583
1,731,664 ! 1,545,371
1,229,726 i 834,739
1,512,860
1,884,815
1,698,340
1,309,329 923,739
1,654,258
1,865,785
1,695,550
1,299,576
967,936
1,639,840
1,959,062
1,768,734
1,335,826
994,505
1,658,268
2,021,813
1,751,412
1,309,231
1,012,322
1,665.715
2,089,004
1,781,944
1,307,621 i 1,068,917 j 1,711,447
2,162,583
1.820,496
1,326,468 : 1,155,039
1,720,907
2,144,576
1,769,124
1,326,506
1,173,211
1,657,205
2,296,361
1,765,047
1,383,167
1,208,669 |
2,265,625
1,804,253
1,427,947
1,188,571 Ul, 028,057
— 1 1,833,295
1,538,800
1,215,110 1
Total* .
22,243,026 120,802,074 16,054,809 12,589,247 ; 15,782,640
Including undeclared amount* omitted from the monthly returns.
t State of war.
The native labour return was again satisfactory inasmuch
as it showed a net gain of 2,142 hands on the mouth. The
following table shows the details of each monthly return for the
past two years and also the figures for March 1903, when the
first official return was published.
524
The Empire Review
Month.
Natives
Joined.
Natives
Left.
Net Gain on
Month.
Natives
Employed end
of Month.
Chinese
Employed end
of Month.
March . 1903
6,536
2,790
3,746
56,218
_
November 1904
9,456
6,884
2,572
74,233
19,316
December „
8,655
6,277
2,378
76,611
20,918
January 1905
11,773
6,989
4,834
81,444
25,015
February ,
14,627
6,705
7,922
89,367
31,174
March ,
13,547
8,310
5,237
94,604
34,282
April
9,589
7,979
1,610
96,214
35,516
May
8,586
8,574
12
96,226
38,066
June
6,404
8,642
2,233*
93,988
41,290
July
6,023
8,338
2,315*
91,673
43,140
August
5,419
8,263
2,844*
88,829
44,565
September
5,606
8,801
8,195*
85,634
44,491
October .
5,855
7,814
1,959*
83,675
45,901
November
5,279
5,992
713*
82,962
45,804
December
4,747
6,755
2,008*
80,954
47,217
January 1906
6,325
7,287
962*
79,992
47,118
February
5,617
6,714
1,697*
78,895
49,955
March
6,821
7,040
219*
78,676
49,877
April
6,580
6,841
239
78,915
49,789
May
6,722
6,955
233*
78,682
50,951
June
6,047
7,172
1,125*
77,557
52,329
July
6,760
7,822
562*
76,995
52,202
August
6,777
7,526
749*
76,246
53,835
September
8,367
6,755
1,612
77,858
54,922
October.
9,845
7,387
2,458
76,035f
—
November
9,061
6,919
2,142
78,177f
—
Net loss.
•f- Exclusive of Robinson group.
Rhodesian and Band interests have been combined in a special
sense in the financial inauguration of the great scheme under the
auspices of the Chartered Company for conveying power from the
Victoria Falls to the Band. The prosecution of such a project at
a time when South African gold-mines are so much out of favour
shows a proper realisation in powerful quarters of the Imperial
importance of the Band industry.
Apart from August's record return the Bhodesian gold output
for November was the highest ever published, and the total for
the year will be a third as much again as last year. The following
table gives the monthly returns for several years past.
1906.
1905.
1904.
1903.
1902.
1901.
1900.
1899.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
oz.
J&nuary
42,950
32,531
19,359
16,245
15,955
10,697
5,242
6,371
February
38,037
30,131
18,673
17,090
13,204
12,237
6,233
6,433
March
44,574
34,927
17,756
19,626
16,891
14,289
6,286
6,614
April
42,423
33,268
17,862
20,727
17,559
14,998
5,456
5,755
May.
46,729
31,832
19,424
22,137
19,698
14,469
6,554
4,939
June
47,664
35,256
20,402
22,166
15,842
14,863
6,185
6,104
July
48,485
34,693
24,339
23,571
15,226
15,651
5,738
6,031
August
50,127
35,765
24,669
19,187
15,747
14,734
10,138
3,177
September
48,410
85,785
26,029
18,741
15,164
18,958
10,749
5,653
October
45,664
33,383
24,919
17,918
16,849
14,503
10,727
4,276
November
48,503
32,861
26,183
15,714
15,923
16,486
9,169
4,671
December
—
37,116
28,100
18,750
16,210
15,174
9,463
5,289
Total .
503,566
407,048
267,715
231,872
194,268
172,059
91,940
85,313
Indian and Colonial Investments
525
Much interest from an Imperial point of view attaches to the
revision of rates on the Gold Coast Kail ways. The progress of
these less developed parts of our dominions is no unimportant
matter to the mother-country, and West African interests, par-
CROWN COLONY SECURITIES.
Title.
Present
Amount.
When
Redeemable.
Price.
Yield.
Interest Payable
Barbadoes 3J% ins. (t)
375,000
1925-42*
100
31
1 Mar.— 1 Sep.
Brit. Guiana 8% ins. (t)
250,000
1923-45f
86
sf
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Ceylon 4% ins. (t) . .
1,076,100
1934
111
3A
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3% ins. (t) . . .
2,850,000
1940
93
3&
1 May — 1 Nov.
Hong-Kong 3jfc% ins (t)
1,485,733
1918-43t
100
3
15 Apr.— 15 Oct.
Jamaica 4% ins. (t) .
1,098,907
1934
109
3J
15 Feb.— 15 Aug.
Do. 3A% ins. (t) . .
1,452,900
1919-49f
100
4
24 Jan.— 24 July.
Mauritius 8% guar.\
Great Britain (t) ./
600,000
1940
97
3J
1 Jan. — 1 July.
Do. 4% ins. (t) . . .
482,390
1937
110
3*
1 Feb.— 1 Aug.
Sierra Leone 8 J% ins. (t)
626,284
1929-541 I 99
ft
1 June — 1 Dec.
Trinidad 4% ins. (t) .
422,593
1917-42* 103
3i
15 Mar.— 15 Sep.
Do. 3% ins. (t) . . .
600,000
1922-44t
87
8*1
15 Jan.— 15 July.
Hong- Kong & Shang-"!
hai Bank Shares . /
44,000
Div.£410s.
£93$
*«
Feb. — Aug.
• Yield calculated on shorter period. t Yield calculated on longer period.
(t) Eligible for Trustee investments.
ticularly the mining interests, have for some time past been
endeavouring to obtain redress in what was a hindrance to the
development of the Gold Coast Colony. Their efforts have at
last met with success, and the revised rates now published will
entail a considerable saving in the working expenses of companies
operating in that corner of the Empire.
Amid a little burst of activity in the company-promoting
community some more Egyptian and Soudanese land companies
have appealed for public subscription, and it may be as well to
EGYPTIAN SECURITIES.
Title.
Amount or
Number of
Shares.
Dividend
for last
Year.
Paid
up.
Price.
Yield.
Egyptian Govt. Guaranteed Loan (t) .
£7,805,700
3
100
99
3
Unified Debt
£55 971 960
4
100
102
31
National Bank of Egypt ....
300,000
8
10
28i
2H
Bank of Egypt
40 000
16
121
37*
5A
Agricultural Bank of Egypt, Ordinary
496,000
*i
5*
9|
3f*
3*
,, ,, ,, Preferred
125,000
4
10
92
4
i> i, „ Bonds .
£2,500,000
3*
100
89
m
(() Eligible for Trustee investments.
VOL. XII.— No. 72.
2 N
526 The Empire Review
repeat the warning that investors must carefully scrutinise such
projects before they put their money into them. The fact that
some of the companies floated during the land boom of a year or
two ago have been eminently successful does not ensure a similar
success for every concern of the same class.
TRUSTEE.
December 1 19, 1906.
NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS. — The Editor of THE EMPIRE REVIEW cannot hold
himself responsible in any case for the return of MS. He will, however,
always be glad to consider any contributions which may be submitted to him ;
and when postage-stamps are enclosed every effort will be made to return
rejected contributions promptly. Contributors are specially requested to put
their names and addresses on their manuscripts, and to have them typewritten.
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