I am afraid the weather which has prevailed since the last crop has
not been so favourable, and that the crop for the coming year will
fjEdl very far short of that. It is extremely desirable, therefore,
that other products and industries should be introduced when that
can be done with every prospect of success, and we all felt very
grateful to Mr. Morris when he gave us reason to hope that this
fibre, which in other Colonies has had an extraordinary and rapid
success, might possibly be introduced with advantage in Barbados.
There are so many topics of interest in connection with the West
Indies that at this late hour one cannot even glance at them. The
circumstances of the Windward Islands, where I was recently at
work, are rather more analogous to the Leeward Islands than those
of the Colony with which I am now connected. In the Leeward
Islands they are taking advantage, I hope, of the movement in the
West Indies to increase the economic products of the different
Colonies, and to develop their resources to the utmost extent. In
Grenada they have turned their attention for some years to cocoa —
almost too exclusively perhaps. I am glad to find that one of the
largest proprietors has recently been taking up another product —
viz., nutmegs — with a good prospect and a successful return. I am
glad also that Mr. Morris mentioned in connection with Dominica
the subject of coffee, because I am convinced myself that many of
those islands, which in former days yielded an excellent and
remunerative quality of coffee, may be made to do so again. I
think that is eminently true of St. Vincent, which is possessed of a
very fertile soil, and the slopes of the hills very much resemble the
slopes in Dominica so admirably displayed in the illustrations to
the lecture. The cultivation of coffee on the leeward slopes of St.
Vincent would, I think, be a very great success— more successful
than the cultivation of cocoa. But all these subjects hardly touch
Barbados, whose circumstances are quite different. The whole of
8?
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260 The Colony of the Leeward Islands.
ihe island is taken np by old settled estates and properties, and it is
extremely difficult to introduce any new cultivation there, except
perhaps this fibre plant, which grows, Mr. Morris tells us, on land
which has never been cultivated with sugar and never can grow
sugar. I will only add that I am sure we all listened to the
lecture with pleasure, and that we are very much obliged to Mr.
Morris for it.
Sir Alpbbd Moloney, K.C.M.G. : In view of my having no
personal experience of the Colony of the Leeward Islands, I was
rather exercised in mind on being asked to join in the discussion
this evening, but I am glad to have the opportunity of explaining
the connection, the very important connection, between the Boyal
Gardens at Kew and our Colonies, for I imagine that very little is
known at home of the enormous amount of work which devolves
on the Director and staff of that Institution as regards the pro*
motion of the development of economic botany, particularly in the
tropical portion of our Empire. I may perhaps best illustrate this
by reference to the case of my late Government at Lagos. The
work which has been done there in two or three particulars, inter
alia, is the direct outcome of the co-operation and encouragement
extended by the authorities at Eew, and I cannot help expressing
the hope that Mr. Morris, to whose able and comprehensive paper
we have listened with so much pleasure, may by and by see his
way to pay our West African Colonies a visit, and stir them up
even more than they have been stirred up by numerous communi-
cations from Kew in the past. At the end of 1887, through the
inspiration of the authorities at Kew, a botanical centre was
established at Lagos, a curator being supplied through the
courteous co-operation of the Government of Jamaica, and tiie out-
come has been that in the short space of about two years from
that time the garden was ready to issue 80,000 plants to be sold to
the farmers and small agriculturists of that Colony and the
country beyond the Colony. These plants were chiefly economic
plants, such as coffees, cocoas, cocoanuts, polas, dyes, fibres, &c.,
and it is very naturally to be expected that these products will soon
be found amongst the exports of Yorubaland, of which the Colony of
Lagos is the seaboard. Next to the work of that botanical centre,
I would call your attention to the rubber industry which, mainly
through Kew, has been developed on the Gold Coast. In 1882
rubber was remarkable by its absence from the exports of that
Colony, and since then there has been added to its exports in this
one article no less than £60,000 or £70,000 a year. I would next
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ThelColony of the Leeward Islands. 261
call your attention to the Yoruba Bass — the yield of the Baphia
vinifera, a fibre which has recently been put before the commercial
world here. It is, I may say, practically inexhaustible, is easily
procured, and requires litUe outlay. It was advertised last autumn
at £25 a ton, more recent consignments fetched £42 a ton, and
since my return to England a few days ago, I had the gratifying
information conveyed to me that the same article is being purchased
at £75 a ton. I mention these facts because they are little known, I
fianoy, to the British public. They serve to show part of the great
work which is done at Eew for the commerce of the Empire, and
I desire to take this opportunity, on behalf of the Colony which I
have just left, and in which I will continue to take the deepest
interest, of expressing its gratitude for the very great help given by
the authorities at Eew in the development of its economic botany.
Finally, I desire to express my personal gratitude for the great help
my Governments both in the Colonies of the Gambia and of Lagos
have received from the authorities at Eew, and more directly from
the Assistant Director, whose valuable and interesting paper we
have to-night heard.
Sir Geobge Ghambebs : I feel I ought to acknowledge, on behalf
of the West Indies, in quite as marked a manner as has been dis-
played in another direction, how much they owe to the gentleman
who has given us this interesting lecture. On two or three occa-
sions, when suggestions have been made that certain plants must be
grown in the West Indies, I have had the advantage of conferring
with Mr. Morris, and I am bound to bear my testimony to the great
care he has given to the matters brought before him, and his exer-
tions to give effect to the suggestions which have been made. In
regard to one or two points that have been mentioned, I may state
that it was always considered an axiom that land which would not
produce sugar would produce nothing else with profit. Neverthe-
less, we have been desirous to produce other plants ; and certainly,
so feur as Jamaica is concerned, and some of the smaller islands, our
measures have been taken with great benefit and advantage, and I
should like to see them extended. But the only way in which, I
think, they can be profitably extended is by the working together
of the European and the Afirican populations. White and black
must work together ; what we want is white energy in the house
and the strong labour of the Africans in the field ; and whatever
industry we may try to develop, that is the way in which we shall
succeed. Two things are, no doubt, required in the West Indies :
more capital and more organisation. If we can succeed in this
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262 The Colony of the Leeward Islands,
direction, I do not see why we should not regain onr former pros-
perity, and get rid of the reproach which has unhappily for so long
been over these unfortunate Colonies, which at one time were the
pride and glory of our Empire.
The Chatbman : At this late hour, I will not detain you. I will
simply ask you to join in a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Morris for
his extremely interesting and charmingly illustrated paper.
The vote of thanks was passed with acclamation.
Mr. Morris : I have to thank you for the great attention with
which you have listened to my paper this evening. The illustra-
tions were purely an experiment ; and although they occupied more
time than I anticipated, this fact will not, I hope, prevent others
from attempting the same thing. The Leeward Islands deserve all
that could be said for them. There is a bright future before them,
and I believe they will become eventually as prosperous as any
portions of the British Empire. They will be encouraged by what
has passed here to-night, and I can answer for them that they will
endeavour to develop their r'^^^o^irces to the uttermost. What has
fallen from Sir Alfred Moloney in regard to what is being done at
Kew for the Colonies is a pleasing acknowledgment of services that
come very little before the general public who visit that establish-
ment. His appreciative words will, however, I feel sure, encourage
farther effort in the same direction, and lead to this particular side
of Kew being recognised as a powerful aid to the general Welfare of
our Colonial Empire. I have now the pleasing task of proposing a
cordial vote of thanks to the Chairman. Sir Henry Barkly has
been so long and so honourably identified with the Colonies, as well
as with the successful building up of the Boyal Colonial Institute,
that it needs nothing from me to enhance his services. I am sure
you will all join with me in thanking him most heartily for the
sacrifice he has made in coming amongst us once more, and for
taking so deep an interest in the business of the evening.
Sir Bawson Bawson, K.C.M.G., C.B. : In support of the
motion, I may be allowed to say that I consider the Colonies and
this Institute owe very much to Sir Henry Barkly ; and it is a very
great pleasure to me to h ve the opportunity of offering my tribute
to him on this occasion. But I rise specially on account of an
observation just made by Mr. Morris, to remind gentlemen con-
nected with the West Indies that the means is about to be offered
them, through the Imperial Institute, of bringing their capabilities to
the notice of the public, not only of England, but of those who come
to England to see what the world is doing. They will there have th6
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The Colony of the Leeward Islands. 263
opportunity of exhibiting, under the most favourable circumstances,
the products, old and new, of their respective Colonies ; and I wish
most earnestly to recommend all West Indians present to use their
best energies to be ready, as soon as the Institute is opened, to
present the best specimens of what they can produce. I may be
allowed to express to Mr. Morris my thanks for the instruction I
have derived &om his lecture, and which I expect to derive still
more on reading his printed address. I also thank him fqr the
pleasure he has given me in reviving the memories of my West
Indian experience.
The Ghaibman acknowledged the compliment paid him, and the
meeting separated.
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iU
SEVENTH ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING.
The Seventh Ordinary General Meeting of the Session was held at
the Whitehall Rooms, Hotel M^tropole, on Tuesday, May 12,
1891.
Sir Frederick Young, K.C.M.G., a Vice-President of the Institute,
presided.
The Minutes of the last Ordinary General Meeting were read and
confirmed, and it was announced that since that Meeting 29 Fellows
had been elected, viz., 6 Resident and 28 Non-Resident.
Resident Fellows :-^
Captain WiXliam AshbVy SackviUe Fisher ^ Herbert Lloydt TT. Joh/tl Bivingtofit
Alexander Boast Victor A, Taylor,
Non-Resident Fellows : —
Olentworth W. F. Addison {New South Wales), Sir George BaUlie, Bart*
(Victoria), William Henry Barker (New South Wales), J". F. Bennett
{Maurititis), J, Brindley Bettington {New South Wales), Dr. Ernest BUick
(Western Australia), Dr. Victor Black {Queensland), Oeorge F, Oarruthers
iCanada)f Roland Chambers {Cape Colony), Edward B, Cook, J.P.
{Cape Colony), Oeorge Steele Davies {Victoria), Robert K, QiUeapie, J.P,
{Victoria), Charles Henry Grant {Tasmania), Alexander T. Harvey {Tasmania),
Ronald M. Jones {Cape Colony), James Alfred Levey (Victoria), W. K. Mac-
kinnon (Victoria), William Middleton (Natal), Francois W. Rankin (Dominica),
John Roberts, CM,G. (New Zealand), A. J, W, Walkins (Straits Settlements),
Walter H Wayland (Cape Colony), Henry T. Whitiy (New South Wales),
It was also announced that donations, to the Library, of books,
maps, &c., had been received from the various Governments of the
Colonies and India, societies and public bodies, both in the United
Kingdom and the Colonies, and from Fellows of the Institute and
others.
The Chairman : It is now my duty to call upon Mr. Howard
Vincent, M.P., to read the paper which he has prepared for us. Mr.
Vincent's name is so well known throughout the country as a very
earnest and active Member of Parliament, who takes very decided
views on the particular questions to which he has devoted his
attention, that I need not take up your time by introducing him to
you. I am sure we shall follow him with interest, and although
the paper is not unlikely to provoke such discussion as I think is
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2G5
a very desirable thing at these meetings, I need not do more now
than ask Mr. Howard Vincent to read his paper on
KTER-BRITISH TRADE, AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE
UNITY OF THE EMPIRE.
DuBiNG the past twenty-three years the Royal Colonial Institute
has well accomplished its purpose of throwing light upon subjects
connected with the over-sea Empire of Britain. Established in
1868, it speedily brought back the nation from that anti-colonial
path into which it had been so blindly entering. There is scarcely
a subject of interest connected either with India and the Colonies
collectively, or with any British Possession individually, which has
not been discussed under its auspices.
Little may remain to be told. But this is a year of census. J
appear here, then, by the favour of the Council to claim indulgence
as an enumerator.
Yes, as an enumerator of the mutual trade and unlimited resources
within itself of that gigantic and unparalleled Empire in the very
centre of which we now stand, with eyes stretched around the
circumference of the globe, over America and towards Asia, over
Africa and towards Australasia, with the flag of England waving
everywhere over a prosperous and a vigorous people, the oceans
traversed by their fleets. Of the Empire in whose glories you share,
every Briton must feel proud ; I shall hope then to interest you
in its mutual trade and commerce, and by the aid of the many
distinguished men present to kindle afresh in the heart of all
those whom our proceedings may reach the determination to hold
fast for all time to that Empire and all the solid advantages it
confers and is capable of conferring.
Let us first look at the Empire as a whole. With rare exceptions,
the statistics with which it will be my duty to trouble you will be
for the year 1889. I shall give them in the nearest round numbers,
and upon the authority of the best evidence obtainable. Think of
the United Kingdom with its 40,000,000 people crowding on 121,000
square miles, and extending its influence over ninety-one times that
extent of territory, and with nine, or probably now even ten, times
its population. Think of the British Empire as fifty-two times
the size of Germany, with sevenfold the population ; as fifty-three
times that of France, with nine times the people ; as more than
three and a half times the size of the United States, with over treble
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
266 Inter-British Trade, and its Infltience on
the population of All the Bussias ; as more than three Europes,
with an equivalent population, and you can in some degree call
before your mind the 11,000,000 square miles, and the 350,000,000
people in the British Empire.
An annual revenue, general and local, of £275,000,000 provides
for the public services, while a trade amounting to £1,200,000,000
sterling a year is carried in 87,000 British ships, of an aggregate
burden of 10,000,000 tons.
To what extent has Great Britain and Ireland earned the title of
** Mother Country " in North America, South Africa, Australasia,
India, ai^d the three-score other territories and islands of the Empire,
administered by forty-two distinct governments ?
The lands not acquired by conquest were gained chiefly by diplo-
macy, by purchase, or by the vigour and the enterprise of the
younger sons of Britain. But one and all were aided from the
Mother Country in their development by that monetary capital
acquired through the ages, and without which neither the highest
intellect nor the greatest valour can make substantial advance.
The Colonial Empure has borrowed £280,000,000, and India
£206,000,000, almost entirely from London ; while the loans of cor-
porations and harbour boards, together with private enterprise, expand
this sum of about £500,000,000 to a total advance to the Empire
of over £1,000,000,000 sterling. There must be added at least an
equivalent sum laid out at home or on the sea in public and private
investments, the value of which would assuredly be decimated as
the Empire fell to pieces. A thousand millions advanced to the
Empire in the assurance and belief that it would be ever one beneath
the flag ; £1,000,000,000 laid out in the United Kingdom, in the
belief that there would ever be an Empire to trade with I
Two thousand millions of pounds sterling. That is the lowest
capital sum the people of the present generation in Great Britain
and Ireland have at stake in the integrity of the Empire, and
assuredly their trans-oceanic brethren themselves are concerned £Dr
not less than half as much again.
Add to this sum the £900,000,000 of National Debt incurred by
the United Kingdom in the last two hundred years for the pro-
secution of wars, some, perhaps, ill-advised, but which acquired
for us the empire of the world ; subscribe the colossal expenditure
of the East India Company in Asia, and of the Home Government
in the first fifty and more years of Canadian, Australasian, and
South African life; multiply aU by individual venture and the
rivers of British blood shed to secure the glorious end, and you are
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the Unity of the Empire. 267
face to face with ^at the Empire cost your fathers, what it is
worth to you, and the problem, ** Shall it be maintained ? " admits
only of affirmative answer.
Thb Yolumb of Ikteb-Bbitibh Tbadb,
that is, the external trade between each part of the Empire, as
distinguished both from the internal trade between the inhabitants
of each possession, or trade with any foreign nation, amounts to
about £840,000,000 per annum.
Let us examine this in detail. In the first place take
Thb Mother Countby.
Of what present commercial value is the United Kingdom to the
Empire?
If no other service had been rendered than the advance of
£500,000,000 of capital to Governments, and of £200,000,000 to
public bodies, it would be sufficient to constitute a soUd claim to
appreciation. But there cannot be the slightest doubt that this
sum represents only a portion of the direct pecuniary value to-day
of Great Britain to her daughter lands.
Her annual purchases of Colonial products are £97,000,000, com-
pared to £84,000,000 fifteen years ago.
Of wheat, wheat-meal, and flour, and other grain, England
obtained 14,000,000 hundredweight in 1890 firom British posses-
sions, compared to 8,000,000 in 1870. Of wool, we bought
557.000,000 pounds from the Empire, out of a total import of
700,000,000 pounds^an increase of 258,000,000 pounds in fifteen
years. Of raw cotton, 274,000,000 pounds were purchased in 1889
from British Possessions.
Upon the other side we find that
The Empibb Bought of a?HB Mother Gountby
£90,000,000 worth of British and Irish goods in 1889, compared to
£76,000,000 worth in 1875— an amount equal per head, so far as
the proportion going to Australia is concerned, to nearly £7 for
each individual of the population. If thereto we add bullion and
specie, the total export from Great Britain and Ireland to British
possessions amounts to £125,000,000.
Large as this seems, the exports to the Colonies, exclusive of
India* do not, however, show as great an increase as might be
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268 Inter-Britdsh Trade, and its Influence on
easily obtained under a mutoal arrangement, giving the Mother
Country a preference over the foreigner in colonial markets.
The Dominion of Canada
bought ^£9,250,000 worth of British and Irish produce in 1889, and
her purchases from other parts of the Empire show a satisfactory
increase ; and while the exports to the Mother Coimtry of £8,000,000
do not show so great an augmentation as might be desired, those
to Australasia have quadrupled since 1875.
In some of the staple articles of British ^manufacture — cotton
goods, woollen goods, and fancy articles — Great Britain more than
holds her place in the Dominion against the competition of the
United States, and in iron and steel the two countries are in
about an equal position.^
If we reflect upon the infinite capabilities of Canada, or if we
consider that its area exceeds that of the United Btates, that
it is equal to that of all Europe without Spain, and when we
behold the marvellous energy and skill with which the enormous
continent has been opened up for British settlement by the courage
and perseverance of her statesmen, we cannot fEtil to recognise how
vast are the comparatively undeveloped resources of this patriotic
third of Britain and Greater Britain.
There is the virgin soil, there the fertile land. It is reached in a
few days, and the Dominion only needs the labour of British hands
and the magic power of added British capital to constitute it alike
a granary of vast extent for the home markets and a mart for the
productions of Britain and Australasia.
When, then, we find that in the last ten years an annual average
of 172,000 persons of British and Irish origin have emigrated from
the United Kingdom and gone to the United States, without the
shghtest effort being made to divert them to a new and equidistant
British home, it is impossible not to feel that there has been grave
negligence somewhere.
True, an annual average of 29,000 individuals have emigrated to
Canada ; but that is not enough. Of these, though, there can be but
few of the vigorous and capable who would not endorse the report
of one of the tenant-farmer delegates who visited Canada offici-
* In non-dutiable articles, the High Commissioner for Canada showed, in the
coarse of the discussion on this Paper (p. 289), that there was a very decided
preference in the Dominion for the productions of the Mother Country over
those of thd United States.
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the Unity of the Empire. 26^
ally last year, who said, " The Dominion Government is com-
posed of men of the highest integrity and honour, whose sole aim
and work are exercised for the good of the community at large,
and who are keenly alive to anything which will tend in the
smallest degree to improve the proud position the Colony at present
occupies. . . .
** The taxes are very light, and those raised are spent entirely on
necessary roads and works, and for educational and other purposes.
Thei^e is absolute safety of life and property. There is no class dis-
tinction, whilst political and rehgious freedom are universal. There
are no paupers or beggars. The invigorating climate, the educa-
tional advantages, and the intelligent interest taken by all classes
in everything appertaining to federal and local government,
combine to produce the vigorous spirit of independence and con-
tentment met with throughout the length and breadth of the
land. . . .
" There is no royal road to fortune or success without labour.
There is, however, ample scope for those who, understanding
agricultural operations, whether as formers or labourers, are not
afraid in the early part of their residence in the country to undergo
a certain amount of hard work. To such men Canada offers a fine
field and successful future."
This happy state of affairs is evidently capable of much extension,
when we see with pride that although the United States have a
conterminous frontier with British North America more than equal
to the breadth of the mighty ocean which separates the Dominion
from our coasts, the total volume of our trade with Canada was