THE COLONIES.*
Her Majesty's Colonies is the ill-chosen title of "a series of original papers issued under the authority of the Royal Com- • Her Mgjesty's Colonies. London William Clowes and 6 .ns. 1836.
mission," in connection with the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. Special handbooks are published for a temporary object, with the catalogues of each colony's exhibits ; but this handbook of all collectively, unburdened with catalogues or • with many tabular statistics, will form a more lasting memento of the Ex- hibition, when that has passed away or melted into a permanent museum. A few of the papers are not original, but are taken entirely from the "Colonial Office List ;" and others are indebted for the greater part of their information to that useful collection of all sorts of colonial knowledge. One of these borrowed articles is a very concise and clear history of the events leading to the Protectorate of Bechuanaland, under- taken "with the special object of protecting two chiefs named Mankaroane (chief of the Batlapins) and Montsioa (chief of the Barolongs), whose misfortunes had excited much sympathy in this country, and who were believed to have established special claims on the gratitude of Great Britain." To satisfy these claims—that might, perhaps, have been met by a gift of land elsewhere, and a few thousands of pounds—Mr. Gladstone's Government generously preferred to assume the heavy responsi- bility of protecting this enormous territory at an initial cost of £100,000 a year, and at future risks of unknown complications.
Another extract from the " Colonial Office List " deserves to be quoted in full, because it describes a little-known dependency, whose manners seem worthy of imitation :-
" Tristan d'Acunha is the principal of a group of islands, lying in lat. 37° 6' S., and long. 12° 2' W. It was taken possession of by a military force daring the residence of Napoleon at St. Helena. Upon his death the garrison was withdrawn with the exception of three men, who, with certain shipwrecked sailors, became the founders of the present settlement. For a long time, only one of the settlers had a wife ; but subsequently the others contracted with a sea captain to bring them wives from St. Helena. The population has since increased to about a hundred, and remains practically stationary, as the younger and more ambitions settlers migrate in batches to the Cape. The inhabitants practically enjoy their possessions in common, and there is no strong drink on the island, consequently there are no quarrels and no crime. It was at one time proposed to give them laws and a regular government, but this was found unnecessary for the above reasons, and they remain under the moral rule of their oldest inhabitant, Governor Green, successor to Governor Glass, Corporal in the Royal Artillery, and founder of the settlement. The islands are within the diocese of Cape Town, and a chaplain is maintained there by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The inhabitants are spoken of as long-lived, healthy, moral, religious, and hospitable to strangers. They have recently been entrusted with a lifeboat by the Board of Trade, and a code of signals."
The late General Gordon thought he had discovered the original Garden of Eden in one of the Seychelles Islands, and he identified the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as the Coco de Mer, which tree, he supposed, after performing its special office, was relegated to the condition of ordinary trees. (Specimens of the Coco de Mer fruit may be seen at the Exhibition by any who are curious to learn into what the apple that tempted Eve has since degenerated.) When Gordon made this surmise, he had probably not visited the modern Paradise on Tristan d'Acunha, or he might have discovered that the forbidden tree was really the Cape vine, which seems to have a fatal attraction for "the younger and more ambitious settlers."
The more important Colonies are described at considerable length, especially the Dominion of Canada, of which a full his- torical account is given, followed by a detailed description of its present government, resources, trade, tariffs, &c. The Budget speech delivered last year by the Finance Minister is quoted as showing some of the results of "the protective fiscal system adopted by the Dominion Legislature after the General Election of 1878." Among the results he gives figures proving that between 1878 and 1884 the number of factories had increased 40 per cont., the hands employed therein 80 per cent., the produce 100 per cent., the capital employed 77 per cent., and the total wages earned 76 per cent. Bat he omits to lay stress on the fact that these figures show that the average annual earnings of each person employed in the factories decreased from $323 to $315 ; nor does he give any information as to the rise or fall of prices in the same period. Anyhow, the picture drawn is by no means a proof of the benefits of Protection.
We are told how the Dominion of Canada is now spanned by a railway, and how one "consequence is that whereas in 1871 the population of Manitoba was under 19,000, and of (its capital) Winnipeg only 241, at the census of 1881 these numbers had increased to 65,954 and 7,985, and last year the population of the province had grown to 125,000, of which Winnipeg claimed 30,000. The assessment of the city in 1878 was £670,000, whereas in 1884 it had risen to £7,600,000. No more remark-
able instance can be found of the effects of railway communica- tion in converting an obscure and inaccessible settlement into a large and flourishing and populous city, opening up to the re- flective mind visions of many such creations in the future in what are now the solitudes of the prairie, awaiting the advent of the pioneers of colonisation and civilisation." This rapid growth has occurred in spite of the terrors of climate in a district where a mean temperature of one degree above freezing-point and a minimum temperature of seventy degrees below freezing-point, notwithstanding the "saving clause" of an extremely dry atmosphere, are hardly inviting or indeed suitable to any except persons with vigour of body and energy of spirit.
It is interesting to note, as one sign of the social condition, the educational systems in force in the Australian Colonies. The New South Wales Education Act of 1880 follows generally the English Act of 1870, with these differences :—" In the first place, it is not purely an Elementary Education Act, but provides for intermediate and higher instruction ; in the second, there is an increase in the maximum limit of age for compulsory attendance, i.e., up to the age of fourteen ; and the Act farther provides for itinerant teachers—a very important feature in a land with such a scattered population ; and in connection with this it should be mentioned that free railway passes are granted to children whenever they are compelled to attend schools at a distance. Again, evening-schools for adults whose education has been neglected is provided for by the Act. The entire expense of the system, except the small fee of 3d. per week, is defrayed from the Consolidated Revenue, and not from a District Rate. Religious instruction may be given in the schools by appointed teachers of any denomination during certain hours of the school time." Technical education is also aided by the Government. In Victoria, the system of elementary education is " similar to that of New South Wales. It is carried out with the thoroughness and energy characteristic of our Victorian fellow-subjects, and it is free for all children whose parents may be willing to accept it." Besides free education, Victoria can also boast of manhood suffrage, Sunday closing, and local option. Intermediate educa- tion is encouraged by a few Government exhibitions, but is not under Government control ; and "technical education is provided in schools of design which have been established at twenty-five places in the Colony, and in the Industrial and Technological Museum attached to the Melbourne National Gallery." In South Australia, the system is "compulsory, State-aided, and secular, under the control of a Minister of Education. The main features are similar to those established by the Elementary Education Act in this country School fees, however, seem somewhat higher, being fixed at 4d. a week for children under five, and 6d. for those above that age." In Queensland, again, and Western Australia, the system is similar,—i.e.," compulsory, State-aided, and secular." In New Zealand "education generally is much advanced, and has been carefully fostered by successiie govern- ments." "Tasmania, though a small colony, is not behind its neighbours in the matter of education, to which its Legislature has at all times given a warm support; and so much, we are told, is the system in existence approved of, that many of the sons of wealthy Australians are sent there to be educated. This system is under the control of a Council which is charged with the supervision of higher education, and a Board which has the management of the elementary schools. The former body has the power of holding examinations which have been framed on the model of the Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations. It also awards annually two Tasmanian scholarships of the value of £200 a year, tenable at one of the universities of the United Kingdom, and two minor scholarships of £40 each, tenable for two years, which are awarded to the senior candidates at the examinations referred to if they express their intention of studying and competing for the distinction of Tasmanian scholarships. Several other scholarships are also at the disposal of the Council, who also conduct matriculation examinations for the Universities of London, Sydney, and Melbourne. The Board of Education has much the same functions as the Education Department in London, but in addi- tion has the control of exhibitions awarded by the Tasmanian Parliament."
The difficulties of the labour problem in North Queensland have hitherto hindered the full development of its resources ; and this has doubtless been the main cause of the present agitation for the separation of that district into a distinct colony. The following remarks of the Agent-General for Queensland (who of course is opposed to separation), quoted in the handbook before us, are instructive on this subject :—
" Large and small capitalists may engage in the sugar industry. and find it a profitable investment. Hitherto, it has been mainly in the hands of large capitalists, individuals or companies, who have acquired large areas of land ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 acres, and have erected large mills with expensive machinery and plant at great cost. The labour employed on these plantations has been mainly Polynesians from the South Sea Islands ; but supply falling off, and the voice of the country having declared against its continuance, as well as the importation of coolies from India, it is thought large estates will not be so profitably worked in future. British labourers have always been employed to some extent, as ploughmen and at other work, even on the most Northern plantations, and it is now well known that the health of Europeans does not suffer in the tropics of Queensland as it does in other tropical countries. White men on their own farms find no more difficulty in cultivating sugar than any other crop. To assist the planters in their labour requirements, the Govern- ment will encourage and assist British farm labourers to go to Queensland. An Act has been passed to enable employers to indent or engage farm labourers in Great Britain for one or two years at stated wages and conditions, the agreements to be signed by and binding on both parties. There is good reason to believe that some of the owners of the large plantations will find it more profitable to sub-divide their estates, and will be willing to let or sell the land to small capitalists or working farmers. These will cultivate and sell the cane ; the millowner will crush and manufacture. This will afford an excellent opening for energetic and enterprising labourers to commence on their own account, after their terms of engagement have expired. Their one or two years' plantation work will prove invaluable experience."
A similar creation of small holdings seems to have benefited Trinidad, which, like other West Indian colonies, greatly "suffered from the results of Emancipation," or rather from the effects of the previous slavery. There " sugar is, of course, the chief staple, and when that suffers all other industries feel the effects ; but owing to the bold and enlightened policy pursued by Sir Arthur Gordon, when Governor of this Colony, from 1867 to 1870, an impetus was given to the cultivation of cacao and other minor industries by calling into legal existence a body of small pro- prietors who had hitherto been mere squatters. In spite of the prejudice which exists in all the Colonies formerly cultivated by slave labour against the opening-up of Crown lands to small owners, the policy inaugurated by Sir Arthur Gordon, and carried on by his successors, has held its own, and the con- sequence has been that during the recent hard times the middle and lower classes have barely felt the pressure."
There are many other points in this bulky volume that might have been noticed. The articles on the several Colonies are naturally unequal in interest or value ; of the smaller Colonies, the account of Hong Kong seems to be the fullest and most suggestive ; but all are replete with manifold information, mostly corrected to the beginning of the present year. In one case, however, namely Ceylon, only the statistics of 1884 seem to have been used, and as a consequence, one or two errors have been allowed to stand. For instance, the Cocos or Keeling Islands are spoken of as part of the Colony, although last year they were transferred to the Straits Settlements, as is stated in the article on the latter colony. We can only just mention the historical introduction by Professor Seeley, telling how England has grown, till she is now " a realm 8,000,000 square miles in extent ; a realm so young and in so early a stage of its develop- ment, that the greater part of it is not yet peopled ; a realm which will yet require much organisation, many new institu- tions, but which has been furnished by nature with an incom- parable road system, connecting together the principal countries which compose it, viz., the sea."
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