THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMPERIAL RESOURCES. [To THE EDITOR. OP THE
" SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I beg to thank you for giving me the opportunity of reply- ing to Mr. Denis Crane; but I do not intend trespassing upon your space in order to criticize at all fully the far-reaching proposals of Mr. Wilson Fox, for the following reasons. The experiments of Mr. Fox and of the Chartered Company in Rlicdesia are closely akin to those which Mr. Fox now suggests should be generally adopted in the British Dependencies as distinct from the Dominions. Hence the success or failure cf these experiments has a very important bearing on the " Development of Empire Resources."
If Mr. Wilson Fox can by a wave of the magician's wand liquidate Britain's War Debt, then God bless him—and some of his proposals appear very attractive. But in so far as they affect tropical and sub-tropical territory, the principal features have been tried in (a) Spanish colonies, (b) German colonies, (c) the old Congo Free State, (d) Rhodesia. The Spanish colonies have gone; the German colonies have gone; the Belgian Govern- ment has deliberately abandoned such principles because, as Dr. Max Horn said in his lecture last week, they were unsound; in Rhodesia the same principles have been an utter failure, and, as announced by the Chartered Company, taxpayers somewhere must under certain conditions come to the Company's relief with not less than £7,500,000. In. view of these facts, in view also of the fact that one set of the proposals by Mr. Fox appear to involve our jettisoning almost every Colonial principle taught us by experience, also by Lord- Cromer, Sir Charles Bruce, Sir Harry Johnston, Sir Hugh Clifford, and a host of administrators, it seems imperative that the proposals should be carefully examined from the standpoint of the inhabitants of the country to which it is proposed to apply these principles. That examina- tion I intend making, and when printed shall hope to supply copies to those who desire to receive them. A very able and experienced editor of a commercial journal proposes to take a similar course in the interests of sound commerce.
Allow me, Sir, to add one personal note. Like you, I am amused but mystified by Mr. Denis Crane's reference to my " prosperity." If this means success in my public work, 1 am grateful; if it means material prosperity, then all I can say is that, like most men whose limited incomes have not increased during the war, I have had a stiff but unfortunately unsuccessful task in trying to make my own income cover family expenditure. This personal note is highly distasteful to me, but Mr. Denis Crane's assumed but erroneous knowledge of my private affairs left rae no alternative but to reply.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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