THE COLONIAL OFFICE LIST.* Tag new edition of the Colonial

Office Lid, comprising a mass of historical, statistical, and official information respecting the British Colonial Dependencies, seems to have been very carefully revised throughout, and contains a large amount of entirely new matter, "relating to Railways, Telegraphs, Mail Communica- tions, Rates of Postage, Currency, Banking, and Education in each Colony." In the 1886 edition the new feature was a state- ment of the Customs tariff of each Colony, and with the farther matter now added, there seems hardly any subject of importance relating to the Colonies that does not find a place. Out of the dry desert of tables and figures and names of officers, there are several little oases on which persons of varied tastes might stay and refresh themselves.

For instance, students of the Irish Question will find brief accounts of one or two models that might be followed in framing the next Home-rule Bill. The Constitution of the Dominion of Canada, of which we hear a good deal just now, but which moat readers of daily papers have not time or opportunity to study in the original Act, 30 Vic., cap. 3, is usefully summarised in a few paragraphs, from which we will quote the following :—

" The Dominion Parliament has exclusive legislative power in all matters except those specifically delegated by the constitution to the provincial legislatures, and the Canadian Constitution is in this respect the reverse of that of the United States [and of that of Mr. Gladstone's Home-rule Bill]. Among such general matters, may be named public finance, trade regulations, postal service, currency, coinage, banking and navigation matters, defence, the law relating to crimes, bankruptcy, copyright, patents, marriage and naturalisation, and native affairs. The powers of the provincial legislatures are con- fined to certain specified subjects, of which the chief are the altera- tion of their own constitutions, direct taxation within the provinces, and provincial loans, the management of provincial public lands, and of provincial and municipal offices, hospitals, gaols, ffia., licences, local works, and the general civil law and procedure. With regard to education, they have full powers, subject only to certain provisions to secure protection to religious minorities. In agricultural and immi- gration matters, they possess concurrent legislative powers with the Dominion Parliament. The Judges are appointed by the Governor- General in the superior district and County-Courts throughout the Dominion, except in the Probate Courts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick."

In previous editions of the Colonial Office Lint, extracts from the Act were given showing in great detail the formal machinery of the Constitution; but the essential clauses summarised in the above paragraphs were omitted.

• 7710 Colonial Ogg List for 1887. Compiled by John Anderson and Sidney Webb. of the Colonial Moo. London: Harrison and Sons.

A smaller, but still interesting Constitution, is that of the federated Leeward. Islands. Here the retention of the Irish Members in the Imperial House of Commons, while the same Members may sit also in an Irish House, seems to be fore- shadowed

:-

"The Legislative Council now consists of ten elective and ten nominated members. Four elective members are chosen by the elective members of the Island Council of Antigua, two by those of the Legislative Council of Dominica, and four by the non.offioial members of that of St. Kitts and Nevis. They must be and continue members of their respective Island Councils."

But this Federal Council meets only once a year, and possibly its Session is less prolonged than the Sessions of the Parliament at Westminster. The respective powers of the Legislative Council, and of the separate Island. Councils, are thus described :—

" The Legislative Council has concurrent legislative powers with the local legislatures on certain subjects specified in the Act, such as matters of property, mercantile and criminal law, and the law relating to status and procedure in the maintenance of a general police and convict establishment, quarantine, postal and telegraph affairs, questions of currency, audit, and weights and measures, education and the care of lunatics, all matters relating to immi- gration, and its own constitution and procedure. Any island legis- lature is, in addition, competent to declare other matters to be within the competency of the general legislature. Any island enactment on such subjects is void if repugnant to an enaotment of the general legislature, or may at any time be repealed or altered by one."

The federation of the Leeward Islands is capable of being made the basis of a general federation of the West Indian Colonies, for "the Queen has power at any time to include any other West Indian Island in the federation upon joint addresses from both Councils."

The power of the Crown over the acts of our responsible Colonies has recently been illustrated by the disallowance of the Newfoundland Bait Act. We find in this volume a brief account of the complications which have given rise to this unfortunate necessity of exercising the Royal veto. We are reminded that both English and French Colonists settled in Newfoundland early in the seventeenth century, and have been constantly annoying each other ever since :— " At the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, subsequently ratified by the Treaty of Paris, the exclusive sovereignty of Newfoundland was ceded to Great Britain, subject to certain rights reserved to France, which are still in question between the two nations. The French possess the small islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, and the district is annually resorted to by a Frenoh fishing fleet from St. Male. They claim the exclusive right to fish along certain portions of the coast from Bona Vista to Cape Riche, upon which they erect temporary structures for drying the fish. The exact extent of this right is in dispute, and there are other questions at issue as to magisterial juris- diction, mines, harbours, and river fisheries. A proposal for the settlement of all the questions was agreed to in 1885 by Commis- sioners representing France and England, bat was rejected by New- foundland, mainly on account of the provisions for the sale of bait."

The student of political economy will be interested in seeing how the people of Bermuda export nearly all their own vege- tables to New York, and afterwards import from the same place the vegetables required for home consumption :—

"The climate, combined with the geographical position of these islands, is some measure compensates for the smallness of area of fertile ground. There being nothing to fear from winter frosts, the ground can be sown and planted at any time from the end of August to the end of March, and the mops can be gathered and shipped off to New York in the months of March, April, May, and Jane, when the corresponding American produce has as yet scarcely shown itself above ground, and the Bermudians, taking advantage of this peculiarity of the climate, raise large crops of early potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and beetroot, with which they keep the New York market supplied at a time when those vegetables cannot be obtained from any other quarter. Very little use is made of the soil in Bermuda after the spring crops have been grown ; a few melons, pumpkins, or sweet potatoes may be raised here and there, but by far the greater part of the ground is allowed to remain idle during the hot summer months ; anything that could then be grown in Bermuda can bo imported so muoh more cheaply from America, that it never pays a Bermudian agriculturist to produce it. Very little also of the spring produce of the islands is consumed by the inhabitants ; it is too costly; nearly all the early vegetables raised in Bermuda are exported, and the whole population, civil and military, depends for its subsistence upon food supplies obtained from abroad. All the bread and meat, and nearly all the vegetables consumed in the islands, are imported from New York, and all the food, horses, and cattle are brought from that or other quarters."

Free-traders will observe with regret the protectionist tendency of the New South Wales Customs Act of 1886, by which the duty is raised on a large number of manufactured articles and articles of food, and fresh duties levied on articles previously free, e.g., arrowroot, butter, prepared. farinaceous foods (except wheaten flour or oatmeal), bolts and screws, &c., lead (sheet, roll,

or pipe), zinc (perforated or manufactured), soap, and timber palings, laths, and shingles, besides an ad valorem duty of 5 per cent. on general articles not otherwise specified or specially exempted. However, the Government which passed that measure has just resigned, being defeated at the polls by a Free-trade majority, so that a return to better ways may be expected.

The New Zealand Government has set a remarkable example of encouraging thrift by the establishment (in 1869) of a Government Life Insurance Department, which effects in- surances " on individual first-class lives to the amount of £4,000. All profits belong absolutely and entirely to the policy-holders themselves. After the last investigation in 1880, reversionary bonuses to the amount of £124,000 were added to the policies then in force, notwithstanding the very low premiums. On June 30th, 1871, there were only 462 policies in force, insuring £206,474; but the increase of business has been very rapid, During 1885, 4,379 policies were issued, insuring £859,769. On December 31st, 1885, there were 23,218 policies in force, assuring 26,466,276."

The optimist believer in human progress, and the advocate of the extension of the British Empire and of direct British influence and control, and the friends of the natives of Africa generally, will be pleased to read the following account of the condition of Basutoland, which since March, 1884, has been disannexed from the Cape Colony, and administered under the immediate authority of Downing Street through a Resident Commissioner, with the aid of the native chiefs, under the direction of the High Commissioner for South Africa:— "The latest reports describe a great improvement in the condition of the country. Law and order have been restored, serious crime is rare, and the drinking habits, which threatened to destroy the Basuto people, are said to have been abandoned, owing to the influence of the leading chiefs, the missionaries, and the Government. There is now not a single canteen in the country. The area under arable cultivation is steadily increasing, and there is less and less tendency to stook-thieving and petty warfare Excellent work is being carried on in the country by missionaries, in whose hands the labour of education is almost exclusively vested. The Paris Missionary Society, presided over by the Rev. A. Mabille, with twelve assistant- missionaries, has for many years taken up the most prominent posi- tion. In similar ways the Roman Catholic Missions have worked bard, and done much good. The English Church Missions are but poorly represented."

At the present time, the number of schools is 62, and the number of scholars on the books is 2,980 (out of a total population of 128,000); and of these, 49 schools and 2,539 scholars belong to the French Protestants. The Government grant in aid of education is £2,000, out of a total revenue of £26,000.

At the beginning of the volume are some very useful tables, giving for each Dependency statistics as to area, population, revenue, expenditure, and public debt, trade and shipping, mileage of railways and telegraphs, deposits in savings and other banks, and number of children in schools. In referring to these tables, even the eober editors of this official publica- tion have caught the " Jubilee" fever, and they seek to com- memorate this auspicious year by emphasising the growth of the Colonies during her Majesty's reign. We are reminded that " during the reign of Victoria we have occupied Natal, British Bechuanaland, Basutoland, and the Transkei, British Columbia, and the wide North-West territories of the Canadian Dominion, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania, British New Guinea, and North Borneo. We have also acquired by cession Labnan, Lagos, and the greater portion of the Gold Coast, Fiji, and by arrangement, Cyprus, Port Hamilton [this, however, has been ceded since the book went to press], and the basin of the Niger, besides countless smaller possessions, and nearly all the isolated rocks and islands of the ocean." The above is not absolutely correct of Australia and Tasmania, which were, of course, slightly colonised before the present reign; but since 1837, the population of Australaeia, including New Zealand and Fiji, has risen from under 200,000 to nearly 3,000,000, of which number more than one-fourth, viz., 740,000, is crowded into the three towns, Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide. The following is a farther contribution by the editors to the Jubilee Fund of Statistics :— "The enormous development of the Colonial Empire in the present reign is shown in the tables on the preceding pages. The population at the accession to the throne of her Gracious Majesty was only 4.204,700, as compared with 15,763,072 in 1881, and 17,600,000 in 1885. The commerce has advanced even more rapidly than the population. The total external trade of 1837 was only £28,341,471, and in 1885 it had risen to £250,621,696; in other words, the trade of 1885 was nearly nine times the trade of 1897, while the population in 1885 was little more than four times the population of 1837. In the same time the British shipping trading with the Colonies has grown from 3,677,975 tons to 66,611,076 tons, and the foreign shipping from 2,044,126 tons to 14,835,326 tons ; and the English Customs returns show that our exports to the Colonies have increased from £11,283,363 to 254,545,553. The Colonial registered shipping has also risen from less than half-a-million to over two million toss. Our Colonies have also grown considerably in favour as a resort for emigrants. Only 35,264 persons were entered as emigrants to the British Colonies in 1837, of whom 29,881 went to North America, 326 to the Cape, and 5,054 to Anstralasia. In 1885, the numbers were 19,838 to the North American Colonies, 39,395 to Australasia, and 3,268 to the Cape and Natal."

This last remark leads us to notice the appearance of a new office in the Colonial Office List,—namely, the Emigrants' In- formation Office, open last year, "under the supervision of the Colonial Office, for the purpose of supplying intending emigrants with useful and trustworthy information respecting emigration to the British Colonies." It must be confessed that the information, in the case of such as are needy, tends rather in the direction of Punch's advice to those intending to marry. The Colonies are not anxious for any paupers to be cast on their shores ; and though vast areas remain almost unpopulated, the principal towns axe some of them, as we have just seen, so very large that we may not be surprised at hearing that the "unemployed " are not unknown in Sydney and Melbourne, and an outcry is there raised against giving any assistance or special encouragement to the immigration of labourers, skilled or un- skilled. Anyhow, for the present, " free and assisted emigration is entirely suspended as far as regards New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, the Cape of Good Hope, and Natal. Assisted passages are granted to persons of a few specified occu- pations in the case of Queensland (domestic servants and farm labourers), New Zealand (agriculturists with small capital), Western Australia (farmers and mechanics with capital), and Canada (farm labourers and domestic servants). Tasmania only grants assistance to approved persons who have been nominated by employers or friends in the Colony."