A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION.*
A FEW years ago we had occasion to welcome cordially an exceedingly acute and careful study of the administration of the tropical dependencies of the Far East. The author, Mr. Alleyne Ireland, had been sent as a special commissioner by the University of Chicago to inquire into the different systems of tropical government. America, with the problem of the Philippines on her hands, stands much in need of information on this point, and it is enormously to the credit of her Universities that they are setting themselves to supply this want. Professor Reinsch, of Wisconsin, has already published an illuminating little monograph on the question, and it seems as if we should have to look to America for a scientific study of the subject of which Britain provides most of the data. But Mr. Alleyne Ireland's new enterprise is on a far greater scale ; indeed, we can think of no other work undertaken by a young man in our time which demanded such wide travel and laborious research. It is no less than a com- plete Report on the whole system of colonial adminis- tration in the Far East. The colonies are nine in number, and they afford eight administrative types. We have the Indian provincial system in Burma, the Crown colony system in the Straits Settlements and Hong-kong, the Residential system in the Federated Malay States, the chartered company system in British North Borneo, the autocratic system in Sarawak, the French system in Indo- China, the Dutch in Java, and the American in the Philippine Islands. It is possible to criticise some of these labels, but the division is sufficiently accurate. We are not without many learned works on these colonies. We have a wealth of Blue-books and official Reports, and travellers many have written their impressions. But these authorities—even the Blue-books—record only one aspect of the subject. To get to the heart of the matter it is necessary to wade through masses of official papers, many of them only accessible on the spot, and above all to study in the colony itself the actual working of the system, which is always different from its formal character. This is Mr. Ireland's first object,— to get together and print the pieces justificatives, and • The Province of Burma: a Report Prepared. on Behalf of the University of Chicago. By Alleyne Ireland. F.B.C.S. 2 vols. Boston and New York
Houghton, and Co. L$12•50 per voLJ
to supplement them with the personal knowledge acquired on the spot.
There is another objection to existing authorities. They treat their subject in isolation. For example, Sir John Strachey's great book on India is the standard work on Indian administration, but it deals with India only, and makes no comparisons with other types of tropical government. It could not do so and remain a readable volume. But to the student inspired with the true historical spirit comparison is essential. He wants to know not only bow a problem has been faced in Burma, but how it is met under similar condi- tions in Indo-China. The aim of Mr. Ireland's Report is first to provide data, and then a comparison and analysis. The Report will be in twelve volumes, and of these ten will be a sober chronicle of facts. But the last two will "advance such criticism of methods and results as may be justified by a comparison and analysis of the work in each separate area." The purpose is thoroughly sound. We are begin- ning to see how in all departments of public life we may learn much from the successes and mistakes of our neighbours in dealing with the same questions. A Blue- book published the other year by the Inland Revenue Department dealt in this fruitful comparative spirit with the graduation of the Income-tax. We welcome the same method applied to far more complex and vital matters.
Mr. Ireland has trained himself rigorously for his task. He spent six months in classifying and arranging the material in his own library, and another six months in studying the printed matter available in the different Government offices in London. Then for two years and four months he visited the objects of his research, from Burma in the West to the Philippines in the East. This sounds a sufficiently laborious preparation, but it was not all. Mr. Ireland must needs visit India, China, and Japan to acquire perspective, since these are " the countries which represent the ultimate forces by whose action and interaction the future of the Far East must be moulded." The local Governments supplied him with more than five thousand volumes,—reports, gazettes, returns, and monographs by officials. The examination of these in the light of his travels and personal inquiries formed the basis of his work. He has further made use of about a thousand volumes which are accessible to all, Treaties, for example, Blue-books of the Imperial Government, and the unofficial publications of travellers. In his preface he sketches the structure of the individual volumes of the Report. He first deals with the ordinary history of the dependency, so far as it is of political interest. Then lie discusses in order the nature of the tie which unites it to the sovereign State ; the form of government; the general character of the land and the people ; the general scheme of administration ; the depart- mental machinery ; the mode of selecting officials ; the system of legislation ; finance ; land tenure; local government ; the condition of internal and external trade ; and finally, the results achieved in the different departments of government. All these are matters of hard, self-evident fact, demanding no exercise of critical judgment on the writer's part, except in the selection of material. For Mr. Ireland's comments and comparisons we must wait until he reaches his last volumes.
It is a vast scheme, well considered, and, so far as we can judge from the first instalment, admirably executed. This Burmese section is to the general reader as unprepossessing as a Blue-book, but many times more valuable than most. It is, as we have said, a collection of pieces justificatives, presented in all their scientific nakedness, for, as Mr. Ireland says, "no effort has been expended in giving the work an appearance of originality which, whilst it might add something to the literary reputation of the reporter, would detract from the utility of the work." The reporter has succeeded in his aim. No popular reputation will be made on these volumes, though even the general reader may find something to interest him, for the famous Report of the Macaulay Commission on the Indian Civil Service is printed in full. It is not a work obligatory for every gentleman's library; but we can say confidently that no one who has a serious interest in the great administrative problems of Empire can afford to be without access to such an Imperial encyclopaedia. We congratulate Mr. Ireland on an enterprise which bids fair to rival the greatest feats of German research.
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