BURMA.
LTO TILE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Forty years ago the Chief Commissioner of British Burma wrote :— " It is impossible to resist the observation that if the rice trade has increased, as it has done, with so little expenditure on the improvement of the country, it is not easy to imagine what might have been its progress under a larger expenditure. It is difficult in the face of the figures contained in this report [the Annual Report on Trade and Customs] to understand how there can be a moment's hesitation as to the construction of a railway through the province."
Lord Cromer accuses me of "very unnecessary warmth" in advocating larger expenditure on Burma. My justification is the entire tenor of his review of M. Dautremer's book, "Burma under British Rule." The Chief Commissioner's view, quoted above, cannot be called a "fiery denunciation." It is,if anything, rather tepid, and it was consequently ignored. Lord Cromer thinks a bolder financial policy deserves attention. That justifies ray " violence of invective." His experience shows that it is not necessary to make exact calculations beforehand in order to prove that some particular project will be remunerative. As a matter of fact, all the Burma railways so far constructed have paid satisfactory returns on the capital outlay, except those which should not have been built if they were not to go on. The Myitkyina and Lashio sections are like the "far-famed Roman way" that "ended in a mire," and are run at a loss which is gradually diminishing.
Everything else paid, not " in the long run," but immediately. Lord Cromer has supplied to Egypt the Assouan dam, which is the largest dam in existence, and is so regarded and used by golfers and others. I am content to be reproved by so great an authority for mere unnecessary warmth.—I am, Sir 53 Marlborough Hill, St. John's Wood, N. W.
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