;
22
No. 2b.
RIDERS BY UNOFFICIAL MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
We renew our protest against the amount of the Military Contribution entered on the estimates, and which, notwithstanding the abatement of the equivalent of 10,000, exceeds the percentage on the revenue named in the despatches of the Secretary of State of 1889 and 1891; takes no account of the heavy loss entailed on the Colony by the unprecedented decline in currency values; offers no security or assistance against continued fluctuations, and paralyzes the progress of the Colony in every direction.
We are of opinion that, under existing circumstances, the only fair and equitable arrangement of levying the contribution is by a fixed percentage on the actual gross revenue of the Colony.
No regard having been paid to the proposition of the Legislative Council, as per resolution unanimously passed on 13th February, 1890, we declare our protest against the cost of the barracks being thrown upon the Colony.
T. SHELFORD.
T. C. BOGAARDT. A. L. DONALDSON.
S. LIANG SEAH. A. HÜTTENBACH.
We are deeply disappointed at the insufficiency of the relief granted to the Colony on account of the military charges. This burden weighs the more heavily on the Settlement of Penang in that, whereas in Singapore some portion at least of the contribution is expended in the Settlement where the garrison is stationed, we do not participate in that advantage, such as it is. The serious difficulties into which this contribution has brought the Colony are everywhere apparent, and in this Settlement more than elsewhere.
PENANG,
13th October, 1894.
J. M. VERMONT.
W. C. BROWN,
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
Sir,
23
APPENDIX No. 3.
Colonial Office to War Office.
Downing Street,
24th January, 1895.
I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, to lay before Mr. Secretary Campbell-Bannerman, with reference to the letter from this department of the 16th instant, a copy of a letter from the Straits Settlements Association, on the subject of the Military Contribution of the Straits Settlements. This letter has also been communicated to the Treasury.
R. H. MEADE,
My Lord Marquis,
No. 3a.
Straits Settlements Association to Colonial Office,
Straits Settlements Association,
2, Whittington Avenue, London, E.C.,
14th January, 1895.
I have the honour to inform your Lordship that at a meeting of this Association, held on the 19th ultimo, I submitted Mr. Fairfield's letter to me of the 5th December, together with the copy of your Lordship's despatch to Sir Charles Mitchell of the 5th November laat, embodying the decision of Her Majesty's Government in regard to the Military Contribution of the Straits Settlements.
2. The Association extremely regrets to learn that the Government have refused the appeal of the Colony for a permanent reduction of the Military Contribution, that the relief promised is of a temporary character, and that the present uncertainty as to the ultimate amount of the contribution, with the difficulties thereupon arising, is to be continued.
3. The Association observes that the amounts payable for 1894-95 are to be reduced to 80,000%. and 90,000% respectively, but it has also remarked that the amounts for 1897-98 are to be increased to 110,0007 and 120.000% respectively. The reduction on the first-named two years is, therefore, simply a deferred payment to be made good in the last two years of the quinquennial period, and whatever temporary convenience there may be in this arrangement, the Association finds itself unable to concur in your Lordship' 's opinion that it will be "a sensible relief" to the finances of the Colony for the years 1894-95, while it can hardly be expected that so small a concession will be considered by the Colony as in any way meeting the justice of the case.
4. The Association has not failed to observe that in notifying this arrangement, your Lordship intimates that the charges for 1896, 1897, 1893, are of a provisional character, and "that during 1895 a more trustworthy forecast will be possible of the financial conditions, that will probably rule the remainder of the quinquennial period."
The expectation here beld out of some possible relief in 1896, 1897, 1898, seeins, however, very unlikely to be realized, for in Clause 11, your Lordship expresses the hope that there may be some moderate increase in the revenue, which will enable the Colony, not only to provide for the Military Contribution and all civil charges, without incurring a deficit in the quinquennial period, but that there will even be a balance ou the period as a whole, which balance, together with what remains of existing Colonial balances, the Colony may be able to devote to some extent to the construction of barracks rendered necessary by the increased and concentrated garrison of Singapore.”
5. Your Lordship is aware that the revenue of the present year has been increased by fresh taxation, and that the various items of expenditure have been pruned down by a Retrenchment Committee, while necessary expenditure for public works has been withheld. It cannot, therefore, but be a matter of grave concern to the Colony to learn that your Lordship contemplates "a possible moderate increase of revenue us enabling the Colony to meet further military charges, and not as a means of undertaking works and duties admittedly necessary for its welfare, which are now postponed for want of funds.
y
6. The Association takes notice of the fact that Her Majesty's Government do not repudiate the undertaking given by Mr. Goschen in the House of Commons in the
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