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these 10 years have increased by 597,000 dollars, and to that you have to add increased compensation of 105,000 dollars. All these have met with the approval of the Secretary of State. There can be no comparison drawn between the cost of administration in England and here. In England men for the most part govern themselves. The system of decentralization is every day increasing and widening, with municipal corporations, parish councils, and other bodies, and year by year the charges made on the National Exchequer are decreased. Hear, on the contrary, the Government is called upon to initiate all legislative and administrative nitusures. With the growth of the Colony new offices are called for and others have to be increased. I admit to you that there is no such demand for expenditure under the head of public works as there was in 1884, but, notwithstanding the efforts of the Retrenchment Committee, you will find there is an increase during the 10 years under service votes and salaries of from 40,000 dollars to 60,000 dollars. It is no credit, it is rather the contrary, that there should be to increase in the Education Department. Pensions have risen 50,000 dollars, and the cost of civil remittances has been conse- quently increased. From the manner in which the Government keep their accounts it is impossible to tell accurately to what extent. (Laughter.) But it is not too much to say that the increase of remittances made on account of the civil administration, apart from the military, during 10 years, ranges from 250,000 dollars to 300,000 dollars. How then can the civil administration be kept within the 3,000,000 dollars named by the Secretary of State? You have but to refer to the expenditure of the last three years. We can only do it by cutting down the maintenance vote to starvation point, by deing nothing for the development of the Colony, and by arresting the material welfare and progress of the people." (Cheers.) What is this for? It is purposed to charge us with the cost of the military, irrespective of our wants and wishes. We are called upon to maintain an Imperial military station; we are called upon in addition to that to build barracks, contrary-with every possible respect to the Secretary of State-to the agree- ment arrived at in 1866. Gentlemen, the final paragraph in this despatch, to the effect that Her Majesty's Government will reserve particular rights claimed on behalf of the Home Government, and the full assertion of them in 1899, clinches the whole matter.
The Unofficial View.
It is against this sort of thing that we have spoken, and protested, and petitioned, times without number, and without avail. I do not dispute that as the Legislative Council is at present constituted the unofficial element is more consultative than administrative. The unofficial members are there to criticise and advise-to suggest that they are a hostile body is pure rubbish-but they have to criticise especially in matters of finance. We know that these are questions affecting Imperial policy which must be settled at home, and I, personally, do not know of a single instance in which the Council has not met the just claims of Imperial obligations. To the arguments and expostulations of the Governor, and of the Executive and Legislative Councils, which have been put forward with patience and truth during the last five years, Her Majesty's Government has turned a deaf ear. The result of the review of the circumstances by the Home Government is that they will not abate one jot on their terms. Under these circumstances, gentlemen, it is impossible for us to fulfil the duties which we owe to the public as guardians of the public purse; it is impossible for us to fulfil our duty in matters of finance, threatened as they are at every point over which we have no control; nay, further, it is impossible for us to fulfil the responsibility which we have assumed under oath, and, that being so, I hold that it is equally impossible for us to continue to occupy the position of responsible public officers. (Loud cheers.)
Public Opinion and the Native Races.
It may be the Secretary of State cares little about it, but the unjust appropriation of our funds undoubtedly must hamper and fetter the Government in the fulfilment of their duties to the native races. (Hear, hear.) Hitherto they have regarded the Government of the Queen as the embodiment of fair and just treatment, a tribunal before whom every question would be impartially sifted and every grievance remedied. It is our privilege to uphold the fair name of England amongst à law-abiding and peaceful people, who, whatever happens, will continue law abiding and peaceful. But can we continue to do so in connection with the military question which cannot fail to check in a great degree the progress of the civil administration The day has arrived when heed must be paid to public opinion, when it must be heard and listened to in the Legislative Council, when Her Majesty's Goverment must cease to pursue the policy which, guided by no fixed principle, measures its exaction by the length of the Colony's purse.
The Hopes based on Resigning.
If our resignation shall in any measure succeed eventually in bringing about the desired result, if it shall in any measure help and assist at home others in their efforts to induce the Government still to relieve us of our burdens, that resignation will not have been in vain. (Loud cheering.) Gentlemen, I am afraid I have wearied your patience. ("No, no," and chcers.) I thank you for the kinduess with which you have listened to my observations, and the support you have given me. (Prolonged cheering.)
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MR. CUTHBERTSON,
The
Mr. J. Cuthbertson (a partner of the house of Boustead & Co.) said: It is not intended that I shall say anything directly in regard to the question before us. only reason, I presume, that I have been asked to speak is because I was Chairman of the Visiting Justices at the time their resignations took place. In regard to that, when enquiry was made of those Justices not connected with the Government, they were unanimous and cordial that the only course to be pursued was one of resigning office; that those unofficial members of the Legislative Council who had resigned should be supported by our unanimous resignation. A letter was at once drawn up, and signed by every Justice not connected with the Government, as a protest against the unfair and harsh decision of Her Majesty's Government in the Military Contribution, as set forth in Lord Ripon's despatch. Unless the position be alleviated the prosperity and progress of this Colony will suffer. That goes without saying. We must go on protesting and protesting until something is done to alleviate the position of the Colony. (Applause.)
MR. SEAH LIANG SEAH,
Mr. Seah Liang Seah (a resigned member of the Legislative Council, and a landed proprietor of Singapore) said:---Standing here as I do, representing the Chinese in this Settlement, and I may say of the Straits Settlements, I can only say that the action which the members of the Legislative Council (including myself) and members of the Chinese Advisory Board have taken seemed to be the only proper course to pursue. You must know that the members of the Chinese Advisory Board bave important functions in advising the Government as to what may be for the welfare of the Chinese within these Settlements. They must look to the customs and usages which prevail in China and advise, so far as can consistently be done, that those customs should be respected here. The Chinese feel that this Imperial charge upon the Colony is not a just one. The members of the Chinese Advisory Board were quite agreed in their unanimity to support, by their own resignatious, the resignations of the unofficial members of the Legislative Council. Therefore, I can only express to you, as has already been expressed, the thanks of the Chinese for your coming forward as you have done to-day, and by your presence supporting the action which has been taken. (Applause.)
A vote of thanks was accorded to the Chairman, and the meeting then dispersed.
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