PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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considered moderate with reference to the value of adjacent land, as stated in Governor Hennessy's despatch of 26th of May, 1869. Upon that point I can add nothing to what is said in my Report of 12th August, 1869. If the finances of the Colony allow of the reduction of the rent to a nominal sum, it might be wise to reduce it; but on that point, I have not the means of offering an opinion.
The only other question is, as to the charge for lighterage; as, however, there appears to be in this country no copy of the agreement between the Governor and the Company on that point, and as the Company say they have written for further information, the question is not yet ripe for decision.
I have, &c.
- Sir,
(Signed)
No. 2.
T. W. C. MURDOCH.
Mr. Holland to the Secretary to the Oriental Coal Company.
Downing Street, January 31, 1873.
I AM directed by Lord Kimberley to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of the 20th and 23rd December last, and to request that you will inform the Directors of the Oriental Coal Company that his Lordship is unable to furnish documents relating to the charge for lighterage.
any
His Lordship cannot consent to a reduction of the rent paid by the Company to the Colonial Government on account of wharfage.
I am directed to add also, that Lord Kimberley sees no advantage in prolonging the controversy between Mr. Hennessy and the Company.
Sir,
No. 3.
1 am, &c.
(Signed)
H. T. HOLLAND.
The Earl of Kimberley to Governor Bulwer.
Downing Street, January 31, 1873. WITH reference to my despatches of November 18 and of the 2nd December,t I have the honour to transmit to you a further correspondencet with the Oriental Coal Company, on various points connected with their operations in Labuan.
I am, &c.
No. 4.
(Signed)
KIMBERLEY.
Governor Bulwer to the Earl of Kimberley.-(Received February 26, 1873.)
My Lord,
Government House, Labuan, December 30, 1872.
1. ONE of the statements advanced by Mr. Lindsay, a Director of the Oriental Coal Company, in his letter to your Lordship of the 27th July last§—that, namely, which refers to an allowance for lighterage as being still due to the Company on account of 4,712 tons of coal put on board Her Majesty's ships, has been already corrected by the Company's Secretary, and as Mr. Wood admits that the stipulated allowance has been duly paid to the Company there is no occasion for me to say anything upon this point.
2. The other questions raised by Mr. Lindsay relate to the annual rental paid by the Company for a site of land in Victoria,-to their contribution towards the expenses of the police stationed at Coal Point,-to a contribution made by them on account of the Civil Hospital,-to the rates charged by the Government for hire of convict labour, and to a certain payment made by them in 1869 or 1870 for road- making.
* Vide Confidential Paper, January 14, 1878, pages 54 and 60 (Nos. 48 and 49).
pages 62 and 54 (Nos. 42 and 46).
pages 54 and 60 (Nos. 48 and 49).
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page 12 (No. 14).
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3. My despatch of the 29th June last will have furnished your Lordship with full information on two of the subjects above named, namely, the police contribution and the rates charged for convict labour.
4. The Company are mistaken in saying that the money paid by Mr. Lumsden for police was the first payment of the kind in the history of the Colony, because the contribution in question dates from the 30th August, 1866, when the China Steam-Ship and Labuan Coal Company held the mines, and was the subject of an agreement between the Secretary of State and the Directors of that Company.
5. The present Company object to this contribution. In my despatch of the 29th June I ventured, in reply to your Lordship's inquiry, to suggest a modification of the present arrangement by which the Company, instead of being called upon to bear half the expenses of the police force stationed at Coal Point for general district purposes, would in future bear only the expenses incurred on account of police services specially employed at the mines or on behalf of the Company. I based this suggestion on the ground that the Company contributing directly to the revenue of the Colony by the payment of an annual rental, and indirectly by giving employment to a large number of persons, might fairly be exempted from a separate contribution for the district police. I am sensible, however, that under the peculiar circumstances of the Colony this argument is open to question: but, apart from this, the inability of the Company to pay its rental, depriving this Government as it does of one of the means upon which it depends to meet the expenses of the Colony, removes one of the reasons advanced in favour of the modification. If any reduc- tion is made at the present moment in the amount contributed by the Company, the difference cannot well be supplied out of a revenue already impoverished by the Company's default in respect of their rental, and I do not know how the difficulty can be met except by a correspondent reduction of the force.
6. Mr. Lindsay, on the part of the Directors, complains of the rates charged for convict labour, and urges that they should be put "on a more just and equitable footing for the future," meaning, I presume, that they should be reduced. The advantages the Company derive from the hire of convict labour are so great, and the terms upon which it is granted are so moderate, that I feel myself bound to The rates are protest against this complaint as an unreasonable and unjust one. very much lower than the rates of free coolie labour, and they are the lowest that can be charged without loss to the Government.
7. Not only does the introduction into the island of a large number of convicts and their safe custody and supervision necessitate the maintenance of a stronger police force than would otherwise be required, but the expenses of the convict establishment are a heavy charge upon the Colony; and so far from the rates being too high, the Superintendent of Convicts and of Public Works has more than once represented to me that, in view of the expenses of his department, they are too low; but, from a desire to assist in every way the Company's yet undeveloped enterprise, I have refrained from suggesting an increase in the rates so long as they can be retained without positive sacrifice to the Colony.
8. Before quitting the subject of the convict labour, I must notice a discrepancy between the sum quoted by Mr. Lindsay as the total amount paid by the Company for convict labour and that furnished to me by the Colonial Treasurer. Mr. Lindsay states this amount to be 2,4301. The Treasurer's Return, which is confirmed by the books of the Superintendent of Convicts, puts the amount received up to the very date of Mr. Lindsay's letter at 2,076l. 38. İd.; and this includes the item for road- making, which Mr. Lindsay treats of separately. I inclose the Treasurer's Return and a detailed statement furnished by the Superintendent of Convicts.
9. I proceed to the question raised respecting the rental of the site of land held by the Company in Victoria. Mr. Lindsay says that the late Governor (Mr. Hennessy) exacted as rent for "a single jetty" the sum of 1001. yearly, which rent he made payable in advance, and he submits, on the part of the Directors, that the “reat of the single jetty" should not exceed a nominal sum of 18. yearly. Mr. Lindsay is It was not Governor under a great misapprehension as to the facts of the case. Hennessy, but the Secretary of State, who fixed the rental in question at 1001. It was not the rental of a single jetty that was fixed, but the rental of some valuable land in the town and harbour of Victoria and the vicinity, and on this land some coal-sheds have already been erected by the Company in close proximity to the wharf now in course of construction, the site allotted near the shore occupying
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• Vide Confidential Paper, January 14, 1873, page 17 (No. 20),