494
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
CO.885/25
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
32051
(No. 51.) SIR,
96
No. 29.
SEYCHELLES.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received 25th June, 1917.)
Government House, Seychelles, 28th March, 1917.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Circular despatch of the 25th September, 1916,* in which you ask for a considered statement of the views of the Government of Seychelles (so far as the circumstances of the Colony appear to call for special attention) on the recommendations of the Economic Conference of the Allies, and on the questions submitted to the Commercial and Industrial Policy Committee appointed by the Prime Minister.
2. Full publicity was given to the despatch in the Seychelles Government Various Gazette, and persons interested were invited to submit their views. suggestions were received but have little bearing on the subject. An interesting review of the difficult problems involved was received from Mr. W. F. Stephens, the agent of the Mahé Syndicate, Limited, a copy of which I attach.
3. I am quite in accord with Mr. Stephens that Seychelles trade relations with Germany have developed of late years far more than would appear on the face of official statistics. There is evidence of this in the cases of certain bankruptcies in the last ten years. During the inquiry it transpired that several of the local firms were being financed to a considerable extent by Hamburg merchants. Until the outbreak of the War the trade in cinnamon bark and essential oils was almost entirely confined to Germany, and I believe Mr. Stephens is correct in stating in his letter that these industries owe their initiation to the suggestion of Hamburg merchants.
4. The Colony of Seychelles is unanimous, as in other parts of the Empire, that all German trade should be eliminated as far as possible after the War, and, with this object, will gladly participate any scheme instituted for dealing with this important subject. There would, I think, be no objection on the part of the local population to the imposition of a heavy differential import tariff on all goods of German and Austrian origin. Such tariff might be as high as three times the rates of duty on articles imported from other countries, and would no doubt result in largely diminishing German imports. As regards exports, the matter is more difficult some measure of Government control and uniformity of practice through- out the Empire would tend to prevent British exports reaching Germany. It would be necessary to find new markets for our guano, which, up to the present, has gone, in a large measure, to Germany. The demand, however, for guano for Belgium and the large part of France which has been the scene of fighting should increase the demand of Allied countries, putting aside the requirements of the Motherland. With regards to dues on Gerinan and Austrian ships, these should be placed at a figure to make them prohibitive. It must not be lost sight of that shipping facilities are imperative for this Colony, which lies outside the beaten track, and it is most important that after the War the General Post Office in London should use every endeavour to include this Colony in the itinerary of a subsidized British mail service to British East Africa and Mauritius. Seychelles is a small colony, but it may be observed that the absence of a British subsidized mail service the Indian Ocean for so long a period has had an adverse effect on the British trade between the colonies in that ocean and the Mother Country, and has tended to foster foreign influence, I venture to say, in this connexion, that the D.O.A.L. Company was practically supreme on the east coast of Africa before the War.
5. I regret the delay which has occurred in answering your despatch under acknowledgment.
I have, &c.,
*No. 1
C. R. M. O'BRIEN,
Lieutenant-Colonel,
Governor.
97
Enclosure in No. 29.
SIR,
Mahé, Seychelles, 27th December, 1916. REFERRING to the recommendations of the Economic Conference of the Allies and to the questions submitted to the committee appointed in the United Kingdom to consider them, I have the honour to make the following observations in response to the invitation published in Seychelles Government Gazette No. 59.
I think it important to point out that Seychelles trade relations with Germany have developed more of late years than would appear on the face of the official statistics.
The volume of trade of such a small community as Seychelles is too slight to clearly exhibit gradual trends towards particular channels, and the figures of the annual returns are so small as to be materially affected by the individual transactions of the few small merchants of the place. Nevertheless, it is certain that a tendency towards rapid growth of German commercial influence has arisen in Seychelles, as everywhere else, during recent years.
The real destination of exports from Seychelles cannot be completely ascer- tained from the "Blue book" returns. Apart from the fact that produce mani- fested to French and British ports has been sold before arrival to German buyers and transhipped to German ports, goods have often been shipped on bills of lading bearing optional ports of delivery, and in such cases are doubtless recorded officially as having been exported to the first named of such ports. In this way much produce recorded as having gone to Antwerp or Rotterdam, for example, has, in reality, gone direct to Hamburg.
The trade in copra has remained comparatively free from German influence. This was more or less to be expected; for, being one of the old trades of the Colony, it has naturally tended to follow the routes established before the phenomenal expansion of German industry of late years. The largest growers here export their own produce, and it has long been their custom to sell in Marseilles.
But the small growers sell to local merchants. Most of the latter have very little capital, and they trade on credits opened for them by dealers in Europe. German dealers are very accommodating with such credits, and they had obtained, by means of them, a larger opening in the copra trade than could be deduced from the "Blue book returns. But for certain failures in recent years amongst local merchants, it is likely that by 1914 a great proportion of the production of copra would have been finding its way to Germany.
The trades in cinnamon bark and certain essential oils only date from about eight years ago. In these new trades German dealers had no handicap of established custom to contend against, and they consequently show plainly the result of German enterprise. The exploitation of cinnamon bark was begun on the suggestion of Hamburg brokers, and the whole output before the War went to Germany, either direct or through Antwerp or Rotterdam.
The manufacture of essential oils from cinnamon leaves, clove leaves, and lemon grass was also largely due to German suggestion, and, but for the interven- tion of the War, would have become a purely German trade.
Nearly all the coco-nut oil-and the soap manufactured from it in the Colony -exported from Seychelles before the War, went either to German East Africa or to Madagascar and dependencies. But the only receivers of these products in Madagascar were the large German houses, such as the Deutsche Ost-Afrika Gesellschaft and O'swald & Company, having branches in the ports. (Although the point has no direct concern with the trade of Seychelles, I may perhaps remark here, incidentally, on the importance of these and other German trading houses in the ports of the west coast of Madagascar; at some places-Nossi Be, for example -most of the export trade was in their hands. The Deutsche Ost-Afrika Gesellschaft was, I believe, in some sort a Government enterprise.)
It is regrettable that such a large proportion of the phosphatic guano exported from Seychelles has gone to Germany. But this is only consistent with the greater use made in that country of fertilizers of all kinds, in accordance with closer attention to scientific research and advice than is paid in most other countries. Little is imported into Seychelles from Germany. but probably the only reason for that is that Germany does not produce the goods required here. Seychelles imports consist mostly of articles de mode and rice and other grain. The former naturally come from France and the latter from India. The small demand for hardware and iron manufactures generally, however, shows a marked