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markets, there is little doubt that it will be able to hold its own and contribute in an appreciable degree to that independence of enemy resources which it is the desire of His Majesty's Government and the Governments of the Allied nations to attain.
4. The matter of first importance and most immediate concern for Nyasaland is its means of transport, both internal and external. Looking at its configuration and the valuable asset it has in the Lake for three hundred and forty miles out of a total length of five hundred and twenty, the problem within its boundaries is not a difficult one. It has also rail communication for one hundred and seventy-four Its further requirements miles between Blantyre and Chindio on the Zambesi. are (1) the connexion with the Lake, a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles, estimated to cost in round figures £700,000; (2) the continuation from Chindio (with bridging of the Zambesi) to Beira, which is probably the best and most accessible ocean port for adoption, a distance of about two hundred miles. Including the bridge across the Zambesi the total expenditure will probably not be less than £2,000,000.
5. The scheme is a large one, beyond the means of the Protectorate, and can be grappled with only as an Imperial concern for the opening up of a large area of Central Africa, which, including Nyasaland, the whole basin of the Lake, North- Eastern Rhodesia, and that part of Portuguese East Africa through which the line will pass, may be put at not less than 100,000 square miles. Incidental to the consideration of the scheme there are two matters of some importance which must come under notice :-
(1) The acquisition of that portion of Portuguese East Africa traversed by the line and its development under British rule, so that it may become fully productive and contributive to the Empire's resources as well as to the receipts of the railway.
(2) The purchase of vested interests in the two existing railways, the Shire Highlands from Blantyre to Port Herald, the Central Africa line thence to Chindio on the Zambesi.
is highly improbable that the These points must come under review, as railway control can be satisfactorily arranged and cheap through freights provided for if so many interests over different lengths of the line are concerned. I may state that the present charges for general merchandise are 64d. per ton mile over the Shire Highlands Railway and 4d. over the Central Africa Railway.
6. Closely connected with developing the Protectorate and its resources is the question of settlement of Europeans. Although many parts of Nyasaland are at an altitude at which Europeans can live comfortably, it cannot be regarded, on the whole, as a white man's country where he can earn his living by his own labour: he must depend in a large degree on the employment of native labour. Very small holdings are to be deprecated as likely to introduce an undesirable class of settler, and the object should be, I think, to attract men with some capital, sufficient at least to establish them on an estate of from 500 to 1,000 acres to com- mence with. The accompanying notes by the Director of Agriculture, prepared for the guidance of intending settlers, may be of assistance in explaining the position.
7. While it should be our purpose to encourage white settlers of the class indicated, I hold the opinion that, with the development of communications and the opening up of markets, much may be done to make the native an independent and valuable producer. The cultivation of cotton by him is now well established and is capable of immense development, as the Director of Agriculture shows. There are other products which he can take up-tobacco, rice, maize, cereal, ground- nuts, and other oil seeds. In the development of such industry the white man may play an important part as middleman and exporter.
This
8. While large tracts of land are held in freehold by various corporate bodies and individuals (there are twenty-four such holdings of 5,000 acres and upwards, totalling 3,600,000 acres, none of which are fully developed), it has not been the practice of this Government in recent years to make grants in fee simple. policy must, I think, come under review in considering the question of expansion. If we are to attract the class of settler which is desired it will be necessary to offer greater permanency of tenure than is afforded by a leasehold interest.
9. The Attorney-General in his notes directs attention to a matter of some importance which bears not only on the government of the country but also on a more permanent settlement on the land. It is very necessary that the status of
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the Protectorate should be determined by the assumption of full sovereign rights in and over it by His Majesty, and the absorption of Nyasaland as an integral part of the Empire.
10. One other matter to which I should refer is that of easier banking and financial facilities for settlers in the Protectorate. Quicker and cheaper com- munications with outside markets may reduce to some extent the necessity for such accommodation, but even if this is attained planters of the class I indicate will still require advances against produce shipped to enable them to proceed with their cultivations and the development of their holdings. If any general scheme of Imperial assistance by way of agricultural banks is in contemplation it will no doubt be possible to include Nyasaland within the scope of its operation.
11. I do not attempt in this despatch to suggest in detail the manner in which effect can best be given to the views expressed. The recommendations made are necessarily in skeleton form, but I trust they will prove to be sufficiently indicative of the measures for adoption which will enable the Protectorate to take its part in the development of the resources of the Empire.
12. Summarizing the recommendations and remarks under the heads adopted at the Conference of the Allies:--
(A) Measures for the War period.
The legislative provision made, and the measures taken, appear to be fully adequate for their purpose. All enemy trade has been stopped, all enemy subjects have been interned or removed from the country, and all enemy business under- takings and other interests have been wound up or are in process of being wound up.
(B) Period of economic reconstruction.
All those measures deemed expedient by His Majesty's Government for general application throughout the Empire, in all or any of the following matters, should be also applied in Nyasaland: exclusion of enemy goods, with due precautions against their introduction through neutral channels; restrictions on enemy sub- jects entering the Protectorate or exercising therein any industry or profession; prohibition against enemy subjects acquiring, directly or indirectly, any land or financial interest in any commercial undertaking.
(C) Measures for developing the resources of the Empire and the mutual
assistance of the Allies.
Free trade within the Empire in respect of the products or manufactures of its several parts.
Preferential treatment of the products and goods of Allied nations on which the Empire in any measure depends.
Bounties or subsidies to establish or develop in British territory the production of food supplies, materials, etc., required to make the Empire self-supporting.
Facilities for the acquisition of land by British subjects and for their settlement.
The establishment of an agricultural bank or other means for granting easy financial assistance to the planting and other industries.
Immediate development of the internal and external communications of the Protectorate.
I have, &c.,
Enclosure 1 in No. 41.
G. SMITH,
Governor.
THE SECRETARY, Nyasaland Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce, Blantyre,
to THE HONOURABLE THE ACTIng Chief Secretary, Zomba. DEAR SIR,
28th February, 1917. REFERRING to your letter of the 22nd November last, enclosing the recom- mendations of the Economic Conference of the Allies, and in which you request this Chamber to furnish a considered statement of its views on the questions submitted so far as they affect Nyasaland, I now beg to inform you my committee, having gone carefully into the matters in question, make the enclosed recommenda-
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tions to His Excellency the Governor, for transmission to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, as indicated in your letter under reply.
I regret the long delay in replying to your letter, and trust no inconvenience has been caused you thereby.
Yours faithfully,
J. W. STRATTON,
Secretary.
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE NYASALAND CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE, BLANTYRE, on the COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL POLICY TO be adopted after War, ESPECIALLY WITH REFERENCE TO NYASALAND,
THE Committee fully endorse the conclusions arrived at by the Economic Conference of the Allies, and trust that His Excellency the Governor will be armed with special powers to deal with enemy subjects, as outlined in section A, 1, "Measures for the War Period," sub-section A, 1 and 2, and that the German firm still carrying on business at Blantyre will shortly be wound up.
The Committee have considered the questions referred by the Right Honourable the Prime Minister to a special committee, and they put forward the following suggestions:-
Questions (a) and (b).
The Committee recommend that all enemy firms and persons should be pro- hibited from purchasing land or carrying on trade in the Protectorate during the War, and for a specified period after peace has been declared.
That all goods of enemy origin should either be prohibited from entering the Protectorate for a specified period, or that they should be heavily penalized for a certain period.
That all British companies operating in Nyasaland which have foreign share- holders (or partners) should get rid of such shareholders (or partners), and that to effect this His Majesty's Government should, if necessary, pass the necessary legislation to enable them to do so, and that legislation should be passed prohibiting all such enemy persons from acquiring shares or interests in firms operating in Nyasaland for a certain period.
Question (c).
The three largest industries of Nyasaland at present are tea, tobacco, and cotton-growing. The two latter could be widely extended, and the Committee recommend that some form of encouragement should be given to both in order to ensure their rapid development to the benefit of the trade between the Mother Country and this Protectorate.
Tobacco. The Committee recommend some form of rebate on the duty; this rebate only to be granted to British firms or persons on condition that the tobacco crop is wholly shipped to the United Kingdom, in British bottoms, and is of a value of 3d. per lb. or over, and the rebate should be paid by the Government to the grower direct. Special importance is attached to this proviso, as in practice such rebates usually go to the purchaser-manufacturer.
(As no machinery exists at present to deal with a proposal of this kind, and as it seems desirable to show that the proposal is not only practicable but also not liable to abuse, the Committee outline the following procedure inerely in an illustrative sense.
If we call the rebate on the duty x-pence, then (a) on the certificate of the Warden of the Customs--or King's Warehouse at London or Liverpool that x-lbs. of Nyasaland tobacco, value 3d. per lb. or over, has arrived in the United Kingdom in a British bottom for the purpose of sale in the United Kingdom, the Customs House authorities would grant a rebate on the duty of x-pence per lb., and this rebate would be paid either direct to the authorized agents of the British grower in Britain or paid over to the Crown Agents and sent to the Nyasaland Government for payment to the Notes on the above.
1. On the tobacco being taken out of bond by the purchaser full duty would be paid, and there would thus be no complications in connexion with the drawback on offals, etc.
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2. The Warden of the Customs, or of the King's Warehouse, being an independent Government official who is in touch with the tobacco market, would be the best judge of the value of our tobacco, and no appeal from his decision would be allowed.
3. The limit of 3d. would ensure that only good sound tobacco leaf would earn the rebate and so stimulate the production of the better grades. 4. The rebate going direct to the grower would have its maximum effect in encouraging British growers and British capital in a British Protectorate.)
Cotton. Regarding this product, which is even more vital to the Empire than tobacco, it is difficult to make a concrete suggestion, as at present no duty is levied on cotton. All the Committee can say is that it ought to receive a con- sideration, and, if any alteration is made in the near future in the present fiscal arrangements regarding cotton, that the Empire-grown product should receive preferential treatment. Apart from fiscal arrangements, the Committee feel that cheap and regular shipping facilities would be a great stimulus to the industry, and they especially urge in connexion with cotton, and the whole trade of the Protectorate generally, the benefit, which, would accrue from cheap and regular freights.
For the furtherance of the whole objects of the Allies, as recommended in their report, and especially with reference to the industries last mentioned, we would strongly urge the importance of adequate ocean shipping facilities as a question specially and vitally affecting the interests of this Protectorate. For nearly ten years prior to the outbreak of war Nyasaland was almost entirely dependent upon the Deutsch Ost Afrika Linie for the conveyance of cargo between Chinde (her only ocean outlet) and the world outside as represented by Beira. In the year 1903 the British India Steamship Company arranged for one of their coasting vessels to call at Chinde occasionally. but this service was withdrawn two years later. During the ten years_under_review more or less spasmodic attempts were also made by the Portuguese Line (Empreza Nacional de Navegaçao) to pro- vide cargo facilities between Chinde and Beira, mainly for the purpose of feeding their own liners sailing between the east coast and Lisbon. The fact remains, however, that the only regular and reliable steamship communication between Chinde and the outer world was the excellent service maintained by the Deutsch Ost Afrika Linie, which was liberally subsidized by the German Government, and certainly provided the east coast, including Chinde, with a service which left little to be desired. It should be mentioned, in passing, that for some four years preceding the War the Union-Castle Line steamers called outside Chinde for passenger traffic only, but were solely dependent on the small coasting vessels of the Deutsch Ost Afrika Linie for conveying passengers to and from the port of Chinde itself. On the outbreak of war in August, 1914, the Deutsch Ost Afrika Linie service was of course discontinued forthwith, and for no less than eleven months thereafter this Protectorate was entirely dependent for its mail, cargo, and passenger communications upon one or other of two small Portuguese coasters, whose calls at Chinde were most irregular, and whose main concern when they did call was naturally the transport of Portuguese sugar to Beira en route for Lisbon, etc. At length, after many delays and constant representations from those interested in Nyasaland, the Union-Castle Line placed a suitable little vessel, the 8.8. Ipu," of 686 tons gross, on the coast service between Beira and Chinde, etc., her first call at Chinde being in July, 1915, i.e., eleven months after the outbreak of war. This vessel has proved of the greatest service for the con- vevance of mails, cargo, and passengers between Beira and Chinde, and must also have yielded a good return to her owners. Of late, however, there have been rumours of her possible withdrawal, which it is hoped are not well founded. In any case, this Committee would respectfully urge that it is absolutely essential to the welfare and development of Nyasaland that a regular and reliable steamer service under the British flag should be assured between Chinde and Beira. This could form part of a larger scheme to ensure an adequate service on the east coast generally, replacing the Deutsch Ost Afrika Linie, and should, if necessary, be subsidized by the Imperial Government, so that Nyasaland and other British dependencies served by the east coast should not again find themselves in the unenviable position of being solely dependent on alien bottoms for the maintenance of communications with the outer world.
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