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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
HEPERTI CO.885/25
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- | COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPM-NUT TO
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of which she normally furnishes more than one-third of the world's total annual supply. As an importer she is dependent upon the outside world for all the manufactured goods which she consumes and for certain provisions, which she has no means of producing on her own account. Her trade interests, therefore, are at once very clearly defined and of a very positive order. They are:-
a. To secure the best and most unrestricted market for her raw produce; and
b. To obtain the supplies she needs, of the precise kind and quality that she requires, at the lowest
possible prices.
5. From the point of view of local interests the ultimate destination of Gold Coast produce, or the nationality of the manufacturers who may make use of it, are necessarily matters of complete indifference; and, provided that the goods imported for local consumption are of the sort required, and are offered for sale at reasonable prices, their origin is, to this Colony, a question with which she has no concern. The stronger the competition set up among the purchasers of her produce, and the keener that competition among the manufacturers and traders who cater for her needs, the better are the trade-interests of the Gold Coast served. This may be regarded as a selfish, or even as an unpatriotic, view to take of the matter; but concerning its essential accuracy there can, I feel, be no room for dispute.
6. I submit, moreover, that if the larger and far more complex interests of the United Kingdom and of the self-governing Dominions demand that a protective policy should be adopted, in order to divert the Empire's supplies of raw materials to their manufacturing centres, it would appear, from the point of of view of the Gold Coast, at once more logical and more appropriate that the measures designed to effect this end should be taken, and that the resulting sacrifice should be borne, exclusively by those countries which stand to benefit by the policy in question, and not by the producing Colonies whose interests are bound to be injured by its adoption.
7. I further venture to submit that this matter raises the whole question of Great Britain's responsi- bility toward the tropical populations of the Empire. Our system of Government in these Colonies is of a kind that enables us, in the last resort, to take any legislative action that may appear to us to be expedient no matter how strong may be the local opposition thereto. Having regard to the peculiar psychology of the natives of the Tropics, experience has shown that this system of Government is the one best suited to their character, and that it is also best calculated to serve the general interest of these communities. I venture to suggest, however, that the fact that we have assumed and possess this power makes it all the more incumbent upon us to see that any legislation which we may propose is primarily framed in the interest of the native population concerned, and that no departure from this principle should be made without the deepest consideration and a full appreciation of its probable effects, moral even more than material. A perusal of the Memoranda furnished by the native unofficial members of Council,-vide enclosures ii, iv and v-will show that the natives themselves are keenly alive to this aspect of the question.
8. Finally, in this connection, I venture to point out that, during the period of more than three years which have elapsed since the declaration of war, the native population of the Gold Coast and Ashanti has manifested an ardent loyalty to the Empire, and has contributed, so far as has lain in its power, both I do not propose here to go into details on this sub- men and money to the success of the common cause. ject, nor can I pretend, of course to prophesy how far local enthusiasm will continue to stand the strain of an indefinitely prolonged trial of faith in our ultimate ability to defeat our enemies. I may, however, mention that, for instance, this attitude of the natives has rendered it possible, since the beginning of August, 1914, continuously to denude the Colony and Ashanti of the troops which, even in time of peace, are ordinarily maintained in them; that the Colony has thus been able to despatch expeditionary forces successively to Togoland, to the Kamaruns and to East Africa; and that these forces have been kept up to more than normal strength by repeated drafts of voluntary recruits supplied by the Chiefs and people of the Colony and its Dependencies. I am not in the least disposed to exaggerate the material value of the assistance which has thus been afforded to the Empire by the Gold Coast and its Dependencies. On the other hand, I do attach very great importance to the spirit of loyalty and devotion which, up to the present time, has thereby been manifested by the native population; for I believe that it is mainly to be traced to an appreciation by them of the fact that British rule secures to them justice and fair-play, and of the further fact that, though the Government possesses very extensive and arbitrary powers, it is scrupulous in their use, and never employs them save in the interest of the people whose affairs have been committed to its charge. I submit that it is most important that in devising a scheme for the economic organisation of the Empire no line of action should be adopted of a kind calculated to shake this confidence in the essential justice and disinterestedness of our rule. Immediate financial advantages, by whomsoever reaped, would, I think, be dearly purchased at such a price.
9. Turning now to a consideration of the recommendations of the Economic Conference of the Allies a copy of which was forwarded to me under cover of your predecessor's Circular Despatch of the 25th September, 1916, in so far as these Recommendations can be held to affect the Colony under my adminis- tration, it is perhaps hardly necessary for me to say that those under the Heading "A. Measures for the "War Period" were put into local operation very soon after war was declared, and have since been con- sistently maintained.
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10. With regard to the Recommendations under the Heading" B, Transitory measures for the Period of Commercial, Industrial, Agricultural and Maritime Reconstruction of the Allied Countries,” it is sug- gested
i. That countries suffering from acts of destruction, spoliation and unjust requisition should be recognised as having, inter alia, a prior claim on the raw material at the disposal of Great Britain and her Allies.
ii. That for a period of years the Central Powers should be deprived the benefit of most-favoured
nation treatment.
iii. That the Allies will undertake to conserve for the use of the Allied countries, before all others, the available supplies of their natural resources, and will further undertake to establish special arrangements to facilitate the interchange of these resources.
iv. To subject the commerce of the Central Powers to special treatment for a
order to defend the Allies from "unfair competition.'
;
period of years in
v. To prevent enemy subjects from exercising in the territory of Great Britain and her Allies" certain
industries or professions which concern national defence or economic independence."
11. It is apparently intended, that the measures here proposed are to be of a merely temporary character-part, so to speak, of a general punitive policy to be followed towards the Enemy Countries by Great Britain and her Allies, for a prescribed period after the conclusion of peace. It is, of course, no part of my province to express an opinion as to whether, when peace is eventually concluded, it will be found possible and expedient thus to prolong international strife by transferring its incidence to what the Paris Conference names" the economic plane." From the point of view of this Colony, however, it is important, in this connection, to ascertain how far we are likely to benefit by, and to what degree it is probable that we shall suffer from the pursuance of such a line of policy.
12. As regards our raw materials, with the exception of our minerals, we produce nothing which in my opinion, can appropriately be earmarked for the exclusive use of (i) the United Kingdom, (ii) Coun- tries suffering from acts of destruction, spoliation or unjust requisition, or (iii) the Allied Countries. Fur- ther, as regards our mineral exports-gold, manganese, and, in the near future, bauxite, these are already exclusively in British hands, and no difficulty will be experienced in perpetuating their exclusively British control. For the rest, no enemy subjects in the Gold Coast have engaged, in the past, in any "industries
or professions which concern national defence or economic independence."
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13. It has been suggested by the Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy, presided over by Lord Balfour of Burleigh, "that a policy of controlling exports during the transitory period immediately "following the war can and should be applied to carefully selected materials, the imports of which into "the enemy countries before the war were mainly derived from the British Empire and Allied countries, " and the available supply of which will be wholly or mainly required by the British Empire and the Allies "immediately after the war."
14. That Committee has also stated its emphatic opinion that "It is very desirable that interference "with the export trade of this country (viz. of Great Britain) after the war should be limited to cases in "which it is clearly required by the public interest."
The sentence last quoted, I suggest, applies to the export trade of this Colony no less strongly than to that of Great Britain.
EXPORT TRADE OF THE GOLD COAST.
15. The principal-exports of this Colony with which I need here concern myself are (i.) Cocoa, (ii.) Palm Kernels, and (iii.) Palm Oil. The following Table shows the quantities and the values of these commodities exported from the Gold Coast during the six years 1909 to 1914 inclusive. With regards to the figure for the last named year, it must be borne in mind that exports to Germany ceased as from the 4th August in 1914.