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General Development of Jamaioa and Sierra Leone.-Colonel Amery suggested that these Colonies might be taken in hand next.
The next meeting was fixed for Wednesday, 24th November.
NINTH MEETING, WEDNESDAY, 24TH NOVEMBER, 1920.
PRESENT:
Lord MILNER (in the Chair).
Colonel AMERY.
Lord HARCOURT,
Sir OWEN PHILIPPS.
Sir WILLIAM MERCER.
Sir JOHN Eaglesome,
Mr. DARLING.
Mr. DAWSON.
Mr. G. I. H. LLOYD (Representing the Department of Overseas Trade). Sir H. READ.
Mr. GRINDLE.
Mr. EZECHIEL (Secretary).
Mr. Eyre Hutson, C.M.G., Governor of British Honduras, and Mr. Darnley of the Colonial Office were also present; and during the course of the meeting Colonel A. M. Jackson and Mr. G. W. Braithwaite, directors of the British Honduras Syndicate, attended to give evidence with regard to the development of that Colony.
The Minutes of the Eighth Meeting were passed.
The question was again raised by members whether some assurance could be given to the investing public of the permanency for at least a period of years of the policy of preference on West Indian sugar, either in the form of a declaration by His Majesty's Government, or in some other manner. Mr. Hutson stated that it had been his intention also to raise this point. It was pointed out, on the one hand, that a declaration by the Government, though it might be of some value, could not bind future Governments or Parliaments, and on the other, that Canada had signed a formal agreement to allow preference for ten years, and that what Canada had done might be possible also for the United Kingdom to do. Lord Milner said that he would consider the matter.
T
Development of British Honduras.-The following papers had been circulated to the Committee:-
Memorandum by Mr. Hutson, dated 28th October, 1920.*
Supplementary memorandum by Mr. Hutson, dated 3rd November, 1920.†
Report on Staun Creek Valley by Mr. W. R. Dunlop, Agricultural Adviser to the Colonial Government, dated 30th April, 1920.‡
The Governor's despatch to the Secretary of State, dated 4th May, 1920, § forwarding Mr. Dunlop's report.
Sir Francis Watts's letter to the Colonial Office, dated 26th July, 1920, forwarding comments on Mr. Dunlop's report.
Statement by Colonel Jackson and Mr. Braithwaite, dated 22nd November, 1920.¶
Mr. Hutson gave further information to supplement his written memoranda. He stated that a geologist was being engaged for the Colony with the aid of a grant from the Colonial Research Committee, and that the investigation of the possible oil resources was likely to be taken in hand soon by private enterprise, applications having been received from the Anglo- Persian group and also from British Controlled Oilfields, Ltd. He referred to the arrangemente made for direct fortnightly shipping connection with Canada, and Colonel Amery said that ne understood that the first ship would sail in December.
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Mr. Hutson stated that he had arranged to pay a visit to Jamaica on his way back to British Honduras in December, with a view to the establishment there of an agency for the emigration of labourers and settlers to British Honduras. Sir Owen Philipps referred to the regular seasonal emigration of labourers from Spain to Cuba and the Argentine, and suggested! that the same source might be made available for British Honduras; but the Governor con- sidered that if satisfactory arrangements could be made in Jamaica, and sufficient wages were offered, an adequate supply of labour would be forthcoming from that Colony, and that this would be preferable to the introduction of Spanish labour. Maltese labour was also mentioned. The question where money could be obtained for the development of the Colony was dis- cussed. Mr. Darling considered that the linking of the Colony with the United States of America for exchange purposes rendered it practically out of the question to attract capital from this country. The Governor referred to a proposed Government loan of $1,000,000 for new public buildings (to replace those destroyed by fire), a Customs quay, and the dredging of the bar at Belize, and said that he hoped this money might be obtained in Canada. He also suggested that the Imperial Government might guarantee à loan for a Government contribution to the establishment of a sugar factory.
Colonel Jackson and Mr. Braithwaite attended at 5 p.m. and gave explanations with regard to the written statement previously supplied by them.
No date was fixed for the next meeting of the Committee.
Enclosure in No. 3 in West Indian No. 207
No. 21, page 96.
+ No. 22, page 9R.
§ No. 4 in West Indian No. 207.
No. 5 in West Indian No. 207.
No. 23, page 99.
13
II.-REPORTS OF SUB-COMMITTEES.
(I.)
REPORT OF THE UASIN GISHU RAILWAY SUB-COMMITTEE TO THE MAIN COMMITTEE.
The Sub-Committee met at the Colonial Office on Tuesday, the 27th January, at 3 p.m., and on Friday, the 30th January, at noon. Mr. Bottomley, of the Colonial Office, was present throughout both meetings.
Major E. S. Grogan attended during part of the first meeting to give evidence with regard to the Eldama Forest. He handed in the "Notes on alternative aliguments for the proposed Uasin Gishu Railway," of which a copy is annexed, and expressed his willingness to enter into a guarantee under bond as to the traffic which he would undertake to place upon a line along the surveyed route. He promised to put the substance of the guarantee in writing, the form to be arranged subsequently with the Government. Speaking offhand, he anticipated that he should be able in due course to place 50,000 tons a year on the line, roughly half of which would be for local distribution and half for export. He stated that as it now cost him Rs. 18 a ton to get timber to the nearest point of the present railway, he would be willing to pay the same amount or more to get it carried to Nakuru along the new railway. Timber for export could not, however, bear a higher charge than the present rate of 4 cents per ton-mile. Questioned as to the exhaustion of this timber traffic in the course of years, he pointed out that the weight of commercial timber in the forest is estimated on official figures at 6,000,000 tons, and added that in his opinion the forest should be stripped and not replanted (except on the slopes) but converted to agriculture.
Sir E. Northey pointed out, in favour of the surveyed route as against a line from either Londiani or Mau Summit, that the whole of the first 40 miles from Nakuru to the Eldama Forest was not only easy country for the line to traverse but was already settled and would yield revenue immediately.
At the second meeting Sir E. Northey handed in copies of a further lettert from Major Grogan, enclosing an account of an interview between Sir C. Bowring, the Acting Governor, and representatives of the Nairobi Chamber of Commerce. A copy of this is annexed.
On the facts now before them the Sub-Committee recommend (subject to the receipt of a satisfactory guarantee from Major Grogan, in such a form that the guarantee will run with the land)--
(a) That the suggestions for starting a new line from Londiani or Mau Summit should be dropped, and that a railway following the surveyed route should be built from Nakuru as far as Soi, some 15 miles beyond Eldoret, the total length of this line being about 137 miles, and any extension beyond Soi being left to the future; (b) that the railway should in the first instance, with a view to saving cost, be of the nature of a pioneer railway, bridging being reduced as far as possible by deviation, and the maximum gradient allowed (with compensation for curvature) being, say, 2:00 per cent. inwards and 1-25 per cent. outwards, the export traffic being heavier than the import traffic.
Sir J. Norton Griffiths and Mr. E. de Stein attended during part of the second meeting to discuss the proposals with regard to finance and construction made by the former in his letter to the Colonial Office dated 22nd December, 1919. As regards finance, it was pointed out by Sir W. Mercer that the money required could be obtained most cheaply if a loan could be issued as a trustee security under the Colonial Stock Acts, and this was admitted by Mr. de Stein. As it is understood that the principle of annexation has been approved by the Secretary of State, such an issue will be possible, and the Sub-Committee recommend that if it is decided to proceed with the construction of the line a loan should be issued through the Crown Agents in the usual way.
As regards construction, the main question is whether it should be carried out department- ally or by contract. Sir E. Northey is distinctly in favour of a contract, principally on the ground that the Protectorate staff is insufficient for the work and that Sir J. Norton Griffiths has a staff readily available, possessing the necessary cohesion and experience of similar work. The Sub-Committee concur in this view, and recommend that the contract should be arranged with Sir J. Norton Griffiths, generally on the terms offered in his letter of the 22nd December. To fix the basis on which the contractor's commission of 5 per cent. (to be augmented, as he proposes, by bonuses for cheaper or quicker construction) is to be calculated, Sir J. Eaglesome consider that a sufficiently close estimate can be prepared from the survey reports and from further information, as to the quantity of earthwork, &c., which it was arranged to obtain by telegram from the Protectorate Government.
The Sub-Committee further recommend that provision should be made in the loan for the 30 mile extension of the Thika branch railway to Fort Hall, estimated to cost £182,000. understood that this line will be easy and cheap to construct, and, passing as it will through It is country already in course of development, is likely to pay well.
19th February, 1920.
H. J. READ (Chairman)
•
• No. 4, page 67.
† No. 6, page 69.
See Appendix II to No. 2, page 65.