83
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
ILIC.O.885
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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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to the United States. It is not that the United States pays more for its sugar than the United Kingdom, but if producers have two markets offering of equal value, and it takes about half the expense to send it to one of them, it is but natural to suppose they will favour the one with the lighter charges.
By far the Another point is. could the United Kingdom take all our sugar? larger proportion of sugar made in these Colonies has to pass through the 1efiner's Are there refineries in the United hands before it is acceptable to the public taste. Kingdom able to cope with the quantity that could be sent? It must be borne in mind that the same argument might be used as regards proximity of market for the United Kingdom and those countries producing beet sugar; if therefore the West Indies were to throw their refining sugar on the United Kingdom to compete with beet, a congestion of the sugar trade in the United Kingdom might be produced, attended with disastrous results to ourselves.
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January 22, 1896.
16067.
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I have, &c.,
J. GARDINER AUSTIN, Jr.,
Chairman.
GOLD COAST.
No. 3.
EXTRACT from ACTING-GOVERNOR HODGSON's Despatch, No. 269, of June 29, 1896.
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6. With regard to paragraph 7 of the despatch*, I have the honour to state that all the products of the Gold Coast which are exported find a market in the United King- dom, although in some cases, as for example, coffee, cacao, and drugs, the market is often overstocked and prices are brought below the profitable margin. All exports are hampered by want of proper transport in the Colony, and high rates of freight by sea thence to the United Kingdom. This is more especially the case with regard to cotton, fibres, gums, and copra. I enclose copies of the freight tariffs of the two British steamer companies, which are under the same management, and are not, therefore, brought into competition-the only powerful factor in reducing rates of freight.
7463.
*
I have, &c.,
F. M. HODGSON,
Acting-Governor.
SIERRA LEONE.
No. 4.
ENCLOSURE in ACTING-GOVERNOR CAULFEILD's Despatch, No. 95, of March 19, 1896. Re Paragraph 7, Despatch of Her Majesty's Secretary of State, November, 1895.*
The chief drawback, and, in fact, the only drawback, to obtaining greater quanti- ties for export of the heavy staple indigenous productions of this (Sherbro) District, namely, palm oil and palm kernels, is the absence of communication to the more remote parts of the Hinterland. Until this is remedied by some means, there can be little or no hope of any material increase in these shipments, as the country about Sherbro is All produce now worked as far inland as the primitive means of transport will permit. has to be brought down, in the Mendi country, upon the backs of carriers; the limit is probably 60 miles; a load is about one bushel of palm kernels, for which they receive 4s. in barter. With increased facilities of transport, the upper Mendi country as far as our frontier could be worked, also other districts in contiguity; this, Sherbro, is essen- tially an oil palm country. Rubber growing wild in the upper localities would also show a great increase, and Camwood trees, which grow in endless profusion, and are of great size, would also be available for export in much increased quantities, and in farger and more workable billets than those now being shipped, and, in consequence,
* See page 17 of [C. 8449].
↑ Not printed.
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might reasonably be expected to command a higher market value, as its present crip- pled and insignificant size prevents this wood from being used for furniture and other domestic decorative purposes.
With regard to the cultivation of cereals and other commodities, it was considered by the gentlemen who attended the meeting held by me on the 23rd ultimo, that country-grown rice, if properly introduced into the United Kingdom, would, from its great nutritive properties, soon commend itself to the general public, and an extensive market for it would be at once created. I venture to unhesitatingly confirm these views, as I have frequently introduced it into my own family and to my personal friends, with the greatest success and appreciation of its qualities. The making of even this one cereal an article of export commercially would, I need hardly mention, give an enormous impetus to local labour.
Country cotton is another article which calls for much attention. It grows pro- fusely throughout Mendi, but is only cultivated for local consumption in the manufac ture of country cloth. This cotton has been favourably reported on by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and by the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and their reports published by the Government in the Sierra Leone "Royal Gazette," No. XXI. of the 31st May, 1890.
The
green
Kola trees grow well in Mendi, and the nuts therefrom are much in request by the native traders, there being a constant demand for kola nuts for the Gambia markets, as well as those of the United Kingdom. The cultivation of these trees upon a con- siderably extended scale should produce profitable results. At present, though the cultivation is general throughout Mendi, it is capable of being largely increased, and in this there appears much scope for European enterprise.
fruit shipping trade is likely, I am of opinion, to commend itself as one of the great exports of the Colony in the very near future, and is only delayed ap- parently owing to lack of speed in the steamers running between the Coast and the United Kingdom. When fast steamers are put on the line, the cultivation of fruits can be immediately increased to an enormous extent. Bananas from Las Palmas, during the past five years put upon the British markets at popular prices, have now educated the British public to a liking for this fruit; but those who have observed the puny, dwarfed banana plants of Las Palmas as compared to the tall and elegant foliage of the tropical banana plant, with the corresponding improvement in the respective flavours of the two fruits, cannot fail to have remarked the superiority of the West African banana, which could be put upon the home markets in practically illimitable quantities were a rapid means of transport introduced.
The same drawback applies to the exportation for commercial purposes of pine- apples, oranges, limes, mangoes, and many other descriptions of those delicious fruits peculiar to the tropics, all equally available and capable of enormous production.
The canning of fruits presents yet another industry which might with evident advantage be undertaken as a commercial enterprise within the Colony.
The cultivation of the before-mentioned commodities for purposes of exportation could, for some time at all events, be carried on within localities which do not suffer from those difficulties of inland transport which militate against the increase of exports of the great staple indigenous productions, namely, the want of communication to the more remote parts of the Hinterland.
T. J. ALDRIDGE,
Sherbro, February 1, 1896.
23816.
GAMBIA.
No. 5.
District Commissioner.
EXTRACT from ADMINISTRATOR LLEWELYN'S Despatch, No. 23, of April 11, 1896,
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8. With reference to the exports of this Colony, the sole one, ground nuts, all
to France, Marseilles or Bordeaux, where there are large mills for crushing them.
go
9. The oil extracted is finally passed away into consumption as olive oil or salad oil, and is also purchased from the crushers by the manufacturers, in Denmark and elsewhere, of butter, butterine, and such like compositions.
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