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38525
No. 22. MALTA.
GOVERNOR SIR F. W. GRENFELL to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.
1
(No. 165.) SIR,
(Received November. 2, 1901.)
•
The Palace, Valletta, October 28, 1901.
I HAVE the honour to state, with reference to your circular despatch of the 1st of June last, that after causing enquiries to be made, I am in a position to inform you that the mode in which the Crown Agents generally conduct their commercial business with this Government is quite satisfactory.
I have, &c.,
F. GRENFELL,
Governor.
47
2. An examination into the replies to these letters shows that there have been very few real causes for complaint in this Colony. In a few cases there appear, how- ever, to have been delays in the supply of stores, which it should have been possible to avoid.
3. For instance, certain galvanized iron sheets for the roofs of the Police Bar- racks at Axim, Sekondi and Saltpond, entered on a requisition bearing date August 14th, 1899, were not received in the Colony till the middle of February in the following year. Six months seem an unnecessarily long delay in the supply of such very ordi- nary materials.
4. Again, a requisition for the materials for a seed-raising house, bearing date November 20th, 1900, has not yet been complied with.
5. The Principal Medical Officer considers that there might be more expedition in the compliance with requisitions for medical stores, but has furnished me with no specific instances of delay.
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I have, &c.,
M. NATHAN,
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH--NOT TO
No. 23.
JAMAICA (CAYMAN ISLANDS).
GOVERNOR SIR A. W. L. HEMMING to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.
(No. 660.) SIR,
(Received December 10, 1901.)
King's House, Jamaica, November 18, 1901. WITH reference to my despatch, No. 582, dated the 1st October last,* I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a copy of a letter which has been received from the Commissioner of the Cayman Islands, stating that the business entrusted to the Crown Agents on behalf of that dependency has been extremely limited, but that, so far as it has gone, he has no complaint to make with respect to it.
I have, &c.,
Enclosure in No. 23.
A. W. L. HEMMING,
Governor.
COMMISSIONER OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS to the COLONIAL SECRETARY OF JAMAICA.
(No. 67.) SIR,
October 8, 1901.
WITH reference to Mr. Secretary Chamberlain's circular despatch of 1st June last, and to your letter, No. 7725/9218, of 30th September last, asking me to submit the information asked for in the circular as to whether the relations between this Government and the Crown Agents are satisfactory, I have the honour to state that the business entrusted to the Crown Agents on behalf of this dependency has been extremely limited, but, so far as it has gone, I have no complaints to make.
I have, &c.,
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No. 24.
FRED: SHEDDen SanguinetTI,
Commissioner.
GOLD COAST.
GOVERNOR MAJOR NATHAN to MR. CHAMBERLAIN. (Received December 18, 1901.)
(No. 544.) SIR,
Government House, Accra, November 21, 1901. On receipt of your circular despatch of the 1st June, 1901, on the subject of complaints of mistakes and neglect on the part of the Crown Agents in regard to the Commercial business entrusted to them, I caused letters to be sent to all the heads of departments in this Colony requesting them to furnish full particulars and detailed references with regard to any cases during the last three years in which they considered the interests of their departments had suffered from such mistakes or neglect.
No. 20.
Governor.
Colonial Office Note.-In a subsequent despatch, No. 316, dated July 24, 1902, the Governor writes:-
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"I regret that the non-compliance with this requisition was represented to me and so reported to you in my despatch, No. 544, dated the 21st November, 1901, as a case in which the interests of the Department in this Colony had suffered from neglect by the Crown Agents, and also that at the time I wrote my despatch, No. 113, dated 17th March,* the real facts of the case had not been ascertained. The delay in supplying the materials was due entirely to a mistake made in this Colony."
No. 25. JAMAICA.
GOVERNOR SIR A. W. L. HEMMING to MR. CHAMBERLAIN (Received December 20, 1901.)
(No. 686.) SIR,
King's House, Jamaica, December 3, 1901. WITH reference to my despatch, No. 592, of the 8th October last,† relative to the manner in which the Crown Agents for the Colonies deal with requisitions from this Colony, I have the honour to transmit herewith, for your information, a copy of a letter which the Colonial Secretary addressed to the Crown Agents, on the 22nd August last, asking for copies of Imperial Acts and other documents regarding the assessment and collection of income tax and of local rates. On the 23rd September the Crown Agents replied purporting to send a copy of Mr. Stephen Dowell's work, The Income Tax Law," and six copies of instructions to officers assessing and collect- ing this tax, which they had received from the Board of Inland Revenue. As the publications referred to did not come to hand a telegram was sent on the 23rd October, and confirmed by letter on the same date. In reply the Crown Agents telegraphed on the 12th ultimo, that they had despatched on the 9th by parcel post duplicates of the publications relating to income tax, and these duplicates were received on the 23rd ultimo, three months after the requisition from the Colonial Government. The publications relating to local rates which were asked for in the Colonial Secretary's first letter, have not been received, nor have the Crown Agents referred to them in any way, so as to indicate that they had observed and were attending to this part of the requirements of the Government,
2. This correspondence seems to me to furnish an illustration and confirmation of some of the comments made in my despatch above referred to, and particularly of the opinion expressed that such supplies as books and publications may be more advan- tageously ordered direct from book-sellers or publishers.
I have, &c.,
AUGUSTUS W. L. HEMMING.
Governor.
• 13583: not printed.
† No. 21.
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