5:0
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TITLICO.885/25
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
158
the committee, so far as the circumstances of this Protectorate appear to call for special attention in connexion therewith.
His Circular despatch of 24th October, 1916, requests that the reply may be so drafted as to cover the whole ground, avoiding reference to previous corres- pondence on the subject as far as possible, and that copies of resolutions or debates of the Legislature be forwarded to him. No resolutions or debates of the Legis- lature have taken place, but the questions have been referred to the representative commercial body, ie., the Nyasaland Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce, and to the Treasurer, the Attorney-General, the Director of Agriculture, and the Custodian of Enemy Property, whose observations are attached.
2. Since this action was taken Mr. W. H. Long's Confidential Circulars of the 20th January and 5th April last have been received, transmitting copies of interim reports by Lord Balfour of Burleigh's Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy concerning the importation of goods from present enemy countries after the War, and on the treatment of exports from the United Kingdom and British overseas possessions and the conservation of the resources of the Empire during the transitional period after the War.
3. It is clear that this Protectorate will be affected very nearly by many of the measures likely to arise from the deliberations of the Allies and the Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy. Most points in which Nyasaland in relation to the Empire generally will be concerned are touched on in the attached reports by the Chamben of Agriculture and Commerce and the officers named above who have been consulted. I, however, submit the following brief observations :- (a) Measures for the War period. In this we have followed legislation in the United Kingdom as far as circumstances required.
(b) Measures for the transitional period after the War. A similar policy will doubtless be followed during the period of reconstruction after the War.
(c) Permanent measures thereafter. Of the four references (a) to (b) to the Commercial, and Industrial Policy Committee, (c) to what extent and by what means the resources of the Empire should and can be developed, and (d) to what extent and by what means the sources of supply within the Empire can be pre- vented from falling under foreign control, call for special comment. The Director of Agriculture has dealt with these subjects seriatim in his memorandum, and his remarks are to the point, but it is probable that matters might usefully be con- sidered under the following general heads, i.e., Trade, Industries, Transport, and Ocean Shipping.
Trade.
4. I am strictly in accord with the general opinion that legislative measures hereafter should be directed to the exclusion, as far as practicable, of foreign interest or controlling influence from commercial undertakings in this country, and that with this end in view the constitution of the directorate and the origin of the capital of concerns operating here should be subject to careful examination and necessary limitations established.
5. A very considerable proportion of capital invested in local businesses prior to the War had its origin in Germany, and the usual "peaceful penetration," bringing with it, control of important branches of internal and external trade, was proceeding. The investigations into the affairs of Messrs. L. Deuss & Company, Messrs. Michahelles & Herman Werth, incidental to the winding up of their businesses, revealed the extent to which trade and profits were drifting, under carefully organized foreign guidance, from British to German interests.
Apart from the large share of the native and European trade enjoyed by these firms, the lesser, but profitable, salt, dairying, and butchery businesses, which are of considerable comparative importance and yield a rich return, were being absorbed by the Germans established in this country.
6. Such matters, I submit, should have the careful attention of a local com- mittee of business men, stimulated by a Government official, whose duty would be to keep in touch with all current business, look for new openings, correspond with the business representatives of the United Kingdom. Dominions, and Colonies. in London and elsewhere, and create local interest in matters concerning the development of our trade, both internal and external, on Imperial, lines. There would be full scope for a keen business department of the Government in this direction.
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7. Trade with present enemy countries, though not great, was of considerable importance, as the following statistics tend to show :-
1911-12... 1912-13... 1913-14...
IMPORTS FROM
United Kingdom.
British
Possessions.
Germany and Austria.
Other Foreign Countries.
Total,
£
£
£
£
1909-10...
78,901
9,066
12,922
11,740
112,629
1910-11...
150,630
13,053
22,242
13,785
199,710
194,783
15,992
17,677
19,096
247,548
200,517
17,318
35,244
23,910
276,989
149,120
15,348
19,095
25,148
208,711
Total, 5 years Percentage
£773,951
74
70,777
6.77
107,180
10.25
93,679
8.96
1,045,587
100
Of the imports during the five years prior to the War 8975 per cent. came from the United Kingdom, British possessions, Allies, and neutrals, and 1025 per cent. from present enemy countries.
The goods imported from Germany and Austria consisted mainly of pro- visions, sugar, flour, glassware, hardware, stationery, machinery, and cotton and woollen manufactures, the last being by far the most important item.
F
EXPORTS TO
United Kingdom.
British Possessions.
Germany and
Austria.
Other Foreign
Countries.
Total.
£
£
£
£
1909-10...
79,329
10,809
12,872
13,103
116,113
1910-11...
146,589
17,619
14,822
10,499
189,629
1911-12...
194,950
1,441
16,955
4,245
217,591
1912-13...
172,908
52,367
11,111
12,128
218,514
1913-14...
195,550
46,303
9,244
14,991
266,088
£789,326
76.05
128,539
12:39
65,004
6.26
54,966
5-30
1,037,835
100
Total 5 years Percentage
During this period 93-74 per cent of exports went to the United Kingdom, British possessions, Allies, and neutrals, and 6.26 per cent. to Germany.
Exports to Germany comprised the following articles (there were no exports to Austria recorded) :-coffee, £6,032; rubber, £13,842; beeswax, £16,432; oil- seed, £2,217; strophanthus, £4,537; chillies, £526; tobacco, £1,926; cotton, £2,647; ground-nuts, £6,771; maize, 0,548.
8. It will be seen that of the whole trade of the five years previous to the War, both import and export, amounting to £2,083,422, Germany and Austria absorbed £172,184, or only 8.26 per cent., the balance of £1,911,238, or 91-74 per cent. going to the United Kingdom, British possessions, and present Allied countries or neutrals. Small as this trade with present enemy countries is, it would doubtless tend to expand if left alone. Nyasaland, it seems, could very well do without it, and while some form of preference in the matter of Customs duties in favour of goods of British or Colonial origin would exercise a deterrent effect as regards imports thence, the desire which is now felt by all to direct all our produce to markets within the Empire could be given effect to with little difficulty by a modified form of the present system of permits to export to foreign countries, which would be issued only in regard to a surplus of any commodity that remained after Imperial requirements had been met. Measures on the above lines would be welcomed by those concerned in this country at the present time, particularly as regards imports, since we are not dependent to any great extent on Germany or Austria for supplies, but it would be a different matter were the permit system, which creates something in the nature of a monopoly, to tend to reduce prices of produce to below a remunerative level. Such a danger, it seems, need not be contemplated, since the great demand within the Empire for all the more
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