CO885-(25-26) — Page 708

10

?

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Co

Reference :-

885/26

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

14

AGRICULTURII, CULTIVATED AND UNCULTIVATED LANDS, WAGES, &c., AND MANUFACTURES, MINES, AND FISHERIES.

These two sections should in future be struck out and replaced by the following viz. :-

(1) Production and Natural Resources.

(2) Wages and Cost of Living.

Detailed recommendations in regard to the first of these two sections are contained in the annexed memorandum which has been furnished by Mr. Glenny. (Schedule E.) We endorse these recommendations, though they may require modification and adaptation in the case of many Colonies.

Wages and Cost of Living should be a separate section and should contain full particulars with regard to wages for labour, including piece work, especially "praedial" labour (for which we should be glad to see substituted the more recognised English term "agricultural labour"). The list containing the average prices of articles should be extended in each Colony to cover all the chief staple articles consumed or used locally. The prices given should be the retail prices, showing in three columns the maximum and minimum rates, and the average rate ruling throughout the year. The average wholesale export prices (f.o.b.) of the staple products of the Colony during the year should be given for each mouth of the year as well as for the whole year.

GAOLS AND PRISONERS, AND CRIMINAL STATISTICS.

The Home Office have been consulted in regard to these two sections. That office could not for many months furnish full and detailed suggestions, but we recommend that the notes furnished by Mr. Farrant, of the Home Office, respecting Criminal Statistics (Schedule F.) be sent out to the various Colonies for their information and guidance.

In compiling Criminal Statistics care should be taken to discriminate between numbers of persons and numbers of offences.

A complete revision of these sections might, if necessary, be undertaken at a later date.

HOSPITALS,

We suggest, on the advice of Dr. C. W. Daniels, a slight modification of the information asked for in the sixth colump of the tabular statement under Question II., viz., the substitution of "floor space" for "cubic space." Dr. Daniels states that the forms give full information as to hospitals, and could not well be shortened.

LUNATIC ASYLUMS,

The Board of Control were invited to advise regarding this section. Their suggestions are embodied in Schedule G. of this Report. The Sub-Committee recommend that the Board should be invited to submit Tables modified on the lines proposed in their letter, but omitting any details which seem likely to involve serious labour in the preparation of the reports. The returns furnished by the Colonies relate to small institutions which cannot be expected to furnish such detailed information as the asylums in the United Kingdom. Differences of climate, &c., also make certain of the details furnished in respect of the United Kingdom inapplicable in the Colonies.

CHARITABLE AND LITERARY INSTITUTIONS.

•

In this section which should in future be headed " Charitable, Literary, and Scientific Institutions," the columns headed Hospital' and 'Lunatic Asylum' should be omitted. And the heading Almshouse' should read Almshouses and Poorhouses.' Some particulars of the Institutions mentioned should be included.

SAVINGS BANKS AND FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.

Reference should be made only to the principal Friendly Societies, e.g., Masonic Lodges, Ancient Order of Foresters, &c. The statements of the amounts due to the credit of depositors in Saving Banks at the end of the year should in all cases include interest accrued during the year. It is important that this section should include information, preferably in tabular form, respecting any co-operative or government-aided Agricultural Loan Banks.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

With the concurrence of the Director of the Meteorological Office we suggest that the return of daily observations should be omitted from this section of the Blue Books.

The annual summary should be included in the form shown in Schedule II, r'in such other form as may be approved from time to time for exhibiting numerically the salient features of the weather of the period and of the climate of the colony as affecting agriculture, commerce, public health, or other department of administration.

The section should also contain a short statement describing, in such manner as to be intelligible and interesting to the general public, the main features of the weather experienced during the year and the notable deviations from the normal.

15

In all countries, production, and, consequently, all commercial activities, are vitally depen. dent, in some form or other, upon weather conditions which should be faithfully recorded: especially is this true of new countries. It would therefore, in our judgment, be an important achievement if it were possible to ensure that the records of weather in the various Colonies should in future be compiled and co-ordinated in a scientific and practical manner. The Direcur of the Meteorological Office has suggested that the value and reliability of the returns would be improved if the officer employed in their compilation were so employed as part of his official duties and not, as is at present frequently the case, in an honorary capacity. We note the suggestion as, in our opinion, a valuable one, though the matter does not fail within our terms of reference.

The explanatory statement set forth in the section should not be of a perfunatory character, but carefully worded so as to show the important meteorological features of the year. It must have behind it properly kept schedules of daily values. In proposing that these daily schedules should be excluded from the Blue Books, we make no reflection upon their value; our only reason is that we consider that a better channel should in future be found for their publication.

They should, as heretofore, be transmitted promptly to the Director of the Meteorological Office, South Kensington, in print if the form is printed for local purposes, and if not, in manu- script. The annual summaries and the general statement should also be transmitted to that Office, and arrangements should be made with the Meteorological Committee for the preparation and issue of an annual volume embodying the reports of weather from all Colonies which have not an organised system of publication of their statistics of weather, and a brief summary from those that have.

HARBOURS.

There should be a separate section for Harbours.

This section should contain particulars similar to those obtained by the Dominions Royal Commission in reply to the questionnaire prepared by them respecting Foreign Harbours. (A form of the questionnaire is appended, Schedule I.)

The questionnaire respecting Harbours within the Empire was somewhat more extensive and asked for certain financial particulars, which it seems unnecessary to include in the Colonial Blue Books. (On this point we have had the benefit of the advice of the Secretary to the Dominions Royal Commission, Mr. E. J. Harding, C.M.G.)

RAILWAYS, CANALS, ROADS, TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONES, POST AND TELEGRAPU STATISTICS.

The General Post Office have been consulted in regard to these two sections and the pre- ceding section in so far as they deal with postal matters. Telegraphs and Telephones should not in future be included in the same section as Railways, Canals, Roads, but should be included in a section dealing comprehensively with Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones, which should include all particulars, statistical or otherwise, regarding these services. Returns of letters dealt with should contain particulars of letters, &c., despatched to, and received from, the United Kingdom, British Possessions, and Foreign Countries. The Return of Postal Orders should dis- tinguish the number and value of transactions of British and local Postal Orders.

Particulars should be given of any Government subsidies to Telegraph' Companies, and of the amount expended by the Government upon cable services. Particulars should also be given of all wireless stations, unless it is desirable for military reasons that such information should not be made public. It is desirable to distinguish between Government-owned and privately- owned telegraph and telephone lines; also to distinguish between length of line and length of wire.

There should be separate headings for Railways and Tramways, Steamship Services, and Canals, Roads, and Motor Services.

The particulars furnished in the latter section should indicate what roads are suitable for motor vehicles.

Colonial Governments will no doubt extend this section, as occasion arises, to include aerial şervices.

STEAMSHIP SERVICES,

Full particulars should be given not only of Ocean services, but also of any local Lako or River Steamship, Motor Boat or other organised services. This section should not only contain the details at present required respecting contracts for mail services, but should also indicate whether the contracts impose upon the Shipping Companies any obligations in addition to postal obligations.

There should be a general alphabetical index to the revised Blue Books, which might follow the lines of that now provided in the Mauritius Blue Book.

If our recommendations are accepted, it will be necessary as a first step, to revise the model forms, prepared in the Colonial Office, in order that they may be communicated in revised form to Colonial Governments.

We suggest that the Board of Trade should be officially consulted before an official decision is taken in regard to our report.

It is probable that it will be impracticable to take action on certain of our recommendations (should they be approved) until after the War. This applies particularly to the suggestions for altering the size of the Blue Books from folio to octavo--as such a change would necessitate

15023

C

A 8