CO885-24 — Page 130

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRES NOT TO

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TRINIDAD.

5. With regard to sugar estates, I am pleased to be able to report that, in consequence of the improved prospects of the sugar industry, efforts are being made by sugar planters in Trinidad to extend the area of production, with the result that there is an increasing demand for agricultural labour. It has not, there- fore, been necessary for the Government, so far as Trinidad is concerned, to avail itself of your permission to give additional employment under the road scheme in In Tobago, however, where the area under anticipation of loan appropriations. sugar cultivation is very small, it will be necessary to expend a reasonable amount from loan funds until labour conditions improve.

6. There is no doubt that the permission so promptly given to me by you enabled the Government and the planters to avoid a situation which would have been attended with very bad results, and I desire to express my sincere gratitude for it.

I have, &c.,

4108/S

No. 96.

GEORGE R. LE HUNTE,

Governor.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 28th January, 1915.)

(Confidential.)

SIR,

Government House, 11th January, 1915.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Confidential despatch of the 24th November,* asking for a further detailed report on the measures taken by this Government on the declaration of war.

2. I enclose a memorandum on the subject, and also a detailed report from Colonel Swain, C.M.G., Commandant of the Local Forces and Inspector-General of Constabulary.

I have, &c.,

GEORGE R. LE HUNTE,

Enclosure 1 in No. 96.

Governor.

MEMORANDUM on the Measures takeN BY THE GOVERNMENT OF TRINIDAD ON THE OUTBREAK OF WAR.

(Confidential.)

1. THE "warning" telegram was received at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the 29th July, and was communicated to the Commandant, and the precautionary provisions of the defence scheme were carried out.

2. On Wednesday, the 5th August, at 1.30 a.m., I received the telegram announcing that war had been declared against Germany. At 6 a.m. a meeting of the Defence Committee and Heads of Departments who were responsible for various measures under the defence scheme, and to whom I added Captain W. H. Owen, RN.R., Marine Superintendent of the Royal Mail Company, as Harbour Master for defence purposes, Captain Saunders, the Harbour Master, being absent from the Colony on leave of absence, was held at Government House, and the duties of each were communicated to them. A Proclamation calling out the Reserves. and the Proclamation to the inhabitants of the Colony, were issued. Censorship of cables, telegraphs, and telephones was established. The Honourable A. G. Bell, C.M.G., Director of Public Works, was appointed Chief Censor, with a staff of assistants. Mr Thompson, Registrar of the Supreme Court, was appointed Press Censor later under the provisions of the War Censorship Ordinance, 38 of 1914.

3. On the following day, Thursday, the 6th August, I had a meeting with the Attorney-General, the Protector of Immigrants, the Honourable A. Fraser, M.L.C., Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Managers of the local banks

* Not printed.

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TRINIDAD.

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with reference to the financial situation, and more especially that of estates that I also had a might be unable to get money at once for the payment of labour. meeting with the Wardens of the several districts and gave them instructions.

4. A Proclamation was issued fixing the maximum prices of foodstuffs, and a committee formed, with the Honourable H. C. Gollan, K.C., Attorney-General, as Chairman, the Collector of Customs, the Honourable A. Fraser, M.L.C. (Chamber of Commerce), and the Honourable A. Wight, M.L.C., representing one of the lead- ing mercantile firms in Port of Spain, to regulate the reserving of sufficient supplies of provisions, coal, etc., required for local consumption, and the revision of prices from time to time as might be necessary.

5. A committee, with the Honourable R. G. Bushe, C.M.G., Auditor-General, Chairman, the Solicitor-General, the Honourable A. Warner, K.C., Sir Townhend Fenwick, K.C.M.G., late Senior Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council and Attorney for the late New Colonial Sugar Company, the Honourable A. Wight, M.L.C., and Mr. J. Brown, partner of the firm of Messrs. Gordon Grant & Com- pany, was formed to receive and deal with applications from estates for advances of sums necessary to pay the labourers' wages, and thus avoid both a large number of labourers being thrown out of employment and the estates falling out of cultiva- tion. These advances are secured as a first charge on the crops under Ordinance 39 of 1914. Steps were also taken by the Director of Public Works to give addi- tional employment on the roads; this was, however, only found necessary in Tobago. A committee, with the Acting Director of Agriculture, Mr. Freeman, F.L.S., and representatives of the agricultural interests, was formed to encourage the planting and distribution of ground provisions in order to secure a plentiful supply of native-grown food in case importations should be interfered with. The work of this committee has been very successful, and I am glad to say that there has also been a plentiful supply of imported foodstuffs.

6.

7. In accordance with instructions from the Secretary of State, the business of alien enemy firms trading in the Colony was closed down, and a committee, with the Receiver-General, the Honourable D. Šlyne, as Chairman, W. Kernahan, Official Receiver, Sir G. T. Fenwick, G. Purdie, Superintendent of the Colonial Bank, the Honourable A. Fraser, M.L.C. (Trinidad Shipping & Trading Company), J. H. Smith (Smith Brothers), W. Robertson (Smith, Robertson & Company), and A. Cipriani (late Machado & Company), was appointed to liquidate these businesses under Ordinance 37 of 1914.

"

8. The several Proclamations and Orders in Council issued by His Majesty's Government were published here dealing with contraband, and Ordinances 27 and 36 of 1914 were passed, prohibiting trading with the enemy. A Prize Court was established with the Chief Justice as Judge and the Attorney-General as the

Proper Officer."

9. On the 13th August a telegram was received that war had also been declared The German and with Austria and the necessary Proclamations were issued. Austrian Consulates were closed on the dates on which war was respectively declared against these countries, and German and Austrian subjects, with the exception of a few priests and others, were required to reside in Port of Spain and register their addresses with the police. The Acting German Consul, Mr. A. Holler, who was At a later date those also Consul for Austria, was desired to leave the Colony. who were not of military age were required to leave the Colony, and the others were interned at a military camp at St. James, under the charge of Captain Fraser The enemy members of the (of the Light Horse), Superintendent of Prisons. Benedictine Order in the country were recalled to the Benedictine Monastery near St. Joseph and placed under the personal supervision of the Lord Abbot De Caigny, a Belgian. Two other German priests were also directed to leave the Colony. Several enemy reservists were removed from British vessels calling here, and have been interned in the old military hospital of St. James' Barracks, which has been They are allowed all reasonable used since the troops left as a female prison. liberty.

10. On the 5th November the Secretary of State's telegram was received that war had been declared with Turkey, and the necessary Proclamations were issued. As practically the only Turkish subjects here were Christian Syrians engaged in

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