CO885-24 — Page 73

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

ཀྭ། ?」

Reference :-

C.O. 885

24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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FIJI.

A club will not only be an important factor in bringing together all ranks of the force, but it will also be a great boon to the young men of Suva, many of whom have not separate houses of their own, have few suitable places where they can spend their leisure hours in the evening, and, at present, have few opportunities of congenial social

I have, &c.,

office, on the completion of the new building for that department.

intercourse.

Enclosure in No. 55.

1914.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

FIJI,

MESSAGE

(No. 22 of 1914).

BICKHAM ESCOTT,

Governor.

THE Governor has the honour to lay before the Legislative Council a minute by the Officer Commanding the local forces, submitting statements which show the total estimated cost of the local defences of the Colony up to and inclusive of the 23rd instant, and the total estimated cost of the local defences from the 24th instant up to and inclusive of the 30th September next, and to invite the Council to vote the sum of £3,214 14s. 6d.

2. The Governor has approved the arrangements in regard to the payment of members of the local forces which are set out in the Commanding Officer's minute.

3. If events should justify a reduction after the 24th instant in the number of members of the local forces kept on active service, the full amount of £1,631 88., being the estimated cost of the forces from that date to the 30th September next, will not be expended.

4. The Council will be glad to know that the Commanding Officer has reported most favourably on the discipline, conduct, and work of all ranks in the local

forces.

Government House,

Suva, 22nd August, 1914.

BICKHAM ESCOTT,

Governor.

At a meeting of the Legislative Council held on the 27th August, 1914, the Council voted the sum of £3,214 14s. 6d. for the purpose referred to in the Governor's message No. 22 of 1914.

D. R. STEWART,

1st September, 1914.

8398

(No. 250.)

SIR,

Acting Clerk, Legislative Council.

GAMBIA.

No. 56.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 9th February, 1915.)

Government House, Bathurst, Gambia,

30th December, 1914.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 246, of the 20th November,* desiring me to furnish you with a statement, in a form suitable for preservation as a record, detailing the various measures which have been taken in the Gambia to meet the situation arising from the war.

* 45801 not printed.

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GAMBIA.

2. On receipt of the official notifications that war had broken out with Germany, the appropriate Proclamations were at once issued, and the prescribed measures for the defence of the Colony inaugurated, replacing the previously instituted precautionary steps.

3. The immediate personal result was the loss to me of my private secretary and aide-de-camp, Lieutenant T. Wall, of the 5th Lancers, who left to rejoin his regiment on 8th August. I was thus for a time single-handed in dealing with the numerous telegrams passing in the early period of the war, and was without secretarial assistance, which would have been helpful in local matters. The inconvenience was, however, only personal, and not a very serious matter.

4. The question of a general disproportionate advance in price of foodstuffs by the local stores at once arose, and was dealt with promptly, with the assistance of the Honourable S. J. Forster, M.L.C., and Mr. Bailey, of the Bathurst Trading Company, M.L.C., who, with the Colonial Secretary, at my instance, held a meeting of representatives of all firms, when notes were compared, and it was agreed that no rise greater than 25 per cent. was justified or would be made by anyone.

5. The possibility of scarcity of food supplies and the expediency of the Government's providing and undertaking the distribution of stocks on hand was debated, and a list of all supplies in the town was obtained. As a result, it was judged not to be either necessary or expedient that the Government should take over the stock, difficulties in regard to the carrying out of which would, moreover, have been considerable. Arrangements were, however, settled by which the merchants were asked, and agreed, to reserve a percentage of their stocks, and report when that limit was reached, and not to dispose of it without notification to the Government and approval being given. This worked quite well. Report was duly received from time to time, but it did not become necessary at any time to take over any stock, or to curtail further mercantile sales, and no trouble what- ever in this connexion has been experienced. Prices have slightly increased of such things as rice, milk, tinned provisions, liquor, and the like, but only to a quite moderate extent, and there has been no dearth of supplies of any sort, as far as I am aware.

6. On the 20th September, the Legislative Council unanimously voted a gift of £10,000 from the Colony's surplus funds to the Prince of Wales's National Relief Fund, of which report was cabled to you and subsequently confirmed by despatch.

7. The native community in the town of Bathurst have, of their own initiative, since subscribed a sum which I am told amounts to nearly £300, and is to be shortly handed to me for remittance, and some small sums have been handed in otherwise. 8. I have received visits and expressions of loyalty and devotion from all chiefs whose business has brought them to Bathurst, and letters to the same effect from some few others. The Mohammedan community has been quite undisturbed. Their leaders in Bathurst bave seen me and expressed their fervent hopes for the success of the British arms, for which prayers, they tell me, are being daily offered in the mosque.

9. A circular letter to all the chiefs of the Protectorate, explaining in simple language the causes of the war, was sent by me in September last, with copies of which I have already furnished you.

10. On 8th August, in accordance with the telegraphic orders received from home, certain German reservists who had embarked at Sierra Leone, five in number, were removed from on board the Elder Dempster steamer in this port and detained as prisoners of war for six weeks, being then sent to Sierra Leone. No trouble arose in this connexion. Report on the subject has already been made to you.

11. The censorship of cable communications was entrusted to Mr. Ě. St. J. Jackson, legal adviser, and, as stated in a previous despatch, has been conducted efficiently throughout and without any sort of hitch or friction. On Mr. Jackson's departure on leave, his place as censor was filled by Mr. M. McDonnell. It has not been found necessary to employ any other but the one official in censorship work. 12. On the 10th September the Inspector-General of the West African Frontier Force passed through en route to the Cameroons, and took from here one officer, one non-commissioned officer, and fourteen men of the Gambia Company.

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GAMBIA.