CO885-8 — Page 244

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

Miscel-

laneone, No. 142.

P. 132.

p. 57.

P. 63.

p. 156.

pp. 69-71.

8

girders, with the result of causing the Government inconvenience and expense, in which the balance of the correspondence seems to be against the Crown Agents, though the long letter of explanations dated 23rd November, 1898, which they have supplied, "ought to have been included with the other letters sent by the Governor.

A third criticism is contained in a letter from the Colonial Treasurer of the Straits Settlements, who writes "the only way in which I can suggest that the Crown Agents could serve us better would be in taking the initiative in securing, the most economical expenditure on supplies where such action is possible." It is worth noting on this that, if agents are to take initiative they must be given considerable discretion, whereas the basis of the immediately preceding complaint was that the Crown Agents had not followed instructions, and the general tenour of the Governor's despatch is to the effect that they are not sufficiently amenable to their employers, the Colonial Governments.

In the case

in point, as far as I can make out, at a inter stage of the proceedings, the Treasurer, being in this country, interviewed the makers of the notes in question, Messrs. De la Rue, and secured a reduction which might not have been secured at an earlier stage.

In a later despatch dated the 31st December, 1901, Sir F. Swettenham forwarded a complaint from the Government of the Federated Malay States as to the condition in which three locomotives were received from the Crown Agents and pointed out that the inspection for which £23 was paid by the Federated Malay States must have been at fault. The matter being still under enquiry when the Crown Agents wrote their letter of the 30th of July, 1902, could not then be commented upon, but the Crown Agents added that it was at most a complaint against Inspectors and not against themselves, their contention being that, while they are responsible for the general competency of their Inspectors, there is a clear difference between their own acts and those of the Inspectors, who do technical work which the Crown Agents themselves do not and cannot check. As a matter of fact in the present case the Inspecting Engineers have been required to refund one third of the cost of inspection, and the Contractors have paid the sum of £100 by way of compensation.

A still later despatch dated 20th February, 1902, referred to defective rails supplied pp. 164-7. in 1896 to the Perak State Railway; and the correspondence shows that the contractors refunded a sum estimated by the Consulting Engineere to be about the value of the nails complained of. A further despatch, however, from Sir F. Swettenham covered reports which in his opinion established the contention of the Government of the Federated Malay States that they had good ground for serious complaint in regard to both the rails and the locomotives, and that they had not been able to obtain the redress to which they are entitled. The Crown Agents' answer is to the effect that they had recovered

pp. 58-62.

pp. 67-9.

from the makers the actual value of the defective rails.

24. The High Commissioner of Southern Nigeria, Sir R. Moor, in his despatch of 30th November, 1901, refers to delays by the Crown Agents; and the Superintendent of Marine and the Director of Public Works, in minutes which he encloses, states that requisitions were complied with in much shorter time when the Protectorate had its own Purchasing Agent in London. On the other hand, Sir R. Moor pays a special tribute to the Crown Agents for the "expeditious and satisfactory manner in which the stores, supplies, equipment &c., for the Aro expedition have been purchased and sent out," adding, "I do not suppose that there is any business firm in the United Kingdom that would have executed the work more promptly and satisfactorily.”

Sir R. Moor also, as already noted, calls attention to want of care in inspection and passing of goods for shipment.

25. The High Commissioner of Cyprus, Sir W. Haynes Smith, in his despatch of 4th February, 1902, gives a memorandum specifying cases in which there have been grounds pp. 155-6. for complaint against the Crown Agents, but they do not seem to require any special Pp. 160-3. comment in view of the further explanations which the Crown Agents now give.

p. 155.

pp. 72-3.

pp. 152

Sir W. Haynes Smith raises by implication in his despatch, the question of paying in advance for stores, and I can only say that I agree with the Crown Agents in thinking that the standing rule that goods should only be paid for on delivery is thoroughly sound and should not be modified.

26. In addition to the instances of delays which Sir D. Wilson gives in his despatch. from British Honduras of 12th March, 1902-delays which, he says, lead to purchases either locally or in the United States-he quotes (paragraph:6) two cases—in one of which the inspector seems to have been at fault of other articles them had been ordered being want to the Colony. In both instances, when the matter was brought to the Crown Agents' notice, full satisfaction seems to have been obtained for the Colonial Government.

9

478

No. 142.

27. I will now state the conclusions to which I have come after considering the replies Miscel to my circular.

I invited expressions of opinion only as to the manner in which the laneous, Crown Agents have transacted the commercial business of the Crown Colonies, omitting reference to their financial work, and to various other services which they render to the Colonial Governments. Looking at the commercial side of their business alone, allowing for the percentage of mistakes for which allowance in all businesses must be made, and taking into consideration the very small charge for agency which the Colonies have to pay, I consider that this system has beyond question worked well for the Crown Colonies; and if the whole range of the business, commercial, financial and miscellaneous is taken into account, I consider that it has worked exceptionally well. The Crown Agents have, in my opinion, by able, upright and single-minded service deserved the confidence alike of the Governinents of the Crown Colonies and of successive Secretaries of State.

28. I hold that, bearing in mind the price paid, the safeguards given, and the accumulated experience which is at the service of each Government, the system is a clear gain to every single Colony which is served by it; and over and above this one main consideration I consider that inasmuch as the Crown Colonies have in the nature of things, in their varying interests, conditions and prejudices, many obstacles to anything like community of feeling and concerted action, it is not unimportant on Imperial grounds that their business in this country should have a common centre, just as the political and administrative questions, which concern them all, find a common meeting ground in the Colonial Office.

29. At the close of Sir A. Hemming's despatch of 8th October, 1901, as I have already noted, he expresses his opinion that in order to avoid delay, and for other reasons, it will probably be for the interests of Jamaica "rather to increase than to decrease the amount of purchases made from the United States of America for the services p. 28. of the Government." It would, of course, not admit of justification to prevent a Colony from buying in the nearer and the cheaper market, if the advantage of doing so clearly outweighs the advantage of employing an organization which has been carefully designed to safeguard the purchaser by employing trained inspection and the best possible expert advice. But when the Crown Agents are employed, they are not required to confine their dealings to the British market alone, if they consider that the interests of a Colony in any given case would thereby suffer. This is shown by the instance quoted in the p. 82. 36th paragraph of their letter of 7th April, 1902, in which an order for Portland cement was placed at Hamburg. Moreover, cases must constantly continue to arise in which it is an open question whether the interests of the Colony would be best served by placing the order in-say-the American market or through the Crown Agents in the United Kingdom, and in such cases it may reasonably be held that the benefit of the doubt should be given to the home market; and in that home market the agency should be employed which has the best opportunities of knowing, and the longest experience in judging, what the Colonies require and what the manufacturers can give. In the same way, when it is necessary to buy in the Continental markets, it appears to me that it is not only for the commercial interests of the Colonies but also politically expedient that the orders should be executed through the central agency in the United Kingdom.

30. It cannot be denied, I think, that the advantages, direct and indirect, of the present system greatly outweigh the disadvantages, and it only remains to consider whether there are any details in which the system can usefully be modified. It has been abundantly shown that the main practical defect under existing conditions is delay in complying with orders from the Colonies; and, as has been already noted above the Crown Agents point out that one source of delay is the necessity which arises under their instructions, if in the case of any requisition from the Colonies the Colonial pp. 74-75. Regulations have not been fully complied with, of reference to the Colonial Office. In this connection I take also the objection to the existing system which has been put forward by Sir F. Swettenham, and to which I have already referred, viz., that the Crown Agents are not sufficiently under the control of the Colonial Governments, that they are not sufficiently what their name implies, viz., the agents of the Colonial Govern- ments. I am prepared to modify the existing Colonial Regulations, so as to minimise the number of references to the Colonial Office, and in the hope of to some extent removing this feeling, whether well or ill founded, to which Sir F. Swettenham has given expression.

31. As between the Colonial Governments and the Secretary of State, the rules will remain unaltered. The expenditure for articles to be supplied by the Crown Agents will still require the sanction of law and the approval of the Secretary of State, and every

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Miscel- laneous, No. 142.