T
24
debate of 1891, that should the Colony become less able to bear the contribution of 100,000l. than they were, Her Majesty's Government were bound to reconsider the question, but that they take the view that "this undertaking does not apply further than to the immediate future, and that a careful examination of all the facts has by no means convinced the Government that, taking the quinquennial period as a whole, the Colony may not be able to bear an average charge of 100,0001, the amounts foreborne in earlier years being made good in more prosperous years."
7. The Association would remark in this connection that, when Mr. Goschen gave the undertaking in question, the revenue for the year 1889 was 4,409,927 dollars, and the annual Military Contribution met by the payment of about 650,000 dollars, but for the present year, the revenue, which, as your Lordship observes, "has been materially increased by fresh taxation" (mainly to meet the military claims), is estimated at only 3,950,000 dollars, and the contribution will, at the reduced rate of 90,000, and the present rate of exchange in London, equal a sum of close on 900,000 dollars. In these circumstances the Association ventures to think that the undertaking given by Mr. Goschen has been very inadequately recognized by Her Majesty's Government, even though it be admitted for the purposes of argument that they were entitled to limit its application to the immediate future."
8. And while the Association is of the opinion that the obligation resting on Her Majesty's Government as regards the immediate future has been inadequately met, still less can it recognize the justice of increasing the payments for 1897-98 to 110,000%, and 120,0007. respectively. At the present rate of exchangs, now about 28. 01d, per dollar, these sums represent close on 1,100,000 dollars and 1,200,000 dollars respectively, against which may be set, for purposes of comparison, a present gross revenue of about 4,000,000 dollars.
Your Lordship remarks that the ability of the Colony to bear this increased charge rests in some measure on the anticipation of "a moderate increase under the various heads of each year." But the Association ventures to point out that it depends also on the expenditure being maintained at its present level, and on the continued withholding of necessary public works.
9. The Association deeply regrets that, while making the arrangements already noticed for the quinquennial period of 1894-38, your Lordship adheres to the view that the Colony is liable for all military expenditure, and that Her Majesty's Government claim the right to enforce payment of the full amount. No such claim, as far as the Association is aware, has ever been made upon any other of Her Majesty's Colonies, and in the case of the Straits Settlements, the claim rests ou an agreement, which, made under other conditions, has, it seems to the Association, been unfairly strained to cover an entirely new set of circumstances. The fortifications of Singapore were built under the instructions of the Home Government, in pursuance of a scheme of Imperial defence, and the Colony has never admitted the claim of Her Majesty's Government to be repaid the full cost of these measures of defence.
10. The Association regrets that it appears to them that all through these long negotiations with the Colony, Her Majesty's Government have insisted on their own views, with scanty consideration for the wishes of the inhabitants of the Straits Settle- meats, as represented by both officials and non-officials, and that: the decision now arrived at is calculated to embitter public feeling against the Mother Country, by repre- senting her as harshly enforcing claims of an exceptional character, the fairness of which is disputed by the Colony, of whose funds she is the trustee.
11. I am instructed to forward your Lordship a copy of a resolution passed at a meeting of the Association held on the 19th December. Of the state of public feeling in the Colony, in regard to this question, your Lordship will doubtless be informed through the usual official channels.
WILLIAM ADAMSON, Chairman,
25
APPENDIX No. 4.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
Colonial Office to War Office.
Downing Street,
27th February, 1895.
Sir,
I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, for the information of Mr. Secretary Campbell-Bannerman, with reference to the letter from this department of the 24th ultimo, a copy of correspondence on the subject of the Military Contribution of the Straits Settlements.
My Lord Marquis,
No. 4a.
R. H. MEADE.
The Secretary, London Chamber of Commerce, to Colonial Office.
Botolph House, Eastcheap, London, E.C.,
21st February, 1895. The East India and China Trade Section and the Council of this Chamber have had under their consideration the question of the Military Contribution of the Straits Settlements to the Imperial Government.
The Chamber, in a previous communication to the First Lord of the Treasury, of date 1st July, 1891, represented the claims which it considered the Colony was entitled to make on Her Majesty's Government for a revision and reduction of the amount of the contribution then levied.
The Chamber now learns that, in a despatch of your Lordship to Sir Charles H. B. Mitchell, the Governor of the Straits Settlements of 6th November last, it is intimated that Her Majesty's Government, while deferring certain payments for the year 1894-95, have declined to modify their original claim of 100,0001, per annum, and have reserved to themselves the night to call upon the Colony for payment of the whole cost of military services,
The Chamber has reason to believe that the Colony is financially in a worse position to meet these claims than in 1891. for not only has the revenue decreased, but owing to the heavy fall in the value of silver, the amount payable to the Home Government on the basis of 100,000% per annum has increased from an average of 650,000 dollars to about 1,000,000 dollars.
The Colonists maintain that they are unable to pay the present demand without seriously checking the trade and prosperity of the Colony, and that already all their reserves have been swept away, and many important works withheld in order to meet the claims of the Imperial Government.
The Council of the Chamber would respectfully submit that this question should not be settled without weighing fully the effect on the prosperity of the Colony of exacting from it an amount of contribution which is regarded by the Colonists as excessive, whether in relation to its resources or to what is contributed by other Crown Colonies.
KENRIC B. MURRAY,
No. 46.
RESOLUTION passed at a meeting of the Straits Settlements Association, held at 2, Whittington Avenue, on the 19th December, 1894.
That this meeting protests against the decision of Her Majesty's Government in the matter of the Military Contribution, conveyed in the Marquis of Ripon's despatch to Sir Charles Mitchell, and to the principles laid down in that despatch.
W. A.
Sir,
Colonial Office to Secretary, London Chamber of Commerce.
Downing Street,
27th February, 1895. I am directed by the Marquis of Ripon to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st instant, respecting the Military Contribution of the Straits Settlements, and to state, for the information of the London Chamber of Commerce, that the question is receiving the careful consideration of Her Majesty's Government.
A
(237)
EDWARD WINGFIELD.
G
40248
476
516
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.