PULSE OF EMPIRE.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15047, 15 August 1914, Page 14

PULSE OF EMPIRE.

'SIR E. GBETd BELIEF."

LONDON, July 3

In the course of his reply, Sir .Edward Grey did not dispute that the state of things under the working of the Condominium was not at all satisfactory, but if tho Conference could ccmo to an acceptable conclusion ho wculd be prepared to contend that we had better make a fresh start, and not pvblish reports i€>~nved previously. He could not definitely e«jy that the agreement had been reached whicfc "paid secure that the abuses of the past would bo prevented in tho future, but the tjmo would come when they would have to publish papers. He did not want that time to como, because if they had Condominium, and one party lai3 reports from its agenta on the spot giving an unsatisfactory account of affairs, it inevitably led to bickering and friction between tho two Governments. He believed that the Australian and New Zealand Governments, were consulted fully boforo the Conference met, and that those Governments would also be consulted at a Later stage. The first thing he wanted was to get within sight of agreement or something really worth having. He was unite sure the Secretary for the Colonies had been taking every step to keep in touch with the Australian Government, whose views were known on certain points. THE WHITE MAN'S DEBT. Sir Hugh Clifford, on the Gold Coast and its Dependencies at tho Royal Colonial Institute:—

a T 1 records of tho white invaders of Asia hold many em-blackened pages, mit no one of these can compare with .-he story of the European nations' carlv association with" tho West African coast I, who epeak to you, live, when in the Cold Coast, in a wooden building erected on the summit of one of these ancient strongholds—tho Swedish castle ?!JF ristianborg, and deep beneath our feet are the dungeons in which in their time hare been herded many thousands ?Lf! a ? es - temii f d torn from •their homes and kindred, bought as beasts are bought and cold, driven by 3The .«£\ u % f ? rests *° the *«■«»* .yard of my official entrances black against the hW of ient, to the scene a mysterious and T^ lend T> il seemed to iuo that this, and the otheV castles of tho trold Coast, stand here to-day a perpetual reminder of the white man's debt to the natives of West Africa— a debt which we of tho present generation are paying, and, God helping us, will somo day pay in full. The memories which tnesegrim monuments enshrine should help us to bo patient to understand and forgive, ii. in epite ot the high ideals and intentions which now animate our policy, the natives be 6low to trust and swift to suspect the motives of those whose forefathers' eojourn in tlieir midst had for its beginning such a wolter of sin and shame. UNWANTED INDIANS. Canada's right to exclude British eubjecte ia being argued before tho Court of Appeal in British Columbia. Munshi Singn, ono of the passengers on board the Komagata Maru, was ordered to be doported and is asking for a writ of habeas corpus. Tho applicant's counsel attacks tho constitutionality of the Dominion Immigration Law, contending that it goes beyond tho power conferred by the British North American Act, and also that it is an infringement of Magna Charts, in that a British freeman is being virtually exiled by ifc without justifiable cause, while it is contended that the effeot of the Ordera-in-Council would be to make it o crime punishable by deportation to be a British subject of Asiatic origin. Counsel further argues that the law ie unconstitutional and fatally bad, because it affects to give a preference to Chinese, Japanese, and Uruguayans, with those countries special treaties have been signed, as against British subjects. It is further atfiued that the Immigration Act applies to the whole of Canada, whereas„ tho Orders-in-Council are only being enforced in British Columbia, and that this is an illegal discrimination against Indians. FinalJy tho Orders-in-Council stated that immigrants must have £40, but no such requirements applied to touriete, though tho Immigration Act coupled immigrants and tourists together. MB HARCOURT'S SURVEY. Mr L. Harcouxt was one of tho chairmen at the Tropical Agriculture Congress when the subject of cotton cultivation wae again under discussion. Having viowed tho matter froni the standpoint of Lancashire, one of the divisions of which county he represents, in Parliament, Mr Harcourt drew attention to the possibilities of cotton production on the frontiers of British East Africa and Italian Somaliland. On each side of the Juba river, which there forms a boundary, there were, ho understood, miles of suitablo land which by means of irrigation . and other necessary measures might yield unlimited crops of cotton and other tropical products. He took advantage of the presenco of, Italian delegates S order to suggest that on their return to Rome they should urge their foreign office to make an agreement with treat Britain over the waters of the Juba rivor and he would do tho same in this 'country. Mr Harcourt recalled fcho prayer of the old Lancashire spinner at the time of.the American Civil-War: "O Lord send us more cotton, out no more Surat." (Laughter.) The prayer of the old spinner would be less fervent, to-day, said Mr Harcourt, as he believed that the quality and cleanKthws of Indian cotton had been greatly improved. A NEW BRITISH POSSESSION. A great deal of information about Kelantan as a rubber producer was told at the Rubber Congress by Mr 1. C. Hutchings. he eaid, is one of the least known States of the Malay Peninsula. Its area was about 5000 square miles, and it was about 40 hours by sea from Singapore. The State was acquired from the Siameso in 1909, tinder the British regime its development had been extremely rapid. Since 1907 the most notable feature in connexion with this country was the development of the Para Rubber plantations. The area at present under this cultivation was about 20,000 acres, of which about 3000 acres were already bearing and producing rubber of as high a standard as any shipped to the London market. The reports of many well-known experts who had specially investigated the possibilities of tho industry tended to chow that the Kelantan stood absolute? in the first line of rubber-producing areas. The labour question still presented difficulties, and combined act-on by the Government and the planters -was necessary to secure an influx of cheap and efficient labour. Only quifco recently th« importation of Indian labour was prohibited, but tho restriction has now been removed. With more help from the Indian Immigration Department the State would bo placed on an equality as regarded IsTxjTir, with eom-Detinc:" districts. Special had been cranted for the nse of Chinese labour, and a two ypars , extension had bee nadded to the limit when Chinese indentured labour mi-'ht be imported. Tho country would one of the most valuable additions to the British | Empire. '