THE GERMAN COLONIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 217, 7 June 1919, Page 2

THE GERMAN COLONIES

. WHAT THEY COST TO,WIN "AN UNCONSIDERED TRIFLE"

(By John H, Harris, in tho "Westminster Gazette.") -

Have the assembled l'owors in Paris completely overlooked one of the most vital features attaching to tho lato German colonies?—it looks uncommonly liko it! Search where one will—correspondents'"dispatches; official and semi-official communiques, manifestoes, one and all observe incomprehensible silence upon the costs, of/conqucst! What has been the cost of conquering one million square miles of territory in actual cash, and upon whom is this great financial burclfeh 'tQ "fall ? ' 'Is -/it {o full- upon tho l'oivcrs collectively, or proportionately to their mandatory responsibility, or is it to be a liability attaching to the territories themselves, and, if so, how? These are tho vityl questions upon which rtever a whisper comes from Paris,

The Cost. •• In ■ actual financial outlay, the only iacts we know at present are that-thd cost has been extremely heavy. T'OgO' land was "conquer«l"-for, a. few hundred thousand pounds. "The conquest of German • South-West-Africa cost' from .£300,0(10,000 to .£18,000,000. Wo lravo ;only the * roughest estimates for Camo'rbdns'and Gorman East Africa—incredible figures are quoted for German East Africa, but the . most conservative estimates rnnge between •• .£250,000,000 and =£300,000,000 for the two areas: Upon Great Britain has hitherto fallen tho main burden-of finding tho- nccessnry financial assistance.

It is a sound and equitable principle that liabilities should attach "to assets, but the .application' of such a principlS to the lato German colonies would certainly spell their early and complete ruin. One initial question alone shows the difficulty of the case, lmniely, upon what principle should tho incidence fall? Should it be according to arch, population,- or pre-war reve.nue? Accepting ,£300,000,000 as a fair cftimato of . the costs of conquest and assessing tho liability according to area, the incidence of costs would foil approximately as follows s-r

Incidence Based on Area.i . Togoland 12,000,000 ' Cameroone ... 75,000,000 ■ German. South-West ... 97-,000,000 . .German East Africa ... 116,000,000 ...But. the real value of all tropical and semi-tropical territories.is to bo reckoned not by area but by the density of tha indigenous population which alone can garner the produco of the soil; white labour cannot do~it, immigrant.-coloured labour, forces are for. various reasons an . impossible solution., Upon the basis of, population the-incidence , would bo as fol« lows:-',: : ■ ; . -' ■ Incidence Based, on Population. ■ £ ■ German- South-West ........ 2,500,000' Togoland... 20,000,000 C'ameroons 00,000,000 German East Africa ...... 217,500,000 Those.,wlio know anything ,of•the internal conditions know very well that tho latter proportion is the most couit'able division of the costs, but to suggest that tho public, debts of:'Togolayd can' be 20, the Caiueroons 60, and German East Africa"'2l7 milliohs sterling is to suggest an absurdity. . German East-Africa is tho most populous and in parts tho most v:il- . liable...of .the Protectorates,'but".to attach to-it a-public debt of something over 'i'2o9,oop,ooo;'is to place a heavier' publio debt upon it than that carried by the •Union'territories of South Africa. Prior :to'tho .war the total public debt attach--ing to the four provinces of the South African Union .was .£118,000,000 much of which had been" borrowed'at a, very, low rate" of-interest. The average revenue in the-Uhion of South Africa, for the ..four years to the war was ,£16,000,000, •The revenue of' German 'East Africa prior to the/ outbreak of war was less than . 28,000,000: niarks (i£l, 400,000), -which fell short of .local expenditure by ileo,ooo.- Tho ; annual charge alone on tho cost of conquering 'German East Africa would be something like • ,£10,000,000, which, with administrative expenditure, would require a irevenuo of nearly jci2,ooo,oooj or only .',£4,000,000 less tlian the BbutF'African Union, which enjoys very largo State revenues, apart from taxation!