OUR COLONIES.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 79, 7 August 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

OUR COLONIES.

(From the Morning Star, April 30.) What are the uses of our colonies 1 So far as they have been changed from being waste places of the earth into settlements producing wealth fit for the sustenance of mankind, their utility is otvious. The lacklands who have acquired property in the soil of certain of our colonies would excusably laugh if they were asked, "What use?'' The English emigrant wlio settles down in one of our colonies and finds his labor, which was insufficient at home to keep his wife and family much above starvation point, richly rewarded, and with a prospect of becoming in a few years the owner of a large farm, knows very well the use of colonies. But what value beyond this are they to the motherj country — to the British nation which stays at home ? That is a more difficult question to answer; but a few facts derived from recent Parliamentary papers may throw some light upon it. Taking the colonies in their natural groups, we shall first examine tiie value of their commerce, their population, revenue, and debt, and then cast a glance at the Imperial expenditure for colonial purposes, and the nature of this expenditure, We shall then see how much in £ s. d. we pay and how much j in the same form vre benefit by the possession of these dependencies. The figures all refer to the year 1860. The North American colonies comprise Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward's Island, Newfoundland, British Columbia, and Vancouver's. Of those the first-named is four times as populous and wealthy as all the others. Their united population, excepting that of the two latter, which is not ascertained, is 3,294,561 ; tl eir revenue was L2,064,313, and their rlcbt L1 4,232,502. The total value of the imports of these colonies was LI 1,920,720, and of the exports L10,792,053, the share of which to and from the United Kingdom was respectively L4,552,425, and L3,615,356, or a great deal less than half of the wlioie. The seven Australian colonies — New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia Tasmania, and New Zealand — have a total population of 1,358,381. With this comparatively small population, however, their aggregate revenue was^ L5, 759,312, or more than two and a half times larger than that of the North American group. Their united debt was L1 0,678,584. In the extent of their commerce they equally excel. The value of their imports was — from the United Kingdom, L16,747,88G ; from other countries, L10,96"9,752 ; total, L2 7, 7 17,038; of a total of exports of L22,231,2JC, there was sent to this country in value Ll 3,030,498. The Cape of Good Hope and Natal contain only 114,106 white inhabitants, and of an outward and inward commerce of L4,33fi,484, only L1, 532,129 is with other countries than the United Kingdom. With respect to the West Indies, inpluding the windward and leeward islands, we find in these sixteen possessions only 54,G50 white inhabitants to a colored population of 967,294. Their aggregate revenue was L9 19,697, and debt L1 ,445,967. Of their imports, valued at L5, 337,238, about half— that is, L2, 627, 444 — were from the United Kingdom ; while L4,652,903, out of the total of L5, 83 1, 708 of exports came to our shore. There remain the Eastern settlements of Ceylon, Mauritius, Hong Konjr, and Labuan, with a population of 11,116 whites to one of 2,340,114 colored. These settlements produced a revenue of L1, 403,206 and have no debt. Leaving out Hong Kong, we find the aggregate imports to amount to L6,358,288, of which L1, 62 1,866 is from the United Kingdom ; while of the exports we take L3,085,123, out of a total of L4,522,827. In respect of population, revenue, and commerce, the other British possessions — the Mediterranean military stations, the small islands in the North j and South Atlantic, and the settlements on the West Coast of Africa—- are not worth speaking of. Taking all our colonies and possessons, except India, we find that in the ! aggregate they include an area of 3,356,320 square miles, have a populaI tion of 5,081,061 white.and of 3,965,766 ; colored; raise a revenue of Dl 1,237,385; have df-bt of £?T A 'j) M V?> ; import |

which £28,849,274 is from tbe United Kingdom; and; export to the value of L49,626,222, of which L28,059,210 is to the. United Kingdom. It is the profit we] derive from our share of this commerce that the advanr tage in the shape of £.&. d. comes, but itis to be carefully remembered that it is not on account of the colonies bein ours we enjoy thts share of their commerce. We should enjoy it all the same if they were independent. Trade is free between all of them and the United Kiugdom, and if they deal more largely with us than with any other country, it is simply because we can sell them the goods they require cheaper i and pay them more for the commodU ities they have to sell than any other 1 nations can. So that, in fact, the estimate of this balancing of advantage or j cost to the mother country proceeds on | a false assumption * for we should re- ! taia the advantage even if we abolished the cost. What is the cost? Well, in money actually spent it is represented by L3, 509,465 a year. But it is a good deal more than that, for the necessity of keeping reserves at home for the colonial garrisons keeps the number of our 1 army higher than it need otherwise be, and. the general duty of defending all these colonies is felt, we have no hesitation in saying, in almost every estimate voted yearly by the House of Commons. . Of the three millions and a j lull' actually s,>ent on the colonies, no j less than L-3,342,243 is for military i purposes, the remainder, L167.222, for ! payment of governors, magistrates, bishops, and clergymen. The West India Islands absorb the larger share of the civil expenditure, and with the North American colony, the whole of the ecclesiastical portion of it, which amounts to nearly 1,26.000 a year. Now, it is well understood that, taking our foreign trade as a whole, one venture with another, the profits made out of it do not exceed five per cent, of the gross value. At this rate England makes a profit yearly of L2,845,420 upon all her colonial trade, exports and imports, while tie money voted yearly as expenditure for colonial purposes is upwards of L3,500,000 : so that, as a mere matter of £ s. d., and assuming, which is far under the truth> that this sum represents the whole cost of the colonies to the mother country, and that we should not have the trade without the expenditure, which is not true at all ; we actually lose threequarters of a million sterling yearly by these possessions. The Australian colonies come out favorably from the rest, as, with a trade of £30,000,000 yearly which we have with them, they cost us only L.271,000, and constitute a favorite settlement for our superabundant population ; but in this latter respect they are inferior to the United States, which, of course, cost us nothing. And, with the exception of the Mediterranean strongholds — Gibraltar, Malta, and Corfu, which latter there is a favorable prospect of getting rid of — the islands in the North and South Atlantic — to wit, Bermuda, the Bahama's, St. Helena, and the Falklands — are the least useful, for they cost us more than the gross total of our commerce with them. Altogether, we fancy that the popular verdict, if it could be fairly taken, would unhesitatingly pronounce our Colonial Empire to be, upon the whole, an unprofitable concern.