Julyan, writing in 1878, thus describes the functions of the Crown Agents "Railway undertakings of considerable magnitude are also carried out by the Crown Agents. From time to time they are called upon to find responsible contractors for the construction of railways in distant Colonies; on other occasions they have to negotiate for the purchase of railways already in existence, which the Colonial Government may find it desirable to acquire. In both cases all the requisites for keeping these lines of railway in good order are supplied by them. At the present moment (he is, of course, speaking of nearly thirty years ago)—about 1,000 miles of railway are being provided by the Crown Agents with engines, rolling-stock, permanent way materials, workshop machinery, coal, and everything else necessary for their equipment and maintenance. In addition to these com modities, iron structures of all kinds, such as bridges and market-houses and other works, are carried out through the Office of the Crown Agents." case does Mr. Kenrick Murray say in regard to this matter? He says 66 The members of the West African section of this chamber have had under their consideration Mr. Antrobus's letter of 6th November relative to the rates for the carriage of goods on the Gold Coast Government Railway, and are extremely disappointed that you have not seen your way to reconsider the scale of charges. They are at a loss to understand how it can be contended that the rates are unlikely to hinder the development of the mines, when in the chamber's letter of 24th July last, the estimated cost of transporting a 50-stamp mill for a distance of 125 miles on the railway, was shown to be equivalent to from 40 to 60 per cent. of the invoice price f.o.b. London. Not only are the rates exorbitant, but apparently the local manager has power to issue schedules of charges which differ from those published by your office.' and he goes on to say, speaking of this particular railway— "The section is aware that the cost of the railway has very far exceeded the original estimate, and in their opinion, had the work been put to tender and given to a contractor it would have cost very much less, been built more quickly, and generally have given greater satisfaction." It is not my wish, nor is it the desire of anyone in this House, to introduce into this question any feeling of Party animus. It is obvious that the Office of the Crown Agents is a necessary one. It is also obvious that the Crown Agents ought to be paid fair salaries so as to get the best men and men of integrity. But it is also of the greatest importance that the work which is carried on through this office should be efficiently done. I merely quote that to show that the expenditure which passes through the hands of the Crown Agents is a very large one. The Crown Agents undertook the building of the Ashanti Railway. The estimated cost of that railway was £8,000 a mile, but the actual cost was £13,000 a mile. The distance of the railway is, for practical purposes, about 100 miles, and the difference between the estimate and the cost approximates to £500,000. Mr. Pauling, a wellknown South African contractor, has built railways in tropical portions of Portuguese South East Africa where the climatic and physical conditions are of the same character as obtained in the I do not think that sufficient weight is of the Ashanti Railway - he given, from time to time, to the fact that built the railway from Beira to we are obliged by our Imperial position Mashonaland, as well as railways in to be expending these large sums of Rhodesia, and the average cost of the money in the development of our colonial railways he constructed has been Empire. But if this expenditure is so £5,000 per mile. Not only has this badly and extravagantly administered Ashanti railway been expensively con- and we have to impose heavy rates, structed, but I am informed by those who naturally the result is that industrial are thoroughly acquainted with the cir- development is most seriously checked. cumstances of the case that it is badly I have heard it said, but I do not know constructed, and that it can barely keep how far it is true, that the development up a speed of ten miles an hour. I should of Africa is seriously affected by a shiplike to quote an extract from a letter ping trust, by high railway rates, and by addressed by Mr. Kenrick Murray, the other commercial facts which ought not Secretary of the West African Section of to exist, but which do have the result of the London Chamber of Commerce, to the enormously increasing the cost of living to the white man, and of seriously interColonial Secretary, dated 19th January fering with industrial development. I last, and which will be found in the think this question of the Ashanti RailAfrican Review of the 6th inst. Now, what way is one which, in itself, would justify an independent inquiry into the Crown that the noble Earl would prefer that Agents' Office. I should also like to ask I should, in replying to the remarks he the noble Duke what the Colonial Office has addressed to your Lordships, answer has done with regard to the serious com- more or less categorically those Questions plaints that were made to it by Sir which he has put down on the Paper, William McGregor in 1903? Sir William and on which he is anxious to receive McGregor is the Governor of the Colony information. I hope that when I have of Lagos, and he made very serious com- answered them, I shall have disabused plaints to the Colonial Office as to the his mind of the idea that the Crown inefficiency in the construction of the Agents do not do everything in their railway, managed by the Office of the power to carry out in the best and Crown Agents, which was made in cheapest possible manner the different the interior of Lagos near the delta of contracts for which they are responsible. the Niger. I wish it to be clearly under- As your Lordships are aware, there are stood that I am not desirous of making three Crown Agents, and the respective any loose, unfair, or unjustifiable charges salaries are £2,300, £1,450, and £1,200 against the Crown Agents. What I say a year. These are fixed salaries settled is this, that I have been told by gentle- by the Secretary of State, and they men of experience, and gentlemen who cannot be altered or changed unless the know what they are speaking about, that Secretary of State so desires. The noble there does prevail at the present moment Earl asked whether the Crown Agents a most unsatisfactory system of remuner- are permitted to levy a percentage ating our Crown Agents. On the other on expenditure or on any operation hand, we have, in the construction of the undertaken by them as Crown Ashanti Railway and other railways, Agents. This, I think, requires a slight evidence to show that, from whatever explanation. The Crown Agents are cause, the work has been extravagantly allowed to levy a percentage on works and not satisfactorily done. I do wish undertaken by them for the Crown to press on His Majesty's Govern- Colonies. The scale of charges for the ment the serious importance of this question. I am sure the noble Duke will agree that it is desirable that every penny of the taxpayers' money should be properly spent. Having regard to the very unsatisfactory facts that I have stated, and which are public property, and also to the statements that are made privately regarding the unsatisfactory way in which the Crown Agents are paid, I do hope the Colonial Office will consider most seriously whether it would not be very much to the public advantage to have an absolutely impartial inquiry into the Office of Crown Agents. *THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (The Duke of MARLBOROUGH): My Lords, I quite agree with the noble Earl who has just sat down that it is our desire, in supervising the Office of the Crown Agents, to secure that the British taxpayer is not paying too high a price for the commodities and implements of every sort and kind that the Crown Agents supply to our Crown Colonies. I think different classes of business transacted by them is fixed by the Secretary of State. In commercial matters, railways, and general business, the Crown Agents are allowed to levy a uniform commission of 1 per cent. on all stores obtained through them. THE EARL OF PORTSMOUTH: Do I understand from the noble Duke that the Crown Agents are actually permitted by the Colonial Office regulations to charge a commission of 1 per cent. on the gross expenditure on any work undertaken by them? If so, then the greater the expenditure the greater the commission. *THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH: I am afraid I have not explained myself clearly to the noble Earl. They are entitled to receive 1 per cent. on all stores supplied by them to the Crown Colonies; that is not the same thing as on all work carried out by them. THE EARL OF PORTSMOUTH: Then the greater the cost of the stores the greater the commission? *THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH: That is so, but their one desire is to supply the stores at the cheapest possible price. EARL GREY: Would not the word "stores" include rails? repay *THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH : Yes. Now, with regard to loans. On loans raised by the Crown Colonies the Crown Agents are entitled to charge per cent. on the issue and on the ment, and per cent. on the payment of interest. The noble Earl has referred to the question of railways and has alluded to the difference of price between the Ashanti Railway and the railways that have been constructed by Messrs. Pauling. I am not in a position to explain to-night why that railway has cost so much more than other African railways. I can inform the noble Earl that it has been the custom, in the case of railways constructed in the Colonies, for the Crown Agents to supply the material. They are obviously able, by their long experience, to purchase material in this country at a much cheaper rate than it could be obtained by other means. They have had dealings for many years with the best firms and are able to advise the Colonies which firms to go to; and, as they pay ready money they are able to purchase the goods supplied to the Colonies at a much cheaper rate than would otherwise be the case. I would point out to the noble Earl that the Ashanti Railway was constructed at the time when a state of war existed, and the consequent diversion of labour may have accounted for the increased expendi The noble Earl has asked why tenders have not been obtained for the building of this railway. The Colonial Office believe that the present methodthe purchase of material in this country by the Crown Agents at what we believe to be the cheapest price possible, and the utilisation by the Colonies of the labour on the spot is the best and most economical course of procedure. The noble Earl has asserted that the rates on the Ashanti Railway are more or less prohibitive. I would point out that before the construction of the railway the people had to pay something like £50 a ton for the conveyance of their goods to the gold offered by the railway, they do not pay more than £0 a ton, so that I do not think it can be complained that the construction of this railway has been in any way a hindrance to industrial prospects in that country. Then the noble Earl asked whether annual returns were made by the Crown Agents to the Colonial Office showing exactly what sums they had received by the levying of this percentage. I can assure the noble Earl that an abstract of the total receipts of the Crown Agents is sent half-yearly to the Colonial Office. The sums received upon the different charges, including the percentage to which I have already alluded, are separately shown, and these accounts are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General. The noble Earl referred to the question of shipping trusts. I will not go into that question beyond observing that of late the freight between this country and South Africa has been at a very reasonable rate-I think I am right in saying it has not been more than 16s. a ton. I believe that is a very favourable rate, and one which few people would complain of. Whether or not the rate will remain at that figure I would not like to predict. It is possible it may be raised; but that may be due to many and various causes of which the noble Earl is perfectly aware. If there is a shipping trust which controls the rates it is obvious that they will be high; if, on the other hand, there is an outsider prepared to compete with the It will shipping trust the rates will fall. depend very much whether there are outsiders to compete, and in proportion as there are the rate will go down and in proportion as there are not the rate will go up. It is impossible for us to exercise control over that to any great degree. If combines are created we have to recognise them; if, on the other hand, there are no combines and people compete one against the other for the carrying trade to South Africa it is obvious that the public benefit. The noble Earl was anxious to know whether, in addition to the aforesaid percentage, there was any other salary paid Crown Agents. The Crown Agents themselves do not receive any further percentage. Their salaries are fixed, and are not altered except by the desire and wish of the Secretary of State. It is true that the Crown Colonies and Protectorates make contributions to the Crown Agents' Office for the general services of the agents, in return for which they attend to to the payment of salaries to officers on leave or pensions or family remittances-in fact, all matters which are not covered by the general charge. These contributions from the different Colonies and Protectorates vary in amount, and depend largely upon the extent of the work required. I will give the noble Earl an instance. In the case of Lagos they only contribute £50, but the contribution of Ceylon is £250 a year. Those amounts, as I have said, vary in proportion to the work of this character which is done for the different Colonies. I would point out to the noble Earl that the Crown Agents do not receive money from the Imperial Exchequer. The receipts of the Crown Agents' Office are made up of the percentages on loans and materials, and the fixed annual payments from the Colonies for the work which is not covered by the special charge. The payments out of that fund are as follows:-The fixed salaries of the Crown Agents to which I have alluded, the salaries of the staff and minor officials, and the general cost of the maintenance of the office itself. If there is any surplus at the end of the year it is paid into a fund for the granting of pensions to Crown Agents, and the pensions are settled on a basis similar to those of all other civil servants in this country; so the noble Earl will see that the Crown Agents are not paid in any way out of the Imperial Exchequer. They are responsible to the colonial Governments, but the Secretary of State excercises a general control. THE EARL OF PORTSMOUTH: Does the noble Duke say that this commission is not paid out of the Imperial Exchequer? Who pays the commission on materials? *THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH: I am afraid I must have explained myself very badly. It is paid by the Crown Colonies themselves. The British taxpayer is not called upon to make any contribution; the expenditure comes out of the funds of the Colonies themselves. I understood the noble Earl to say, in the course of his remarks, that there had been widespread complaints with regard to the inefficient administration of the Crown Agents. The noble Earl may be better informed than I am, but I certainly cannot admit that there have been widespread complaints in this direction. Only last year the late Secreof State for the Colonies wrote round to the different Protectorates and .Crown Colonies inquiring whether they had any complaints to make. It is true that in the replies there were instances in which complaints were made the instance of Sir William McGregor at Lagos was one but, in each case, when the matter was carefully gone into it was shown that there was not sufficient cause for the complaint. I do not think that the Colonies in the least suffer from the system under which the Crown Agents work, and it is important to the Colonies that their business should have a recognised centre in this country. I hope that the noble Earl, after considering the answers which I have given to his Questions, will not go away with the impression that the Crown Agents do not do their best to supply the Crown Colonies and Protectorates with the cheapest and best commodities and to transmit them from this country as rapidly as possible. EARL GREY My Lords, the information which the noble Duke has given to your Lordships that the expenses of the office of the Crown Agents is debited to the various Crown Colonies affected, I think supplies us with an additional reason for being most jealous as to the way in which that Office performs its duties. I understand that the Crown Colony is affected and not the British taxpayer if the administration of that office is lax and expensive. I wish to associate myself on this occasion with th speech of the noble Earl. The noble Earl asked one Question to which the noble Duke has given no reply, but from the tenor of his speech I do not think the House can be in any doubt as to what that reply would be. The noble Earl suggested that, considering the importance of the duties transacted by the Crown Agents' Office, it was desirable that there should be an impartial inquiry into their methods of administering the business, and, in spite of the eulogy which the noble Duke has passed upon that Office, I hope I may be able to persuade your Lordships, and even the noble Duke himself, that there are reasons why it is desirable that that inquiry should be held. can them, the best buyers to be found in Did my noble friend also satisfy himself that the quality of the rails was precisely similar, because that is just as important as the price? It may be that the rails bought, at the price the noble Earl quotes, by the contractors were not so cheap, at the price, as the rails used on the Uganda Railway. *THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH : I The noble Duke is satisfied that the Crown Agents are the best buyers that be found in this country of the material required in the Crown Colonies. I venture to differ from the noble Duke. I would adduce one instance to your Lordships which is illustrative of the general case. Some years ago Sir Harry Johnston, when he was Commissioner of the British Central African Protectorate, requisitioned for a steamer for Lake Nyassa. He drew out the specification, and obtained a private tender from a firm of contractors. The office of the Crown Agents thought that in obtaining this tender Sir Harry Johnston was encroaching upon their province. They made representations to the Colonial Office that the business of supplying this steamer belonged to their Department, and they insisted on supplying the steamer themselves. Sir Harry Johnston, EARL GREY: I do not think there by acting individually, was able to ob- will be any difficulty in satisfying tain a tender to supply that steamer at the noble Duke on that point. £8,000. The steamer offered by the have also made myself acquainted with Crown Agents was to have cost £13,000. the facts about the Ashanti Railway, and The noble Duke is acquainted with the I find that it is the most glaring instance character of Sir Harry Johnston. He of extravagant railway construction. It was most indignant at his Administration shows how closely we should watch departbeing asked to spend £5,000 more than mentally constructed railways. It took he thought necessary. He went straight the Crown Agents three-and-half years to to the Prime Minister, and Lord Salis- build forty miles, at an average cost of bury decided that in this case there was £15,000 a mile. The people interested a reason for departing from the usual in the development of West Africa were custom of the Government; he took the so distressed at the slow rate of construcordering of the steamer out of the hands tion that they approached an outside of the Crown Agents and handed it over contractor. They went to Messrs. to Sir Harry Johnston. The steamer was Pauling, and this firm undertook to built for the £8,000; it was called "Lady build the balance of the railway at Gwendolen" out of compliment to Lord £6,650 a mile. I should like to ask the Salisbury, and is now plying daily on noble Duke how much that railway has Lake Nyassa. That is one instance cost. Messrs. Pauling agreed to build which has come within my own 140 miles to Kumasi at that rate per personal knowledge which gives me mile, and that it should be finished a the impression that the Crown Agents year ago. I should like to know how are not, as the noble Duke considers much that railway has cost per mile, and |