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fractional parts, and weighed as required; but this is now an illegal practice in the central provinces, and will probably soon be obsolete in other parts of the country. The government is withdrawing this cut money at the rate of 30 grammes of silver for 5 franes, and is to replace it by fractional silver and copper coin.

French West Africa and the Sahara.—French, English, and American coins are in circulation, as well as cowrie shells.
Tunis.-The legal coinage consists of pieces similar to the French, the pieces being coined in France.

Guadeloupe and dependencies.—Silver coin has disappeared from circulation; treasury notes for 2 francs, 1 frane, and 50 centimes are authorized up to a total emission of 800,000 francs.

Dutch West Indies.-The Java Bank, established in 1828, has a capital of 6,000,000 guilders and a reserve of about 1,200,000 guilders. The government has a control over the administration. Two-fifths of the amount of the notes, assignats, and credits must be covered by specie or bullion. In March, 1900, the value of the notes in circulation was 60,591,000 guilders, and of the bank operations 32,623,000. There are two other Dutch banks, besides branches of British banks.

In the savings banks, including the postal savings bank, there were 20,632 depositors, with a deposited amount of 10,411,167 guilders.

CURRENCY OF THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.

The currency of the Straits Settlements is an especially interesting object lesson in considering the requirements of communities of mixed population in the Orient. It is described as follows by Professor Chalmers in his History of Colonial Currency:

"With the beginning of the sixteenth century Malacca, in the hands of the Portuguese, rose to be the great entrepôt for European trade in the Far East, a position which half a century later was partly shared by the Philippines. And it is of interest to note that, speaking of Melaqua' in 1498, the 'Roteiro da Viagem da Vasco da Gama' records that the native money was composed of the staple commodity of the Straits, namely, tin. With the arrival of the Portuguese, however, and with the discovery of the Philippines by the Spaniards, silver coin-and more particularly the dominant Spanish dollar-established a supremacy in the Straits, which, as the trade moved eastward, has been retained and strengthened by the Mexican dollar, the lineal descendant of the old Spanish dollar.

"The first British possession was not Malacca, but Pulau-Pinang, which was rechristened Prince of Wales Island by the East India Company on its cession in 1786. For this settlement, which soon tendered further to oust Malacca as a commercial entrepôt, the company in 1787 and 1788 struck a silver coinage consisting of rupees, with half and quarter rupees, and copper cents, half-cents, and quarter cents, further issue of which was fruitlessly recommended by Lieutenant-Governor Farquhar in 1805. There were also ‘pice,' usually of tin.

"Though the company had established the rupee as the standard coin in Penang, the trade relations of the settlement constrained the mercantile community to adopt as their standard, not the Indian coin, but the universal Spanish dollar, the coin familiar to the conservative races with whom they had commerce. Therefore, from the earliest days of Penang, the dollar, not the rupee, was the recognized standard of value. Writing of this island, Kelly says, in his 'Universal Cambist,' of 1825: 'Accounts are kept in Spanish dollars, copangs, and pice, 10 pice making a copang, and 10 copangs one Spanish dollar. The current pice are coined in the island; they are pieces of tin, 16 of which weigh the catty, or £13. On the exchange of dollars into pice there is a loss of 2 per cent; on dollars without the King's head, 10 per cent; and from 5 to 10 per cent on all dollars defaced (i. e., chopped).'

"In 1835 the company revised its currency legislation for the whole of its territories, which included the Straits Settlements, and made no exception in favor of the dollar-using colony when enforcing the establishment of the rupee as the standard coin, with pice in subsidiary circulation. The first concession which the company made to the requirements of Straits currency was in 1847, when by act No. VI of that year it was provided that the Indian Regulations shall not be deemed to apply to copper currency of the settlements of Penang, Singapore, and Malacca. From and after January 1, 1848, the following copper coins only shall be received at or issued from any government treasury within the said settlements: (1) A cent, weighing 144 grains troy; (2) a half cent, weighing 72 grains; and (3) a quarter cent, weighing 36 grains.' These copper coins were to be legal tender only for fractions of a dollar, and 'the circulation in the said settlements after the said day of all copper coins or tokens, not being the authorized legal coinage of any British or foreign Government, is prohibited,' under penalty of not more than Rs. 10.

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'But this concession was withdrawn in 1855. The preamble of act No. XVII of that year reads as follows: 'Whereas the company's rupee is by Act XVII of 1835 a legal tender in the settlements of Prince of Wales Island, Singapore, and Malacca, but no copper coin, except the half pice issued under Act XI of 1854, is now by law legal tender for fractions of a rupee in that settlement; and it is expedient to remedy this defect in the law; and whereas besides the rupee the dollar is by custom current in the said settlement, and it is expedient to provide that the copper currency which shall be legal tender in the said settlement for fractions of a rupee shall also be legal tender in the said settlement for fractions of a dollar,' it was enacted that from July 1, 1855, that a pice should be legal tender in the Straits for a of a dollar, a half pice for 2 of a dollar, a pice for of a dollar, a double pice for of a dollar. "Commenting on this act in 1863, Sir Hercules Robinson reported to the Imperial Government as follows: 'In 1854, I believe, the government of India adopted measures for forcing the rupee into general circulation in the Straits Settlements, and for making it the only legal tender in all transactions. With this view the copper currency, consisting of cents of a dollar, half cents, and quarter cents, previously supplied under the provisions of the act of 1847, was withheld, and the Indian copper money, which can not be conveniently adapted to a copper currency, was substituted in its place. But great inconvenience having been experienced, and public demonstrations against the change having taken place, the authorities at home were appealed to, and the project was countermanded.' After pointing out that the new Indian currency act, No. 13 of 1862, made the Indian coins legal tender in the Straits, as in all other Indian territories, whereas no measure had ever been passed giving legal currency to the real and sole measure of value in the colony, Sir Hercules Robinson exposed the absurdities of the existing regulations in the following words:

"All accounts throughout the Straits Settlements, except those of the government, are kept in dollars and cents, but the public accounts are kept in the denomination of rupees, annas, and pice, causing thereby much needless labor and confusion in the financial departments. With the exception of the receipts from stamps, which it is optional for the public to pay either in dollars or rupees, the whole of the public revenue is required to be paid in dollars, but it is brought to account in rupees at a par of Rs. 224 8a. 6p. for every $100 received at Singapore and Malacca, and at a par of 220 rupees at Penang. All payments from the local treasuries are made in dollars, but disbursements to the public are charged in the public accounts in rupees at a par of Rs. 22 Sa. 6,4p. in Singapore and Malacca, at a par of 220 rupees at Penang, while the salary of all public servants, civil as well as military, which are fixed in rupees, are paid at all the settlements in dollars at a par of 220 rupees.

"In short, the whole system under which coins not in circulation are declared by law a legal tender, and the public accounts are required to be kept in the denomination of one currency, while the real monetary transactions of both the government and the public are conducted in another, is unsound and productive of nothing but needless labor and confusion.'

"For some years the merchants of Singapore had advocated the coinage of a British dollar. The opening of the new mint at Hongkong in 1866 met this demand, and all that was now needed was to make dollars the legal, as they had always been the actual, standard of value in the Straits. This salutary change was effected as part of the transfer of the colony from the Indian to the Imperial Government under the act 29 and 30 Vict., cap. 115, which was brought into operation as from the 1st of April, 1867, by order in council of December 28, 1866. No time was lost by the new local legislature in reforming the currency system. Under date of April 1, 1867, the legal-tender act of 1867 was passed, repealing all laws for making Indian coins legal tender and declaring that from April 1 'the dollar issued from Her Majesty's mint at Hongkong, the silver dollar of Spain, Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia, and any other silver dollar to be specified from time to time by the governor in council, shall be the only legal tender in payment or on account of any engagement whatever, except as is hereinafter mentioned (i. e., as to subsidiary silver coins), within this colony and its dependencies, provided, that no dollar shall be a legal tender unless it be of the same fineness and intrinsic value as the Hongkong dollar, and be not less than 415 grains troy weight, and be not injured or defaced.' The act goes on to place limits of tender of $2 and $1, respectively, on 'such copper or bronze coins as may now be current in the colony and its dependencies under act No. 6 of 1847 of the Indian legislature, as well as such copper or bronze coins as may be issued from Her Majesty's mint, or any branch thereof, representing the cent or one-hundredth part, the half cent or two-hundredth part, and the quarter cent or four-hundredth part of the dollar.

"So long as the Hongkong mint was working no question could arise as to the supply of suitable subsidiary coins in silver and copper, provision for the currency of which had been made in the act of 1887. But, as the Hongkong mint was closed in 1868, only two years after its opening, and as the tokens struck at that mint were speedily absorbed, it became necessary for the Straits to provide their own subsidiary coinage. This the colony proceeded to do in 1871, under the provisions of the local act of 1867, this highest denomination for the first fifteen years being the 20-cent piece. On the model of Hongkong, the silver tokens of the Straits were of 800 millesimal fineness. In 1886 a token half dollar was added of the same standard. The details of the coins struck for the Straits from 1871 to 1891 will be found in the twenty-second annual report of the deputy master of the mint, the total being given as $2,684,850. If the population of the Straits Settlements on December 31, 1891, be taken in round numbers at 513,000, the above total coinage of silver and copper tokens for the colony is equivalent to $5.23 per head; but this figure represents a maximum rather than an actual circulation, for a considerable number of Straits tokens are carried off (though not to the extent prevailing in Hongkong) for circulation in neighboring countries.

"To revert to the standard coin, it is to be noted that by order of the governor, in council of January 10, 1874 (under the ordinance of 1867), the American trade dollar and the Japanese yen (which was coined on the model of the Hongkong dollar and with the Hongkong machinery) were admitted to unlimited legal tender, equally with the Mexican dollar.

"For some years before 1890 the colony was flooded with the copper coins of the North Borneo Company. As the law on the subject was not deemed sufficiently stringent to deal with the evil, it was decided in 1890 to consolidate and amend the currency legislation of the colony. This was done by the order in council of October 21, 1890, which came into force on January 1, 1891. It left the local system of currency unaltered. By act of 1895 the Mexican silver dollar was made the standard coin for the colony, but the British and Hongkong dollar were also made legal tender.

THE CURRENCY OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

The British vice-consul at Manila, in a recent report on the currency of the Philippines, makes the following statements:

GOLD.-The currency of the Philippine Islands was originally gold, Spanish "onzas" of Charles III and Ferdinand VII predominating. Small gold coins, with "Filipinas" inscribed on them, of $1, $2, and $4 were locally minted at Manila and were not current in Spain. The Manila mint was open to the public until 1868 for the coining of the above three pieces at a small charge. Coined gold (principally American double eagles) was recoined. Very few ingots, if any, were used for this purpose, the operation leaving a clear profit of 18 to 20 per cent. This practice ceased when exchange declined heavily and left no profit.

SILVER.-Mexican and old Spanish dollars, with fractions of the latter, constituted the silver currency. These Spanish coins, which comprise the now rare "Dos Mundos" set and specimens of Ysabel II, together with the imported Mexicans, were frequently at a premium over the gold dollar; similar conditions also existing in the island of Cuba. When, however, silver began to depreciate the gold coin was rapidly exported and replaced by Mexican dollars. In 1877 the gold currency was considered a failure, owing to the above reasons. About this time a law was passed by the Spanish Government probibiting the importation of Mexican dollars, but permitting the circulation of those that were already in the island. Smuggling from China of Mexican dollars (dated previous to 1878) was carried out during the Spanish régime, in many instances with the aid and knowledge of the Spanish customs and other officials. Gold consequently left the island completely. The dollars fluctuated according to the price of silver, and the fluctuation reached sometimes 10 to 15 per cent. The smuggled importation continued until it would drop to par. For instance, during the export season, when money was scarce, Manila rates would rule as high as 10 or 15 per cent over those in Hongkong and China, whence the dollars were smuggled, which attracted contraband, while in the autumn the exchange would fall to par in those places, there being frequently an export of Mexicans at this season, to be again replaced by smuggled coins when required.

The Government at Madrid, it is said, endeavored to alleviate this state of affairs, especially as there was a big depreciation of Philippine as compared with Spanish silver, but could not act for the want of funds.

Several millions of Mexican dollars were recoined in Manila and converted into pieces of 10, 20, and 50 cents-$35 fineness and 25 grams. The treasury gained 10 per cent on this operation, but was unable to materially decrease the large stock of Mexicans. These locally minted pieces differed from the Spanish, since their value was stated in fractions of a peso; thus the 20-cent piece was inscribed "20 cent. de peso," while of those in Spain the inscripton read una peseta."

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In 1897 the money question became serious, and at the commencement of the Philippine insurrection some 6,000,000 of coins of $1 each, 900 fine, 45 grams, were minted in Spain and sent to the Philippines. They were similar to the Spanish current dollars, but were marked "Islas Filipinas," and bore the head of Alfonso XIII. These dollars were 8 per cent under the value of the Mexicans. Some 7,000,000 or 8,000,000 may be considered as a fair estimate of the number of Mexicans circulating in the Philippines at this period. Besides this, a large number of half dollars was exported for use in Morocco, presumably to pay part of that country's indemnity to Spain, until legislation put an end to the business. On the arrival of the Americans a large amount of United States gold was brought

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by the military. Some difficulty was experienced at the beginning, as the natives and Chinamen did not know the values. exchange of United States gold or silver to the Philippine or Mexican silver is commonly accepted at $1 United States for $2 Mexican or Philippine, but the exchange varies at the banks and large commercial houses according to the value of the Mexican dollar in London and San Francisco. Mexican dollars, irrespective of dates, have been recently imported through the banks in large quantities. There is a shortage of subsidiary coinage, no fraction of the Mexican silver dollar having ever been in circulation.

NOTES.-Notes of $5, $10, $25, $50, and $100, and it is believed some few of $200, were issued by the Banco Español Filipino, and are still current. The notes of $200 are now being recalled. This question of notes is problematical. The American authorities may recognize the privileges granted by the Spanish Government to this bank, twenty-one years of which are still unexpired.

RULES AND REGULATIONS UNDER WHICH BANKS AND BANKING IN THE BRITISH COLONIES ARE CONDUCTED.

Banks and banking methods are necessarily an extremely important feature of the business life and business success of the colony. Naturally supplies of currency are small, especially in the early history of the colony, and supplies of available capital for business enterprises are much more limited than in older countries. Business relations in the colonies, especially those relating to commerce, must necessarily be largely with distant countries, and the importance of banks and exchange facilities is in this case very great. These facts led to careful study by the British financiers and lawmakers of the question of banking in the colonies, and a general banking policy was evolved prior to 1840 which was intended to (1) require notes to be cashed on demand in specie at the place of issue, as well as at the principal establishment of the issuing bank; (2) prohibiting the issue of notes below £1 value; (3) requiring periodical returns of liabilities and assets and their publication; (4) making stockholders liable for twice the amount of their stock. These regulations were in 1846 modified with reference to the colonies so as to provide that (1) notes redeemable in specie on demand must not be of less denomination than £1, and must not exceed the total paid-up capital of the bank; (2) their formal security to consist of the specie reserve, amounting to one-third of the circulation, and the general liability of the stockholders for double the amount of their stock. These provisions relate exclusively to bank paper. The issue of notes by colonial governments has been discouraged by the British Government, though in a few cases, such issues have been made.

The following regulations for banking companies in the colonies are from the British Colonial Office List, 1901:

REGULATIONS RESPECTING THE INCORPORATION OF BANKING COMPANIES IN THE COLONIES.

In charters or legislative enactments relating to the incorporation of banking companies in the colonies, provision should be made for the observance of the following regulations and conditions:

The amount of the capital of the company and number of shares to be determined, and the whole of such determined amount to be subscribed for within a limited period, not exceeding eighteen months from the date of the charter or act of incorporation.

Shareholders to be declared a body corporate, with common seal and perpetual succession, and other usual corporate powers, and with any requisite proviso that judgment against the corporation shall attach to all additional liability of the shareholders, as well as to paid-up capita and other property of the company.

Provision to be made, either by recital and confirmation of any deed of settlement in these respects or otherwise, for the due management of the company's affairs by appointment of directors, etc., so far as shall seem necessary for the security of the public. No by-law of the company to be repugnant to the conditions of the charter or act of incorporation, or to the laws of any colony in which the company's establishments may be placed.

The corporate body thus constituted may be specially empowered, subject to the conditions hereafter mentioned, to carry on for a limited term of years (not to exceed twenty-one years unless under particular circumstances), and within the colony or colonies specified in the charter or act of incorporation, but not elsewhere, the business of banker, and for the like term to issue and circulate within the said colony or colonies, but in such manner only as shall not be at variance with any general law of the colony, promissory notes payable in specie on demand.

Such banking business or issue of notes not to commence or take place until the whole of the fixed capital of the company has been subscribed for, and a moiety at least of the subscription paid up. The remaining moiety of the capital to be paid up within a given period from the date of the charter or act of incorporation, such period not in general to exceed two years.

In all cases in which shares in the company's stock are transferred between the period of the grant of the charter or act of incorporation and the actual commencing of business by the bank, the responsibility of the original holder of the transferred shares to continue for six months at least after the date of the transfer.

The company not to advance money on security of lands, or houses, or ships, or on pledge of merchandise, nor to hold land or houses, except for the transaction of its business, nor own ships, or be engaged in trade, except as dealers in bullion or bills of exchange, but to confine its transactions to discounting commercial paper and negotiable securities, and other legitimate banking business. The company may, however, accept lands, or houses, or ships, or shares in its capital stock, or other real or personal property in liquidation of, or as a security for any debt bona fide previously due to the company, or as a security for payment of any sum for which any person may have rendered himself liable to the company, and hold them for such reasonable time as may be necessary to dispose of and convert the same into money.

The company not to hold shares in its own stock, nor to make advances on the security of those shares.

The discounts or advances by the company on securities bearing the name of any director or officer thereof, as drawer, acceptor, or endorser, not to exceed at any time one-third of the total advances and discounts of the bank.

The dividends to shareholders to be made out of profits only, and not out of the subscribed capital of the company.

The total amount of the debts and liabilities of the company, whether upon bonds, bills, promissory notes, or otherwise contracted, over and above the amount of deposits on banking accounts with the company's establishments, not to exceed at any time three times the amount of the capital stock subscribed and actually paid up.

No promissory or other notes to be issued for sums under £1 (or in the North American colonies £1 Halifax currency), or the equivalent thereof in any other local currency, and not for fractional portions of such pound or other equivalent amount.

All promissory notes of the company, whether issued from the principal establishment or from branch banks, to bear date at the place of issue, and to be payable on demand in specie at the place of date.

The total amount of the promissory notes payable on demand, issue, and in circulation not at any time to exceed the amount of the capital stock of the company actually paid up. A reserve of specie always to be maintained equal to one-third of the amount of notes at any time in circulation.

In the event of the assets of the company being insufficient to meet its engagements, the shareholders to be responsible to the extent of twice the amount of their subscribed shares (that is, for the amount subscribed, and for a further and additional amount equal thereto).

Suspension of specie payments on demand at any of the company's banking establishments, for a given number of days (not in any case exceeding sixty) within any one year, either consecutively or at intervals, or other breach of the special conditions upon which the company is empowered to open banking establishments or to issue and circulate promissory notes, to forfeit those privileges, which shall cease and determine upon such forfeiture as if the period for which they had been granted had expired.

The company to make up and publish periodical statements of its assets and liabilities monthly, showing under the heads specified in the form which is inserted in the Appendix No. 12, the average of the amount of its notes in circulation, and other liabilities, at the termination of each week or month, during the period to which the statement refers, and the average amount of specie or other assets that were available to meet the same. Copies of these statements to be submitted to the government of the colony within which the company may be established; and the company to be prepared, if called upon, to verify such statements by the production, as confidential documents, of the weekly or monthly balance sheets from which the same are compiled. And also to be prepared, upon requisition from the lords of the treasury, to furnish, in like manner, such further information respecting the state or proceedings of its banking establishments as their lordships may see fit to call for. The governor to be also empowered to verify the statements of the company of the amount of specie held by them.

The charter or act of incorporation may provide for an addition to the capital of the company within specified limits, with the sanction of the lords of the treasury; such additional capital and the shares and subscriptions which may constitute the same, to be subject in every respect, from and after the date of the signification of such sanction, to conditions and regulations similar to those applying to the original capital.

Applications for charters of incorporation of joint stock companies engaged exclusively or chiefly in colonial undertakings, whether made in this country or in the colonies, can not be granted until the heads of the project shall have been submitted for the consideration of the governor and his executive council.

The governor will furnish the secretary of state with a report stating whether the undertaking is one which, in his opinion, it would be desirable to encourage, with a view to colonial interests, especially as regards the colony under his government.

The governor's report will be taken into consideration by the secretary of state and by the board of trade, or, in cases in which the application relates exclusively to banking companies, by the board of treasury.

His Majesty's Government reserves to itself the power of deciding whether privileges, to be exercised under charters granted for this country, should be extended to companies, approved by the colonial government, for colonial undertakings.

The imperial act 18 and 19 Vict., chap. 133, provides for the limitation of liability of members of certain joint stock companies. See also circular of March 16, 1874, as to establishment of agencies, and circular of August 18, 1875, by which it is directed that laws relating to banking undertakings and the circulation of notes should contain a suspending clause.

EMIGRATION OF CAPITAL TO THE COLONIES.

Movements of capital from the governing country to the colony are always a characteristic of the relationship between the mother country and the colony. In the class of colonies in which people of the governing country make permanent homes and form what Sir Charles Dilke very properly terms a "habitation colony," an emigration of capital is in part coincident with the emigration of population and in part the result of the necessity for funds for use in developing the new territory. In the class of colonies in which the governing nation is represented by a small population the emigration of capital to the colonies is more frequently for the purpose of establishing large enterprises, developing great tracts for the production of important staples, or the collection of products of native labor and their transportation to the mother country or the markets of the world. In either case, in all prosperous colonies there is a large emigration of capital from the mother country, whether the emigration of individuals is large or small.

FOUR BILLIONS OF BRITISH CAPITAL IN THE BRITISH COLONIES.

Sir Charles Dilke, in his Problems of Greater Britain, estimates that about four billions of dollars of British money are invested in the British colonies, largely in the form of loans, and adds that "this vast sum is loaned at a comparatively low rate of interest, largely on account of the political connection that exists, inasmuch as it is lent more freely and in an increasing rate to portions of the Empire as compared with the amounts lent to countries under a different flag. Not only is it the case that the feeling of security produced by the peaceful relations which are involved in the present tie leads the British investor to his present field, but the connection is also to be powerfully supported by other less material arguments. The connection, even though it be little more than nominal, which exists between the United Kingdom and countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa stimulates the energy of the English people, but it also prevents the growth of a hopeless provincialism in the colonies themselves.”

CAPITAL REQUIRED IN DEVELOPING COLONIAL INDUSTRIES.

The benefit to the industries of the home country consequent upon the introduction of the capital of the colonizing country into the colony, even when unaccompanied by a large element of population from the home country, is too obvious to require detailed discussion. With the development of the colony through the investment of this capital come increased production and sales of raw materials, and with these come increased desires for and importations of manufactures, which are naturally drawn largely from the mother country, especially if the capital has been supplied by that country. This is commented upon by Ricardo, in his Principles of Political Economy, in which he says: "Demand is only limited by production. No man produces but with a view to sell, and he never sells but with an intention to purchase some other commodity which may be immediately useful to him or which may contribute to future production. By producing, then, he necessarily becomes either the consumer of his own goods or the purchaser and consumer of the goods of some other person." Merivale, in his sixth lecture on colonization, holds that not only is the investment of capital in commercial enterprises

advantageous to the commerce of the home country, but also that the sums expended by the home government in the establishment and advancement of those colonies is advantageously invested from this standpoint. "The capital spent on colonization by a country exporting manufactures," he says, "is not wasted in productivity or lost to the resources of the parent state. It is spent in founding a fresh market for our goods and in stimulating a new and more intense demand for them. Let the whole of the capital which was expended by England in the foundation of the North American colonies be estimated at its fullest amount, is it credible that the total annual increase of that capital from their first settlement to the era of American independence would amount to the income which England has derived in the last twenty years from the American cotton trade?" In his seventh lecture he also calls attention to the reciprocal advantages of the commerce with the colony growing out of its increased production and increased purchasing power as a result of the investment of capital furnished by the home government. "That the poor man possesses additional articles of food and clothing, and many little comforts or enjoyments which were unknown to his forefathers," he says, and "that members of the richer and middle classes, in return for the outlay of a similar proportion of their income, can indulge in many luxuries which were heretofore denied them, are, after all, the great primary benefits which the discovery of America and the spread of colonization have secured to us. And it is to a similar increase in our physical well being that we ought to look as the chief economical advantage to be derived to us from its further extension. The increase of the demand for our products of national industry is good, not because it enables us to part more readily with these products, but because it increases our means of acquiring articles of necessity, comfort, and luxury in exchange. It is not the export of so many millions worth of cotton goods which benefits England; it is the acquisition of the sugar and cofïce, the wines, tea, silk, and other numberless articles of value which we receive in return. Our best customers are, not those who take most of our produce, but those who give the greatest amount of value in exchange for it."

VALUABLE RETURNS ON CAPITAL INVESTED IN COLONIES.

While it is not, of course, practicable to cite exact figures as to the amount of capital which has emigrated from the home countries to the colonies, or the net results of such investments, it may be said, in connection with Sir Charles Dilke's estimate that four billions of dollars of British capital have been invested or loaned in the colonies, that these colonies, through their increased producing power, are now annually supplying over five hundred and fifty million dollars worth of the articles which England imports, and taking in return over five hundred million dollars worth of the products of her industry, as against about one-sixth of that sum a half century ago, when their exports to Great Britain aggregated eighty-five million dollars and their purchases from that country were about eightyseven million dollars in value.

M. Leroy-Beaulieu, commenting upon the movements of capital toward the colonies, first in the possession of emigrants, and second as forwarded to the colonies by capitalists or by individuals making small investments or loans, says, that while many persons themselves find it difficult to emigrate to the colonies, especially to those in which the climate is unsuited for the habitation of Europeans, their capital can, on the contrary, without distinction of locality, seek for the best and most productive fields of investments. Investors, of whatever class, whether banker, the modest employce, the workman, or the widow, may make investments or loans of their capital in the colonies, and while developing those colonies obtain earnings far in excess of that which the capital would produce in the home country. These prove beneficial, not only because of the higher rental which the capitalist investor obtains for his funds, but also by reason of the larger profit which those handling the funds in the newer countries obtain for themselves and the development of the prosperity of the new country, and with that development the increase of commerce between the mother country and the colony.

USE OF CHARTERED COMPANIES IN COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT.

The revival of chartered companies by which the first stage of development in absolutely new territory is accomplished is so marked a characteristic of modern colonial enterprise as to justify a description of their methods. The unpopularity of chartered companies of a century ago—the East Indian companies of England, and Netherlands and France, the Hudson's Bay Company, and others-led to their abandonment and to the supposition that they had forever disappeared from the field of colonial development. When, however, the English Government concluded to extend its dominion in Africa in competition largely with other European governments which were parceling out that great continent, the use of chartered companies for obtaining control of territory over which dominion had been merely proclaimed, but not established, was deemed advantageous.

RECENT USE OF CHARTERED COMPANIES IN BRITISH AFRICA.

In 1877 Mr. Goldie-Taubman conceived the idea that by uniting the interests of the few British traders located in the great territory of western Africa on the Niger River and vicinity and obtaining concessions from native chiefs a great territory and population might be brought under a distinct form of government, the resources of the country developed, and profitable industries established, and at the same time the condition of the people bettered. He therefore applied in 1879 for a charter for a company for this work, and in 1881 a charter was granted to the National African Company with a capital of £1,000,000, the object being to open up direct relations with the great potentates of the interior of the country mentioned. A river flotilla was constructed and pushed up the Niger and its branches, stations established, and treaties made with over 300 native potentates. Commerce was established, roads and methods of communication created, and a form of government established. Meantime the territory was declared a British protectorate (1884–1887) and in 1900, in pursuance of the terms of the original charter, the government and possession of the territory, having an area of 500,000 square miles and a population numbering probably 30,000,000, were transferred to the British Crown.

In 1888 a charter was issued to the Imperial British East Africa Company, giving it "the entire management of those parts of the islands and mainland of the Zanzibar dominions on the east coast of Africa, between Wanga and Kipani," with full powers of acquiring territory westward as far as the zone of British influence extended, from the eastern coast of Africa to the boundaries of the Kongo Free State. This gave an area estimated at 750,000 square miles. The company organized its government and police force, established lines of communication, and at once entered upon harbor works and other improvements at Mombasa, the principal port; surveyed lines for railways, began the construction of a railroad to the interior, intended to extend finally to Lake Nyanza; established stations in the interior, explored the rivers, established a steamer line running between ports on the coast, established a postal system, became a member of the Postal Union, and, in 1895, transferred its territory to the British Government. In 1889 a charter was granted to the

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