cry of the people, for the protection and the prosperity of whom it is so largely responsible.

Chief Justice RAYNER (Lagos): I have listened with very great pleasure to Sir Gilbert Carter's able Paper. My connection with this Colony only goes back some eighteen months, so that I have no personal knowledge of some of the interesting events narrated in the Paper. But I have had the opportunity of seeing something of the results of them, and they have been entirely satisfactory. The country has now been made quiet and peaceable, and one result of this has been the development of the rubber industry, of which we have heard in the Paper. Until the country was made safe for people to pass through, it was impossible for men to go up to the interior for the rubber trade, as they are able to do now. The rubber industry seems to be one of the great future industries of this part of Africa. Up to now palm oil has been the staple, but rubber promises to be one which will almost rival it. If litigation be any measure of trade, the rubber industry has increased vastly, for in the last twelve months a large amount of business has been brought into court in connection with it. With reference to the drink traffic, that is a very vexed question. It is a question in which I have taken some interest for some time past, and so far as my own experience goes, I am inclined to agree with the lecturer that the evils of the traffic have been exaggerated. I have listened with some surprise to Bishop Oluwole's statement that so small a quantity of spirits is consumed in the interior. I certainly understood from what I had heard that there had been a vast amount of mischief done in the interior in consequence of the traffic, and I also gathered the same from what Bishop Tugwell told me. course my own personal observation has been confined to the coast, but that observation goes to support the view of the lecturer. The African is certainly not a drunkard, and it is not as common to see drunken men in the streets of an African town as, unfortunately, it is in our own country. Up to now there has not been any very great amount of harm done to the African by this traffic. My own experience as a magistrate and a judge, which extends over some years, is that there is not that relation between drink and crime which certainly exists in this country. As a rule, the bulk of the crime in West Africa is not the result of drink. But although up to now no great evil may have been done, I think that we must look to the future; and if the traffic goes on increasing, evil may arise. It would be a sad thing if our rule in Africa brought to the natives evils which, unfortunately, drink has produced in this

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country, and I think we ought to look to the matter. Some people at home say "abolish the traffic." It is all very well for people sitting at home in arm-chairs, and without any responsibility, to dictate what we ought to do. It is a different thing for us who have to deal practically with this question to say what is to be done. Many serious questions arise those connected with revenue, for instance-and although we would wish to do all we can, it is not possible to do all that many of our friends would like us to do. But something ought undoubtedly to be done to see whether the traffic can be kept from increasing in the way it is doing, and, if possible, to restrict it. Everyone must regret that the state of Sir Gilbert Carter's health prevents his going back to Lagos. I am sure I am only expressing what everyone in the Colony feels, whether belonging to the official, the mercantile, or any other class, when I say that his retirement is a great loss. Although we shall no longer have Sir Gilbert Carter at the head of affairs, we know we shall have his cordial sympathy and support in this country in carrying out any scheme which may be to the advantage of the Colony.

Dr. D. MORRIS, C.M.G. Not long ago we had the pleasure of hearing a Paper from Sir George Baden-Powell on West Africa as a whole. Now we have been favoured with an account of one of the most important Colonies in that part of the world. The Governors present have been specially connected with the wonderful development of West Africa. Taking only the rubber industry, Sir Alfred Moloney has told us how in the Gold Coast Colony in 1882 hardly any rubber was exported, and yet through his individual interest in the matter it is now exporting rubber to the value of £200,000. Sir Alfred mentioned £100,000, but the exact figures were £218,162 in 1893. It was important that capable and progressive men should be sent out to administer our Colonies, because they have it in their power to do more for their Colony than anyone else. Development is much more rapid when a Governor takes a real interest in the affairs of his Colony. In the case of Lagos its development has been most remarkable. For instance, the rubber industry in three years has risen from practically nothing to something like £300,000. Everyone who uses rubber in any way should feel grateful to Sir Alfred Moloney and Sir Gilbert Carter. In regard to the question of the future supply of rubber, companies are being floated, and a large number of people are saying, "If you plant anything, plant rubber." If, in a few years or so, rubber of the value of half a million could be raised in two little spots in Africa, I think the people who are advocating planting rubber all over the world should look more

closely into the matter. We know that in Brazil the Amazon Valley and both sides of the Andes are largely devoted to the rubber industry. In Central America, Mexico, and other parts of the world rubber is likewise being produced as a forest product in large quantities. During the last twenty years the price, according to reliable statistics, has risen only a few pence per pound. Before we start planting rubber in our own Colonies, and especially on land which can produce other things more valuable, we should be satisfied that the rubber industry is not likely to follow the cinchona industry, which has caused so much loss to planters in the West Indies, India, and Ceylon. The tree which has been the means of yielding so much rubber in Lagos extends probably right across from Sierra Leone to the mouth of the Niger. The tree is not unlikely to be found in extensive tracts in the interior of West Africa. It is needless to say that it should be most carefully preserved in all the British Colonies where it is found, because it is not fit to tap until it is of some size, and it cannot again be tapped for some time. No doubt many trees are bled too severely, and killed. There is, however, a great difficulty in regulating the tapping of these trees and preventing their destruction; but there can be no doubt that everything should be done by the authorities to preserve them. I am pleased again to meet Sir Alfred Moloney, who is going out to that part of the world from which I have just returned-the West Indies -and no doubt he has a most useful and valuable career before him in those Colonies, which are suffering from depression in their staple industry. If anything can be done to assist that industry, or raise up others, Sir Alfred Moloney is in every way qualified to undertake it.

Mr. F. SWANZY: Being a large importer of rubber, I should like to bear my testimony to the value of the work done by Sir Alfred Moloney and Sir Gilbert Carter in this matter. The former referred to the old policy of remaining on the sea-shore, and I am pleased to say that our Government and our mercantile community as well are now fully alive to the necessity of going into the interior. We are reminded that we owe the very word "Hinterland" to Germany, and that seems to me a significant fact. Germany and France first showed us the value of going into the interior. I think this Paper shows the enormous value of the policy now adopted in regard to the trade of these West African Colonies. As to the question of health, I am glad to see that the lecturer believes much may be done to make West Africa more healthy. I believe, myself, that by sanitation these towns can be made comparatively habitable and

salubrious for the residence of Europeans. In regard to the liquor traffic, I would remind you that while the import of spirits may have increased, the imports of other goods have increased in far greater proportion.

The CHAIRMAN: I will now ask you to join with me in cordially thanking Sir Gilbert Carter for his very interesting Paper and the instructive discussion it has elicited. It has brought before us a number of gentlemen connected not only with West Africa, but with other parts of the Empire, showing the interest that is taken by the Fellows of this Institute in all questions relating to the Colonies.

Sir GILBERT CARTER expressed his acknowledgments, and, a vote of thanks having been given to the Chairman, the proceedings terminated.

EIGHTH ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING.

THE Eighth Ordinary General Meeting of the Session was held at the Whitehall Rooms, Hôtel Métropole, on Tuesday, June 15, 1897, when a Paper on "The Financial Relations of the Empire. Can They be Improved?" was read by Sir George Baden-Powell, K.C.M.G., M.P. The Right Hon. the Earl of Jersey, G.C.M.G., a Vice-President of the Institute, presided.

The Minutes of the last Ordinary General Meeting were read and confirmed, and it was announced that since that Meeting 85 Fellows had been elected, viz., 10 Resident and 75 Non-Resident.

Andrew Anderson, E. H. Bayldon, J.P., George Brookman, T. F. Victor Buxton, M.A., J.P., Cæsar Czarnikow, Walter Deed, Frederick A. McKenzie, Colin J. McCulloch, Lieut.-Colonel George G. Sandeman, Manning K. Sproston.

Non-Resident Fellows:

Randal J. Alcock (Victoria), John S. Aspeling (Transvaal), Edward T. Bailey (Western Australia), F. W. Beyers (Transvaal), George W. Borrowe (Transvaal), William P. Brownell (Tasmania), James A. T. Buckle (Gold Coast Colony), G. A. McLean Buckley (New Zealand), C. E. Carr (Sierra Leone), Wm. St. John Carr (Transvaal), Capt. Thomas Chrisp (New Zealand), Frederick H. S. Corder (Transvaal), Chief Justice Sir Lionel Cox (Straits Settlements), William J. Craig (Victoria), Hermann J. Cramer (British Honduras), Henry Cummings (Gold Coast Colony), Howard Davenport (South Australia), Mones Davis (Transvaal), Robert C. Earle, M.R.C.S.E. (New Zealand), Thomas R. English (Cape Colony), Samuel Evans (Transvaal), James F. Ferguson (Natal), Henry B. Ford (British Guiana), P. A. Garland L.R.C.S.I. &c. (Gold Coast Colony), George F. Gee (New Zealand), William C. Goddard (New South Wales), Godfrey Hall (New Zealand), Strongman Hancock (Transvaal), Michael S. Hawker (South Australia), Richard M. Hawker (South Australia), Wm. Beachy Head (Transvaal), Rudolf H. Henning (Western Australia), Frank Hyams (New Zealand), William F. Jacob (New Zealand), Edmund C. Jamieson (Transvaal), W. H. Kinsman (Natal), James C. Kirkwood (Transvaal), Captain George Kirton (New Zealand), Charles P. Langdon (Victoria), Joseph Levi (Victoria), Hon. Nathaniel Levi, M.L.C. (Victoria), Montague M. Lichtenstein (Transvaal), Karl Lithman (Cape Colony), John M. Macaulay (Matabeleland), William McCallum (Transvaal), Robert A. Macfie (Porto Rico), Frank Mandy (Cape Colony), Kentish Moore (Transvaal), Benjamin K. Morton (Victoria), Hon. James Murray, M.L.C. (Fiji), Christian R. R. Muttiah (Ceylon), Robert J. Nanco (Trinidad), F. S. Nugent, Barrister-at-Law (Canada), C. R. O'Flaherty (Transvaal), D. Montray Parsons (Matabeleland), Howard Pim (Transvaal), Rt. Hon. the Earl of Ranfurly, K.C.M.G. (Governor of New Zealand), John Root, junr. (Ceylon), Hugh Ross (Sierra Leone), Edward G. Sinckler, J.P. (Barbados), Ebb Smith (Queensland), Harry D. Solomon (Transvaal), George G. Stead (New Zealand),

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