PART II-INTRODUCTION.

A classification of the British Colonies and Protectorates will be found on p. 613.

The greater portion of the Colonial Empire has accrued within comparatively recent times, though the first attempt at Colonial settlement, that of Sir Humphrey Gilbert in Newfoundland, was made as early as 1583. The end of the seventeenth century saw us in possession, in addition to the New England States, only of St. Helena, two slave-trading stations at the Gambia and the Gold Coast, the Bermudas, Jamaica, Barbados, and several of the minor West Indian Islands, and of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island on the continent of America. Until the great wars which marked the second half of the eighteenth century, we made but little progress in territorial acquisition. The States of New England, and the steadily increasing business of the East India Company, afforded sufficient outlet for our colonising energy; but when the progress of the Seven Years' War brought us into collision with France in North America and India, we were fairly launched on our definite career of colonial extension. The peace of 1815 left us with most of the West Indies, South Africa, and a free hand in India, North America, and the Pacific. During the reign of Victoria we occupied Natal, British Bechuanaland, Basutoland and the Transkei, Zululand, British Columbia and the wide NorthWest Territories of the Canadian Dominion, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania, British New Guinea and North Borneo. We have also acquired by cession Labuan, Lagos, the greater portion of the Gold Coast, and Fiji, and we have acquired by arrangement Cyprus and the basin of the Niger, besides countless smaller possessions. During 1890 enormous additions were made to the Empire in Africa, as a result of the arrangements with Germany, France, and Portugal for the delimitations of their respective possessions and spheres of influence in that continent, and we now actually possess, or have the indisputable right to acquire, nearly 24 million square miles out of the total11,700,000 square miles which Africa contains. A Protectorate was proclaimed over Amatongaland, now part of Natal, in 1895. Between 1895 and 1898 large tracts of territory within the British sphere in Africa were occupied. In 1898 Weihaiwei was obtained on lease from China, as well as an extension of British Kowloon. In 1899, by an arrangement with Germany, certain of the Solomon Islands were transferred to the British sphere of interest. The Orange River Colony and the Transvaal were annexed in 1900. In the same year Tonga, in the Western Pacific, came under British protection, and the Cook Islands, Savage Island, and other small islands were annexed.

Including India the Empire now extends over 11 millions of square miles, or 91 times the area of the Mother Country. The area of the Colonial Empire alone is more than 80 times that of the United Kingdom, and the estimated population is over 55 millions.

Of the total Colonial area of nearly 10 million sq. miles, the self-governing Colonies cover about 7 million sq. miles, inhabited by a population of 15 millions, so that the area more or less under the direct authority of the Home Government amounts to 3 million sq. miles, with a population of about 12 millions, excluding unascertained population in Africa. All but about 360,000 sq. miles of this is in Africa.

With a population so small in proportion to the vast area, and the facilities that now exist for the interchange of produce, there are naturally but few towns of considerable size in the Colonies, and though in Canada and Australia and the Cape there are some considerable manufactures, the products consist mainly of raw materials. Only about 40 towns have a population of more than thirty thousand. The aggregation of the population of Australia in the four large towns, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Brisbane, is very remarkable, more than one-third of the population of the Australian continent being crowded into them. This appears to be mainly due to the development of the external trade of Australasia, which is concentrated in these towns.

In the self-governing Colonies complete provision has been made not only for elementary education, but also for secondary and higher instruction, In all of them primary instruction is compulsory, and in Canada, Victoria, and New Zealand also free. Extensive provision has also been made for secondary and technical education and higher education provided for by the establishment of the following chartered and amply endowed Universities empowered to grant degrees, McGill College and King's College, Montreal, Trinity College, Toronto, and Bishop's College, Quebec, Laval University, Quebec, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and New Zealand Universities, and the University of the Cape of Good Hope; besides many other endowed Colleges in Canada and Australia.

In the other Colonies, as will be seen from the following pages, education has not been neglected, though, with inferior resources and in most cases a mixed population, the provision for this purpose falls short of the standard in the more favoured Colonies. There are endowed Colleges in Barbados, Trinidad, British Guiana, Ceylon, and Mauritius, and a University in Malta established by the Knights of St. John in 1769.

Regular and efficient steam mail services now exist with all Colonies. Mauritius and Seychelles were connected with the world's cable system in November, 1893, Labuan and North Borneo in 1894, and St. Helena in 1899, and the Pacific cable, which was opened for traffic on 8th December, 1902, connected Fiji with Canada and Australia, so that all are in connection with the world's telegraph system, except Falkland Islands and Papua,

The following are the total values of imports and exports during the last ten years:

The exports to and imports from British Possessions, including India, represent between one-fifth and one-sixth of the whole trade of the United Kingdom.

Since 1870 the Imperial troops have been gradually withdrawn from all the self-governing Colonies, and now, with the exception of the garrisons of the naval stations at Halifax (Nova Scotia) and Cape Town, the land defence of these Colonies rests entirely on their local forces. Of the other Colonies, Gibraltar, Malta, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Ceylon, Straits Settlements, Hong Kong, Jamaica and Bermuda possess Imperial garrisons, and Cyprus has one company of a British regiment stationed in the island. The naval defence of the Empire still rests mainly on the Imperial Navy, though Australia has made considerable provision for naval defence, and, as will be seen below, most of the self-governing Colonies make contributions towards the Imperial Navy. There are Imperial naval stations at Simon's Bay, Bermuda, Halifax, Malta, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, and Ascension.

An account of the Colonial Conferences of 1887, 1894, 1897 and 1902, and of the Imperial Conference of 1907, is given under the heading "Imperial Conference."

The consolidation of the Empire was advanced during 1898 by the institution of a penny postage rate between most of the countries included in the Empire, which came into operation on Christmas Day. This reduction was decided on as a result of a Postal Conference held in London in June and July, 1898, and chiefly at the instance of Canada. At the same conference a reduced rate for parcel post was agreed on between the United Kingdom and many of the Colonies, and was adopted from the 1st of January, 1899.

In 1899 war broke out in South Africa. Large contingents were dispatched from Australasia and Canada to take part in the campaign. The course of the war is summarised in the account of the

"Transvaal." Peace was concluded in 1902.

In 1900, the Australian Commonwealth Constitution Act was passed in the Imperial Parliament, and on the 1st January, 1901, the union of all the colonies on the continent, with Tasmania, was established. T.R. H. the Duke and Duchess of York visited the States of the Commonwealth in 1901, and the Duke opened the first Session of the Parliament amid the greatest enthusiasm. The royal tour was subsequently extended to South Africa and North America.

Mr. Chamberlain held the office of Secretary of State for over eight years, a longer period than any of his predecessors except Lord Bathurst (1812-1827). His attention was closely engaged from first to last by South African affairs, from the difficult and delicate negotiations arising out of the Jameson Raid to the numerous problems involved in the creation of the new Colonies. In West Africa his administration was signalised by the acquisition of the territories of the Royal Niger Company, and the construction of railways in Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, and Lagos, the effect of which will be to increase largely the range of British commercial activity in these countries. In the West Indies much depression and misfortune had to be met, but urgent wants were relieved by Imperial grants, and the conclusion of the Sugar Bounties Convention, and the efforts to make more scientific use of the land and its products, with the assistance of an Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture (Sir D. Morris, K.C.M.G.), have brought about a great improvement. In the Eastern Colonies there was a great increase of important public works, and a harbour on the coast of China was acquired at Weihaiwei. In Cyprus, where since the British occupation in 1878 no important public work had been undertaken, the construction of a harbour at Famagusta and of a railway from that place to Nicosia was taken in hand. Side by side with these undertakings should be mentioned the institution of the London and Liverpool Schools of Tropical Medicine-which have already combated malarial and other diseases so successfully as to make a very marked difference in the security of life in the tropical colonies, especially in West Africa.

When Mr. A. Lyttelton succeeded to the office of Secretary of State, the new South African Colonies were experiencing the full measure of the difficulties attendant on the task of repairing the waste of war. The loan funds were being rapidly expended in meeting various claims and re-settling the country. In February, 1904, the Transvaal Legislative Council passed a Labour Importation Ordinance to regulate the introduction of Chinese labourers on the gold mines. The scheme,

however, particularly the provisions as to the compounds, aroused considerable opposition in this country. A convention to give effect to it was concluded with China in May, and the shipment of labourers commenced immediately.

A difficulty which had caused almost continual controversy for more than a century was settled by the arrangement contained in the Anglo-French Convention with regard to Newfoundland. Under this, in consideration of concessions elsewhere, the French gave up their claim to the treaty shore, and admitted the concurrent and equal rights of the Newfoundlanders to the fishery.

A movement came prominently forward in 1902 which will it is hoped add to the production of the tropical Colonies and greatly increase their value to the Mother Country. The United States at present export cotton to the extent of about 200,0007. in value daily. The increasing magnitude of the demand, coupled with the fluctuating prices which have prevailed, render it highly desirable for this country to possess Colonial sources of production, and an association (British Cotton Growers' Association) was formed in 1902 to encourage the production of cotton in various parts of the Empire, and obtained a Royal Charter in 1904. It is not unreasonable to hope that in time this staple, in which some three millions of the population of the United Kingdom are directly, and almost the whole indirectly, interested, will be largely produced in our own Colonies. The Earl of Elgin became Secretary of State on the formation of the Liberal administration at the end of 1905. On December 20th His Majesty's Government decided to prohibit the issue of further licenses for the importation of Chinese into the Transvaal, pending a decision as to the grant of responsible government to that colony. In December, 1906, Letters Patent were issued granting responsible government to the Transvaal, and the first session of the new Parliament was opened in March, 1907. Later on in the year responsible government was granted to the Orange River Colony, and the first elections were held in November.

The Earl of Crewe became Secretary of State in April, 1908.

In February, 1909, the draft constitution prepared by the National Convention for the Union of South Africa was published. It provides for the Union of the Colonies or any two of them within a year of the Union Act passing the Imperial Parliament.

All countries within the Empire, with the exception of Australia, the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Rhodesia, have adopted the Imperial Penny Postage Agreement (letters 1d. per half-ounce, postcards 1d., newspapers d. per 2 ounces). In 1905 the Commonwealth of Australia agreed to accept without surcharge letters from the United Kingdom and other portions of the Empire on which postage had been prepaid at 1d. per half-ounce, and reduced their outward postage to the Empire and Postal Union countries to 2d. per half-ounce.

At the International Postal Union Congress, held at Rome in 1906, Postal Union countries agreed to raise the unit of weight for letter postage from half an ounce to one ounce. The higher unit has been adopted by His Majesty's Government and by all the British Colonies and Protectorates except the Commonwealth of Australia and the South African Colonies. Australia and the Colonies in South Africa have, however, agreed to accept without surcharge letters from the United Kingdom or any portion of the Empire on which postage has been paid at the rate of 1d. per ounce.

By an arrangement made in 1906, the postage rate on British newspapers, magazines and trade journals intended for despatch to Canada by direct Canadian packet was reduced to 1d. per pound, packets not exceeding 2 ounces in weight being transmissible for d. as formerly.

A further list is appended of Colonies accepting the reduced rate of parcel post (for parcels not over 3 lbs. 1s., not over 7 lbs. 2s., not over 11 lbs. 38.), viz. :

Antigua, Ascension, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British East Africa, British Guiana, British Honduras, British North Borneo, Ceylon, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Gambia, Gibraltar, Gold Coast Colony, Grenada, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Johore (rid Singapore), Malta (by direct steamer), Mauritius (via Colombo), Montserrat, Nevis, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Niger Coast Protectorate, Nigeria, St. Helena, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Sarawak, Sierra Leone, Straits Settlements, Tobago, Tortola, Trinidad, Virgin Islands, Zanzibar.