Election.

1877 SIMMS, W. K., J.P., Adelaide, South Australia.

1875 SMIDT, ABRAHAM DE, Surveyor-General, Cape Town, Cape of Good

Hope.

1873 SMITH, HON. DONALD A., M.P., Montreal, Canada.

1872 SMITH, SIR FRANCIS, Chief Justice of Tasmania, Hobart Town.

1873 SMITH, JAMES F., Barrister, Toronto, Canada.

1877 SOLOMON, HON. GEORGE, M.L.C., Kingston, Jamaica.

1876 SOLOMON, MICHAEL, Seville, St. Ann, Jamaica.

1877 SPENCE, J. BRODIE, Adelaide, South Australia.

1870 SPENSLEY, HOWARD, Chartered Bank of Australia, Melbourne, Australia.

1878 STAHLSCHMIDT, THOS. LETT, Victoria, British Columbia.

1875 STANFORD, J. F., Diamond Fields, South Africa.

1874 STANFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope. 1873 STEPHENS, ROMEO, Montreal, Canada.

1873 STEWART, ROBERT.

1875 STUDHOLME, JOHN, Canterbury, New Zealand.

1876 SULLIVAN, A. F., Melbourne Club, Victoria, Australia.

1877 TANNER, THOMAS, Havelock, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. 1872 TENNANT, THE HON. SIR DAVID, M.L.A., Speaker of the House of Assembly, Cape of Good Hope.

1874 THIBANDEAU, ALFRED, Quebec, Canada.

1874 THOMPSON, THOMAS, Transvaal, South Africa.

1873 THOMSON, MATTHEW C., Rockhampton, Queensland.

1873 THOMSON, W. A., M.P., Rideau Club, Ottawa, Canada.

1872 THORNE, CORNELIUS, Shanghai, China.

1875 TIFFIN, HENRY H., J.P., Napier, New Zealand.

1875 TROUPE, H. R., Auckland, New Zealand.

1869 TRUTCH, HON. J. W., C.M.G.

1874 TYSSEN, G. R., Victoria, Australia.

1877 TRAFFORD, HIS HONOR G., Chief Justice, St. Vincent, West Indies. 1878 TRIMMER, FREDERICK, Adelaide, South Australia.

1873 UNIACKE, A.M., Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1875 VEITCH, DR. J. T., Penang, Straits Settlements. 1869 VERDON, SIR GEORGE, K.C.M.G., C.B., Melbourne. 1877 VERLEY, LOUIS, Kingston, Jamaica.

1876 +WALKER, EDWARD NOEL, Assistant Colonial Secretary, Kingston,

Jamaica,

Year of Election

1873 WALKER, MAJOR JOHN, London, Canada.

1874 WALKER, R. B. N., M.A., F.R.G.S., British Sherbro', West Africa. 1875 WARD, J. H., St. George's, Grenada, West Indies.

1873 WARD, WILLIAM CURTIS, Victoria, British Columbia.

1878 WARREN, FREDERICK WILLIAM, King Street, Kingston, Jamaica. 1875 WATSON, THOMAS, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope. (Corresponding Secretary).

1876 WATTS, HORACE, M.D., Stanley, Falkland Islands.

1868 WELD, HIS EXCELLENCY FREDERICK A., C.M.G., Governor of Tasmania.

1876

WEST-ERSKINE, W.A.E., M.A., Adelaide, South Australia. 1877 WESTMORLAND, HON. HENRY, M.L.C., Prospect, Annott's Bay, P.O., Jamaica.

1878 WHITE, ARNOLD, Colombo Club, Ceylon.

1876 WHITEHEAD, PERCY, Leolrop, Harrismith, Orange Free State, South

Africa.

1872 WHITFIELD, R. H., Georgetown, British Guiana.

1875 WHITMAN, JAMES, St. John's, Newfoundland.

1878 WHITMORE, HON. COLONEL, C.M.G., Colonial Secretary of New Zealand, The Grange, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.

1878 WHYHAM, WILLIAM H., Antigua, West Indies. 1878 WIGLEY, JAMES, F.J.P., Adelaide, South Australia. 1876 WILMOT, ALEXANDER, J.P., Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony. 1875 WILSON, FREDERICK H., Cashmere, Canterbury, New Zealand. 1878 WILSON, JOHN GEORGE HANNAY, Orion Downs, Queensland. 1875 WILSON, HON. JOHN N., M.L.C., Napier, New Zealand. 1877 WING, EDGAR, Tasmania.

1876 WINTON, ROBERT, St. John's, Newfoundland.

1878 WOOD, READER GILSON, M.H.R., Auckland, New Zealand. 1872 WYATT, CAPTAIN (late Cape Mounted Rifles).

1878 YOUNG, JESS, Adelaide, South Australia.

1876 YOUNG, SIR WILLIAM, Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1878 +YOUNG, HON. WILLIAM, A.G., C.M.G., Lieut.-Governor of British Guiana, Georgetown, Demarara, West Indies.

THE ROYAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE.

SESSION 1877-78.

FIRST ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING.

THE First Ordinary General Meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute, of Session 1877-78, took place on Tuesday, November 20th, 1877, at the "Pall Mall," 14, Regent Street; the PRESIDENT, his Grace the Duke of Manchester, K.P., in the chair. Amongst those

present were the following:

Sir John Coode, Sir George MacLeay, K.C.M.G.; Sir Francis Murphy (Melbourne), the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Graham's Town, MajorGen. Clarke, Lieut.-Col. G. Chesney, R.E.; Col. Fischer, Capt. G. Frederick Young (Bengal Staff Corps), Rev. A. Styleman Herring, Rev. J. J. Beck (Cape Colony), Dr. P. Chiappini (Cape Colony), Mr. T. B. Potter, M.P.; Mr. J. W. Sauer (M.L.A. Cape Colony), Mr. Stephen William Silver, Mr. F. P. Labilliere, Mr. H. Rokeby Price, Mr. G. Molineux, Mr. T. Risley Griffith (Grenada), Mr. Philip T. Smith (Tasmania), Mr. Arthur L. Clay (Civil Commissioner, India), Mr. Edmund Trimmer (South Australia), Mr. E. Darter (Cape Colony), Mr. Philip Capel Hanbury, Mr. Alexander Rogers (late Member of Council, Bombay), Mr. James A. Youl, C.M.G.; Hon. Henry Westmorland (M.L.C., Jamaica), Mr. C. W. Thies (Cape Colony), Mr. H. W. Freeland, Mr. Henry Blaine, Mr. J. Dennistoun Wood (late Attorney-General, Victoria), Mr. Henry J. Jourdain, Mr. Alexander Brown (Mauritius), Mr. G. P. Moodie (Transvaal), Mr. James Farmer (New Zealand), Mr. Hugh Jamieson, Major-General J. G. Balmain, Mr. and Mrs. Westgarth, Mr. A. Macalister, C.M.G. (Agent-General for Queensland), Mr. H. De B. Hollings, Mr. George Foggo, Mr. Thomas Hamilton, Mr. P. Dod, Mr. W. Kirby, Mr. J. A. Quinton, Mr. Arthur L. Young and Miss Young, Mr. James Bonwick (Victoria), Mr. A. A. Broadribb, Mr. Arthur W. Bidder, Miss Molineaux, Miss Ewart, Mr. and Mrs. John A'Deane (New Zealand), Hon. Mrs. Elliott, Miss Jerningham, Mr. B. S. Lloyd, Mr. S. B. Browning (New Zealand), Mr. Robert Harrison, Mr. F. W. Stone (Canada), Mr. C. Erskine, Mr. Henry Marriott, Mr. F. Burton,

B

Mr. Arthur G. Sterry, Mr. J. E. N. O'Dwyer, Mr. Alexander Turnbull, Mr. Joseph Trutch, C.M.G. (British Columbia), Mr. Abraham Hyams (Jamaica), Mr. J. H. Thomas, Mr. W. T. Deverell (Victoria), Mr. Francis A. Gwynne (Victoria), Mr. A. S. Murray, Mr. L. W. Thrupp (South Australia), Mr. F. S. Turner, Mr. T. Saunders, Mr. T. T. Roscow, Mr. Alexander Bell Bird (Jamaica), Mr. C. H. Moffatt, Rev. Brymer Belcher, Major Evans Bell, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Evans, Mr. H. B. T. Strangways (late Attorney-General for South Australia), Mr. A. Philipson, Mr. Charles E. Atkinson (Cape Colony), Mr. W. M. Farmer (Cape Colony), Mr. G. J. Symons, Mr. W. Hamilton Burn, Mr. C. B. Steele, Mr. J. Marshall and Miss Marshall, Miss Martin, Miss Bickford Smith, Rev. John G. H. Hill, Mr. R. A. Aspinall, Mr. A. B. Abraham (New Zealand), Mr. George W. Cockburn, Mr. F. W. Chesson, Mr. Hyde Clarke, D.C.L.; Mr. Frederick Young (Honorary Secretary), &c. &c.

The HONORARY SECRETARY (Mr. Frederick Young) read the minutes of the Tenth Ordinary Meeting of Session 1876-77, which were confirmed. The names of a number of Fellows elected during the recess were announced, as well as a list of numerous books, papers, and specimens to the Museum, contributed to the Institute.

The PRESIDENT then called upon ROBERT H. ELLIOT, Esq., to read the following paper :

INDIAN FAMINES, AND HOW TO MODIFY THE CAUSES THAT LEAD TO THEM.

Before beginning my lecture on the important subject that is to occupy our attention this evening, I cannot help pausing for one moment to congratulate the President and Council of this Institute on the fact that, by opening their winter session with a paper on India, they have thus indicated their conviction that the solution of our Indian difficulties is, for us, the most pressing question of the day. Permit me also to congratulate the members of this Institute on the fact that their affairs are conducted by men who take such a comprehensive view of the interests of our Colonies. To some it might appear that as India is not a Colony, its interests have little practical bearing on the objects to which this society ought to be devoted. But I need hardly say that your President and Council have taken no such narrow view. They have seen that the prosperity of the Colonies is largely wound up with the prosperity of England, and that the prosperity of England very largely depends upon the successful government of India. They have doubtless seen, too, that from the prosperous state of the infant cotton industries of India, it is merely a question of time as to how

3

soon woollen manufactories will follow, and so stimulate the production of wool in Australia and in the Cape. Both directly and indirectly, then, is this Society interested in the welfare of India; and I need hardly add that your President and Council could not devote themselves to a more useful work than that of urging on the attention of the Government every measure that can conduce to the prosperity of our Eastern Empire.

Let me now direct your attention to Indian famines. That is the grand problem that lies before us. If it can be solved all will go well; if it cannot be solved-if the people are to drift on, as at present, from one famine to another-the dreary decadence of our Indian Empire must continue, till it either becomes an annual burden on the English taxpayer, or is suffered to take its place. amongst those insolvent States with whom the money-lenders of the world are already too well acquainted.

Let me now mark out the ground I mean to traverse :—

1. I propose to make some remarks on the numbers and probable increase of the people.

2. I propose to show that, taking into account the increase of the people, the financial condition of India is such that it must, eventually, be unable to meet the cost of famines.

3. I shall show that neither railways, canals, nor emigration can solve the grand problem.

4. I shall have to point out that no permanent amelioration can take place unless it rise out of the general progress of the people. 5. I propose to show what measures should be adopted in order to enable the people to help themselves.

6. Lastly, I shall show how the finances of India may be so improved as to enable the State the better to cope with famines.

The population of India is at least 240,000,000, and there is no reason to doubt that it is increasing at the English rate of one per cent. per annum. In twenty years, then, it will rise to nearly 298,000,000, in forty years to upwards of 357,000,000, and in eighty years to about 530,000,000. This may seem somewhat startling, but I am afraid it is far within the probable increase. In the first place, the population is in all probability nearer to 250,000,000 than to 240,000,000. In the second place, the rate of multiplication is far faster than in England, because a woman in India bears a child at a much earlier age than an English woman. In the third place, there is the strongest incentive to marriage, both on religious and social grounds. And then there are none of the checks that a more civilised people have. Luxury amongst the masses is unknown; the wants of life are few; the habits of the