never will believe that the President of Control sitting on that bench should be bankrupt, and his colleague the Chancellor of the Exchequer sitting next to him shall be solvent." That may be true, but to offer us now, after we have advanced our money upon the Indian guarantee, would be an injustice to the taxpayer, unless we give something in return for the increased security. Mr. Elliot said he thought the Government should provide capital for modern mills, so as to teach the natives to manufacture cotton and other goods. If that is to be so, why not everything else? I say that it is contrary to all economic principles to say that the Government are to undertake that. I was sorry Mr. Potter made no reference to that, and also to the question of the repeal of the Cotton Duty. Lord Salisbury said, with reference to irrigation works, that the difficulty they had was the enormous loss arising from them-I forget how many thousands the loss was on irrigation works in India at this time; therefore there is not much inducement for the Government to undertake these works as a paying industry; and their experience was that the natives would not come to buy the water for irrigation purposes unless there was a famine, and the cost of keeping up those works until the famine comes would be enormous. There was a better saying of Lord Palmerston's than that of Artemus Ward's; he said, "Don't prophesy till after the event." I think that the last paragraph of Mr. Elliot's paper was that his lecture would be dug out of the records of this Institute on some future occasion, and then it would be found that he was a prophet of the ills to come. I much fear there will be very little done for India until the hobbyists have done with their hobbies. It is these particular gentlemen who come here with some local knowledge, who think one plan will remedy all the ills in India, while some think another; while others, more wise, take a wider view of what is due to India. Railways and emigration, telegraphs, &c., to say that any one of these things can do it singly is not common sense; all of them will help-not one alone-to bring that prosperity to India which we all have so much at heart, as one thing alone would be foolish. (Hear, hear.) The DUKE OF MANCHESTER: There are only one or two points to which I should like to allude. Mr. Strangways criticised the tenure of land in India, but he seems to have forgotten that Mr. Potter had made inquiries from five or six natives in Madras and Mysore, who were competent persons to give an opinion, and who in the many things they recommended made no complaint of the tenure of land. Many suggestions were made as to what might be done in India for the prevention of famines, and one to which Mr. Elliot alluded was by assisting nature in preventing drought while using artificial means for the purpose of cultivating trees. I should think that a wise measure to adopt would be to advise the clothing of the country with trees, as there is no doubt whatever that nothing promotes cultivation more freely than large forests and woods. I think we may take it for granted that the other means suggested, in due proportion, must be beneficial—the railways and roads to open up the country, canals also, and perhaps in a measure irrigation. But although for one I think very likely that small local workssuch as wells and tanks-rather than expensive modes of irrigation, might be more advantageous, the outlay would be far less costly. In reference to this Indian famine, or rather to the collections that have been made in support of the temporary famine, there is one point I think we may allude to with pride, and that is the enormous subscription that was sent from Australia in addition to those from the other Colonies. (Cheers.) Now the leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons, who spoke the other day, alleged that the policy he advocated might be called a "parochial " one, and that his business was to look to the happiness and contentment of these islands. I consider that the people of Australia and the Colonies generally show much more the feelings of the Imperial creed; they show that they consider themselves as well as the residents of Great Britain and Ireland, also the possessors of India. (Hear, hear.) I think the enormous amount of their subscriptions is one to which we may look with pride and satisfaction and which is one of the first symptoms of a united Empire. In conclusion, I would ask leave to express your warm thanks to Mr. Elliot for his able and interesting paper. (Applause.) Mr. ELLIOT: The hour is so late that, though I have made notes of the various speakers' objections to particular points of my lecture, I find it impossible to reply as fully as I should wish. But I am happy to say that I have been very much indebted to and saved a great deal of trouble by Mr. Strangways in his admirable speech, which was so well and justly received. To answer Mr. Rogers would be merely to repeat what Mr. Strangways has so ably said. As I pointed out at the time, I was perfectly aware that the Government had stipulated in its leases that it would not tax improvements; but it still kept the great question open as to the rent to be demanded at the close of the thirty years' period, and that was a tenure on which no man would invest capital. I would not do it myself, and I do not see why anyone should; and until it is altered I do not see how you can attract much capital to the land. I pass over the next two speakers, and advance to what the Hon. Mr. Westmorland said as regards emigration. I was perfectly aware that Jamaica would take a certain quantity of labour, and have no doubt it would continue to do so, but the capacity of Jamaica and that of the West India Island for absorbing labour cannot be very great, as compared with the enormous populations which you have to dispose of. I do not apprehend that they could take a million a year; however, I am not able at present, as I have not got the Blue-book by me, to go into this subject of emigration; but I can only say that I was particularly struck by the small number of the people who did emigrate, and also struck with the difficulties of removing them even from one point of India to another, showing that the people of India do stick to their own. country, just as we see the Irish did in former years. That may eventually be altered; but at the same time we cannot fix any time for such a change in the habits of the people to take place as will make them emigrate to any country in sufficient numbers to absorb the enormous surplus. Then I may make a remark or two about what Mr. Hale says. I will waive the question as to whether the Government could or could not work the railways cheaper than private companies, and rely solely on the advantages given by the annuity clause; and I do not think that anybody who examines the annuity clause, and observes the terms on which the annuities are to be granted, can fail to see that the Government would gain in a financial point of view largely by acquiring the railways,—not, I wish particularly to say, by borrowing the money and paying for the railways, but paying for them by annuities. The hour is so late that I do not see how, as I said before, I can do justice to the subjects that the various speakers have alluded to. I have had my say, the other speakers have had theirs; and if on any future occasion subsequent discussions should be required, I should be happy to reply to all the points seriatim. I may add here that I have taken the greatest pains, by consulting Government officials and otherwise, to obtain the best and most accurate infor mation I have now only to thank you for the kind and attentive way in which you have received me this evening, and to thank his Grace for having done me the honour to preside. (Cheers.) 42 SECOND ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING. THE Second Ordinary General Meeting of the Royal Colonial Amongst those present were the following: The Right Hon. Hugh E. Mr. FREDERICK YOUNG (Hon. Sec.) read the Minutes of the First Ordinary General Meeting of the Session, which were confirmed. The PRESIDENT then called upon ARTHUR MACALISTER, Esq., C.M.G., Agent-General for Queensland, to read the following paper: QUEENSLAND, AND CHINESE IMMIGRATION. In undertaking to read a paper this evening, my mind was influenced principally by a desire to say something regarding the somewhat anxious question-the introduction of Chinese in large numbers to the gold-fields of Queensland, and their fitness to intermingle or become incorporated with a European population. In other words, to consider whether what we know of the habits of Chinamen visiting the gold-fields render these people a desirable addition to the population of any of the Australian Colonies. I take it to be one of the principal objects of this Institute to obtain and communicate information regarding the various Colonies of Great Britain. Before, therefore, I draw your attention to the Chinese question, it has occurred to me, as a subject of interest to some, that I should present to you a brief outline of the rise and progress of that Colony on which the latest invasion of the Mongolian race has been made. This I shall do very shortly, and without going into detail. Queensland, as you all know, is the youngest of the Australian Colonies, having been erected into a Colony towards the end of 1859. Previous to this event it formed an outlying portion of the mother Colony of New South Wales, and, up to the time of separation, the larger number of its inhabitants occupied to a great extent that part of it which lies in the neighbourhood of its southern boundary. This boundary commences on the eastern coast of Australia at a point marked on the map called Point Danger, about 400 miles north of Sydney, the capital of New South Wales. The greater portion of the southern boundary line is formed by the twentyninth parallel of south latitude. The eastern seaboard extends about 1,400 miles from Point Danger to Cape York, the extreme northern point of the continent, in latitude 10° 40'. The breadth of the territory near the southern boundary is about 900 miles from the eastern coast line to the meridian of 138 east longitude, which forms the western boundary line of the Colony, separating it from the territory of South Australia. This includes the greater part of the Gulph of Carpentaria, which has a seaboard of about 750 miles. The whole of the Colony of Queensland comprises 669,520 square miles, or 420,492,800 acres. The proposition to establish the new Colony was not carried out without considerable opposition by those who objected to any further cutting up of the older Colony, and many were the prophetic announcements that the experiment was at best a dangerous |