HL Deb 15 September 1948 vol 158 cc45-74

2.35 p.m.

LORD RENNELL rose to call attention to research and development in British West Africa, and in particular to the grave condition of the cocoa industry in the Gold Coast; and to move for Papers. The noble Lord said: My Lords, the Motion which stands in my name on the Order Paper is drawn in rather wide terms, but I propose to refer to only one aspect of the situation in British West Africa—namely, the cocoa industry in the Gold Coast. The origin of the Motion's appearance on the Paper before the Recess was that I had received what I considered to be a very serious communication from some friends in America. They wrote to me privately to inquire whether I could express any opinion upon the likelihood of the breakdown of government and administration in the Gold Coast affecting the cocoa industry in such a manner, and so adversely, that the supplies of raw cocoa from there might diminish to the point of almost vanishing, and whether in consequence they ought to look round for supplies of cocoa from other parts of the world. I was not aware that the gravity of the situation in the cocoa industry, and what has happened in the Gold Coast in the last few years, had had such very serious consequences upon American opinion.

For those of your Lordships who have not followed the situation in detail, it may be helpful if I give the elements of the situation before going on to inquire what is being done, and what has been done. If my information is right, the cocoa industry in the Gold Coast accounts for about one half of the world production of cocoa, or rather more. One half of the world production of cocoa is taken by the United States of America. Those are very round figures. The consequence of this situation is that the cocoa industry in the Gold Coast, so far as we are concerned, accounts for a very large surplus of hard dollar currency in our balance of payments. Various estimates have been put forward as to the magnitude of that sum and, in view of the recent rises in the price of cocoa, it has been put at a figure as high as £20,000,000 worth of dollars. So that the contribution of the Gold Coast, and to a lesser extent Nigeria, in this field is very material, in fact almost vital, to the balance of payments in the sterling area.

May I summarise the situation as briefly as possible, without quoting too many figures? The position of the cocoa industry is that there are about 400,000,000 cocoa trees in the Gold Coast, roughly in two great groups—one in the central part in Ashanti, the other in the Eastern Provinces. Lately, the production of saleable cocoa has been of the order of 200,000 tons, which is a considerably lower figure than that achieved in the past. To a large extent, that reduction in the amount of saleable cocoa is caused by the reduction in output, due to disease. The actual figures are that there has been a fall of from 300,000 tons in 1938–39 to something under 200,000 tons in 1946–47 and a little over 200,000 tons (say 210,000 tons) in 1947–48. The reduction is accounted for in major part, though not exclusively, by the fall in the production of cocoa in what are known as the old Eastern Provinces of the Gold Coast, the area affected by the disease to which I shall in due course refer.

The output of cocoa from the other parts of the Gold Coast is substantially unchanged, despite slight fluctuations upwards and downwards. It is also a fact that, up to date, this disease infection, which is rampant in the Eastern Provinces, has scarcely touched the other big group of cocoa-producing farms in the centre, in Ashanti. The disease in question is a virus disease known as Swollen Shoot, which in due course, after the lapse of about two years, has the effect of killing the tree altogether. After infection, for two years the output falls steadily until the tree itself dies. The disease was first recognised in 1936, and since then research has shown, to everybody's satisfaction, where the disease originates and how it is carried. It is a virus disease, which is probably endemic in virgin forest, and is carried from tree to tree by an insect known as the mealy bug. It is also an unfortunate fact that when a tree has once been infected, the vector or carrier of the virus disease leaves the tree and seeks a healthy tree. Up to date, such research as has been done has found no cure for this virus disease but has found a remedy—namely, to cut out and destroy the tree, after which, within 48 hours, the virus itself in the tree dies. The experimental station which has worked out the remedy for this disease has also established to its satisfaction that when cutting out has taken place and an area is maintained under inspection and kept clear of disease—and further cutting is resorted to if the infection has not been eradicated on the first cutting—healthy cocoa can be grown in the most virulently infected district. A cure for the disease is not at present known, but I will come back to that subject later on when I deal with the question of research.

Since the disease was first recognised it has spread, and is spreading with startling rapidity. Of the 400,000,000 cocoa trees in the country, over 40,000,000 are now believed to be infected, and on an estimate which I have received it is calculated that by the end of 1949 46,000,000 trees will have died. The major centre of infection is in the Eastern Provinces, and to that infection is attributed nearly the whole of the decline in cocoa production of the Gold Coast. In five years, on the figures which I have shown, production is already down by 30 per cent.

It will be known to your Lordships that the whole economy of the Gold Coast, and probably of the majority of its inhabitants, is entirely dependent upon the cocoa industry. Not only is the surplus in the balance of payments of the Gold Coast due to the cocoa industry, but the actual livelihood of the people is also dependent upon it. Cocoa farming is a single-culture farming and, by and large, subsistence farming does not obtain in the cocoa-producing areas. Moreover, it is a further unfortunate fact that if a disease-stricken area is cleared to produce a subsistence crop, cocoa cannot and probably never will again be grown in that area, because to produce subsistence crops like grain and pulses requires the clearing of shade trees and secondary vegetation without which the cocoa tree cannot be cultivated. If, therefore, those areas are cleared and turned over to other crops, cocoa will never again, so far as I know, be grown there. On the other hand, as I have said and repeat, it has been shown that if these areas are cleared of the diseased trees, kept clear of the diseased trees and replanted with undiseased trees, healthy cocoa can be grown in what was an infected area.

The spread of this disease is somewhat startling—and here I must quote one or two figures. According to information which I have received or collected—and I do not think the noble Earl who is to reply for the Government will differ from me in these figures—the rate of infection is something on these lines. From the time the disease was recognised up to 1939 the trees were dying at the rate of 1,000,000 a year; between 1939 and 1945 the rate of death among the trees rose to 5,000,000 a year; and between 1945 and the end of 1947 the rate rose to 15,000,000 trees a year. At that rate it will take between live and seven years for the elimination of the cocoa industry in the Eastern Provinces and, if the infection is allowed to spread to the central area too, the cocoa industry in the Gold Coast will be virtually eliminated within twenty years, involving disastrous loss to the Gold Coast and its inhabitants, and to the Empire as a whole.

My Lords, what is the remedy for this situation? The only practical remedy hitherto found has been to cut out the diseased trees. I have no doubt that within a process of time a virus-resisting strain of trees will be produced. There are many examples of plant breeding which have produced disease-free or disease-resistant strains. Your Lordships will be well aware of what the cotton industry in this country did in regard to African cotton in producing disease-resistant strains by plant breeding. So far as I am aware, there has been some work done on cocoa plant breeding, but in my submission an insufficient amount of research has been devoted to it. In the Watson Report (Colonial Paper No. 231) a very flat-footed and, as I think, rash statement is made to which I must draw the attention of your Lordships at this moment. In paragraph 264 it is stated that scientific opinion generally believes that the right cure is the cure of cutting out. But the Report then goes on to make what I have called a very flat-footed statement. It is one to which I think few scientists would subscribe. In fact, I contend that it is not correct. This is how it runs: There is no known cure for any virus disease in any plant anywhere in the world and varieties of cocoa trees which might be immune to this virus disease have not yet been found. The latter statement is correct. It is, however, not accurate to say that there is no known cure for any virus disease in any plant anywhere in the world. If the noble Earl wishes, I will give him a reference to a scientific publication of some years ago in which at least one cure for a plant virus disease was announced. It follows that we may look forward to a cure for this disease as well as to the production of a disease-resisting strain, though such has not been the case up to date. Nevertheless, in view of this startling and tragic rate of infection, there remains at present to be applied only one remedy which is not a cure—that is, to destroy the trees. That has been accepted by all concerned as being the only practical remedy at the moment; and, indeed, cutting out was begun.

At this point I must turn from what is a very short exposition of the situation as I see it, to what has been done. The West African Research Station, which has been dealing with this cocoa disease, was set up at Tafo in the Eastern Provinces of the Gold Coast, and I trust your Lordships' House will hear about it from the noble Viscount, Lord Swinton, who was, I think, largely responsible for the institution of that research station. It is not for me to tell you about the origins of that. But it is a most unfortunate fact that, in spite of recommendations made and the research which has been done, the efforts made to apply the only remedy which we know have throughout been, in my submission, entirely insufficient And here may I quote some figures? As I have told your Lordships, the rate of infection by the end of 1945 was at the rate of 5,000,000 trees a year; by the end of 1947 that rate had risen to 15,000,000 trees a year. It is now admitted in the Watson Report, at page 51 (it is also admitted in many other places) that 40,000,000 trees are infected. Some authorities put the figure higher. Now during all that period up to the end of 1947—and I take that date particularly, because it is prior to the outbreak of the disturbances which took place at the beginning of this year—rather fewer than 2,500,000 trees had been cut down, against a then rate of infection of 15,000,000 trees.

One reason for that state of affairs—among others—is lack of personnel. Assuming that my figures are correct—and no doubt the noble Earl will correct me if they are not—a small staff was recruited to deal with the cutting out. To some extent, technical and trained men are required to recognise the disease in the trees in its early stages, and this task therefore cannot be left to the ordinary Administrative or District officer to carry out. For the purpose of combating this scourge the establishment of European staff to deal with the cutting out in the whole of the Gold Coast at the end of 1947 amounted to only twenty-four people. Of those twenty-four people, six had not been appointed, reducing the figure to eighteen. Five had been appointed but had not arrived, reducing the figure to thirteen. Three were returning as being unsuitable, making a figure of about nine people to deal with 400,000,000 trees.

I submit that an establishment, or the conception of an establishment, on that scale to deal with a matter of this magnitude is playing with the whole problem—even if the establishment were complete, which, as I have said, it was not. The staff in question, I understand, is largely temporary. I presume that that is because it was hoped that remedies would be found which would make it unnecessary to engage permanent and pensionable staff. I have every reason to believe that one of the difficulties connected with the recruiting of staff even to fill the vacancies on this laughably small establishment arose owing to insufficient salaries and inducements, which for temporary staff must clearly be higher than if a permanent staff is engaged.

At the end of 1947 the research station out there had asked for a very modest establishment of forty, which had not been granted. It is admitted that it had not been granted, and even the establishment of twenty-four was not made up. I have given the noble Earl notice of this, and I shall be grateful if he is in a position to give any figures about the staff dealing with the inspection and supervision of the cutting. At the same time, I would inquire why, up to the end of 1947, before the disturbances took place, the remedies for this appalling situation in the Gold Coast had been so lightly treated as to leave a depleted establishment of entirely insufficient size out there.

May I, from that, pass on to the next phase? I have dealt with the situation as I see it up to the end of 1947. At the beginning of 1948, disturbances of which your Lordships are well aware broke out in the Gold Coast. The Watson Report, which I have quoted, deals in Chapter 12 with the problem of cutting out cocoa trees and, apart from agreeing with the findings of the research authorities, says that opposition to cutting down was—I quote from page 49— In our view to a great extent politically inspired. The Report also states: No complaints about the methods used were received until the late summer [of 1947] and it was not until January, 1948, that serious opposition arose"— as a result of political agitation.

Up to the autumn of 1947 there was no political agitation which prevented a more energetic policy being pursued to remedy that scourge on the Gold Coast. I ask why no more serious steps were taken up to that point. We then had the disturbances, about which I do not wish to speak. Nor do I wish to speak about the constitutional issues which arise out of the Commission's Report, except to touch on one or two small points.

The position after the disturbances is frankly even more disquieting, because I read in the Report at paragraph 265, on page 49, that During the next three months"— that is, the three months at the beginning of this year— … there were numerous cases of violence and the compulsory cutting out of diseased trees was suspended in April, 1948. In other words, in April, some months after the disturbances, the governing authorities decided to throw in their hand about remedying the situation I have described. That appears to me to be a surrender of governmental responsibility. We all hope that the matter will again be taken in hand. I have every reason to suppose that a campaign for cutting out is again being reinstituted. But I would like to know what is being done to resume the duties and responsibilities of government, which were surrendered when cutting out ceased in April, 1948. And I would like to know why that decision was taken.

I hope that a debate in your Lordships House on a matter of such gravity will have the effect not only of enlightening public opinion in this country to the extent of the tragedy impending in the Gold Coast, but also of bringing home to cocoa farmers in the Gold Coast, in face of their very natural opposition, that we in this country regard the situation as critical, acutely critical, and that we here are as interested as they are in finding a remedy, however painful it may be. Because a remedy there is; and that remedy, as I have said, is cutting out and replanting. That is a programme which obviously will be disliked. No one likes to see his property destroyed. No farmer in England likes to see his cattle which have been infected by foot and mouth disease destroyed, but the necessity has been accepted. Indeed, up to the end of 1947 the necessity of cutting out had been accepted, as the Watson Commission's Report shows when it says that there was no political opposition to the campaign. My complaint about that period is only that the compaign was insufficiently and unenergetically conducted.

The remedy, of course, is directly tied up with compensation, and the problem of compensation in these cases is always difficult, and is particularly difficult to anyone with any experience of African administration. To take one example only: the ownership of cocoa trees must inevitably be far from clear. The farmer who farms the plot of cocoa trees is not necessarily the owner. There may be collaterals, mortgages, money borrowed, maybe collective ownership or tribal ownership, and one hundred and one circumstances which make it very difficult to know to whom to pay compensation when once the amount has been established. I am sure that will be recognised by all your Lordships, at any rate by those who have had experience of administration in Africa. That is not to say the problem is insurmountable. It is, however, an unfortunate fact that the compensation which was paid before this campaign was suspended was probably inadequate. The only hope is that adequate compensation will be worked out on a scheme adapted to the varied circumstances in the Gold Coast—and they are not necessarily the same in the Eastern Provinces as they are in Ashanti.

One particular form of compensation which has commended itself to me is that of the Government paying the wages to the cutting-out gangs, and doing the replanting by paying the farmers who have lost their trees to replant healthy stock and keep it to a certain standard of cultivation until it comes into bearing, thereby putting approximately the same amount of money in the form of wages back into any area as the cocoa production of that area was likely to produce. The necessary money can be derived from the Cocoa Fund, which is in possession of more than sufficient funds to do what. I have suggested. I shall expect to hear what is the nature of the scheme of compensation and how it is intended to apply it; furthermore, that the Government do intend to tackle this question in spite of what has happened in the past.

I will not detain your Lordships longer over this matter, except to say that so far as the Watson Commission's Report is concerned I am rather shocked by some of the contents, and in particular by the criticisms made of the Government in connection with the cutting out of cocoa trees, because here the Commission seem to me to have missed the whole point. They make a few criticisms, which I am afraid were I in authority in the Gold Coast I would not consider to be very helpful. And they have entirely missed the main point of criticism—that if this campaign had been tackled energetically before the political disturbances broke out, we would not be faced with the position of having over 40,000,000 diseased trees, because by to-day they would have been cut out. Further, I find it very difficult to understand the recording in all seriousness in a Report of this nature of statements like this. After they have made their criticisms of the Government's attitude, they say at the end of paragraph 267: We consider that the natural reluctance of the farmer to cut out a tree which may produce one further, though smaller, crop has been exploited for political reasons. We are confirmed in this by Dr. Danquah, who told us that the Government's scheme for eradication of the disease is scientifically sound but politically inexpedient. That a Commission sent out to investigate the origin of the disturbances should see fit to examine a witness who produced statements like that and give publicity to them in a White Paper is, I think, almost unheard of in the annals of Colonial Administration.

Perhaps the Commission went farther than His Majesty's Government in this country intended—because, if it is permitted to read between the lines of the Government's statement published on the Commission's Report (Colonial Paper, No. 232), it seems that the Commission's findings and recommendations were slightly embarrassing, as I can well conceive them to be when I read the paragraph of the Commission's Report dealing with the reform of a Constitution which has been in force in the Gold Coast for barely two years. The Commission see fit to make recommendations of a, to some extent, unheard of character, so far as the West Coast is concerned, by proposing an alteration of the whole system of local government, and they say that in approaching this question they have been careful to canvass widely representative opinion. If there is any method best calculated to create political disturbance it is to canvass widely representative opinion on a subject of that sort. I am surprised that responsible gentlemen should have seen fit to pursue that course. Consequently, it is with a certain amount of misgiving that I regard both the Commission's Report and the recommendations contained therein; though on one thing we can be agreed, and that is that the campaign to which I have referred must be resumed. I think your Lordships will all wish to learn why it was ever dropped. I beg to move for Papers.

3.12 p.m.

VISCOUNT SWINTON

My Lords, I think your Lordships will agree that in raising this very serious and important matter my noble friend Lord Rennell has rendered service not only to this House but also to the Gold Coast. If he has been critical—and not unreasonably critical—he has been constructive in the suggestions which he has put forward. He has truly said that cocoa, with which we are all concerned and to which the Liberal Party has always been so deeply attached, is consumed not only in Liberal quarters, but by large numbers of even more reactionary people—and, equally, by innocent children. It is a world commodity, and is, of course, a great dollar-earning asset.

But, as an old Colonial Secretary, I am much more concerned in this debate with another aspect of the matter—namely, that cocoa is the economic life of the Gold Coast. It is true that there are there great mineral productions, including that of gold. But the gold mines on the Gold Coast might close down. We should again lose a great deal in dollars if they did, and some people would be out of employment as a result, but the Gold Coast economy and the Gold Coast people could carry on. But if cocoa died out in the Gold Coast there would be starvation and devastation over the whole country. It is the little man's crop. I suppose there are well over 300,000 small cocoa farmers in the Gold Coast. Add to those the mass of labourers who come in at the cutting season of the year to work on the farms, and add also the curiously complex organisation of petty production traders and brokers who handle the crop, and you will find that, taking those people and their families, there must on a conservative estimate be at least 1,500,000 of the population of the Gold Coast who depend upon cocoa, and upon nothing else, for their very life.

Their economy and their livelihood are now gravely in peril. I saw this at first hand during the war. In the early years of the war, cocoa was economically unimportant to the Allied war effort. In those days the Colonial Office were concerned to pay to the farmers enough to keep them going, although we could not shift a good deal of the crop which was then produced. I did not see it happen, but I saw the remains of great dumps of cocoa beans which had been paid for by the Government and had been burnt. And they were properly burnt, because the African is an ingenious person, and if, when you have paid for the cocoa beans, you cannot shift them and they do not get exported, they are apt to come round again like a stage army, and payment may be made a second time.

But then the situation changed. My attention was first drawn to this question of cocoa diseases, I am bound to say, not by the Government of the Gold Coast, but by the cocoa manufacturers in this country when I was home in the summer of 1943. They then expressed to me grave concern. That time coincided with a change in the economic world position; it coincided with an increased world demand for cocoa and, I am glad to say, also with an increased capacity of Allied shipping to transport the product. Therefore, for the first time in 1943 and 1944, cocoa became an important element in the war effort.

I went into this matter of diseases immediately on my return to Africa in the late September of 1943, and I found that it was quite true that cocoa was being ravaged, not only by one, but by two diseases. There was the disease called Sabaghella. There was also the much more serious disease (more serious because it was more rapid in its spread) to which my noble friend Lord Rennell referred—namely, Swollen Shoot. I found that a few scientists, with little encouragement and less money, had yet persisted in their researches. They were a very good team. With the keen support of the then Secretary of State (at that time Mr. Oliver Stanley) I established on an adequate scale, financially and technically, the research station at Tafo, to which Lord Rennell also referred. It was established for all West Africa, and a very able scientist was brought from Nigeria to run it. Nigeria was deeply interested though the trees there, I am glad to say, were less diseased. We also brought in the French to collaborate, they being interested in the Cameroons and elsewhere. At that time no adequate survey had been made; the extent of the disease was not realised, though its dangerous character was. Nor was the rapid spread in the least appreciated. Neither the extent nor the spread could be seen until an adequate survey was made.

It was hoped at that time—I have no doubt that it may still be hoped—that a resistant type of tree would be found. I would not subscribe (not on my own view, which is worth nothing, but on that of the scientists; and on this matter we were in close contact with the great school at Trinidad) to the belief that a resistant type will not be found. But the rapid survey showed what the extent of the disease was. Before that it was quite unappreciated. In the few years which followed after I left Africa the spread of the disease was terrific. If you take a chart of it you will find that it goes up in a tremendous curve. The disease is spreading like a fire through the cocoa plantations of the Gold Coast. As my noble friend Lord Rennell has said, to-day it affects 45,000,000 to 50,000,000 trees, which represents more than 10 per cent. of the total. If this spread is not controlled at once, it may in a few years have got completely out of hand. It is undoubtedly true that to-day nothing but destruction, the cutting out of the infected trees, will avail. If this industry, which is the life-blood of the Gold Coast, is to be saved, this must be done immediately.

I know that the Government have been offering compensation—I think £5 an acre for the destruction, and £7 an acre for replanting—but I will come back to that in a moment. They have been faced with African opposition, which is quite natural. With the native in Africa, everything depends upon education and demonstration. He naturally fears the loss of income, particularly when prices are good, as they are now: something can still be cut off the diseased tree, and he does not look far ahead. He sees the tree cut and something taken from him. What is much more serious is that there has been deliberate subversive propaganda by evilly minded people, trying to foster this resistance of the farmer against his best interests and against those who have his interests most closely at heart. It is far too serious a subject for Party politics. In the interests of the Africans, for whom we are trustees, the Government must enforce this cutting out policy.

I wonder whether I may venture to draw upon my own war-time experiences in Africa, because I know how difficult this matter is. It is true that Africa was then under the impulse of war, but let nobody suppose that these millions of Africans, when one tried to bring it home to them, did not appreciate what the war meant to them, far away as it was. Our fat ration at that time, as well as many other things such as timber, bauxite, manganese and so on, depended upon what West Africa could produce. Thanks to propaganda, to fair prices reaching the producer, to good production officers—the best administrative officers, the salt of the earth, who know their people working on the spot—and to the keen native administrations, the majority gave their best, with the results which are known to all your Lordships. But there were a minority of slackers, and I felt that that was wrong. In Great Britain the agricultural committees told us all how we were to cultivate our land to see that we attained maximum production. I felt that this was right in Africa also, and that it was only fair to the majority who were doing their best. There was some timorous opposition. There were some people who did not know Africa well, although they had been out there a considerable time. They said that if we tried to enforce this, whether in the national interest or in the farmer's interest—and it was greatly in his interest—there would be resistance, and that troops would have to be employed. But with the whole-hearted support of the noble Lord, Lord Milverton, one of the greatest Governors a Colony has ever had, we pursued this policy with complete success. Not only did the majority think it was quite right, but even the minority admitted that it was quite fair.

I admit that the cocoa question is more difficult. It is far more serious, and even more urgent; and the Government must act. I would say: Do not be afraid of doing your duty and what is in the vital interest of these little farmers for whom you are trustees. Mobilise the co-operation of the good Chiefs and the good native Administrations—and in the Gold Coast there are very good examples of both—ensure the fullest publicity and educate in the spirit of Aggrey. I hope the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, knows the three great principles of Aggrey so applicable in the Gold Coast: Educate with the three "h's"—the heart, the hand and the head. I would add: Be generous in your compensation terms. I do not say whether the present terms are adequate or not, but I am sure that it would be wise to be generous. The practical suggestions which the noble Lord, Lord Rennell, has thrown out on this subject will, I am sure, receive careful consideration. If I may say so, we have an admirable Governor in the Gold Coast, in the person of Sir Gerald Creasy, who has particular knowledge of this matter. Besides being a very fine Colonial administrator, wise and firm, he also had considerable economic experience during the war. I myself benefited greatly in Africa from his help. But, I repeat, be on the generous side in the compensation. After all, the Cocoa Board, with all the money they are making, must have a large reserve in case we fall upon bad times. That reserve should be applied to cocoa, and for the insurance of the whole future of the industry it will be money well spent.

The problem of cocoa on the Gold Coast does not end there. The cocoa farmer in West Africa is affected by another disease as well as Swollen Shoot. He is almost equally affected by the disease of the money-lender, as my noble friend the Leader of the House knows well. This evil has gone on from generation to generation. There have been mortgages on farms, mortgages on growing crops and oppressive cumulative interest. The farmers have not the least idea what interest they are paying. They do not know what is the principal, and they do not know what is the interest. In many cases the crop is taken by the money-lender, and he pays the farmer just enough to let him go on. I doubled the price paid for cocoa, but my anxiety was to see, as in the case of other goods such as palm oil, palm kernels and ground-nuts, that the increase went practically straight to the producer. In cocoa I could make no such assurance. For all I knew, three-quarters of it was going into the hands of the moneylender. I am sure that the remedy there is equally necessary and must be equally drastic. I am not saying this for the first time. If the noble Earl will look at the records, he will see the strongest recommendations made by me at the time on this matter. You have to cut out the moneylender at the same time as you cut out the diseased trees. It must be done drastically.

There is a good precedent in Cyprus where, in the days when I was Colonial Secretary, I found the whole place riddled with money-lenders. We were very drastic. Sir Edward Stubbs was the Governor then, and there was an extremely good Financial Secretary. No lawyers were concerned in this, I regret to say, but they were helpful in assuring me that I could do it with impunity. We assessed all the land and said: "What is the real debt? Can this particular land bear it?" And then, having found out what the debt was, having scaled it down if the land would not bear it, a charge was made on the land which was to be paid off in twenty or thirty years. From that moment it became absolutely illegal to advance money, either upon the land or upon the growing crop. We set up co-operative societies and a land bank in order to give the necessary agricultural credit.

Now, if you make money-lending unenforceable you stop it at once. Nothing else will stop it. It is not the U.A.C. which is responsible: it is not Lord Trenchard who does the moneylending—he deeply regrets it. It is purely an African industry, African preying upon African. Fifty per cent. is considered a moderate rate of interest—very moderate—and it goes on, it accumulates. It is enough to make the mouths of financiers, such as my noble friend, water. Even the National Boards do not pay that! But this money-lending must be cut out. To-day the whole of the cocoa passes into one hand. I am sure that the acquisition by the Cocoa Board of the whole of the cocoa has made this problem of indebtedness a great deal more soluble than it was before. I repeat that we have not only to cut out the diseased trees but we have also to cut out the money-lender; when we have done that the Gold Coast will prosper—and to ensure that is our duty as trustees.

As the noble Lord, Lord Rennell has said, we have the qualified advantage of the report of the Commission of Inquiry alleged to have been inquiring into the disturbances on the Gold Coast. In these enlightened days one should not, I suppose, be shocked at anything, but I must confess to some surprise that the three gentlemen who were instructed to inquire into a series of engineered local riots, and who no doubt were well qualified for the purpose, have felt themselves divinely commissioned—they were certainly not so directed by the very embarrassed Secretary of State who received their report, as his comments show—to give their conclusions (if that is the right word) on all the varied and complex questions of West African life and administration. In the course of a brief visit, most of which was presumably devoted to the job they were asked to do, they have without difficulty or hesitation solved problems on which, after seven years as Secretary of State for the Colonies and the responsible Minister on the spot, I must admit I would hesitate to pronounce with any certainty. But it is a great advantage to have a virgin mind; you are as untrammelled by prejudice as you are unhampered by knowledge.

If these gentlemen know little about Africa, they know a good deal about Great Britain. What suits Kettering or Kidderminster must suit Kumasi; what works on an English County Council must be the right thing for the Gold Coast! I could wish that they had learnt, or if they had learnt it, had paid attention to some of the wise advice on the evolution of trusteeship which I remember the present Prime Minister giving to us in the course of the war, when we were together. He taught us—willing pupils—that not always and not everywhere is it wise to follow exactly the Westminster model. I wish that this Commission, if they felt this was within their scope, could have extended their brief tour to Nigeria and seen at work there Lord Milverton's remarkable Constitution, combining as it does in a practical unity the variety of African custom, tradition, and development. The Colonial Secretary and the Minister of State were obviously embarrassed and dismayed, as their accompanying document shows—they are very moderate in their expressions concerning this strange new model. But may I respectfully say to the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, and to the Secretary of State, that they will save themselves and the Colonies much embarrassment if they will have the courage to say and do what they know to be right?

3.37 p.m.

LORD HEMINGFORD

My Lords, it is with natural diffidence that I speak for the first time in this House, more particularly since I have been able to attend the House on only two or three occasions. The Gold Coast is fortunate, and this House is fortunate, in that several noble Lords of great distinction and of much experience in economic matters have lived and served in the Gold Coast. I cannot claim any kind of distinction, but my excuse for speaking on this occasion is that it is twenty-two years to-day since I first sailed for the Gold Coast; and fourteen of those years I had the privilege of spending in the Gold Coast. I fancy that at this moment I am the only member of your Lordships' House who is a resident in the Gold Coast. I should like to say that the very fact that this debate is taking place in this House is a matter of great satisfaction, and one which will be greatly appreciated by all well-informed people in the Gold Coast—and there are a great many such people there.

It is fortunate that this discussion is taking place, also, because it may help to impress upon the people of the Gold Coast the appalling gravity of the problem of Swollen Shoot. The gravity of that problem, which has been stated by the noble Lord, Lord Rennell, is not, I think, widely or sufficiently appreciated by the farmers of the Gold Coast. One reason for their failure to understand its full gravity is that, despite the reduction in the crop, there has been a continued increase in the price. As the noble Viscount, Lord Swinton, has said, it is a matter of education. The people of the Gold Coast themselves must come to understand, before it is too late, that, in the words of the Watson Commission Report (which, whatever its faults may be thought to be, does at least underline the gravity of this matter), if the disease is unchecked "the cocoa industry will have practically disappeared in twenty years."

It is a matter of education, and I should like, if I may, to draw attention to pages 49 and 50 of the Watson Commission Report, where it is recorded: In addition we were told by some farmers of the most fantastic and malicious stories current throughout the Cocoa Belt. … Two examples, only, need be given to illustrate these rumours: (i) Britain intends to sell the Gold Coast to the United States but wished to ensure the death of the cocoa industry to avoid subsequent competition. (ii) The large importing firms, such as the United Africa Company, are starting big plantations in the Far East or in East Africa, and are anxious to reduce West African production. Upon that, the Commissioners report: While ordinarily such rumours would appear to call for no action, so seriously do we regard the need for removing suspicion that we feel a widely publicised declaration by the Secretary of State nailing them as mischievous lies is called for. I confess to some disappointment at failing to find, in His Majesty's Government's statement on the Report, any comment on that recognition. This suspicion, the seriousness of which shows itself in every walk of life in the Gold Coast, will be removed only by education.

The noble Viscount has quoted Aggrey. It was my privilege for a time to be Aggrey's colleague and another statement which he made was this: It does not matter what you say to my people. What matters is how you say it. By that, he meant that any unpalatable home truth would be accepted by his people if it were expressed in the right manner. I believe—indeed, I know—that there are a great many Europeans who are well able to say to the African things which it is difficult to say, and to say them in an acceptable manner. But there can be no question that, if a farmer is to be reconciled to the unpleasant task of cutting out not only diseased trees but also a circle of undiseased trees surrounding them, he is more likely to be persuaded by someone of his own people than by anyone else. For that reason, I should like to stress the great importance of increasing the number of African employees of the Department of Agriculture.

The noble Lord who initiated this discussion drew attention to the great need of an increase of staff in that Department. I feel sure, as do the Watson Commissioners, that many of the new staff that will be engaged must be Africans. They will need to possess three qualities. They will need to be thoroughly trained in understanding the disease, so that they can explain it to the farmer. They will need to be tactful, for as a rule they will be young men and often they will be addressing older people. And, above all, they will need to be incorruptible. Money-lending is a terrible thing in the Gold Coast, and one reason why it is so terrible is because it is so often accompanied by bribery and corruption. As the Report rightly remarks: No nation can rise to greatness upon any such foundations. In conclusion, may I quote once more from the Watson Commission's Report? In drawing attention to a problem so grave as that of Swollen Shoot, and to the failure of many people to understand such a problem, one may give them or others the impression that one is speaking of them in a disparaging way. Nobody in this House would suggest that either of the noble Lords who have spoken before me had given any such impression here but, when we are depressed—as we are bound to be—by a very grave problem, it may be well to quote this passage from the Report referring to the people of the Gold Coast. We found them a lovable people whose hearts were in the right place. Possessed of that virtue and given a real assurance against frustration we are confident they will rise to the occasion and with the patience of understanding in due course reap the harvest of their heritage.

3.49 p.m.

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR COLONIAL AFFAIRS (THE EARL OF LISTOWEL)

My Lords, before I pass on to my reply, I am sure that you would wish me to express, on your behalf, congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord I Hemingford, on the outstanding quality of his maiden speech. We have all listened to many maiden speeches but, speaking for myself, I regard the speech to which we have just listened as being among the best that I can remember. The noble Lord has been rendering considerable service to the Gold Coast as Principal of the Achimota Training College. We all welcome the special authority with which he spoke, for he has had long and first-hand experience of conditions there. I can assure him that what he said will be extremely carefully studied by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State.

I should like to thank all three noble Lords who have spoken for the extremely instructive and helpful spirit of their speeches. I am sure, as the noble Lord, Lord Hemingford, said at the start of his own remarks, that the speeches to which we have listened (among which I should like to include his), will do good in the Gold Coast as well as here. For my part I agree with very much that we have listened to this afternoon. Both the noble Lord, Lord Rennell, and the noble Viscount, Lord Swinton, stressed the cardinal importance of the cocoa industry to the Gold Coast and, of course, it is no exaggeration to say that cocoa, which for us is merely a pleasant beverage, is the life-blood of that Colony; and that life-blood is being drained away by a plant disease. The future and prosperity of the Colony will depend mainly on the success of this vital export crop. As the principal source of colonial revenue, the prospect of better education, better housing conditions, better medical services, and so on, depends on the output of cocoa, so also do the wage-earning capacity and the standard of living of all who are directly or indirectly dependent for their livelihood on the welfare of the cocoa industry.

I agree with what the noble Lord, Lord Rennell, said about the importance of cocoa from the United Kingdom standpoint as an earner of hard currency. Of course, it is vital for us to maintain the dollar-earning capacity of all our Colonial territories from the point of view of our own balance of payments. I also concur with the noble Lord, Lord Rennell, when he emphasises the alarming decline that has taken place since the war in the output of cocoa from the Gold Coast. The yield of the cocoa crop has now fallen to about two-thirds of its maximum pre-war level. In saying that, I am repeating, in rather a different way, what the noble Lord, Lord Rennell, said. In 1938–39, the last pre-war year, the Gold Coast produced 300,000 tons of cocoa; in 1947–48, the last year for which we have figures, production had fallen to 207,000 tons. That is a state of affairs which is bound to cause the utmost concern to all who are responsible for the welfare of the Colony, whether as Members of Parliament, as Ministers in the Government or as members of the public. I appreciate most keenly the anxiety of all three noble Lords who have spoken about the future, and their desire to see that matters are put right quickly.

The main reason for this sudden decline in an industry that was making steady progress before the war is the rapid and devastating spread of the disease known as Swollen Shoot. The noble Lord, Lord Rennell, has explained this disease. It is caused by a virus carried from tree to tree by an insect called the mealy bug, which has fed upon the sap of an infected tree. The noble Lord went on to describe in considerable detail, and very accurately, the way in which the disease is carried. The main conclusion that one has to draw from the activities of the mealy hug is that it has made the disease highly contagious and, so far as we are able to proceed on the basis of our present scientific advice, the only way to save the healthy trees is to destroy the diseased trees as soon as possible after their condition has been discovered. Unfortunately no other cure or remedy has at present been found.

In the Gold Coast the worst stricken area is in the Eastern Provinces, although throughout the Colony there are probably something like 50,000,000 trees affected out of a total of some 400,000,000. This bears out the figures quoted by both the noble Viscount, Lord Swinton, and the noble Lord, Lord Rennell. The present rate of contagion is about 15,000,000 trees per annum, and if the ravages of this disease remain unchecked the cocoa industry will have disappeared from the Gold Coast within twenty years. It is therefore essential that everyone should realise the facts and the fatal consequences of a policy of laissez faire, and also the serious consequences that would follow from unnecessary delay in the resumption of the campaign for cutting out diseased trees. It is a great misfortune for the farmer—and I am sure we all have considerable sympathy for him—that the only known and effective cure for this disease is to cut out the trees affected and destroy them. There is at present no disease-resistant strain of cocoa trees, and the insects that carry the disease from tree to tree cannot be effectively eliminated. Cutting out, however, does more than merely destroy the diseased tree. It also destroys the virus, both in the tree itself and in the mealy bug, as the virus dies in both within thirty-six hours of cutting. Failure to apply this drastic cure immediately widens the area of contagion, as a diseased tree will live on for sixteen to twenty-four months after being first infected, and may bear one or even two diminishing crops. During the whole of that time it will be a constant source of infection among its healthy neighbours.

Realising, obviously and inevitably on the basis of these scientific facts, that this disease must be immediately dealt with, and the trees cut out, if the industry as a whole is to survive, the Government of the Gold Coast have been doing their best to induce cocoa growers to take the drastic action required. At first the cutting of the trees was left to voluntary effort, but as the response was insufficient to check the spread of the disease the Government were obliged to use compulsory powers from the beginning of 1947. Altogether, between August, 1945, and December, 1947, by voluntary and compulsory action, and with the help of Government labour, some 2,500,000 infected trees were destroyed. Compulsion was discontinued in April of this year, as has been pointed out, after the February riots had hardened the opposition of the cocoa farmers to the policy of the Government.

The noble Lord went on to say that the suspension of compulsory cutting out was a surrender of Governmental responsibility. I am surprised that the noble Lord should have made that statement, in view of his obvious accuracy in his knowledge of events in the Gold Coast in relation to other matters that he mentioned. I would remind him that assaults on cutting-out parties had already taken place on a number of occasions while compulsion was being applied, although even then these parties had been working under police protection. To have pursued this campaign by the use of force against unwilling farmers might well have brought the production of cocoa to a standstill. The widespread disorder which it would certainly have caused would have brought chaos into the industry. The fact is that we cannot make further substantial progress in this cutting-out campaign without the good will and co-operation of the growers. I am glad that the noble Lord, Lord Hemingford, laid so much emphasis on the importance of persuading the Africans themselves that in their own interests this is the best course to adopt. The noble Lord, Lord Rennell, I think, suggested that the failure to get rid of these diseased trees in time has, to some extent, been due to the incompetence of the Government of the Colony in tackling this grave problem. I do not feel that the facts, as set out in the Report of the Watson Commission, bear out this view. Noble Lords can satisfy themselves by a study of this Report as to the conclusions which the Commissioners draw. On the contrary, according to my reading of the Report, what the Commissioners said, and what I have already pointed out in my remarks this afternoon, shows that the Gold Coast authorities displayed considerable vigour and determination in their efforts to stem the advancing tide of this disease.

The conclusion at which the Commission arrived was that although the administration of the cutting-out campaign might have been improved—of course, everyone would admit that in a matter of that kind there is almost always room for improvement after a close inspection has been made—the main obstacle to the rooting up of the diseased trees was the opposition and growing antagonism of the cocoa farmers themselves. The reluctance of the growers to co-operate is easy enough to understand. It is not in the least unnatural that a farmer should be unwilling to cut out a tree which, even in a diseased condition, will bear at least one further though small crop, especially when the first symptom, a discolouration of the leaf, can be detected only by a trained observer. Clearly, any farmer would be likely to take a good deal of persuading that a tree on which he had spent a great deal of time and money must be destroyed.

Recently this reluctance to cut out infected trees has been exploited for political reasons. Malicious stories have been deliberately circulated to poison the minds of the farmers, and such stories have created a distrust in the Government that will, I fear, take some time to dispel. The noble Lord, Lord Hemingford, gave two examples of the sort of stories that have been circulated, and however fantastic such tales may sound to us, there is no doubt that they have taken root in the minds of many credulous and suspicious persons, and they have already done an immense amount of damage. I will certainly draw the attention of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State to what Lord Hemingford had to say on that particular point. There is no doubt that the slowness of work in eradicating diseased trees and the increasing opposition, which slowed down and finally stopped the campaign for eradication, were due to the natural antagonism of ignorant farmers deliberately stimulated and exploited by unscrupulous politicians. It was this infusion of political propaganda that made it more and more difficult to win and maintain the support of the farmers for Government policy.

In reply to the suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Rennell, that more European officers were needed to direct the work of cutting out, I should like to tell him that the Governor's requests for European officers for this campaign were met in full, and that, in fact, a few surplus officers were recruited and they became replacements. The Governor has told us that he asked for as many officers as he could use and that too many would have been an embarrassment to him. Of course, the number of officers whom he could use was determined by the amount of work it was possible to do.

LORD RENNELL

Has the noble Earl the numbers?

THE EARL OF LISTOWEL

I have not the figures before me at the moment but I will, gladly obtain them and let the noble Lord have them. They are small figures, of course, but, as I have said, the size of the establishment must be relative to the work which it has to carry out.

VISCOUNT SWINTON

I do not wish to interrupt the noble Earl unnecessarily, but may I point out that the number of white officers must bear a relation to the number of natives who are employed on the work? I think the House would like to hear whether full native stall is being recruited.

THE EARL OF LISTOWEL

I appreciate the noble Viscount's point. There is no shortage of native staff so far as is shown by our information from the Governor. The numbers of both white officers and native staff were relative to the amount of work of cutting out which it was possible to do in the circumstances, and in spite of the reluctance of the farmers. We are just as anxious as the noble Lord, Lord Rennell, and other noble Lords who have spoken, that the cutting out campaign should be resumed as soon as possible and over the widest possible area in the Gold Coast. We have therefore asked the Gold Coast Government to consider the adoption and application of the administrative measures recommended in the Watson Commission's Report. Plans are now under consideration in the Gold Coast to increase the amount of rehabilitation grants paid to farmers who agree to cut out diseased trees and to replant cocoa. Here I should like to inform noble Lords of an important contribution to this policy. A sum of £9,000,000 has already been made available by the Gold Coast Marketing Board from their surplus funds for this purpose. The availability of this very considerable sum should permit the early inception of a sound scheme of compensation. The method of assessing these payments and of ensuring that they are made to the right persons are other matters that are being examined at the present time.

We have also accepted the recommendation of the Watson Commission about an inquiry by a body of independent scientists of international reputation, whose findings might be used to convince farmers about the rightness of the cutting out policy, failing, of course, the discovery in the meantime of any less drastic cure. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation was asked to submit a list of experts from which a small team is being chosen to make an investigation on the spot. It is hoped that the team will be able to visit West. Africa and to make its report this year. Meanwhile, a great effort is being made by the Gold Coast Government to enlist the support of the African political leaders and native chiefs for the cutting out campaign. The Gold Coast authorities are also endeavouring to persuade the growers to co-operate by every means of propaganda at their disposal, including the use of films, the organisation of public meetings and the arrangement of informal talks between officials and cocoa farmers.

The high level of cocoa prices at the moment is a commercial incentive that will encourage the farmers not to allow their crops to continue to deteriorate. This commercial factor is working on our side. Next season the producer will get an even better price than he was paid in 1947–48. The Gold Coast price to the producer was £75 per ton in 1947–48, whereas next year's price has just been announced as £121 naked ex-scale per ton. The mystic words "naked ex-scale per ton" I am advised have an extremely important technical significance. The average Nigerian price for the coming year is £115 per ton, with a guaranteed minimum price for two seasons ahead. I think your Lordships will agree that producers are being offered an extremely reasonable reward for their efforts, and that such a good price in itself, promises well for the future.

VISCOUNT SWINTON

It really cuts: both ways. The higher the price you give to the farmer, the less will he wish to have his trees cut down. I am not saying that he should not have the price raised—I raised it myself. But you will not get him to have his trees cut down by paying him a higher price. He will want to keep every tree he has got that will produce a single bean. Your task is to educate him the other way.

THE EARL OF LISTOWEL

I appreciate what the noble Viscount has said. What the Marketing Board is doing is guaranteeing a reasonable price level and preventing price fluctuations. The long-term prospect for the producer, therefore, ought to be much better now than in the past. It has been suggested—not in your Lordships' House but in certain quarters—that the producer should receive a larger share in the world price and that the Marketing Board is making too large a profit. I think it should not be forgotten that while the existing shortages of consumer goods continue, the payment of higher prices to the farmers would merely have aggravated the present degree of inflation and would therefore not have benefited, in terms of an improved standard of living, those to whom these larger payments would be made. The farmer, in fact, would gain nothing, and reserves for the future, on which the flexibility of price levels depend, would not be built up. It should not be forgotten that the policy of the Board in creating reserves by fixing a price to the producer considerably below the world price is to maintain a cushion against future price fluctuations, and that these reserves are invariably used in the long-term interests of the producers. One example I have just given, in the allocation of a substantial sum for the payment of rehabilitation and compensation grants to farmers. May I take another example of the way these reserves are used?

The Gold Coast Government have for some time past been working out a scheme to provide agricultural credit, not only for the cocoa industry but for all farming operations. The noble Viscount, Lord Swinton, with his immense knowledge of the position in West Africa, has emphasised the terrible evil of the moneylender, and he was supported in that by the noble Lord, Lord Hemingford. This scheme for the provision of public credit will be the answer to the problem of the money-lender. The plans of the Gold Coast Government, which have now taken definite shape, include provision for setting up a bank, to be known as the Agricultural Bank, which will be largely, though not wholly, financed by the Cocoa Marketing Board. This is another way in which these funds might be applied for the benefit of the community of producers.

The West African Cocoa Research Institute, to which the noble Lord, Lord Rennell, referred, is, of course, independent of the Gold Coast Government and only partly financed out of Gold Coast funds. But the results of its work have already been of incalculable value to the Colony, and the Administration have taken full advantage of its advice on a number of important matters. For example, the Department of Agriculture is acquiring for Gold Coast farmers a high-yielding type of cocoa tree discovered by the Institute. The Department is also using the Institute's technique of soil survey to determine the most suitable areas for growing cocoa in different parts of the Colony. It is not the case that the work of the Institute has suffered by the employment of its staff on Government duties connected with the cutting out campaign. Both the Institute and the Department of Agriculture have been handicapped by the acute shortage of scientific and agricultural staff, and have had frequently to help each other out. The Chairman of the Managing Committee of the Institute is satisfied that the Institute has gained rather than lost from this exchange of personnel. For instance, the field work of the Institute is being kept going at the present time by the loan of an officer from the Gold Coast Government.

I can assure your Lordships that the proposals for constitutional reform in the Gold Coast, which have been approved by His Majesty's Government, are calculated to benefit the economy of the country, and particularly the cocoa industry. As I have already pointed out, the opposition of the cocoa farmers to the cutting out campaign was political in origin, as well as economic. In fact, it was political antagonism that brought the campaign to a standstill. The constitutional advances recommended by the Watson Commission Report, and subsequently endorsed in principle by His Majesty's Government, will place upon the Africans themselves the greater responsibility for which they have asked in the development of their own country. In this position of responsi- bility they will find their fellow-countrymen entirely against them if they fail to carry out the measures which will save the cocoa industry from further decline and eventual destruction. It is surely by enlisting the co-operation of the African Community that the industry can be saved, and co-operation in the economic development of the country will certainly depend very largely on a growing partnership between Africans and Europeans in Government and Administration.

I do not think—and I was glad to observe that all noble Lords who have spoken share my view—that this is the time or the occasion to comment on specific recommendations of constitutional change. His Majesty's Government have taken the view that the recommendations of the Commission should first be considered by the representatives of the public in the Gold Coast itself, and that for this purpose the Legislative Council should be asked to agree to the appointment of a fully representative Committee to examine the proposals in the Report. The Legislative Council have now agreed to the appointment of this Committee, and I think before expressing any opinion we should certainly wait until the feeling of the Gold Coast people themselves has been ascertained in this way. I welcome most warmly the debate that has taken place this afternoon, because it has directed attention to the critical condition of the cocoa industry and the necessity of the immediate resumption of cutting out. I am certain that the speeches to which we have listened will in themselves have been a useful contribution towards a solution of this grave problem.

4.16 p.m.

LORD RENNELL

My Lords, if I might be allowed one word before I withdraw my Motion, it would be to say how much I was struck by the similarity between the noble Earl's view and what I myself said. In fact, his speech followed figure by figure and line by line almost precisely on the same lines, though he drew slightly different conclusions from the facts. I must say I remain unsatisfied about one general point. In connection with compensation, the noble Earl spoke particularly about what he called the inception of a sound scheme. The gravamen of my complaint was that evidently, in spite of the information which had been received prior to the political agitation which broke out at the beginning of this year, no sound scheme had been developed, nor, I still claim., had sufficient energy been shown in the cutting-out campaign. I cannot accept that the cutting out of 2,500,000 trees in the period from 1945 to 1947, to which the noble Earl referred, was an adequate or energetic measure, compared with the rate of infection of 15,000,000 trees a year. Consequently, my complaint stands. I also submit that my statement that the campaign was not conducted with sufficient energy still stands.

I am sure all your Lordships welcome the measures which will be taken now, will regret that they were not taken earlier, and will hope that the measures which have been conceived are sound. I cordially agree with the intervention of the noble Viscount, Loaf Swinton, who said that it is arguable whether raising the price of cocoa is the right way to ensure a speedier cutting out of infected trees. May I venture the suggestion that when an unwilling farmer is being asked to do something he does not like, it should be made more worth his while to do it rather than not to do it. In other words, the rate of compensation should be higher for cutting out and replanting than he can get by keeping the tree in existence, and not the other way about. It is very difficult to judge from this distance, and I would not wish to importune the authorities out there with advice from so far away. To try and run the Gold Coast is no part of the service which we can render. But the proposition which the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, has put forward is a very arguable one.

In asking your Lordships' leave to withdraw the Motion for Papers, I can only urge that the gravity of the situation will be borne in upon not only the public in this country, but also the public of the Gold Coast; that the campaign will be pursued with greater energy; and that the many well-disposed elements in the Gold Coast (I agree with Lord Hemingford on that point) will be enlisted to counteract the work of a few mischievous agitators. I beg leave to withdraw the Motion for Papers standing in my name.

Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.

House adjourned at twenty minutes past four o'clock.

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