§ * SIR J. JARDINE (Roxburghshire)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies on what principle of calculation the annual rent of the Ceylon Government Pearl Fisheries was fixed in the lease negotiated with the Ceylon Company of Pearl Fishers at £20,666, when the net profit of the year 1905 accruing to the Ceylon Government was £150,000; whether, before the amount of annual rent was agreed upon with the Gulf Syndicate or the Ceylon Company of Pearl Fishers, the opinions of either 639 Professor Herdmann or Mr. Hornell was asked or taken about the adequacy of this rent; whether Professor Herdmann was employed under Sir J. W. Ridgeway, when Governor of Ceylon, as an expert and scientific adviser on the improvement of these fisheries; and whether either Professor Herdmann or the colonial marine biologist, Mr. Hornell, sent him reports in regard to the improvement of the fisheries and the probable profits of future years.
§ MR. CHURCHILLAs the lion. Member will find stated on pages 12, 19, and 39 of Cd. 2906, the rental was fixed roughly at the average annual net profits to Government of the twenty years ended 1905 inclusive. I am not aware that either Professor Herdmann or Mr. Hornell was consulted as to the adequacy of this rent, but Professor Herdmann was quoted in the Debates in the Ceylon Legislative Council as having stated that he did not consider that the company could make their bargain a paying concern. Professor Herdmann was engaged by the Ceylon Government during Sir W. Ridgeway's tenure of office to investigate and report on the fisheries. He reached Ceylon in January, 1902, and left in April of the same year. Before Sir W. Ridgeway ceased to be Governor Professor Herdmann furnished some preliminary reports on the measures which he recommended with a view to the improvement of the fisheries, and he is now completing the fifth part of his detailed scientific report to the Government of Ceylon, four parts of which have already been published. Professor Herdmann's recommendations for the improvement of the fishery were printed in 1904 as a Sessional Paper for the Legislative Council of Ceylon, and I am not aware of any reports either by him or by Mr. Hornell other than those which have been made to the Ceylon Government. As Sir J. West Ridgeway's name has been mentioned several times in this connection, and he is himself absent from this country on duty, I think it right to add that a careful study of the Papers on the Question convinces me that he acted throughout in good faith and with integrity.
§ MR. DALZIELinquired whether, having regard to the discussions which have taken place in respect to 640 this matter, the Government did not think that it would be advisable to issue a notice to Governors of Colonies suggesting the inadvisability of their becoming directors of companies trading in the Colonies even when their term of office has expired.
§ MR. CHURCHILLI will represent the view which the hon. Member has put forward to the Secretary of State.
§ * SIR J. JARDINEIs not the effect of the expert reports that the annual profits since these improvements will be more uniform and far larger in future years?
§ MR. CHURCHILLI have not a doubt that they will prove much more profitable in the future than they are today.