§ EARL BATHURSTMy Lords, I rise to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies: (1) What His Majesty's Government propose to do with the guns which have been left at St. Helena, and what arrangements have been made for taking care of the same; (2) Whether, in view of the depressed condition of the inhabitants of St. Helena, and the heavy charge to which the householders of Jamestown are liable for drainage and waterworks, amounting to nearly 15 per cent. of the value of their properties, it is the intention of His Majesty's Government to forego these charges, or remit any portion thereof.
The first Question would appear at first sight to be more properly one which should have been put to the noble Earl the Under-Secretary of State for War, but I have addressed it to the noble Earl the Secretary of State for the Colonies, because I understand that since the troops have been taken away from St. Helena the whole of the management of the Island has been handed over to the Colonial Office. When the troops left the Island the ammunition was taken away, but the guns were left in the batteries in which they had been placed. I will not go into the question of the guns beyond saying that some of them are of the newest pattern and were sent out in 1901, and when they were placed in the batteries the old guns were removed to 312 the other side of the Island. The guns in question are now, I believe, in charge of one engineer officer and two men, and the object of my question is to ascertain from the noble Earl whether he thinks that these men are sufficient for keeping the guns in order, and also what is proposed to be done with the guns; whether they will be left there until war is declared and a body of men sent out to man them, or whether His Majesty's Government have considered the question of sending out a new garrison to replace the old one.
I should also like to ask whether the Admiralty have considered the question of removing the naval base from Ascension Island to St. Helena. In time of war St. Helena would be a strategic position of some value. Ships of all sorts would have there a harbour and refuge into which they could run under the guns and seek safety from the pursuing enemy. It equally applies that if the enemy, whoever he may be, chose to take possession of this Island it would be a very strong position for him from which to harrass the whole of our mercantile trade up the West coast of Africa. The question of the strategic position of St. Helena has been written upon by Admiral Freemantle, who, in a letter which has been shown to me. says that St. Helena could not possibly be left defenceless in war time, and that if this is so we certainly should have a small garrison there in peace time. I, therefore, hope that the noble Earl will be able to give us a satisfactory answer to my first Question.
The second Question is one of greater and more immediate importance. The case is familiar to the noble Earl, who has had considerable correspondence upon it. We have heard a great deal this evening about one distressful country, and noble Lords have been talking lightly of a grant of £500,000 a year. This is a much smaller matter, and if only £500 a year could be granted to the Island of St. Helena it would relieve a great deal of the distress. The facts of the case are that drainage and waterworks schemes were initiated by the late Governor. These schemes were started, I believe, because it was thought that the town was not healthy or sanitary for the troops. If it had been known that the troops were to be taken away from the Island the 313 works would, I imagine, never have been undertaken. They were carried out by the present Governor at a cost of £17,000. Of this sum nearly £8,000 is chargeable to the householders, being payable in fifteen years in annual instalments with interest of 5 per cent. Some of the owners have taken advantage of the liberty they were given and have paid their share in full. I believe that up to December, 1905, £2,192 had been paid. The question is one of great difficulty, because some have paid who could not afford to and some have not paid who might have done so; on the other hand, a good many people have taken their savings out of the bank in order to pay their share of this expenditure.
Then. again, the cost of the works was 40 or 50 per cent. more than was anticipated. A petition was sent to the noble Earl by the householders respectfully praying that his Lordship would relieve them of this burden, which had fallen upon them in days of great distress, by releasing them from all payments of interest, by remitting a portion of the debt, and by allowing the remainder to lie in abeyance till trade improved. The noble Earl sent a sympathetic reply, but regretted that it would be unfair to the inhabitants of the rest of the Island that the deficit should be incurred by the Colonial Treasury solely for the benefit of the Jamestown householders, who form less than a total of one-half of the population of St. Helena. I hope, however, that the noble. Earl will be able to reconsider this question, especially as he said at the end of his letter that he would be prepared to consider whether payment of interest might not be deferred in deserving cases where there was actual distress. I would ask the noble Earl whether, if these charges cannot be remitted altogether, the interest might not be held over for four or five years until the inhabitants are in a more prosperous condition.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (The Earl of Elgin)My Lords, with regard to the first Question put to me by the noble Earl, which would more properly have fallen to my noble friend the Under-Secretary of State for War, I have obtained informa- 314 tion from the War Office that the guns have been left with a small staff, and they are being temporarily retained in the island until more permanent arrangements can be made. With regard to the suggested removal of the naval base from Ascension Island to St. Helena, that is a matter which has been under discussion, but up to the present I am afraid we have not seen our way to make the arrangements which the noble Lord suggests. No doubt there would be some advantages in the change, but there are also difficulties. With regard to the replacing of the garrison, the decision of the Government to remove the garrison was deliberately taken, and I am not prepared to say that they have any intention of reconsidering it.
As to drainage and waterworks, it is true that a total sum of £17,000 was expended on these purposes, of which only £8,000 was charged upon the island. Difficulty has arisen from the fact that the fittings necessitated by these works have proved rather excessive in the case of the inferior buildings in the town, and that may give rise to hard cases. But when the noble Earl asks me to remit all these charges, or to remit them for a number of years, I think on the whole the time has not come to do that in a wholesale manner, although we shall continue to watch the situation. It would not be fair, in my opinion, to put all these charges on to the Imperial taxpayer. The noble Lord has belittled the necessity for these works, but there was a very serious danger to health from their absence, and the inhabitants have, at all events, received value for their money, for in the final report the. engineer says that a more complete system of drainage or a better supply of spring water than Jamestown enjoys could not be found in any town of its size in the world. I hope the noble Earl and the House will believe that we have very great sympathy for the inhabitants of St. Helena, and that we have done all we can to meet the difficulties of their position. What we think is the just course to take on this particular question is to have all the cases very carefully examined, and the Governor, who has been given full discretion, will, I hope, be able in this way to prevent serious hardship arising.