235 



central portion and the octagons were finislied. These were 

 erected on a raised terrace on which space had been provided for 

 the two wings. Their erection was, however, indefinitely post- 

 poned in 1863, although the foundations had been partially laid ; 

 part o£ the irouAvork lay in the contractor's yard for many years, 

 and was eventuallv broken up. The derelict condition of the 

 terrace attracted Mr. Chamberlain's attention, and he asked for 

 an explanation. He urged that the completion of the original 

 design should be proceeded with. The First Commissioner of 

 works (now Lord Gladstone) assented, and an estimate was pre- 

 pared. When presented to the Chancellor of the Exchequer he at 

 once put his pen through it with the remark, ^*a nation that 

 requires a fleet, must do without a greenhouse. ^^ Sir William 

 Harcourt, however, yielded in 1894 to a personal appeal from Mr. 

 Chamberlain, Himself no mean gardener, the concession was 

 perhaps not extorted very reluctantly. But it is at least certain 

 that no one else could have obtained it, and Mr, Chamberlain was 

 unaffectedly pleased at succeeding. In 1899 the work was com- 

 pleted; thirty-nine years had elapsed since its commencement. 

 The new wings gave Kew what it had long wanted ; a house for 

 Himalayan plants and one for those of waiin temperate countries. 

 In 1895 Mr. Chamberlain, with a change of ministry, became, 

 perhaps somewhat to his surprise. Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies. This is not the place for political history. But he 

 brought to the vast field of Imperial affairs the same spirit which 

 had animated him in a more limited. No detail was too 

 insignificant for his attention. It is common knowledge that he 

 raised the work of the Colonial Ofl^ce to a position of distinction 

 and efficiency which it had reached under no previous minister- 

 He had the gift of carrying with him the enthusiasm of all who 

 worked under him. His personal relations with the cultural work 

 of Kew became less intimate for, as he said, '^ When a man is a 

 Cabinet Minister, he can see little of his friends." But he made 

 ample use officially of another aspect of its work as the adviser of 

 the Government in all that concerns botanical enterprise in the 



Colonies. 



One of the earliest questions to engage Mr. Chamberlain's 



attention was the depressed conditions of the West Indies, Their 

 staple industry, the production of cane-sugar, had become un- 

 profitable owing to the competition of beet-sugar supported iJy the 

 bounty-system. The labourers on the estates thrown out of 

 employment were starving, and revenues were dwindling. A 

 Royal Commission of Enquiry, of which Sir Edward Grey and 

 Sir David Barbour, K.C.S.I., were members, was appointed in 

 1897, and Dr. Morris (now Sir Daniel), the Assistant Director of 

 Kew, was borrowed as expert adviser. As the result of its report 

 a new Agricultural Department was created in 1898, and Dr. 

 Morris left Kew to take up the post of Commissioner of 

 Ao^riculture. The problem to be faced was not easy. Unemployed 

 labour had to be absorbed ; this could only be done by converting 

 it into a peasant-proprietary. New staples were Introduced, 

 notably cotton, suited to such a system. But the peasants had to 

 be instructed in their cultivation, and Kew was largely drawn 



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