138 HoiV to Pay for the War 



prominent in 1887 '^^ ^^97, instead of having fresh 

 contingents to be added. 



Every industry that tends to open up and develop the 

 Tropics and our Colonies should be encouraged and 

 pushed on just as vigorously as we are pushing on the 

 ■building of our warships and the expansion of our Army. 

 For this reason, therefore, we welcome every fresh rubber 

 company that appears, as we feel that, even if not in our 

 own colony, it tends to increase our trade and the demand 

 for machinery from this side, whilst at the same time it 

 forces the nation to take more interest in the Tropics, 

 which the bulk of the public have neglected most shame- 

 fully. It only remains for the iPropics, and especially the 

 rubber company promoter to see that they do not abuse 

 the trust put in them by the public, for if they do, if even 

 one black sheep turns up among them, it may serve to 

 prejudice and put back the investor's interest in the 

 Tropics, which, if encouraged by adequate remuneration, 

 will prove of great value to the public, to the Tropics, and, 

 above all, to the Empire at large. Most, if not all, of the 

 companies at first were floated on a conservative basis, but 

 they must continue to be so. Care must also be taken to 

 teach the investor that rubber cannot be above 8s. a lb. for 

 ever, but that the sooner it drops to 4s. or 5s. the better 

 for the trade and themselves. The home Press has 

 sounded several warning notes, even going so far as to call 

 attention to the way in which " insect pests and labour 

 difficulties are scouted." If, therefore, the public are 

 caught by one or two bad flotations, or pay too high for 

 the good ones, it will be, to a great extent, their own 

 fault. 



With regard to labour supplies and their even distribu- 

 tion, as required throughout the Empire I attended a 

 dinner in November, i9io(when the question was quite as 

 burning a one as it is to-day), given by the Liberal Colonial 

 Club to Sir George Reid, who, at the time, was still High 

 Commissioner for Australia. As a result of what we were 

 told in the speeches that followed the dinner, I published 

 the following notes on the subject in Tropical Life for 

 December (1910). 



.\s usual. Sir George Reid made a most diverting speech, 

 intermingling kindly jokes with solid advice and useful 

 facts, getting in sly little home-thrusts now and again in a 

 way that is peculiarly his own. Certainly, he is a man well 

 worth listening to; so far as our knowledge goes, he has 



