Nov. 1, 1898.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
317 
MR. BENJAMIN KIDD ON THE 
CONTROL OF THE TROPICS. 
"We are indebted to Mr. Benjamin Kidd for an 
exhaustive analysis of one of the most vital of 
contemporary questions. In the three articles 
which lie has contributed to the Thiies he has re- 
viewed the various aspects which the relations 
of Europe to the tropics have successively worn, 
and has soufjht to draw from the survey the lesson 
needed for our own <,'uidancein the matter. "The 
Mrst principle of the situation," he tells ua, is 
" the utter futility of any policy based on the con- 
ception that it will be possible in the future to 
hold our hands and stand aloof from the tro()ics." 
There are two reasons which make such an atti- 
tude impossible. The first is the extent to which 
our civilisation rests on the products of the tropics. 
The second is that the very unlikeliness between 
these products and those of temperate countries 
makes trade between the two regions mutually 
and increasingly profitable. The wants of civilised 
man are constantly growing, and the machinery 
for sufiplying them includes in its sweep a cons- 
tantly increasing area. Whatever may be the 
future of the native inhabitants of the tropics, 
there is no question as to their present inability 
to meet these wants, except under the control of 
the white man. All that remains doubtful is the 
part that the several nations of Europe are to 
play iH providing that control and the best method 
of applying it. Mr. Kidd enumerates three such 
methods. There is fust the " plantation " theory. 
According to this, tropical territory is simply an 
estate "to be worked for the largest proht it will 
bring in." Native interests are not considered, 
except so far as attention to them is likely to 
promote the interests of the occupying Power. 
The second method rests on the a.ssuniption that 
what England has done in the way of colonising 
the temperate regions of the earth other countries 
may do in the trDpical regions. Mr. Kidd re- 
gards this method as a " blunder of the first mag- 
nitude," since it involves the acclimatisation of 
the white man to tropical conditions,— an idea 
which has probably led to " more physical and 
moral suffering and degradation " than any other 
which can be named. In the end, however, this 
.second method is simply a return to the first. 
The land waits for the white colonists who never 
come, and in the meantime it is woi ked on the 
" plantation " system. The third method is the 
English plan, which differs from the first in that 
it dismisses altogether the idea of working the 
territory for the exclusive benefit of its white 
possessors, and from the second in that it con- 
templates the development of the tropical colonies 
under native direction, the Power which represents 
civilisation being there only temporarily. This 
was the conception of the tropics which prevailed 
in England in the middle of this century. Of late 
we have come to see that this too is a mistake. 
The tropics and the tropical races arc no field for 
democratic experiments. But we have had no other 
conception ready to put in its place, and we have 
" had therefore to witness the strange spectacle 
of the revival of the oldest, the most indefensible, 
and in theory the most reprehensible of all forms 
of government in the tropics, — government by 
Chartered Company. It was as if successive Go- 
vernments in England had shirked the national res- 
ponsibility,— as if they hadsaul: We admit the error 
of the old idea about the tropics, but we do not know 
where we are. Let any authority undertake the 
work. Only take the responsibility oll'our hands' !" 
With Mr. Kidd's historical survey we are in com- 
plete agreement; when we turn to the practical con- 
clusions deduced from them they may seem to re- 
quire a certain amount of criticism, though here 
too, we are in the main entirely with him. To 
go to India for life, and to go to India for a term 
of years, even a long term of years, are diU'erent 
things, and though the latter may, on the whole 
and in the great majority of instances, be far the 
better thing, it is not the same thing, and so may 
not have some of the advantages whicli the former 
system possessed. But, having in view this great 
majority of instances, we do not question the 
superiority of the newer method, or feel any doubt 
that " the one underlying principle of success in 
any future relationship to the tropics is to keep 
those who administer the government which re- 
presents our civilisation in direct and intimate 
contact with the standards of that civilisation 
at its best." No desire to give natives a larger 
share in administration should be allowed even 
tor a moment to obscure this cardinal maxim. 
— Spectator. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Am.steedam Bark and Quinine Market.— 
Our Amsterdam representative wires us on August 
2oth that the result of the bark auctions in 
Amsterdam on that date was a decline in the 
unit of -14 Dutch cents per half kilo, the aver- 
age unit working out at 4 06 (rather over 710d 
per lb.) against 4-20 at the last unctions.— British 
and Colonial Druggist, Aug. 26. 
Coffee.— If the tales from the Brazils be true, 
and not the work of speculators, the recent move- 
ment in coft'ee will ripen into a substantial ad- 
vance—says the Grocers' Journal, Sept. 10. Frost 
destroyinjr the bulk of tlie crop would be a serious 
thing, and result in a great diminution of supply, 
and a cousequent heightening of values. Prices 
have now got down ridiculously low, and it 
would not do much harm if a reasonable rise 
did take place, at any rate in the lower grades. 
Lemon Grass Oil.— Ayidropogon Nardus L., 
has been largely cultivated in Ceylon and Singa- 
[lore for the production of this volatile oil, 
which has an " odour strongly resembling the 
sweet scented verbena or lemon plant of our 
gardens." It has some reputation in India for 
medicinal purposes. According to the following 
information its production and that of similar oils 
seems to have fallen into some neglect in the Straits 
Settlements: — Extracts from letter from Direc- 
tor, Gardens and Forest Department, Singapore, 
to Royal Gardens, Kew, dated February 16, 1898. 
" The decay of the Lemon-grass oil trade in 
Singapore has attracted my notice, and I am 
writing a few lines to try and stir up the cul- 
tivation again. It was chiefly, I believe, pro- 
duced by one man, who had a distillery for 
citronella, lemon-grass, &c.. a little way" out- 
side Singapore. He died a few years ago, and 
I fear the whole business is diminishing. I hope 
it may revive and that others will take these 
oils up. There is nothing more in the industry 
than ordinary distillation of anything procurable 
that will produce a saleable oil. With citro- 
nella, lemon grass, vetiver, pathouli, (pepper oil, 
a su()posod native specilic for cholera, had a 
great run during the cholera scare, i' was a 
))erfectly awful beveiage I believe), Cajuimt, 
Cananija, Blumca halsamiftra, C(i><sia, clove, nut- 
meg, Odinnin, cami)hor, Artahotnjs and a lot 
of other things might also be tried by an energetic 
distiller. The natives would buy them it no one 
else did." — Kcw Bulletin. 
