, 1874-02-14
COLONIAL AIDS TO BRITISH PROS
PERITY.
From the Europ. Mail

At a meeting of the Royal Colonial Insti-
tute, England, Mr.. P. L. Simmonds, who has
always taken a great interest in Colonial af-
fairs, read a paper in which he took a general
survey of colonial progress during the last quar-
ter Of a century in material prosperity, com
menting at the same time on the value Of the
colonies to the mother country, and their infu-
euoe in promoting its interests in various ways.
He noticed the great progress which the colo
MES had made in the matter OF railways and
other means of communication, as well as the
Improvement which had taken place with re-
spect to means of communication between the
colonies and the mother country and other
parts of the world, including cable teIegrapnS.
The increase of misrepresentation might be
counted by the hundred-was, in his opinion,
one of the best proofs Of the extending prospe-
rity of the colonies. The Introduction and ac-
climatiSation of new animals, hsh, BIRDS, Ve8e-
tables, &c, was also conducive to the welfare OF
our colonial possessions. In the face If these
facts it was not creditable to England that she
had no colonial museums, whilst France, which
had but comparatively few colonies, had two CO.
l0nial museums in Paris. He went on to show
what a large interest we had in the colonies by
the amount of colonial securities in our English
banks. Upwards Of five millions worth OF ma
chinery was now being sent out to the colonies
from the mother country, and that in Itself
showed how our dependencies We're progress
SING. Particular reference was made to the
subject of immigration, which, while benehtIng
the colonies, had at the same lime been bene-
fetal to the mother country, keeping down
very materially our expenditure for the rellef
of the poor. lie showed by statistics the pro-
gress which had been made both In emigration
and in the development OF the internal reSour-
ces of the colonies, and in the various means
and appliances by which their development had
been or was being brought about. Mr.. Sim
monds then dwelt on the various raw materials
for the supply of which the mother country
was dependent on the colonies, and observed
that many of our manufacturing establishments
we're not so prosperous as they might be on
account of the want of those materials which
our colonies had in store for us. Nearly all
our colonies were contributing largely to the
wealth and comfort of the mother country as
we'll as to their own. All were progressing,
and all doing their best to draw forth the latent
energies of the soil. The apathy, or apparent
apathy, of the mother country to the colonies
had arisen in great measure from want of know
ledge of their real nature. Let it at once be
known what a noble estate the mother country
had in our colonial possessions. and what a
source of strength and vitality of material pros
perity and comfort, OF commercial, political
and social benefit it was to her, and her heart
would lhrob with affection for her distant chill
dren. The paper was of an elaborate nature,
being in a great measure made up OF statistics,
extracts from consular reports, and minute de-
tails bearing on the different branches of colo
NAL enterprise which come under the head of
Colonial Aids to British Prosperity"
M 80 Tn,non 80 u Sr CROTx Avis"