Arakan: - One Who Preserves and Takes Care of Their Own Nationality.

Publication by Arakan Action Association (AAA.)

Arakan  Past – Present – Future

BY JOHN OGILVY HAY, J.P.

Arakan Library was founded by a group of Arakan Action Association (AAA) in exile in Thailand from Burma in 2007 doing to voice for the knowledge, the people democratic and human rights.

 

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Arakan Action Association (AAA)

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Lord Dufferin On Railway Extension and Connection with China.

             Lord Dufferin, at an entertainment given him by the London Chamber of Commerce at the Metropole Hotel, on the 30^th October 1889, said: “However satisfactory may be the present condition of our commercial relations with India, I am quite convinced that they will prove capable of indefinite expansion, especially if once the British investor could be induced to regard India as a favorable field for independent railway enterprise. The Government o India has undoubtedly done and is doing every year a great deal in this direction, both by itself entering upon the construction of important lines, an by giving guarantees to private companies; but its action in both directions is necessarily limited, and it seems to me the time has come when unassisted private enterprise (this might have been, but want of firmness at the India Office in resoling from the determination to discontinue guarantees, and dual management in the case of the “Assam-Bengal Railway,” have checked any tendency to this end. Private enterprise must be independent in its management.) should step in and perfect the artificial exertions of the Government. Were India only covered with a network of railways corresponding with its power of production and to the requirements of its population, the present volume both of our import and export trade, considerable as it is, would undoubtedly be greatly augmented; and not only is this true of India, but I believe, a similar commercial expansion is upon the eve of being developed in Burmah, and before no very distant date. I prophesy that our chief means of communication with China will be through the north and east of Burmah.

 

Letter to the Right Honourable Lord George Hamilton, M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty.

London, 25^th Jan, 1890.

My Lord, - Presuming that the question of the defences of our country is one which must interest you, more particularly as regards the naval part, I beg to ask if you will be so good as favour me with an interview, being desirous of making a communication to you on the subject of our naval position in India.

I can promise you that I shall not take up much of you otherwise valuable time. The subject-matter, I think, is of importance.

Should you be pleased to accede to my request, and appoint a time, I shall do myself the honour of waiting on  you; and I would ask if you would instruct the Department to have at your hand a copy of the latest survey of the coast of Arakan, as a speedy reference to such would facilitate my communication to you. – I have the honour, &c., &c.

Reply.

ADMIRALTY, 27^th Jan, 1890.

Sir, - Lord George Hamilton desires me to reply to your letter of the 23^rd instant, and to say that his time is too much occupied at present for him to be able to see you personally but that he has arranged for the Director of Naval Intelligence to give you an interview. This officer, Captain Bridge, R.N., will be ready to receive you on Thursday or Friday next, at twelve o’clock noon, at his office in the Admiralty. – Believe me, yours faithfully,

W. GRAHAME GREENE.

J.OGILVY HAY, Esq.

Letter to W.GRAHAME GREENE, Esq., Assistant Private Secretary.

London, 27^th Jan. 1890.

Sir, - I have to acknowledge your letter of this date, and beg to thank Lord George Hamilton for arranging an interview for me with Captain Bridge, R.N., Director of Naval Intelligence, and I will accordingly attend at his office on Thursday, at twelve noon. – I am, &c.

 

Extract form Letter, J. OGILVY HAY to Captain C.A.G. Bridge, R.N., Director Naval Intelligence Department, the Admiralty, Whitehall (after an interview).

London, 4^th February, 1890.

I would desire to put the purport of my communication to you on record, and therefore address the present to your Department. Having for many years been connected with the port of Akyab, I have seen the advantages to be derived from the development of its capabilities for a large shipping trade, and have advocated the connection of Assam and all the districts to the east of the Brahmapootra with it; also its connection with Mandalay, the capital of Upper Burmah. In this way it should be the outlet and inlet for the trade of all Eastern Bengal, Upper Burmah, and the great trade which must result from connection through Burmah with Western China – a connection which within a few years must be made.

             In time I look to Akyab being one of the, if not the largest, shipping ports in India. With this trade there will necessarily be the construction of docks, and in this view I think it very desirable that the Admiralty should be aware of these probabilities, and so influence matters that the docks may be available for the requirements of the navy. It is not, of course, for me to offer any advice to the Government in such matters, but I cannot help expressing the opinion that Akyab should be the principal naval station in the Bay of Bengal, and as such would form one of the best defences to the port of Calcutta, enabling Government to almost denude Bengal of troops (should occasion require) for the protection of our north-western frontier; also with a line of railway from Akyab to Mandalay, troops could with speed be sent to protect our north-eastern, Chinawards. And with these remarks, which I would ask you respectfully to bring before their lordships, I would ask the aid of the Admiralty in the development of the capabilities of the port of Akyab in the interests of the empire generally. – I am, &c.

 

Reply.

Admiralty, 13^th February 1890.

Sir, - I have laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your letter of 4^th inst, addressed to the Director of Naval Intelligence, respecting the port of Akyab.

My Lords have learned with pleasure the probable development of this port, and have noted with interest your statement as to the construction of docks at Akyab; but as the selection of defended naval positions has been settled after full inquiry, my Lords are not in a position to promise any aid in developing the capabilities of the place. – I am, &c.,

Evan Macgregor,

J. Ogilvy Hay, Esq.

Letter to an Indian Bank Director.

15^th Jan, 1890.

When I communicated with you a short time since on the subject of railways in Burmah, you did not seem to think it was a matter your bank could take up.

What I was then considering chiefly was a railway from Akyab to Mandalay. Since then I find the feeling is more for extension from Mandalay Chinawards, and that my first scheme will afterwards develop from that as the proper outlet seawards. One of my chief supporters for both schemes has been suddenly called away, and I have lost one who thoroughly understood the question and was prepared to go into them – in the death of Colonel Sir Edward Sladen.

I was yesterday introduced to your colleague Mr. - , and had a few minutes’ conversation with him on the subject promising to go more fully into it with him soon. He said he would mention it to you.

Now there is no question that this Burmah-China connection is to be made very soon, and the Government is now engaged on the surveys. Railways will develop a large trade, and those who first go in will have the pull. I believe I have matters well in train, and I would like much to show you that it would be all in all for your bank to take the matter into your serious consideration. As I see my way, it is not one that will require from you any outlay of capital, and I have a good London bank that would go into it, your bank taking the Indian part, which would certainly be worth while looking after, even in its initial stages, let alone what it may expand to. Just on Monday I was told G – was making some inquiries about trade – routes; evidently they are sniffing in that direction. I do not say this as a pressure on you, but state it as a fact which shows how the wind blows.

 

Letter to a City Friend.

16^th, January, 1890.

I have just had a interview with Mr Hole, the Secretary of the Associated Chambers, and learn from him that a resolution has been inserted in the programmer for the next annual meeting urging on Government the prosecution of railways in India. This, he said, covers the question of railways in Burmah as that bears on our connection with China through Burmah . . . . He said it would be desirable that I saw Mr Maclean, M.P. for Oldham, as he would be asked to speak on the resolution. Now my communications to Government are based a good deal on the address Lord Cross delivered at Oldham twelve months ago, when Mr Maclean was present and spoke. Lord Cross strongly pressed the commercial community to support his views by resolutions are of no use. Lord Cross said he was as anxious as any one to extensively as the requirements of our trade demand. Aware that you are meeting Mr Maclean, I would be glad if you would communicate with him on the subject; and were it agreeable to him, I would meet him and go further into it with him. Unquestionably there is a great future in this scheme.

Result. – An interview with Mr. Maclean.

 

Letter to the Right Honorable Viscount Cross, G.CB., Secretary of State for India.

London, 25^th March 1890.

No.5

I was duly honored by Under Secretary Sir John E.Gorst’s letter P.W. 1446, of 16^th August 1889, which I delayed acknowledging till I could place some definite proposals before your lordship for the extension of railway work in Burmah. This I now do in a separate letter (No.6) accompanying this.

I confine the present to state, that without presuming to question the views of the Government of India, concurred in by your lordship, I would remark that all my previous communications have been based on the knowledge that the territory through which I proposed to construct a railway – viz, across the Arakan-Yoma range – was entirely unexplored, prefect terra incognita so far as our Government is concerned.

             I had not, however, taken the view advanced by his Excellency’s Government, that there was any part of the territory in question which we could not look on as British territory. The fact that the kingdom of Arakan had been conquered by the Burmese, and that the country was repeatedly crossed and recrossed by their armies, led me to the conclusion that, prior to the first Burmese war of 1824-26, the whole country from Ava, the then capital, to the sea-coast of Arakan, was under the sovereignty of the King of Burmah; that by the treaty of Yandaboo Arakan was ceded by him to the British Government; and that, as the result of the last war, we took possession of all that remained of his kingdom; consequently there could be no intermediate territory which did not now belong to the British Crown.

For the present I have abandoned the idea of the railway between Akyab and Mandalay, without however changing my opinion that not only in a strategically and administrative, but also in a commercial view, it is a most important line which will one day be found necessary.

I would conclude by saying that if this necessity should occur while I have life, health, and strength, I will esteem it a high honor and favor if the Indian Government here and in India will bear in remembrance that I have proposed it, and will give me the opportunity of executing the work.

May I ask the favor of your forwarding a copy of this letter to his Excellency the Viceroy and Governor-General of India in Council? – I have the honor to be, &c., &c.,

Burmah-China Railway Extension.

Letter No.6, dated London, 25^th March 1890, to the Secretary of State for India, with special proposals for “the extension of the present railway system in Burmah towards the China frontier.”

Reply.

India Office, Whitehali, S.W.,

1^st May 1890.

P.W. 598

Sir, - I am directed to acknowledge receipt of your two letters of the 25^th March 1890 on the subject of the extension of the existing railway system in Burmah towards China by the agency of a company to be formed for the purpose. In reply I am desired to inform you that the Government of India have shown no desire to lease the existing railway system in Burmah, and that it is their intention to undertake for themselves any extensions of the system which may be deemed expedient.

I am to add that the Secretary of State has approved of this course, and is not therefore in a position to consider the terms on which a company might be disposed to take over and extend the Burmah railway system in the direction indicated in your letter.

A copy of this correspondence will be forwarded to the Government of India. – I am, &c.                                                                                                         John E. Gorst.

Letter to an Indian Official.

10^th May 1890.

From the brochure ‘Indo-Burmah-China Railway Connections’, copy of which I handed to you, you would see that I take an interest in the development of Burmah, with which I have been connected since 1853, and in the trade-route question have between it and China. The old idea was that this must be by Bhamo, but that was before we had the country, or knew much about it. Now, as shown in Mr Sherriff’s paper, which I also handed to you, the determined route is through the Shan State and the surveys now going on by Government will fix the exact line for a railway. I had correspondence with Lord Salisbury on the subject so far back as 1874, when he was at the India Office. If you take an interest in this question, and could find time to look into it, I would be glad if you would call for my correspondence.

Lord Cross having in the early part of last year, in an address at Oldham, urged on his hearers the necessity of coming forward to assist him in extending railways in India, and Sir Juland Danvers having followed with a paper at the Society of Arts to the same effect, I have ever since been working hard to meet these views, directing my attention specially to Burmah. Now, when I have brought matters to a point, formed an influential Board of Directors, and formulated proposals for taking up the work, I am met with the reply that the Government intends to do the work themselves. This is very disappointing and disheartening. The Marquis of Tweeddale had consented to be chairman of the company; General Alexander Fraser, C.B., R.E., formerly Secretary to the Government of India P.W.D., was taking an interest in it; and Mr H.M. Mathews, late engineer in chief and manager of the Burmah State Railways, consulting engineer. These names speak well for the proposed company. (Delay and disappointed have damped their interest and directed their energies to more immediate work.)

I much fear Lord Cross’s views have been influenced by those of the Government of India, looking to the apparent success of the lines already laid down in Burmah. If so, I think it is a short-sighted policy, as, though the latest extension in Burmah shows rapid progress as to returns, I fear it is somewhat overestimated. In the discussion on the Budget in Calcutta, Sir Charles Elliott showed the returns, and it seems as if the Government were content with this small profit, instead of looking to the prospective general enhancement of the revenue of the country which would certainly follow the rapid extension of railways, and this would be more rapid by the intervention of the public than by the Government itself. Those who know much about the country and are interested in it think this, and that the railways should be in the hands of the public. Though the returns are so favourable, there are great complaints of the inefficiency of the railway service on the Mandalay line – see last week’s ‘Pioneer’ – and this raises the question, does this arise from deficiency of rolling stock, this not having been increased to keep pace with the extension of the line? If so, the capital outlay is less than it should be for the traffic, and hence the returns show more favorably than they should. It appears as, if the working were in the hands of a company; this would soon be inquired into and remedied. Sir Charles Elliott said the Government wish a few large companies, and not a number of small ones. This could be better worked in Burmah than in any other part of India – it being, so to speak, so “self-contained” – and the company I am promoting would be prepared to take it all up as a whole. Sir Charles Elliott spoke as if he expected the public to be so philanthropic as to make the railways without any inducement but the traffic returns, because the Government would raise money at 3 per cent, and the railways might return 6 per cent. The public won’t do this, and will not embark money without considerably more inducement. Doubtless Government can raise loans, as they have done just now, at 3 per cent; but what is this but giving indirectly the guarantee the public want, but which the Government say they won’t give directly? – I am, &c.

Reply.

16^th May 1890.

Many thanks for your interesting papers and letter. I understand that your proposals have been sent out to the Government of India, and they will, I feel sure, not be overlooked when the time comes for deciding the matter. The printed papers you handed me are very interesting, and I agree very much with your views. – Yours, &c.

Letter to the Same.

31^st Oct, 1890.

As a proof that the French are going ahead of us in their Eastern possessions for the Western China trade, I enclose copy of a prospectus of a company being brought out in Paris; it may interest you to see it. “When done with, please return. Dear Mr. Ogilvy Hay, - Thank you for these papers, which are very interesting. I have shown them to some of the authorities here. I believe that the subject will be shortly under the consideration of the Secretary of State in Council, who has your views before them. – Yours, &c.

Extract from Letter to the late Sir A. Rivers Thompson, K.C.S.I., formerly Chief Commissioner of British Burmah, late Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal.

31^st May 1890.

             Dear Sir Rivers Thompson, - It may surprise you to receive a communication from me, but perhaps not so much when you find it is on the same subject (railways in Burmah) which so much occupied my attention when you were in Burmah, and I hope, if you retain an interest in that country, it may not be unwelcome to you….

             In 1888 I published a small pamphlet on the subject, copy of which I beg to send for your acceptance, and ask for it a perusal. There is one omission in it which I have much regretted, and that is all mention of your successor, Sir Charles Aitchison. This I account for by the fact that I only met him once, about the time my illness began, and his term of office was when I was taking no interest in anything, and having no Burmah news whatever, his “reign” was thus a blank to me.