Arakan Library - Araka Past Present Future

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.

Arakan Action Association (AAA)

Chotana Road , Chaing Mai ( 50301 ), Thailand.

Email : arakanactionassociation@walla.com , +66—089-637-4383, +66—053-409-577

Letter to the Honorable Sir C.A. Elliott, K.C.S.I., Belvedere House, Calcutta.

London, 3^rd July, 1891.

I was obliged by your courtesy in replying to my letter of 10^th April 1890. I did not acknowledge and thank you for it at the time, as I now beg to do, being unwilling to trouble you with correspondence. The subject-matter was railway projects in Burmah and the adjoining districts of Eastern Bengal. There has been little progress made in these during the intervening twelvemonth, and I would take the liberty of again asking your attention thereto.

With reference to the Assam-Chittagong Railway, then being promoted by Sir Theodore Hope, I understood that the terms offered to him and his friends comprised very liberal grants of waste land, coal, and oil, but these had not proved sufficient to satisfy the financiers. Believing that they were workable, though not in possession of full details, I addressed the Secretary of State with the view of combining it with my proposals for railways in Burmah, as I am firmly in the belief that all the railways to the east of the Brahmapootra ahould be worked as a whole, and could be so quite apart from and independent of the rest of India. I had drawn up a sketch of a “Corporation” to undertake the work, but before I could complete it, learned from the India Office that Sir T.C. Hope had been unsuccessful, and a concession had been given for the Assam portion to parties financed by Matheson & Co. I have been in communication with Sir T. Hope’s principal financial support, who was much disappointed at their non-success, and I believe is still disposed to engage in Eastern railway works if practicable. As to the expected concession to Matheson & Co., I have quite recently learned (and I think the same has been stated in Parliament) that the terms have not been finally adjusted; and in the present state of the money market and the financial position of even large houses, it is possible the concessionaires may have difficultly or perhaps be quite unable to float it. Under these circumstances I would be again disposed to enter the field, and if not troubling you too much, I enclose copy of the sketch I made of the “Corporation,” which, I proposed, should embrace three companies to construct the railways … should the concession at present under arrangement fall through.

I know not whether you take the same view of the relative merits of the ports of Chittagong and Akyab for a large shipping trade that I do; but I think the general opinion of nautical men would agree with me that Akyab is unquestionably the most eligible port; and as in course of time not only the trade of Eastern Bengal – that is, to the east of the great rivers – but also the Burmah-China trade, must find its outlet at Akyab, it must become one of the largest shipping ports in India. I have long looked for this, but now fear it may not be in my day; but come it must, as the country and trade-routes are developed. I have often been asked, What is to be got out of Arakan? From its producing nothing but rice, people seem to think of it as a waste howling wilderness of which nothing can be made. Just the other day Sir George Chesney spoke to me of it as a waste howling wilderness of which nothing can be made. Just the other day Sir George Chesney spoke to me of it in this spirit. To this I reply, there is a country to be developed and cultivated. Hitherto it has been the most neglected province of the empire. It has been entirely dependent on its rivers for transport of its produce, which in consequence was only cultivated within easy distance of their banks. We took possession of it in 1826, and a telegram in the ‘Times’ of 2^nd February this year says, “There are not 40 miles of pucka road through it.” The province measures 18,000 square miles! The late Sir Edward Sladen, who from his residence at Mandalay, and also from his having been his full time Commissioner of Arakan, had a god idea of the country, considered there were valuable tracts of land to be developed. Writing me shortly before his death as to be developed. Writing me shortly before his death as to the Mandalay-Akyab Railway he said, “A railway across country from the Bay of Bengal, latitude Akyab, will be worth millions to us strategically, and in an administrative sense also, by assisting to pacify and people the intervening tracts of valuable territory.” It is entirely owing to the want of communication that this country has not been utilised. We do not to this day know the boundaries between Upper Burmah and Arakan, and this is not hundred miles from Akyab. As regards the connection of Burmah with India, I have lately had some correspondence with a very intelligent explorer acquainted with the country. He wrote me as follows: What appears to me most important is to connect the Burmah railway system with the Indian system, and I hold with you that the easiest crossing will prove to be into Arakan. North, the hills present enormous difficulties, as experienced in the Chin-Lushai expedition. I believe a railway could be run through the hills into Arakan without great expense. This connection would prove invaluable as a means of inducing the natives of India to emigrate to Burmah, which they will never do as long as they are obliged to take their women by sea. Your idea of the shape of the country is more or less correct.” I gave it as something in the shape of an egg or a cone, the apex being the junction of Burmah and Arakan, widening out the farther north you go, so that the more northerly a line is taken the longer it would be, not only through mountainous unexplored country, but bringing us in contact with larger and more numerous bodies of uncivilized tribes. Just compare or vid Munneepore to Chittagong, and then direct between Mandalay and Akyab. The undeveloped country on the latter line will be found not to be a third or a quarter of the more northerly route.

I would beg to apologies for running this letter to such a length; but as it bears both on the development of Eastern Bengal and the connection of Bengal with Burmah as means of carrying off the surplus population of the former – subject of importance to your present Government – I hope to be excused. I now conclude by asking your careful consideration. - I am, &c., &c.

In addition to the sketch of the “Corporation” attached hereto, I forward under a separate cover a “Memorandum” of the Burmah-Shan-China Railway, which has been well received in Manchester and Glasgow, two chief centres of manufactures.

Letter to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for India.

24^th July 1891.

NO.12.

The pleasing privilege has fallen to me to be the medium of handing the enclosed letter to your lordship.

It is, as you will see, a representation from merchants and bankers connected with Burmah as to railway extension in that country, and I may mention that the signatories embrace, with one exception, all the leading merchants who have establishments there.

Hitherto I have been working, I may say, single-handed, in endeavoring to promote communications by roads and railways for the development of Burmah, and it is very satisfactory to find that I now have the unanimous support of the mercantile community in this direction. In my letter (No.10) of 2^nd January 1891, I handed you a letter signed by officers who had held important positions in Burmah, and I believe their views in the matter generally are concurred in by their successors in office, so that I may say I have the support also of the official community.

After nearly thirty years labour I now hope to see some reward for my labours, and that they may soon be crowned with success.

Asking your considerate attention to the representation and proposals I have already placed before you, begging at the same time that you will again bring them under the notice of the Government of India, which, through the Viceroy’s late speech, promises encouragement to the public to engage in railway works in India, - I have the honour, &c., &c.

Burmah- Shan-China Railway.

To the Right Honourable Viscount Cross, G.C.B.,

Secretary of State for India, India Office,

Whitehall, S.W.

London, 20^th July 1891.

My Lord, - We, the undersigned merchants, connected specially with the trade of Burmah, desire respectfully to address you on the subject of the speedy extension of railway work in that country.

We are aware that at the present time the sum of fifty lakhs of rupees annually are allotted for this purpose; but seeing that the development of the country depends so much on the early construction of some important lines, and particularly the line from Mandalay through the Shan States to the borders of China, we conceive that this sum is quite inadequate to meet the necessary requirements. The line we have specially mentioned has been for all practical purposes surveyed and pronounced feasible at a comparatively moderate cost; but it is with feelings of considerable disappointment we find that the completion of this survey has not been carried out during the past cold season, and we may say everything in connection with the line has been in abeyance. True, there has been work done on the Mu Valley line which has absorbed all the allotment, and this line may be of importance for administrative and local purposes; but it cannot compete with the Mandalay and China line as of importance for the extension of the trade and commerce of the empire generally, which has been for so many years pressed on the attention of your lordship and your predecessors at the India Office.

We would strongly recommend this matter to your earliest attention, and we would feel much obliged if your lordship would favour us with an interview, when we could personally represent it to your consideration as specially affecting the commerce we are engaged in prosecuting – We have the honour to be, my lord, your lordship’s most obedient servants,

(Signed) For The Arracan Company, Limited,

John Halliday, Managing Director.

L. Biedermann (Bidermann, Sherrif, & Co)

J. & G. Bulloch & Co.

Milne & Co. ( Finlay, Fleming, & Co. )

Milne & Co., Agents.

Burmah Oil Company, Limited.

Gillespie & Co.

Kruger & Co.

For Mohr Brothers & Company, Limited,

A. Phillippi, Director.

James Wyllie & Co.

For Steel Brothers & Co., Limited,

John E. Borland, Manager.

Wallace Brothers.

For The Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China,

J. Howard Gwyther, Manager.

For The Agra Bank, Limited,

W. Blackhall, General Manager.

For The Chartered Mercantile Bank of India,

Londen, and Chian,

W. Jackson, Chief Manager.

For the National Bank of India, Limited,

Robert Campbell, General Manager.

Acknowledgment.

India Office, Whitehall, S.W.,

25^th July 1891.

Dear Sir, - I am desired by Lord Cross to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24^th inst. On the subject of railway extension in Burmah, and enclosing a letter on the same subject signed by several firms, and I am to say that an official answer will be sent in due course. – Yours faithfully,

W. J. Maitland.

J. Ogilvy Hay, Esq.

Reply.

P.W. 1428.

India Office, Whitehall, S.W.,

14^th August 1891.

Sir, - I am directed by the Secretary of State for India to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24^th instant, enclosing a representation from merchants and bankers connected with Burmah regarding the extension of railways in that country.

In reply, I am to inform you that Viscount Cross is fully alive to the importance of railway extension in Burmah, and is send sensible of the advantages that would arise from the formation a line towards the Chinese frontier.

The Government of India, and the Chief Commissioner Burmah, are taking measures for ascertaining the most feasible route for such a railway, but the best alignment can be determined only after careful and repeated examination of the country to be traversed.

The information hitherto obtained has not enabled the Government to arrive at a decision on this point, but attention will continue to be given to the subject, and a copy of you letter will at once be forwarded to the Government of India.

Under these circumstances it does not appear to Lord Cross that any useful purpose would be gained by an interview at the present time. – I am, sir, your obedient servant,

Godley.

J. Ogilvy Hay, Esq.

To the Burmah Merchants and Bankers, Signatories to the Letters to the Secretary of State.

Gentlemen, - I beg to hand copy of acknowledgement and reply from the Secretary of State for India to the letter, which you joined, representing the importance of the speech especially the construction of the line from Mandalay through the Shan States to the border of China, for the promotion trade and intercourse with the rich western provinces of the empire. For reference, copy of the letter of representation also annexed.

It is satisfactory to find that his lordship is “alive to the importance of railway extension in Burmah, and sensible of the advantages that would arise from the formation of a line towards the Chinese frontier.”

I am pleased to be able to inform you that various Chambers of Commerce – say of Manchester, Liverpool, Blackburn, Bradford, and Birmingham – have sent in representations to similar purport, and these will doubtless soon be followed by the Chamber of Glasgow and other important bodies who have it before them; but the time of year, when it is difficult to arrange meetings, has prevented immediate action. All these must have a desirable effect on the Indian Government, to whom your letter has been at once forwarded. – I am, &c.

Circular Letter sent to various Members of Parliament.

London, August 1891.

Sir, - Being a matter of supreme importance, as affecting the manufacturing and general commercial interests of this country, I desire to ask your attention to the subject of railway extension in Burmah, and particularly as to the construction of a line from the city of Mandalay, through the northern Shan States, to the confines of the province of Yunnan in the empire of China.

The “Burmah-China trade-route” question has been before the various Chambers of Commerce of the kingdom for more than half a century, and cannot be unfamiliar to you. Until our acquisition of Upper Burmah, there was much controversy on the subject, but the local government, as well as the Supreme Government of India, have always favoured what may be called the northern route – at one time believing that it must go by way of Bhamo. Our better knowledge of the country, since the annexation, has pointed to the route through the northern Shan States, and the late Government survey of that route has now removed all doubt and controversy on the subject.

With this I take leave to hand you a memorandum embodying the result of the survey so far as it has been carried out; as also copy of a letter which has been addressed to the Secretary of State for India by merchants and bankers specially interested in Burmah, drawing his attention to the position of matters, and urging on the Government the completion of the work, which cannot but have an enormous influence in the development of trade. His lordship’s reply to this letter follows it.

Several of the Chambers of Commerce are stirring in the matter, alive to its importance, and have forwarded resolutions to the India Office to that effect. Copies of these, so far as made public, are attached for your information.

Your connection with the manufacturing districts, or your concern for the general trade of the empire, will, I feel assured admit of my trespassing on you with the present communication and begging your hearty co-operation in urging the subject on Government, that no further time be lost, but immediate action taken in prosecuting such an important work. – I am, &c.

Letter to the Right Honouarable the Secretary of State for India.

London, 28^th October 1891.

No. 13.

In letter P.W. 303, dated 6^th March 1889, with which I was favoured, I was informed “that the Secretary of State would be prepared to consult the Government of India with regard to any reasonable proposals (not involving the guarantee of interest by the state) for railway extension in Burmah that might be submitted to him, accompanied by proofs of adequate financial support;” to which, under date 30^th March, I replied, “But when it is required that the proposals should be accompanied by proofs of adequate financial support, it must be evident that financial houses would desire to know something of the nature of the security they were likely to have before committing themselves;” and further, on this point I would take leaved to refer to my letter (No. 4) of 29^th July 1889.

The correspondence has been continued by my letters of 3^rd June 1891, in which I was informed that your lordship had “left the matter in the hands of the Government of India.” I have not since been favoured with any communication either from your lordship or the Government of India. I have not, however, been idle in the interval, especially as regards the matter of finance, and I have now the pleasure to inform your lordship that I am authorized to say that I have the financial support of a London house, whose name has already been several times accepted by your lordship’s Government.