Earl Grey’s Proposals for the Gold Coast

The extension of roads and of schools much beyond what could be accomplished by the means at present available, the employment of a greater number of magistrates for the more perfect administration of justice, and the establishment of hospitals and dispensaries for the relief of the sick would have been attended with obvious and great advantage. But these objects could not be attained without a large increase of expense, and Parliament had always shown what I consider a well-founded, reluctance to increase its votes for purposes of this description. It does not appear to me that the people of this country, ought to be called upon to pay for the cost of extensive schemes of internal improvement in Africa. Experience shows that if the Government of the day is allowed to draw at its discretion upon Parliamentary grants for such schemes, they are too apt to be prosecuted without a due regard to economy, or to that caution which is necessary for their ultimate success. I have always believed that if Parliament had originally been less liberal in its pecuniary assistance, the philanthropic objects contemplated in the formation of the Colony of Sierra Leone would probably have been more perfectly attained. Parliament is, I think, right to be very sparing in its grants for purposes of this kind, not merely for the sake of avoiding undue demands upon the people of this Country, but also because the surest test of the soundness of measures for the improvement of an uncivilized people, is that they should be self-supporting, and great advantage arises from throwing those who are to carry plans of this kind into effect upon their own resources.KeywordsGold CoastUltimate SuccessDirect TaxationExtensive SchemeCape CoastThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Discretion · Economic Justice · Economics · Government (linguistics) · Law and economics · Parliament · Political science · Politics · African history and culture studies · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · Public Administration