FILTI
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.882
2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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consideration to abstain from doing so, and thereupon, according to my ideas, the whole matter ended, no matter in what way I might have been previously understood. I must also note here that everything which took place at this time was based on the assumption that any general Report was to be drawn up by yourself, and by no one else.
With regard to the nature of the notes or statements to be sent in to you as Chairman, I know there was some talk of it, but eventually I was informed by a member of the Commission that there seemed little chance of their agreeing together, and that had consequently been arranged that each member should make out and send in a separate Report, and I acquiesced by doing so.
That Report was drawn up hastily owing to the very scanty time left at my disposal, and is consequently neither so full and exhaustive as I could have wished, nor free from those faults which generally characterise work done under pressure from want of time. I should not, however, in any case have touched upon or pronounced judgment on the working of Government Departments and the exercise of their judicial functions by the Magistrates, because I considered all this, then as now, as not falling within the scope of the enquiries directed in our letter of instructions, and which it appeared to me was simply an attack upon the administration of Sir Henry Barkly, one of the best Governors the Island has ever had.
Almost fearing what might happen, and knowing that you might be called away from the Island at a day or two's notice, I was careful to state in my covering letter that it was "my Report" which was sent in, not a Draft Report, nor notes of evidence, nor statement, but "my Report.”
Hoping you have long ago arrived in this country safely and well, and in the expectation of hearing from you ere long.
Major-General Selby Smyth,
(Signed) J. FRASER.
P.S.-Letters addressed to me, 9, Idol Lane, London, will be forwarded.
My dear Fraser,
Inclosure 6 in No. 57.
Weston, Thames Ditton, Surrey, July 24, 1872.
I am sorry that your letter of the 6th instant should have remained so long unanswered, but I only received it last night on my return from a fortnight's yachting- cruise to France and Ireland.
I of course do not know whether the proceedings in Council, to which you allude, have been accurately reported, but I find in the "Overland Courier" of the same mail a quotation of the memorandum which I gave to the Governor before my departure, viz.
"Previous to Mr. Fraser's departure, I made allusion to the Report of the Police Commission, and said how sorry I felt that it could not be completed and signed before he went away. He said he should be inclined to approve of the Report adopted by the majority, and I might sign for him in his absence. I said I should be happy to do so, but hoped he would give me a written authority to that effect. He, however, nover did so.
"This was the tenor and purport of the few words that passed in the Council
"}
room."
That memorandum was only written from memory, but it conveyed the impression on my mind as to the few words that passed after the rising of the last Council you attended.
Neither you nor I could then know the precise form in which the Report would be ultimately framed, there was diversity of views, and no member up to that time had written out a précis of suggestions.
Eventually before the first discussion of the Draft Report, I took care that every member should read and digest your opinions, and many of them were embodied in the General Report.
I felt most anxious, and have previously so stated officially, that as you were absent your interests should be protected, and that your colleagues should clearly weigh your views and conclusions.
In my letter to the Governor, covering the proceedings of the commission, it was necessary to account for the absence of your signature, by merely saying that I
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regretted your absence prevented your having the opportunity of signing the General Report.
Whether or not you would have been disposed to do so, I have already officially stated I was not aware.
Your paper
of conclusions, together with all the official documents connected with the Commission were ordered by me to be sent in to the Colonial Secretary's Office for
record.
I trust you will, therefore, feel assured that, so far as lay in my power, your interests were not lost sight of in your absence.
I returned on 8th June in a splendid troop ship by way of the Cape, &c., and had
a very pleasant passage of seven weeks.
I was very sorry to say adieu to Mauritius.
John Fraser, Esq.,
&c.
&c &c.
My dear General,
Believe me, &c.
(Signed) E. SELBY SMYTH, Major-General.
Inclosure 7 in No. 57.
Inverness, July 28, 1872.
I had the pleasure to receive your letter of the 24th instant on the 27th, and sincerely regret the misunderstanding which seems to have arisen out of my conver- sations with you regarding the Police Commission.
I most certainly never had the slightest idea of authorising my name to be attached to a Report adopted by a mere majority, and when you asked for such authority I did not give it, and there I fancied the whole matter ended; but more especially so when I subsequently made out and sent in a separate Report of my own as alluded to in my previous letter.
I believed that there was diversity of opinions, but did not know it, as no discussion had taken place before I left. I was moreover under the impression then that Mr. Gorrie was the only member whose views differed materially from those of his colleagues. I have no copy of my letter to you here, and am perhaps repeating myself in saying,-
That you are no doubt aware that my separate Report was only hurriedly finished on the day I left the Colony, the 8th March last.
That I had neither seen nor knew of any General Report at that time for the sufficient reason 'that none such existed.
That, in fact, the manuscript Report was only presented for discussion the first time on the 23rd March, fifteen days after I had left the Colony, and that much of it was struck out and modified then and at subsequent meetings.
There is, therefore, I think, nothing to justify the inference (if such has been drawn), that I approved in the main of the Report, which I had no knowledge of, and still less for the statement contained in the "Sentinelle" of 23rd May, as follows :—
"Mr. Fraser's document differed considerably from those of the other members, but the Report was compiled so as to represent the views of the majority. This, when read to members, underwent considerable alterations, but it then so far met the appro- bation of Mr. Fraser that he verbally authorized the President to affix his signature to it, or to such Report as the majority should, finally approve of."
with me that the above is totally inaccurate from beginning
Believe me, &c. (Signed) JOHN FRASER.
I think
to end.
you will
agree
Major-General E. Selby Smyth, .&c. &c. &c.
My dear Fraser,
Inclosure 8 in No. 57.
Weston, Thames Ditton, Surrey, July 31, 1872.
I, too, sincerely regret that any misapprehension should arise on the subject of the Police Commission.
I can only say that I also considered the matter at an end after our few words of conversation, and how it has cropped up again I really do not undorstand.
I repeat I am perfectly aware you could know nothing of the General ·Report.