238
I am now to inclose (1) copy of correspondence relating to Indian immigrants in Mauritius, printed for the confidential use of this Office; (Ž) copy of Sir A. Gordon's despatch transmitting the Report of the Police Commission; (3) copy of Lord Kimberley's despatch announcing the appointment of the Royal Commission, with copies, as far as they have been received, of the evidence taken by the Royal Commis sioners, and of the Reports of inspections of plantations made by their direction ; (4) copy of a despatch which Lord Kimberley has addressed to Sir A. Gordon relative to Mr. Beyts, the Protector of Immigrants.
I am, &c.
ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.
239
2. Mr. Beyts is entitled to vacation leave, on full salary for three montis, and I hope your Lordship will not disapprove of my having granted such leave to him accordingly; the Royal Commissioners no longer requiring his presence in Mauritius.
3. If the Commissioners' Report has not been received and considered by your Lordship at the expiration of these three months, it will be easy to extend Mr. Beyts' leave on half salary as contemplated.
I have, &c. (Signed) ARTHUR GORDON.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
T7
Reference :-
C.O.882
2
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO.
(Signed)
No. 64.
The Earl of Kimberley to Governor the Hon. Sir A. H. Gordon, K.C.M.G.
(No. 269.) Sir,
Downing Street, November 9, 1872.
I HAVE received your despatch No. 296 of the 20th of September, transmitting copy of a correspondence between the Governments of India and Mauritius relative to the conduct of Mr. Beyts, the Protector of Immigrants in that Colony.
Looking to the strong expression of distrust in the efficiency of Mr. Beyts' services, which has been communicated to you by the Government of India in Mr. Hume's letter of the 12th August, I think it desirable that there should be no avoidable delay in meeting, as far as practicable, the views of that Government, and I therefore request that, on the receipt of this despatch, you will desire Mr. Beyts to take leave of absence on half salary, pending the result of the inquiry of the Royal Commissioners into the condition of Indian immigrants in Mauritius, as soon the Commissioners shall be of opinion that his presence in the Colony is not required for the purposes of the inquiry.
I have stated that this step is taken in consequence of the opinion expressed by the Indian Government relative to the manner in which Mr. Beyts has discharged his duties, and it will be understood that I suspend my final judgment until I have received the Report of the Royal Commissioners.
Sir,
No. 65.
I have, &c.
(Signed) KIMBERLEY.
India Office to Colonial Office.
India Office, February 28, 1878. THE Secretary of State for India having communicated to the Government of India the inclosures to your letter of the 26th of October last, and certain of the accompaniments to your later letter of the 9th of November ensuing, relative to the con- dition of Indian labourers in Mauritius, I am to request that you will state to the Earl of Kimberly that a despatch in reply has just been received from the Indian Government, expressing again its cordial appreciation of the energetic measures taken by his Lordship to place emigration from India, whether to Mauritius or elsewhere, upon a proper basis.
HERMAN MERIVALE.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
No. 66.
Governor the Hon. Sir A. H. Gordon, K.C.M.G., to the Earl of Kimberley.—(Receives March 10.) (No. 11.) My Lord,
Mahé, Seychelles, January 16, 1878.
I HAVE had the honour to receive your Lordship's despatch No. 209 of the 9th November with respect to the leave of absence of which your Lordship desires that Mr. Boyts the Protector of Immigrants may be requested to avail himself.
No. 67.
Governor the Hon. Sir A. H. Gordon, K.C.M.G., to the Earl of Kimberley.—(Received March 10.) (No. 18.) My Lord,
Mahé, Seychelles, January 16, 1873. I HAVE had the honour to receive your Lordship's despatch No. 268 of the 2nd November, inclosing a letter from the Honourable J. Fraser on the subject of discrepancies which he supposes to exist between statements made by myself and Mr. Justice Gorrie, and others made by Major-General Smyth with respect to a paper transmitted by Mr. Fraser to the General, and regarded by that officer as well as by. the other members of the Police Commission and myself, as embodying Mr. Fraser's suggestions for the Report of that Commission.
2. Mr. Fraser will in vain strive to place General Smyth and myself at variance, the most entire agreement of opinion on this subject and the most perfect confidence and co-operation in all respects, I am happy to say existing, and having always existed, between us.
3. Mr. Fraser calls for your Lordship's attention to discrepancies between the statements of General Smyth and those contained—
(1.) In a quotation which he makes from a newspaper report of a speech made by me in Council on the 20th may last.
•
(2.) In a Memorandum of Mr. Justice Gorrie; and,
(8.) In a further statement also made by me in Council.
In his present letter no reference is made to the non-publication of the paper which Mr. Fraser calls his "Report," but this must, I suppose, be still considered as the real grievance of Mr. Fraser's complaint.
4. For that non-publication his colleagues of the Police Commission are in the first instance responsible, as their Report, the evidence taken before them, and Mr. Antelme's dissent were printed under their direction, and forwarded to me in a printed form by them.
5. I should myself have been glad to have seen Mr. Fraser's Report printed and published, but it was felt, by the Commissioners, that if one of the draft reports proposed by one of the members of the Commission were made public, the publication of the other draft reports might equally be demanded by their authors, and as those other reports contained matter which it had been deemed inexpedient to make public, and which bad, therefore, been omitted from the General Report, it would clearly have been equally inexpedient to give it publicity in another form.
6. Mr. Fraser says that he intended this paper to be considered as a formal and separate Report. He best knows his own intentions, but they were certainly not suspected by me, by General Smyth, or by any of his colleagues, for it is altogether contrary to the usages of a Commission and inconsistent with the courtesies which are invariably observed by such bodies, that one member should forestall the conclusions of the whole by the submimion to the authority appointing the Commission, of a Report prepared without the knowledge of his colleagues, and transmitted in anticipation of the Report of the Commission itself.
7. Mr. Fraser's paper, moreover, is addressed, not to the Governor, to whom the Commissioners were directed to report, but to the Chairman of the Commission.
8. It is, therefore, only natural that the Commissioners should have supposed Mr. Fraser to have done as they themselves had done, and to have forwarded, as they had, a draft report for the consideration of their Chairman, in compliance with \the request made by him to that effect, in order to facilitate his preparation of his own draft report.
9. Had the Commissioners, however, been aware of the light in which Mr. Fraser regarded this document it may be considered doubtful whether it would have materially