PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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ever, occur) would yield to the power to legislate by Order in Council (which should still be retained) or to the shadow of that power.
10. Whether the numbers of the Council be increased or left as they are, I have ventured positively to recommend that the unofficial side should be re-nominated every five or seven years, existing members being of course eligible for re-appointment. In doing this, I have not lost sight of the objections stated in Governor Gordon's Confidential Despatch of the 5th of April 1872* But these objections are not found to have real force in the case of the Council of Education and other important bodies
any to which nomination is yearly made; and I am convinced that, in the case of the Council of Government, they would be out-weighed by advantages.
11. It will be gathered from my public Despatch that I do not consider that the petitioners have made out any practical necessity for any change at all. If I place some concessions before your Lordship, it is because I regard with much deference the simple request of such an influential and respectable body as the signatories of the petition, and not because I believe that the island is now mis-governed, or that it will be better governed in consequence of any alteration which can be safely made in the constitution of the Council of Government.
12. The whole question is one of the policy of Her Majesty's Government. If the steady insistance on the equilibrium of the two parties in the Council, which has for years past marked the Confidential Despatches of successive Secretaries of State, is still a cardinal point of that policy, I submit this had better be stated frankly and openly, and the matter so laid to rest, as I believe it would be by any plain intimation of Her Majesty's pleasure. It is only in case your Lordship may feel able to take the wishes and attitude of the petitioners into favourable consideration, and to consider whether some slight change in the direction of popular concession can be permitted in the constitution of this important and flourishing Crown Colony, that I have ventured to indicate certain measures which appear to me to fall within the scope of what is prudent.
I have, &e. (Signed)
The Right How the Earl of Kimberley,
&o.
&o.
&c.
No. 9.
F. NAPIER BROOME.
Sin G. F. BOWEN, G.C.M.G., to the UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.
Private.
MY DEAR HERBERT,
3, Grosvenor Gardens, London, S.W.. December 30, 1882.
LORD Kimberley, before he left the Colonial Office, requested me to give a brief statement of my views respecting the changes which have been proposed, in petitions from Mauritius, in the present constitution of the Council of Government in that island.
But I As you are aware, I have always been a warm supporter of constitutional govern- ment, on the English model, in Colonies peopled chiefly by the English race. have, at the same time, fully agreed with the general opinion of all who are best qualified to judge in a matter of this nature, viz., that, for obvious reasons, elective legislatures ought not to be set up in heterogeneous communities, such as that of Mauritius, where the small minority of men of European race would soon be "swamped" by the overwhelming majority of Indians and Mulattoes, almost entirely without property, education, or political training.
During my official residence in Mauritius, I carefully studied this question, in all its bearings, on the spot, and I have read with attention the able despatches on this subject of the Lieutenant Governor (Mr. Napier Broome), of October 31st ult. I Probably, there- agree generally with his conclusions, and with the reasons which he assigns for those conclusions. Indeed, I had often discussed this question with him. fore, I shall not be expected, after the elaborate report of the Lieutenant Governor, to do more than to submit the following practical remarks for the consideration of Lord Derby :-
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1. The number proposed, in one of the petitions, for the new Council-(30-.8. 10 Officials, 10 Unofficials, to be nominated by the Crown, and 10 elective members) seems to me to be at once too small for a Legislative Assembly, furnishing, as in constitutional colonies, a Ministry and an Opposition; and too large for a " Council of Government in a Crown colony; moreover, the authority of the Crown might obviously be set at nought by a combination of the 10 nominated with the 10 elected members. I cannot recommend the adoption of any change of so radical a nature, especially as it would be opposed to the convictions of the majority of the men of property and social position in the island, as appears from their counter-petition.
2. At the same time, it appears to me that certain liberal concessions are required in Mauritius both by the intrinsic justice of the case, and also in consequence of the concessions recently made in communities (such as Natal and Cyprus) which are assuredly not so far advanced, socially, materially, and otherwise, as is Mauritius.
3. Now the main defect of the existing Council of Government is admitted to be the long-continued stagnation among the Unofficial members. No new Unofficial member has been appointed for more than ten years in consequence of the limitation, by instructions from Home, of the total number of that class to eight (8). Thus there is no sufficient scope for the legitimate ambition of younger and rising public
men.
4. I submit that this stagnation should be modified---
(a.) By limiting the tenure of the seats of the Unofficial members (now held for life) to five (5) years. The power of re-appointment in special cases should, however, be retained by the Crown.
(b.) By adopting a principle, already, I believe, adopted, to a certain extent, in Oeylon, where some of the members of the Council are appointed virtually on the recommendation of certain Public Bodies. Thus, in Mauritius, it might be arranged that the President of the Chamber of Agriculture (representing the landed property and the staple industry of the island), the President of the Chamber of Commerce (representing the interests of trade and of the commercial classes), and the Mayor of Port Louis (representing the only large town and the urban population), should, as a general rule, be nominated to the Council. Perhaps, also, another member might be added to represent the legal profession, which has great influence in the Colony.
5. If it should be thought desirable to introduce into a portion of the Council the principle of direct election by a popular constituency, two or more of the Unofficial seats might be so filled. But it appears that Mr. Antelme (the senior member of the existing Council) and other Mauritians of high authority have stated, in their counter- petition, strong reasons against the introduction of popular elections into a community so peculiarly circumstanced as is that of Mauritius.
6. It will be remembered that, for some thirty years after about 1847, there was a majority of Unofficial members in the Council. No material inconvenience arose then, nor would probably arise again, from this arrangement, if under the direction of able and judicious Governors, knowing how to use the influence as well as the authority of their office. The new movement has arisen chiefly in consequence of the limitation, in recent years, of the number of the Unofficial members; and I agree with the Lieutenant Governor that the addition of two more Unofficial members to the Council would (in conjunction with other changes of the nature of those shadowed forth above) satisfy the better portion even of those who now seek wider concessions.
I may mention that I have communicated these opinions to my successor at Mauritius, Sir John Pope Hennessy.
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I need scarcely add, in conclusion, that I am ready to submit any further expla nations, or information, which may be required by the Secretary of State.
I remain, &c. (Signed) G. F. BOWEN.
Sir Robert G. W. Herbert, K.O.B.
• Not printed.
↑ Nos. 5, 6, 7, and 8.
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R $116.