PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:→
C.O. 882
4 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
14
The Honourable the Acting Procureur General gave notice that at the next meeting of the Council he would move the first reading of an Ordinance to repeal Ordinance No. 9 of 1883 entituled An Ordinance to amend the Laws concerning Prison Discipline.
On the orders of the day being read the Honourable L. L. Raoul, seconded by the Honourable C. F. H. Adam, moved the following resolution :
That the Constitution of this Council which exists since 1831 is no longer in accord with the material and intellectual condition of the people and with the feelings and opinions of the time, and an elective element should be introduced therein.
A debate ensued and the council divided :
For.
1 Honourable J. A. Ferguson,
Against.
Honourable J. Fraser
1
A. P. Ambrose,
R. Stein
2
"
"
C. F. H. Adam,
Collector of Customs
3
"9
L. L. Raoul.
Acting Auditor General
4
Sir Virgile Naz,
"1
Acting Receiver General
5
11
Surveyor General,
J+
**
Acting Protector of Immi-
Officer Commanding the 6
Troops.
grants,
B
13
Acting Procureur General,
9
"
Acting Colonial Secretary.
234567
Resolution carried.
The council adjourned at 2 p.m. and re-assembled at 2.45 p.m., when the Honourable Sir V. Naz, seconded by the Honourable A. P. Ambrose, moved the following resolution of which notice had been given at the last meeting:
That the alterations in the constitution of this Board proposed by the Right Honour- able the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in his Despatch of the 11th of June last, would be attended with many more objections than advantages. That this council can only be adapted to the wants and circumstances of the Colony, and can only be acceptable to the large majority of the Colonists, by being composed of at least twenty-one members, one third of whom, at least, to be directly chosen by electors belonging to all classes of the community, and the remainder to be nominated by the Crown, not less than one half of the nominated members being unofficial.
After debate on the motion of the Honourable the Acting Colonial Secretary it was agreed that the resolution should be amended by the addition of the words "provided that the right of dissolving the Council be vested in the Governor" after the word "unofficial."
The Council then divided on the resolution as amended.
For.
1 Honourable J. A. Ferguson,
Against. Honourable J. Fraser -
1
2
A. P. Ambrose,
R. Stein
2
-
19
53
3
C. F. H. Adam,
Collector of Customs
3
"
20
L. L. Raoul,
19
Acting Auditor General
4
"
Sir V. Naz,
FX]
Acting Receiver General
5
}
6
11
Surveyor General,
"
Acting Procureur General
6
21
Acting Protector of Immi-
grants,
"
Officer Commanding the 7
Troops.
Acting Colonial Secretary.
14357
8
Resolution as amended agreed to, and the Council adjourned at 5.10 p.m. until Friday the 28th December at 11.30 a.m.
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No. 10.
GOVERNOR SIR J. POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G., to the RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DERBY. (Received February 22, 1884.)
(No. 40.)
MY LORD,
Government House, Mauritius,
January 27, 1884.
ADVERTING to my Despatch, No. 306, of the 29th ultimo, reporting the opinion of the Council of Government in favour of the elective system, I have now the honour to lay before your Lordship some copies of the printed report of the various speeches for and against the two resolutions in which that opinion was expressed.
2. The speeches of Colonel Hawley (the officer in command of the troops), Mr. Stein, and Mr. Fraser stated clearly the arguments used by the opponents of the elective system. In addition to mentioning his own views as an outsider to the Colony, with, as he said, no bias one way or the other, Colonel Hawley quoted freely from the letters written by Mr. Antelme, C.M.G., the only leading Mauritian who opposes the reform movement.
3. On the other hand, the speeches of Mr. Raoul, Mr. Adam, Mr. Cox (the acting Procureur-General), Mr. Greene (the Acting Protector of Immigrants), Mr. Beyte (the Acting Colonial Secretary), Sir Virgile Naz, K.C.M.G., and Mr. Ambrose, put the case in favour of the elective system very strongly.
4. Whilst commending the arguments on both sides to the consideration of Her Majesty's Government, it is my duty to report that, whatever additional weight may be attached to the local influence of the speakers, arising from the possession of property and intimate connexion with the Colony, the balance of such influence seems to be with the reformers.
5. Having listened to the debate, and having had some opportunity of ascertaining the wishes of the community, and of estimating the effect of the change upon the interests of the various classes-the planters and the labourers, the merchants, the shopkeepers, and the professional men-I recommend Her Majesty's Government to accept the resolutions of the legislative body as a safe foundation on which to make the necessary alteration in the constitution, so as to render it, to use your Lordship's words, more in accord with the feelings and opinions of the time.
6. My views on the subject have been formed as my knowledge of the Colony increased. I am unwilling to touch on anything of such elight moment as my own experience of other Colonies. But I have been very much impressed by the remark- able contrast between Mauritius and the other Governments that the Queen has from time to time entrusted to my care.
7. My predecessor, Sir George Bowen, who has spent his life in governing the Australian Colonies, has expressed the opinion that the upper and middle classes of the Mauritians are superior to the Australians in culture, in refinement, and in legis- lative capacity; and, though I am unable to make such a comparison, for I have never visited Australia, I can confirm another statement that Sir George Bowen has recorded -that Mauritius is essentially different from the principal Crown Colonies, such as Ceylon, Hongkong, and the Straits Settlements, inasmuch as it possesses a highly cultivated and long settled resident community of the European race. fact, no other Crown Colony possessing such a population of the European race. British and German traders in the other Oriental Colonies are birds of passage. British planters and British traders in the West Indies and West Africa are but little better than birds of passage.
There is, in
The
The
8. But the daily work of my official life for the last eight months has gradually impressed me with another contrast not less remarkable, and which goes at once to the essence of one of the chief arguments used on the constitutional question. The relations between the upper and middle classes on the one hand, and the labourers on the other, are absolutely different in Mauritius from the relations between the planters and the negroes in the West Indies and between the European traders and the Chinese in the eastern Colonies.
9. It is not for me to re-open the old dispute of ten years ago, but looking at the Colony as I find it, I am bound to say I never saw a body of labourers in any country better treated by their employers than the Indian immigrants are by the Mauritians.
• No. 9.
B 4