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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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been informed of the grants allotted I shall propose their respective distribution amongst the churches and priests.
To Sir John Pope Hennessy, K.C.M.G.,
Governor of Mauritius.
(No. 707 of 1889.) EXCELLENCY,
I have, &c. (Signed) † L. MEURIN, Archbishop of Nisibi, Bishop of Port Louis.
Enclosure 5 in No. 1.
Port Louis, April 27, 1889.
I DERM it my duty to bring to your Excellency's notice the helpless condition in which several of the churches and chapels built with Government assistance are placed by the total want of the pecuniary means required for their maintenance or their substantial repairs.
2. Ordinance, No. 54, of 1844, allows a certain sum to be appropriated to the building of churches, chapels, and presbyteries, but contains no provision for their conservancy either by the Government or by the local ecclesiastical authorities.
3. Of the 32 Roman Catholic churches and chapels built on the provisions of the said Ordinance, 13 have already received the full amount of Rs. 10,000 allowed to be granted for each particular building, and are thereby precluded from receiving any further assist- ance from Government.
4. Among these latter is to be counted the church of the Immaculate Conception at Port Louis, which in the year 1860 has received that grant in full. Begun at a time of great prosperity, and before the epidemy of fever dispersed the wealthier families into the healthier districts of the island, this church was commenced in very large proportions and built in stone up to a height of about 15 feet. But the well-known misfortunes of the subsequent years prevented its completion, and forced the parishioners to build within its stone walls a wooden fabric of a considerably smaller size. This building, together with the purchase of a house in its vicinity to serve as presbytery, has involved the administrative board of that church, known by the name of Fabrique, into a debt of Rs. 16,000 at the high rate of 9 per cent. per annum. The monthly payment of the interest on this debt renders it to the impoverished church near to impossible to think of substantial repairs, not to speak of the completion of the building commenced in
stone.
5. In consequence of the late fire opposite the church, from which it has severely suffered, I convoked the members of the Fabrique to a consultation on the actual state of their finances and on the eventual completion of their church.
6. Their unanimous opinion was that of the four means of raising money for such a purpose, hardly one or two seemed available with some hope of a substantial success. The four means indicated were: (1.) subscriptions among the parishioners, (2.) a grant from Government, (3.) a loan from Government without interest, repayable by yearly instalments or by taxes to be imposed on the parishioners, and (4.) a lottery or a drawing of prizes on the principle of the Art Union.
7. The two first of these means seemed to be altogether out of question, the parish- ioners, though more numerous than in 1860, being now infinitely poorer than in that period, and Government being prevented by Ordinance 54, of 1844, from making any further grant to that church.
8. The third means appeared to have a chance of being realised, if Government, having a surplus on hand, would be found willing to extend its kindness to that afflicted
church.
9. Against the fourth means there exists a very strong prejudice in the minds of our rulers, or rather an over severe prohibition in our local legislation. I allude to the stern rigidity of Ordinance 8 of 1876. Several foreign Governinents do indeed prohibit private lotteries, but conduct on their own account public lotteries on a large scale, partly in order to satisfy within lawful limits the natural craving of the people after luck by chance, partly in order to increase the state revenues by the voluntary tax payed by the players. The authors on ethics are unanimous on the lawfulness of lotteries provided they be con- ducted without fraud, and the gain to be derived therefrom do not exceed a reasonable
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per-centage, because it is not against any principle of justice to buy the right to an uncertain thing the acquisition of which is to depend on chance. Whilst lotteries are publicly held in England, and indulged in by nearly the whole nation, even the smallest drawing of prizes on the principle of the Art Union for a charitable purpose is in Mauritius severely prohibited by the mentioned Ordinance.
10. Under these circumstances the members of the said Fabrique were unanimous with me that I should address your Excellency with the humble request to decide, whether Government should not come to our assistance, either by a loan or by a special permis. sion to hold, if not a lottery, at least a drawing of prizes, to be conducted if so desired, under Government inspection.
11. The refusal of Government assistance, in this or any other shape, must inevitably lead, in a not far remote time, to the ruin of the churches built with state grants, involving a great waste of public money, and the missing of the aim which Ordinance 54, of 1844, had in view, viz. "to promote the progress of the Christian religion and the propagation of principles of sound morality in Mauritius."
12. I beg, therefore, your Excellency kindly to take the mentioned circumstances into consideration, and to inform me, whether, and in what shape, Government would be inclined to assist the churchwardens of the said church, and eventually those of several other churches which are very much in the same predicament.
To his Excellency Sir John Pope Hennessy, K.C.M.G.,
Governor of Mauritius.
15421.
No. 2.
I have, &c. (Signed) + L. MEURIN, Archbishop, Bishop of Port Louis.
SIR J. POPE HENNESSY to LORD KNUTSFORD. (Received August 3, 1889.)
Government House, Mauritius,
July 11, 1889.
(No. 329.) MY LORD,
In the enclosed Minutes of the Council of Government of the 2nd instant, your Lordship will observe that Dr. Beaugeard, the senior member for Port Louis, laid on the table a memorial asking for a more equitable distribution of the ecclesiastical grants and that he gave notice of the following resolution, which he proposed to move at the next roceting.
"That the principle, lately introduced in the Dependency of Seychelles, on which the ecclesiastical grant annually voted for the use of the Christian churches is to be apportioned to those churches according to the number of their adherents, be laid down likewise for this Colony, and gradually carried into practice, provided that all rights vested in the present titulars be reserved."
2. At the next meeting, however, I ventured to appeal to him not to proceed with his motion until I had received your Lordship's instructions on the subject for the guidance of the public officers who were members of the Council, and Dr. Beaugeard was good enough to comply with this appeal.
3. He has since informed me that if his motion had been pressed to a division, it would have been carried by a majority of votes including nine teaths of the elected members.
4. He has also requested me to ask your Lordship not to fill up any vacancy that may arise in that branch of the ecclesiastical establishment which he thinks should be reduced until the motion has been disposed of.
The Right Hon. Lord Knutsford, G.C.M.G.,
..&c.
&c.
&c.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. POPE HENNESSY.