PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TELEC.O. 882
5
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
For-igu Office. 15,018.
87.
Foreign Office. 17,567
97.
Foreign Office.
20,109. *7.
Government. 101. 87-4.
from whence each Government should lay a line to its respective possessions; or in the alternative
►
(2.) That if the French Company connected Mozambique to Réunion, he would connect Réunion and Mauritius for 3,5001. per annum.
Upon a reminder from the French Ambassador (22.7,87), the Foreign Office were told (58.87) that. as Mr. Pender had offered to do for 3,5001. what the French Company asked 8,0001. for, the latter proposal could not be entertained by the Mauritius Government, and the Governor was so informed (12.8.87).
Count D'Aubigny then explained (23.8.87) that the French Government were no party to the communication of the Havas Agency, and had not made their suggestion on behalf of any company; but had inquired on their own behalf what support the English Government would give towards such an undertaking. The Mauritius Réunion section would be useless until Réunion was connected with Africa; and the Bill before the Legislature had been withdrawn as the French Government were not disposed to bear the whole burden. If Mauri- tíus were willing to give a subsidy proportionate to its interest in the line, the project would be mate- rially advanced. But if not, and the French Government still decided to have the line laid, the conditions on which they would permit a Mauritius cable to be landed at Réunion would indirectly be more onerous than any that they would be now prepared to offer.
Any
The Colonial Office replied that, in the absence of detailed information as to the cost, Her Majesty's Government were not in a position to consider the subject; and that as part of the communication with Europe would be over the Eastern Telegraph Company's system, that Company would have to be a party to any arrangement (28.9.87).
Count D'Aubigny informed Foreign Office (30.9.87) that the French Government had now heard that the Mauritius Government were aware that the proposals of the French Government had nothing to do with the Havas Agency, and that they were disposed to entertain favourably his Government's overtures.
Colonial Office suggested (13.10.87) replying that nothing had been heard from Mauritius confirming this; and the correspondence was sent to Governor. The Officer Administering the Government re- ferred the correspondence to the Finance Committee, who (24.11.87) did not see that the Council could come to any decision until more precise information was received; but recommended that early and careful attention should be given to the inatter.
In March 1888 Sir John Pender again called the attention of the Colonial and Foreign Offees to his three schemes, which had now assumed the following shape:
1. A direct cable from Zanzibar to Mauritius, passing to the north of Madagascar, but without touching it:-British subsidy required 20,0001. per annum for 20
years.
2. A line between Mozambique, Mayotte, Nos Bah, Diego Suarez, St. Mary, Tamatave, Réunion :
1
B
French subsidy 22,000l. per anuum, or 24,0001. if the starting point were Zanzibar. An extension from Réunion to Mauritius : British subsidy 3,5001. per annum.
8. Zanzibar to Diego Suarez:-French subsidy 11,5004. per annum, Diego Suarez to Mauritius :
-British subsidy 10,000l. per annum.
His Company were then in communication with the French Government with reference to (2) and (3).
Colonial Office pointed out to Foreign Office (3.4.88.) that as the three Departments concerned→→ War Office, Admiralty, and Colonial Office-had expressed a preference for a mail service, and as this scheme was again before the Treasury, the cable question could not prudently be raised st present.
M.O.
Cape.
6,997. 88.
6,000.
Simultaneously the question was brought to the Shervinton. notice of Her Majesty's Government by a private individual, Lieutenant-Colonel C. R. Shervinton.
He stated, on the authority of his son, who was in command of the Malagasy forces, that the Mada- gascar Government would allow a cable from Mozambique to be landed at Mayungs, and a land line to be carried across the island to a point on the east coast, whence a cable could be laid to Mauritius. They were also willing to give land for the stations, and to facilitate the work considerably in other ways. This scheme would, by the land line of 500 miles, have saved the 1,000 miles of cable requisite undor the other projects for making a detour round the north of the island. Colonel Shervinton's letter was sent to the Foreign Office, who acknowledged receipt, and no more was heard of the proposal.
In July 1888, the Officer Administering the Go- vernment of Mauritius inquired if any further com- munication had been made by the French Government on the subject, and was informed that the matter remained in abeyance, but that Her Majesty's "Government were fully alive to its importance." He was also told confidentially that the mail question must first be satisfactorily settled.
44
88.
16,904.
88.
90.
In May 1890, Sir John Pope Hennessy pressed Hennery. upon Her Majesty's Government the importance of 9,430. the cable from an Imperial point of view, remind- ing them that the Colonel Government had been willing to grant half the subsidy if Her Majesty's Government would give the other moiety necessary for connecting Mauritius by a line free from foreign interference. He illustrated the importance of such a cable by recalling the fact that a foreign man of war had frequently arrived bearing the latest news from Europe, and anchored inside the defences of Port Louis before it was possible for the Colonial Government to know whether she came as a friend or an enemy.
annum
By this time the Treasury had agreed to bear for three years half the cost of a subsidy of 7,5001. per to the British India Steam Navigation Company for a four-weekly mail service between Colombo and Port Louis; and Sir John Pope Hennemy was told that in these circumstances it was feared that it would be useless at present to ask Parliament for a further subsidy for a cable. A similar reply was given in the House of Commons to a question put by Admiral Field.
Hours of
Commons. 11,199.
90.
24,708.
90.
6
In May 1890, M. G. de Coriolis, an ex-member of the Mauritius Legislature, proceeded to France with an introduction from the French Consul to his Foreign Office, and discussed the cable question with that department. His scheme has not yet been received, our latest information being that the Colonial Government had appointed a Commission to examine and report upon it; but the lines on which it is based are sufficiently indicated by the Memorandum which he submitted to the Governor. He considers that the only way for the Colony to obtain a cable is by arrangement with the French Government, as the Home Govern- ment are not sufficiently interested to move in the matter, and, moreover, could not hope to get from Parliament the funds required if Mauritius were the only partner in the cost. "The only cable "which, from a financial point of view, it is possible to lay, is an international one, to the expenses of which France, England, and Mauritius would contribute." The Governor has been confidentially informed, for his guidance in dealing with this scheme, that no consideration of economy would, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, justify the placing of Mauritius at the end of a French cable.
(4
C
64
In the view of the present representative of the Admiralty on the Colonial Defence Committee, Captain C. A. G. Bridge, D.NL, it would be better to have no cable at all than a line from Zanzibar við Madagascar, as it would then be completely controlled by the French. He con- siders that any subsidy from us to such a scheme would merely be a contribution towards the cost of connecting the French strategic stations in the Indian Ocean.
G. V. F.
22.1.91.