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سيا
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference —
C.O. 882
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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27962
SIR,
No. 94.
GOVERNOR SIR C. BRUCE to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.
(Réceived July 28, 1903.)
[Acknoneledged August 7, 1903, Confidential, 27962: not printed.]
(Confidential.)
Government House, Mauritius, June 27, 1903. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your confidential despatch of the 15th May,* on the subject of the Brussels Sugar Convention.
2. As regards the second paragraph of your despatch, I believe that all the advances will certainly be completed before the 1st of September. The amount will probably exhaust the whole £200,000 authorised by the Ordinance, but it is impossible for me at present to fix the precise amount, because the amount of the advance approved in each case is the maximum amount based on an estimate. The actual amount of the advance will probably in a certain number of cases be less than the estimate, but, on the other hand, some of the advances have been conditional on there being funds available without exceeding the total authorised amount of the loan. The amount of these advances will, therefore, absorb a part or the whole of the fund rendered available by savings in cases in which the actual advance is less than the estimate.
3. With regard to the third paragraph, I have prepared and annex a full report, which may, I hope, be of use to the British delegate. I have incorporated the sub- stance of my despatch, No. 206, of the 9th June,† and its enclosures.
I have, &c.,
Enclosure 1 in No. 94.
CHAS. BRUCE,
Governor.
REPORT on the Legislative Enactments of Mauritius affecting the Sugar Industry in respect of their bearing on the question whether they give such assistance to the Industry as may be considered to have the effect of a Bounty. These enactments may be divided into three groups, relating to:-
(A) Duties of Customs.
(B) Loans.
(c) General Legislation.
I append to this report a list of the enactments falling within each of the above groups.
DUTIES OF CUSTOMS.
IMPORTS.
Sugar: Refined and sugar candy, Rs. 5.25c. per 100 kilos; raw, Rs. 1.65c. per 100 kilos. To these import duties must be added a surcharge of 4 per cent. imposed on all import duties, including sugar, to provide interest and sinking fund for a loan to be raised for re-afforestation purposes.
EXPORTS.
Sugar, the produce of Mauritius, Rs. 0.30c. per 100 kilos, to which must be added an additional duty of 2 cents per 100 kilos for the upkeep of the Station Agronomique. 2. By the terms of the Brussels Convention, Article III., it is required that the surtax, that is to say, the difference between the rate of duty or taxation to which foreign sugar is liable and the rate of duty or taxation to which home-produced sugar is subject, shall be limited to a maximum of 6 francs per 100 kilog, on refined sugar
• No. 75.
† 25964: not printed.
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and on sugar which may Be classed as refined, and to 5 fcs. 50 c. on other sugar. As there is in this Colony no duty or excise on sugar, it may be necessary to reduce the import duties within the above limits. To this there can be no objection on the part of Mauritius. The reduction of the duty on refined sugar can have no appreciable effect on the revenue of the Colony. The import of refined sugar in 1901 amounted only to 451 kilog, of the declared value of Rs. 195.50. The duty on sugar other than refined is well below the limit of 5 fcs. 50 c.
3. I may observe that in Mauritius there is no exemption from duty accorded to planters in favour of machinery or machines for their use, but in view of the ravages caused by "surra" among draught animals, a temporary measure of relief was adopted by the Council of Government by the following resolution, passed on the 17th of June, 1902:-
'Considering the enormous losses which the 'surrah' has caused and is still causing to the interests of the sugar cane planters throughout the Colony, amounting in certain districts to the loss of nearly all the beasts of burden; considering also the very serious difficulties consequent on such diseases, with which such planters will have to contend when realising their crop, it is expedient that Government should adopt every means tending to facilitate the conveyance of canes to sugar factories, the most important consisting in the remission of all customs duties or direct taxes leviable on automobiles, steam road engines and trucks, rails and accessories, loco- motives, waggons or wire ropes imported for agricultural purposes during the year beginning 1st July, 1902, and ending 30th June, 1903.
surra
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"Provided also that any of the above articles imported previous to 1st July shall be exempt from the payment of direct taxes payable during the year 1903."
4. In respect of this resolution, I may observe that the consequences of the destruction of the animals by
were not by any means confined to sugar estates. They affected every kind of commercial and private enterprise, the transport of goods, the conveyance of professional and especially medical men, and, indeed, of private persons of every class of the community. Other appropriate measures, to which I shall again refer, were adopted to assist the general population. But this measure of relief was, as I have said, only temporary, to meet a sudden and exceptional emergency; it will expire entirely on the 31st December next.
EXPORTS.
5. An export duty on sugar has existed in this Colony for over a century, and has been maintained in opposition to a land-tax, as being more easy and economical of collection and more just in incidence. I mention this as it might be suggested that the absence of a land-tax on estates in this Colony is equivalent to a bounty.
LOANS TO PLANTERS.
6. The Government has raised money by loan under three Ordinances: Ordinance No. 12 of 1892, amended by subsequent enactments:-"To raise a loan of £600,000, for the purpose of meeting the wants and necessities created by the hurricane of 20th April, 1892, and of providing funds for certain public works."
Ordinance No. 34 of 1902, amended by Ordinance No. 44 of 1902:-"To raise a loan for the purpose of making advances to planters to assist them in substituting mechanical for animal transport on their estates."
Ordinance No. 43 of 1902:-"To raise money for the purpose of making temporary advances to owners of sugar estates and bailleurs de fonds."
7. These Ordinances have the following points in common:—
I. They were passed to meet the consequences of exceptional calamities.
II. Although the reimbursement of the advances made to planters under them form technically a statutory charge on the general revenues of the Colony, it is not really a charge on the taxpayers, and every precaution has been taken to provide against any part of such advances becoming so. III. The advances made under Ordinances No. 12 of 1892 and No. 43 of 1902 are completed, and there can, I think, be no doubt that the advances authorised under Ordinance No. 34 of 1902 will be completed before the 1st September next.
8. Dealing now with the Loan Ordinances individually, it may be pointed out that advances made under the Hurricane Loan Ordinance, 1892, were not limited
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