A
270
REPORT OF HEAD ACCOUNTANT.
You have received from the planters under Ordinance 43, of 1902 (Advances-in- Aid) Rs. 474,100.13; of this Rs. 230,237.31 are that portion of the principal which the planters have refunded, i.e., £15,340 3s. 2d. at 1s. 4d. the rupee, and Rs. 243,862.82 are interest paid by planters; Rs. 474,100.13.
I would recommend that the £15,349 3s. 2d. above-mentioned, which represent the portion of the loans refunded by planters less £293 8s. 101d., which have already been remitted to the Crown Agents on account of Baschet and St. Flour, be trans- mitted to the Crown Agents to allow them to pay a portion of the debt (£101,200) falling due on the 1st August next. This will reduce the total debt from £200,000 to £185,000, and the interest from £8,000 to £7,400 per annum.
I also recommend that out of the interest shown above, and amounting to Rs. 243,862.82, Rs. 108,653.80, which represent the interest paid to debenture holders in 1903-04 and charged to the expenditure of that year be accounted for on the 30th June, 1904, under item 8/4 of revenue; that Rs. 111,000, which represent the interest to be paid in England in 1904-05 to the holders of £185,000 of debentures be carried to the Revenue of 1904-05 under 8/4 of revenue, and finally that the balance of Rs. 24,209.02, representing the profit on the 1st instalment of the planters, after paying the interests of 1903-04, and providing for those of 1904-05 be also carried
to revenue.
V. SINGERY,
Head Accountant.
271
Enclosure in No. 200.
EXTRA PAYMENTS TO MR, DE CORIOLIS IN CONNECTION WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW RAILWAY LINES.
Railway Line.
Survey of Pamplemousses-St.
Julien Railway. Survey of Pamplemousses-St. Julien Railway, extension through Beau Séjour. Montagne Longue
Authority.
Rate per Annum.
Date of First Payment.
Date of Last. Payment.
Total Amount Drawn.
333.32
RA.
M.P. 2400,03
"?
31
2.000 April 1, 1903
2,000 Dec. 1, 1903
Oct. 31, 1903
Rs. 1,116.62
Jan. 31, 1904
M.P. 3601,03
M.P. 4633,03 M.P. 5871/03
M.P. 5550:03
Poudre d'Or vid Grand Gaube
Railway-Survey of. Black River Railway
***
M.P. 6504/03
M.P. 7099/03
21
2,400 April 20,1903
3,000 May 11, 1903
3,600 | June 15, 1903
2,400 | June 1, 1903
2,000 | July 1, 1903
6,000
| Dec. 31, 1903
June 14, 1903
Feb. 29, 1904
Dec. 31, 1903
1,673.26
285.88
2,560.00
1,400.00
"3
13
Still drawing
Savanne Extension (Riv. du Poste, Nouvelle France, &c.).
Town Tramway
at same rate.
Total
***
999.96
6,000.00 to
June 30, 1904.
14,419.04
Treasury, Account Branch,
July 6, 1904.
29216
29217
SIR,
No. 200.
ACTING GOVERNOR SIR G. BOWER to MR. LYTTELTON. (Received August 20, 1904.)
(No. 257.)
Government House, Mauritius, July 21, 1904. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 140, of the 10th of June,* on the subject of the proposed branch railways.
2. With reference to the 2nd paragraph of your despatch, I have to state that Mr. de Coriolis has, with the approval of Sir Charles Bruce, received special allow- ances in connection with the new branch lines. I enclose a statement showing that Mr. de Coriolis has, from the 1st April, 1903, up to the 30th June last, received, in addition to his salary as Surveyor-General, a sum of Rs. 14,419.04. The allowance on account of the Black River Railway will cease on the completion of the line next month.
3. The need for haste imposed on the Government by the imminence of the harvest and the dearth of transport animals may, I think, be held to justify the employment of a local uncertificated official, more especially as about 700 kilometres of rails were being successfully laid on the estates under the superintendence of local surveyors. But the experience now gained in respect of the new Government Rail- ways convinces me that it would have been better to have employed a fully-qualified engineer from England. This view is, I believe, now held by some of the Elected Members who are the strongest advocates of the employment of local officers in preference to the gentlemen who are locally described as "outsiders."
I have, &c.,
• No. 170.
GRAHAM BOWER, Administering the Government.
SIR,
No. 201.
ACTING GOVERNOR Sir G. BOWER to MR. LYTTELTON.
(Received August 20, 1904.)
(No. 258.)
[Answered by No. 208.]
:
Government House, Mauritius, July 22, 1904. WITH reference to the concluding paragraph of your despatch, No. 140, of the 10th of June,* enquiring whether I have found it possible to make any arrange- ments for assisting the small Indian planters by utilizing some of the automobiles which the new railways will apparently render available, I have the honour to inform you that, after consultation with the General Manager of Railways and the Surveyor-General, these officials have forwarded to me reports, a copy of which I enclose, dealing with the relative cost of steam traction on roads as compared with railways or tramways.
2. The traction engines in use in the Colony may be divided into two classes. The heavy traction engine proper, which draws a train of waggons behind it, and the automobile, in which the waggon and engine are united in the same conveyance. Both these forms of mechanical transport are open to the following objections :-
1st. They are costly to work;
2nd. They frequently require costly repairs;
3rd. They can only be used on good roads, and, as they destroy the roads, especially in wet weather, they tend to demobilise themselves. I have myself seen three automobiles laid up in the yard of a sugar estate as they had destroyed the road on which they were generally employed to an extent that prevented them from making any more journeys.
3. But it is apparent that the estates which own mechanical transport must employ them at their own cost, and nothing would be gained by purchasing these machines from the estates and utilising them for services which the estates are compelled to discharge themselves.
• No. 170.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
CO. 882
Reference :--
.8
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-