PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
PIPLIC.O. 882
50
public on receipt), the Island has been subjected to an occurrence beyond human control, which has added largely to the difficulties of the situation; and I believe, and hold that the majority, if not the whole, of the conditions enumerated by your Lordship have been or can now be satisfied, and that there is justification for a departure from the established policy to which you have referred. It has been fully and repeatedly demonstrated, and it is admitted, that the fortunes of the com- munity are bound up with those of the industry concerned, the position of the industry is most critical, and although it cannot be described as being at present in a sound condition the assistance now asked should, and I believe will, replace it permanently on a satisfactory basis. It has not yet been denied that practically the whole of those engaged in it have been, are being, or will be, equally affected by the adverse circumstances now obtaining. The loans will be granted direct to the persons in need of assistance, and will not be made the occasion for securing profits to intermediaries; and, whilst I am still unable to furnish the definite information indicated in the penultimate condition, I would venture again to urge that the fullest investigation will follow on each application, and that no assistance will be afforded without ample information being obtained on all the points upon which your Lordship insists, and unless full and sufficient security for the amount to be advanced can be offered and is first obtained.
16. In the latter connexion I am fully sensible of the explicit terms in which your Lordship deals with this portion of the subject, as in paragraph 13 [? 12] of the despatch under reference; and whilst disclaiming any intention to traverse the views and conclusions with which I have thereby been favoured, I venture to submit that any sufficing examination of the financial position of those seeking assistance, and any proper verification of statements submitted thereon, would necessarily occupy considerable time, and would require expert knowledge and practical experi- ence to which I cannot pretend to lay claim.
17. The purposes for which the advances under the loan now sought are to be applied have been fully set out in the resolutions of the Chamber of Agriculture, and there will be no question of lending the money to "Bailleurs de Fonds," or other intermediaries, in order that they may relend it at a profit to themselves.
18. I have not referred previously to the information, obtained from unofficial sources, as to the improvement in atmospheric conditions, and in the market price for the product, which were reported to have taken place after my despatch of the 12th of November last* was written. I would beg, however, here to observe that if it had appeared to me that any rain then falling could have possibly benefited the crop of the current year, I should have at once notified the fact; whilst the rise in the price of sugar could not compensate for the adverse conditions of shortened production and previous low sales. That the rain of November and December did beneficially affect the prospects for the coming season was duly noted, but I may here add that all such beneficial effect has been rendered nugatory by the force of the wind and by the deluge of rain experienced during the recent atmospheric disturb ance, extending over the abnormal period of six days, and culminating in a disas- trous, if not in a devastating, cyclone.
19. The inspiring message of sympathy and consideration addressed to the Members of the Council of Government and to the community generally in the concluding paragraph of your Lordship's despatch has emboldened me not only to submit and endorse the prayer of the people contained in the resolutions now under your consideration, but to hold a very real hope that such prayer will be granted.
20. Appeals are pitifully frequent for granting relief to the distressed, for affording employment (entirely beyond the power of the Administration) to the many who seek, and are unable to find, work, and for the reduction (equally outside the power of the Government) of the price of the staple food commodity, and I venture, at the risk of repetition, to urge that existing conditions pressingly call for remedial measures, and to reiterate my opinion that such measures are to be found in the proposals which I have placed before your Lordship, and for which I have, herein and elsewhere, deemed it my duty to seek and solicit your most favourable considera- tion and early approval.
21. Questions raised in the correspondence first above quoted which relate to the condition of the Colony's accounts and the position of the Exchequer, have been dealt with under separate communications.
I have, &c.,
CAVENDISH BOYLE.
51
P.S. Since the above was written I have received from the Protector of Immi- grants a minute giving a resumé of the reports from the estates so far received, and his estimate of the loss caused by the storm. It will be observed that Mr. Trotter, after consulting with Dr. Bolton, the Medical Officer of the Department and Inspector of Immigrants, whose experience is reliable in such matters, puts the loss on the reduction of the crop plus the damage to buildings, &c., on the estates at a money value of Rs. 7,000,000, and I have transmitted that estimate to your Lordship by telegraphic despatch. I append a copy of Mr. Trotter's minutet for convenience of reference. It will also be found reproduced in the printed papers transmitted herewith.
22 March, 1908.
17387
No. 52.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 9.45 a.m., 15 May. 1908.)
(Paraphrase.)
TELEGRAM.
[Answered by No. 56.]
C. B
Referring to my secret despatch of 15th of February, the whole of the million rupees advanced has been repaid by the Bank. I recommend that interest be paid at the rate of six per cent. The imposition of ten per cent. has served its purpose and, in my opinion, the example of charging and receiving the higher rate should not be set by the Government.
Please telegraph "Yes" if you concur.-BOYLE.
14462
SIR,
(No. 94.)
No. 53.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.
Downing Street, 15 May, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 84, of the 18th of March, § in which you review the telegraphic correspondence with my predecessor with regard to the position of the account of the Colony with the Crown Agents for the Colonies.
The
2. Your telegram of the 18th of March, supplemented by your despatch under acknowledgment, satisfactorily explains the financial position. discrepancy of £12,600 to which you refer was, I find, due partly to the fact that the net ordinary expenditure by the Crown Agents on Mauritius account during January and February amounted to £48,500, or £4,800 more than was estimated by your financial officers, and partly to the inclusion by the latter in the Crown Agents' receipts of a military draft for £8,000, which was not received in the Crown Agents' accounts until the middle of March.
I have, &c.,
17684
(Secret.)
MY LORD,
No. 54.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE, (Received 16 May, 1908.)
[Answered by No. 65.]
CREWE.
Government House, Le Réduit, 18 April, 1908.
In the telegrams which I have had the honour of addressing to your Lordship
• No. 16.
• No. 38.
↑ Not printed.
18917
‡ No. 40.
§ No. 50.
1 No. 37.
01
6
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on the 11th current,* and in my despatch, No. 108, of the same date, † I have reported the result of my having made known to the Unofficial Members of the Council the substance of your telegram of the 30th of March.‡
2. In my telegram of the 31st of March,§ I submitted the advice of the Executive Council as to the impossibility of ensuring confidential treatment of the matter, and, upon the receipt of your reply of the 2nd current, I decided to impose no such reservation on those whom I was about to consult.
3. The choice lay between the adoption of that course and the issue of a summons to the Legislature to meet in special session, and the former alternative appeared to me to be preferable.
4. The consequent publication of your views with regard to the appointment of a Commission of Enquiry into the circumstances of the sugar estates seeking assistance under the proposed loan, into the general economic condition of the industry, and into the administrative conditions of the Colony has resulted in expressions of opinion by the Unofficial Members, and in the formulation and pass- ing of resolutions by the Chamber of Agriculture and at a meeting promoted by Dr. Laurent, one of the Elected Members for Port Louis.
5. Eleven of the 14 Unofficial Members have stated, for the reasons which they have given, that they are opposed to the adoption of a resolution in the Council on the lines laid down. Three of that number are in favour of such a resolution; and a nominal list of those who have thus furnished me with their views may here be useful. In the majority will be found the four Nominated Members, namely, Messrs. Ritter, de Chazal, Nallétamby, and Ireland (there is one vacancy in that section), together with the following seven Elected Members, namely, Sir William Newton, and Messrs. Leclézio, Guibert, Dumat, Souchon, Sauzier, and G. Antelme. In the minority are Dr. Laurent and Messrs. Gébert and Duclos.
6. The resolutions of the Chamber of Agriculture are against the appointment of the Commission, and those passed at the meeting promoted by Dr. Laurent are in favour of it. I have enquired as to the numbers and status of the persons attend- ing the latter, and I am informed that there were not more than 500 present, and that they did not represent an important portion of the electorate of Port Louis. The Elected Members for the town are Dr. Laurent and Sir William Newtoh, who hold opposite opinions on the question at issue, and indeed on many other questions connected with local politics. Dr. Laurent represents, or claims to represent, the views of the coloured Creole section of the electorate in that division; Šir William Newton claims a broader representation.
7. It may be proper to state here that, in my communication and conference with the Unofficial Members of the Council, I have refrained from expressing any opinion whatever on the points referred to them.
8. In my first telegram of the 11th current, I have stated that if you are not prepared to approve of the proposal of the majority, which may be briefly stated as a repetition of the scheme of last year for raising a loan of £200,000 to aid the requirements of the estates in what is known as the "Faisance Valoir," I propose to place the matter formally before the Council of Government as an open question, or, in other words, to allow the Official Members of the Council full discretion in voting upon it.
9. Besides the Governor, who has the power of recording, when necessary, an original and a casting vote, there are 8 ex officio and 4 Nominated Official Members in the Council. As above shown, 11 Unofficial Members will oppose the projected resolution, and to these may be added the designated nominee, Dr. Edwards, who would, if he had taken his seat, I have no doubt, join with them. On the other hand. there are at present 3 Unofficial Members. If the Government vote were controlled on the side of the minority, the resolution could he carried by a majority of 3 (15 to 12) without recourse to the Governor's vote.
10. I should, however, deprecate the use of such control, and I am fortified in that conclusion by your Lordship's suggestion that the views of the Unofficial sec- tion of the Council should be ascertained as a preliminary step.
11. The majority of eleven represents the main industrial and commercial section of the Colony, and it is noteworthy that all the Unofficial Nominees are in that majority. Those gentlemen have given no pledges to the electorate, and they have, certainly during my tenure of office, invariably given their votes with independ ence, in the interests of Administration, and for what they believe will promote the well-being of the community.
53
12. The enforcement of any such measure by the means indicated above against their opinion, and against the opinion of the seven representative members who are with them on the present issue, should, I think, be avoided unless imperative reasons of State render it necessary. I do not find, nor do I believe that your Lordship has indicated, the existence of such necessity in the present case, for otherwise the preliminary consultation of the unofficial section would have been unnecessary.
13. I submit these remarks in no spirit of personal opposition to the suggested Commission. After assuming the Government in 1904, I frequently referred, in official, and less formal, communications addressed to your Department, to the neces- sity or advisability of holding an independent enquiry into the conditions of Administration in the Colony, and that I have latterly refrained from giving expres- sion to the same opinion has been due to a desire to avoid local irritation which might thereon arise, and the expense which would be thereby entailed.
14. A Commission as now suggested would be able doubtless to gather much useful information, and I venture to hope that their report would not be antagonistic to the views which I have submitted to your Lordship and to your predecessors; but the question of expense cannot be put lightly aside; the Colony is in a condi- tion of serious financial depression: services of pressing necessity in relation to the requirements of the Government railways, for the provision of adequate college accommodation, for the prevention of malarial fever, and for many other public works, are postponed for lack of the necessary funds; and in the coming budget it will be by no means easy to show an equilibrium between revenue and expenditure on the existing lines of taxation, whilst the imposition of increased burdens at the present time is greatly to be deprecated. The principles of rigid economy in public expenditure are consistently advocated in the Legislature and are enjoined on all officials concerned, and whilst the amount requisite to provide for the actual oost of the Commission may not prove comparatively great, and might possibly be taken from funds held in reserve, I am unable to advise the enforcement of such provision.
15. I am not unmindful of the twofold objects in view, namely, investigation into the conditions of the sugar industry generally as well as into the circumstances of estates seeking Government aid by way of advances, and enquiry into the Adminis tration with a view to finding methods of lessening expenditure and increasing revenue, and without questioning the demand for the investigation; and whilst recognising the advantages which may be secured from the enquiry, I consider that as some time must elapse before a final decision can be taken on the question of assistance to the industry, it is undesirable to over-rule the views of the majority of the Unofficial Members at the present stage by means of a Government vote given to order.
16. I have asked to be favoured by telegraph with your Lordship's instructions on my proposal to submit the matter to the Legislature as an open question, and pending the receipt of your reply, I shall make no communication to the Official Members of the Council. I have hitherto also refrained from expressing my views to them on the question of the appointment of the Commission, but I have reason to believe that a majority of them will not, if they are allowed to exercise their discre- tion, vote in favour of a resolution inviting that appointment at the present time, and undertaking to provide the actual expenditure which the enquiry would entail.
I have, &c.,
CAVENDISH BOYLE.
P.S.-Since the above was written no opportunity has offered for transmitting - it, and I have now had the honour of receiving a telegram from the Secretary of State, dated the 15th current,* instructing me, that as nothing could be added to previous communications on the subject, to bring the matter before the Legislature. The Council has accordingly been summoned to meet on the 23rd current, when that instruction will be carried out.
16 April, 1908.
C. B.
• Nos. 45 and 46.
↑ No. 55. ‡ No. 42.
No. 43. | No. 44.
* No. 45.