1
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
זוז
Reference --
C.O. 882
76
and examination. The General Manager has just submitted his final conclusions ou the subject, and I hope shortly to be in a position to report thereon and to offer my suggestions as to the methods to be adopted for providing the necessary ways and means.
In the meantime, I have the assurance of the General Manager that the votes taken for the coming financial year will prove sufficient for the ordinary requirements of the service, pending the solution of that question
12. I should state, however, that during the discussion of this head of the estimates in the Council of Government I gave a promise that, unless provision could be made during the coming six months for a general renewal of rolling stock, a supplementary vote would be taken to the extent of some Rs. 45,000, to effect what was held to be urgently required in connexion with some of the passenger carriages now in use.
13 Pending the receipt and consideration of Professor Ross's report on malaria prevention, it is not possible to offer any suggestion as to the provision which will be required for such an undertaking, and am of opinion that the question of increased college accommodation must remain in abeyance in the existing absence of means to effect it.
14.
The usual foot-notes will be found on the pages of the Estimates, but, in addition, I transmit herewith a memorandum* prepared since they passed the Council of Government, and which I trust will afford all further necessary infor- mation as to the details and alterations in the expenditure for the coming year.
15. I wish to acknowledge the valuable assistance which has been rendered to me in the preparation of this Memorandum by two members of the Colonial Secretary's Department, Messrs. Bathfield and Lalouette, without which I would have been unable to furnish the information in time for the outgoing mail.
16. The Annual Supply Ordinance, which passed the Legislature on the 23rd current, will be transmitted under cover of a separate despatch,t and I now beg to submit the Estimates herein enclosed for your Lordship's approval.
77
provision must be made, whilst there is the unknown quantity of what may be required to carry out an efficient anti-malarial campaign; and, in succeeding years, there will be further capital expenditure required for the completion of the scheme of renewals and reconstruction on the railways.
5. Assuming, therefore, that the sums necessary for the railways can be, and are allowed to be, raised on loan, annual provision must be found for at least Rs. 150,000 for such service, and this charge may, I fear, be increased, as the latest estimates of capital expenditure considerably exceed those submitted by Sir David Hunter.
6. The normal public expenditure of the Colony in existing circumstances and with the exercise of strict economy may be taken at Rs. 9,800,000; and whilst in favourable conditions a total revenue of Rs. 10,000,000, or even Rs. 10,100,000 may be realised, the experience of the past twelve months, for which period (doubtless in exceptionally adverse conditions) less than Rs. 8,800,000 will be collected, clearly demonstrates that it would be injudicious to rely on any such regularly annual surplus of Rs. 200,000 or Rs. 300,000 as is above indicated.
7. It was for the above reasons that I submitted the request and recommenda- tion contained in my despatch under reference, and, although I have so far been favoured with no reply, I venture still to hope that they may not be finally nega tived, for I feel sure that the reduction in expenditure which would thereby be secured, for, say, three years, would not only effect a re-establishment of the financial position of the Government, but would afford material assistance in provid- ing for the necessary works and services to which I have referred.
29885
No. 71.
I have, &c.,
CAVENDISH BOYLE.
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- ||COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH--NOT TO
9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
27930
(Secret.) MY LORD,
No. 70.
I have, &c.,
CAVENDISH BOYLE.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received 31 July, 1908.)
[Answered by No. 76.]
Government House, Le Réduit, 29 June, 1908.
IN continuation of my secret despatch of the 27th April,‡ I have the honour to state that, in the absence of any reply thereto, and in order to avail myself of the only opportunity of communicating with your Lordship before the end of the current financial year, I have submitted, under cover of a separate numbered despatch, the Estimates of revenue and expenditure for the year 1908-09, as they passed the Council of Government on the 23rd current.
2. By reference to the information furnished with those Estimates, it will be seen that the total probable deficit for the current financial year now reaches the sum of Rs. 972,270; and, in this connection, I have to state that the difference between that amount and previous forecasts is due to a further falling off in revenue which has become manifest during the final quarter of the year, the probable shortage, as compared with the Estimates, being now placed at Rs. 1,322,587, and the estimated saving on expenditure at Rs. 413,359.
3. The surplus balance of Rs. 1,327,304, brought to account at the commence- ment of the current financial year, will thus be reduced to Rs. 355,034, and, if the Estimates for 1908-09 are realised, there will remain a balance of Rs. 321,430 on the 30th of June, 1909.
4. The most recent estimate of the sum presently required for the railways is close upon £124,000, and, if it be determined to raise that amount on loan, the annual charge for interest and sinking fund will not fall far short of £6,200, or Rs. 83,000 (4 per cent. interest plus 1 per cent. sinking fund), for which additional
‡ No. 58.
§ No. 69.
• Not printed.
+27868: nos printed.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received August 15, 1909.) [Acknowledged September 12, 1908. No. 170. ]
(No. 198.)
MY LORD,
In continuation of my
No. 168, 29 May, 1908.
No. 177, 12 June, 1908.
No. 184, 25 June, 1908.
Government House, Port Louis, 4 July, 1908. despatches* noted in the margin, I have 'the honour to transmit herewith a copy of a communica- tion which I have received from Dr. Laurent, Member of the Council of Government for Port Louis, on the subject of certain resolutions
adopted at a public meeting held on the 28th ultimo.
2. I also transmit a printed papert giving the correspondence which has passed with reference to the three previous meetings forming the subject of my despatches under reference, and containing, in addition, the several reports which have been rendered with regard to that held in Port Louie.
3. I am not aware that I can usefully add to the information therein supplied, but as I have reason to believe that a communication on the subject has been addressed to your Lordship by telegraph, I have to state that when I was requested, on a previous occasion and again on the 29th ultimo, to take that method of trans- mitting the resolutions to you, I replied that, in my opinion, it would be useless to do so as the necessary reports could not be furnished at the same time.
4. I was thereupon asked for permission to address your Lordship by tele- graph, and my reply was that those who wished to do so must use their discretion in
the matter.
5. A steamer carrying mails for England left on the 29th ultimo; but as it was not until the afternoon of the same day that Dr. Laurent's communication reached me, and as I was not then in possession of the reports on the meeting, I was unable to avail myself of that opportunity for the transmission of the papers now enclosed.
I have, &c.,
CAVENDISH BOYLE.
Nos. 68, 67, and 68.
↑ Not reprinted.