14248
SIR.
42
No. 42.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS
COLONIAL OFFICE to WAR OFFICE.
Downing Street, 17 May, 1904. I AM directed by Mr Secretary Lyttelton to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st of April, and to ask you to express to the Army Council his appreciation of their readiness to accept his suggestion with regard to the military contributions of the Eastern Colonies.
2 The Governors of the Straits Settlements, Ceylon, and Mauritius have been instructed to introduce the legislation necessary to give effect to the decision em bodied in the Treasury letter of which you enclosed a copy and to furnish revised estimates of the contributions of those Colonies for the current year.
43
2. An Ordinance will be introduced into the Council of Government to give effect to this decision.
3. In accordance with the request contained in the concluding paragraph of your despatch, I have the honour to forward a copy of a minute, with annexures, from the Auditor-General giving a revised estimate of the military contribution for the current financial year, calculated on the new basis.
I have, &c.,
GRAHAM BOWER,
Administering the Government
Enclosure in No. 45.
23314
I am,
&c..
C. P LUCAS.
No. 43.
CEYLON.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 8.50 a.m., 1st July, 1904)
TELEGRAM.
[Answered by No. 44.]
Second paragraph of your despatch, No. 176, May 17th.
Does deduction refer
to expenditure on construction of railways prior to, as well as after, 1898?-BLAKE.
23314
No. 44.
CEYLON.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.
(Sent 11.10 a.m., 4 July, 1904.) TELEGRAM.
Referring to your telegram of 1 July, military contribution. LYTTELTON.
32590
Yes.--
(No. 2563.)
AUDITOR-GENERAL to COLONIAL SECRETARY.
3rd August, 1904. I forward three statements relating to the amount of the military contribution due It is impossible to adapt in respect of the estimates for the current financial year. the Treasury figures so as to show the military expenditure of a civil year as originally estimated, as also the amount as revised in accordance with the Secretary of State's directions. I have, therefore, restricted myself to the Estimates for 1904-05, whereby the principle and effect of the proposed amendment are clearly exhibited.
The first statement (I.) shows the amount of military contribution borne in the estimates as assented to by the Council of Government. In this statement the rail- way expenditure includes the sums expended out of revenue on the construction of railways. This appears to be unauthorised, as construction of new railways does not seem to fall within the terms of Ordinance 32 of 1897, which are "charges for the working expenses and maintenance of the railways." In fact, the very object of the Secretary of State's despatch is to settle the manner in which this expenditure is to be treated for the purpose of contribution.
Statement II. is the corrected estimate, i.e., excluding railway construction expenses altogether, and is, in fact, the sum which, until the new Ordinance is passed, is the true estimated amount of our liability for military contribution in respect of the financial year 1904-05.
Statement III. shows the amount as revised by introducing the changes proposed by the Secretary of State, so that, the amount actually due being that proposed by the Secretary of State
Difference
the benefit realised by the proposed rule is about a thousand rupees.
Rs. 389,150.96 388,129.10
Rs. 1,021.86
GEORGE R. DICK,
Auditor-General.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
No. 45. MAURITIUS.
THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(No. 292.)
(Received September 19, 1904.)
[Ansicered by Nos. 46 and 62.]
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 119, of the 17th May last, respecting the basis on which the military contribution payable by the Colony is assessed, and informing me that it has been agreed that, from the 1st of January, 1904, a deduction at the rate of 4 per cent. may be made during a period of 50 years-in respect of the capital cost of railways the construction of which has been, or shall be hereafter, met from revenue, before the net profits of such undertakings are assessed for military contribution.
Government House, Mauritius, 8th August, 1904.
STATEMENT I.
Approved estimate of the military contribution
for the financial year, 1904-05.
Rs.
Gross Revenue Deduct
Rs. 10,269,970.00
Revenue, Land Sales
Mare-aux-Vacoas
350.00
40,000.00
Ord. 43/02. Ord. 34/02.
"
Interest on Planters' Loan Interest on Tramway Loan
241,697.00
Expenditure, Railways
387,810.00 2,588,641.00
3,258,498.00
7,011,472.00
Revenue on which contribution of 5 per
cent. is to be levied
• No. 38.
↑ No. 39.
‡ No. 43.
Result
...
Rs. 385,630.96
9
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO