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general and cannot but have a deplorable effect on the morale of the service itself: for such suspicion breeds corruption and dishonesty as well as being the fruit of it; and I am afraid there are many indications that dishonesty and corruption in the ranks of the Government service is common.
16. The Departments which figure most in general rumour are the Revenue Department, Customs, Police, Public Works, and the minor sanitary functionaries-but even the Magistracy is not exempt from suspicion. In the case of the Revenue Department only one definite charge of dishonesty has been substantiated since I have been in the Colony, but the scandalous prevalence of illicit distillation is in itself presumptive evidence of the existence of corruption. We have now under investigation serious charges of extensive irregularities in the Customs Department which have so far led to the arrest of two Customs brokers" and have raised grave suspicion against the reliability of a number of senior examining officers. If they have not been guilty of connivance. which it may very probably be impossible to prove, they have at least been amazingly careless and incompetent. A serious charge of attempted bribery of the Audit examiners is also under investi- gation in connexion with a senior officer of the Customs staff. The irregularities in the Customs Department have been brought to light by members of the Audit staff-it is alleged by local rumour from motives of personal spite-yet it appeared in the course of the inquiry that one of the forged invoices on which the frauds are based was typed in the Audit office by one of the Audit staff. innocently, it is alleged, as an act of friendship for the fraudulent broker! If this is so, it shows an extraordinary confidence in the gullibility of the Audit staff. In the course of the inquiry into the charge of bribery referred to above, brought by two members of the Audit staff against a Customs officer, evidence was given by the former that there had been a previous but recent offer of a large sum in another connexion which had been refused by the Audit examiner concerned but of which no report had been made. Yet it was alleged that the same officer whose previous offer had been refused had subsequently offered a considerably smaller sum to ensure the concealment of certain irregularities in connexion with the tobacco excise. The defence was not a denial of the whole transaction, but a countercharge that the money had been demanded by the Audit examiners-a defence which other circum. stances showed to be almost certainly false. The whole case revealed such an extraordinary outlook by both sides that I gave the record to one of the Financial Commissioners to read as a side- fight on the mental outlook of the subordinate official.
In the Public Works Department there have been irregularities actually brought to light in connexion with the collection of water rates and there has been recently a serious case of defalcation on a fairly elaborate scale in connexion with the sewerage works. The
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man involved was assistant to the engineer in charge and in a fairly responsible position. The irregularities were such that they could scarcely have been carried out without the connivance of others and probably of some members of the public as well. This man whose defalcations had extended over a long series of transac- tions and had amounted to a considerable total was awarded by the "first offender "'! The Magistrate six weeks' imprisonment as a Director of Public Works, himself a Mauritian, has assured me that there are few of his subordinate staff in whom he can place any confidence. Irregularities in the medical stores were brought to light a few months ago by the discovery that many of the quinine tablets issued were composed chiefly of bicarbonate of soda or some other cheap substitute. The enquiry, however, was fruit- less and led only to an obvious attempt to concoct circumstantial evidence against one of the junior assistants. The quinine abstracted is believed to have been sold to three chemist shops. The D.M.H. has assured me that in his opinion these irregularities could not have been carried on without the connivance of the ('hief Storekeeper and his assistants but it has been impossible to obtain any proof. He is convinced, however, that it is far from being an isolated case.
17. By popular rumour the Police are credited with extensive malpractices of a minor sort. It is probable that the rumours are exaggerated but I have been assured by two of the most reliable Police Officers that in their experience only a very small propor- tion of the force including the Creole Officers were to be relied upon. No actual instance of proved corruption has come to my notice. I have received complaints against three of the Magis- trates but in such vague and general terms that it has been im- possible to investigate them. In one case, however, the rumours had become so insistent that the Magistrate was moved by the acting Procureur-General to another district (this was shortly after my arrival here and I was not at the time aware of the reasons). I have since been informed by the Police Officer who was then in charge of that particular district that the conduct of the Magis- trate had given rise to so much comment that he had made an official complaint to the Procureur-General. On a subsequent occasion the Magistrate was again posted to the same district and this time was warned by the Police Officer that his continued dealings with certain agents were giving rise to such comment that unless it stopped complaint would again be made to the Procureur-General. The Magistrate accepted the warning and his open association with these agents stopped though there is reason to suspect that they continued to visit him at his house. attitude of the Magistrate in tolerating such a warning
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an officer subordinate to him in rank is significant. I am sorry
to say that this Magistrate's name continues to be associated with rumours of this kind but no definite complaint has ever been made against him.
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Reference -
C.O.882/1
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON]
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