441
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
EPERRICO. 882/11
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
53538/36 [No. 1].
(No. 639.)
SIR,
142
No. 98.
HONG KONG,
THE OFFICER ADMINISTERING THE GOVERNMENT
to
T
THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received 2nd January, 1936.)
Government House, 2nd December, 1935. I have the honour to submit for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure the following Ordinance intituled:-
"An Ordinance to amend the Defence Contribution Ordinance, 1901."
2. The enclosed report by the Attorney General explains the Objects and Reasons of the Ordinance.
I have, &c.,
W. T. SOUTHORN, Officer Administering the Government.
Enclosure in No. 98.
EXTRACT FROm MemorandUM OF
OBJECTS AND REASONS ".
*
*
7. The Bill for this Ordinance in its present form (except for the necessary change of date in the Short title and for the change of number in section 3 (2) (vi) from 291 to 275 necessitated by the renumbering of the relevant Colonial Regulation in the 1935 edition of such regulations) was submitted to the Secretary of State with the Governor's despatch of the 19th July, 1934 and approved by the Secretary of State's telegram of the 9th September, 1935.
September, 1935.
C. 93957/32 [No. 26].
(No. 269.)
SIR,
MAURITIUS.
No. 99.
MAURITIUS.
THE GOVERNOR
to
THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 7th September, 1932.)
C. G. ALABASTER,
Attorney General.
Government House, Port Louis, 26th July, 1932. With reference to recent telegraphic correspondence on the subject of the military contribution payable by this Colony to the Imperial Treasury, I have the honour to inform you that I made a formal announcement in the Council of Government to-day making public the decision conveyed in your telegram No. 115 of the 1st July*.
2. In reply to my announcement the elected and unofficial nominated members of the Council requested me to convey to you an expression of their gratitude for the generous measure of relief thus afforded to the Colony by His Majesty's Government.
I have, &c.,
W. E. JACKSON,
Governor.
14565/33 [No. 4].
(Secret.)
SIR,
143
No. 100.
MAURITIUS.
THE GOVERNOR
to
THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 20th July, 1933.)
Government House, Mauritius, 24th June, 1933. With reference to your Secret despatch of the 10th March, 1933*, forwarding copies of O.D:C. Memorandum 646 M. dealing with the formation of a local Defence Force in Mauritius, I have the honour to submit the following observations on the position as it now stands in relation to the formation of this Force and the allied question of the military contribution payable by the Colony.
2. The period of two years during which the military contribution has been reduced to £15,000 a year will terminate on the 30th June, 1934, and future action on the question of undertaking the formation of a Defence Force must depend largely on the decision arrived at as to the resumption after June, 1934, of the payment of an annual military contribution assessed as formerly at 5 per cent of the annual revenues of the Colony. If it is intended that this basis of assessment should be resumed then I think it must be concluded that the proposal to raise a local Defence Force had better be left in abeyance for the present.
I have no doubt whatever that if this proposal were brought forward the first question to be asked would be whether the cost of this Force would be taken into consideration in the assessment of the annual military contribution and if it were impossible to give a favourable reply to this question there would be little or no prospect of the successful formation of the Force. It need hardly be emphasized that the most essential condition for the successful establishment of such a force is that a reasonable measure of support from responsible public opinion should be secured at the outset. Any attempt to raise a force voluntarily recruited from the Franco-Mauritian element of the population without this support would be foredoomed to failure and would postpone a solution of the question for several years at least.
3. In my Confidential despatch of the 20th January, 1981†, dealing with the general financial situation of the Colony I commented fully upon the local attitude towards the annual military contribution and urged that on financial grounds it should be reduced or waived for the time being. The financial outlook has now markedly improved; the present financial year's operations will conclude with an appreciable surplus and the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the coming financial year (July, 1933-June, 1934), show an anticipated surplus of over £40,000.
The financial position cannot yet, however, be regarded as finally stabilized. There are a number of administrative adjustments yet to be made; the success of the newly introduced income-tax on which much depends still remains to be proved: and finally the situation of the sugar industry by which the whole economic life of the Colony is supported, though decidedly improved, owing mainly to the generous preferential treat- ment now accorded to Empire sugars, is still far from assured. I do not, however, suggest that the resumption of the annual military contribution on the former basis of assessment is financially impracticable. So far as can be judged from present indications and pro- vided there is no unforeseen setback in the progress of the Empire sugar industry towards economic stability I think that the payment of a military contribution on this basis may be within the financial capacity of the Colony, though in the still precarious condition of local finances it may often prove to be a heavy burden and in unfavourable years, when for example the crops suffer from considerable cyclone damage, it may be found impossible to meet so heavy a charge.
4. Nevertheless, I consider that the occasion is appropriate for a review of the permanent basis of contribution towards military defence and that there are strong grounds both of financial and political expediency for the reduction of the contribution to what I have I cannot but feel would be a more equitable and less discriminatory scale. already explained in my despatch of the 20th January, 1931, the underlying feeling of bitterness with which the Franco-Mauritians regard what they consider to be the excessive burden imposed on the Colony by a basis of contribution which has no reference to the
* 12503/89 [No. 5]: not printed.
No. 25 in Eastern No. 159.
1:
*No. 79 in Eastern No. 159.
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