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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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APLIC.O. 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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The second reading of the Ordinance to amend the Divorce Law, and that of the Ordinance to regulate the business of Pawnbrokers, was postponed.

The Board then adjourned to Tuesday next.

Address of the Honourable the Governor.

In moving that the Board resolve itself into Committee for the consideration of the Resolutions of which I have given notice, I think it desirable to explain the motives which have led me to adopt this mode of proceeding rather than at once to introduce an Ordinance containing the provisions which I wish to recommend to the

consideration of the Board.

Those reasons are readily explained, and when explained will, I think, as readily commend themselves to your approval.

Resolutions afford a convenient and intelligible test of the wishes of an Assembly, and as such are frequently adopted by Legislative Bodies to determine the scope and principles of subsequent legislation when that legislation is intended to embrace a multiplicity of topics.

In the first place, they have the advantage of excluding much unnecessary matter, ar, of course, the provisions of a rejected Resolution would not be inserted in the Articles of any draft measure founded upon them.

Resolutions also not only mark out the bounds within which such legislation is to be confined, but lay down the general principles to which life and form is afterwards to be given by the clauses of the law itself.

In the provisions of a law, by the breach of which penalties are incurred, and the evasion of the directions of which has to be guarded against, it is necessary to frame clauses with minute and careful accuracy, whilst on the other hand, resolutions have the great advantage of being unencumbered by detail, an advantage they owe to their having no legal force, a fact which renders it unnecesary to make them verbally precise. To secure the working of a law these details must find a place within it, but whether such details are in consonance with the general principles of the law, or how far, if in consonance with it, they may be in themselves expedient or judicious, are questions with respect to which an infinite diversity of opinion and an unlimited amount of argument may arise, even among those who are agreed upon the general principles of the measure. Such questions do not arise on the consideration of an abstract Resolution.

It has therefore been found expedient in practice in the House of Commons, when a measure of importance and complexity is contemplated, to lay preliminary resolu- tions before the House. By these Resolutions the broad outlines of what the law is or is not to contain are decided, objectionable features are eliminated, and when the measure itself comes under consideration liberty of action remains unfettered as to the manner in which the outlines sketched shall be filled up; as to the judgment to be paased upon the provisions which have been framed to give effect to the original Resolutions; and as to the determination whether they do or do not faithfully reflect the meaning and intention with which the Resolutions were adopted.

For example, the second Resolution now before us simply lays down the proposition that cancellation of contract for non-payment of wages shall, under ordinary circum- stances, be claimable at an earlier period than has hitherto been the case. In the Ordinance itself of course a definite period must be fixed, and that definite period will, no doubt, be a subject of animated discussion, but the Resolution, as it stands, may be equally supported by all those who think any abbreviation of the present period of four months desirable, from those who would allow three months to elapse without cancellation, to those who would adopt the fortnightly payment recommended by Lord Kimberley.

If, contrary to my hope and expectation, the Resolution be wholly rejected, of course no provision on this subject will appear in the Ordinance, and time will have been thus saved. If, on the other hand, it is adopted, it will be for the Government to frame these definite provisions and for you to pronounce how far they accord with the principles you wish to carry out.

An additional advantage beyond the mere saving of time effected by Resolutions is this, that the general shape and scope of the Ordinance is at once clearly defined, and the uniformity, consistency, and coherence of its provisions secured, whereas, if dis- cussion takes place from the beginning upon a draft ordinance itself it is, if of any considerable length, probably so altered and patched at different sittings that the remainder becomes inconsistent with itself and ungoverned by any ruling principle. Had we adopted this plan of preliminary Resolutions in the case of the Woods and

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Foresta Ordinance, I believe that much time and trouble would have been saved, but that a measure not less satisfactory might not improbably have been much sooner adopted.

I fear this preface may have been tedious and possibly unnecessary, but I am anxious that my motives for the adoption of a course which has not hitherto been usual at this Board, should be neither misapprehended nor misconstrued by even a single member of the Council.

But it may be objected, and, in fact, I have no doubt it will be objected, that the consideration of these Resolutions should not now be undertaken; that as a Royal Commission has been issued to inquire into the state of immigration in Mauritius it would be unbecoming on our part to interfere at present with the existing state of things, or to alter it, even in the smallest particular, until after the conclusion of the inquiry, whilst it may also be contended that by the issue of that Commission the Secretary of State's instructions to submit certain alterations of detail in the Labour Law to your consideration are virtually cancelled. I admit the plausibility of this argument; I wish I could equally admit its weight, for it would be far more pleasant to me to act in this manner-far more agreeable to remain inactive; but, unfortunately, I cannot persuade myself that such a course would be in itself right, or in accordance with the wishes and directions of Her Majesty's Government. In fact the appoint- ment of the Commission, though not fully decided on, was contemplated and well nigh determined when those instructions were given. The Secretary of State in substance informed me that the appointment of a Commission was not improbable, that he had not made up his mind on the subject, but that at all events there were some points which, under any circumstances, I was to bring before the Council. By the following mail he writes that he has made up his mind, and that the Commission will come, but he does not in any way recall his previous orders, nor do I believe that any alteration of them was contemplated. I think that upon such a point I may, without undue presumption, claim that some weight should be attached to my opinion, founded, as it necessarily is, not only on the documents which have been published, but on the whole tenor of public and private correspondence not in the possession of the Board. I am confident that in now considering the Resolutions we do nothing contrary to the directions, the intentions, or the wishes of Her Majesty's Government.

As regards the expediency of proceeding at present there is no doubt much more room for argument. It was, I will at once confess, my own first impression that under the circumstances I should be justified in abandoning any present steps to give effect to my instructions, but, on reflection, I perceived that there was no real reason for delay, in at least submitting these suggestions to your consideration, or if they generally commended themselves to the Board, any necessity for delay in their adoption.

I admit, of course, that a thorough rehandling of the Labour Law at this moment would be injudicious and absurd, but to say that we are not to adopt practical improve- ments of detail in our system, (if we admit them to be manifestly desirable,) only because a Commission, which has not yet begun its sittings, which will not report for months, and any legislation following on which, if it be of a comprehensive character, may take years to accomplish, is to propound a doctrine which will not, I think, find much acceptance in an Assembly composed as this is of practical men. Are we to suspend all action whatever during the long period of delay? It might as well be urged, if a palpable practical grievance came to light, that if a hospital required renewal or a dwelling required repair, they were to be let alone and untouched till the Commission had seen them and reported upon them. Had these suggestions never been made public we should have occupied quite another position, and I do not know that I should have placed them before you at this moment, but they have been published, discussed, and must, accordingly, in some manner be dealt with, and those of them at least which relate to practical questions of detail should, I think, be accepted if they commend themselves to you as good and useful, or rejected if they are deemed unsuitable. At the same time I admit there are some which, unle they are adopted unanimously, I, for one, shall not dream of pressing now. The day will pro- bably come when this Board and the whole Colony will recognise their expediency. I shall, before I close, give you some reasons, and I venture to think some strong reasons, for adopting them in principle, but I am in no haste whatever sa to their adoption, and shall be quite content to give time for the enunciation of those principles to work, for, believing as I do in the general absence of practical abuses, I cordially admit that such a delay will not operate injuriously, whilst I am sure that the more the matters are reflected on, the more justly the points enunciated by Lord Kimberley will be

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