CO882-(2-3) — Page 413

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

I o Is It Is I z Li

C.O.

Reference :-

882

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

Sir,

226

Inclosure 3 in No. 56.

Colonial Secretary's Office, September 20, 1872. I AM directed by the Governor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th July, on the subject of the Report of the Police Inquiry Commission.

2. The Governor learns, with regret, from this letter, that the Government of India question the propriety of permitting the duties of the Immigration Office to remain in the hands of Mr. Beyts, the present Protector.

3. The Government of India does not seem to have been then aware that a Royal Commission specially appointed to investigate all questions relating to the condition of Indian immigrants in Mauritius, had actually commenced its sittings, and its inquiries were being prosecuted in the most searching manner.

4. The Governor does not think that it would be either just or expedient to anti- cipate the judgment of that Commission; and pending its decision, his Excellency is not inclined to make any change in the administration of the Immigration Depart- ment.

5. The Governor considers it only just to Mr. Beyts to add, that he does not think that the Police Inquiry Commission intended to express so unfavourable an opinion of Mr. Beyts' qualifications as appear to be supposed by the Government of India; nor does he think that there is any reason to suppose that the Protector wilfully disregarded the interests of the immigrant population. However, whether he has fully exercised (or from the provisions of the law may have been able to exercise) his functions as a Protector, are questions which will, I doubt not, be carefully examined, and rightly appreciated by the Royal Commission.

6. I am directed to inclose a copy of the evidence taken up to this time before the Royal Commission.

I have, &c.

(Signed) EDWARD NEWTON, Colonial Secretary. The Secretary to the Government of India.

My Lord.

No. 57.

Mr. Fraser to the Earl of Kimberley.

9, Idol Lane, London, October 24, 1872. BEING about to leave England, and as I shall not in all probablity arrive in Mauritius before the month of March, I have the honour to address your Lordship respecting various references which have been made in the Legislative Council of Mauritius to my Report, as a Member of the Police Commission there, and to state- ments made by his Excellency the Governor.

At a meeting of Council, held on the 21st May, 1872, his Excellency said as follows:-"I have seen the statements of Mr. Fraser to Major-General Smyth, and could not, from its tenor, in the least suppose that it had been meant as a separate and personal Report. Besides this, I may state, that Mr. Fraser had informed General Smyth that in the main he agreed with the Report, and that he had his authority to attach his signature to it in his absence."

In answer to this, I give an extract from a letter addressed to me by Major-General Smyth, dated 31st July, 1872:-

"I am perfectly aware you could know nothing of the General Report' when you left. I cannot conceive that any person could infer you approved of what had no existence."

At a meeting of Council, held on the 27th of August, 1872, his Excellency the Governor communicated a statement of Mr. Justice Gorrie, to the effect that "The separate drafts were not laid upon the table; and personally I saw none of those of

my colleagues."

His Excellency further stated at this meeting :-"I must repeat that it is not the case that any separate Report from Mr. Fraser has ever been transmitted to me, or even addressed to me; that he did precisely the same as his other colleagues; that each one of them severally communicated to General Smyth his views and impressions in a written form, to aid him in the preparation of his own draft Report, for consideration by the whole of the Commissioners. These papers were considered to be more private communications to General Smyth; they were not shown by him to the other members of the Commission, and to this day have not been seen by any of them,"

227

With reference to these assertions I respectfully crave your Lordship's examina- tion of the letters of General Smyth of the 17th and 19th April, 1872, addressed to my representatives in Mauritius, Messrs. Stein and Currie, and of 24th July, 1872, to myself.

In that of the 19th April he states:-"So careful was I that the views of the absent gentloman shout be fully considered by his colleagues, that although three members of the Commission were kind enough to come to my house to read over the various separate draft suggestions which had been made to me, I begged them to take Mr. Fraser's papers away with them to their residences, in order that all might be more specially aware of his views."

In that of the 19th April he states:-"It will, therefore, rest with Mr. Fraser to take what steps he may wish with regard to his draft Report, which, as I have already had the honour to inform you, was duly weighed and considered by his colleagues when deliberating upon all the drafts, before adopting the General Report."

In his letter of the 24th July to me, he states:-" Eventually before the discus- sion of the draft Report, I took care that every member should read and digest your opinions

and that your colleagues should clearly weigh your views and conclusions.'

.

I have the honour to forward herewith copies of all the correspondence between General Smyth and myself, and Messrs. Stein and Currie, to which reference has been made by me.

I leave it for your Lordship's consideration how far the statements made by his Excellency the Governor in Council, and assertion of Mr. Justice Gorrie, are borne out or justified by those contained in the letters of the Chairman of the Commission.

I have, &o. (Signed) JNO. FRASER,

Sir,

Member of the Legislative Council, Mauritius.

Inclosure 1 in No. 57.

*

WE have seen in the newspapers this morning your letter of the 9th instant to his

Port Louis, April 17, 1872. Excellency the Governor, with reference to the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the conduct of the police and other matters, of which the Honourable John Fraser was a member, and we have been, we must confess, much struck with the following passage :—

"I regret to say that the unavoidable departure to England of the Honourable John Fraser previous to the adoption of the Report, has prevented his having had an opportunity of signing it.”

We are given to understand that the public interprets this to mean-

1. That had Mr. Fraser remained in the Colony, he would have signed the Report. And,

2. That he did not himself on the conclusion of the inquiry send in a separate Report embodying the conclusions which he had come to thereon,

As empowered to represent and act for Mr. Fraser during his absence, we cannot and have no wish to say anything in regard to the first question, but in regard to the second, we feel bound to state that it is within our knowledge that Mr. Fraser wrote such a Report, left it here to be copied, the copy to be sent to him in England, and that his Report was duly delivered at your Honour's Office a few days after his departure.

We trust that your Honour will excuse our intruding on you on this matter, for which our apology must be that Mr. Fraser has a right to expect from us as his personal representatives some references not to the opinions he may have expressed, but to his personal action in the discharge to the end, and to the best of his ability, of the public duty which he had undertaken.

His Honour Major-General E. Selby Smyth,

&c.

&c.

&c.

We have, &o. (Signed) J. CURRIE.

R. STEIN.