CO882-(3-4) — Page 567

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

CO. 882

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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IV.

How should the electoral Colleges be distributed? How many of them should there be, and how many members are to compose each section of the Legislative Council? Should an elector be allowed more than one vote?

Several members of your sub-committee were at first of opinion that, in a small Colony like Mauritius, the best plan would be to have only one electoral college; but they were met with the objection that such a mode of voting, which would be neither more nor less than the scrutin de liste, does not exist either in England or in any other Colony. It may be said, without fear of being mistaken, that in all cases where the Home Government has permitted the introduction of elective institutions into a Colony, it has always decided that the distribution of seats should coincide with the territorial division.

It would be superfluous to demonstrate the necessity of adhering to those precedents; that is self-evident.

Each district in the Island should therefore return a member for the Legislative Council; but, as a matter of course, owing to the relative importance of the district of Port Louis, where the capital of the Colony is situate, it should return two members.

It will probably be observed that all the country districts are not equally populated, and that it should not, therefore, be right to place them, as we do, on an equal footing- The remark would be fair; but there is not a single form of representation that is not exposed to the same objection. Still, to counterbalance the disproportion just referred to, your sub-committee proposes that electors should have cumulative votes, if they are qualified for voting in several districts. In doing so, your sub-committee does not ask for anything which is not consonant with reason and with English ideas.

The number of the elected members of the Legislative Council should therefore be ten, and, consequently, the number of each of the other sections should be the same. There will be no difficulty in finding two additional unofficial members and two additional official members; for instance, the chief medical officer and the rector of the Royal College might be made official members. In a Colony, where questions connected with the public health and with education are of such paramount importance, those two high functionaries should have seats in the Legislative Council.

V.

What qualifications should be required for election?

In adopting the conclusion at which they have arrived on this question, your sub- committee has only followed the tendency which now prevails in all countries where the elective principle obtains. We recommend that no other qualifications be required to be eligible than those which are required to be on the list of electors. By imposing more stringent conditions, the choice of the electors would be curtailed to no useful purpose, and the effect would be to exclude from the Council many men who might sit in it, with honour and credit both to themselves and to the Colony.

CONCLUSION.

Such are the views of your sub-committee; it has expressed them as frankly and as comprehensively as possible. Perhaps even it has trespassed too much upon your attention; but, as you are aware, this report is the most important of all the documents to which you will be asked to give your assent.

We submit those views confidently for your approval; we even venture to recom- mend them to the attention of the whole Colony. We do not for a single moment, presume to think that the scheme we have devised is not open to criticism; far from it; viewed in the abstract, undoubtedly it is not perfect. However, you will bear in mind that the best constitutions are not those which appear the most logical, but those which bear the stamp of that average wisdom which, as others before us have said, being the result of experience and being framed with a due regard for the weaknesses of human nature, is superior to visions of imaginary perfection.

You will modify, if so advised, the conclusions to which we have come; but, what your sub-committee is most concerned about, and what we should all be most concerned about, is that the movement which has been initiated should not prove abortive, and that we should not stop half way. Those nations, those communities which despise

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liberty, and are satisfied with a state of bondage, are fatally doomed to dismemberment and decay. Such cannot be our fate! Although, by our geographical position, we are very remote from the great centres of light, they have projected and still continue to project their vivifying rays as far as this small island; we are attracted to them by our aspirations and our intellectual tendencies. If it is true to say that each people has only the government which it deserves, certainly we do not deserve that which we possess: it is not fitted to us.

Why should we try to discredit ourselves? Why should we proclaim our own disability? Let us not do ourselves the injustice of mistrusting ourselves. The words "radicalism" and "conservatism," which have been sounded in our ears, have not, in a Colony like ours, the same meaning as in Europe, or rather, they can have no dangerous significance. Whatever may be the form of government we may adopt, it is not in Mauritius that it will ever be sought to introduce the doctrines that characterize true radicalism.

The trial of free institutions is therefore a thing to be attempted; if it fails, no irremediable harm will have been done; but if, as we expect, it is successful, it will be productive of immense blessings. The fruitful seed which the elective principle will sow in our constitution, and in our political organisation, will awaken our public spirit, which too often slumbers for want of a stimulant; it will place the management of public affairs within the reach of men of worth who are compelled to remain in the shade under the present state of things; it will enable us to obtain the upper hand in our native land, and will raise us, both in our own estimation and in that of our rulers; we will one and all be in position to contribute more directly and more usefully towards the prosperity of our country; and Mauritius, emancipated and regenerated, thanks to the energy and devotion of her sons, will assume, among the British possessions, a rank more worthy of herself and of her future destiny than that which she now occupies.

Therefore, instead of taxing our brains to find pretences for remaining in the dependent condition in which we now are, and of allowing ourselves to be scared by ghosts, let us set resolutely to work, and our efforts cannot fail to be crowned with

Buc0e88.

Despotic power unavoidably engenders arbitrariness, even when placed in the hands of the most just and liberal-minded men; hence, the frequent occasions we have had to complain of the attitude of the Colonial Office towards us.

But our cause will be none the less victorious.

Scarcely two years ago, one of the most influential members of the ministry now in office, the Marquis of Hartington, said in the face of all England:

"We have adopted the principle, and we avow the principle, and we invite our opponents, if they can, to contradict it—that the best way to preserve the union of this country with her colonies-the best way to preserve their affection and their love and, if you like to consolidate their co-operation,' is to grant them constitutions, giving them the fullest, the freest and the most complete self-government."

In truth, there is no great difference between the colonial policy of the Conservative party and that of the Liberals; they are substantially the same.

We have, therefore, only to make up our minds to ask for the reform of our constitution in order to obtain it.

Summary of the suggestions of the Sub-Committee.

1

1. The constitution of the Council of Government should be reformed.

2. The Council of Government should be replaced by a Legislative Council consisting

of 30 members, namely,-10 official members, 10 unofficial members nominated by the Crown, and 10 members elected by the community in the manner hereafter indicated.

3. The unofficial members chosen by the Crown should not be selected among public functionaries either in office or drawing pensions; they should be appointed for life and should not be liable to removal.

4. The elected fraction of the Legislative Council should be renewed every four

years.

5. Every member of the Mauritian community, who is a British subject or naturalised, provided he is capable by law, and in possession of his civil rights, should be an elector, F 4