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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

EPIC.O. 882

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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from residing in Seychelles and exercising their ministry there: and this permission was soon taken advantage of.

13. It is not, I think, to their discredit that the population went back enthusiastically to their old creed, of the exercise of the rites of which they had been so long deprived, or that, as soon as they had a priest among them, those who had frequented the rites of the Protestant Church, rather than live wholly without religion, had their children rebaptized and themselves remarried.

14. The Roman Catholic Mission, once established, laboured. hard, and has effected much good; and, in 1869, my predecessor at length obtained for them a small amount of State Aid.

15. It is difficult to credit such bigotry as that which I have described, as existing little more than 20 years ago; but the same spirit is still at work here. Everything allowed to the Roman Catholic Church is, by not a few, looked on as a concession for which they ought to be very grateful; and the facts are ignored that it is practically the Church of the People, and that we bound ourselves to maintain it at the conquest of the Island.

SIR,

The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon,

&c.

&c.

&c.

No. 52.

I have, &c. (Signed)

ARTHUR GORDON.

SIR J. POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G., to THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD STANHOPE, M.P. (Received February 9, 1887.)

Mauritius, December 29, 1886.

IN paragraph 35 of my despatch of the 18th instant, I refer to the surprise and regret that had been expressed by Sir Hercules Robinson at the unexpected result of his proceedings in depriving me of salary.

2. On the day that he exercised-as I am advised illegally-the discretion vested in him by the concealed Commission of the 25th of September, the Procureur General, Mr. Lionel Cox, called upon me. He mentioned that Sir Hercules Robinson had not consulted him directly or indirectly regarding the serious step he had taken, and that, as the law adviser of the Crown in Mauritius, he should have strongly advised against it, had his opinion been asked for.

3. You will see from the enclosed copy of the Minute Paper (which reached me on the 22nd instant) that two days after Sir Hercules Robinson had acted, and when it was manifestly impossible for him to modify the position in which he had rashly placed himself and me, he sought for the first time the opinion of the Procureur General on the comparatively insignificant question of the pay I was entitled to receive.

4. The Procureur General, having pointed out that an officer who is suspended can receive no pay, Sir Hercules Robinson made the following minute :-

"I am very sorry that there should be any legal difficulty on this question. "The matter can now only be dealt with by vote of the Council of Government. "General Hawley will perhaps ascertain Sir John Pope Hennessy's views as to whether this should be done at once or whether he would prefer to await the decision of the Secretary of State.

"(Initd.) H. R.,

"17th December 1886.”

5. I received no communication on the subject from Sir Hercules Robinson or from General Hawley, but as a receipt was sent to me to be signed on the 22nd instant for pay up to the 14th only for myself and my staff, I declined to sign it, as I had referred the whole question to you.

6. In addition to what my counsel have advised as to the irregular and illegal mode in which Sir Hercules Robinson exercised the discretion vested in him by the second Commission of the 25th of September, they have pointed out to me the inequitable effect of the Commission in whatever way it might have been used.

7. Clause III. says:

"We do hereby appoint that as soon as you shall have publicly intimated your intention to assume the Government, this, our present Commission, shall suspend our

• No. 44.

"

Commission

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appointing Sir John Pope Hennessy

to be Governor, and our Commission

appointing Mr. Clifford Lloyd to be Lieutenant Governor." The word "declare seems to have been omitted by a mistake in the first line of this clause, but no doubt the intention was to declare that the exercise of the discretion referred to in Clause I. should, at once, suspend the two Commissions referred to.

+

8. This Commission was evidently intended to deal with the differences between Mr. Clifford Lloyd and myself. As Mr. Lloyd was not in the Colony and as Sir Hercules Robinson had informed me that on reading his final statements and receiving my explanations, he had decided against him, it is clear that the decision of Sir Hercules Robinson to use this Commission against me was not on account of Mr. Clifford Lloyd's case. His own explanation is that he had arrived at the decision on general grounds which would not be affected by my defence.

It

9. But even if Mr. Lloyd had been in the Colony, and the Commission had been used for its original purpose, its effect on the two officers concerned would evidently be very different. The commission of Lieutenant Governor was a dormant commission. involved no salary or emoluments. Mr. Lloyd's Feal office, the only office which he held to which salary was attached, was that of Colonial Secretary. The functions of this office and its salary remain untouched by Sir Hercules Robinson's act.

10. On the other hand the commission of the Governor was in actual operation. He was the Queen's Representative and the head of the Local Government at the moment he was struck down by Sir Hercules Robinson. It is now clear from his own admission that he had not calculated the effect of that blow and that it went beyond what he imagined or intended in depriving the Governor of salary. But whatever legal difficulty or mistake Sir Hercules Robinson may have involved himself in, it would also seem that the dangerous instrument that was placed in his hands was not equitably drawn.

I have, &c.

The Right Hon. Edward Stanhope, M.P.,

&c.

&c.

&c.

(Signed) J. POPE HENNESSY.

Enclosure in No. 52. (MINUTE PAPER.)

From the Honourable the Acting Colonial Secretary.

Subject: Whether Sir John Pope Hennessy is entitled to salary from the date of his suspension.

December 16, 1886.

To Honourable Acting Colonial Secretary.

I enclose family remittance of his Excellency Sir John Pope Hennessy for the whole month of December.

Is it to be signed ?

December 16, 1886.

To His Excellency the Governor.

(Signed)

J. H. ACKROYD, Acting Assistant Colonial Secretary.

This raises the questions whether Sir John Hennessy is entitled to any pay after

the date of his suspension, and if so, what pay he is entitled to receive.

December 16, 1886.

To 1. The Honourable the Procureur General, and

2. The Honourable the Auditor General.

(Initialled)

H. N. D. B.

His Excellency the Governor (Sir Hercules Robinson) would be obliged if you would confer to-day and favour him with a report on the two questions raised, namely, whother Sir John Pope Hennessy is entitled to any pay after the 14th instant, and, if so, what pay he is entitled to receive after that date.”

H. N. D. BEYts, A.C.S.

December 16, 1886.

E 34814.

8

(Signed)

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