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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TLC.O. 882

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

62

No. 22.

THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD STANHOPE, M.P., to GOVERNOR SIL J. POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G. (No. 33.) SIR,

Downing Street, September 2, 1886.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 2nd of August, transmitting the original signatures to the complimentary address presented to you by 6,861 inhabitants of the Colony, with the addresses and professions of the signers, and a classification made by the gentleman who acted as secretary to the com- inittee for drawing up the address and receiving the signatures, and a letter from Sir V. Naz on the subject.

Sir J. Pope Hennessy.

I have, &c. (Signed) EDWARD STANHOPE.

No. 23.

GOVERNOR SIR JOHN POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G., to the RIGHT HONOURABLE

EARL GRANVILLE, K.G. (Received September 22, 1886.) (No. 335.) MY LORD,

Government House, Mauritius, August 30, 1886.

With reference to your Lordship's Despatch, of the 7th of July 1886,† I have the honour to enclose copies of the letters I caused to be addressed to Mr. Beyts and Mr. Ferguson respectively respecting any communication made by the former to the latter at the time of the elections, together with a copy of their replies.

2. I certainly gave no authority to Mr. Beyts to make any promise to Mr. Ferguson, or any other communication to him on the subject of his candidature or of his nomination to a seat in the Council.

3. The elections took place in January, but it was not till notice was given in April of some questions in the Council of Government that I heard anything of those communications between Mr. Beyts and Mr. Ferguson.

4. Though those communications were not authorised or known by me at the time, it is quite true that Mr. Beyta advised me to nominate the old members of Council, including Mr. Ferguson, if it were in my power to do so. On more than one occasion he dwelt upon the valuable services the Oriental Bank had rendered to the planting interest and the amiable personal qualities of Mr. Ferguson, and he strongly urged me to nominate him. He also mentioned the still greater claims of Mr. Ambrose, Mr. John Fraser, and others.

5. Speaking to him as my chief confidential adviser, I told him I should like to nominate all the old members of Council, but, looking to the end of paragraph 4 in Lord Derby's Despatch, of the 12th of April, 1884, I did not see my way to nominating any persons except those who had not desired to offer themselves for election. I told him that as the matter then stood I did not see my way to nominating any of the old members, except Mr. John Fraser, who was the only one that had not offered himself for election. It was certainly my opinion then, and I communicated it to Mr. Beyts, that no rejected candidate could be nominated by me.

6. On further consideration I modified this opinion and appointed Mr. Ambrose as an old member of Council, though he had failed at the elections. I had intended appointing Mr. Ferguson, but I nominated some one else in his place for reasons which were pressed upon my attention after the elections which reluctantly compelled me to pass him over.

7. Your Lordship will no doubt see that I must have had very strong reasons for passing over Mr. Ferguson. But it will probably be enough for me to mention that they were not at all of a political nature, being solely connected with his conduct as the inanager of the Oriental Bank.

8. Had Mr. de Coriolis put his question to me in Council, or to the Executive in the form of a letter out of Council, he would have been at once answered in the terms of this Despatch. In fact at the time I invited him to do this. His question being addressed to the Receiver General ex-öfficio, and not being connected with Treasury work, was out

• No. 21.

↑ No. 19.

‡ No. 28 in [C—4074] June 1884.

of order on that ground. But the Government expressed its willingness to answer it when addressed to the proper quarter.

I have, &c. (Signed) J. POPE HENNESSY.

The Right Honourable Earl Granville, K.G.,

SIR,

&c.

&c.

&c.

Enclosure 1 in No. 23.

The Hon. the Lieutenant-Governor and Colonial Secretary to the Hon. H. N. D. BETTS, C.M.G.

Colonial Secretary's Office, August 17, 1886. THE Governor desires me to inquire whether at any time, on his Excellency's behalf, you promised Mr. Ferguson a seat as a nominated member of Council in case he would consent to withdraw his candidature at the general election.

I have, &c. (Signed) Clifford Lloyd,

Lieut.-Governor and Colonial Secretary.

Enclosure 2 in No. 23.

The Hon. the Lieutenant-Governor and Colonial Secretary to Mr. J. FERGUSON.

SIR,

Colonial Secretary's Office, August 17, 1886.

THE Governor desires me to inquire whether Mr. Beyts promised you, on behalf of his Excellency, a seat as a nominated member of the Council in case you would con- sent to withdraw your candidature at the general election.

SIB,

I have, &c. (Signed) CLIFFORD LLOYD, Lieut.-Governor and Colonial Secretary.

Enclosure 3 in No. 23.

The Hon. H. N. D. Berrs, C.M.G.; to the Hon. the LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR AND COLONIAL SECRETARY.

St. Pierre, August 26, 1886.

I HAVE the honour to request that the following reply to your letter, of the 17th instant, be submitted to his Excellency the Governor.

The Governor did not authorise me to convey any promise to Mr. Ferguson. From my confidential communications with his Excellency about the elections I gathered the impression that Mr. Ferguson was one of the gentlemen his Excellency was disposed to appoint as nominees. I had also understood his Excellency's opinion then to be that any person who presented himself as a candidate at the general election, and failed to be elected, would be ineligible as a nominee. Those impressions I communicated verbally to Mr. Ferguson whom I happened to meet, on the 9th of January last, at the Port Louis Railway Station. I spoke to him about the matter because I was myself anxious to see him appointed to a seat in the new Council, and had advised his Excellency to nominate him.

I received from him, on the same day, a letter in which he stated that he had been urged by his friends to stand as a candidate for Port Louis, and that he was determined to maintain his candidature and bear the consequences.

The letter showed that Mr. Ferguson had misapprehended the sense of my conversa tion with him, inasmuch as he assumed that I had been directed by the Governor to speak to him. I therefore did not communicate the letter to his Excellencv. and contented myself with a brief reply, explaining what I had meant to say and the motive that had prompted me, and requesting that both my verbal communication and my written reply should be considered as quite confidential.

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