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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

6

C.O. 882

8 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

128

This amount includes the charge on account of £200,000 raised under the Hurricane Loan Ordinance, 1892, for public purposes. The balance of this loan, amounting to £400,000, is dealt with separately.

Loan Office.

The inclusion of the operations of the Loan Office in the annual estimates in their present form appears to give rise to considerable misunderstanding. The Loan Office is a financial agency, to all intents and purposes a Crédit Foncier under the manage- ment of the Government. Its operations are carried out by means of funds borrowed on the credit of the Colony and lent at a profit. Its transactions do not deal in any way with funds drawn from revenue derived from taxation; and it is believed that every precaution has been taken to secure such a margin of security in making advances that it may be considered impossible that the transactions of the Loan Office should ever become a burden on the taxpayer. It may be convenient to give a brief statement of the transactions of the Loan Office.

The office has dealt with four loans:-

(1) The Hurricane Loan Ordinances.

Under these Ordinances a sum of £600,000 was raised, out of which, as already indicated, £200,000 were appropriated to Government purposes, while £400,000 were set apart for making advances on duly approved security to planters and houseowners, to be repaid on the annuity system, and it was to deal with these advances that the Loan Office was established. The Loan Office was not concerned with the sum of £200,000 appropriated to public purposes.

The transactions between the Government and the Loan Office are as follows: The Loan Office received from Government out of the proceeds of the hurricane loan a sum of £400,000, out of which advances were made to planters and houseowners on the annuity system, at a rate of interest of 5 per cent., and planters were generally granted from 20 to 30 years for repayment of their advances. The advances to house- owners were for periods varying from 5 to 15 years. The advances made by the Loan Office have, therefore, a currency of 5 to 30 years, while the capital of the loan is to be redeemed in 47 years. Out of the annuities received by the Loan Office in repayment of advances, Rs. 300,000 are paid annually to Government, in accordance with the terms of Ordinance No. 31 of 1899, and the balance is invested with a view to place the Government in funds to meet the claims of stock holders until the final extinction of the loan. The statement shows that the amount paid annually to Government exceeds the annual charge imposed on the Government by Rs. 45,368. This sum represents the profit accruing to the Treasury from the transactions of the Loan Office under these Ordinances, and may be taken as a set-off against the annual charge on account of the sum of £200,000 appropriated to public purposes.

(2) The Sugar Estates (Advances in Aid) Ordinance, 1898.

Under this Ordinance advances were made to planters amounting to Rs. 1,491,546. All the advances made under this Ordinance were repaid punctually and with interest leaving a profit to the Treasury of Rs. 20,969.

(3) The Sugar Estates (Advances in Aid) Ordinance No. 43 of 1902.

Under this Ordinance temporary advances to the amount of £200,000 have been made, repayable in two years. It is estimated that the profits of this operation will amount to Rs. 100,000.

(4) The Mechanical Transport Ordinance, 1902.

Under this Ordinance advances to the approximate amount of £200,000, redeem- able in ten years, have been made. As the loan has not yet been issued it can only be said that the advances have been made on conditions that promise a substantial profit, and are believed to preclude all possibility of a burden being imposed on the general revenue of the Colony.

The loan to be raised under the Re-afforestation Loan Ordinances, 1901 and 1902, has not been included in the annexed statement. It has not been issued, and no acquisition of land under its provisions has yet been completed. It may be assumed that it will impose on the Colony an annual charge of about Rs. 75,000 for interest and redemption, and that this amount will remain, at least for many years, a dead- weight. It is hoped that in time a wise administration of the lands acquired under the Ordinance may yield a permanent source of revenue, but in the meantime it can hardly be doubted that the Colony will be satisfied to find a return for this outlay in the public welfare, the improvement of general climatic conditions and of the public health, and in the benefit to agriculture of a more permanent moisture of the atmos- phere and an increased and more regular water supply.

129

To sum up, the total dead-weight or burden imposed on the revenue of the Colony derived from taxation on account of interest and redemption of loans, to this date, sanctioned by Ordinances, may be stated as follows:-

Railways Mare-aux-Vacoas Sundry purposes Re-afforestation

Rs. 50,344

80,681

51,110

75,000

Rs. 257,135

If, in view of the economy effected by the free transport of Government passengers and freight, the apparent dead-weight of the railways is excluded from this table, the burden borne by the taxpayers for charges on account of the public debt will be reduced to little more than Rs. 200,000, and even against this moderate sum must be set the not inconsiderable profits of the Loan Office.

The Governor has thought that this explanation may be of interest in relation to the further loans contemplated under the Inscribed Stock Ordinance, 1887.

CHAS. BRUCE,

Governor.

Government House,

September 7, 1903.

Read at a meeting of the Council of Government held on 8th September, 1903.

G. LINCOLN, Clerk of the Council of Government.

19234

Annexure to His Excellency the Governor's Minute, No. 15, of 1903. STATEMENT EXPLANATORY OF THE PUBLIC DEBT OF MAURITIUS.

No.

**

Public Debt of Mauritius.

1

Railway Loans-Borrowed under

Ordinance No. 10 of 1876

10 of 1879

1 of 1887

2 of 1887

11

4 and 12 of 1892

"

Total Railway Debt

2

Mare-aux-Vacoas-Borrowed under

Ordinance No. 22 of 1887

"

Nos. 4 and 12 of 1892

Total Mare-aux-Vacoas Debt

3

4

Amount

£ 66,700.0.0

96,700.0.0

...

446,391.0.0

++

800.0.0

54,000.0.0

Sundries-Borrowed under Ordinances 4 and 12 of 1892 on account of the Central Prisons, the Hurricane Expenditure and the Deficit 1892

Loan Office-Borrowed under

Ordinances Nos, 4 and 12 of 1892

43 of 1902

#1

34 of 1902

*

Total Loan Office Debt

Grand Total

*To be repaid in two years, will leave a profit of Rs. 100,000.

664,591.0.0

36,000.0.0

60,816.0.0

96,816.0.0

85,184.0.0

400,000.0.0

200,000."0.0

Pt

600,000.0.0

1,446,591.0.0

+ Not yet rained, will leave a profit.

R