18783
211
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
SIR,
No. 164.
COLONIAL OFFICE to SIR C. BRUCE.
Downing Street, May 12, 1904. I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st instant, respecting the measures to be adopted in view of the financial position of the Mauritius sugar industry, and to convey to you his thanks for the trouble you have taken in the matter.
Mr. Lyttelton has decided to accept your advice and has sent a telegramt (copy enclosed) to Sir G. Bower instructing him how to proceed. You are at liberty to let the Directors of the Bank of Mauritius know that the Secretary of State has decided to allow a postponement of repayments under the Advances-in-Aid Ordi- nance for one year, subject to certain conditions as to which he is in correspondence with the Officer Administering the Government.
17251
No. 165.
I am, &c.,
H. BERTRAM COX.
ACTING-GOVERNOR SIR G. BOWER to MR. LYTTELTON.
(Received 8.40 a.m., May 16, 1904.)
TELEGRAM.
[Answered by No. 169.]
Referring to your telegram of May 12th,† please telegraph estimated cost of postponing or renewing debentures
17251
GENTLEMEN,
No. 166.
COLONIAL OFFICE to CROWN AGENTS. [Answered by No. 168.]
Downing Street, May 19, 1904. WITH reference to the correspondence‡ noted in the margin, I am directed Crown Agents to Colonial Office, 14
by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to transmit to you March.
the accompanying copy of telegraphic corre- Colonial Office to Crown Agents, 21 spondence § with the Officer Administering the
Government of Mauritius.
March.
You will observe that it has not been thought possible, in view of the financial position of the sugar industry in the Colony, to insist on the general repayment by the planters next June of the instalment of the advances-in-aid loan then due; and it has been decided to postpone for a year the repayment of each instalment and to meet the liabilities of the Colony in respect of the repayment of the debentures which mature next August by issuing other debentures or by arranging for renewal of the existing ones.
Mr. Lyttelton would be glad to learn whether you can furnish an answer to the question asked by Sir G. Bower as to the probable cost to the Colony of renewing the old or issuing new debentures.
I am, &c.,
H. BERTRAM COX.
No. 167.
ACTING-GOVERNOR SIR G. BOWER to MR. LYTTELTON.
(Received May 27, 1904.)
[Acknowledged June 8, 1904. Secret: 18783: not printed.]
(Secret and Confidential.)
SIR,
Government House, Mauritius, April 28, 1904. WITH reference to Sir Hubert Jerningham's secret despatch of the 26th October, 1895,* and to my recent despatches on the financial position of Mauritius, I have the honour to submit, for your consideration, certain observations respecting the present position of Mauritius as an independent Colony.
2.
More than two-thirds of the population of Mauritius are Indians, and the process of Indianisation is proceeding daily.
3. The commerce of the Island is mainly in the hands of Indians, and the trade is chiefly with India.
4. The larger part of the garrison is composed of Indian troops.
5. The currency is Indian.
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6. But whilst the material and personal interests of the Island are Indian, the
electorate is almost entirely made up of the Creole minority.
7. The Creole minority elects Creoles to the Council of Government, and they
look to their deputies to protect the interests of the Creoles.
8. The deputies have for years past interpreted this duty as a mandate to increase the Civil Service, which is considered to be in a special degree the property of the Creole population.
9. Every member has sought to "doter" the Colony with some department or institution which might give an opening for the employment of Creole Civil Servants. 10. The result is that the civil establishments have increased, are increasing, and ought to be diminished.
11. But in the existing constitutional condition of the Colony it is praetically impossible to effect any change. The officers of the fixed establishments are in the possession of fixed appointments, and many of them have statutory duties to fulfil. So long as the Colony retains its present position a reform of the financial position is practically impossible.
12. But a financial crisis will necessitate a consideration of the whole position, and I desire to point out that the community at large have everything to gain by the annexation of the Island to India.
13. The planters would gain by whatever duty the Indian Government might impose on sugar arriving from territories outside the Indian possessions.
14. The Indian population would gain by the appointment of officers who spoke Hindustani, and who would be quite impartial as between Creole and Indian.
15. The administration, if based on the system of district decentralisation pre- vailing in India, would be cheapened, and rendered more efficient.
16. The present centralised system, which has as a result the accumulation in the Colonial Secretary's office of masses of papers relating to petty details, would be abolished, and a large number of clerks would be released.
17. These clerks released from the central offices might possibly be absorbed
in India in minor offices.
18. In case of war His Majesty's Government would have a thoroughly reliable Civil Service, which would greatly add to the strength of the military position.
19. It is no part of the duty of a locum tenens to suggest important consti- tutional changes, but as the financial questions now before you may lead you to consider the future of the Mauritius administration, I have thought it my duty to lay before you the opinions, quantum valeant, which I have formed after a service of nearly six years in this Colony.
20. But in laying these views before you, candour requires me to state that the Bar would resent the competition of Indian lawyers. The medical profession would
• No. 159.
† No. 162.
Nos. 138 and 141.
§ Nos. 162 and 165.
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• Not printed.
2 D 2
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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