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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :---

TTIC.O. 882

سلسلنا

9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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show that the borrowers have hitherto met their obligations, and that the sum of the risk taken by the Government on the previous occasion was greater than would be incurred if the present proposal were carried into effect.

5. To obtain reliable information as to the financial position, outside their indebtedness to Government, of individuals who might wish to avail themselves of the assistance proposed, would, in my opinion, and as I have already submitted, be impracticable prior to the passing of a measure empowering the Government to make the necessary investigations through a properly constituted Committee; and, whilst the exercise of caution in existing conditions may be more generally neces sary, I see no reason to apprehend that the interests of the Government would be less effectually safeguarded than was the case on the previous occasion to which I have referred.

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6. The question of securing the proper application of the advances presents, perhaps, somewhat greater difficulties, but I believe that this would not be found to be impracticable, and that means can be devised to limit such application strictly to the objects in view.

7. Banks and other financial institutions have been in the habit of making advances to planters for estate purposes during the period between the first of April and the commencement of the crop in August of each year; the expenditure requisite for the months of January, February, and March having been generally found by the estate owners themselves from the profits on the previous year's trans- actions, or from assets remaining liquid in their hands.

8. I am informed that in many instances no such profits or assets now exist, and that difficulties will arise, not only with regard to the earlier portion of the entrecoupe, but in respect of the credits usually obtained during the later period above mentioned. In other words, the result of a prolonged drought which has continued from January until the commencement of the present month has been to so seriously diminish the earnings of a number of estates as to prevent or render most difficult the finding of the ordinary means of continuing the work during the six or seven months which must elapse before the next year's crop operations are commenced.

9. The question, therefore, has arisen whether events should be allowed to take their course, or whether the intervention of the Government is called for and can be defended. In ordinary circumstances the former proposition should, doubtless, receive an affirmative reply; but I believe that the conditions now obtaining, and the results which may be anticipated, should any considerable number of estates go out of cultivation, results which would adversely affect the whole community, and which would prove of serious embarrassment to the administration of the Colony, call for the exceptional measure which has been proposed, and which I have felt it my duty to advocate and to recommend.

10. A feeling of anxiety with regard to the position is generally apparent. It is desirable that the present session of the Legislature should close in December, and re-assembly, unless otherwise absolutely necessary, is to be deprecated during the early months of the coming year. I have, therefore, felt it necessary to submit my views and representations by telegraph in the hope that a final decision may be arrived at before the Council of Government is prorogued.

I have, &c.,

CAVENDISH BOYLE.

Enclosure in No. 17.

STATEMENT.

December, 1902–

Due by planters and house owners on the Hurricane

Loan

Due by planters on the Mechanical Transport Loan. 1908, Advances-in-Aid (repaid in full July, 1906)

Rs.

4,405,792 2,778,368 2,049,181

Rs.

10,133,841

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Rs. 3,132,645

30th October, 1907—

Rs.

Due by planters on the Hurricane Loan

Due by house owners

54,806

Due by planters on the Mechanical Transport Loan

1,761,421

4,048,871

Add proposed Advances-in-Aid

3,000,000

7,948,871

Difference in favour of 1907

2,184,470

45121

(No. 416.)

MY LORD,

No. 18.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 28 December, 1907.) [Answered by Nos. 20 and 23.]

Government House, Port Louis, 23 November, 1907.

In continuation of my despatch, No. 400,* I have the honour to report that with your concurrence I communicated to the Council of Government, on the 19th current, the purport of certain telegraphic communications which had passed between your Lordship and myself on the subject of the proposed loan of £200,000, and, as I have already informed you,t that I was urged in the Council and outside to again represent the necessity for the assistance sought not only for the benefit of the section of the community engaged in the sugar industry, but with the view of averting a financial disaster which must seriously affect the commerce and trade of the Colony as a whole.

2. In the enclosures herewith will be found copies of the communication made to the Council, of the observations of Mr. Antelme, the original mover of the reso- lution in favour of the loan, and of further representations which I have received from the Bank of Mauritius, the Commercial Bank, and the Chambers of Agri- culture and Commerce, as well as a comparative statement of revenue for the first four months of the present financial year.

3. The figures given in the last-mentioned document now show that the revenue collected is short of the Estimates for the period under review by a sum of Rs. 605,827, and is below the corresponding period of 1900-07 by a sum of Rs. 344,428. This latter falling-off is at the rate of Rs. 1,038,000 for the whole of the year, and even taking a very hopeful view of the present position and of future prospects, and allowing for all possible savings on the expenditure estimates, there is cause to apprehend a deficit of between Rs. 600,000 and Rs. 700,000 on the transactions of 1907-08.

4. It is impossible to ignore the significance of the figures given in the state- ment, and the deductions to be drawn therefrom prove a serious diminution in the spending power of the community, due, as I believe, almost entirely to the shortage in the earnings of the sugar industry, which is estimated for this year, as compared with the amount realised on an average crop, at not less than Rs. 10,000,000."

5. I would submit also that a full measure of consideration is due to the repeated representations not only of the planters but of those concerned in the general trade and commerce of the Colony, and to the views which they hold and have so unanimously put forward with regard to the need for the assistance sought and the general benefits which will be secured if it is granted.

6. I have, therefore, felt it my duty to refer again to the position, and to express a very earnest hope that it may be found possible to afford that assistance, and that your Lordship will finally be pleased to agree to the course proposed.

I have, &o.,

CAVENDISH BOYLE.

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• No. 15.

↑ No. 18.

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