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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TILTIC.O.

885

1 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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undertaken has been so vigorously prosecuted, that, aided by the great stimulus given to trade by the repeal of the former impolitic taxes and the conse- quent improvement in the revenue, the colonial income and expenditure have been all but equalized, and there is no doubt that a considerable surplus will ere long be realized. And in the last two years the coffee crop has been doubled, and favourable prices obtained for the produce.

VII. In Mauritius, the new Governor, Sir G.

Anderson, has with equal vigour applied himself to

the work (which was there no less needed) of finan- cial reform; and he has succeeded in bringing the expenditure within the income. He has re-estab- lished the stamp duty on the engagement of imuni. grant labourers, which Sir W. Gomm had most unwisely repealed, and which has been found not only to produce a large fund, applicable to the expense of introducing labourers without the least pressure upon the colony, but also to answer the purpose, for which it was mainly designed, of keep- ing the immigrants much more steadily to their labour. Sir George Anderson has also availed him- self of the power with which he was invested, by summoning to the Legislative Council two additional members, selected from the most respectable planters aud merchants, whose nomination has given univer- sal satisfaction, The trade and industry of the colony have wonderfully recovered from the severe crisis of 1847 and 1848, and now. present a prospect of more real and solid prosperity than they ever did in the highest days of protection.

* VIII In Malta, the alterations in the constitu- tion which was in contemplation at the date of the former paper, has been carried into effect, and has apparently given very general satisfaction, and the first representative members of the Council have been elected. The Governor reports that a very good choice has in general bech made. In the mean. time Mr. More O'Ferrall has proceeded vigorously with his administrative reforms, and has carried without serious difficulty or opposition, the very arduous measures of a general revaluation of the Crown property and augmentation of the rents paid

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by the holders, and the discontinuance of a most vicious system of out-door relief of the poor.

IX. Lastly, though the Ionian Islands are not, properly speaking, a part of the British Dominions, it may be right to add, that a most unprovoked in- surrection in Cephalonia has been promptly and effectually suppressed; that the measures of the Lord High Commissioner have received the marked sup- port of the Local Parliament, and the approbation of almost all the respectable inhabitants of the Ionian Islands; and that he has brought to a successful ter- mination his negotiation with the Ionian Parliament,

for converting into a really Representative Govern- ment, that mockery of it which has hitherto existed.

January 7, 1850.

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PRINTED AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE.

JANUARY 10, 1850,

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