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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference -

C.O.882/12

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

BE

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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You should then introduce without unreasonable delay taxation proposals and if the Elected Members are still opposed to them, invite them to submit their alternative proposals.

I trust that excitement will diminish and that it will not be necessary for you to ask for assistance from outside, but you will no doubt watch carefully this aspect of the matter and keep me informed of developments.

I agree that payment should not be withheld of advances under the Guaranteed Loan from monies already received. The balance of £200,000 will be retained for the time being until there is prospect of ultimate financial equilibrium.-Cunliffe-ListeR.

C. 93921/32 [No. 37].

No. 54.

Telegram from the Governor of Mauritius to the Secretary of State for the Colonies,

(Received 1.15 p.m., 3rd March, 1932.)

[Answered by No. 55.]

3rd March. No. 38. I have received this morning following communication from the Unofficial Members :-

Begins-Unofficial Members of the Council thank you, the Governor, for communication of the Secretary of State's despatch relative to the resolution voted at a public meeting held on 15th February. Unofficial Members in answer to the said communication beg to state :-

(1) Attitude adopted by Unofficial Members of the Council is entirely due to their very full appreciation of the urgent necessity for the balancing of the Budget of this Colony at the earliest possible date.

(2) Present financial difficulties of the Government are not only due to depressed condition of the sugar industry but also to extravagant and unwarranted expenditure of the Administration of the Colony during the past years and this notwithstanding advice and representations of the Unofficial Members who have had no effectual means of exercising any control on Administration.

(3) Unofficial Members have not asked or contemplated that the ultimate responsibility for the Administration of the Colony should not rest with the Governor and the Secretary of State for the Colonies but they have offered their co-operation to the Local and Home Authorities in

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asking for a larger share in the Administration of the Colony in matters of local interest, a course which they consider would help the Government to meet the serious situation of the Colony.

(4) They regret that such offer should not have been accepted by aforesaid authorities and they cannot agree that in the present conditions no change should be possible so long as His Majesty's Government have a special re- sponsibility for the solvency of Mauritius, especially when it is remembered that such guarantee in conditions of the Loan is likely to last till 1971, a period of 40 years. They trust that the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies will be pleased to reconsider their submission.

(5) They can give to the Secretary of State for the Colonies assurance that His Majesty's Government should entertain no anxiety as to refund of Loan to be advanced to the Colony to make good part of losses due to the hurricane of March, 1931, as £500,000 of such Loan are secured by a first rank mortgage with priority over any other claims on property which in each case represents con- siderably more value than the sum advanced thereon in capital and interest.

(6) They must call attention to the heavy expenditure of the Government more especially as regards salaries of the Civil Service. The yearly salaries of the Civil Service before the War amounted to Rs. 2,960,000 when the total revenue of the Government was Rs. 11,142,000 yearly (1913-14). The salaries of the Civil Service have been gradually increased since the year 1919. At present such yearly salaries amount to Rs.5,800,000 and the revenue of the Government is estimated at Rs.15,500,000. The actual revenue for 1930-31 has only been Rs.13,552,000 (including Railway revenue) and for the first four months for the financial year 1931-32 aforesaid revenue is below four-twelfths of estimate by Rs.844,000. The amount of such salaries is the same as that which was paid when the Budget of the Colony was showing surplus balance every year when the revenue of the Government was much over ?Rs.20,000,000 annually and when Reserves of the Colony approximated Rs.15,000,000.

(7) The measures recommended by the Commissioners in so far as they have been made known to the Unofficial Members will take time to produce effective retrenchment conducive to the balancing of the Budget and will moreover lead to dismissal of a considerable number of Civil Servants and will tend to create disorganization and hardship in the ranks of the Civil Service.

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