265
PUBLIC
RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.882/12
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BF REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-| | COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH~~NOT TO|
| PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON
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Hill, and Curepipe can then be abolished, and one fifth-class clerk at Flacq.
The staff which we recommend for the Magistrates' Courts is, therefore, as follows:--
Magistrates.
Clerks (Classe3).
Interpreter.
2nd, 3rd. 4th, 5th.
Port Louis and part of
2
1
1
2
1
1
Moka and Black River.
Mapou
1
1
1
1
...
Flacq and part of Moka
1
1
1
Grand Port and Savanne
1
1
1
Rose Hill...
1
Curepipe and part of
1
Black River.
Total
7
2
6
4
5
6
The saving on the present scale will be :-
5
I Magistrate
1 2nd-class Clerk
2 3rd-class Clerks
7 4th-class Clerks
1 5th-class Clerk
4 6th-class Clerks
2 Interpreters (one now vacant)
Total
Rs. 12,000
6,000 9,600
25,200
2,400
0,720
3,744
Rs. 65,664
11. The pay of the Magistrates has been very considerably raised in recent years, and it has been represented to us that it is now much more than adequate by comparison with normal earnings at the Bar. We agree, and while the general reduction of salaries which we are proposing will make the scale of pay Rs.8,100-10,800 for existing incumbents, we consider that a rate of Rs.7,500-10,000 will be sufficient when vacancies occur.
12. The reduction in the initial rate of pay is of special interest in the case of the Magistrates of the Dependencies, as it should clearly be the policy of the Government to depute for service in Rodrigues and the Oil Islands Magistrates who are at an early stage of their service.
The cost of Rodrigues services exceeds the public revenue of this island and the excess can be corrected by employing junior officers. A reduction in costs is still more needed in the case of the Oil Islands. We met a deputation of the merchants who are asso- ciated for the control of the coconut plantations of the islands, and who themselves have minor magisterial powers for dealing with the labourers who are employed there. The continued fall in the value of coconut products naturally leads these merchants to chal- lenge, even more sharply than before, the charges imposed upon
41
them by the Colonial Government. They complain of the port and pilotage dues which are levied on their sailing-vessel and urge that their trade should be treated like the coasting trade of Mauritius itself; they also complain of the heavy docking and repairing charges. The latter is a question of private contract and as regards the former we are not prepared to hold that any distinction can fairly be made between the ships serving the Oil Islands and other seagoing craft. Their chief grievance, however, is one which appears to be well founded, namely, that they are charged Rs.18,000 for the service of two Magistrates whereas these Magistrates do not, between them, do more than three months' service for the islands, while for the rest of the year they are used to supplement the Mauritius Magistracy particularly for work requiring a full bench of Magistrates. This case has often been represented to the Government, and on the last occasion on which it was raised in the Council of Government the reply which was given does not appear to us to be convincing. The facts are quite definite; the Oil Islands do not require two Magistrates and the two Magistrates give only a small part of their time to their visits to the islands; they actually are employed in the composition of the magisterial benches in Mauritius, a duty which our proposals will eliminate. It cannot, therefore, be just to charge the islands with the whole of their pay. We recommend that the Oil Islands subsidy be reduced from January, 1932, so as not to exceed there- after the full cost of one Magistrate.
We recommend further that one of the two posts be abolished. The Magistrates are not overworked and the extra post cannot. even be justified as a leave reserve. Including the three Magis- trates of the Dependencies there are eleven posts; one officer is on leave, but it has not been necessary to fill his place, and there are at present only ten Magistrates, one of whom is on a visit to the Oil Islands. The work of the Courts, other than Rose Hill and Port Louis, is already so light, and will be so much reduced by our proposals, that we are confident that the abolition of the Moka-Black River post and of one Oil Islands post will not unduly burden the lower Courts.
Registrar-General's Department.
13. The Department of the Registrar-General as now constituted is an amalgamation of three older departments, viz., the Registra- tion and Mortgage Department, the former Registrar-General's Department, and the Archives Office, which was carried out on the recommendation of the Royal Commission of 1909. The latter two departments now form separate branches of the combined organization, and the former Registration and Mortgage Depart- ment is represented by two separate branches dealing with Regis- tration Dues and Mortgages, respectively. The Registrar-General is also styled officially the Receiver of Registration Dues and Con- servator of Mortgages.
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