CO885-(11-12) — Page 379

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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upon similar lines. The householder pays the whole cost of installa- tion before the work is undertaken and is then subject to quarterly payment of rent, at rates of Rs.4.10 per prise or Rs.4.50, plus an extra charge for excess consumption per meter. A bill for each quarter's rent is sent by post to the consumer and lists showing the amounts due in each case are furnished to the Financial Assistant. In default of payment legal proceedings are instituted, and if, on judgment being obtained, the debtor fails to pay, the Public Works Department may be requested by the Financial Assistant to cut off the water-supply. If for any reason the Finan- cial Assistant considers that the amount of the debt should be written off as irrecoverable, the Governor's personal authority must be obtained. Lists of such cases are submitted quarterly by the Public Works Department through the Colonial Secretary. Although the classes of the population which pay water-rent are much better off than those which make use of public fountains, we are informed that even greater difficulty is experienced in the collection of water-rent than of water-rate, and that the out- standing arrears in some instances extend back for ten years. This situation strikes us as not merely intolerable but ridiculous, having regard to the fact that any arrears beyond a single quarter can be prevented by the simple process of discontinuing the water-supply. The amounts of the rents charged do not appear to us to be exces- sive and there should be few cases of genuine inability to pay. We see no reason why the water-supply should not be cut off in every case after a month's default in payment, or why legal proceedings for recovery should not also be undertaken and vigorously enforced without further delay. Such action should be taken in the ordinary course of departmental routine, on the orders of an executive officer of the standing of the Financial Assistant. It is little short of absurd that the time of senior administrative officers such as the Colonial Secretary, the Director of Public Works, the Procureur General (not to speak of the Governor himself), should be taken up with the consideration of individual cases of failure to pay the small amount of a quarter's water-rent. A drastic reform of procedure on these lines would in addition safeguard the revenues of the Water Boards, and save a not inappreciable amount of staff both in the departments and in the Courts of the District Magistrates. (See Chapter III.)

Irrigation.

13. The Colony possesses two systems of irrigation, at La Nicoliere and La Ferme respectively. The former, which is still incomplete, is at present unable to provide more than a very small supply and for reasons which we have set out fully in the next chapter of this report we have already advised that its com- pletion should be suspended until such time as it can be pro- ceeded with as a sound commercial undertaking. The La Ferme

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irrigation has now been in operation for several years and not only has the demand upon it for water greatly diminished but arrears of payment for supplies provided have steadily accumulated until they now reach the figure of Rs.140,000. No serious effort is at present being made for the recovery of these arrears, and water continues to be supplied to the defaulters. We understand that a proposal has been made, and is still under consideration, for allowing recovery of all arrears to 31st December, 1930, to be spread over a period of ten years without interest, subject to the debtor giving an undertaking of regular payment of each later year's charges as they become due. This arrangement appears to us to be unduly lenient, and we see no reason why the recovery of the arrears should not be compressed into a period of five years or why the interest thereon should be remitted.

With the suspension of the work at La Nicoliere the post of Irrigation Engineer should, we think, be abolished. The officer holding it is already in charge of the work in connexion with the Port Louis water-supply scheme, the cost of which is being de- frayed from the Improvement and Development Fund, and we would suggest that while he is so employed his salary should be chargeable in the same way as the rest of the cost of the scheme.

Stores Branch.-The Staff of this Branch does not appear to us to be excessive.

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General Organization of the Public Works Department. 14. We now turn to the consideration of the general organization of the Public Works Department. Beginning with the three higher administrative posts, namely, those of the Director, Deputy Direc tor and Assistant Director, we must unhesitatingly express the opinion that none of the officers filling these posts is at present fully employed on work appropriate to his grade, and that there is no prospect of his being so employed in the future unless the Colony is going to embark upon new engineering enterprises which are entirely beyond its financial resources. Each of these officers appears to devote a considerable part of his time to the routine disposal of office files, many of them dealing with matters such as the recovery of water-dues in individual cases, which might properly be left to subordinates, and in the formal signing of estimates and requisitions after they have passed through the hands of the senior executive officers whose scale of salary would suggest that they are capable of taking a greater responsibility than that of mere intermediaries. In the case of requisitions and pay-sheets, even the Assistant Director is not allowed to take the responsibility of disposing of these documents but must pass them on to the Deputy Director for signature. This absorption of the time of the permanent highly paid professional officers of the