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No. 126.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference:

C.O. 882

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No. 124.

MR. LYTTELTON to ACTING GOVERNOR SIR G. BOWER.

(Sent 6.10 p.m., February 4, 1904.)

TELEGRAM.

[Answered by Nos. 125.]

Your telegram of January 19.* I regret that I cannot sanction expenditure on further construction of railways without advice of consulting engineers. Refer to my predecessor's confidential despatch of July 6.†

You should send home plans, sections, specifications and estimates for each line, together with fullest possible reports showing anticipated traffic, gross earnings, working expenses and any other information respecting prospects of lines paying, Despatcht follows by mail.

Referring to your despatch, No. 494,§ Crown Agents urgently require at least £25,000. Telegraph at once for how much they may draw upon Colony.

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No. 125.

ACTING-GOVERNOR SIR G. BOWER to MR. LYTTELTON.

(Received 4.17 p.m., February 6, 1904.)

TELEGRAM.

[Answered by No. 128.]

I communicated your telegram of 4th February || to the Executive Council, who resolved as follows:-

Begins Executive Council are unanimously of opinion that unless the proposed branch railways are constructed before the next harvest consequences may be disastrous as surra has again broken out, and the prices realised for planters' canes scarcely pay cost of cutting and transporting by road. Executive Council advise that the work should be begun at once so as to be of service for next harvest. Ends.

In my despatch, No. 26, 23rd January, I sent you papers on the subject, but I may add that if I am to forward all the papers required by your confidential despatch of the 6th Julyt before any decision is reached, it will be impossible to complete the lines in time for this year's crop. I am fully sensible of the objections raised in the fourth paragraph of your confidential despatch of the 6th July, but whilst sharing your aversion to further borrowing, I cannot conceal my conviction that owing to the consideration stated by the Executive Council there is danger that the practical ruin of considerable areas, unless the lines are made in time. The present price is so low that it leaves but a small margin, and the growers cannot pay for manual traction of canes. The financial position causes me anxiety, and nothing but a belief that those anxieties will be increased by the absence of transport has? induced me to recommend these branch railways. It is estimated that with the increased rates sanctioned by the Council of Government they will pay. I believe that Pitot and Coriolis are fully competent to construct them, as there are no engineering difficulties. May I suggest if you are unable to approve at once that I be authorised to pass the necessary Ordinance, and to reserve it for assent.

• No. 121.

† No. 91.

‡ No. 126.

§ No. 123.

No. 124.

No. 129.

MR. LYTTELTON to ACTing Governor SIR G. BOWER.

(Confidential.)

SIR,

Downing Street, February 8, 1904. I HAVE given my careful consideration to the proposals contained in your telegram of the 19th ultimo,* for the expenditure of a further sum from loan of £113,000 for the construction of railways, and £17,000 for rolling stock.

2. As I have informed you in my telegram of the 4th instant, I am unable to sanction expenditure on further construction of railways without the advice of the consulting engineers. The desirability of obtaining such advice was pointed out in my predecessor's confidential despatch of the 6th of July last, to which I have referred you in my telegram, and I have accordingly requested you to send home plans, sections and specifications for each line, with the fullest possible reports showing the anticipated traffic, estimated gross earnings, working expenses, and any other information respecting the prospects of the lines proving re- munerative.

3. My predecessor had considerable hesitation in sanctioning the lines pro- posed last year, without fuller information, especially as regarded the construction of the Black River Railway from loan funds, but in the crisis caused by the dearth of draught animals he accepted Sir C. Bruce's urgent recommendations for their construction. I do not, however, feel justified in sanctioning the borrowing of further large sums for railways without the fullest information, and the advice of the consulting engineers when such information is available. At present I have before me only the general report enclosed in Sir C. Bruce's Minute, No. 25 of 1903, which was forwarded to me without comment in Sir C. Bruce's despatch, No. 418, of the 30th of October, § and I do not appear to have received the special reports on each line referred to therein. Moreover, the lines recommended in your tele- gram differ materially from the proposals of Mr. de Coriolis.

4. I observe that Sir C. Bruce in his Minute, No. 25 of 1903, paragraph 4, points out the necessity of careful investigation as to whether the projected lines will be self-supporting. The need for care in this respect is emphasized by the unsatisfactory results in the case of some of the expenditure already undertaken. It appears from the newspapers published in the Colony that the tramway con- structed in Port Louis has been a partial failure, and Mr. Piggott in his report enclosed in Sir C. Bruce's despatch, No. 425, of the 30th of October,|| mentions that a considerable number of horses and mules have been introduced into Mauritius, and that there is some doubt whether the tramway will be so profitable as was at first imagined. Again, on page 6 of the enclosure to Sir C. Bruce's Minute, No. 25 of 1903, Mr. de Coriolis mentions as a reason for the railway extensions the neces- sity of inducing planters to do away with their heavy traction engines and auto- mobiles, which have presumably been purchased out of the loans made to them by the Government from borrowed capital.

5. In addition to the above considerations the amount of the loans already raised or sanctioned is so large that the Government should not have recourse to further borrowing unless it is absolutely unavoidable especially in the very unfavourable state of the money market now prevailing. The financial position as described in your confidential despatch of the 23rd of December is not favour- able, and though your telegram states that the prospects have improved, further loan expenditure will not be justified without more definite assurances than can be afforded by the experience of less than a month.

6. As regards the new rolling-stock required, I am of opinion that it should be met from revenue if possible. It appears to be only that required for the new lines already built, and I do not understand why provision for this was not included in the estimate of the capital cost of the lines. I note that in the enclosure to your Minute, No. 34 of 1903, the General Manager states that the increase of traffic due to the new lines will not be very important in the first few years. This seems to show that there was not sufficient justification for building the lines.

7. A further consideration is the matter of the labour supply. Mr. de Coriolis' remarks as to the scarcity of labour in the case of the Black River Railway, page 3 of the enclosure in Minute 22 of 1903, indicates that his pledge (see page 6 of enclosure to Minute 25 of 1903) to open the projected new lines in

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