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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE Reference :-

اساسنا

MENC.O.882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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relieved of his presidential functions by a senior member elected to act as Vice-President by the other members. The intention of the resolution is that a senior Unofficial Member should be appointed by the other Unofficial Members from among their number to present addresses on formal occasions and for similar ceremonial purposes. The measure appears to be unobjectionable.

8. With reference to paragraph 3 of your despatel under acknowledgment, I would point out that except for Clause 2 (f) no alteration of the existing system of There is no suggestion that electors should be franchise is expressed or implied. obliged to register their names in either the French or English languages as was feared by the Indian delegate (ride paragraph 11 of the unpublished memorandum to which I have already referred), and, more important, the question of the introduction of a literacy test is not raised. No figures of literary are available, but the class which would be penalised by a literacy test would undoubtedly be the Indians, and the intro- duction of any such test would certainly be strenuously resisted by them. Equally strong would be their resistance to the introduction in any form of what is known as communal representation," which would be regarded, and probably with justice, as an attempt to curtail or localise their political influence. The Indians now comprise about three-fourths of the total population of the Colony. They have become aware of their power and there are signs that they are moving towards social and political cohesion. In the not distant future there may be important developments and there is therefore good reason, in my judgment, to proceed cautiously in the question of "revision." Matters are now in a stage of transition, and in view of the issues involved you may wish to consult the India Office before deciding on the line of policy to be adopted.

9. Fortunately there, appears to be no need for haste. As explained in the early part of this despatch the recent activities of the ** Revisionists" have aroused little, if Contrary to the last part of the any, enthusiasm in any representative quarter. Resolution quoted in my telegram of the 14th April, no pressure has been brought to bear on the Government to carry through the amendment of the Constitution before the approaching general election. The present motion first came before Council in April, and, on the opening of the new session in May, although a large amount of routine business was disposed of before the present motion was taken up, there was no demand for priority to be given to the question of revision. The first debate on the subject disclosed conflicting currents of opinion and on the 18th August the motion was adjourned until the 1st September without any serious protest. When it was finally carried on the 1st September no appeal for urgent action in so far as the Secretary of State is concerned was put forward, and my conviction is that so far from precipi- tating matters it would be preferable to wait and see whether the results of the forth- coming election throw any light on the real views and wishes of the community in the

I have, &c.,

matter.

Enclosure in No. 7.

REPORT OF THE PROCUREUR GENERAL,

H. J. READ,

Governor.

THE motion of the Honourable Senior Member for Port Louis is the culmination of a movement which originated about three years ago at the unveiling of the statute of Sir William Newton. Sir William Newton was the inspirer of the existing Constitu- tion, which dates from 1885, and throughout his life he had hoped that greater political freedom would be given to Mauritius. The member for Pamplemousses, the Honour- able E. Sauzier, K.C., O.B.E., in a speech which roused great enthusiasm, said that the time had come when the hopes of Sir William Newton should be realised, and that the Elected Members should be given greater powers than they possessed under the existing constitution in order that Mauritians should have a larger share in the adminis- tration of their own affairs.

2. An important meeting was held and a Committee was formed with Mr. G. Gebert, ex-member for Grand Port, as Chairman, to study and report on the necessary amendments. The Elected Members were invited to send representatives to join the Committee, but for some time they stood aloof and did not appear to be in favour of

rapprochement any change. At the beginning of the 1923, however, there was a

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and the Elected Members deputed several delegates to assist the Committee. The whole question of a revision of the Constitution was thoroughly studied, and the present resolution is the outcome of the conclusions which were then reached.

3. I shall now deal with the various proposals clause by clause, and then with the general aspect of the question.

4. In Clause 2 (a) of the resolution it is proposed that six of the Unofficial Members should be appointed by the Governor with a free vote and chosen to represent as far as possible all the sections of the community.

Clause 2 (b) reads that twelve Official Members be appointed.

Clause 2 (e) is to the effect that there should be twelve Elected Members; no change being brought to existing districts except that three members be elected for Port Louis and two for Plaines Wilhems.

5. At present the Council consists of the Governor, & Ex-officio Members, 10 Elected Members and 9 Nominated Members. Of the Nominated Members at least one-third must be persons not holding any office in the public service of the Colony. In practice this one-third has nearly always been exceeded, e.g., at the present time there are four Official Nominated Members (Messrs. Avice, Robertson, Godfrey, and Tempany) and five non-Official (Messrs. Adam, Brodie, Robinson, Boodhun, and Sakir). Under the new proposal the four Official Nominated Members would disappear, while the Unofficial Nominated Members would maintain a balance between the Ex-officio Members on the one side and the Elected Members on the other. It is argued that while at present and in the immediate future the districts other than Port Louis and Plaines Wilhems will probably return white members owing to the sugar factory owners (who are nearly all white) controlling the situation, yet Indian representatives will be returned more and more as time goes on, because of the enormously increasing number of small Indian landowners who may be expected to vote for candidates of their own race. In Port Louis and Plaines Wilhems the Elected Members will probably belong to the white or coloured classes. Consequently, whenever it might be found that one element of the population is obtaining a marked preponderance, the balance could be restored by appointing Nominated Members to represent the population. This proposal is, however, open to the objection that the Nominated Members with a free vote will be responsible to no one, and will be even more free than the Elected Members who are responsible, at least nominally, to their electorate. It may be said that the proposal would deprive Government of its official majority as Government might be outvoted by a combined vote of the 12 Elected and of four of the Nominated Members. In practice, however, this contingency would practically never arise owing to the con- licting interests which would obtain among the various groups of the new Council.

6. The proposal that there should be 12 Official Members means that there should It is presumed that the 3 additional Ex-officio be the Governor, plus 11 Officials Members will be chosen from the Nominated Official element at present existing.

7. Proposal (c). This is to the effect that there should be one additional Elected Member for Port Louis and one for Plaines Wilhems. In both districts the electors would have the right to vote for as many candidates as there would be seats to be filled. It is argued that this change is justified because there are a much larger number of electors in these two districts than in the others, and because the electorate consists chielly of house owners, tenants, licensees, traders and employees of all kinds who constitute quite a different group from what we may call the landed and factory classes that prevail in the other districts. There does not appear to be any obvious objection to this proposal.

8. Proposal () is put forward to give the community a larger share in the management of its affairs. A similar clause exists in the new constitutions of Jamaica and Ceylon.

9. Proposal (e) does not involve any change. It appears to be inserted merely to emphasise the fact that no alteration is desired on this point.

10. Proposal (f) is quite new. It is the only one which affects the question of qualification or franchise. It is only to apply to shareholders of landed property (which virtually means sugar estates) in districts other than Port Louis. It is stated that it will not affect Plaines Wilhems where only three sugar estates exist, two of which It is argued that this qualification is only belong to non-Mauritian absentee owners. an extension of the one which already exists in virtue of the ownership of Rs.3,000 worth of moveables as defined in paragraph 4 (c) of Article XXI. of the Letters Patent. The underlying idea is this. Nearly all sugar estates have been formed into companies, so that the owners are really the shareholders, who for climatic reasons live almost entirely in Plaines Wilhems and who thus have no vote in the district where their property lies. In reality the It is only by a fiction of the law that the ownership is a moveable one.

On the other hand the parcelling out of land shareholders are the owners of the soil.