PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TTC.O. 882
سيات....
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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Indian Community to representation in the Council of Government, on Boards and on Committees is now to be denied, the declarations of the Imperial and Local Govern- ments at the time of the reform of the Constitution, and the professions of the Sovereign's representatives in this Colony have been a cruel deception.
3. I have no doubt that of those who gave the banquet to Sir Hubert Jerning. ham not more than one or two at the most could have expressed themselves in English or French.
4. On several occasions members of the Asiatic Community, who could speak neither English nor French, have sat as members of Committees. I need instance only the Committee of Reception appointed on the occasion of the visit of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York. I am not aware that on any previous occasion it has been considered an indignity for a Mauritian of European or African descent to sit on a Committee with a Mauritian of Indian descent.
5. I can add, with confidence, that the Mussulman Community has been consist- ently loyal to the Empire; it has never dissociated itself from the Imperial sentiment that has, during the last few years, animated India and the Colonies; and it has kept wholly aloof from the pro-Boer propaganda of that section of the local press that has been most blatant in its opposition to the recent appointments of Doctor Nalletamby and Mr. Atchia.
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(No. 385.) SIR,
No. 12.
I have, &c.,
CHAS. BRUCE;
Governor.
GOVERNOR SIR C. BRUCE to MR. CHAMBERLAIN. (Received November 15, 1901.) [Answered by No. 14.]
Government House, Mauritius, October 14, 1901. I HAVE the honour to inform you that several vacancies having recently occurred among the members of the Board of Commissioners for the Town of Beau Bassin and Rose Hill, established under Ordinance, No. 31, of 1895, I thought it a suitable opportunity to nominate to the Board a member of the Indian Community, such an appointment being, as I shall endeavour to show, in accordance with the policy of the Imperial Government and the professions of the local Government antecedent to and at the time of the establishment of the existing Constitution of the Colony.
2. I therefore consulted the Protector of Immigrants as to the selection of u suitable person to fill one of the vacancies on the Beau Bassin and Rose Hill Board, and he recommended Mr. Mamode Atchia, of the firm of Messrs. I. S. Atchia and Sons, who have shown great enterprise and intelligence in supplying the electric light to the Governor's residence, Le Réduit, as well as to Rose Hill and Beau Bassin. "In carrying out this scheme undertaken on their own initiative, the firm of Atchia Brothers have, in my opinion, given proof of an intelligence and spirit of enterprise which has heen of real benefit to the community. For years the Municipality of l'ort Louis has been unsuccessfully negotiating with a Company promoter in London for the supply of electric light to the Town. Messrs. Atchia's undertaking h..s already led to the pre- paration of plans for utilizing the water-power of the Colony as, for instance, the Tam- arind Falls, for the supply of electric energy. I am at a loss to conceive how it can be considered, as I shall show that it has been considered, an insult to the Colony to nominate a member of the firm-otherwise highly recommended, and, I believe, re- spected-to a seat on the Town Board of Beau Bassin and Rose Hill, really a village Board disposing of a revenue of about £1,500 per annum.
3. On it becoming known that I proposed to appoint Mr. Atchia I learnt that the nomination would be strongly opposed, and would be followed by the refusal of some of the present members of the Board to retain their seats, and of other gentlemen to whom I had offered seats to accept them.
4. I accordingly requested Mr. Trotter to communicate with the members of the Board and others and let me know the real position of affairs.
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5. I enclose a copy of a Memorandum by Mr. Trotter, from which you will see that the ostensible ground of objection is that Mr. Atchia speaks neither English nor French. From my conversation with Mr. Trotter, who informed me of the views of other gentlemen of the community apart from those he mentions by name, as well as from the language of the press, I am satisfied that the real ground of objection is that Mr. Atchia is of Asiatic parentage.
6. I have in many despatches called your attention to the rapid accumulation of wealth, and especially of immovable property in the hands of the Indian Community. They own at least a third of the whole productive area of the Colony. They command practically the whole of the grain trade, and nearly the whole of the export of sugar to India. So far as the great majority of the inhabitants is concerned the retail trade in dry goods is practically in their hands while nearly the whole of the retail vision trade, and practically the whole of the retail liquor trade, is in the hands of the pro- Chinese. The Chinese population of Mauritius consists chiefly of "carpet baggers," and they stand, therefore, in a class apart; but as regards the Indian Community it cannot be denied that they are a main and permanent stay of the fortunes of the Colony. It seems to be a most short-sighted policy to endeavour to exclude them from all right of expressing their views on representative Boards or Committees.
7. I regret to have to inform you that immediately on the appointment of Mr. Atchia being gazetted, three members of the Board, Messrs. Cowin, Ducray, and Koenig, resigned their appointments, and I understand that another member intends also to tender his resignation. Two influential residents of the Town whom I wished to nominate having declined to serve I had practically no alternative but to nominate members in the service of the Government.
8. The Board, therefore, will, for the present, probably consist of the following members:-
The Honourable J. F. Trotter, Protector of Immigrants.
Dr. Barbeau, Acting Sanitary Warden.
Mr. Singery, Head Accountant, Receiver-General's Department.
Dr. Paddle, Superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum and Government Analyst. Mr. C. Laurent.
Mr. M. Atchia.
Mr. Laurent was appointed at the same time as Mr. Atchia, and my thanks are
due to him for the service he is rendering in accepting a seat.
9. None of the gentlemen who have resigned or declined a seat in writing have given any reason for their action, but I have no reason to doubt that the reasons are that Mr. Atchia is of Asiatic descent, and speaks the creole patois of the Colony.
10. The appointment of Mr. Atchia has been strongly resented by the local press on these grounds, as you will see by reference to the extracts from the local press annexed as an enclosure to this despatch.
11. I may point out that the opposition to the nomination of Mr. Atchia on the ground of his Indian descent, though himself a Mauritian by birth, is closely connected with the recent appointment of Dr. Nalletamby as a nominee member of the Council of Government. I annex an extract from the newspaper "Le Cernéen," of the 3rd of September on the subject of that nomination. While putting forward some ostensible objections to that appointment, it is frankly urged that "the right of the Asiatic Com- munity to have a representative in the Council is inadmissible in principle."
12. I can find nothing in the Constitution of the Colony or in the views of Her Majesty's Government, at the time the present Constitution was granted, or in the action of the Governor who is mainly responsible for it, to justify such a contention.
13. In the year 1884 Sir John Pope Hennessy appointed a Commission "for the purpose of enquiring and reporting what electoral divisions should be formed in this Island for the election of six members of the Council of Government; and what quali- fications should be held necessary to entitle persons to vote at such elections."
14. This Commission was appointed by Proclamation in the Government Gazette of September 10th, 1884. It consisted of 32 members, of whom no less than four were of Indian origin. It will hardly, I presume, be urged that, it was intended to exclude from the privileges of the contemplated constitution, the representatives of a Com- munity, whose right to a voice in its design and details was so fully recognised. Of the two members of the Commission of Indian origin, two, Affan-Tank-Wen, and Goolam Mamode Ajam, spoke the creole patois.
15. The Report of the Commission was transmitted to the Secretary of State,
• Bee Enclosure in No. 9.'
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