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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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"As

the Earl of Derby, who, in his despatch in reply, No. 143, of the 4th May, 1885,* para- graph 5, said: "In order to give a fair share in the representation to the middle class, and especially to the large class of Indians who, as the purchasers or mortgagees of land, have acquired a permanent interest in the well-being of the Colony, it appears to me that a more liberal franchise is required than that which has been advocated by the Commission," and in the 8th paragraph of his despatch Lord Derby said: regards an educational test, I consider that the circumstances of Mauritius make it desirable that persons unable to read or write should not be admitted to the franchise; but it would not, in my opinion, be just to the Indian population to require them to be able to read or write in any other than their own language as a condition of being registered as voters."

16. These observations refer to the qualification of electors, but in the 13th para- graph of his despatch Lord Derby expressed his concurrence with the recommendations made by the Commission that qualified electors should be eligible as members of the Council; adding, as regards an educational test, an important declaration which I will deal with, as soon as I have given conclusive proof that the exclusion of members of the Indian Community from representation in the Council was not contemplated by Governor Sir John Pope Hennessy.

17. In his Speech opening the first Session of the Council of Government under the New Constitution, on the 19th of April, 1886, Sir John Pope Hennessy said:-

"I should certainly have been glad to have seen a larger proportion of Indians on our Electoral Roll. Looking to their many good qualities, we must encourage the large numbers of those who possess the required qualifications to vote, and who are permanently associated with the Colony, to enter into our political life. As far as I can constitutionally act in that direction I have done so by appointing a leading mem- ber of the Indian Community to one of the nominee seats in the Council."

18. I can find no record of any objection to this nomination in the declaration that accompanied it, as being a defiance of the Mauritian Community; and yet it is certain that the number of Indians who now hold large and permanent interests in the Colony has enormously increased during the last fifteen years.

19. On the general question then of the right of Indians to representation in the Council of Government, and a fortiori on Town Boards and Committees, I shall add nothing to what I have said.

20. I return to the question of the use of languages, with reference to which Lord Derby made these observations: "But though it is obviously desirable that a Member of the Legislative Council should possess a competent knowledge of the English or French language, it appears to me that there would be a great practical difficulty in applying any test of such knowledge, and I am disposed to think that it may be safe not to impose any such condition, but to trust that the good sense of the Electors will prevent them from returning a member who would be incapable of taking an intelligent part in the work of the Legislature and thereby virtually depriving themselves of a re- presentative."

21. No doubt a member of the Indian Community speaking and understanding only an Indian language, although eligible would be practically useless as a repre- sentative in the Council of Government; and in that assembly a competent knowledge of English or French is certainly highly desirable. On this ground the appointment of Dr. Nalletamby was open to no possible objection, as he has a perfectly competent knowledge of both languages. The declaration of Le Cernéen that his nomination. was un défi à la population Mauricienne," a phrase reiterated by other organs of the press, is only explicable by the contention that the right of the Asiatic Community to a representation in Council is inadmissible in principle, a contention of which I have, I hope, satisfactorily disposed.

*

22. It is true that Mr. Atchia has not the knowledge of English and French possessed by Dr. Nalletamby, who can speak both languages, but Mr. Trotter assures me that in addition to an educated knowledge of at least one Indian language he can read with perfect comprehension both English and French. So far as the purposes of the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Beau Bassin and Rose Hill are concerned, the Creole patois of the Colony is sufficient to enable him to represent on the Board the wishes and interests of those he represents. This patois, though not a literary langunge, is the almost universally recognised means of communication between the different nationalities of the Colony. I am confident that there is not a single one of the members who have retired from the Board who does not understand it, and Mr. Trotter has assured me that the Indian Community of the Town are satisfied to be re-

• 964 84–5: not printed.

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presented by Mr. Atchia. This assurance is confirmed by a letter signed by over a hundred members of the Indian proprietors and residents in the Town, of which I annex a copy, and this is really the first consideration to be taken into account. For it is important to bear in mind that the object of giving to the Indian Community a fair representation on the Council or on Town Boards or Committees is two-fold: to enable the Council or Board or Committee to learn the real wishes of the Community through their representative; and secondly, to enlist on behalf of the measures adopted the in- fluence of their representative over the Indian Community. There are circumstances connected with the Town of Beau Bassin and Rose Hill, which illustrate the advantage likely to be derived from the exercise of such influence. Measures taken against, plague in this district have caused considerable trouble, more, indeed, than in most other districts, and my experience in this Colony convinces me of the wisdom of the decision adopted last year by the Government of India, who have laid it down, in accordance with the recommendations of the Plague Commission, that the first principle of all plague measures should be that:-

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Except in extraordinary circumstances compulsion should be eschewed, and that the efforts of Government should be directed to convince the people of the utility of particular methods, and to inducing them to carry them out, not by force, but by the exercise of their own free will."

23. It would have been easy enough for me to nominate to the Board a member of the Indian Community with a competent knowledge of English and French, but Mr. Trotter was unable to suggest to me any one possessing such a knowledge resident in and having large interests in the Town, whom the general Indian Community would be willing to recognise as their representative. To have nominated a member of the Indian Community merely because he possessed a knowledge of English and French would have been as absurd, if I may compare small things to great, as to select a Bengali Baboo as the representative of the native community of a Rajput state.

24. Two things are certain; first, that it is only through the agency of members of their community in whom they have confidence that the Indian community can be effectively influenced; and secondly, that the general Indian Community can be in- fluenced only by communications in one or more languages of India or in the patois of the Colony.

25. Having thus submitted to you the reasons which have guided me in the nomination of Mr. Atchia to be a member of the Board of Commissioners of Beau- Bassin and Rose Hill, I may sum up my views in the following propositions:—

1.That it is, and has been, the policy of His Majesty's Government from the establishment of the present constitution of the Colony to recognise the claim of His Majesty's Indian subjects in Mauritius, possessed of the necessary qualifications and permanently associated with the Colony to enjoy equal rights of representation, in the Council of Government or on Boards or Committees, with the rest of the Community.

2. That, however, desirable it may be that representatives of the Indian Com- munity should be able to speak English or French, more or less correctly or elegantly, no such educational test is required, as a sine quâ non, to justify the election or nomi- nation of an Indian member, provided that he has the qualifications necessary to enable him to speak on behalf of and to influence the Community he is chosen to represent.

I have, &c.,

CHAS. BRUCE,

Enclosure 1 in No. 12.

Memorandum by Mr. Trotter, dated September 24, 1901. [Printed as Enclosure in No. 9.]

Enclosure 2 in No. 12.

“LE ČERNÉEN," September 3, 1901.

M. DE CHAZAL-LE DR. NALLÉTAMBY.

Governor.

Un extraordinaire de la Gazette Officielle publié ce jour, annonce que le Dr. Nallétamby a été nommé au siège de nominee qu'occupait Bir Virgile Naz, et M. Pierre Edmond de Chazal à celui de l'hon. Ambrose. Nous aurions compris la nomination de M. Pierre Edmond de Chazal, si le Gouverneur avait choisi un autre que le Dr. Nallétaruby pour remplacer Sir Virgile Naz, c'est-à-dire

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