Civil Servants are not Dupes

Mauritius Times, 71 Years Ago

By Peter Ibbotson

The finances of Mauritius are at present in a pretty bad state. The revenue of the colony has fallen sharply because of the two cyclones – Cyclone Alix (January 1960) and Cyclone Carol (February 1960). The first definite piece of economic news to be published in London which demonstrated the terrible effect of the cyclones on the island’s economy appeared in the October issue of Barclays Bank’s Overseas Review : “A factory situated in one of the regions which suffered most from the cyclones early this year completed crushing on 12th September, with a production 85 per cent lower than last year.” The same periodical carried the news that up to 20th September, only 72,771 metric tons of sugar had been shipped, against 136,982 metric tons by the same date in 1959.

The estimates for the current financial year, 1960-61, due to be debated in the Legislative Council early in November, show for the first time since 1948 a big deficit. It is imperative that in the straitened financial circumstances of the colony all Civil Servants and all Departments are extra careful about expenditure and avoid waste. In the past there has been a lack of strict control in certain Departments (notably the Public Works Department and Architects Department) over certain expenditures. The new set-up, the integration of the Architects and Public Works departments, should show improvement.

Meanwhile, when we look at the colony’s expenditure, what do we find?

That over half the total expenditure, about 55 per cent in fact, goes on salaries and so on to members of the Civil Service. This is a staggering percentage indeed, 55 cents out of every rupee collected in tax goes to the emoluments of civil servants.

In June of last year, we had the unedifying spectacle of the assistant secretary of the Mauritius TUC openly allying himself, in a letter to the press, with Vallonvillistes urging sugar plantation workers to become members of a ‘non-political’ trade union. He along with the Vallonvillistes, undertook a trade union recruiting campaign and promised that no political speeches would be made either attacking or supporting any political party. To see the assistant secretary of the TUC allying himself, for any reason whatever, with members of the anti-Labour party was bad enough; but now we see that same assistant secretary, this time in his capacity of secretary of the Central Joint Council of Trade Unions, signing a letter to the press urging Civil Servants to rally to Rose Hill afin de… lancer un movement de résistance passive et de travail au ralenti (go-slow).

Nothing could be more calculated to harm the country’s recovery than such action by Civil Servants. Nothing could harm the Civil Servants themselves more than such action at the behest of the Central Joint Council whose secretary is a man closely associated (through his past association with its leaders) with the anti-Labour, anti-Government party. The signatures may be the signatures of Messrs so and so; the words may be the words of the Central Joint Council; but the inspiration behind those words, and the course of action put forward in those words, is the inspiration of the Destroyers, of the Arch-anarchs of Vallonville street, Saint Georges Street and PM.

In calling on Civil Servants to go slow in their work, the Central Joint Council is acting as a puppet troupe, with politicians pulling the strings to make the Civil Servants dance a vallonville to the well-known political tune “St Georges.” Members of the Civil Service are among the best educated people in Mauritius; they should not allow themselves to be duped by political ignoramuses, by self-seeking demagogues, by incipient King Frogs. This call for a go-slow is not designed to further the ends of the Civil Servants who respond to the ill-advised call; it is designed, instead, to further the evil ends of the anti-Governmental politicians, whose insidious machinations pervade, and lurk in, many unsuspected places.

Any Civil Servant who indulges in a go-slow protest movement will be doing a grave disservice to the recovery of his country. Civil Servants may feel disgruntled and underpaid; but let them reflect on the man who grumbled because he had no boots to his feet; until he met a man who had no feet. Go slow, and harm your country; don’t go slow, and don’t harm your country. That is the real choice behind the go-slow call put forth by the Central Joint Council; this Council would be well advised to have second thoughts and to abandon paying heed to its Destructive éminences grises.

7th Year – No 321
Friday 21th October 1960

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 21 November 2025