Emigration and Imports

From Our Archives: A Glimpse into 1960

By Peter Ibbotson

Last week I referred to emigration and the Government’s statement that it would be ever on the alert for opportunities of emigration for Mauritians. I suggested that it might be worthwhile for the Government to get into touch with certain UK employers to see if schemes similar to those operating between the Government of Barbados and London Transport and the British Hotels and Restaurants Association could be introduced. Added point is given to this suggestion of mine by information which has just reached me from Seychelles. It seems that the UK representative of the Seychelles Government has notified the Seychelles Government that the British Hotels and Restaurants Association is willing to take twelve young Seychellois and Seychelloises for training and employment in British hotels. The Government is considering some form of assisted passages for selected candidates.

The sooner Mauritius has its own UK representative, the sooner such openings may be explored here in London. It is, of course, feasible and possible that the Seychelles UK representative may find himself able to act as the Mauritius Representative as well; a similar joint representation might be possible with the Seychelles trade representative in East Africa.

Some weeks ago, I was writing about possible development in the fishing industry. Such developments are afoot in Seychelles too. A long-term development programme has been drawn up by the Seychelles Fisheries Development Officer and only awaits approval by the Colonial Office. A schooner has been bought and is being converted for long-line fishing on the Japanese method; market research is being undertaken to find new and steady markets for dried fish. Surely Mauritius cannot lag behind her daughter island-colony?

Seychelles and Mauritius both figure in the December issue of News of Population and Birth Control, the journal (published 10 times a year) of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. The item on Seychelles refers to the views, expressed in the Rowe Report, on the place of birth control in Seychelles; views which may be summed up thus: although family limitation would be desirable from the economic point of view, it would be made into a moral and religious issue in many sermons from many pulpits. (The population is 91 percent Roman Catholic). The item about Mauritius is reproduced elsewhere in the Mauritius Times, and refers to some comments of Professor Titmuss’ assistant Tony Lynes on the present economic position in Mauritius, made in the Fabian News recently.

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Imports In 1959

I have been looking at the details of imports in 1959 as recorded in the annual report of the Customs and Excise department. These details support my previously-made contentions that there is room for replacement of imports by economic development. Take, for instance, wheat and flour. From Australia, 14.5 million kilos of wheat, flour and meal were imported, their value being just over 6 million rupees. Why could not the unmilled wheat be imported, to be milled at a flour-mill to be established in Mauritius? There would be work for Mauritians; the cost of unmilled imported wheat would be less than the cost of imported flour; all the by-products would be available for the Mauritian poultry keeper or dairy-farmer. The flour-mill could be utilised to mill cereals other than wheat, of course: rice, maize, rye, etc.; all of which are at present imported milled as well as unmilled.

Altogether 17.75 million kilos of milled wheat were imported from Australia, the German Federal Republic, France, UK, and Canada; together with 437,000 kilos of other milled cereals. Remember that the cost of milling is included in the import price; and the milling is carried out by workers paid at European wage rates, whereas if the grain were imported and then milled in Mauritius, the cost of milling would be paid for at local (therefore much lower) wage rates.

Another puzzle: since Mauritius is a sugar-producing country, why, oh why, in 1959 was sugar imported, both refined and unrefined, both cane and beet? 180 kilos of unrefined sugar from India; and no less than 65,562 kilos of refined sugar, nearly all from South Africa and the UK. And surely some at least of the huge quantities of imported sugar confectionery and chocolate confectionery could be home-produced? 176,000 kilos of sugar confectionery, five-eighths of it from the UK and one-third from South Africa; 77,000 kilos of chocolate confectionery, nearly seven-eighths of it from the UK — that colossal quantity could surely be reduced?

Other high imports are of fish and coffee, and these too could be reduced by energetic development of the island’s potential resources. Robusta coffee is suited to growth in Mauritius: the high import figures for fish add point to my recent plea for development of the local fishing industry.

Imported vegetables? 4.5 million kilos of potatoes, 1 million kilos of beans, 2.25 million kilos of lentils, 1.75 million kilos of peas, and 1.5 million kilos of other fresh vegetables, add up to very nearly 6.75 million rupees spent abroad on vegetables; and that is not counting dholl, emberics and gram. Surely a lot of this vast foreign spending could be cut out by vigorous development of food-crop production at home? The small farmer wants a guaranteed market for his products at a guaranteed price; he will, if these guarantees are met, deliver the goods, and thus save the country considerable overseas spending.

Increased local production of tobacco has resulted in a dramatic slump in imports of cigarettes; the 1959 imports being less than half those in 1958. This trend could be repeated for vegetables. 62 million kilos of cement were imported, 43 million of them from the UK. Half of this colossal quantity could be manufactured at home if the cement industry report were implemented; once again, employment and savings of foreign currency would result.

Mauritius just cannot afford to go on importing such goods as cement, vegetables and confectionery at the rate she is doing: especially when such goods can be produced at home. Increased sugar production per arpent can release land from sugar-production to foodcrops; utilisation of the raw materials available (coral sand, clay and bagasse ash) along the lines suggested by Dr Williams can provide the basis of a cement industry with an annual production of 30,000 tons: all the essentials are at hand for confectionery manufacture on a large scale. The development of fishing awaits only a Fisheries Development Officer. Imports show the need is there. The raw materials are there. Why not, then, get on with the job?

7th Year – No 327
Friday 16th December, 1960

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 12 March 2026