Items of Interest

Mauritius Times – 70 Years

By Peter Ibbotson

Sugar News
Just how profitable is sugar-growing in Mauritius for the estates? The estates are very coy about revealing details of their financial results. We cannot make any firm estimates of the profitability of the sugar industry to the estates from the income-tax departmental reports or from the Chamber of Agriculture’s reports. All we do know is that Mauritius is a low-cost producing area, while the West Indies are a high-cost producing area. Since the guaranteed price for sugar under the Commonwealth Sugar Agreement is the same for all areas, it therefore follows that where costs are low, profits are high; where costs are high, profits are low. Since costs are low in Mauritius, profits must be high; higher than, for example, in the West Indies.

Sugar industry workers in the fields in Mauritius in the 1960s. Pic – Vintage Mauritius

But the wages of the estate workers in Mauritius remain very low. Not until the labourers’ unions have amalgamated into one and can speak for and on behalf of the majority of the estate workers, can we expect a decent level of wages freely negotiated by union action. Until then, we must have a Wages Board for the sugar industry to lay down and regulate a decent level of wages for all labourers. (It occurs to me that perhaps the forthcoming Economic Commission will be able to do what no previous enquiry has done — find out some financial facts from the estates.)

In Jamaica, there has been another rise in wages recommended for estate labourers recently. A Sugar Industry Commission of Enquiry has just recommended that the Sugar Manufacturers’ Association and the unions concerned should enter an agreement providing for the payment of a 12½ per cent bonus for the 1959 crop, and a 12½ per cent increase in wages from the beginning of the 1960 crop. Will the Economic Commission in Mauritius be able to get figures showing whether such an increase is possible in Mauritius too? Mr Luce could not get any figures to indicate whether the estate workers were being underpaid in relation to the profits being made by the estates; all he was able to say was that the wages actually paid were far too low. And that we all knew beforehand.

Also in Jamaica, the All-Island Cane Farmers’ Association is to carry out a propaganda drive to persuade its members, and cane farmers generally, to produce more canes per acre than in the past. If this can be done, the Association points out that farmers will have more land available on which they can produce other crops, and thus improve their finances. This propaganda drive in Jamaica resembles what we of the Mauritius Times have been pointing out for years: that if production per arpent increases, less land is needed to produce the same tonnage of sugar, thus releasing land for food crops. But, if they are to grow food crops (and this would reduce dependence on imported food), farmers must have a guaranteed market and guaranteed prices. Therefore, it is necessary for the Government’s agricultural policy to envisage agricultural subsidies for farmers growing food crops and to make sure that credit is readily available for such farmers.

It is interesting to note the basis for sugar workers’ bonuses in British Guiana. The target for sugar production for 1959 was originally set at 268,000 tons. This was increased later in the year to 272,000 tons, and later still increased to a final target figure of 275,000. Each estate also sets an individual target of production. For reaching the individual estate target, workers qualified for a bonus of three days’ pay.

For reaching the original overall colony target, another three days’ pay was earned. An extra day’s pay was paid for reaching the second colony target, and yet another day’s pay when the final target figure was reached. Thus, the total bonus earned was eight days’ pay for reaching all the production targets for 1959.

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Road Behaviour

In Trinidad, the police have been given instructions to warn and, if necessary, prosecute “jay-walkers” where pedestrians do not obey signals given by policemen on duty. A draft bill has been issued to amend the motor vehicles and road ordinance.

One innovation is that magistrates will be empowered to order the inspection of any vehicle by the Licensing Authority. It is also proposed to issue provisional driving licences to enable a holder, when accompanied by a qualified driving licence holder who has held their licence for more than two years, to drive a motor vehicle. Easier hire purchase terms have made it possible for a motor car to be paid for over three years.

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Educational Administration

I cannot believe that the present administrative set-up in the Education Department, an inheritance from the colonial days, is really necessary. There is a Director, a Deputy Director, and three Assistant Directors. In the field of primary education, there are no fewer than 12 superintendents of schools. This all adds up to a top-heavy administrative superstructure, particularly now that there is a Minister of Education in whose name all decisions are taken.

The retirement of Messrs Snell and Glover opens the door to an overdue reorganization of the administration of the Education Department, a reorganization which the Minister will not be loth to carry out. I would tentatively suggest that since the Minister is ultimately responsible for the administration of his department, this should be recognised and the style of the Director of Education be changed to that of “Chief Education Officer.”

At present, the Director has a Deputy, three Assistants, and a Chief Finance Officer. I suggest that the duties of all these five gentlemen could be shared between two only; these two would be styled “Deputy Chief Education Officer (Finance)” and “Deputy Chief Education Officer (Administration).” The Chief Superintendent of Schools should remain but under a different style: Chief Inspector of Schools, with powers of inspection over all schools, not just primary. His salary, like the salaries of both deputy chief education officers, could well be no more than Rs 24,000.

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