Mauritius – A Time of Decision

Mauritius Times, 71 Years Ago

By Nina McKenzie

In April 1953, the then Governor of Mauritius appointed an investigating Committee to consider the problem of increase of population in relation to the economic resources and potential productivity of the island. This committee reported in 1955 and included in its recommendations that provision of family planning facilities should be undertaken within the framework of the social services. As a first step they suggested that the government should forthwith appoint a working party of medical and social experts to study the problem in relation to its local setting. Furthermore, it was also suggested that advice should be sought from the International Planned Parenthood Federation or the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. This was a majority report with only a few members of the committee dissenting.

Although this report caused much discussion in the local press the government took no action and it was not until 1958 that the population pressure on the island was again surveyed. Mr R. W. Luce, C.B., M.B.E., had recently investigated employment, unemployment and underemployment in relation to the proposed five-year plan and the facts set out by the Luce report were sensational. To quote only a few: 1. The population had increased by 20% over a period of 6 years; 2. The birth rate was higher than in any other part of the world; and 3. Much more than half the population was by age alone incapable of making a small contribution to the maintenance and development of adequate living standards!

A New Minister of Health

This report caused the Government of Mauritius to make a statement in Sessional Paper No. 8 of 1958, stressing the importance of slowing down and if possible, arresting the increase of population. They proposed the creation of a Government Information Department capable of reaching every member of the population charged with the responsibility for impressing on them the fact of overpopulation and the need for family limitations. At last, a small move had been made and the island looked forward to the elections which were held in early 1959. A Labour majority was returned, and the Hon. Guy Forget became Minister of Health in the Legislative Councils. Mr Forget had been one of the signatories of the 1955 investigating Committee and the Family Planning Association of Mauritius, which had been formed in October, 1957, with D. L. Teeluck, also a member of the Legislature, as President, had great hopes that the Government, with so much liberal opinion in the Council, would implement some of the findings in these reports. Great disappointment ensued when no mention was made in the Speech from the Throne on population pressure in relation to the proposed five-year Development Plan. The Hon. L. Teeluck made a courageous speech drawing attention to this omission. He praised the five-year Development Plan which was in front of the Council for discussion and asked in what way would this programme help Mauritius in 10 or 15 years’ time. He said that since the appointment of the investigating Committee in 1953 82,000 children had been born, and that in the very lifetime of the present generation the population of the island would have doubled itself. He thought that the prospect of the five-year plan being of any help would be largely mitigated by this appalling rate of population pressure. After marshalling all the facts and the pros and cons for birth control and the different religious attitudes to it. Dr Teeluck asked that the government should make use of hospitals, dispensaries and social centres to give advice on family limitations.

The Hon. Guy Forget, Minister of Health, stated in reply that the Government was at present studying this matter.

Barrage of Opposition

It again seemed as if the Government was not prepared for any positive action although individual ministers expressed their approval of some help being given to the Family Planning Association who were trying very nobly to bring the knowledge of family planning to the towns and villages on the island. With no recognition or help from the government and a continuous barrage of opposition from certain religious groups, it is understandable that the Family Planning Association can make little headway with this vast demographic problem until the government is prepared to legislate on the matter.

This was the position when I visited the island in 1959. I was given every opportunity to meet Ministers and officials of the government. All expressed their grave concern about the population pressure and the need for family limitation but as far as I could see little had been done with the one positive step that they had taken, namely the Government Information Department. The Minister of Health was just preparing to visit England to attend the International Churches Conference at Oxford, and during his stay here he visited the Family Planning Association and the IPPF and he was entertained by them. He showed great interest in all our work, and one felt that he would return to Mauritius imbued with the idea of positive action towards family planning work. In an interview which he gave to the Times he said that the greatest trouble in Mauritius was the familiar one of over-population, aggravated by the eradication of malaria and the rise in the general prosperity of the island during the years of better sugar prices. Mr Forget, himself a father of six, said that the average family was about seven children and although several family planning centres have been established, he felt that a much stronger remedy was needed. Emigration had been suggested but there was little or no room for unskilled workers or coloured immigrants in most parts of the world.

It must be said here that family planning cannot be the answer to the vast demographic problem in Mauritius but given the goodwill of the Government and its Ministers a great deal of educational work could have been done over the past six years through hospitals, dispensaries and social centres had the fear of religious opposition not tied their hands.

The Government Acts

With the arrival of a new Governor in October 1959 and the opening of the new session of the Legislative Council in April 1960 much was hoped for. Under the leadership of Professor R. M. Titmuss, of the London School of Economics, inquiry into social security and welfare had been carried out in late 1959 and early in 1960 Professor James Meade led an economic survey mission.

The reports of these missions had not been published when the legislature met on April 8th, 1960, but it is conceivable that the government had some idea of the most important findings in these reports especially as regards the social security measures which could be afforded. The island had suffered two devastating cyclones early in the new year and much rehabilitation work had to be done. It seemed that now was the time to face up to their overpopulation problem but again the Speech from the Throne made no mention of it and again Dr Teelock spoke at length and showed his great disappointment that the legislature was not prepared to debate the overpopulation problem which was so grave an issue for the island.

The Budget speech followed and after reviewing financial prospects and fiscal changes Mr Wilson, the then financial Secretary, put forward proposals for population control. He said that the government faced with the appalling rate of increase of population could not shirk its responsibility and therefore it had decided to provide an ante natal and post-natal family planning service all over the island”. He explained that this service would provide free advice on family planning, fit contraceptive appliances and provide appropriate materials for the voluntary adoption of different methods.

Import duties were to be removed on all preparations and appliances and if necessary, price control would be applied to keep them cheap. At the same time a massive educational programme would be instituted to popularise a three-child family since if this could be adopted the population of the island could be stabilised.

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Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 7 November 2025