Miscellaneous News

From Our Archives – A Glimpse into 1961

By Peter Ibbotson

Up to the beginning of this century, Afrikaans was virtually a dialect spoken by only a very few people in South Africa. Today, it is one of the official languages of the Union; it has its own literature in both poetry and prose. The rise of Afrikaans is due to fervent white African nationalism; however one may disapprove of Afrikaner nationalism, one must recognize that it has raised the status of the language.

In this connection, it is interesting to note that there is a growing demand in both Kenya and Tanganyika, among the Africans themselves, for a lingua franca that can be used across all the territories; former claims for tribal languages to be taught are being replaced by demands for colony-wide teaching of Swahili — not hitherto regarded as a “national” language — side by side with the teaching of English. And in the Maldives, that little-known sultanate in the Indian Ocean, it has just been decided to introduce English as the language of instruction in primary schools; the British Council has been entrusted with the task of recruiting the necessary teachers from the UK. The reason given by the Maldivian government is that the introduction of English will make it easier for Maldivian students to continue their education overseas, with a consequent opening of the field for higher learning.

University for Mauritius?

It was with great pleasure that I read the interview with Mr Beejadhur in Advance recently. His announcement that Dr Lockwood is to visit Mauritius later this year to examine the prospects of establishing a university college is yet another proof of the Minister’s love of education, as well as of his burning desire to further the cause of education in all its aspects.

The pleasure which I felt on reading the interview was in no way diminished, of course — indeed, it was heightened — by finding that the Minister’s proposals coincided with suggestions I had put forward in these columns some time ago. Indeed, remembering earlier articles on other subjects and correlating them with what has actually happened or is proposed to happen, I might well urge the editor to adopt as the paper’s slogan: “What the MT says today, Mauritius does tomorrow.”

Housing

In the Tribune Ouvrière issue of 19–25 January, I read a report, originally from a Russian source, to the effect that in the USSR it is expected that soon everyone will have an average of 9 metres of living space; the comment is that this is just about the space per prisoner in US prisons. The Tribune Ouvrière might well reflect on the necessity of first putting one’s own house in order. How many Mauritians have as much as 9 meters of living space?

As I write, I have before me photographs of workers’ habitations in Cassis and Roche Bois. One is an old railway passenger carriage, made into two rooms, occupied by two families totalling 12 persons including children. Another is a three-roomed shanty occupied by three families totalling 13 persons in all. A third is a shanty made of petrol cans, comprising two small rooms for 9 persons including children. Have these unfortunates got 9 metres of living space each?

Another paragraph in the same issue of Tribune Ouvrière refers to a news item from the Czech paper Rudé Právo, in which the paper says that large families do not need many rooms: “Deux soeurs et deux frères devraient coucher dans la même chambre.” The editor of Tribune Ouvrière has seen fit to add the headline ‘promiscuité en Tchécoslovaquie’ to his paragraph; he could hardly complain, therefore, if the editor of Rudé Právo were to tell Czechs of the deplorable housing conditions of many Mauritian workers (the samples I have quoted are typical) under the Czech equivalent of ‘promiscuité à maurice’.

Such overcrowding is regrettable, but it is inevitable where, as in Mauritius, you have a high birth rate coupled with a colonial economy geared to monoculture. As long as there are big families, there will be overcrowding; and there will be big families just as long as there is no widespread family planning. Family planning leads to smaller families; smaller families mean less pressure on houses and fewer people per house (or room).

If Tribune Ouvrière is serious about wishing to see less overcrowding and more living space per person in Mauritius (and it ought to be serious about this, since it is so concerned about what happens in Communist countries; charity, after all, begins at home), it can help by asking for, not campaigning against, family planning facilities to be made freely available all over Mauritius. Only a vigorous campaign in favour of family planning, and its enthusiastic adoption by Mauritian men and women, can relieve the tremendous pressure on the living space at present available in Mauritius.

It is, of course, even worse in such colonies as Hong Kong. There, the housing shortage is so acute and the poverty so bad that unutterably dreadful devices are employed by people who want somewhere to sleep. It is not uncommon for a landlord to fit out a house or hovel not with beds, but with shelves along the walls. These shelves are let to homeless persons; not by the month, or by the week, or by the day, but by eight-hour stretches.

A woman with a child rents a shelf to sleep on for a period of eight hours. When her time is up, she is turned off, and another woman takes her place for the next eight hours. After her, yet a third woman uses the shelf for eight hours. Never at any time of day is the shelf not occupied by someone resting. The Hong Kong government is doing what it can to alleviate overcrowding and poverty and supports the local family planning organisation, which is supported also by influential citizens and organisations such as the Jockey Club.

There is evidence that efforts for family planning are meeting with some success in Hong Kong, as elsewhere where there is abject poverty and gross overcrowding which can be alleviated by family limitation. The same policy could help Mauritius.

Sugar

The annual general meeting of Messrs. Tate and Lyle was held in London on January 25, and in his speech, the Chairman, Sir Ian D. Lyle, referred to the effect of the Cuban revolution on world sugar prices and prospects.

“All sugar countries of the world would like to share in the expanding and remunerative United States market,” he said, “and all are hoping to catch the eye of the Administrator responsible for the allocation of quotas. The West Indies sent 83,000 tons to the United States last year and has received a token allocation of 9,000 tons for the first quarter of 1961… The chance of being able to send sugar to the States has prompted many countries to remove restrictions on output.

“There has been no compensating shortening of crop by Cuba; indeed, there have been references by Dr Castro to large quantities of sugar which will be available at knock-down prices. These factors, taken in conjunction with bumper Continental beet crops, have kept the price of sugar low. It stands today c.i.f. London at 27s. 3d. per cwt., which is 2s. 9d. per cwt. below the lower bracket of the price range of the International Sugar Agreement. The market does not look for any marked improvement in these prices in the near future.”

This gloomy outlook, voiced by so authoritative a person as the chairman of Tate and Lyle, underlines the necessity for some diversification of the present Mauritian monoculture and the equal necessity for no delay in putting the Meade Report into practice.

8th Year – No 336
Friday 10th February, 1961

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 15 May 2026