{"id":3903,"date":"2015-11-08T13:55:04","date_gmt":"2015-11-08T13:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2015\/11\/08\/mt-60-years-30\/"},"modified":"2017-08-29T11:14:06","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T07:14:06","slug":"mt-60-years-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/mt-60-years-30\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian Immigration saved Mauritius"},"content":{"rendered":"

Glimpses of Mauritian History<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The planters feared that the slaves who were liberated in 1834 might refuse to work in the fields. Their worst fear came to be true. Eugene Bernard, who lived in those times testifies to the fact that, \u201cles affranchis ont un si grand m\u00e9pris pour tout ce qui rappelle les obligations de leur premier \u00e9tat, qu\u2019ils se croient\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Carie, in a lecture delivered on the 11th April 1919, uttered some words which are to the same effect. <\/span>He said, \u201cLe souvenir de l\u2019esclavage les \u00e0 tout jamais \u00e9loign\u00e9s du travail des champs. \u00bb <\/span><\/p>\n

Very few of those who had worked under the whip, agreed to go the cane-fields once they were free. Many of them emigrated to the towns where they took to crafts or to idling; others settled down on the coastal villages where they snatched a living from the sea. Those who accepted to work for the planters only did so for exorbitant prices. Disaster stared the sugar magnates in the face. The \u201caffranchis\u201d refused field-work which cruelly reminded them of their servile toil \u2013 many of them still bore the marks of the corrective whip upon their bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe chief charge against the negroes,\u201d writes Rev P. Beaton, \u201cafter their emancipation was that their women instead of working in the fields as they had been wont to do before, preferred remaining at home nursing their children.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The planters turned towards India for the recruitment of labourers to save themselves from threatening ruin. It was in 1834, Mr Arbuthnot, an agent of Mauritian planters was able to recruit 36 labourers. By 1837, 7000 Indian immigrants had already landed in our island.<\/span><\/p>\n

Immigration was not looked upon favourably in India. In England, the Abolitionists who had done so much for the abolition of slavery did not want indentured labourers to be only another name for slaves. Lord Brougham denounced immigration in the House of Lords. In January 1838 a resolution was moved which condemned the Order in Council which had permitted immigration from India to Mauritius and to the West Indies. The motion of Lord Brougham was defeated in spite of all that he did to have it passed. However, the agitation in England round the question of immigration had its effect in India. A public meeting was held in Calcutta which moved resolutions against immigration. Commissions were appointed both in India and in Mauritius to study the question.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the suspension of immigration had come as a bombshell upon the planters. Public meetings were organised in the island demanding that Indian Immigration should continue. <\/span>In the book of Edwards on Mauritius, we read: \u00ab Le 12 octobre 1838 les colons r\u00e9unis en plusieurs meetings demand\u00e8rent l\u2019immigration indienne pour remplacer les esclaves aux champs\u2026 On fit droit \u00e0 la requ\u00eate, des colons et l\u2019autorisation formelle de l\u2019immigration indienne causa beaucoup de joie aux planteurs. \u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no denial of the fact that had Indians not come to the rescue at such a critical period of her history as that which immediately followed the liberation of the slaves, Mauritius would have been lost. Most of the writers who have written on this subject pay glowing tribute to the swarthy Orientals who by the sweat of their brow and their brawny sinews helped to make of this island what it is today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIl est vrai,\u201d writes the author of L\u2019Evolution Nationale Mauricienne,\u201d que l\u2019Indien nous a rendu service en cultivant notre sol abandonn\u00e9 par le noir, et en nous permettant ainsi de lutter avec succ\u00e8s contre la concurrence mondiale.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Clement Charoux has drawn a graphic picture of Indian Immigration in the following passage : \u00ab Le voie est ouverte \u00e0 l\u2019immigration asiatique qui d\u2019abord timidement, par la seule initiative priv\u00e9e, plus tard officiellement organis\u00e9e, permettra le d\u00e9veloppement sans cesse plus consid\u00e9rable de notre industrie. Les cultures, les sucreries se multiplient. L\u2019\u00eele Maurice va planter, vivre\u2026 \u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n

(Friday 15th July 1955)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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