ABSTRACT
Mauritius introduced workmen's compensation legislation in 1931. It was one of the first British colonies to do so. The Workmen's Compensation Ordinance repealed two earlier statutes, one of which provided for the payment of "fair and reasonable compensation" to workers injured by aloe fibre machinery, while the other, enacted as early as 1888, made similar provision for the victims of boiler explosions, whether employed or not. The Secretary of State, Lord Passfield, was so impressed with the Workmen's Compensation Bill that he dispatched copies to other colonies in 1930 with the suggestion that they use it as a model in drafting their own workmen's compensation laws. Experience both in Mauritius and elsewhere showed that the Ordinance was not without defects, and in 1937 a new Model Ordinance was drawn up.* However, the Mauritius Workmen's Compensation Ordinance of 1931, although frequently amended, remains in force to this day, with most of its defects unaltered.
