equally scathing verdict after a short visit to mauritius in 1967. this was well encapsulated in the title of the piece he wrote, and which he obviously liked as he retained it as the title of his subsequent book, which included the mauritius piece along with several other longer articles of his. what was the title? “ the overcrowded barracoon ” mauritius was not just reducing visiting world bank experts and noted political and social commentators to despair. the contagion engulfed such famous academics as richard titmus, the noted sociologist, and the future nobel economics prize - winner sir james meade. for them, and for many others who followed, mauritius was sinking under the weight of runaway population growth which its sugar economy could not conceivably bear. the country ’ s economic future looked dim and its citizens were leaving its shores in droves looking for better prospects elsewhere – australia, canada, south africa and the united kingdom. another bugbear exercising the minds of knowledgeable observers was that the country was heading for a monumental blow - up. surely, half a million people of diverse origin, − african, asian, european, − practising many religions and speaking a babel of languages, could not survive on this crowded, impoverished island. they were bound to be at each other ’ s throat as soon as the colonial overlord left. bis central bankers ’ speeches mauritius had indeed come down in the world. to understand the full impact of this decheance, it would be good to remind ourselves that, much earlier, during the height of the colonial struggle after vasco da gama had rounded the cape of good hope in search of the riches of the indies, mauritius was at the centre of the colonial scramble for position in this part of the indian ocean. a favourable location in the indian ocean, added to the prevailing trade winds, turned mauritius into a staging post of choice for sailing ships on their way to india and the dutch east indies. we proudly sport a relic of those glorious days, in our national coat of arms : stella clavisque maris indici. the star and the key of the indian ocean − no less! by the time of james meade and the others, sugar, which was the mainstay of the economy had earned the country the reputation of sugar bowl island. and sugar was rapidly running out of steam. the economic problem had been reduced to a race between population and productivity. the star had definitely lost its shine and the key was

glenn stevens : remarks at the launch of the official australian renminbi clearing bank remarks by mr glenn stevens, governor of the reserve bank of australia, at the launch of the official australian renminbi clearing bank. sydney, 9 february 2015. * * * premier, consul general, mr chen, distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the invitation to say a few words on the occasion of the launch of the bank of china ( sydney ) as the official renminbi clearing bank here in australia. today ’ s events mark an important step in the further development of a local renminbi – or rmb – market. but more than that, they mark one more step in a lengthy and very important journey that has seen the flowering of trade relations between china and australia, and which promises benefits from the maturing of financial ties. on its own, the key direct benefit of the official australian rmb clearing bank is that it can more efficiently facilitate transactions between australian firms and their mainland chinese counterparts using the chinese currency. bank of china ( sydney ) ’ s “ official ” status – which was granted by the people ’ s bank of china ( pbc ) – affords it more direct access to the chinese financial system, with flow - on effects for local financial institutions and their customers. but an official australian rmb clearing bank also confers some indirect benefits on the australian financial sector and its customers, particularly when viewed as one element of a broader range of initiatives. in particular, the establishment of the clearing bank helps to raise awareness among australian firms that the local financial system has the capacity to effect cross - border rmb transactions on their behalf. this is important, because over the long run, chinese firms may increasingly wish their trade with australian firms to be settled in rmb. to be sure, today the bulk of global trade is settled in us dollars. but with china now a very large trading nation, and continuing to grow into a “ continental sized ” economy, it would be surprising if at some point we do not see much more use of china ’ s currency for trade purposes. already its usage is growing quickly, if only from a small base. so australian firms and the australian financial system need to be well prepared. to that end, the rba has been directly involved in several initiatives, with the aim in each instance being to ensure that there are mechanisms in place that allow the private sector to increase its use of the chinese currency as and when it chooses