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able. They could be handed from one man to another, and provided the man belonged to the same district and gave the name that was on the ticket, there was no means of identifying him unless you personally went to the Registrar General's Office, and even there you could get no further information. So far as I remember, there was no pho- tograph to any of these certificates. The Ordinance did not provide for it and I think I may say Mr. Cecil Smith, Mr. Tonnochy and Mr. Lister all took up the position that the master had no right to endorse on the registration certificate anything whatever except the day on which the servant left his employment. The Registrar General was supposed to put on the date when the coolie or servant was employed and the master was supposed to enter in the last column the date when the servant was dismissed or left and he was not allowed to put any remarks on the ticket.
Q.-Had he been allowed to put any remarks-good or bad-it would have been a more useful certificate ?
A. Yes, I think so.
Q. What do you think would be the best way of preventing transfers ? A.-Photographing the coolies would help to prevent transfers.
Q.-Do you know whether it was a common practice to take servants without cer- tificates?
A. Very shortly after my arrival here, nobody bothered their heads about certi- ficates but took servants as they were whether they had certificates or no.
Q. Do you remember of anybody being prosecuted for a breach of the Ordinance? A.-I don't remember any European being prosecuted.
Q.-To what do you attribute the lack of prosecutions?
A. To the fact that it was found not to work satisfactorily. I mean that people would have availed themselves of the Ordinance if they thought it was of any use.
Q.-I understand from one of your last remarks that you think photography would be a means of checking transfers ?
A. That would be one means of checking them.
Q.-Can
Q. Can you suggest any other means?
A.- Of course the matter may be looked at differently if you are considering the question of boys, but if you are simply considering the question of coolies, photography, to my mind, is of very little assistance.
Q.-Why?
A.-In my own experience in the Courts here I have seen two people swear dia- metrically opposite as to whether a photograph represented a person standing before the Judge. While the photograph remains the same, a man changes his looks after a few years. For instance, supposing a man goes into mourning for his father, he would have to grow his hair. Of course that entirely changes his aspect. There is also the change of clothes and change of get up.
Q. Would you advocate the affixing of a finger mark?
A. The difficulty is to identify by finger mark.
for a
Mr. Budeley.-Would you say a new photograph for each change of employer?
A. The employers change so much here. There are very few Europeans that remain resident in the Colony for ten years at a stretch, and, when they go away year or eighteen months, after three or four years' residence, unless it is a superior ser- vant like a house boy, I don't think they would remember the face. I can't remember my own coolies.