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A.I suppose they would be. It would have been a dangerous thing for the coolie because he could easily be found out by parties who knew the people. People were very lax then, but we did not have the trouble we have now. My cook brought three good characters the other day, but each of the names given him was totally differ-
He said each of the names were bis.
ent.
Q. Did you take him on?
A.—Yes, we have him. We were obliged to have him as we had no cook, and he is a very good one, it turns out.
Q.-In those days, the registration tickets were in the hands of the Registrar General. He issued them and endorsed the dates ?
A.—I am not so sure about the endorsing. Parties endorsed themselves the date of leaving service.
Q.-Don't you think it would be better in the event of registration being re-intro- duced that it should be conducted by the Police ?
A.—Yes, I should certainly think so.
Q.-The Police being an administrative department and the Police having a know- ledge of a great many bad characters, and the fact being that a great many domestic servants now in employ are known to have been bad characters?
A. And they would not get certificates and that would do away with half of the servants in the place practically.
The Chairman.-In your opinion, it would be much more effective if the register was kept at the Central Police Station than in the old days when it was kept at the Registrar General's Office?
A. Yes, I would say so certainly. The Police are more likely to know bad characters. It is more a department for them to deal with.
Mr. Badeley.-Would they not fear it might stamp them all as rogues having to do with the Police ?
A.It might cause greater difficulty in getting men to be registered.
The Chairman.-It might have that effect at the start.
Mr. Wilcox.--Yes, our difficulty would be at the start, but then it would run smoothly after.
The Chairman. But that would be got over if the Government and inhabitants were to stand firm. Do you think it would help if registration were without any fee? In the old days, the fee was 25 cents.
A. Yes; with a Chinaman that always tells.
Q.—I suppose that, as a rule, the master always paid it before?
A. There was no trouble. I have known masters give coolies the registration fee and they have gone away and never been seen again.
The Chairinan. That is another reason why there should be no fee.
Mr. Badeley.—I suppose that in those days, Mr. Cohen, the foreign community was very small and everybody knew everybody else?
A. Yes.
Q.--And if a coolie brought you a character purporting to be from some last employer, the employer would be somebody you knew quite well and you could ask him? You would have no difficulty in making inquiries, but now it is quite different?