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Hongkong is also at a great disadvantage. He can give the
emigrant only very vague information as to the terms of the
contract that he will be required to enter into: the emigrant
may be called on to work in the Straits Settlements, in the
Federated Malay States, in the Dutch Indies or in British North
Borneo since labour contracts for all these places are entered
into by the Straits Government with emigrants from Hongkong: his
work may be coal-mining, tin-mining, rubber-planting or tobacco
planting: the method by which he is to be remunerated, the
length of the term of his contract, both differ according to
the country he goes to or the nature of his occupation. The
5,000 Sinkhehs (assisted emigrants) from Hongkong who signed
contracts at Singapore during the months December, 1910, to
March, 1911, are scattered all over the neighbouring countries:
850 are in the Straits Settlements, 1,150 in the Federated Malay
States, 1,440 elsewhere in the Malay Peninsula, 1,060 all over
the Dutch Indies from Acheen to Borneo, and 500 in British
North Borneo and Sarawak.
4.
The contract emigrant on the other hand
on his departure from Hongkong would be in a much better posi-
-tion. The exact terms of the contract and the place of labour
would be explained to him: if he disliked them he would be sent
back