Enclosure 2*
201
Fon. Colonial Secretary,
I submit a copy of a letter from a Labour Agency
in Singapore regarding labour for Sarawak Government
Collieries. The terms proposed are objectionable in various
Tays:-
(a) They are not sufficiently detailed e.g. nothing is said about clothing, sick leave, medical attendance, hours of work, or holidays. The local agent (Ngai Keo) has a
Chinese versien which deals with the first and last of these
and shows a sliding scale of wages of which 50 cents per
diem is the minimu,
(b) The debt of $40 seems to be account passage-money, not„ as is usual, an advance of wages. The latter seems to have
been approved for various other contracts, though in theory
the labourer has to be an absolutely free agent on arrival
at his destination. In any case it seems desirable to have
it stated that no indebtedness on the part of the labourer shall justify his detention after his contract period is up: (c) Passages should be paid back to the labourer's place
of erigia, or at least a fixed sun should be payable to him
en arrival here to cover cost of repatriation.
(d) The idea of putting boys under 18 inte coal mines is
net attractira:
2+
I suggest that we should write to the Government
of Sarawak and request them to address us direct with full
details if they want our assistance in recruiting labour for
government undertakings.
11th March, 1925.
(8d.) D. V; Tratman,
Bearetary for Chinese
Affairs.