Hong Kong or the Sarawak Agents, the Straits
would be
Settlements horribeen in danger of having a
number of sick or rejected emigrants dumped
at Singapore . As we have already heard in
separate papers, the Straits Settlements
Government are extremely anxious over the
overcrowding of the labour market in Singapore
and with the continued stream of Chinese
immigrants it is clear that they would not
wish to run the risk of having more immigrants
landed on them than can be avoided.
Moreover,
if recruitment of Chinese is necessary for
Sarawak, it seems clear that the Sarawak Agents
at Singapore could supply the necessary labour
direct from the Straits Settlements instead of
بی
indenting at Hong Kong.
5
(4) It will be seen from 33061/25 and 50678/25
that, as reards employment in the Sarawak Oil-
fields, it was proposed to take steps to substitute
Indian for Chinese labour. Whether this would
apply to employment in the mines as well, is
not clear.
To sum up. It would appear that the Governor's
proposal would be politically unwise and would,
in any case, involve a complicated system which
would tend to embarrass the Straits Settlements
who are already faced with serious difficulties
in dealing with the labour position. Moreover, it
is not clear that it is necessary to take any
steps for the recruitment of labour from Hong Kong
in view of the large number of surplus labourers
now flooding the Singapore market.
In