2.6
him, and is willing to proceed. In every instance the cond
ions referred to are those of the contract which the laboure
will be required to sign on arrival at his destination. In
theory he is not obliged to sign; in practice it is most
unusual for a labourer to refuse to do so. It is in this
sense therefore that any real distinction between assisted
and indentured emigration has been denied.
3.
In addition to organised assisted emigration
under definite contracts, there exists beyond doubt a
considerable amount of unregulated "assisted" emigration.
Few Chinese labourers can be in the position to find their own passage money even to Singapore. They are recruited in large or small batches through the agency of Boarding Houses or individual recruiters and proceed to their destination under the guise of free enigrants. This leakage cannot be
checked.
The men go willingly and lie willingly if question- ed on the subject. It follows therefore that refusal of
facilities for recruiting does not in fact prevent men from being recruited and shipped from Hong Kong either direct or via other Chinese ports. The only result is that the traffic is driven underground or even away from Hong Kong and British shipping, while the labourers are deprived of the safeguards provided by the local ordinance.
The conclusion seems inevitable that so long as Chinese labourers are recruited and continue to engage themselves willingly to work under contract elsewhere than in China the system defined in Ordinance No.30 of 1915 is in the interest both of the employer and employee: Of the employer because he is less at the mercy of his recruiter and is better able to pick and choose his men if the recruiting is done openly at the port of shipment, and has moreover an assurance that the conditions of employment are known to the
labourers