PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
882
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC.
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
(Confidential,) Sir,
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No. 8.
The Earl of Kimberley to Governor the Hon. Sir A. Gordon.
Downing Street, September 11, 1871. WITH reference to my despatch No. 152 of this day's date, commenting on the serious state of affairs which has been brought to light by my inquiries as to the existence of suicide amongst the Indian population of Mauritius, I should wish you to report to me confidentially whether, in your opinion, a Commission of Inquiry into the general condition of the coolies, similar to that which has lately visited British Guiana, would be advisable in the case of Mauritius.
Sir,
I have, &c.
(Signed)
KIMBERLEY.
No. 9.
Colonial Office to India Office.
Downing Street, September 12, 1871.
I AM directed by the Earl of Kimberley to transmit to you, for the information of the Duke of Argyll, with reference to your letter of 1st June on the subject of the frequency of the crime of suicide among the Indian emigrants in Mauritius, a copy of the correspondence which has since taken place between this Department and Sir Arthur Gordon.*
I am, &c.
(Signed)
No. 10.
R. H. MEADE.
Governor the Hon. Sir A. Gordon to the Earl of Kimberley,―(Received September 23.) (No. 126.) My Lord,
Mauritius, August 11, 1871.
IN my despatch No. 113 of the 27th ultimo, I have, in reply to your Lordship's Circular of the 24th May, stated my opinion that marriages between Indian immigrants and the Creole population are not of materially more frequent occurrence now than formerly, and that I cannot, on the ground of any supposed diminution of the repulsion mutually felt by both races for such unions, advocate any reduction in the proportion of females required in immigration from India.
2. At the same time it is right that I should mention the fact that the dispropor tion between the sexes among Indians resident in this Colony has greatly and steadily diminished during the last twenty years, and appears to bo still further diminishing.
3. In 1850 the proportion of females to males in the immigrant population was only 21.3 per cent.; in 1855 it was 28-0; in 1860 it was 4012; in 1865 it was 46·8; in 1870 it was 50·1.
4. In 1840 the number of female immigrants resident in the island did notamount to more than 5 per cent. of the male population.
5. This change is attributed by the Protector of Immigrants-
(1), To the large preponderance of males over females in the departures from the Colony during the past thirty years,
(2.) To deaths having occurred among men not only in much greater number but in a much higher ratio than among females,
6. The officer of the Civil Status reports in the same sapse; observing that the remedy for the existing disproportion of the sexes is to be looked for in "time, which appears to be tending slowly but surely to bring about the desired result by two separate and distinct processes the larger emigration of male Indians from the Colony, and the greater proportional mortality among the males."
7. Although they agree on these points, I may add that, whilst the Protector adduces as another cause of the approximation of the number of the two sexes, the fact that the births being numerically nearly equal, the ratio of female births is much higher than that of males, the officer of Civil Status notes the excess of male births as a disturbing influence retarding the accomplishment of the desired result.
• Colonial Office, No. 102, June 9; Governor, No. 116, July 28; Colonial Office, No. 152, September 11.
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8. Taking into consideration the extent to which the disproportion between the sexes has of late years diminished, the Protector of Immigrants thinks the proportion of females to accompany every shipment of immigrants might safely be diminished from 40 to 30 per cent.
9. I cannot, I own, say that I agree with him.
10. In the first place, I do not think it is probable or desirable that different rates should be sanctioned by Her Majesty's Government for different colonies, nor indeed do I consider it very desirable; for such an arrangement would, I think be very difficult to adjust satisfactorily.
11. In the next, it must be remembered that it is only after very considerable time that the sexes can be even approximately equalized by the processes to which reference has been made; such an equalization is certainly, as yet, far from being accomplished.
12. Lastly, even were the sexes already equal in number, or nearly so, in the island, I am inclined to think that the proportion of 40 per cent. is that which should still be exacted in all future immigration, and that Her Majesty's Land and Emigration Commissioners are perfectly correct in observing in their last Report that "the moral importance of procuring a reasonable proportion of women in the emigration is so great that no relaxation of the rule can be admitted ;" and that, " even if it should be necessary to incur additional expense, in order to make up the quota of women, that inconvenience must be encountered rather than risk the evil which would follow from emigration consisting in a larger proportion than at present of males."
13. I cannot, however, deny that great difficulty appears to be found in providing
a sufficient number of women; and, at the request of the Protector, I now transmit for your Lordship's consideration some extracts from a letter on this subject addressed to him by the Mauritius Immigration Agent at Calcutta.
14. It will be observed, however, that Mr. Eales also remarks on the difficulty of procuring male immigrants for Mauritius, and I confess that the conclusion which I should be disposed to draw from the facts dwelt on in this letter would be a different and wider one than that apparently contemplated by its writer.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
Inclosure in No. 10.
ARTHUR GORDON.
Extract from Letter of Emigration Agent, Calcutta, of May 25, 1871.
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*
•
•
IN your office letter of 15th April, 1869, I am directed to use my best endeavours to procure the necessary number of females from the districts in which the males are recruited.
Independent of the order above cited, which I have striven to carry out to the best of my ability, I have long been convinced of the desirability of such a salutary measure, but I regret to say that the means adopted to secure this object have not been as suc- cessful as I could have wished, owing to the very serious, and, I fear, increasing difficulty which I, in common with the other Colonial Agents, continue to experience in procuring a sufficient number of women of any class or from any district. Indeed, the difficulty recently became so serious in regard to the "Alumgee," as to compel me to apply to the Local Government for relaxation of the rule, in order to prevent a lengthened detention of the ship, which eventually sailed with less than her comple- ment, but this concession, though affording temporary relief subsequently, intensified the gravity of my position, as, under existing orders, any deficiency of females in one vessel must be made up in following shipments.
In forwarding to your office on the 21st of May, 1870, some correspondence with the Local Government on this subject, I took occasion to point out that a rigid adherence to an arbitrary rule, fixing the number of women to 40 per cent. must necessarily cripple my action, and sensibly increase the expenses of emigration to the Colony, and later experience materially strengthens this view of the case, supported as it has been by the testimony of the Jamaica Agent, as shown in the annexed extracts of a letter recently addressed to the Protector of Emigrants concerning the misconduct of a recruiter :-
"In reference to women being enticed from their homes under false pretences, where much is the case, I believe it is mainly to be attributed to the law, which
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