PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
ETC.O.882
2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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prescribes the number of women to be 40 per every 100 men embarked, and prohibits any ship from leaving the port without this number being on board.”
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When women are scarce, as in years of great plenty, such as the present, and when food is very cheap, they have little or no desire to emigrate; but in order to comply with the law and, at the same time, not run the risk of having to pay demurrage on the ship, the agents are forced to give extra pay and commission to recruiters to collect them, and this tempts unscrupulous men to commit illegal acts."
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The foregoing remarks exclusively refer to the scarcity of women, but in presence of an abundant grain-crop throughout the country and the active competition for coolie labour for other places which offer greater inducements, they are seen to apply with almost equal force to the labouring classes of both sexes generally, which for a time threatened a total stoppage of emigration to Mauritius, despite the extensive arrange- ments made and high rates of commission I have been forced to give in order to comply with the large number of unsatisfied requisitions, and it is not too much to say that every family shipped is a subject of contention and trouble from the first point of contact with the recruiter down to the latest moment of embarkation.
(No. 135.) My Lord,
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(Signed)
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C. EALES, Emigration Agent.
No. 11.
Governor the Hon. Sir A. Gordon to the Earl of Kimberley.
IN my despatch No. 117 of the 28th ultimo I informed your Lordship that, in
Mauritius, August 18, 1871. consequence of the miscarriage of papers which contained the greater part of my correspondence whilst Governor of Trinidad, and nearly all the notes taken by me during my residence in the West Indies, I had delayed the preparation of some obser- vations on the subject of immigration which I had wished to submit to your Lordship's consideration. These papers have not yet reached me, and in their absence I cannot make that minute and careful comparison between the systems of immigration which are followed here and in the West Indies which I had contemplated, and must confine myself to a mere sketch of the principal features of both, a sketch which, however, may not, I hope, be wholly uninteresting to your Lordship.
2. In so doing it is not my intention to express any opinion as to the superiority of the one or the other system, but simply to bring before your Lordship their points of divergence, leaving it to Her Majesty's Government to consider whether it is desirable that they should be brought into closer harmony, and if so, in what sense that assimila- tion should be effected.
3. A noticeable difference presents itself at the outset in the steps which are taken preliminary to the introduction of the immigrants.
In all the West Indian Colonies every proprietor desiring labour sends in to the Immigration Office before a fixed day in the year a statement of the number of coolies he wishes to be introduced for him.' The Government, in some cases with, and in other cases without, the concurrence of the Legislature, orders either that whole number, or any less number it thinks proper, it being entirely free to them to do so or not.
In Mauritius the requisition may be sent in at any time, and if accompanied by an engagement to pay the necessary expenses, must be forwarded to the Agent of the Colony in India to be complied with. There is no limit to the number of labourers which may be asked for, and no direction on the part of the Government as to the transmission of the application to India.
4. With the arrangements in India I have nothing now to do, nor is it necessary to my present object, which is simply that of a comparison, that I should refer to them, as the system there, so far as the law is concerned, is the same for all places to which coolie enigration is permitted, but there is, however, an important practical difference in its application.
In the case of all, or almost all, the West Indian Colonies the engagement made Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Sections 25 and 32; Grenada, Act of 1869, Sections 18 and 20;
8 Lucia, Antigua, St. Vincent, Trinidad, Jamaica.
1 Ordinance No. 6 of 1869, Sections 1 and 2; and Government Notice 166 of 1868, Sections 1 and 3.
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in India is one to serve in the Colony for five years' industrial service, the allotment of the labourers to any particular estate being left to the Colonial Government on their arrival1
In the case of Mauritius the engagement entered into in India is usually, I may say almost universally, an engagement to work on some particular estate to which the immigrant is at once forwarded on arrival in the Colony."
5. In all the West Indian Colonies the allotment to particular estates of the immi- grants who arrive is purely discretionary on the part of the Government, provided that no more immigrants are allotted to any estate than have been asked for; that the proper proportion of females is not exceeded; that children under fifteen are not separated from their parents or guardians, and that relatives, and in Demarara, even friends, are kept together as much as possible. Besides this general discretion allowed to the Government there are in almost every case conditions specified, under which allotment becomes absolutely illegal. In Antigua, for example, it is unlawful to allot to any proprietor whe is in arrear of any payments to Government on account of immigration. In Grenada no immigrant may be indentured to an estate on which there is not a proper hospital."
In Demerara it is not lawful to allot immigrants to an estate on which there is no hospital, or on which the mortality in the previous year has been double that of the average mortality of coolies throughout the Colony in the same year," and also double that of the same class of the population for the five preceding years.7
In Trinidad it is not lawful to indenture an immigrant to any estate on which there is not a proper hospital; to any estate where the mortality during the preceding year has exceeded 7 per cent. of the indentured labourers employed therein; or to any estate where 15 per cent. of such labourers have failed to earn an average of 6d. a day for the previous twelve months."
In Mauritius there is apparently nothing which legally disqualifies an estate from having the labourers allotted to it, for which requisition has been made; whilst the Government is as entirely without discretion in this matter as it is in respect to the forwarding of requisitions to India. No distinct provision is made as to the non- separation of parents and children.10
6. The allotment itself takes place in Demerara on board ship, from which (as also
in Mauritius) the immigrants pass at once to the estate."
In Trinidad and Demerara they are, before leaving the ship, medically examined ; those requiring it being sent to the Colonial Hospital, and in Trindidad the remainder are landed on an island, where they undergo a second closer inspection, and enjoy a few days rest; a further number being sent to hospital, and others not sufficiently ill to be so treated, but in feeble condition, retained at the island until well enough to work.
I have no knowledge of the course pursued in other ports of the West Indies, except Grenada, where the law is nearly identical with that of British Guiana.
There are no similar provisions in the Mauritius law, though, as a matter of fact, I believe immigrants are medically examined on arrival.
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7. The next point to consider is the provision made by law for the proper treatment and maintenance of the immigrants after their arrival on the estate, where, for the next five years at least, they are bound to reside.
8. The contract in all cases provides that they should be supplied with suitable and sufficient lodging and medical attendance; and shall receive at specified times,
116 of 1862, Sections 5 and 6.
Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Sections 32, 35, 36, and 37; St. Vincent, 1862, Sections 7 and 8 ; › Antigua, 1862, Section 33; Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Section 15; St. Lucia, Ordinance No. 1 of 1865, Section 4; Grenada, Act of 1869, Section 20.
1871.
Antigua, Act of 1862, Section 35.
* Grenada, Act of 1869, Section 13.
* Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864.
• Lord Granville's despatch No. 192 cf 1870, referred to in Lord Kimberley's Circular of the 16th March,
7 Trinidad, Ordinance No. 18 of 1870, Section 30.
• Section 66.
• Section 65.
10 Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 38.
11 Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 34; Grenada, Act of 1869, Sections 21 and 22; Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Section 16.
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