PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON
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certain fixed wages. In some cases, however, food is to be supplied, or may be supplied, instead of a portion of these wages.
In Grenada, Antigua, and, I believe, St. Lucia and St. Vincent (though when I left the West Indies an alteration in the practice in those two Colonies was in con- templation) immigrants are paid wholly in money, no rations being allotted to them.* In Demerara they may be fed by the employer at his option, according to a prescribed scale, for the first four months after arrival; a proportionate deduction being made from their wages. In Trinidad they are fed for the first two years, but after the end of the first year the feeding may be discontinued, if the immigrant himself desire it, and proves that he can earn enough to feed himself, and if the immigration office permit it.*
In Jamaica they are fed for the whole five years of their first indenture, but at any time after three months' residence, they may obtain their whole wages in money, on the same conditions as in Trinidad."
In Mauritius the feeding is continued for the whole period of the first or any subsequently renewed indenture, without any option to either party.
Women (who are invariably indentured in the West Indies) are, as a rule, not indentured in the Mauritius, and consequently do not receive these rations, for the delivery of which, I may add, no time is fixed by law in Mauritius. In Trinidad they are to be (and are) delivered "daily and every day."
9. The period at which wages, or that portion of the wages payable in money, is to be paid, varies very considerably in different localities.
In Jamaica wages are paid weekly, except in the case of those receiving rations," who are to receive the balance of money due to them monthly. The rate of wages must not be less than 1a. a-day. In Demerara, wages also are to be paid weekly, and on the same fixed day in each week, at the same rate of wages that are paid to Creole and other unindentured labourers. This rate is practically a fraction over 18. a-day.
In St. Lucia wages are to be paid twice a-month, under a penalty of 101. or three months' imprisonment, and, if the Governor pleases, cancellation of the contract. They must be less than 18. per day, and half an acre of gardening ground is to be given to every male labourer."
In Trinidad wages are paid fortnightly, and must be paid in money. They are calculated, as in Demerara, on the wages paid to free labourers on the same estate, or in its neighbourhood. Practically, the rate is a little less than 1s. a-day.10
The same principle regulates the rate of wages in St. Lucia. In Grenada no rate of wages is fixed.
10. In Mauritius the contracts provide for the monthly payment of wages, but an enactment of the Colonial Legislature prohibits any immigrant from sueing for the cancellation of his contract, on the ground of non-payment of wages, until after the expiration" of "three months beyond the time at which such wages become due;" and as they only become due at the end of the month for which they are carned, it has been lately ruled by the Supreme Court that cancellation of contract cannot be claimed under this clause unless a period of four months has elapsed since the last payment of wages, When, moreover, a labourer obtains a Judgment against his master for wages due, the Magistrate is authorized to grant the master a delay, and, as in the schedule, the blank to be filled up by the Magistrate is followed by the word "months," it is clear that a long delay is contemplated. This delay is capable of further extension with the consent of the coolie.
The Government scale of wages for new immigrants varies from about 34d. a-day's in the first year. of indenture to about 5d. a-day in the fifth year. This, however, does not include rations, which may be taken to represent about 3d. a-day more.
11. In all coolie-employing Colonics the obligation to provide suitable and
* Mauritius, Jamaica, Demarara, Trinidad.
1 Demerara, Ordinance No 9 of 1868. Section 10.
3 Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Sections 26, 27, and 28.
* Jamaica, Act of 1869, Section 4.
Mauritius, Ordinance. No. 16 of 1862, Section 1.
• Jamaica, Act of 1889, Section 4, Proviso Act of 1869, Section 7.
* Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 103.
St. Lucia, Ordinance No. 1 of 1865. Section 241, and Sehodule B.
* Trinidad. Ordinance No. 13 of 1870. Section 57.
1o St. Lucia, Ordinance No 1 of 1865, Section 4.
Mauritius, Ordinance No. 15 of 1852, Section 11.
14 Mauritius, Ordinance No. 31 of 1867, Section 36: Government Notice 166 of 1868, Section 38.
Mauritius, Government Notice of 1868.
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sufficient lodging is uniform, but the modes of enforcing it, as also the estimate of what constitutes suitability and sufficiency, varies very greatly.
In Demerara1 the satisfaction of the Governor appears to be the test, and independently of the general power to remove immigrants from the estates, a special authorization to remove them is in this case given to him.
In Trinidad the sufficiency of the accommodation is defined by regulations of Government, and, besides the general power to cancel engagements, it is provided that the Governor may remove immigrants on the report of the Agent-General that the accommodation for them is bad or insufficient.
12. In Mauritius no definition is given of what the law requires, or what con- stitutes fitness for habitation. The law, therefore, depends for its application on the varying opinions of the different Magistrates who may be called on to hear complaints; but if it be proved before a Stipendiary Justice that the dwelling of an indentured immigrant is "insufficient, unhealthy, or otherwise unfit to be inhabited," the Magistrate may order the dwelling to be repaired within a certain fixed period, and require the employer to make an allowance of 3d. a-day to the labourer until he is properly lodged. Failure to comply with this order is punishable by a fine of 51., and the labourer may then, if he pleases, claim the cancellation of his engagement.
With regard to medical care, the provisions of the law are in all cases far more elaborate and precise. A hospital of some description is insisted on in immi-
every gration law, and in Trinidad, Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent, and Demerara® no immigrants may be allotted to an estate which is unprovided with one, or, in the case of Jamaica, with a share in an union hospital. The medical attendants on these hospitals are appointed, in Mauritius, and in most of the West Indian Islands, by the proprietor of the estate; but in Jamaica and Trinidad they are officers of the Government, named by the Governor.
The fimess and suitability of every hospital must, in Trinidad, be certified by the Agent-General or Inspector; in Demerara by the Inspecting Medical Officer; and in Mauritius by one of the Medical Inspectors, from whom, however, the proprietor may appeal to the General Board of Health.
This hospital must, 10 in Mauritius, have accommodation for three per cent. of the indentured servants. In Trinidad" the proportion required is 10 per cent.; and as ir that Colony the women and many of the children are indentured, whilst in Mauritius they are not so, the actual proportion of accommodation provided in Trinidad for the immi- grant population of an estate is, relatively, even greater than is apparently the case.
13. The Medical Attendant is," in Trinidad, obliged to visit twice a week, and, in Demerara, once in every forty-eight hours; and in both Colonies he may order the removal of any patient to a public hospital, whilst in his Report the Governor may withdraw the certificate" of the hospital, thus rendering the estate ineligible for the reception of immigrants.
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14. In Mauritius's no hospital is required if there are less than thirty men on the estate. If there are more than thirty and less than 200 the visit of the Medical Officer need be made only once a week; if there are more than 200, twice a week.
There is no power to order removal to a public hospital; and instead of the summary withdrawal of the certificates on the report of the Immigration Agent or Medical Inspector, the following provisions are made to insure the efficiency of estates hospitals.
1 Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Sections 103 and 119.
* Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 24.
* Trinidad, Regulations, June 25, 1870.
* Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Section 24.
• Mauritius, Ordinance No. 31 of 1867, Section 24.
• Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Section 30; Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864; Jamaica, Act of
1869, Section 27; St. Vincent, Act of 1857, Section 11.
7 Mauritius, Ordinance No. 29 of 1865, Section 12; Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 133; Jamaica, Act of 1869, Section 25; Trinidad, Ordinance 13 of 1870, Section 33.
• Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Section 31.
* Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section
10 Mauritius, Ordinance No. 29 of 1865, Section 25.
11 Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Section 30.
1 Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Section 34.
15 Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 189.
14 Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 146. 11 Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 147.
16 Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 186.
Trinidad, Ordinance No. 18 of 1870, Section 29.
18 Mauritius, Ordinance No. 29 of 1865, Section 2. 10 Mauritius, Ordinance No. 29 of 1885, Section 18.
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