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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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earry out the recommendations of the Committee, and contains provisions which are dangerous in principle and likely to be objectionable in practice.
I am bound to say that I cannot see the smallest justice in these strictures. The objections raised to the proposed measures are, I understand, chiefly three. First, that the Inspectors are not by its provisions placed sufficiently under the control of the Protector of Immigrants. Secondly, that the functions assigned to them are of too extended and inquisitorial a character. Thirdly, that the obligation imposed by the Ordinance upon the proprietary body, to send in certain Returns, is one the imposition of which was not recommended by the Immigration Committee, and one to which the employers of labour ought not to be subjected.
As the seventh clause of this Ordinance directs the Reports of the Inspectors to be made to the Protector, and enjoins their compliance with all lawful orders received from him, whilst by the fifth clause it is ordered that their visits to estates are to be made under his directions, provided a certain number of such visits be made within the year, I confess that the entire subordination of these officers to the Protector appears to me completely secured; but, should words be proposed by which in the opinion of the Board this subordination would be more clearly marked, I shall be perfectly willing to adopt them.
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The only points connected with these Inspectors on which any other authority than the Protector comes into play with respect to these Inspectors, are,
the following: Their appointment, which is vested in the Crown; the apportionment of their districts; the matters to which their Reports are to relate and the periods at which those Reports are to be made-which are to be fixed by the Governor; and the minimum number of visits to be paid by them, which is prescribed by the Ordinance itself.
The appointment of these officers could not be vested in the Protector unless they were to be of a class and consideration other than that which must be desired in those who are to discharge the functions hitherto performed by such officers as the Stipendiary Magistrates and Medical Inspectors; for it is a matter of regulation that, whenever any new office is created, the emoluments of which exceed 2001. per annum, the appoint- ments shall be vested in Her Majesty, her heirs, and successors.
As the Reports of the Inspectors are intended for the information of the Governor and of Her Majesty's Government, it is natural that the subjects of which they are to treat, and the periods at which they are to be made, quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly, should be fixed by the Governor. Moreover, this power as well as that of the assign- ment of districts, is one which has hitherto been usually vested in him, and could not, with equal convenience, be placed elsewhere; whilst, as regards the mininum of visits, experience has shown that if such duties are not fixed by statute, their regular perform- ance is not unlikely to be more or less neglected.
Let us then proceed to inquire whether the powers conferred on the Inspectors are indeed excessive, or such as justly to excite the alarm or susceptibility of the Planter?
I think this question must be answered in the negative by every impartial man. It has been sought in framing the Ordinance to include only those powers which are absolutely essential to an efficient inspection, and which are possessed everywhere where such inspections are enforced, that is to say, in every other Colony where Indian immigrants are employed.
No proposal has been made to confer on the Inspectors the powers of inflicting fine and imprisonment which they possess in Jamaica, or even the powers of examining on cath and issuing warrants of arrest which they possess in Trinidad. These powers are limited to the right to enter on estates, to examine books, and call for the production of such immigrants as they may desire to see. I can perceive nothing in these powers which ought to be offensive to the Planters, or which is not absolutely necessary to efficient inspection. That they have been so considered necessary in every other Colony, that they have been acquiesced in as a matter of course by communities not less sensitive, not less independent, not less worthy of confidence than that of Mauritius, will be clear from a glance at the papers which I now hold in my hand, and which I intend to place upon the table for the information of the Board. They consist of copies of the inspection clauses of the immigration laws of every British Colony.
I trust, therefore, that no honourable member will consider that the honour and dignity of the Planters are injuriously affected by these provisions; for, believing them to be absolutely essential to the efficiency of the law, I shall feel compelled to oppose any motion for their omission or modification, and I should be obliged to regard the success of any such motion tantamount to the rejection of the Ordinance itself."
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I now turn to the Article which renders half-yearly Returns obligatory on the part of employers. It is perfectly true that this Article was not suggested by the Committee; and to those who have not had practical experience of the working of inspection, it may not at first be apparent how necessary to its efficient operation such Returns are.
That Returns more accurate and reliable than those we at present receive are to be desired, will, at once, I think, be apparent if I read to the Board some of the Returns of Deaths upon sugar estates during the last three years, as furnished respectively by the Protector, the Stipendiairy Magistrates, and the Medical Inspector.
In most cases the Protector's figures and those of the Civil Status Returns agree; but in the district of Black River we have four different sets of figures as follows (ride Annexure).
For this, the smallest of the districts, I will read the detailed Returns which will show that, though the Civil Status Returns are the highest on the whole, they are, on five estates, less than those of the Stipendiary Magistrates.
[His Excellency here read the Returns to which he alluded, pointing out the discrepancies which existed in all of them.]
The bewildering effect of such conflicting statements, all equally entitled to credit, and yet evidently as a whole altogether unreliable, may well be imagined.
I will now read certain Returns as to the population on the sugar estates of the same districts during the first six months of the present year, taken from the Census and the Reports of the Magistrates and those of the Medical Inspectors for the half-year in which the Census was taken. You have probably had enough of figures, and I will, therefore, only say that often they differ widely and irreconcileably, sometimes to the extent of more than 100 on one estate.
The Planters are those best likely to be aware of the facts, and the most competent to return them accurately. This has been recognized in every other British Colony, and that a similar objection is elsewhere laid upon them; the papers I now place upon the table will prove this, whilst that an obligation not enforced by a penalty is likely to be disregarded, will hardly be denied.
I trust, therefore, that this clause, or one to the effect of that proposed, even if the words be modified, will, as a vital part of the scheme, be unhesitatingly adopted, although undoubtedly it was not in terms recommended to the Board by the Immigra tion Committee.
The absence of that recommendation, and the fact that to some persons its real connection with the object of this law might not be immediately apparent, led to a recommendation to me that this provision should be enforced, as it might have been, simply by the adoption of a Regulation in Executive Council under the Ordinance No. 31 of 1867. But, Gentlemen, I thought it more becoming and more candid to submit the question to your consideration at this Board, in the hope and in the confidence that you will not fail to perceive the necessity of the proposal, and to afford it your support. I have now, I think, replied to the most prominent objections urged against the law before us.
But if such a measure be in itself just and salutary, there are considerations which render its adoption at the present moment especially politic and expedient.
You are aware that there are those who wish to see immigration suspended if not prohibited. You are aware that they will take advantage of every weapon and of every opportunity to urge their views and attain their objects. You must also be aware that no more triumphant vindication of your position would be given than by the mere statement of the fact that, no sooner was the inefficiency of the present inspection system pointed out and recognized, than you at once applied a remedy and made good its defects.
It only remains for me briefly to touch on a more personal subject.
I am informed, on authority which I cannot doubt, that silly fables have been freely circulated and partially credited as to my views on the subject of immigration, and my intentions and actions with respect to it.
Gabble and tattle respecting mere personal acts of mine I do not stoop to notice, but my opinions on a great question of public policy vitally interesting to this island, may not unnaturally or improperly be a subject of curiosity; and, though reluctant to tako up your time with the expression, unsupported by argument, of individual expressions of opinion, I have no objection to declare them, if desired to do so.
Thrown, whilst yet almost a boy, into the thick of great affairs, twenty years have passed away since I was first compelled to givo serious attention to the question of Coolie immigration.
That question at once interested me, and I soon came to the conclusion that, if
obligation