PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.882
2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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appreciated. But by a refusal to consider them you will lose much and gain nothing. You will, I fear, imperil your supply of labour, not from any exercise of authority, but because it will be impossible to keep from intending immigrants a knowledge of the broad fact that you have refused to consider the question of modifications in the law proposed to you, whilst the motives by which you have been influenced in doing so will be very imperfectly, if at all, understood. You will lay yourselves open to grievous misrepresentations, for no doubt your action will, in many quarters, be regarded (let no man dare to say that I imply it will be justly regarded) as a mere device to gain time, as a virtual admission that the proposals are not such as can be openly rejected, but the adoption of which it is endeavoured to stave off as long as possible, in the hope that they may chance to be overlooked by the Commissioners, or not enumerated in their recommendations. No; if you think these proposals bad in themselves, reject them. Your rejection must carry no little weight with it when the Commissioners meet. But, if you think them good, adopt them, and prove as you have often proved before, that you can approach the consideration of these questions in no narrow, selfish, or illiberal spirit. In Committee it is my intention to make a broad distinction between those proposals which may be said to be of spontaneous growth here, and those suggested from without. The former would have been proposed under any circum- stances, nor can I myself see why they should be deferred; the latter should, in my opinion, only now be proceeded with if they command unanimous assent.
What the merit of each Resolution may be, what may even be the expediency of pressing it at this moment, may be considered as we take them one by one; but I do hope that this Board will not refuse even to take into consideration proposals submitted to them on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, or decline to permit their Sovereign's Representative even to propose or to explain the motions of which he has given notice. Such a course could not, I fear, redound to the credit of the Board or of the Colony. Whilst the adoption of a few of the earlier Resolutions, with as little delay as possible, seems to me decidedly desirable, I shall not press the adoption of others unless they obtain a far more unanimous assent than I anticipate.
The adoption of the Resolutions would, I think, do good, but their rejection will. do a yet greater amount of harm. What the effect of that rejection would be else- where I will not ask. What would be its probable effect on intending immigrants you must be well aware. Depend upon it, gentlemen, that there is nothing which the enemies of immigration more carnestly desire, or which would more rejoice them, than the rejection of this motion, and from their point of view they are right, for nothing could inflict greater injury on your cause.
I now come to the Resolutions themselves. I will shortly summarize them, reserving to myself, if necessary, the right of subsequently treating in detail on each separately as it comes before you.
These Resolutions are, for the most part, separate and distinct propositions mutually independent. One or two no doubt are linked together, but only one or two. Your acceptance of the first is no reason why you should accept the others. Your rejection of the first is no reason why you should reject the others.
And here I will remark that, had these proposals been made separately, and at different times, as I hoped they would have been, it would have been manifestly ludicrous to have attached to them the grave character which they in some quarters are supposed to possess, and that it is solely the fact of their being presented together which has given them an artificial and unreal importance. That connection is the result only of circumstances, as I believe each might, and as regards the first, at all events, probably would have been suggested alone. Important of course any modifi- cation of law so vitally affecting the Colony must be, but taken separately it would not occur to the most passionate Conservative to suggest that an amendment of detail in a law which has been continually subject to changes, which only five years since. was radically recast, which is still full of complexity, on the subject of which my learned friend opposite tells me some thirty-seven different enactments are now actually in force, was a matter to ruffle the calmness of this Board, to excite the smallòst agitation, or by the wildest and most absurd enthusiasts to be distorted into a plan injurious to the Colony or reflecting on its honour.
The particular Amendment proposed in the first Resolution is one the adoption, and the carly adoption of which, you will hear, from his own lips, that the Protector, a most competent authority (the most competent here), attaches the utmost importance. It is one which my honourable and gallant friend on my right will tell you is recom- mended by a Commission over which he presided. It was advised by Mr. Marsh, after his mission to India, and it is counselled by your agents in that continent.
It is one
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which, if it commends itself to you, as I think it will, had manifestly better be adopted with as little delay as possible. The Protector tells you that it will greatly facilitate the engagement of men in India. Others tell you that it will rid the country of many undesirable inmates. I agree to a great extent with both. If you agree with these authorities and with me, you will not, I think, deem it necessary to wait before recording that opinion and giving effect to it.
Some persons say few Indians wish to return-that the proposed change is objectless. But even if this be so the change would not be objectless, for undoubtedly the knowledge that they can return if they choose will facilitate the work of recruiting, now daily becoming more difficult and more costly, whilst no harm will be done here.
It is my misfortune, or my good fortune, I hardly know which, seldom to take any extreme view. I do not think either that the measure will have no effect, as some seem to suppose, or that it will have such vast effects, as are suggested by others. At all events, I entreat you not to forget that whilst, on the one hand, recruiting will be rendered easier by its adoption, the difficulty of recruiting will be increased tenfold when it is found, not only that there is no return passage, but that this Board has altogether refused even to entertain the question.
I pass on to the second Resolution. This, too, is a subject which would naturally and inevitably have been brought before you, had there been no suggestion from home upon the subject, and had no other alteration in the law been proposed. The hardship involved in the existing law was forcibly presented to me by one of the learned Judges of the Supreme Court. I do not believe the provisions of the law represent the intention of the Legislature, or that it was ever intended that four months should clapse before cancellation of contract, on the ground of non-payment of wages, should be claimed. In fact, it is only necessary to present this state of things to the Board to secure its amendment. The proposal that the period at which cancellation can be claimed should be earlier than at present, is one to which no reasonable man can object, and it may be supported by all who concur in that view, whether they think the period at which it might be claimed should be one of weeks or months. I will, however, make no concealment of my own opinion; I think myself that, if the terms of the contract which provides for monthly payments be not observed, the immigrant should, if he chooses, except under the exceptional circumstances mentioned in the next Resolution, be at liberty to claim its cancellation. But that is only my own view. The Resolution may be equally voted for by all those who think four months too much, whether they wish to substitute for it a period of months or weeks.
The third Resolution (the parentage of which is not due to me) is merely a limitation of the second, and I have no doubt that, if that be adopted, the third will pass without demur.
The fourth calls for more notice. It is one of the few points of our present system in which I am disposed to think that any practical abuse really exists. The information which I have been able to collect induces me to believe that undue pressure is, as a matter of fact, sometimes placed on men to re-engage, and this is also the decided opinion of my honourable friend the Protector, and of independent gentlemen with whom I have conversed.
But as this Resolution will be pressed on your attention by those more competent than myself to speak with regard to it, I will pass on to the fifth, merely observing that in the preparation of any Ordinance on this subject it would probably be necessary to insert a clause to protect the employer from possible injury.
I have now come to the end of those provisions which I wish to urge on your immediate attention. The others I do not mean to press.
That some modification of the present system of medical attendance is needed, will, I think, be admitted by every one. I have laid on your table, in order that Í may formally refer to it, the official Report of the late case at Savanne. I will read
you what the Protector has reported to me but lately:
to
"7. The hospital system organized on the estates under the law now in vigour, is, in my opinion, decidedly faulty. I do not allude to the irregular carrying out of the system by the Medical Officers, who neglect their duties and transgress the law. That is an evil which is obviously remediable by administrative action. I refer to the system itself, which, I think, requires a fundamental change.
"8. In the first place, I should propose that the Medical Officers attending the estate hospitals be placed on the list of Government servants, and in the receipt of salaries paid from the public Treasury, with the view of bringing them completely