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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TTC.O.882
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
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equitable towards the other classes of the community to expand so large a share of the public revenue, in supporting and maintaining the production of sugar.
"In regard to the first question, the balance sheet showing the receipts and expenditure for 1850, and which will be forwarded in a separate despatch, leaves an available surplus in the Treasury of about 25,000, and there seems no reason to expect a less favourable out-turn in the current and future years, but on the contrary, as agriculture and commerce extend their operations, which may, I think, now be reckoned on, our revenue must rise correspondingly, without any considerable increase of expenditure,-excepting 19,000l. per annum for the maintenance of steam commu- nication with Aden. This calculation does not include the reduction of existing taxation, which will be urgently pressed upon the Government, and the expediency of which I shall have an opportunity of discussing on a subsequent occasion.
"On the second point, the demand for labour, I have not had time to assure myself; but I am credibly informed that 9,000 annually are not more than are actually required, and the opinion of Sir George Anderson, which will be found in the 13th paragraph of his despatch referred to above, strongly corroborates this view of the question.
"On the third it may be sufficient to remark that, independently of the benefits derived directly or indirectly by all the industrial classes in the Colony from the successful cultivation of its soil, the stamp duty on engagements paid by the employer of labour realized 30,1011. in 1850, the whole cost of immigration for the year being about 47,0001. The export duty, also exclusively paid by the sugar growers, amounted during the same period to 40,5751. A reduction, however, of at least a portion of this latter tax is very desirable, whenever the state of the public finances will admit of it.
"In determining the extent of future annual immigration, which it would be safe and politic to authorize, the contingency of such misfortune and ruin befalling the Colony beyond the control of either planters or Government as would deprive the former of the means of employing the foreign labour introduced, and necessitate the return of the immigrants to their own country at the public expense, ought, as your Lordship has frequently observed, to be borne in mind and duly provided for. But, considering the vast improbability of so calamitous an event, involving the abrupt and total, or more than very gradual abandonment of sugar cultivation, I am inclraed to believe, and in this opinion I am supported by the Finance Committee here, that a reserve fund of not less than 25,0007. would be sufficient to guard against ultimate embarrassment, and to place this Government in a position to keep its faith and to redcem the obligations which it is held to have come under, namely, to provide free passages to all who demand them on the expiration of five years' industrial residence, or, on the occurrence of the contingency adverted to, to send back to India all whose term of residence had not expired, and for whom employment could not be found.”
4. Furthermore, it may be observed that present appearances indicate the proba bility of this year's crop being unusually large, rendering additional hands the more necessary to secure it, at a moderate cost, by effecting which the public resources will be augmented, and the revenue indirectly increased, so as to defray at least a portion of the outlay required for the additional 3,000 immigrants.
5. This is the bright side of the immigration picture, but there is a darker ona which those who govern the country are bound to look at, involving grave responsi- bilities, which we cannot escape from. I allude to the extent of social demoralization which is known to prevail amongst this class of the people, and to the numerous murders and other sanguinary crimes that have been committed both evils, and they are of no ordinary, magnitude, greatly aggravated, if not entirely produced, by the very limited number of female immigrants introduced in proportion to males. I am aware that, in this respect, some improvement has of late years been effected, as will be apparent from the accompanying Return which I have received from the Protector of Immi- grants; but I am of opinion that the period has arrived when some decisive step should be taken to more effectually remedy this huge temptation to vice and crime, the consequences of which are not only injurious to the Indians themselves, but may ulti- mately produce so damaging an effect on the character of our immigration from India s will throw serious impediment in the way of its successful operation. With this view I would recommend that, if it be resolved to fix the immigration for this year at 9,000, it should be subject to the condition that one-third of the additional 3,000 should be married persons.
The Protector of Immigrants has suggested that greater encouragement should be held out to respectable families to emigrate, and measures for this purpose are now under consideration.
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6. I have been in communication with the Judges of the Superior Court and the Procureur-General, who, as well as myself, are impressed with the conviction that every effort should be made to check the perpetration of the cool and deliberate murders which have of late so frequently come before the Courts, and which indicate so reckless a disregard of human life, both of the culprit's own and that of his victim. If Legislative interposition should be deemed necessary, I shall address the Council again on this subject.
7. It cannot be denied that to Indian immigration, backed by the energy and perseverance of the planters themselves, Mauritius in indebted for her ability to over- come the accumulated difficulties which all but overwhelmed her, and for the comparatively prosperous and encouraging position, both agricultural and commercial, which she now occupies. It may be affirmed with equal truth that the physical condition of the Indians who have resorted to our shores has been essentially improved. That on their first arrival the utmost vigilance is exercised to ensure them fair and remunerative engagements; that they are, with very rare exceptions, kindly and honestly treated by their employers, and that, on the termination of their industrial residence, they have the option of returning to their homes with the fruits of their labour, or of continuing to enjoy the advantages offered to them here.
8. These satisfactory results have not been brought about without a very large pecuniary outlay, entailing also prospective liabilities to no inconsiderable amount, and still we must not conceal from ourselves the fact that little progress has been made in obtaining a resident labouring population, in the absence of which permanent prosperity can never be assured; and in my judgment nothing will tend more to bring about this highly desirable object, and at the same time to wipe off the discredit attaching to the Colony from the prevalence of crime and immorality, than giving every possible encouragement to the immigration of married families and respectable females, by which, if some additional expense be incurred, it will be wisely and judiciously applied.
9. It is also to be observed that the value of education, as the best preventive of crime, and the surest guarantee of social order, cannot be too highly appreciated; and although the great majority of Indian adults, it is feared, may not be brought under the humanizing influence of sound moral instruction, the claims of their children ought not to be neglected. If they be permitted to grow up in stolid ignorance, and its never failing attendant, vice, all our efforts to create a stable, industrious, and well conducted peasantry, which has aptly been called the thews and ainews of a country, must prove unavailing. Under a profound consciousness of the obligations imposed on us, as well as of the benefits, both in a moral and material point of view, to be derived from the dissemination of practical and useful knowledge amongst the working classes, I invite the attention of the Honourable the Council to the importance of the question.
(Signed) J. M. HIGGINSON. Reduit, February 25, 1861.
Report of the Committee of Council on Immigration.
Present:
The Treasurer and Paymaster-General, President.
Auditor-General.
"
Messrs. H. Koenig.
P. Harel.
W. Forster.
Sir David Barclay, Bait. G. Fropier..
No. 1 of 851.
tion in 1881.
1.-Read: Minute of his Excellency the Governor, dated 25th instant, on the Increased immi subject of increasing the number of immigrants to be introduced this year to 9,000.
The experience of past years, which remains unchanged to the present moment, as to the want of labour felt by the planters,-the number of new as well as old immigrants who find advantageous employment in other than agricultural pursuits,- and the maintenance of a high rate of wages,--added to the prospect of an abundant crop in the approaching season, leaves no doubt in the minds of the Committee, that the introduction of 9,000 men in addition to the number wanting to make up the