PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
། ། ། ། ། ་།
Reference :---
C.O. 882
8
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
Time and
made of
application
for licence
at port ent
of the
Colony.
First Schedule.
Power to
grant
general Hoence
Power to
authorise
engagement
for service in British Possesion or Porsiga Country.
8
2. Section 8 of the Principal Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following section is sub- stituted in place thereof :—
"8. Whenever any Chinese passenger ship, which is not provided with a licence covering her intended voyage, is about to proceed with Chinese emigrants, whether free or under contract, of service, from any port in China, or within one hundred miles of the coast thereof, the owners or charterers of such ship, or, if absent, their respective agents, shall, before such ship is laid on for the conveyance of Chinese emigrants and before any depôt in opened for their reception, apply in writing to the Emigration Officer at such port for licence under his hand and seal for the conveyance of such emigrante on the intended voyage only, and shall furnish all particulars, according to the form in the First Schedule to this Ordinance, as to the destination of the said ship and as to all other matters relating to the intended voyage and emigration which may be required of them."
8. Section 10 of the Principal Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following section is substituted in place there of :-
"10. The Governor may, in his discretion, grant to any vessel a general licence for any period, or for any number of voyages, or for voyages to and from any specified port or porte, for the conveyance of Chinese emigrants, whether free or under contract of Bervice."
4. Section 14 (1), (2) and (3) of the Principal Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following section is substituted in place thereof :-
•
* 14-(1.) The Governor-in-Council may, in his discretion, authorise any person to engage any specified number of natives of China for any person resident in any British Possession or Foreign Country and to make contracts in writing on behalf of such resident with the persons so engaged.
(2.) Every such contract shall be made in triplicate, and one part shall be lodged in the Office of the Emigration Officer, and such part shall be admissible in evidence without a stamp.'
Objects and Reasons.
The object of this Ordinance is to remove certain restrictions placed on British ships by the Chinese Emigration Ordinance, 1889, in regard to the carriage of Chinese Emigranta,
HENRY S, BIRKALNY,
Attorney General.
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MINUTE BY MR. CHURCHILL.
His Majesty's Government have declared that the conditions under which Chinese coolies are " tainted employed on the Witwatersrand are
with slavery," and are therefore resolved to determine such a system, irrespective of the material loss which may be involved. But the conditions prescribed in the various Ordinances regulating the employment of Chinese on the Witwatersrand, evil though they be, are never theless superior to any conditions hitherto prescribed by foreign countries in such cases. If therefore His Majesty's Government consider themselves bound to terminate the existing system of Chinese labour in South Africa, and to forgo themselves, or to deprive the Transvaal of, any profit resulting therefrom, all the more are they bound to abstain themselves from any participation in the profits arising from the conveyance of coolies to conditions of servitude not less and possibly more “tainted with slavery" than those which have been denounced the Witwatersrand. It appears to be upon enjoined upon His Majesty's Government, if they are to maintain a consistent and defensible policy, that they shall in no case allow Chinese coolies to be carried to foreign countries in British ships, without assuring themselves beforehand that the conditions under which those coolies will be employed are so far superior to the Witwatersrand conditions as to be wholly unobjectionable. Is this likely to be the case? Is Mexico for instance likely to practise a greater strictners in the conditions of her indentured labour than Parliamentary vigilance and pressure has enforced upon the Transvaal ? And bow are we to satisfy ourselves? Would Mexico in its present state of development consent to be thus judged by the agents of a foreign Power upon a question of humanity and morals? Would the United States submit to such an inquisition? And even so what probability is there of a favourable result?
It is therefore submitted that this traffic- lucrative though it may be cannot be carried on by British subjects under the authority of the British Government. Still loss is it desirable that His Majesty's Government, casting aside the restraints which their predecessors have observed for more than fifty years; should them- selves take positive action by repealing the existing Ordinance, to facilitate and encourage such a traffic. Last of all should they select this particular moment for such a departure.
October 25, 1906.
W. 8. C.