91
No. 35
No. 34.
Foreign Office, Dec. 4 and 27,1852.
January 7, 1853.
90
CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO
that no ships should leave China before the end of October or after the beginning of March; that no perishable cargo should be shipped, and that regulations should be enforced based on the requirements of the Passengers Act.
8. In regard to other points Governor Barkly suggests, that the expense of the emigration conducted by the Government Emigration Agent should not be allowed to exceed 100 dollars; that the system of advances to emigrants should be reconsidered; and that pains should be taken to exclude opium eaters, and secure a proportion of women and interpreters. And he expresses his hope that, as the Chinese have consented to come by this ship at a guaranteed rate of wages of 4 dollars a month, Mr. White will not find it necessary to exercise the power given him (at his own request) to promise 5 dollars.
9. On all these points (of which most have been already under consideration) it appears to us that it would be premature to offer any report at present. They do not require decision for some months, during which it is probable that Mr. White will have revisited this country, and that we shall have received news of the arrival of the other Chinese emigrant ships, and have fuller materials for forming our conclusions.
10. The bounty has been paid, not only to the owners of the "Glentanner," but, on the recommendation of the Committee of Inquiry, to the owner of the “Lord Elgin." As this recommendation is coupled with the statement that the provisions of the Passenger Act, as to space, were not observed, the Governor expresses some surprise at it; but it does not appear to us improper. The Passengers Act does not extend to voyages from China, and it is not at all clear to what extent the colonial ordinance renders it applicable to bounty ships. The experiment is a new one, which must in fairness be viewed with some indulgence, if only there is no appearance of deliberate fraud or negli- gence; and lastly, the deaths which have occurred, though furnishing ground for severe scrutiny, have also the effect of subjecting the owner to an extremely severe loss.
11. We see no ground for objecting to the course taken by the Governor with regard to the advances made to the Chinese by Messrs. Hyde, Hodge, and Co., agents; but on this point the Secretary of State is not at present called on to express any opinion.
We have, &c.
Herman Merivale, Esq.,
&c.
&c.
(Signed)
No. 34.
T. W. C. MURDOCH. FREDERIC ROGERS.
COPY of a DESPATCH from the Duke of NEWCASTLE to the GOVERNOR- GENERAL of NEW SOUTH WALES and the LIEUT.-GOVERNOR OF VICTORIA. Downing Street, January 29, 1853.
SIR,
I TRANSMIT to you herewith, for your information, copies of two letters from the Foreign Office, forwarding copies of Despatches and other documents received from Dr. Bowring, Her Majesty's Consul at Canton, relating to the emigration of Chinese labourers.
I also enclose the copy of a Report from the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, to whom these papers have been referred.
In pursuance of the recommendation of the Commissioners, I have to instruct you to watch this emigration, so far as relates to the colony under your govern. ment, and in case any serious abuses should come to light, or appear probable, to propose to the Legislature an Act imposing penalties on all ships bringing immigrants to New South Wales (Victoria), in which it may appear that a sufficient portion of space had not been allotted to the emigrants, or an adequate issue of provisions made regularly to them throughout the voyage, or that the ship had left China in an unseaworthy state.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
NEWCASTLE.
·
EMIGRATION OF CHINESE COOLIES.
No. 95.
COPY of a DESPATCH from Governor BARKLY to the Right Hon. Sir JOHN S. PAKINGTON Bart.
Government House, January 24, 1853.
(Received March 9, 1853.)
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to state that the ship "Glentanner," belonging to Messrs. Hyde, Hodge, & Co., arrived here on the 12th instant, with 262 adult males, being the first Chinese immigrants brought to this colony, and that the "Lord Elgin" followed, on the 17th, with 85 more.
2. I considered it my duty to visit both vessels immediately on arrival, as, independently of the curiosity which I felt to see these samples of a race whose propensity for colonization seems destined to exercise so important an influence both in Asia and America, I was anxious to judge for myself of the arrange- ments that had been made for their accommodation during the long voyage they had undergone, and the causes of the terrible mortality which was reported in both instances to have occurred.
3. On this latter point the reports which I have now the honour to transmit relative to the "Glentanner " will throw much light; that, at least, from the health officer is worthy of every attention. The reports as to the "Lord Elgin" have not yet been sent in, and will not be so for some time, as I shall in all probability be obliged to order a formal investigation into the circumstances connected with her voyage, which has been a most disastrous one to all concerned.
4. The captains of both vessels account in part for the length and difficulty of their voyages by stating, that they started so early in the season-the "Lord Elgin" at the beginning of August, and the "Glentanner" at the beginning of September-as to encounter the full force of the monsoon; and that the proper period for leaving Amoy is between the end of October and the beginning of March.
5. 1 entirely agree with Dr. Manget, however, that neither ship is suited for the purpose; and that the great distance from China to this part of the world renders it absolutely essential, for the sake of humanity, that the immigration should henceforth be conducted in ships of large size, possessing superior passenger accommodation, their spar-deck especially kept quite clear, so as to permit of exercise being taken by the majority of the immigrants at one and the same time; and that the height under the beams of the 'tween decks should be at least six feet, and the portholes in the sides much larger than those required by the ordinary regulations for passenger vessels.
6. I consider, too, that the captains of such ships should be forbidden to carry cargo of a perishable nature, in the strictest interpretation of the phrase; and that it should be compulsory on them to touch at some port, to be fixed, in the Eastern Archipelago, as well as at the Cape of Good Hope, and to allow their passengers to land for a certain time, taking in a certain quantity of fresh meat and vegetables at both places.
7. All this, no doubt, would materially enhance the shipowners expenses, and I am quite aware that in the first instance, at any rate, it would tend to prejudice Chinese immigration to the British West Indies, in comparision with that to Cuba, which is now permitted to be carried on by British mercantile firms in British vessels, exempt even from the ordinary obligations of the Imperial Passengers Act, but I am confident, nevertheless, that humanity will be found the best policy in the long run, and that let ships for Cuba be stowed with immigrants as closely as the slaves from Africa to that island now are, a larger number will hardly be landed alive and paid for, than would be landed in a British colony under such restrictions as experience may show to be necessary for the preservation of health on the voyage. If the number should larger, the planters of Cuba will soon find to their cost that they are getting prove immigrants with shattered constitutions, who will not live long enough to repay the cost of their introduction.
8. I am decidedly of opinion, therefore, that indiscriminate immigration upon bounty to this colony ought to cease altogether with the present season, and that Mr. White, whose appointment as Emigration Agent in China you com municated to me in your Despatch of 1st November, No. 76, should be intrusted with the selection of proper ships on the most advantageous terms he can
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