PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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Reference :-
TLC.O.
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
No. 38.
Enclosure 1.
Enclosure 2.
106
CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO
No. 88.
Cory of a DESPATCH from HENRY BARKLY, Governor of British Guiana, to the Duke of NEWCASTLE.
(No. 41.) MY LORD DUKE,
Government House, March 12, 1853. (Received April 23, 1852.)
I HAVE the honour to announce the arrival of a third ship, the "Samuel Boddington," with Chinese immigrants from Amoy, and am sorry to state that though the voyage was a very rapid one, occupying only 98 days, the mortality, as will be seen from the Health Officer's Report, amounted to 11 per cent.
2. In his opinion this excessive mortality mainly arose from the cessation of the supply of opium to men whose habitual immoderate use of that drug had rendered it essential for the prevention of diarrhea; and it is clear that if this immigration is to be continued to British colonies, all who are known to be addicted to such a vice must be, as I pointed out in my first Despatch upon the subject, rigorously excluded from embarkation.
3. The surgeon in charge, who quite agrees in this view, cannot be held at all responsible for the neglect of the precaution in the present instance, as the very interesting extracts from his journal, forwarded by the health officer, prove that his efforts to enforce a proper selection of immigrants were frustrated by the improper conduct of Messrs. Tait & Co., of Amoy, the consignees selected by Messrs. Hyde, Hodge, & Co.'s agents at Canton, who insisted on shipping no less than 150 whom he had, on examination, rejected.
4. Dr. Ely's journal, indeed, discloses such a system of procuring and em- barking immigrants, and so disgusting and alarming a state of things during the voyage, that nothing but the conviction which I entertain, that the stoppage of the bounty and the intervention of Mr. White, will, so far as immigration to this colony and Trinidad are concerned, put a stop to these evils, would induce me to refrain from urging Her Majesty's Government to prevent the continuance of the experiment.
5. So soon as I learnt from the report of the Immigration Agent General that a considerable excess of passengers had been embarked at Amoy, I directed the Attorney-General to commence proceedings under the Act of Parliament. At the very outset, however, serious difficulties presented themselves. In the first place, it seemed doubtful whether such a voyage came under the provisions of the British Passengers Act, which detines (section 83) colonial voyages to signify any voyage from any port or place within any of Her Majesty's possessions to any port or place whatever." In the second place, the master alone is liable for the penalty; but had he in this case been committed to jail for nonpayment, the really guilty parties, the agents of Hyde, Hodge, & Co., by whom the vessel was chartered at Canton to carry Chinese to the West Indies at 107. per head, would have altogether escaped.
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6. The great difficulty of all, however, arose from the impossibility of proving the number actually embarked at Amoy except from the evidence of the master himself, for the port clearance was in the Chinese character; and although he at first alleged that he had a clearance or licence from the British Vice-Consul at that port, he declined to produce it when challenged so to do.
It is truc that the surgeon was available as a witness, but here a new question was sure to be started, for it will be observed that the number of deaths recorded in his journal is only 40, whereas the deficiency reported according to the Health Officer's account is 52, the difference consisting of a certain number supposed to have jumped overboard.”
7. Dr. Ely admits, on the other hand, that the tall of the immigrants taken on board from time to time, during their stay at Amoy, was not checked by actual enumeration until they had been many days at sea; and as it does not appear that any one was seen to throw himself overboard, with the exception of a man in the last stage of disease, who is included among the "dead," though two other unsuccessful attempts are mentioned, I would fain hope that this discrepancy originates in a mistake, and that the full extent of loss of life is comprehended in the first statement.
S. At all events, as the master and his officers vehemently denied any occur- rence of the kind, it would have been impossible to get a conviction on such slender evidence, and the consignee of the vessel having offered. in consequence
EMIGRATION OF CHINESE COOLIES.
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of the Attorney-General's complaint, to plead guilty to an excess of 40 immi- grants under the tonnage check, and to give bond on behalf of the owners in London for the minimum penalty of 27. per head, should the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners think fit to enforce it, I deemed it best to accept this compromise, and trust my having done so under the circumstances above narrated will be approved.
Had the Attorney-General proceeded to establish the excess according to the superficial dimensions of the decks, the question would have hinged mainly upon whether 12 feet or 15 feet was to be appropriated to each immigrant, and I therefore preferred going upon the tonnage,
9. It seemed doubtful whether, under the proclamation published, I could withhold payment of bounty for any immigrant, capable of agricultural labour, landed alive in the colony; but I felt it my duty to ascertain that all those in the "Samuel Boddington" did fairly come within this category, and two experienced planters were in consequence appointed to inspect the people, of whom they reported favourably.
10. The only interpreter was a boy speaking but a few words of English, and I had therefore no alternative but to send these immigrants to the same district as the former arrivals of Chinese had gone to, so as to have the benefit of the services of the more competent interpreters already located there.
11. In conclusion, there is one point adverted to in Dr. Ely's journal, which will scarcely bear to be enlarged upon, but which it would be false delicacy altogether to ignore, especially as it confirms the urgent necessity of procuring, at the earliest possible period, a certain proportion of Chinese women for this colony.
12. So much uncertainty has hitherto prevailed as to the practicability of procuring them, that I was glad to receive a communication from Dr. Ely, of which I enclose copy, offering to undertake himself to introduce at least six hundred early next year. To explain this, I should add that besides his medical diploma, this gentleman is United States Consul at Bombay, and partner in an American house there, engaged, as he makes no secret, in the opium trade, in the course of which he has seen more than most people of the less frequented ports and villages on the Chinese coast, and acquired con- siderable knowledge both of the language and ideas of the people.
13. Not feeling at liberty to enter into a contract with Dr. Ely in terms of his offer, he has by my advice intrusted to my care a tender for transmission to the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, which I beg leave to recommend to their consideration,
The Duke of Newcastle, &c. &c. &c.
I have, &c. (Signed) HENRY BARKLY.
March 18, 1853.
P.S. Mr. Humphries having been applied to to explain some discrepancy in his first report of the superficial dimensions of the deck, has sent in the accompanying extra report, showing that there was, in addition to the 'tween decks, a forecastle on which some of the immigrants were berthed. As regards
his allusion to an Ordinance of 1848, authorizing three immigrants to every five tons, I can only say that I am not aware that the colonial law was then, or at any other time, at variance with the Imperial Statutes, always excepting immigrants from Madeira.
Enclosuro 1 in No. 38.
HENRY BARKLY.
Port of George Town, Demerara, March 9, 1853. HEALTH OFFICER'S REPORT of immigrants by the ship "Samuel Boddington," which arrived here on the 4th instuut, 96 days from Amoy, having touched at St. Helena on the 6th February.
Master's name, J. W. Hurst. Surgeon's name, Edward Ely. Quarantine, none.
Number of crew, 28. Registered tonnage, 669. Passengers' deck
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Enclosure 3.
Enclosure 4.
Enclosure 5
Enclosure G
Enclosure 7.
Encl. in No..