PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.885
17 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC.
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
142
that the interests of Australia require the exclusion of imanigrants of coloured races, is it conceivable that any similar result would follow from the presence in the port of such a colony, for a few days occasionally, of a ship having among her crew coloured seamen, whose work would be confined to that ship? Another ground on which section 16 of the Act seems to be defended is that it would tend to promote the manning of British merchant vessels with a class of seamen who would be more reliable than Lascars, especially in time of war; but this is a very large question, which concerns the whole of His Majesty's dominions, and which would have to be dealt with on united counsels. It would be manifestly inconvenient that the Legislature of each portion of those dominions should seize upon every casual opportunity that presented itself to deal with such a question to such limited extent as it could and after its own fashion, as, e.g., it is proposed to do in the present case by taking advantage of a postal contract to compel the owners of a ship registered in England to submit to restrictions, which the law, under which they work, has not thought fit to impose upon them. Not only would such a course as above pointed out tend to dislocate important administrative and commercial arrangements in which many other portions of His Majesty's dominions are interested, but, further, there is a danger that, from matters not being con- sidered from a sufficiently wide point of view, it might fail in the very object at which it aims. In this very case it has been more than once pointed out that the Commonwealth of Australia, owing to their having their attention riveted exclusively on the question of colour, have framed this 16th section in such a way that it would probably lead in some cases to a British ship entertaining, instead of Lascars, who are British subjects, alien white men who from the point of view now referred to might be far less desirable. It may be that the above objections would cease to apply if the 16th section of the Act were confined to contracts for the carriage of mails between different ports within the limits of the Australian Commonwealth, but that is a question for consideration by the Colonial Office and the Postmaster-General rather than by this Office.
I have, &c.,
8440.
SIR,
No. 2.
INDIA OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received February 28, 1902.) [Answered by No. 3.]
A. GODLEY.
India Office, Whitehall, London, S.W.,
February 27, 1902,
*
IN continuation of my letter dated 18th February 1902, on the subject of the Postal and Telegraph Act of the Commonwealth of Australia, I am directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to forward, for the consideration of Mr. Secretary Chamberlain, a letter from the Government of India, enclosing a copy of the representation which has been addressed to it by the Bengal and Bombay Chambers of Commerce.
I am to invite attention to the request of the Indian Government that any steps which may be practicable and expedient should be taken to obtain an alteration in the new Australian law.
• No. 1.
I have, &c.,
A. GODLEY.
MY LORD,
143
Enclosure in No. 2.
No. 19 of 1902.
Government of India.
Finance and Commerce Department.
Separate Revenue.
Post Office.
Calcutta, January 30, 1902. We have the honour to forward a copy of the papers, cited in the annexed schedule, containing representations from the Bengal and Bombay Chambers of Commerce against an amendment of the Postal Bill of the Federated Colonies, which is said to have been recently ratified by the Australian Commonwealth, providing that no contract or arrangement for the carriage of mails shall be entered into on behalf of the Commonwealth unless it contains a condition that only white labour shall be employed in such carriage.
2. We entirely concur in the objections taken to this measure by the Chambers of Commerce, and we trust that your Lordship will move His Majesty's Government to take any practicable and expedient step that may be possible to obtain an alteration in the new Australian law.
To the Right Honourable
Lord George Francis Hamilton,
We have, &c.,
His Majesty's Secretary of State for India.
Schedule of Papers.
CURZON.
C. M. RIVAZ.
T. RALEIGH.
E. F. G. LAW.
E. R. ELLES.
A. T. ABUNDEL.
1. Letter from the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, No. 1678, dated 23rd
December 1901.
2. Letter from the Government of Bombay, No. 7278, dated 23rd December 1901, and enclosure.
(1.)
From-W. PARSONS, Esq., Secretary to the Bengal Chamber of Commerce.
To The SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, Finance and Commerce
Department.
No. 1678-1901, dated 23rd December 1901.
The Committee of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce have now before them copy of a Bill introduced into the Parliament of Australia to make regulations for the postal and telegraphic services of the Commonwealth. So far as the Committee understand, this Bill has been remitted by the Senate to the House of Representatives, and is now under consideration. The Bill, being a measure entirely connected with the postal arrangements of a country outside of India, would not have called for notice or consideration on the part of this Chamber or for any representation to the Government of India, had it not been for a provision in one of its sections which appears to the Committee likely to inflict grave injury not only on a section of His Majesty's subjects in this country, but on steamer companies carrying Australian mails; and, in the opinion of the Committee of this Chamber, will also interfere seriously with those progressive arrangements for the more rapid carriage of mails which it is the true interest of every country to facilitate and promote.