PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
། :། །
Reference :--
C.O-885
17 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
144
2. The section of the Bill to which the Committee refer is section 15a, and reads as follows:-
(1) 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) This condition shall not apply to the coaling and loading of ships at
places beyond the limits of the Commonwealth.
The Committee of this Chamber are quite at a loss to understand the motives which have prompted the inclusion of this section in the Bill or on what principle of right and equity it is based. The Committee have had the opportunity of perusing another Bill introduced into the Australian Parliament, which they understand has since been passed, the object of which is to place certain restrictions on immigration and to provide for the removal from the Commonwealth of prohibited immigrants. The provisions of this Bill appear to the Committee sufficiently far-reaching and drastic to protect the interests of the Australian Commonwealth (if it is considered they need protection) from the importation of foreign element or cheaper labour from abroad. The provisions of the section of the Postal Bill now under reference, on the other hand, appear to have no well-defined object, as the fact of mail steamers bringing coloured crews into the Ports of Australia and carrying them away again cannot possibly interfere in any way with the internal labour conditions of the Commonwealth.
3. The Committee of this Chamber would respectfully submit that the strongest possible protest should be made against this attempt, on the part of the Australian Parliament, to impose conditions upon or attempt to control what is essentially a part of the Imperial system of communication between different parts of the Empire. The Committee hold most strongly that no self-governing Colony can reasonably claim, by virtue of such self-government, to prescribe for other parts of the Empire the terms and conditions under which they shall have postal access to it; and they would point out that the interests of the Australian Commonwealth cannot possibly derive any benefit at all from the provisions of this section of the Postal Bill which would also be in favour of foreign as against British lines of steamers. It is obvious that under the conditions which the Australian Senate seeks to impose, it may become impossible to conclude mail contracts on the terms hitherto obtained, with the result that increased rates for postal communication would have to be paid by British subjects in different parts of the Empire. The Committee cannot but regard the policy which is indicated by this section of the Bill as distinctly retrograde and utterly unworthy of the Legislature of any part of His Majesty's Dominions.
4. The Committee would now turn to the injury which, if this Bill receives Imperial sanction without amendment in this particular direction, will be inflicted on a large number of British subjects in India who gain their livelihood by maritime service. The number of Asiatic seamen and firemen who are at present employed on ocean-going steamers may be estimated at probably 70,000. These men are among the most deserving and law abiding of His Majesty's subjects, and it appears to the Committee more than unreasonable that any section or number of them should be excluded from earning their living on the high seas by reason of their colour. As pointed out above, the Australian Parliament have taken sufficiently effective steps to prevent the immigration of Asiatics into Australia, and it appears to the Committee incomprehensible that any Government should seek to dictate to the owners of steamers which visit their shores, but which are owned outside of their dominions, how their steamers are to be worked or what description of labour they shall employ on board. Sub-section (2) of section 15A of the Bill, in which it is provided that the conditions of sub-section (1) shall not apply to the coaling and loading of ships at places beyond the limits of the Commonwealth, would almost seem to imply that the Australian Government reserved the right to dictate, if they saw fit so to do, the mode in which vessels carrying Australian mails were to be loaded or coaled in other parts of the Empire.
5. The Committee feel sure that his Excellency the Viceroy will at once realise the injustice that will be done, unless the section which has been
145
referred to be deleted from the Bill by the Imperial Government; and they would respectfully request that the strongest possible protest may be made against this attempt, on the part of the Australian Government, to interfere with Asiatic labour beyond the limits of their own jurisdiction.
(2.)
From-H. O. QUIN, Esq., I.C.S., Secretary to the Government of Bombay, General Department.
To-The SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, Finance and Commerce Department.
No. 7278, dated 23rd December 1901.
I am directed to forward, herewith, for such action as the Government of India may think necessary, copy of a letter dated the 19th December 1901, from the Chairman, Chamber of Commerce, Bombay, representing the injurious effect of an amendment of the Postal Bill of the Federated Colonies recently ratified by the Senate of the Australian Commonwealth, and suggesting that steps may be taken to induce His Majesty's Imperial Government to withhold sauction to the measure.
From The CHAIRMAN, Chamber of Commerce, Bombay. To-The SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF BOMBAY, General Department. Dated 19th December 1901.
In view of the fact that the Senate of the Australian Commonwealth has recently ratified an amendment of the Postal Bill of the Federated Colonies in a sense prohibiting the making of mail contracts with steam-ship lines that employed coloured men on board their vessels; and in view of the very serious injury that would be done by such a measure to the large number of British Indian subjects employed as seamen, I have, under the instructions of the Committee of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce, the honour to lay the following facts and considerations before Government, to the end that the sanction of the Imperial Government may be withheld from the Bill so amended.
2. My Committee have failed to procure a copy of the enactment in question, but the purport of the measure is not disputed; and it is clear that it would in effect very greatly injure a large number of British Indian subjects who at present live by service upon such vessels as would be barred by the condition which it is proposed to institute. The number of men so serving is stated by persons intimately acquainted with the facts to amount to some 35,000 on the West Coast of India, with probably an equal number on the East Coast, making some 70,000 in all. The following table shows the numbers actually shipped in the Bombay Presidency in each of the last ten years :-
1890-91
28,839
1891-92
30,621
1892-93
30,063
1893-94
-
27,830
1894-95
27,930
-
27,735
1895-96
1896-97
1897-98
1898-99
1899-1900
1900-1901
28,949
25,454
29,050
30,270
28,279
To these numbers should be added some five to seven thousand men on leave at their houses. In normal times the numbers shipped on the East Coast are semewhat lower than on the West Coast; but since the Bombay Presidency became so widely infected with plague the numbers on the East Coast have largely increased, and are now probably equal to those shown above.
3. I am directed to submit that objection to the measure by which the employment of these men is to be penalized is in no way analogous to a
E 45018.
K