PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
8991
(No. 61.) SIR,
26
No 21.
JAMAICA.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received March 20, 1911.)
King's House, Jamaica, 21 February, 1911. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 318, dated the 5th December, last,* and, in accordance with your request, to submit the following observations on the Report of the Committee on Emigration from India to the Crown Colonies.
2. System of Recruiting (Sections 58-83 of Report).-I am advised that it is open to doubt whether the limiting of the area from which emigrants are to be drawn which is recommended by the Committee (see Section 77) would be effective. The people who leave their homes in search of work are not always undesirable, sometimes they are the most enterprising and ambitious. They would naturally seek for work amongst people of their own race, and I would suggest that it is only when they fail to find it that they decide to take the plunge of going abroad, which in itself is a destroyer of caste. Hindus who cross the "Kala pani" have to be purified on their return. It seems not to be wondered at that the Colonies should obtain emi- grants from Delhi, Kanpur, and Calcutta (see Section 69 of Report), who are not natives of those cities, because these are the people who are disappointed in obtaining work and, having no reserve of capital to live on, accept work over the sea.
years
3. Correspondence.-I quite agree that it would be useful that the relatives' of emigrants should always know where they are (see paragraphs 55 and 76). This fact has been recognised in Jamaica for a great many years, and for at least 20 the Immigration Department has done everything in its power to encourage com- munication between emigrants and their friends. Envelopes were printed, leaving only details to be filled in, for the transmission of letters, and on the visits of the Officers to the states letters were collected, addressed, and reply envelopes enclosed, and, in the case of indentured immigrants, postage is paid by the Department.
4. The Fear of Kidnapping (see Section 20 of the Report) is hard to be elimi- nated from the mind of the East Indian, who has been accustomed in the not distant past to thugee and to the total disappearance of wayfarers, and the vague dread still remains, even if the cause has been removed or much lessened.
5. Re-indenture (Sections 423-426). This practice does not exist in Jamaica, and there can be no objection to any change of the law on the point (on a favourable opportunity), which may be necessary to make it illegal.
8. Education of East Indian Children (Section 427) has not hitherto been carried out to any considerable extent, as the parents refuse to send the children to the ordinary elementary schools, but an industrial school for East Indian children has been in operation at Happy Grove, in the parish of Portland. The Superin- tending Inspector of Schools is endeavouring to provide one or more elementary schools specially for East Indian children, and the Legislative Council has voted money for the purpose.
7. Financial. The financial arrangements in operation in this Colony appear to be in consonance with the recommendations made by the Committee, and no change appears to be necessary now that the contribution to be made by employers has been increased to an amount estimated to be sufficient to cover the cost of introduction and repatriation. In this connection, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith, a copy of my messaget to the Legislative Council, informing them of the decision arrived at in Privy Council on this point.
8. Payment of 1s. per week for Second Term Coolies, The Committee are somewhat doubtful of the effect of the payment of 1s. a week by the employer of second term coolies, but no complaints on that score are made in Jamaica, and it would be difficult to devise any other suitable means of requiring those employers who obtain the most valuable part of the immigrants' services to contribute towards the expenses which fall on the Immigration Fund.
• No. 9.
↑ Not received in Colonial Office.
27
9. Exchange of Reports (Section 440).-It has always been the custom here to exchange Immigration reports with other Colonies and to furnish copies to the Indian Emigration Department. No change in the practice now obtaining appears to be called for, but the Protector of Immigrants has been furnished with a copy of the annex to the Report of the Committee for his guidance in framing his Annual Reports.
10. Hours of Work by Children (Section 427).-The limiting of the hours of work by children is not a pressing question here. The Protector of Immigrants reports that only older children are called on to do light work on the estates, such as spreading trash, sweeping, &c., for a few hours a day, and that even in this respect the managers of estates are willing to be guided by the officers of his Department.
11. Recruiting Agencies (Section 4 of despatch).-I concur in Sir Alexander Swettenham's views as expressed and quoted by you. As the discontinuance of emi- gration to Mauritius will apparently throw additional expense on this Colony, I venture to suggest that if amalgamation of existing Agencies cannot be secured, as recommended in paragraph 79 of the Report, then the staff of the Agency serving in this Colony might be reduced. I am addressing you on this subject in a separate despatch.*
I have, &c.,
SYDNEY OLIVIER,
10994
No. 22.
TRINIDAD.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 4 April, 1911.)
(Confidential.)
SIR,
Governor.
Government House, 10th March, 1911. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Confidential despatch of the 5th of December last, relative to the proposed amalgamation of the two Emigration Agencies at Calcutta.
2. This question was brought forward for consideration at a meeting of the Immigration Committee on the 1st instant, when I personally met that body and informed them of your wishes in the matter, asking them to give it their careful consideration. I enclose an extract from the minutes taken at the meeting, from which it will be seen that the Committee adhere to their former opinion that this Colony should retain a separate Agency at Calcutta.
3. The report of the Protector of Immigrants, and the returns to which reference is made in the concluding paragraph of the Committee's resolution, formed enclosures to Sir H. M. Jackson's despatch, No. 27, of the 15th of January, 1907.‡
I have, &c.,
GEORGE R. LE HUNTE,
Governor.
Enclosure in No. 22.
EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE ON THE 1ST MARCH, 1911. Correspondence relative to the proposed Amalgamation of the Two Emigration Agencies at Calcutta.
After discussion, Mr. Fenwick moved :-
"That this Committee sees no reason to depart from the opinions expressed in the Resolutions passed at the meetings on the 10th January, 1907, and 16th April, 1907, which were to the following effect:
(a) "That having further discussed the proposal to amalgamate the Emigration Agency at Calcutta for Trinidad, Jamaica, Mauritius, and Fiji with the Agency for British Guiana and Natal, in consequence of the retire- ment of Mr. R. W. S. Mitchell, and having carefully examined the returns
• 8992: not printed.
4496: not printed.
↑ No. 7.