PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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34886
SIR,
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No. 39.
INDIA OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 28 October, 1911.)
[Answered by Nos. 43 and 50.]
India Office, Whitehall, London, S.W., 28th October, 1911.
I AM directed by the Marquess of Crewe to transmit, for the consideration of Mr. Secretary Harcourt, the accompanying copy of a letter in which the Govern- ment of India state their views on the recommendations of the Sanderson Com- mittee.
His Lordship is in general agreement with the conclusions therein expressed. As regards the detailed suggestions summarised in the fourth paragraph of the letter, he will be glad to know whether Mr. Harcourt intends to take action, so far as it may be necessary, in the sense of the Committee's recommendations. presumes that there will be no objection to the issue of a notification under the He Indian Emigration Act declaring indentured emigration to Mauritius to be unlawful, and, if Mr. Harcourt concurs, he proposes to advise the Government of India accordingly.
With regard to the proposed concession to Fiji in the matter of return passages, it is presumed that the initiative will be with the Colonial Administration.
Lord Crewe desires to support the proposal for the preparation on a uniform system of the Immigration Reports of the Colonies, and would invite attention to the specific proposals made in the 8th paragraph of the letter. whether it is intended to instruct an officer of the Colonial Office to undertake the He is not aware duties described in the 9th paragraph, but in any case, he would endorse the suggestion that each Colony importing indentured labour should be supplied with the reports and the Labour Acts of the other Colonies.
It will be seen that the Government of India deprecate the suggested system of recurring inspection; but the Secretary of State is unable to accept their reasons as conclusive. The periodical visits of Indian officers proposed by the Committee are designed not so much for the encouragement of emigration, as in the interests of the emigrants resident in the Colonies. In view of the excellent results which have in the past attended the occasional visits of Indian officers to certain Colonies, his Lordship is disposed to think that real advantage might ensue from the estab- lishment of a systematic arrangement with the concurrence of the Colonies con- cerned. There is much to be said for a policy of forestalling criticism instead of taking action in particular cases when agitation over the condition of Indian labourers has already arisen.
Apart from some minor points which present no difficulty (such as the recom- mendation mentioned in the 12th paragraph), the matters in which action appears to be most necessary are those connected with the actual recruitment of labourers in India, dealt with in paragraphs 76 to 80 of the Committee's Report. His Lord- ship would urge that the Colonial Administrations should be invited to consent to the amalgamation of the two British Agencies at Calcutta, and to arrange for the appointment of a responsible Emigration Agent at Benares. He is suggesting to the Foreign Office that the views of the Netherlands Government should be ascertained with regard to the possibility of effecting recruitment for Surinam by means of the British Agency. He proposes, with Mr. Harcourt's concurrence, to restrict the area of recruitment for emigration from Calcutta to North and South Behar and to the eastern districts of the United Provinces. At the same time he desires to suggest that there is a very strong case for the abolition of the system of payment of recruiters by commission, the abuses consequent on which were described in the Committee's Report. In his Lordship's opinion it would not be possible to defend the retention of the system of indentured emigration if the recruitment of the labourers desired were dependent upon the payment of commissions to the recruiters. He is sure that Mr. Harcourt will agree that if the Colonies desire Indian labour it is their duty to offer conditions of engagement which will attract emigrants on their own merits, and that a system which offers a premium to recruiters for each labourer secured offers very great temptations to misrepresentation on the part of the
recruiters.
57
He trusts, therefore, that it will be found possible to put an end to the present system of remuneration.
In this connection I am to enclose a copy of a letter which is being addressed to the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Society.
Finally, his Lordship trusts that the Mauritius Government will give effect to the suggestion made in the 19th paragraph of the letter. The condition of Indians in Mauritius has, as Mr. Harcourt is aware, attracted much attention recently. The general considerations set out in the 2nd and 10th paragraphs of the Government of India's letter appear to Lord Crewe to be of such interest and importance that it might be advantageous if they were communicated to all the Colonial Administra- tions concerned.
I have, &c.,
Enclosure
in No. 39.
No. 30 of 1911.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
ED. S. MONTAGU.
DEPARTMENT of Commerce AND INDUSTRY.
EMIGRATION.
To the RIGHT HONOURABLE VISCOUNT MORLEY OF BLACKBURN, O.M., His Majesty's Secretary of State for India.
.MY LORD,
dated the 14th October, 1910.
We have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the despatches and letters
Simla, the 25th May, 1911. From Secretary of State, No. 143, Public, relating to the Report of the Committee on from the India Office noted in the margin. From Secretary of State, No. 166, date the Emigration from India to the Crown 9th December, 1910.
Colonies and Protectorates, and to the observations made by the Aborigines Pro- tection Society on certain points arising out of the Report.
From India Office, No. J. & P. 167, dated the 16th January, 1911.
From India Office, No. J. & P. 746, dated the 15th March, 1911.
From India Office, No. J. & P. 746, dated the 6th April, 1911.
From Secretary of State, No. 66, Public, dated the 7th April, 1911.
2. We desire, in the first place, to express our satisfaction with the general results of the Committee's enquiries and to examined the whole subject of oversea indentured emigration from India. As will acknowledge the care with which they have be seen from the remarks which we shall presently have to offer, we agree with most of the suggestions which they have made for the future conduct of emigration. We find it necessary, however, to offer a word of warning regarding the present day attitude of a not inconsiderable body of Indian opinion towards this subject, as it appears to us that it cannot safely be left out of account. Committee's Report may help to allay the rising opposition to oversea emigration The publication of the which is beginning to make itself manifest in India, and in particular the strong pronouncement which they have made in paragraphs 43 and 44 as to the rights of time-expired labourers should conduce to this end. We welcome their adherence to the principle that "it should be an indispensable condition of indentured emigra- tion that Indians who have completed their term of indenture should be in all respects free men, subject to no Labour Ordinances, and with personal privileges no whit inferior to those of any other class of His Majesty's subjects resident in the Colony. The immigrants, on completion of their indenture, should be free either to return to India or to settle as free citizens in the Colony. with the Committee's recommendation that emigration should not be permitted to We also entirely agree any Colony or Protectorate where there is no agricultural land available for new settlers, or in which it is a condition of the indenture that the labourer should be compelled to return to India on the termination of his contract.' existence of the feeling to which we have alluded, it will be necessary in the future In view of the to ensure that these conditions are duly fulfilled in the case of oversea emigration from this country.
Ex
"
3. We are glad to observe that the finding of the Committee is that the position of indentured Indian labourers in the Crown Colonies is generally satisfactory. The Committee have, however, made certain recommendations with two main objects: first, the removal of certain defects which have been disclosed in the administration