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MEMORANDUM by A. DE BOISSIERE, Esq., C.C.S., Assistant Government Emigration Agent at Calcutta for Trinidad, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mauritius, on the working of the penal clauses of the Indian Immigration Ordinance in Trinidad :—
Offenoe.
Refusal or neglect to keep dwel- ling, drains and surroundings of dwellings in sanitary con- dition and fouling of water! supply.
Refusal to go to hospital. Mis-
conduct while in hospital.
}
Penalty (Maximum).
Fine of £1
Fine of £1 or imprisonment for 14 days.
Second or subsequent offence of Imprisonment
malingering in hospital.
for one mouth.
Refusal or neglect to amend work
improperly performed.
Refusal to serve as watchman
after agreeing to do so. Absence from work or refusal to work without lawful excuse.
(a) Drunkenness in buildings of plantation or during work : fraud or deception in per- formances of work. (b) Use of improper language or ges ture to employer or person in authority. (c) Wilful disobe- dience to any lawful reasonable order.
and
(a) Use of any threatening word or gesture to employer or per- son in authority, negligence, carelessness or improper con- duct which endangers any property of employer: (b) hin- drance
or molestation other immigranta in performance of work; per- suading other immigrante not to work.
of the
For 1st offener : Fine of £1, or imprisonment for 14 days. For 2nd offence: Fine of £2 or imprisonment
Fine £2, or im- for one month.
prisonment
for 1 month. Fine £2, or im-
prison ment
Fine £1, or im-
for 1 month.
prison ment for 14 days.
Fine of £5, or imprison.
ment months.
for 2
Remarks.
(Section 90.) These offences are triable by In spectors of immigrantson their visits to Estates. In my experience of some 15 years as an Inspector of Irnmigrants I have not been called on to adjudicate in a single case of this kind. (Section 110 (a)), A very humane section, operating chiefly in the immigrant's own interests, as he often objects to being sub- jected to hospital discipline and diet and prefers to remain in his lines eating curry or similarly unwholesome food which in cases of diarrhea, dysentery, &c. not infrequently leads to fatal results.
This part of the Section relates only to lazy men who will give any excuse for absenting them- selves from work—especially during the early period of their indenture while they are being rationed by the estate.
For a first offence an immigrant is usually let off
with a caution, but for repeated offences he is punished.
Section 109 makes it incumbent on the estate anthorities to send any immigrant who complains of being ill to the hospital-a proper precaution in the man's own interests, aa the Medical Officers have then no option but to examine hit. Speaking from personal experience I may say that the malingerer is usually discharged by the Medical Officer, after examination, without the issue of the certificate that is required to secure a convic- tion against him. As a rule, therefore, this section does not act harshly.
(Section 124)—seldom, if ever, had recourse to. If an immigrant refuses to amend work improperly perforined another man-usually an indentured immigrant-is called in to rectify it and receives full pay for the work. This usually has the desired effect.
(Section 128). There has never been a prosecu- tion under this section. It could with all safety be deleted from the Ordinance. (Section 129). Generally the most "acted
under " section of the Ordinance. mented on later.
Com-
(Section 130). (a) Never required. (b) This is essential, as the "improper language or
食用
geature usually made by immigrants to their employers are grossly insulting and provocative. The most common is this: the immigrant, when ordered to do work that is not congenial, will point to, or hold, his private parts and say, in Hindustani, "This may do it; I won't."
man
(Section 131). (a) These offences might very well be dealt with under the general law of the Colony as the words and gestures for which the penalty is intended are of a very Berions kind; e.g., a
will hold his cutlass (a weapon similar to that employed in sea-fights of old) or his agricultural fork or hoe (both formidable weapons, with which marder has often been committed) in a threatening manner and tell his overseer or manager that if he is compelled to do again what is not congenial to him he will kill him, as he "cannot see him in his eyes" (ie., that there is not room for both of them above-ground"). This threat unfortunately has been too often carried out. (b) In my humble opinion this provision might be inserted with beneficial effects in all labour ordinances throughout the world.
Offence.
Absence without leave or lawful
cause from plantation.
Absence from plantation for
three days without leave.
Refusal to supply information to Protector or Police Officer for purposes of identification.
Absence without leave from the Immigration Depot while an immigrant is an inmate of it.
Absence from work without lawful excuse on 12 consect- tive days in any one month or any two consecutive months. Absence on account of imprison- ment, desertion or for any unlawful reason.
Quitting colony without a pass-
port from Protector.
Penalty (Maximuin).
Arrest without warrant and imprison- ment for 7 days. If the estate to which the immigrant belongs can- not be deter- mined he may be im. prisoned for 3 months.
£5 fine, or im- prisonment
up to two months.
£1 fine, or im- prisonment for 14 days.
£5 fine, or im- prisonment
two
for months. Imprisonment
for months.
three
The number of
days lost to be added to period of indenture.
Fine £5
imprisonment for two months. Im- prisonment
Use by an immigrant of certificate | (a) Fine £5, or
of exemption from labour or any pass of another immigrant. Forgery and alteration of cer- tificate of exemption from labour. Use of forged certifi- cates of exemption. Forgery and alteration of any pass- port or pass: use of forged passport or pass. Contravention
of regulations made for the government of festivals and processions con- nected with them.
for two years.
&c. &c.
Fine of £20 or. imprisonment for months.
six
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Remarks.
(Section 140). This should not act adversely, as Section 142 entitles him to a pass, which may not be refused him; therefore, if he leaves his plantation without such pass he does so for no good purpose. The reason of this section is obvious, viz. to compel managers to know the whereabouts of the immigrants in their charge. The punish- ment actually inflicted in such cases has always been seven days' imprisonment; the second part of the section, where the heavier penalty is provided, has never been put into practice; in fact, I do not see how it applies. Section 150 is the one proceeded under in the case of immigrants who refuse to give their particulars. This is dealt with later. (Section 144). Is simply an extension of Section
140 and is meant to meet immigrants wilfully resolve never to return cases where to their estates, (Section 150), It is the business and duty of the Protector to know the whereabouts of all immigrants in case of enquiries from India by their relatives or friends, and also to see that they carry out their contract with the Colony. The fact of an indentured immigrant refusing
to give his particulars goes to show that he is absent with some unlawful object, such as absconding to a neighbouring country, from doing which he should be prevented in his own interest. (Section 151). There has only been one instance of this offence. No punishment was inflicted on the offender.
(Section 156).
This section is an elaboration of Section 129 and, I am glad to say, is seldom needed now, although-as is obvious-it ap- (Section 159). Hardly penal and very seldom plies only to incorrigible idlers or malingerers. enforced. Employers are as glad to get rid of undesirables as they are to keep good men and usually give the former their certificates of exemption from labour immediately on completion of their five years. (Section 217). Absolutely for the immigrants' own safety. Coolies frequently are induced by gross misrepresentation to leave the Colony for foreign countries where laws are almost non-existent and where they have no friend to look after them,
(Sections 235, 236, 237). The offences of forgery, using as genuine false documents, &c., are punishable with heavy penalties in all civilised countries, These sections might well be deleted from the Immigration Ordinances and dealt with under the common law of the Colony.
(Section 270). This section is aimed, not at East Indian Immigrants but against outsiders (the negro population, &c.) who may be tempted to molest the immigrants when the latter are pursuing their religious festivals. It has no penal application whatever to Indian immigrants, for whose protection it is designed.
From the above it will be seen that, with the exception of Sections 129 and 156 (neglect of work) and Sections 140 and 144 (unlawful absence from the plantation and desertion), the penal clauses, which look so black, amount to little or nothing
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