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No. 2682, dated Calcutta, the 22nd June, 1912.
From C. BANKS, Esq., M.D., Protector of Emigrants, Calcutta, to THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL, General Department.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Government endorsement No. 3148, dated the 20th May, 1912, asking for an expression of my opinion regarding the proposal to notify, in advance, to the intending emigrants for the colonies of the penal liabilities they incur by emigrating under an indenture, and requesting ine to submit a draft of the necessary notification under the Indian Emigration Act, should the proposal commend itself to ine.
2. Before submitting my views to Government, I considered it desirable to consult the Emigration Agents for the several colonies on the subject. I beg to submit, herewith, for the information of Govern- ment, copies of the marginally - noted letters, which I have received from those officers.
Letter from the Emigration Agent for Surinam, No. 999, dated the 31st May, 1912.
Letter from the Emigration Agent for British Guiana, and Officiating Emigration Agent for Trinidad, Fiji, &c., No. 1254-1342, dated the 19th June, 1912, and enclosure.
3. The Emigration Agents adinit that, from the point of view of mere justice, there can be no doubt that an intending emigrant has every right to be fully informed of every detail of his agreement before he is called upon to execute it. There can, on the other hand, be no doubt, as has been pointed out by both Messrs. Gibbes and Grommers, that, should the intending emigrants be informed of the penal liabilities they incurred in entering into their contract, most of them would turn unwilling to emigrate, not because of anything particularly severe or repugnant in the penal clauses, but because the very idea of undergoing any punishment whatever in the colonies at the outset would scare them away, and to assure them that they would have nothing to fear if they behaved properly or that the law was generally humanely administered in the colonies, or persuasion of any kind would not have the slightest effect on their mind.
4. I endorse the views of the Emigration Agents, and agree with Mr. Gibbes, the Emigration Agent for British Guiana, that before any further action ments of the colonies concerned should be consulted.
taken, the Govern-
No. 999, dated Calcutta, the 31st May, 1912.
From L. GROMMERS, ESQ., Emigration Agent for Surinam, to THE PROtector of EMIGRANTS, Calcutta.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your endorsement No. 2140, dated the 27th of May, 1912, forwarding copy of letter from the Government of India, Depart- ment of Commerce and Industry, No. 3542-3545-62, dated the 6th of May, 1912, and asking for an early expression of my opinion on the two points raised in the concluding lines of paragraph 3 of that letter, namely: whether there are any objections to informing intending emigrants of the penal provisions obtaining in the colonies, and whether it would be feasible to embody these in the terms of service and in the agreement.
If it is thought unfair to the intending emigrants their not being informed of the penal liabilities imposed by the special labour laws under which they must live in the colonies, it would, in my opinion, be still more unfair to the colonies if these provisions were embodied in the agreement. For, though those punishments look very severe on paper, they have, in practice, under ordinary conditions, not proved such very great hardships to the law-abiding emigrant. During my eleven years' tenure of this office, I have never heard one single complaint from any returning emigrant from Surinam about the penal provisions being at all too severe. emigrants offer themselves for a second term of indentured labour? This fact aloue If they were, would so many returned should dispel any exaggerated idea about the alleged needlessly severe punishment to which the emigrants are supposed to be subjected.
If, on the other hand, the penal provisions were to be embodied in the agreements with intending emigrants, it may safely be predicted that recruiting would become absolutely impossible, for if the provisions were explained to an intending emigrant in all its severity by an unsympathetic registering officer or any other anti-emigration faddist without the reassurance that he need have no fear if he behaves himself properly in the colony [? the] same as he did in British India, the poor man would be sure to decline to go to such a barbarous country. If it was intended to put a stop to emigration altogether, no better device could be invented than to order us to have the penal provisions of the colonies inserted in our forms of agreement.
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I think I may even go so far as to say that, though conceding that an intending emigrant is entitled to know the condition under which he has to live in a new country, it would, in this particular instance, not be in his interests to have his special attention drawn to those conditions, for he would thereby be deterred, and quite wrongly in my opinion, for I hold emigration to be beneficial for many of these poorer classes, from emigrating and improving his position in life.
Before the Government of India proceed in the direction contemplated, I would humbly suggest that the sundry Colonial Governments be called upon to furnish the Government of India with returns showing the number of prosecutions under the special labour laws during the last five years or so, the nature of the alleged offences, the number of convictions and the punishments inflicted. conclusion that in one or more colonies the prosecutions are altogether out of proportion If these returns should give rise to the in number, and the punishments inflicted unduly severe for the offence committed, such colony might be penalised by being ordered to have its penal provisions printed ou its agreement forms. But the innocent colonies should not be made to suffer with the guilty ones, if there happen to be any of this latter description at all.
No. 1254-1342, dated Calcutta, the 19th June, 1912.
From R. P. GABBES, ESQ., Government Emigration Agent for British Guiana and Officiating Government Emigration Agent for Trinidad, Fiji, and Jamaica, to the PROTECTOR OF EMIGRANTS, Calcutta.
[See Enclosure 2 in No. 55.]
No. 1555, dated Naini Tal, the 8th October 1912.
From The HONOURABLE MR. A. W. Pix, I.C.S., Secretary to the Government of the United Provinces, to THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, Department of Commerce and Industry.
I am directed to refer to your letter No. 3542—3545-62, dated the 6th May 1912, on the subject of the proposal to inform emigrants of the penalties which may be inflicted for violation of the labour laws and to embody the provisions of the laws relating to those penalties in the terms of service and in the agreement.
2. In reply, I am to say that, in the opinion of the Lieutenant-Governor, there are no objections to informing intending emigrants of the special penal provisions to which they will become liable under the labour laws of the Colonies to which they propose to go. information, which should be embodied in a schedule attached to their terms of On the contrary there is good reason for giving them this service, and clearly explained to emigrants by the registering officer before they register. The penal provisions, being statutory and being also variable, should not be entered in the actual agreement executed by the emigrants.
3. I am to add that, unless the Government of India have any objection, the Lieutenant-Governor proposes to take immediate steps in this Province to inform intending emigrants, before registration, of the special penal provisions of the labour laws in the Colonies for which there is a purpose of recruiting them,
SCHEDULE OF PAPERS.
1. Letter from the Government of Madras, No. 817, dated the 6th July, 1912.
2. Letter from the Government of Bihar and Orissa, No. 3041-M., dated the 14th August, 1912.
3. Letter from the Government of Bengal, No. 1707-T.G., dated the 18th September, 1912, und enclosure, viz. :—
Letter from the Protector of Emigrants, No. 2682, dated the 22nd June, 1912, and enclosure. 4. Letter from the Government of the United Provinces, No. 1555, dated the 8th October, 1912.
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