PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.8
885
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
148
simultaneous reception of coolies recruited for service in different Colonies, this would, as has been pointed out in previous correspondence, give rise to difficulties which could only be avoided by acquiring further ground.
15. You will, of course, communicate further with this Office upon this question after Mr. Marsden and you have had an opportunity of conferring upon it, but should you finally decide that additional land must be obtained, it would probably be advisable to rent such land by the year, unless it is certain that there would be no difficulty in disposing of a longer lease, should circumstances render such a course desirable.
16. In paragraph 14 of Mr. Marsden's letter he suggests that the shipment of emigrants from Calcutta to Fiji should be discontinued, and that no further emigrants for the West Indian Colonies should be recruited in the Madras Presidency, emigration from that Presidency being restricted exclusively to Fiji. You will, however, have learnt, from the letter from this Department of the 3rd of December* that the Government of British Guiana is now anxious that a propor- tion at least of its emigrants should in future be Tamils, recruited from Madras; and in the circumstances Mr. Harcourt is disposed to think that the number of emigrants recruited for the West Indian Colonies in the Madras Presidency is more likely to show an increase than a diminution in future
years.
17. Mr. Harcourt notes the suggestion in paragraph 15 of Mr. Marsden's letter that the standing expenses of Fiji should be fused with those of other Colonies. Hs is at present considering the question whether any further fusion of the emigra- tion expenses of the four Colonies would be practicable or desirable, and he proposes to communicate with you further on this subject at an early date.
18. Lord Crewe's attention is being invited to the observations made by Mr. Marsden and yourself on the subject of the Emigration Agency for Dutch Guiana at Calcutta. You are aware that it has been suggested to the Foreign Office that the views of the Netherland Government should be ascertained with regard to the possibility of recruiting for Surinam through the instrumentality of the British Agency. It is understood, however, that no definite reply has as yet been received from the Foreign Office, and it seems improbable that any decision on this question can be arrived at for some time to come.
19. I am to request that Mr. Marsden and you will in due course submit a report with regard to the possibility of meeting Lord Crewe's request that some other system should be substituted for the present arrangement under which recruiters are paid by commission. Mr. Harcourt would, of course, be very glad if it were possible to devise any alternative scheme which would not unduly hamper the recruiting of emigrants, and he desires that the matter should receive the fullest possible consideration; he feels, however, that it would be most difficult for you to advise as to the practicability of any alternative until you are in a position to judge from one season's actual experience of the results of recruiting through the agency in the United Provinces, and he has therefore asked the Secretary of State for India that the further consideration of this question may be postponed until the new arrangements have been tried for one recruiting season.
20. A copy of this letter is being forwarded to the India Office, and I am to enclose, for your information, a copy of the covering lettert with which it is being transmitted.
22576
No. 91.
I am, &c.,
H. W. JUST.
COLONIAL OFFICE to THE GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION AGENT AT CALCUTTA FOR BRITISH GUIANA.
(Confidential.)
[Answered by No. 103.]
Downing Street, 19 December, 1912.
SIR,
WITH reference to my letter of to-day's date, and in further answer to your letter of the 9th of October last,§ I am directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to point out to you that the considerations to which you refer in the second and third para- graphs of your letter were substantially within his knowledge when the letter of the
§ No. 76.
• 30837: not printed.
↑ No 92.
* No. 90.
149
16th of August last* was sent to you from this Office; and that it would, in the circum- stances, have been better had you complied with the instructions contained in that letter and furnished Mr. Harcourt with your observations upon the various points in regard to which an expression of your views was desired.
2. The Secretary of State is fully alive to the difficulties to which you refer, but he does not propose to reconsider his decision as to the amalgamation of the agencies, and he desires that the necessary action should be taken with as little delay as possible.
3. In considering how to give effect to Mr. Harcourt's decision, due regard should, of course, be had by Mr. Marsden and yourself to the contingencies which might arise from a change in the attitude of the Indian Government towards inden- tured immigration, and in this connection I am to invite reference to the enclosures to the confidential letter from this Office of the 15th of August last, and to emphasise the necessity for restricting to the smallest possible limits any capital expenditure which may be necessary to effect the amalgamation of the Agencies.
22576
SIR,
No. 92.
I am, &c.,
H. W. JUST.
COLONIAL OFFICE to INDIA OFFICE. [Answered by No. 102.]
Downing Street, 19th December, 1912. WITH reference to previous correspondence on the subject of the proposed amalgamation of the two British Emigration Agencies at Calcutta, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquess of Crewe, the accompanying copy of a lettert which has been addressed to the Emigra- tion Agent for British Guiana at Calcutta, relative to the steps to be taken with a view to giving effect to Mr. Harcourt's decision. A copy of the letters from Mr. Marsden to which reference is made in that letter is also enclosed.
2. It will be seen that Mr. Harcourt desires that the new arrangements should be brought into force so far as possible from the 1st of April next, and that it is hoped to complete the amalgamation by--at latest-the 31st of December, 1913, that being the date on which the lease of the present depôt of the Trinidad, Jamaica, and Fiji Agencies expires.
3. It will be observed that the Emigration Agents at Calcutta have been instructed to approach the Indian Government with a view to arriving at a decision as to where the headquarters of the new depôt in the United Provinces should be established, and also to lay before the Indian Government their views as to the restriction of the areas of recruiting. These matters were referred to in the sixth and seventh paragraphs of Mr. Harcourt's letter of the 1st of February last, and while he feels that the decision in regard to them must be left in each case to the Indian authorities, he hopes that the views of Mr. Gibbes and Mr. Marsden may receive the fullest possible consideration.
4. In this connection I am to invite reference to the letter addressed by Mr. Gibbes to the Protector of Emigrants at Calcutta on the 21st of August last. A copy of this letter has no doubt been forwarded to the Marquess of Crewe by the Indian Government, but I am to enclose a copy for convenience of reference; and I am to observe that there appears to be much force in Mr. Gibbes's contention that the difficulties of recruiting would be greatly enhanced if the recruiting areas were to he restricted just at the moment when the new Agency and depôt are being established in the United Pro- vinces. I am therefore to express Mr. Harcourt's hope that defer any alteration in the recruiting areas until the up-country depôt is in full may be possible to working order.
5. I am to request that Lord Crewe's attention may be drawn to the fact that the Emigration Agents have been instructed to consider, and in due course to fur- nish a report upon, the proposals that some other system of recruitment should be substituted for the present system of payment by commission.
The most recent
• No. 65.
+ No. 61.
No. 43.
35391
‡ No. 90.
No. 58 (without portions in [ Enclosure 4 in No. 67.
]).
Ka