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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and that the charges are for them excessive. A labourer living under favourable conditions on an estate is sick for three weeks or more yearly. Elsewhere he will probably be sick for one month out of the twelve, the sickness being spread over several periods. He cannot afford to pay ordinary fees for treatment. His disable- ment is bad for himself and for the Colony. Would it be possible to supplement existing medical arrangements by opening dispensaries at which dispensers or com- pounders could treat petty ailments and supply medicine gratis? Under the existing system pauperism and poverty are not defined. sickness, need medical relief more, than well-to-do people.
Poor people are more liable to Would it be possible to provide free medical relief to all persons earning less than 150 dollars yearly? Wherever the line is drawn there will be doubtful cases, but the proposed line will put all unskilled labourers on daily wages, and small settlers on the free list.
4. We think that officers of the Immigration Department visiting estates should occasionally go into the fields and see the people at work. Scrutiny of registers and records, and inquiry into complaints at the Estate Office, are very useful and necessary, but do not meet all requirements. Field visits may often be occupied with hearing idle complaints, but the coolies generally will see that they are being looked after, and the officers will come into contact with coolies who are neither making nor answering formal complaints. We also think that Inspectors should occasionally test the task by the ordinary time test.
5. Managers should not be compelled to prosecute for desertion (Section 123). Complaints to Magistrates regarding all their offences should require the previous sanction of the local Inspector. An examination of the prosecution figures will show that complaints may be proportionately four times as numerous on one estate as on an adjoining estate. If immigration is to continue, the prosecutions must be reduced, and some effective safeguard against reckless prosecutions must be pro- vided. It is almost certain that hereafter the contracts entered into in India will refer to the penal provisions of the Ordinance. Intending immigrants, as well as the Indian Government and the Indian public, will be reassured by the knowledge that prosecutions must be sanctioned by an officer appointed to protect immigrants' interests. In Jamaica the Protector and Inspector, as well as Magistrates, are empowered to inflict punishments. The system seems to work well, and the enforce- ment of discipline without recourse to the Criminal Courts is obviously desirable. It is likely that in Jamaica we shall recommend the abolition of the concurrent juris- diction of Magistrates in the case of all offences not punishable under the general law. It might be desirable to give specially authorised Immigration Agents in British Guiana concurrent jurisdiction.
The practice of lodging complaints in order that they may be withdrawn with or without appearance in Court is, in our opinion, objectionable. Complaints should not be lodged if punishment is not required in the interests of discipline.
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6. If desired, the women might be indentured for the same term as men. original change was unnecessary and apparently undesirable. But possibly a change now may affect recruitment.
7. Though it may not be immediately necessary to provide specially in the Ordinance for the maintenance of crêches for children, we think that the Immi- gration Department should cause estates to erect floored sheds where very small children beyond the nursing stage could be tended by some elderly and reliable woman immigrant while their parents are at work, suitable food being provided.
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8. In Section 51 of the Ordinance it is assumed that persons not capable of performing agricultural labour may be indentured. The words and not capable Tabourer" in this section seem to be an oversight. Trinidad proposes
to omit them.
9. Medical Officers should be formally empowered to direct that not only rations (Section 73), but any diet be provided.
9. (b) Rations (one-third adult scale) are to be issued to "infants" for three months after allotment. It is thought that more liberal provisions should be made for infants," including those born while their parents are under indenture. It would also seem that in the case of real infants a money payment would be more suitable. Whether the charge should fall wholly on the estate or wholly on the Immigration Fund or on both may deserve consideration. We suggest an allowance of one shilling weekly for each "infant" while either parent is indentured.
10. It would be better to omit [first] sub-section of Section 74. The second sub- section will be sufficiently deterrent. The omission of all unnecessary penal pro- vision is very desirable. Sale or barter cannot, in practice, be proved unless the purchaser or receiver is identified.
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11. The first sub-section of Section 91 should be omitted. Egress from hospitals without permission should be rendered physically impossible if it is so objectionable. 11. (b) Section 95. In Trinidad, as in Demerara, it is assumed that seven hours of ordinary exertion represent a fair day's work. In Trinidad an immigrant must be present at work for nine hours, inclusive of at least half an hour's stop- page (Section 114). In Demerara (Section 95) presence at work for seven hours is required. But in Trinidad five days' normal work, with normal earnings, entitles the immigrant to exemption from work for the rest of the week, except in crop time. The difference in prescribed, though not necessarily in actual, working hours, doubtless takes account of the difference of temperature and humidity. But while in Trinidad, except in time of urgency, an immigrant may choose to work for only five days a week, he is, in Demerara, liable to prosecution for refusing to work unless he has earned six days' pay. In practice no Manager would wish to prosecute a regular worker who took a holiday on Saturday after working for five whole days. Perhaps it would be simpler to provide that after an immigrant had worked for five days in any week attendance at work on the sixth day should be optional, except in crop time. Under good management there will be no difficulty about getting immigrants to work six days when wanted at other times also. As the law stands, a time-worker who misses one working day is liable to prosecution. It would he better to limit the compulsion to five days' work or five days' earnings in a week. Section 96. In practice it is the average worker's capacity which regulates the task. This section requires the task to be adapted to physique of each individual worker. When the Ordinance is next amended the wording might be altered to accord with the general understanding.
12. Trinidad agrees to a proposal that all overtime be paid for at the rate
of one cent per 12 minutes or fraction of that period (see Section 107).
13. Under all penal clauses imprisonment should be awarded only in default of payment of fine. For minor offences, five shillings should be the maximum fine for a first offence, and ten shillings for a subsequent offence. Imprisonment in default should be for a period not exceeding one fortnight for minor offences. The scale of punishment for more serious offences might be at double the rate for minor offences. The division of offences into minor and major offences might be fixed after consulting a local committee. An offender sentenced to pay a fine should be entitled to pay in instalments of not less than one shilling weekly."
14. Omít sub-section (4) of Section 112 and enact a separate provision penalising persons aiding or instigating any offence.
14 (6) Can Section 115 be enforced? Is it valuable otherwise than as food for hostile criticism? Is a man to be refused two days' work because he has not an official permit? The conditions under which the section might have been useful seem to have gone for ever.
14. (c) Section 127 should be deleted. In practice it will prevent nothing, except possibly the continuance of immigration. It is resented in India, and does no good in British Guiana. Apparently it is a survival from days when immigrants were fewer and more localised. The only immigrants deserving arrest on suspicion are deserters, for whom a warrant is issued. A police constable should have the same reason for arresting an immigrant in this way as he would have for arresting any- one else under a warrant. Ordinary absentees from estates (ie., indentured immi- grants) should be liable to arrest only by—
(1) the estate Manager or a person authorised in writing by him to arrest
such person;
(2) the Immigration Agent-General, an Immigration Agent, or the person
authorised in writing by either of these.
Persons so arrested should be sent as soon as possible to the estate to which they belonged. If they cannot reach the destination on the day of arrest they might be detained and fed for a night at a police station or an immigration depôt.
14. (d) Section 123 should be deleted. Managers should be required to notify desertions immediately to the Immigration Department, and be compelled to offer a small reward for information leading to the apprehension of a deserter.
14. (e) Section 128 is objectionable and unnecessary.
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14. (f) Section 129. Substitute "may for "shall" in line 4.
14.-(g) Section 133. If no warrant has been issued the police are not con- cerned. If a warrant has issued perhaps the Magistrate should be informed.
14. (h) Section 134 is needless and should be omitted. It tempts incompetent Managers and others.
33391
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