PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.885
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
266
2. According to the latest information, the two Emigration Commissioners are expected to return here from their tour in the early part of December, and I would submit, for consideration, that a proposal be placed before the India Office that, before submitting their report, it would be only fair to the Colonies that the Commissioners should acquaint themselves with the class of people who are working on the estates in Assam and the treatment they there receive."
3. I have had no opportunity during my residence in India of visiting any of the tea gardens, but I am informed that the treatment which the labourers receive in our West Indian and Fiji Colonies is more humane and considerate than what they are subjected to in Assam, and the people whom I have seen being despatched there consist of many who in physique and suitability will not compare with those whom we despatch to the Colonies. I mention this latter point because much importance appears to have been laid hitherto by the Commissioners on the condition and class of people whom the Colonies have received from here.
4. As the time is so short to the Emigration Commissioners' return, I thought it would be better to forward this suggestion by wire, and, accordingly, telegraphed. you to-day,* as copy enclosed.
42015
SIR,
I have, &c.,
A. MARSDEN,
Government Emigration Agent for Trinidad, &c.
No. 178.
THE GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION AGENT AT CALCUTTA FOR TRINIDAD, &c., to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 6 December, 1913.)
Fiji Government Emigration Agency,
21, Garden Reach, Calcutta,
November 20th, 1913.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge your letter, No. 33884/1913, of the 31st ultimo.† and learn from the same that the arrangement for amalgamation of the expenses of all the Colonies should come into effect on the 1st January, 1914.
2. Mr. Gibbes is not in Calcutta at present, having left for Madras to take over charge of the Agency there from Mr. Conran, and I am, therefore, not in a position to place before you our joint views on some of the questions asked.
The letter has, however, been placed before him, and will be replied to jointly on his return, which is expected to be about the middle of December.
3. I would here take the opportunity of confirming the following telegram which I despatched to you on the 17th instant‡:-
"Fiji requisitions 825 Madras emigrants, for whom recruitment should commence at once. Conran's services terminated 15th November, desirable that steps should be taken to gazette Gibbes or Doorly Emigration Agent at Madras as soon as possible,"
which explains itself, and will doubtless receive your attention. The remainder of the telegram, which is as follows:-
•
Government of India state that until Act amended Emigration Agents can only be gazetted for a port, till then Marsden's position up-country will be notified by executive instructions. Desirable that steps should be taken to gazette Gibbes Emigration Agent Calcutta for all Colonies not later than 1st January so as to coincide with your letter 31st October, paragraph 4,'
refers to the difficulty which the Government of India have experienced in gazetting me as an agent when the nature of my work requires me to live in Benares, as the Act in its present form will only permit of an agent being gazetted for a port. The Under-Secretary for the Department under which emigration comes has, however, informed me that until the Act is amended, which it is contemplated to do after a
‡ No. 165.
• No. 168.
† No. 158,
267
report of the two Emigration Commissioners have been received, the authorities up-country will be notified by executive instructions of the nature of my position and work. The telegram further refers to the desirability of Mr. Gibbes being gazetted as Agent in Calcutta for all the Colonies not later than the 1st January, 1914, as, until this is done, he is only authorised to act on behalf of British Guiana while I am gazetted for Trinidad, Jamaica, Fiji, and Mauritius.
42017
SIR,
I have, &c.,
A. MARSDEN,
Government Emigration Agent for Trinidad,
No. 179.
Fiji, Jamaica, and Mauritius
THE GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION AGENT AT CALCUTTA FOR TRINIDAD, &c., to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 6 December, 1913.)
[Answered 3 January, 1914, by 42919 in Miscellaneous No. 299.]
Trinidad Government Emigration Agency,
21, Garden Reach, Calcutta,
November 20th, 1913.
I HAVE the honour to confirm my telegram of the 13th instant,* informing you that as the result of my recent visit to Benares I have met with a depôt and house, which I consider will meet our requirements, and have since received your telegram of the 17th instant,† informing me that I am authorised to proceed with negotiations for obtaining leases of the same.
2. I spent one month in Benares, and visited fully forty sites or gardens, out
of which the following appeared the most desirable, and which formed the subject
of
my telegram. It consists of 13 bighas of land (4) acres) on a main road, half a mile from the principal railway station (Benares Cantonment), and is the property of a Bengalee Babu, named Upendra Nath Basu, who is a large landowner and banker in Benares, and Chairman of Mrs. Besant's Theosophical College. It has been used, in the past, as a pleasure garden by the proprietor, and is surrounded by a high wall, which in some places requires repair. This I undertook to carry out if a lease was taken of the property. It contains a one-storied brick house in good condition, which will be available as an office and as a residence for the Depôt Super- intendent. There is a long yard adjoining, fitted up with side-rooms and capable of accommodating 75 to 100 coolies comfortably. I purpose adding a similar structure large enough to accommodate another 150. The proprietor was very anxious that the garden, of which he is very proud, should not fall into decay, and as it contains 75 mango trees, which should bring in a revenue sufficient to pay for any gardeners who may be employed, I have promised him it should not be neglected. The perty is very favourably situated, with being so close to the railway station, where
pro coolies will arrive and depart, and there is the further advantage that they will be able to travel by a side-road, which will obviate their passing through the bazaar, and so prevent them from being interfered with when en route in any large numbers.
3. Adjoining this garden is another small property of three bighas (one acre), surrounded by a high wall, which at present is in the occupation of a contractor of labour for Assam, and which contains buildings capable of accommodating 75 coolies and quarters for the resident doctor Babu, and for sepoys who will act as guards. Some repairs and extensions will be necessary to adapt these to our purposes, and a hospital and dispensary will require to be constructed, but the small compound will be a valuable adjunct to the larger garden, especially at a time when recruiting will be going on for two Colonies simultaneously.
The rent asked for this garden was ridiculously small, namely, Rs. 200 a year, and as I found that rents were being put up against me in Benares, when it was known that I was enquiring for such depôts, I took the opportunity of securing a lease of the place at once for three years on a payment of 600 rupees, the equivalent of £40, for three years. Although I was informed at the time that I could have the option of renewal for another one to seven years, similar to what I arranged for the
• No. 161.
+ No. 166.
Page 570Page 571
PUBLIC
RECORD
OFFICE
[:་།།།།
Reference :-
C.O.885
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
268
large depôt, I may have some difficulty in enforcing this, owing to the owner being a somewhat illiterate man, and shall have to wait until I arrive in Benares next month before being able to clear the matter up. The rent originally asked for the large depôt was 250 rupees per month, which I ultimately reduced to Rs. 200 per month on promising that I would carry out some necessary repairs, say £160 per annum, and if this be added to the equivalent of 200 rupees per annum above-mentioned for the second depôt, the sum of £175 per annum is arrived at, as stated in my telegram. 4. The additions and repairs in the two depôts will approximately amount to an outlay of £400, and which, when carried out, should afford accommodation for 300 people, and in two sections if required. More accommodation could be made later, if thought necessary.
5. The larger depôt contains four wells, and the smaller one two wells, of excellent water, and the taxes, which I undertook to pay, are of a very nominal character. Before having the lease drawn up, I am awaiting the report of the Civil Surgeon, who has just returned from leave.
6. I encountered the same difficulties in Benares as I had previously done in Fyzabad, as regards a house for myself, and was informed by the officials whom I consulted that one would be most difficult to obtain. However, through the influ- ence of a native friend, I was able to meet with one which the proprietor agreed to let on a three-years' lease, at £60 per annum with the option of renewal for an extra one to seven years. Although situated within the cantonment, it is not one of the notified bungalows, of which there are eight, reserved for military officers, and there is little likelihood, therefore, of being disturbed. The house is built in the bungalow style with a thatched roof, and is adjacent to that of the Deputy Commissioner in one of the best parts of Benares, and distant 14 miles from the depôt.
7. The selection of Benares by the Government of India for our up-country Agency will now cause a far larger number of intending emigrants to detrain at Moghul Serai (400 miles from Calcutta), which is on the main line, and 10 miles from Benares, than if we had opened up at Fyzabad, as previously expected, and had the arrangement been in force from 1908-12, according to the number of coolies then sent down to Calcutta, there would have been an average of 12,798 coolies per annum halted at Moghul Serai for Benares against 773 per annum who would have gone direct to Calcutta. It is this proximity of Benares to Moghul Serai, which occupies such a commanding position on the railway, which I believe has been the reason for the Government selecting Benares as our centre, in preference to Fyzabad.
8. As Benares will be receiving emigrants for examination during the whole time that Calcutta is collecting emigrants for either one or both depôts, and will be paying the Sub-Agents for all the emigrants who have been selected and passed on, the estimate which was framed in our joint letter of 3rd April, 1913, for the staff at Fyzabad, will not be adequate to deal with the new situation which has been created, and I purpose, next mail, submitting a fresh estimate.
9. I have had photographs taken of the different properties, but, unfortunately, they will not be ready in time for this mail, and will follow next week.
10.
From enquiries which I have made from the railway authorities, I think it will be possible, when we get into working order, to entrain the coolies in special carriages holding 100 each, which can be brought over three railway systems, and arrive at Garden Reach only half a mile from the depôt, a considerable gain on our present system, when coolies arrive at the principal station in Calcutta at Howrah, and subsequently travel by boat or garry to the depôt, four miles distant. The inconvenience and annoyance of having them interfered with by fellow-passengers when en route, or by mischief-makers during their transfer from the station to the hoats, when they are occasionally dispersed and thus lost, would thereby be avoided. 11. Since returning to Calcutta I have seen a statement in the Press that Bankipur, which was the capital selected for the new Province of Behar and Orissa, has been condemned, owing to the town being exposed to floods, and that there is a possibility of the Province being rearranged and Benares brought within its area to form the new capital. If this is correct we have been fortunate in our selection of property having been already arranged for, as values of land and property will now materially increase.
12. Although the officials at Benares whom I visited informed me that they had received no intimation, up to the present, from their Government that Benares had been selected for our up-country Agency, they assured me that they would do all in their power to make our new undertaking a success, and the Commissioner, who
• No. 119.
•
269
had been newly appointed, and seemed much interested in our work, informed me that if I was going to reside in Benares he would make a special application that the office in charge of emigration there should be under a European, which would be a distinct advantage.
13. As Mr. Gibbes has left for Madras, where he is engaged in taking over the Agency there from Mr. Conran, there has been no opportunity of showing him this letter before its despatch.
42198
I have, &c.,
A. MARSDEN, Government Emigration Agent for Trinidad,
Fiji, Jamaica, and Mauritius.
No. 180.
COLONIAL OFFICE to THE GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION AGENTS AT CALCUTTA. GENTLEMEN,
Downing Street, 12 December, 1913. WITH reference to paragraph 2 of the letter from this Department of the 31st of October last,* I am directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to inform you that the Government of Trinidad has concurred in the proposals in regard to the grant of retiring allowances to certain clerks employed in the Emigration Agency at Calcutta whose services it is proposed to dispense with.
I am, &c.,
42919
SIR,
No. 181.
HENRY LAMBERT,
for the Under-Secretary of State.
THE GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION AGENT AT CALCUTTA FOR TRINIDAD, &c., to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 13 December, 1913.)
[Answered 5th January, 1914, by 42919 in Miscellaneous No. 299.]
Trinidad Government Emigration Agency,
21, Garden Reach, Calcutta, November 27th, 1913.
IN continuation of my letter of the 20th instant,† regarding the selection of
"a depôt and house for our new Agency at Benares, I have the honour to forward, under
separate cover, four photographst representing the same as undernoted:-
(a) new emigration depôt at Benares facing the main road. The small house at the corner is in addition to the one mentioned in Calcutta letter of 20th November, 1913;
(b) house inside new emigration depôt at Benares suitable for office, Depôt Superintendent's house and part coolie lines. The building extends some distance further on the right than what is shown in the photo- graph referred to in Calcutta letter of 20th November, 1913;
(c) interior of subsidiary depôt at Benares which adjoins main depôt, and will be connected by à door. Photo. shows proposed Resident Doctor Babu's quarters and part lines for coolies referred to in Calcutta letter of 20th November, 1913;
(d) back of Emigration Agent's bungalow at Benares, the sun not being favourable to take the front, referred to in Calcutta letter of 20th November, 1913;
and also to submit an estimate of the monthly working expenses there when the depôt will be in working order, and which approximately works out at Rs. 847/899, against our former estimate of Rs. 485 for Faizabad.
2. The necessity for this arises, as I explained in my letter last week, owing to the larger number of people now required to be dealt with than what was contemplated if Faizabad had been selected.
• No. 158.
† No. 179.
Not reproduced.