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consideration of the Council of Government, was inclosed in my despatch No. 127 of the 4th April last.

2. I now repair that omission, though, indeed, those messages contain nothing specially worthy of your Lordship's notice.

3. I also inclose a report of the speech made by me on the introduction of the resolutions mentioned in my despatch No. 127 of 4th April last.

4. This speech is somewhat more rhetorical than is usual with the official utter- ances of a Governor, and as such I am, perhaps, somewhat ashamed of it, but it was deliberately. adapted to its audience, and, according to general testimony, which I cannot refuse to credit, it produced an effect to which its own merits but little entitled it, and secured the unanimity of that vote of the Council which I have already reported to your Lordship in my despatch No. 127 of 4th April.

5. The resolution with respect to the return passages, the adjournment of which, to enable the Members of Council fully to study the papers connected with the subject, I reported in my despatch No. 127, has not yet been taken up again, the papers having been only printed and circulated within the last few days, I propose that the Council should record its opinion in agreement with that already expressed by your Lordship, but shall abstain from all legislative action until after the conclusion of the inquiries of the Royal Commission.

I havt, &c.

(Signed)

Inclosure 1 in No. 29.

Message to the Council of Government.

ARTHUR GORDON.

ARTHUR GORDON.

THE Governor cannot doubt that it will be within the recollection of the Council of Government that some months since a considerable degree of public attention was attracted by the publication of certain representations affecting the condition of the labouring classes in the Colony.

His Excellency was at that time of opinion that far too much importance had been attached to the representations in question, and he expressed in his place at this Board his confident belief that they were unlikely to produce any prejudicial effect in India, and that, at the worst, it was impossible that the Government of that country could take any steps unfavourable to the continuance of emigration to Mauritius without previous communication with him.

Those anticipations have been completely verified. No action was taken by the Government of India discouraging to emigration. On the contrary, restrictions which had been imposed upon recruiters have been materially relaxed, whilst the only notice taken by the Governments of Bombay and Bengal of the statements conveyed to them was to refer the communication which contained them to the Governor of this Island, in the confidence, not his Excellency trusts a misplaced confidence, that if abuses existed, the means to detect, the courage to denounce, and the will and power to punish them, would not be found wanting in the Colony,

Nor did the Imperial Government manifest any greater disposition to take active notice of the representations in question, or any disinclination to believe that the well- being of the Indian population was on the whole adequately cared for. To the local Authorities and to the Colony itself Her Majesty's Advisers were well content to leave the task of correcting such abuses as might arise, and of removing such imperfections in the legislation affecting immigration as might from time to time be brought to notice.

Whilst, however, the representations to which allusion has been made were still the subject of comment and discussion in the Colony, the Chamber of Agriculture had adopted resolutions, in one of which the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry from England was prayed for, in the event of his Excellency failing to refute the assertions which had excited the resentment of the community. His Excellency readily ox- pressed his disbelief in the existence of grave or general abuses, but it was impossible for him, with the then existing imperfect machinery of inspection, to "refute" such statements without previously instituting an elaborate and minute inquiry, an inquiry which, as he stated in addressing this Board on the 14th November last, if undertaken

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at all, ought in his opinion to be undertaken only under the direction of the Imperial Government, and by Commissioners appointed by the Crown.

These resolutions were, at the request of the Chamber of Agriculture, forwarded by his Excellency to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Her Majesty s Govern- ment have come to the conclusion that, under all the circumstances, the inquiry asked for in the Chamber of Agriculture should be instituted, and the Government has ac- cordingly received a despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, informing him that such a Commission will be appointed, and its members shortly named. That despatch his Excellency has now directed to be laid before the Board."

It appeared to his Excellency that it would be desirable, before taking any other step, or officially communicating to the Chamber of Agriculture the intentions of Her Majesty's Government, to ascertain whether the wishes of that body had undergone any change since the month of November.

The fears then entertained in some quarters had proved groundless, and it was possible that this fact might have modified their desire for an inquiry; the slight degree of excitement which had been called forth had wholly subsided, and the repeated de- clarations of the Governor, that he believed few abuses to result in practice, from the undeniably imperfect condition of the law, might not impossibly be considered to have afforded the refutation required by the Chamber of Agriculture.

The Imperial Government had determined on the Commission not without hesita- tion, and with a decided reluctance to throw upon the Colony the probably great expense which such a Commission would involve; and, in case of any change of opinion as to the necessity for the inquiry on the part of those who requested it, it was, in his Excellency's opinion, highly probable (more especially if the Governor were able to report that the suggestions for the amendment of the existing law, made by the Score- tary of State, were favourably regarded in the Colony) that Her Majesty's Government would stay the departure of the Commission. The Governor accordingly communicated with the President of the Chamber of Agriculture, and requested him, unofficially, to ascertain the wishes of the leading members of the agricultural body on this point. The result of these inquiries has left no doubt on his Excellency's mind that a desire for the appointment of the Commission still prevails, and that the same determination to face cheerfully the probably very heavy expenditure which it will entail continues to be maintained. This determination is, in his Excellency's opinion, highly creditable to the public spirit of those by whom it has been formed, and their readiness to court investigation will, his Excellency is confident, be appreciated as it deserves both by the Imperial Government and in the Colony.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

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Whilst, therefore, the Governor has felt it his duty to represent that the the Ordinance for the appointment of Inspectors of Immigrants has provided in a great degree for the pursuit of such inquiries as the Commission would undertake, and for the collection of much of the information which it would compile, and has thereby rendered its appointment less necessary than it might otherwise have been considered: whilst he has expressed his regret that so heavy a charge should be imposed on the community, and has assured the Secretary of State of his confidence that all recom mendations of the Imperial Government will be received and discussed in the same wise and liberal spirit which distinguished the proceedings of the Council with respect to the Ordinance for the appointment of Inspectors of Immigrants, and which has equally distinguished their discussions on many previous occasions; he has at the same time reported that it is still the evident desire of the Chamber of Agriculture that the Inquiry should proceed.

Under these circumstances his Excellency has little doubt that the Commission will be speedily appointed.

The expense involved is, under tho present circumstances of the Colony, deeply to be regretted, but in other respects the inquiries of the Commission cannot, his Excel- lency thinks, fail to be attended with advantage. They will clear up at once and for ever all doubts, and silence all unfounded cavil as to the condition of Indian labourers in the Colony. They will detect abuses where abuses are to be detected, and proclaim their absence where none exist. They will also, no doubt, suggest many valuable im- provements in a system the weak points of which may probably be more readily per- ceptible to a stranger's eye than to those long habituated to its working, and naturally biassed in its favour. His Excellency had looked, not without some apprehension, at the prospect of the excitement and dissention which might have ensued had the agri- cultural body generally manifested a disposition to resent the appointment of the Com- mission asked for by the Chamber of Agriculture, and to obstruct its working; but

• Vide Appendix.

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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