CO882-(2-3) — Page 370

PUBLIC

LLT T T

RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.8

882

2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

138

The state of the Colony, in regard to its requirements as to labour, was evidently totally unknown to the Commissioners. They appear not to have known that, although there was a temporary lull in the demand for labour in 1867, when the Ordinance No. 31 of that year was passed, labour has since been uninterruptedly in demand, and that about 8,000 immigrants are now due to satisfy the requisitions which remain to be carried out by our emigration agents in India.

67. There are several other passages in the Report of the Police Inquiry Commis- sion to which I have serious objections to offer, but my numerous occupations, as your Excellency is doubtless aware, hardly leave me any time to devote to correspondence extraneous to that involved in the ordinary course of my duties. I am, therefore, induced to go no further, especially as I believe that I have said enough already wholly to substantiate every exception that I have taken to the Report of the Commis sion. I think I have superabundently shown that the Report contains numerous errors; that its remarks and criticisms are in many instances unfounded; and that its inferences, in some instances, are unfair as well as unfounded.

68. I now lastly say that my objections do not at all apply to the separate Report presented by the Honourable C. Antelme, whose argumentation is unexceptionally just and impartial. Had the same care been taken in the preparation of the other Report, while I should have been spared the disagreeable duty of troubling your Excellency with this protest, the results of the Inquiry of the Police Commission would, I hold, have been more useful to the public, and, I firmly trust, more satis factory to your Excellency,

69. With reference to the suggestions presented by the Police Inquiry Commission for the improvement of our present labour-laws, and for the purpose of ridding them of what seemed to the Commission to constitute the defects and imperfections of those laws, I shall say nothing for the present. I shall have occasion to refer to them hereafter.

70. In conclusion, I beg of your Excellency, as a particular favour, to forward & copy of this letter to his Lordship the Secretary of State; and I also respectfully request that a copy of it be laid before the Council of Government, to whom the Report of the Police Inquiry Commission has already been communicated. Should your Excellency see no objection, I should further request that a copy be sent to Her Majesty's Commissioners of Inquiry, as I have been informed that they also have received the Report of the Police Inquiry Commission.

I have, &c.

(Signed) H. N. D. BEYTS, Protector of Immigrants.

(A.)

Final Report of the Commission appointed to inquire into the operation of Ordinance No. 31 of 1867.

After having considered the papers noted in the margin, we have the honour

to present this our final Report on the working of Ordinance No. 81 of 1867.

2. Although the provisions of the above-mentioned Ordinance, which are relative to the re-registration of old Immigrants not under written contracts, seem to us to have worked as efficiently as could have been expected at the outset of the new system which they initiated, still we think that some modifications are needed, both in that Ordinance and in its subsidiary regulations, to insure a better accomplishment of their objects. We beg to point out briefly what we consider what those amendments should be.

3. Referring first to the Ordinance, we think that the penal sanction of Article 21 should be extended beyond the cancellation of the contract; we recommend that a fine be made awardable against both parties to the contract when the offence defined in the Article is proved to have been committed.

4. We think that by merely declaring his abode and occupation, an immigrant should not become entitled to a police pass, as is provided in Article 48; but that the delivery of the pass should be made subject to the Police Inspector's being satisfied as to the bond fides of the declaration.

5. We consider that Article 46 ought to be amended, so as to allow the Magistrates to deal personally with the cases in which immigrants overstep the time granted to them for entering into a new engagement, or for applying for a police pass, and that a

139

fine, or imprisonment, should be made awardable by the Magistrate when satisfactory reasons are not shown to him for having allowed the delay to elapse.

6. Either a warrant of arrest or a summons, as the Magistrate may think proper, should we think, be made issuable under Article 47.

7. A fine should, in our opinion, be made awardable by the Magistrate ex officio, in cases where the servant is not discharged by his master, in accordance with Article 4 of Ordinance No. 15 of 1852.

8. We recommend that job-contractors be not authorised to employ labourers otherwise than under written contracts.

9. In reference to job-contractors, we further recommend that a special form of contract be provided for them, framed so as to allow them to engage labourers for any period not exceeding five years, on the following conditions:-

trate.

(1.) That they should furnish valid security to the satisfaction of the Magis-

(2.) That the proprietor or lessee of every estate on which they work should become collateral surety.

(8.) That on removing their labourers from one estate to another, they should give notice to the Stipendiary Magistrates of the districts in which the estate left, and the estate removed to, are respectively situated.

(4.) That all wages due should be paid before any such removal.

10. Regulation 42 should, we think, be modified so as to harmonise with the amendments which we have proposed in Article 46 of the Ordinance.

11. Defaulters under Regulation 43 should, we hold, be made punishable by imprisonment or fine.

18. Non-conpliance with the provisions of Regulation 44 by any immigrant who removes from one district to another should likewise, in our opinion, be punishable by imprisonment or fine.

18. Regulation 49 should, we think, be repealed, or replaced by another more consistent with the new provisions suggested in paragraphs 8 and 9 supra.

14. We should recommend that Regulations 54, 55, and 56 (those which refer to jobmen's licences), be thoroughly recast, with the view to the application of the following new principles :-

(1.) That the number of jobmen's licenses to be issued in each district be limited. by a committee, or by some officer appointed to determine from time to time what number of jobmen it is proper and expedient to have in the district.

(2.) That those licenses be held forfeitable when not used bona fide.

(8.) That jobmen be compelled to work under a tariff published from time to time

with the approval of the Governor.

(4.) That a penalty be attached to non-compliance with Regulation 58.

(5.) That the price of a license be raised to 11. per annum.

15. With regard to the "permits to work," alluded to in Regulation 67, we recommend-

(1.) That all such permits be sent under cover from the Immigration Depôt to the Police Office, to be delivered there after having been viať.

(2.) That each such permit be countersigned besides by the Inspector of Police of

the district in which the immigrant intends to work, if it be his wish to take service in a country district.

(8.) That the employment of an immigrant beyond the term of his permit be made punishable.

(4.) That immigrants not returning such permits to the Keeper of the Immigration Depot within three days after their expiry be made punishable.

16. Holders of police passes should, we think, be allowed to go from one district to another, with the written permission of the Inspector of Police, or of the Stipendiary Magistrate of their district. In the case of a licensed hawker, such permission may be allowed to extend to a period of several months, and be made available for more than one district, besides that in which the hawker is domiciled.

17. All immigrants not under written contracts should be required to keep their tickets in their own possession, and to exhibit them on demand to any constable or officer of police.

I

18. When any verbal engagement is broken off, or comes to an end, and is pot renewed, the employer should give notice thereof to the Police Inspector of his distriot, so that the subsequent movements of the immigrant may be followed out.

19. To arm Police Inspectors with the powers which we propose that they be entrusted with, in regard to the delivery of passes, seems to us to he essentially impor-