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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

No. 2 of 1851.

23rd March, 1851.

Rights of old immi-

grants.

R. 1108.

162

Report of the Special Committee of Council on Immigrants.

Committee:

The Treasurer and Paymaster-General, President.

#1

Auditor-General.

Honourable H. Koenig.

P. Harel.

W. Forster.

»

25

Sir D. Barclay, Bart.

"

G. Fropier.

Read: A Minute of his Excellency the Governor, dated 7th instant, referring for the opinion of the Committee an application from an old immigrant, who has completed his industrial residence, for leave to reside in the Colony, and to take some of his countrymen into his employment.

2. The Committe entirely concur with his Excellency in the opinion that Indian immigrants, who have completed their industrial residence, are entitled to every right enjoyed by British subjects in the Colony, and that it would be both unjust and impolitic to place any obstacle in the way of their exercising those rights.

3. Although their labour might be most advantageously employed on the sugar estates, as far as the general interests of the Colony are concerned, and the planters are most desirous of retaining their services there, it is much better, when they leave the estates, that they should be usefully employed as petty cultivators of the soil, or pro- ducers of any description, possessing a stake, and taking an interest in the Colony, than roving about, giving a desultory labour, or following unproductive, or even mischievous pursuits.

4. The evidence, too, of the results of continued industry, and the prospect of acquiring the same advantages, cannot fail to present a stimulus to their countrymen, who continue to be employed as labourers, and to encourage others to emigrate freely to Mauritius.

5. But it is just, as observed by his Excellency, that "upon the admission of the immigrant to all the rights and immunities enjoyed by the other classes of the community, he should consent to forego his claim upon the Colony to a free passage back to India;" and further, that he should resign the character of immigrant, the tutelage of the Protector of Immigrants, and the power of sheltering himself from the responsibilities of free citizenship under the provisions of laws applicable only to immigrants.

6. The Committee do not anticipate any reluctance on the part of the immigrant to consent to this arrangement. Although doubts might at first arise, lest the proposal should indispose the immigrant to remain in the Island, and provoke a desire to return home, the Committee are convinced that the facility of obtaining a return passage, and of earning the means of paying for it, is so great, and so well known by the immigrants throughout the Island, that no man who has made up his mind to purchase land, to enter a trade, to hold a shop license, or to advance himself in any way beyond the position of a labourer, would hesitate to comply with this condition; and it is their belief that if the Government were willing to give a patent of citizenship, as it were, to all those who desired it on the same condition, thousands would avail themselves of the privilege.

7. It only remains to satisfy the Secretary of State and the Indian Government. The Committee do not apprehend that they can refuse their consent to so just an arrangement. The Committee have already, in their last Report, and on previous occasions, expressed their objections to the return passage being imposed by the Indian Government, as a condition of continued emigration. The question now raised presents another objection, which may perhaps succeed in creating a doubt as to the expediency of this condition, which confers upon this class of men greater rights than upon any other British subject, here or elsewhere--the full rights of a citizen, and the peculiar privileges of an immigrant.

8. As this question will probably come before the Court of Directors upon the present occasion, the Committee would suggest for the consideration of his Excellency and the Honourable Court, whether the object of the condition would not be attained, and the settlement of the immigrants in the Colony be much promoted, by the promise of a return passage being held out, and secured to them at any time after the expira tion of five, or even three years, in the event of their wishing to return, and not possessing the means of obtaining it for themselves.

163

9. It is true that poverty would often be feigned, and imposition might sometimes prove successful, with a view to obtaining a gratuitous back passage; but the temptation to deception is comparatively so small, and the means of detection usually so accessible, that the committee consider this objection to weigh as nought in the scale against the great advantage of inducing the Immigrants to consider themselves as settlers, and not as mere birds of passage, in the Colony.

(Signed) RAWSON W. RAWSON, President. Council Chamber, March 23, 1851.

Despatch of Governor Higginson to Earl Grey, Secretary of State for the Colonies. (No. 72. Immigration.) My Lord,

I beg leave to submit for your Lordship's consideration, copies of a Report of the special Committee of Council on immigrants unanimously adopted by the Board, and

my Minute referred to by the Committee.

Mauritius, April 25, 1851.

2. I have so recently explained the extent and nature of the evils which are in my opinion entailed upon this Colony, by the system of gratuitous return passages to Indian immigrants, that it seems unnecessary for me to trouble your Lordship with further observations on the subject. It is with considerable hesitation, and with due deference, that I venture to entertain an opinion at variance with that of my prede- cessor in the Government, who was so capable of forming a correct judgment, and also with that of the Honourable the Court of Directors of the East India Company. On the other hand, I can assure your Lordship that I have met no person here who does not entirely concur in the sentiments which I have expressed; that, in fact, public opinion is unanimous upon the question.

3. The strong objections evinced by the Government of India to the abolition of the system of free return passages, forbid the expectation of its seeing fit to assent to the adoption of that measure; but it might be induced to relieve the people of Mauritius, in a minor degree, by consenting to some modification of the existing Regulation. Either in the manner suggested by the Committee of Council, or by providing that if immigrants, on the expiration of their five years' industrial resi- dence, when they are freed from all restrictions imposed by their previous condition, and become entitled to all the rights and immunities enjoyed by other classes of the community, should not claim the privilege of being sent back to India at the public charge, they shall afterwards, in case they may desire to quit the island, be left to find a passage at their own expense, which, except in cases of extremely rare occurrence, and these caused by the misconduct of the parties themselves, they can afford without the slightest difficulty or hardship. In the event of sickness or disease, and conse- quent inability to earn their livelihood, the immigrants are accommodated and treated in the public hospital, or, if they desire it, they are provided with a free passage, and furnished with the means of reaching their native homes.

4. It would give me great satisfaction if I could enlist your Lordship's sympa- thies, and obtain your support to the views taken by the Colonists of the question under notice, in which they feel their present and future interests to be materially involved. And this, I trust, will excuse their and my own apparent importunity in regard to it.

(No. 154) Sir,

I have, &c.

(Signed) J. M. HIGGINSON.

The Secretary of State for the Colonies to Governor Higginson.

I HAVE received your despatch No. 72 of the 25th April, transmitting, for my

Downing Street, November 20, 1851. consideration, the copy of the proceedings of the Council of Government of Mauritius and of a Minute by yourself, on the subject of granting Return Passages to the Indian Immigrants.

Notwithstanding the reluctance which the Court of Directors have evinced to entertain suggestions for the modification of the arrangements respecting Return Passages, I requested the Commissioners for the affairs of India to lay your communi-