CO885(1-2) — Page 295

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and that everything has been properly explained to them. No bounty will be payable in respect of any Emigrant arriving with- out the Protector's certificate.

3. An officer will be appointed by the Government at each port of embarkation to act as Emigration Agent for the West India Colonies.

These last-mentioned officers will be required to make every preparation for the reception of the Emigrants on their arrival from the interior. They will explain to the Emigrants the com- parative advantages held out by the different Colonies, and on ascertaining that they are eligible Emigrants, will provide them with a passage to the Colony they may have selected.

These officers will be remunerated by a fixed salary, to be paid by the importing Colonies for which they act. Should the Emigration be confined to Calcutta, it is hoped that the officers appointed there to superintend and conduct the Emigration of Indians now going to the Mauritius will be able to act in the same capacity for the West Indies, a measure at once recom- mended by economy, and the absence of rival establishments.

4. It will be necessary that "Travelling Agents" should be appointed, the present system of collecting them through the agency of Duffadars being considered objectionable; but it is not possible at present to state the exact footing upon which these appointments will be placed; and it will be left to the Emigration Agent, subject to the approval of the Governor-General, to make the necessary arrangements on this head. It is proposed that the expense on this account shall not be allowed to exceed a fixed sum for each Emigrant.

5. A sufficient number of Emigrants being collected at the port of embarkation, the Emigration Agent will, by tender, take up vessels for their conveyance to their destination, the rate not to exceed a certain sum hereafter to be fixed for each Indian landed. The vessels will be subject to the provisions of the Passengers Act, and will be required to sail, on receiving orders for that purpose from the Emigration Agent, after the Protector's certificate has been granted.

The Emigration Agent will be instructed to provide each Emigrant with a suitable supply of warm clothing for the voyage.

6. It is not intended that there should be any restriction with respect to the proportion of males and females, such a course having been considered by the Government of India as objection- able, but every inducement will be held out to the wives and families of Emigrants to accompany them.

7. Each Colony will provide a public interpreter; and every fifty Indians will be accompanied by a Sirdar, who should if possible be competent to interpret

8. Gratuities to the extent of fifteen rupees may be made to the Emigrants previous to embarkation; but these gratuities must be defrayed by the Colonies, and must not in any way be considered as a debt against the Emigrants.

9. The departure of the vessels will be restricted to the period between the 1st of October and the 1st of February, being the time most favourable for the monsoon, and in order to avoid the winter months in passing the Cape of Good Hope.

10. Proper preparation will be made in the importing Colonies

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for the reception of these Emigrants. In the Colonies of Jamaica, British Guiana, and Trinadad, the only Colonies to which it is anticipated that the measure will be applicable, an Immigration Agent is already appointed to superintend the arrival of the Emigrants from Sierra Leone. The regulations adopted by these officers, under the direction of the respective Governors, for the reception and location of the Sierra Leone Emigrants having worked most satisfactorily, as will appear on reference to the printed West India Emigration Papers, will be continued.

11. At the expiration of five years every Emigrant, including all children who may have been born in the Colony will become entitled to a free passage back to India. For the purpose of en- suring payment of the necessary charges, each Colony will be required, as they have already done in the case of the Sierra Leone Emigrants, to pass a law to render the Colony liable for this expense in a manner which is tantamount to a charge on the Consolidated Fund of the Colony.

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.

885

1PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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