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CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO

12. The only open question appears to us to have been one arising under the 3d section of the Colonial Ordinance, No. 22 of 1852, to which we have before now called attention. It may be argued that this section required, as a condition of receiving bounty, that the importers should have complied with all of those provisions of the Passengers Act which are capable of being applied to the particular immigration in which they were concerned. But the colonial autho ritics appear to have assumed that the Ordinance was not capable of this con- struction, and have accordingly paid the full bounty due on the immigrants introduced by this ship. It appears to us that their decision is right. But even were it otherwise, it is not one with which we could have interfered, or which we have any authority to reverse.

13. Although, therefore, the history of this ship affords the strongest argu- ment for placing this immigration in future under strict Government superin- tendence, we do not think that it would justify this Board in taking advantage of the bond given under an entire misapprehension of the law by the master of the ship.

14. With regard to the first of Dr. Ely's proposals, we would point out that this gentleman, "who makes no secret" that his firm is engaged in an illicit trade, appears to contemplate obtaining female emigrants from ports not legally open to English trade, and by cluding the vigilance of the mandarins. We think it would not be possible for the Government to accept such an offer of assistance. But it is evident that the question of the mode of encouraging a female immi- gration will be most properly answered when Mr. White shall have arrived in

this country.

15. With regard to Dr. Ely's tender of shipping, we have only to observe, that the terms proposed are such as to involve a serious increase in the present cost of the eniigration; since, for 201., he offers not to obtain and convey the emigrants, but merely to convey them, when selected, from China to the West Indies. Moreover, he proposes that this very high rate of passage-money should be paid for six years, during which time, if the emigration proceeds, there is every reason to hope that its expense may be materially reduced.

Herman Merivale, Esq.,

&c.

&c.

We have, &c.

(Signed) T. W. C. MURDOCII,

No. 40.

FREDERIC ROGERS.

Cory of a DESPATCH from Governor HENRY BARKLY, to the DUKE of

(No. 54.)

MY LORD DUKE,

NEWCASTLE.

Government House, April 7, 1853.

(Received May 4, 1853.)

I Have the honour to acknowledge your Grace's Despatch of the 28th February, No. 20, enclosing copy of a further communication on the subject of Chinese emigration from the Acting Superintendent of Trade in China, and directing me to examine into and report upon the allegations contained therein as to the abuses practised in procuring emigrants in that country.

2. My reports, upon the arrival of the "Glentanner," "Lord Elgin," and “Samuel Boddington,” would subsequently show your Grace that the existence of these abuses did not escape my attention, but that I communicated to Her Majesty's Government, as promptly as possible, all the information I could procure on the subject.

3. Those reports would also demonstrate the impracticability, from the want of competent interpreters, of instituting anything like a searching inquiry on this side into the motives and expectations which induced the people to emigrate, the nature of the representations made to them, or the precise details of the treatment they met with in the depôts.

4. For my own part I am inclined to think that the account Dr. Bowring has received of these matters is somewhat over-coloured, no allowance apparently being made for the difference between Asiatic and European ideas, either of good faith or of comfort-a difference which, in the latter respect, may be illustrated by the simple fact that many of the Chinese who arrived here in the "Glentanner" had, according to their own assertion, never before lived in a

EMIGRATION OF CHINESE COOLIES.

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house of any kind, and regarded a floor, even if of bamboo, or a roof even of thatch, as luxuries; whilst, as regards good faith, I have little doubt they would have thought it just as allowable to cheat the Chinese Depôt Keeper out of the advances made to them, or to pocket them over and over again by escaping and re-entering, as he on his part would to employ deception, fraud, or even violence towards them, if it suited his purpose.

5. That it is desirable to find a remedy for such a state of things is clear; but I must beg leave to differ altogether from Dr. Bowring's view of what that remedy should be, since, even were it practicable, as he suggests, to ascertain on the arrival of each vessel in the West Indies whether the emigrants on board had been deceived by falsehoods, or kidnapped by force, and thereupon to decide whether they should be allowed to land, or be sent back to China at the expense of the colony, it is not shown how such an arrangement for punishing the innocent vicariously for the guilty could have the slightest effect in checking malpractices among Chinese crimps,

6. It is true that Dr. Bowring further proposes to give the colony the means of redress against the mis-doers, but he does not explain how this is to be accomplished.

7. A far simpler remedy might, in my humble opinion, be devised by the British authorities on the spot, as the whole of the emigration is conducted by British merchants subject to consular jurisdiction, and almost entirely in British vessels. Why, for instance, should not a heavy penalty be imposed upon the agent or consignee of any vessel clearing for any part of the world, without an affidavit sworn to by himself, by the master, and by the surgeon, before the Vice Consul at the nearest port open to British trade, to the effect that all the passengers are voluntary emigrants, and were put on board without any exhi bition of force whatsoever; or, if this be impracticable, why should not a bond, with power to recover in any port to which the vessel may be destined, in the event of complaints being substantiated by the emigrants, be exacted from the captain and his securities, as in the case of vessels bringing coolies from Calcutta to the West Indies.

8. I will only add that I have no reason whatever to believe that any of the Chinese introduced into this colony were brought against their will, and that they are going on in a very satisfactory manner, as shown by the enclosed Report from the Stipendiary Magistrate of the district in which they are all located.

The Duke of Newcastle, &c. &c. bcc.

SIR,

I have, &c. (Signed) HENRY BARKLY.

Enclosure in No. 40.

Stipendiary Magistrate's Office, District D. April 6, 1853. MANY of the Chinese immigrants having now been in the colony for a period of nearly three months, I deem it my duty to acquaint his Excellency the Governor with the opinion entertained by the managers of the estates on which these people are located as to their capabilities as agriculturists.

From the reports 1 have received from the gentlemen in charge of the respective estates Schoonerd, Windsor Forest, La Jalousie, and Blankenburgh, it appears these immigrants are giving the greatest satisfaction; and I find that the wages they are now carning average 25 cents per day, which, for people unaccustomed to the field labour of a tropical climate, certainly evinces a disposition to industry.

Mr. Butts, the manager of La Jalousie, in writing to me on the subject of the Chinese, says, I am better pleased with them than any class of immigrants that has been intro- duced into the colony, and my experience in this respect, for the last five years, has lwen varied;" and Mr. G. Bascome, of Windsor Forest, and Mr C. Bascome, of Schoonord, Loth assert that they would rather have one Chinese than two coolies, as they consider their physical strength greater.

The report from plantations Vendenhurst and Pondroyen is less satisfactory, owing to the debilitated state many of these immigrants were in when they arrived upon the estate; consequently they have performed but little labour; but an improvement here is, I am happy to say, gradually taking place.

The experiment of introducing this class of immigrants here being a novel one consider- able doubts have naturally existed as to its success, but as far as my own personal Q2 2

X... 40

Enel in No. 10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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