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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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voice would carry weight in the recommendations which he made to the local Governments. He should be a well-informed and sympathetic officer, who would reside in, or adjacent to, the recruiting districts, and explain to the registering officers that it is no part of their duty to place obstacles in the way of intending emigrants, and should investigate those cases where the recruiters complain of being unduly harassed by the police, or oppressed by native magistrates. The position in the beginning would be one of no small difficulty and require the exercise of a considerable amount of tact, but after the position is assured and recognised, his duties could be taken over by a Colonial officer. It would be part of his duty to see that those Colonial recruiters who were debarred for past offences were prevented subsequently from going over and working unrestrictedly for Assam, which at present is playing such havoc with our work.

12. The opening of a depôt up-country, for the reception of coolies prior to their despatch to Calcutta, is a matter which cannot be introduced too suddenly, as the immediate effect would be to take away the livelihood of our present sub-agents and make them hostile to emigration, and, for the time being, where it is estab- lished, paralyse the recruitment of emigrants; but in principle the suggestion is a good one, and when properly established might be the means of our dispensing with large and expensive depôts at Calcutta.

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13. Should the present prosperity in India continue for a number of years, and a succession of good harvests succeed one another, the position will gradually become worse, and, in my opinion, it is of the greatest importance that some early steps should be taken in the direction which I have indicated.

14. As regards the reference in your letter of the 19th ultimo* to the difficulty experienced in preventing Dutch emigration interfering with our work, owing to the Indian Government being disinclined at present to make any alteration, I hope that when paragraph 82 of the report comes to be considered that some means may be found by which the suggestions therein made may be complied with, more particu- larly as those suggestions have been made with the full concurrence of the Com- mittee, of whom Sir James LaTouche is a member, of the Indian Council.

37608

I have, &c.,

A. MARSDEN, Government Emigration Agent for Trinidad,

No. 14.

Fiji, Jamaica, and Mauritius.

COLONIAL OFFICE to THE GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION AGENTS AT CALCUTTA.

(Confidential.)

[Answered by No. 17.]

Downing Street, 13 January, 1911.

SIR,

I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to inform you that an enquiry has been made by the Aborigines Protection Society as to the amount of the commission paid to recruiting agents for the recruitment of coolies in India.

2. As there appears to be no information available which enables the Secretary of State to reply to this enquiry, I am to request you to furnish full particulars on the subject, explaining whether the commission is a fixed one or variable in accord- ance with the supply of coolies available.

3. A similar letter has been addressed to the Emigration Agent for [British Guiana and Natal] [Trinidad, Fiji, and Jamaica].

37608

No. 15.

I am,

&c.,

COLONIAL OFFICE to INDIA OFFICE.

H. W. JUST.

SIR,

Downing Street, 13 January, 1911. I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 8th of December last,† enclosing a copy of correspondence with the

32315/10 not printed.

↑ No. 11.

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Aborigines Protection Society on the subject of the Report of Lord Sanderson's Committee upon coolie labour.

2. I am to express Mr. Harcourt's concurrence in Lord Crewe's view that there are grave objections to making Protectors of Indian Immigrants in Colonies officials paid by, and responsible to, the Government of India.

3. I am to enclose a copy of a letter which has been addressed to the Emigra- tion Agent for Trinidad, Fiji, and Jamaica, and to the Emigration Agent for British Guiana and Natal,* asking for particulars in regard to the amount of the commission paid for the recruitment of coolies.

3014

No. 16.

FIJI.

I am, &c.,

C. P. LUCAS.

THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 30 January, 1911.)

(No. 277.) SIR,

[Copy to India Office, 5th March, 1912. L.F.] [Answered by Nos. 24 and 25.]

Fiji, Government House, Suva, 23rd December, 1910.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Lord Crewe's despatch, No. 163, of the 27th August last,† on the subject of the Report of the Committee on Emigration from India, and with special reference to the emigration to this Colony.

2. Lord Crewe intimated that he concurred in the view expressed by the Com- mittee to the effect that in some respects the operation of the Fiji Immigration Law appears to be open to improvement; and he directed that consideration be given to the following proposals for the amendment of the Ordinances in force relating to Indian immigration :—

(a) The adoption of provisions similar to those which exist in Trinidad. whereby a labourer who is shown by the books of the estate to have earned a certain sum is entitled to a certificate of exemption from labour before the date on which his indenture would otherwise expire.

(b) The enactment of a provision to give a magistrate discretion in the making of an order for the extension of the period of indenture pro- portionate to the time lost to the employer by reason of the offence, proceedings, and sentence in cases in which an indentured labourer is convicted for absence from work or desertion in lieu of making the issue of the order of extension in that case obligatory.

(c) The enactment of provisions on the subject of the limitations of the hours of work for children and the care of their education, and to provide that a certain amount of time should be given to instruction. and laying down rules for the provision to be made by employers, or by State aid, for the purpose of education.

•

3. I will deal first with those questions requiring fresh legislation before passing to the matter referred to in the sixth paragraph of Lord Crewe's despatch on the subject of the term of re-indenture. An amendment of the law is not required to give effect to this instruction, although desirable in order to fix the maximum term of re-indenture at twelve months in lieu of three years (see Section 75 of Ordinance I. of 1891).

As regards point (a) the Agent-General of Immigration reports that in this Colony there are 288 working days in a year, and that, consequently, if an indentured labourer earned one shilling per day for five years he would earn a total sum of £72. Mr. Coates has suggested that it would not be advisable to adopt the provision of the Trinidad Ordinance terminating indenture on the shown earnings of a certain sum, for the reason that he believes that it would be of little benefit to field labourers, as statistics show that they do not work on every working day. On the other hand, he considers that the provision proposed would be pre-

• No. 14.

† No. 1.