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India may commute such rights (estimated at £12) upon the following terms, which, with the consent of the Agent-General, may at the wish of the immigrant be altered and modified to meet special cases :—

1. An Indian immigrant (male) wishing so to commute, may receive a lease of five acres of land from the block set apart for Indian settlement, the rental to be 2s. per acre per annum. The term will be, if so desired, for 99 years.

In addition, he may receive an allowance equal to the money value of his return passage, distributed as follows viz.

(a) House (Fijian built)

(b) Rent for two years

(c) Food for six months

(d) Tools and furniture

(e) Seeds

(f) Animals

(g) Cash

£

2

S. d.

0 0

1 0 0

3 0 0

1 10 -0

1 0 0

2 0 0

1 10 0

£12 10 0

The above distribution need not be strictly adhered to, the Agent-General of Immigration having discretionary power to vary allowance for different items-- but not the gross amount-to meet the requirements of various individuals or families so settling.

This remark applies to paragraph 2 also.

2. A female Indian immigrant may receive a lease for 24 or 5 acres of land, as she may desire, and an allowance similar to that already shown above and distri- buted in like manner or cash to be paid in instalments after settlement, as may be decided by the Agent-General.

3. With regard to children: No land shall be given, but an allowance equal to the return passage money (estimated at £6 for those under 10 years of age) shall be paid by monthly instalments of 10s. each to their parents or guardians for their support.

acres.

4. The maximum allowance of land leased to any one family to be ten (10)

HORACE G.-C. Emberson,

Agent-General of Immigration.

41

the imposition of very burdensome requirements on the employers of Indian inden- tured labour. I cannot advise that the liability of such employers in this respect should be recognised as greater than the payment of the fees suggested in paragraph (c) of my despatch, No. 95, of the 6th of June, 1911.*

4. The comparative return of the number of prosecutions and of cases of imprisonment for offences under the Ordinance, referred to in paragraph 6 of your despatch under acknowledgment, is now forwarded, and a column has been added showing the number of prosecutions in respect of 1910. The Agent-General of Immigration is confident that when the Ordinance is amended, and employers find that they can no longer obtain extensions of indenture for imprisonment for minor offences, prosecutions for minor offences of prisoners who are not likely to be able to pay fines will largely decrease.

5. Regarding the amendment indicated in the 7th paragraph of your despatch, I am advised by the Agent-General of Immigration that deductions from wages for payment of fines imposed by the Court would inevitably lead to friction and trouble. The conditions here are not the same as in the Solomon Islands. Indian indentured labourers are paid weekly and have to clothe and support themselves and their families out of their wages. They are not paid before a magistrate. In the Solomon Islands native labourers are fed and clothed by their employers. They get fixed monthly wages and are paid before a magistrate, as in the case of so-called Poly- nesian labourers in Fiji. There is a provision in the Fiji Polynesian Immigration Ordinance for the deduction of fines from wages. On most plantations on which Indian indentured labourers are employed there is a proportion of loafers, idlers, and, perhaps, gamblers, who will only work under discipline. For the sake of example these men or women must be occasionally prosecuted. But it would be a matter of difficulty to obtain an adequate fine from their weekly earnings.

I am therefore forced to the opinion that this amendment is unsatisfactory, if not impracticable.

I have, &c.,

F. H. MAY.

Enclosure in No. 32.

PROSECUTIONS ENTERED AGAINST INDENTURED INDIAN IMMIGRANTS. Comparative Table, British Guiana, Trinidad, and Fiji.

26014

No. 32. FIJI.

Fiji.

British Guiana,

Trinidad, 1907-8.

1907-8.

1907.

1908.

1909,

1910.

·

(No. 126.) SIR,

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 8 August, 1911.)

[Copy to India Office, 5th March, 1912. L.F.] [Answered by No. 34.]

Government House, Suva, Fiji, 6th July, 1911. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 90, of the 4th May,* on the subject of certain proposed amendments in the Indian Immi- gration Ordinance.

2. With reference to your direction that the law should be amended so as to allow magistrates discretion in every case whether they will extend indentures or not, I beg leave to suggest that it will be sufficient to limit the magistrates' discretion to cases of unlawful absence only. The Governor in Council has the power to alter or annul any order of extension, and if there were extenuating circumstances in case of a conviction for desertion, the Stipendiary Magistrate might forward a recom- mendation to the Agent-General of Immigration for submission to the Governor in Council.

3. I venture to think that the proposal to empower the Governor to prescribe by regulation what provision employers should make for the education of the children of their indentured labourers is too wide. The result of such legislation might be

No. 24.

Indentured population (adults)

9,781

11,506

11,509

11,078 11,988

12,673

(gross)

Number of charges laid

(gross)* | (gross)*

3,835

2,291

2,237

1,924

1,911

Percentage of complaints to population Percentage of convictions to population Number of individuals charged

39.2

20-03

18.68

16-05

15-08

17-19

15-22

20.06

13.05

16.5

12:36

18-331

16.54†

14.70†

13.62

1,461

1,501

1,368

1,217

NOTK-Fiji :-

30668

SIR,

The gross population includes all immigrante under indentare during the year. † This includes immigrants convicted but returned to plantation without infliction of penalty.

No. 33. BRITISH GUIANA.

THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 19 September, 1911.) (Confidential.)

Government House, Georgetown, Demerara,

30th August, 1911.

In reply to your confidential despatch of the 1st August,†

have the honour

to state that the Inspector-General of Police reports that the provisions of

• 22669 not printed.

† No. 29.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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