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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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paragraph 7 of the Colonial Office letter, No. 34886, dated the 1st February, 1912, which forms Enclosure No. 5 to the despatch from the Secretary of State for India, No. 68, dated the 12th April, 1912. It will be observed that the principle that the area of recruitment should be curtailed has been accepted by His Majesty's Govern- ment, but that the Government of India have been requested to settle details in consultation with the Emigration Agents in Calcutta. The Committee recommended that recruitment by licensed recruiters should ordinarily be confined to North and South Behar, and to the eastern districts of the United Provinces. I am to request that the Emigration Agents may be asked whether they concur in the recommenda- tion of the Committee, or whether they have any modification to suggest, and that their replies may be forwarded to the Government of India with the observations of His Excellency the Governor in Council.

3. The question whether the present system of the payment of recruiters by commission should be abolished was raised in the letter from the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society, dated the 9th November, 1910, which forms the second enclosure to the Secretary of State's despatch, No. 166, dated the 9th Decem- ber, 1910. The Government of India, in paragraph 18 of their despatch already referred to, stated that the system must be adhered to if emigration to the Colonies is to be continued, and they expressed the hope that the abuses to which the system is liable would be diminished if the improvements suggested by the Committee in the matter of recruitment could be effected. The Secretary of State for India, in communicating the Government of India's despatch to the Colonial Office, held the view that it would not be possible to defend the retention of the system of indentured emigration if the recruitment of labourers was dependent on the payment of commis- sion to recruiters. The Secretary of State for the Colonies did not agree with the Secretary of State for India as to the extent of the evil attending the present mode of payment (vide Colonial Office letter, dated the 1st February, 1912), but he was prepared to consider any scheme which would put an end to commissions without increasing the difficulties and cost of recruitment, provided that it was adopted for recruitment for Assam also. The Secretary of State for India, in his despatch No. 68, dated the 12th April last, still adheres to the opinion that payment to recruiters by commission should be abolished. The Government of India desire to be favoured with the opinion of His Excellency the Governor in Council on the question. I am to add that the Government of India are not prepared to accept the contention of the Secretary of State for the Colonies that any system of payment of recruiters suggested for the Colonies must necessarily be applied to Assam.

I have, &c.,

R. E. ENTHOVEN, Secretary to the Government of India.

Enclosure 2 in No. 67.

LETTER from the Government of India, Department of Commerce and Industry, No. 3894-58 (Emigration), dated the 16th May, 1912, and enclosures. (No. 3371.)

Copy forwarded to the Protector of Emigrants, Calcutta, for favour of an early expression of his opinion after consulting the Emigration Agents at Calcutta for the Colonies.

By order of His Excellency the Governor in Council.

R. N. REID, Under-Secretary to the Government of Bengal. Calcutta, General Department (Emigration),

the 19th June, 1912.

(No. 2829.)

Enclosure 3 in No. 67.

Copy forwarded to the Emigration Agent for British Guiana, for favour of an early expression of his opinion.

C. BANKS, M.D.,

Calcutta,

the 28th June, 1912.

Protector of Emigrants.

(No. 1918/2607.)

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Enclosure 4 in No. 67.

Government Emigration Agency, 61, Garden Reach, SIR,

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your (reminder) letter, No.

Calcutta, 21st August, 1912. 3777, of the 17th instant, with reference to the proposed modification of the present system of remuneration of recruiters and limitation of the area of recruitment of Indian labourers proceeding under indenture to British Colonies. I have deferred replying to your previous letter, No. 2829, of the 23rd June last, because, in my view, any decision that may be taken on the questions now under discussion must neces- sarily be governed by the conclusion arrived at by the Government of India on the subject of the proposed inclusion in the Agreements of intending emigrants of the penal clauses attaching in the Colonies to such Agreements (vide the correspondence resting with my letter, No. 1255/1342, of the 19th June, 1912).

2. Dealing first with the suggestion that the present system of paying recruiters by a per caput commission should be discontinued, I have only to say that I concur with the opinion expressed by the Government of India in paragraph 18 of their despatch, No. 30, of the 25th May, 1911, to the Secretary of State for India, to the effect that this system must be adhered to if emigration is to continue. I can propose no alternative scheme, for I regard any idea of placing recruiters on a monthly or yearly scale of salary as altogether impracticable and undesirable; it would prove impracticable because the Emigration Agents would be pledging their Governments in advance to pay for labourers they could have no guarantee of receiving; and it would be undesirable (to mention only one reason out of many) because such a system would transform the recruiters from their present position as independent contractors into salaried servants of the Agencies, and so impose upon the latter a direct responsi- bility for their employés' characters and actions which, in the absence of any adequate means of proper supervision and control, they would certainly not be prepared to accept.

3. As regards the proposal that the area of recruitment for the West Indian Colonies and Fiji should ordinarily be limited to North and South Behar, and to the eastern districts of the United Provinces, I assume that the latter would include the districts of Bahraich, Barabanki, Lucknow, Unao, and Cawnpur, and all districts eastward of these. This would deprive the Agencies of several districts from which considerable numbers of excellent emigrants have been obtained for many years past, such as Agra, Muttra, Delhi, Bareli, and Ajmere; and at a time when, as now, great difficulty is being experienced in obtaining, even from the full extent of our present recruiting area, sufficient coolies to meet the very modest indents of our Colonies I should view any curtailment of that area with grave concern. As you are aware, the amalgamation of the two British Agencies at Calcutta has been decided on, and will probably be effected in the near future. As a concomitant of this amalgamation,

it is under contemplation to establish one (or possibly two) central collecting depôts up-country (probably at Faizabad) which will be under the direct control of the Emigration Agent who, as recommended in paragraph 78 of the Report of Lord Sanderson's Committee, is to be appointed to supervise up-country recruiting gener- ally. It is believed and hoped that the establishment of this central depôt and the presence on the spot of a permanent responsible Government official will operate in time most beneficially in many ways that malpractices in recruiting will be promptly detected and checked, that the confidence of the native labouring classes in Colonial emigration will be quickly won and a knowledge of its advantages and opportunities become widespread, &c., and that (as expressed in paragraph 80 of the Committee's Report)" intending emigrants will learn to go, direct to the office of the Emigration Agent for service in the Colonies, just as men go now to the banks of the Hooghly for service in the jute mills." With the views expressed paragraph 77 of the Report

I am, generally, in agreement, but, although the anticipation that the restriction of area would not have any serious effect in limiting the supply of recruits, may be justified in course of time, I am convinced that were such a restriction imposed before any compensating organisation in the reduced area has been established, the immediate result would be a serious shortage in the number of emigrants obtained. and corresponding loss and inconvenience to the planters who are relying on their usual supply of labour from India. For this reason, and in the absence of any press- ing urgency for the change, I would suggest, for the consideration of the Government

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