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3. It seems to me desirable that I should now deal with the principles that underlie the system of indenture, while leaving details to be settled by the Government of India and the Colonial Governments. My point of view is that of the interests of the Indian emigrants. I accept the conclusion of the Sanderson Com- mittee (paragraph 102) that, subject to certain recommendations made by them, the system of indentured immigration as actually worked is not open to serious objection in the interests of the Indian labourer, and that in the present condition of India indentured emigration is the only practical form of emigration to distant Colonies on any considerable scale.

4. The principle to be borne in mind is that indentured emigration is a system the object of which is permanent colonisation by Indians, not the introduction of labour, much less of cheap labour. This object can only be satisfactorily attained under present conditions in Crown Colonies as distinguished from the Dominions. In the words of the Committee's report (paragraph 43), it must be "an indispens able condition of indentured emigration that Indians who have completed their term of indenture shall be in all respects free men--subject to no labour ordinances, and with personal privileges no whit inferior to those of any other class of His Majesty's subjects resident in the Colony.' cerned that the immigrants when they have serived their term of probation should It is unquestionably best for all con- settle in the Colonies, where a fuller and more independent life is open to them and to their children than if they had remained in India. On the other hand, if an immigrant after five years' experience of the Colony decides to return to India, he must be free to do so and to avail himself of the free passage or assisted passage provided by the regulations of the different Colonies.

5. The recommendations of the Committee are dependent on the view they have taken that indentured emigration is a form of permanent colonisation. In India the area of recruitment should be limited to those districts where a large supply of the agricultural labour classes, who form the best colonists, is known to exist, and proper arrangements should be made to supervise and control the recruiting staff. Returned emigrants may usefully be employed as recruiters. Casual recruit- ment should not be allowed, and recruiters should not be paid fees according to the number of persons they bring to the depôts. As a rule, young men with their wives and children are the best colonists. The conditions of work and settlement in the Colonies should be fully explained by the responsible emigration agent to be posted at Benares or Fyzabad. The recruiting agencies in Calcutta should be con- solidated, and the Government of India should periodically depute an officer or officers, of whom one should be an Indian, to enquire in the Colonies into the condi- tion of the immigrant population, to bring to the notice of the Government of India defects in the Colonial laws or in their method of administration, and to promote the welfare of the immigrants in the matter of education of their children, and in other ways.

6. It must be assumed that the Colonial Governments are both desirous and able to protect the immigrants. They maintain an efficient staff for the enforcement of the provisions of the law and exercise control over their staff. But there are some recommendations of the Committee which deserve further consideration.

7.

The most important are that grants of land should be provided for immi- grants who wish to reside in the Colony as peasant proprietors after the expiry of their indenture, and that these colonists should be helped to settle on the land. Re-indenture should not be permitted, and arrangements should be perfected to facilitate the obtaining of employment as free labourers by immigrants who have passed their probation, but who are not prepared to settle on land, nor as yet entitled to an assisted passage to India. Possibly some action is required to secure freedom and equal rights to all immigrants whose indentures are expired. Education should be provided for the children as the future citizens of the Colony, and during the term of indenture the immigrants should be treated as young persons who are growing up to be adult citizens.

8. The effect of the adoption of these recommendations will, temporarily at least, be to restrict emigration rather than to encourage it. India to provide contract labour for the Colonies, and indentures can only be It not the duty of justified if they offer an opportunity of emigration as free citizens to tropical settle- ments where the colonists and their descendants can make a home, and where they will thrive better than if they had remained in India. The benefit to the Colony

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will arise from the increase in the number of free citizens engaged in developing land which at present is waste. If a Colony emigrants the advantages which I have enumerated, the proper alternative is not prepared to offer to Indian to forgo the benefit of industrial labour from India.

9. I shall be glad to receive at an early date the definite recommendations of Your Excellency's Government, as it is of great importance that the requirements of India should be communicated to the Colonial authorities.

To His Excellency

the Right Honourable

the Governor-General of India in Council.

Enclosure 3 in No. 68. Emigration.

(No. 39 of 1912.)

Government of India,

have, &c.,

CREWE.

MY LORD MArquess,

Department of Commerce and Industry, We have the honour to refer to your Lordship's despatch, No. 83-Public,

Simla, the 4th July, 1912. dated the 17th May, 1912, on the subject of indentured emigration from India to the Colonies. In the present despatch we propose to deal only with the wider questions of principle involved, reserving matters of detail connected with emigra- tion to Fiji and the West Indian group of Colonies for a further communication.

Your

2. Your Lordship has stated that "the principle to be borne in mind is that indentured emigration is a system the object of which is permanent colonisation by Indians, not the introduction of labour, much less of cheap labour.' Lordship's predecessor in office, the Marquess of Salisbury, in a despatch dated the 24th March, 1875, first urged that the object of the indentured labour system should be permanent colonisation. His Lordship was then arguing from the point of view that, owing to the growing pressure of population in India and to other incidental causes, large numbers of labourers in this country could hardly earn a decent subsistence. His Lordship proceeded to suggest, on these grounds, that the Government of India should interest itself more actively in promoting emigration directed towards such colonisation. In their reply Lord Lytton's Government had occasion to observe that in so far as colonisation was the object of the system it was well served by leaving the emigrant free to return to India, with assistance, at the expiry of his indenture, since otherwise few desirable emigrants would be inclined to leave this country for the Colonies. nection with your Lordship's remarks, our opinion that in so far as the object We venture to reiterate, in con- of the indentured labour system is colonisation of a permanent type it is essential that this should be achieved by regarding the system as equally designed to provide for temporary emigration. We consider this essential in the interests of permanent colonisation itself, but we also hold strongly the view that those members of the labouring classes who desire to profit by the chance offered them of earning good wages in the Colonies under conditions which secure their protection while away from India and their subsequent repatriation on favourable terms should be entirely free to avail themselves of the opportunities afforded by the system.

3. We particularly desire that this aspect of indentured labour should not escape your Lordship's recognition. Much of the criticism directed in this country against this type of emigration to the Colonies is to be traced directly to a feeling on the part of the educated classes that there is something in the nature of a national stigma in the mere existence of such a system. educated Indian opinion is largely swayed by this impression; but we have We do not question the fact that endeavoured, throughout the course of the discussions which the system has evoked, to maintain the principle that the Indian labourer has a right to emigrate, whether intending to become a permanent colonist or whether in order to gain good wages and to return with his savings, provided that he is fully informed of the conditions to which he would be subject, and that these conditions are such as we can approve. We venture to press for a recognition of this view on the part of your Lordship