CO885-(20-21) — Page 510

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

156

should be subordinate to the Emigration Agent at Calcutta. To take but a few illustrations of the difficulties that might otherwise arise: What would happen if the Emigration Agent at Calcutta found that the physique of the coolies he was receiving from his up-country colleague, and for which he would, presumably, be held jointly responsible by the Colonial authorities, was markedly below the standard he himself felt justified in accepting? Whose decision on the point should prevail? To which Agent would the Indian and Bengal Governments be expected to address their frequent enquiries on points of administration, requests for expression of opinion, &c.? And what procedure should be adopted when, as would certainly be the case from time to time, the opinions of the two Agents proved to be at variance? Another factor which would assuredly militate strongly against the smooth working of an Agency dually controlled is the ingrained tendency of the native mind to play off one master against another. Were it known that the Agent up-country was in no way subordinate to the Agency in Calcutta, sub-agents and recruiters would be incessantly intriguing against one or both of them, appealing to one Agent from the orders and decisions of the other, &c., and so re-creating the undignified and objectionable conditions which I have always urged as being one of the strongest arguments in favour of abolishing separate Agencies in Calcutta. In this con-

nection, I venture to recall that when my views were invited in 1906 in regard to the desirability or otherwise of amalgamating the Agencies, I supported the scheme largely, if not mainly, on the ground of the advantages that would accrue to Colonial emigration by the appointment of one single authoritative spokesman for its interests, instead of, as previously, several representatives whose individual opinions were frequently in conflict.

5. On the other hand, it would be impossible for the Calcutta Agent to super- vise effectively the working of the Agency at Madras, which is twice as far from Calcutta as either Faizabad or Benares, and where the system of recruitment and the local conditions are widely different from those obtaining further north. Inspec- tion visits, not only to Madras itself, but to the recruiting districts in that Presidency, would be necessary from time to time, and for these the Calcutta Agent would have but little leisure, as the journey from Calcutta to Madras and back would alone occupy four full days and nights. Another grave objection to appointing a junior officer to the Madras Agency, is the fact that, whereas for administrative purposes all questions arising in connection with Colonial recruiting in the United Provinces, the Punjab and Ajmere are dealt with, by consent of the Governments of those Pro- vinces, by the Protector of Emigrants at Calcutta and the Government of Bengal, in Madras all such matters are dealt with by the local Government through the Protector there. Consequently, any questions of importance would have to be referred by the Assistant at Madras to his chief at Calcutta and back, either through him or direct to the Madras Government; then, possibly, back to Calcutta, and so on, correspondence being thus unduly delayed and great inconvenience caused if it should happen to be of an urgent nature. It occurs to me that the Madras Govern- ment itself may insist on the officer appointed to that Agency being endowed with full powers, in which case the appointment of an independent Agent there will be obligatory. Moreover, as indicated in my letter of the 11th April, 1912* (para- graphs 3 and 4), the value of Madras as a headquarters of Colonial recruitment is likely to increase very rapidly in the near future, and it is of the first importance that the officer in charge of the Agency there should he of senior rank and have had previous experience of emigration work in India. If this appointment be dele- gated to a subordinate official who has no such experience, the advantages hitherto hoped for as a result of a change of Agent, will necessarily be seriously discounted from the outset. I feel very strongly that it is as essential to place the Madras Agency under the responsible control of the second Emigration Agent as it is undesir- able to place the latter in charge of the up-country depôt. It is a sine quâ non that the latter and the Calcutta Agency should work together in the closest co-operation, and to ensure this there should be one recognised head of their joint operations; for it would, I fear, be inevitable that friction should occur from time to time were both the Emigration Agents, equipped with equal powers, to be connected with the Calcutta Agency. On the other hand, the second Agent, if stationed in Madras, would be exclusively responsible for the successful working of his own Agency, and in all respects independent of the Calcutta Agency, except in so far as it would be necessary

• No. 53.

157

for him to look to the latter for instructions as to the number of emigrants to be supplied each season, and the sailing dates of the emigrant steamers.

6. For these reasons, and with the utmost respect, I venture earnestly to request that the Secretary of State will be pleased to reconsider his decision on the points in question.

I have, &c.,

14135

No. 104.

R. P. GIBBES. Government Emigration Agent for British Guiana, &c.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNORS.

(British Guiana. No. 19.)

(Trinidad. No. 48.)

(Jamaica. No, 34.)

(Fiji. No. 51.)

(Mauritius. No. 25.)

Downing Street, [5] [6] February, 1913.

SIR,

WITH reference to previous correspondence upon the subject of the report of Lord Sanderson's Committee, I have the honour to inform you that the Secretary of State for India has asked that all Colonies which employ indentured Indian labour should furnish each other with copies of the annual reports of their Immigration Departments, and also with copies of any other reports and of any laws or regu- lations which may affect the position of the Indian labourers whom they employ.

The object of the Indian Government is, of course, to secure uniformity of treat- ment so far as possible, and I should be glad if you would be good enough to arrange for the transmission of all future reports, laws, &c., relating to Indian emigration to the Governors of [Trinidad. Jamaica, Fiji, Mauritius] [British Guiana, Jamaica, Fiji, Mauritius] [British Guiana, Trinidad, Fiji, Mauritius] [British Guiana, Trini- dad, Jamaica, Mauritius] [British Guiana, Trinidad, Jamaica, Fiji).

14135

SIR,

No. 105.

I have, &c.,

L. HARCOURT,

COLONIAL OFFICE to INDIA OFFICE.

Downing Street, 6 February, 1913.

WITH reference to your letter of the 8th of May, 1912,* I am directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to transmit to you, for the information of the Marquess of Crewe, the accompanying copy of a despatch which he has addressed to the Governors of British Guiana, Trinidad, Jamaica, Fiji, and Mauritius, requesting compliance with the wish expressed by the Government of India that all the Colonies which avail themselves of indentured Indian labour should be instructed to exchange all exports and legislation bearing on such labour.

2. The further general communication to the Governors of the three West Indian Colonies, to which reference was made in the fifth paragraph of the letter from this Department of the 21st of March last, has not yet been sent; and it will no doubt be preferable to await the report of the gentlemen who are now visiting the Colonies on behalf of the Indian Government, before issuing further general instructions to the Colonies concerned. There appears, however, to be no reason why the matters dealt with in the enclosure to this letter should not be disposed

I am,

&c., H. J. READ,

of at once.

• No. 54.

↑ No. 104.

for the Under-Secretary of State.

‡ No. 5).

Page 510Page 511

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

4479

158

No 100

THE GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION AGENT AT CALCUTTA FOR TRINIDAD, &c., to COLONIAL OFFICE,

(Received 9.15 a.m., 7th February, 1913.) TELEGRAM.

My letter of 9th January.* Please defer action. Boissière arrives on or about March 3rd. Personal interview very desirable. Colonial interests would not be inconvenienced owing to delay.-EMIGRATION AGENT.

4565

No. 107.

THE GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION AGENT AT CALCUTTA FOR BRITISH GUIANA to COLONIAL OFFICE.

SIR,

(Received 8 February, 1913.)

[Answered by Nos, 109 and 113,]

British Guiana Government Emigration Agency,

61, Garden Reach, Calcutta, 22nd January, 1913. REFERRING to your letter, No. 22576, of the 19th December, 1912, and in continuation of my letter of the 9th instant,* I now have the honour to deal with the points referred to in paragraph 2 of your letter, No. 22576, 12, of the 16th August last.f

2. Taking Mr. Marsden's letter to you of the 18th July last§ in detail, the figures given in his paragraph 2 are not quite accurate: the present rent of the Trinidad, &c., depôt premises is £720 per annum, not £750; and the rent of the land and house offered by the Port Commissioners in substitution for them would be £2,160, not £2,200.

3. As regards his remarks in paragraph 5, Mr. Marsden is wrong in stating that the British Guiana depôt is not considered a healthy depôt for coolies. On the contrary, although undoubtedly unhealthy at one time, it leaves little to be desired from a sanitary point of view since the old depôt buildings were demolished and new sheds, &c., erected in 1909, and its health returns now compare favourably with those of the Trinidad Agency. The enclosed statement, showing the per- centages of sickness and deaths at each Agency during the past five years, is instruc- tive on this point. The remark that it is liable to attacks (! outbreaks) of cerebro- spinal meningitis when the number of coolies collected exceeds 500 " applies equally to the latter, and I may mention that, whereas this disease appeared from time to time during 1912 among the inmates of the Trinidad depôt, not a single case occurred among the coolies for British Guiana. The relevancy, however, of Mr. Marsden's observation on these points is not quite clear to me, as I am not aware that any question of vacating these premises Before the lease expires has been raised. In any case, it can safely be dismissed in so far as it is based on sanitary considerations.

4. In dealing with the general arrangements for amalgamating the Agencies the point which most presses for decision is that of accommodation in Calcutta when the present Trinidad premises are vacated: and in this connection it cannot he stated too emphatically that unless and until the conditions of service at any rate in so far as they relate to rates of wages, hours of labour, and return-passages- are made uniform for all the West Indian Colonies the maintenance in Ĉalcutta of two separate depots will be absolutely necessary. Were the conditions unified, and assuming that the present arrangement of joint monthly steamers becomes per- manent, the British Guiana depot alone- which has accommodation for 1,000 statute adults, exclusive of its hospital and its segregation sheds--would meet all requirements, and the need for a second depôt would disappear. I need hardly point out what a large economy would thereby be effected, not only in rental but also in establishment charges: for the present personnel of the Agency, whether clerical or out-door, would scarcely require any supplementing. The advantage, too, of having all the emigrants for each steamer and all the members of the Agency's staff concentrated in the same compound are too obvious for comment; they should

† No. 90.

‡ No. 65.

§ No. 58.

• No. 103.

159

appeal strongly to all the Colonies concerned, and it is difficult to understand- having regard to the relatively small difference existing in the conditions at present- what objections can be advanced which would outweigh the great benefits unification would carry with it. (The pay of male adults is practically the same in Trinidad, British Guiana and Jamaica; and although the pay of females in Trinidad is nominally 1s. 04d. per day (i.e., the same as a man's) as against 9d. in Jamaica and 8d. in British Guiana, it must be understood that the higher pay in Trinidad is only paid to a woman if and when she does the same amount of work as a man. The sum of the wages actually earned by female labourers in Trinidad is con- sequently little, if at all, in excess of what they earn in the other two Colonies.) These remarks apply also to the up-country depôt about to be established, for there, as in Calcutta, it will not be possible to accommodate simultaneously in one com- pound coolies recruited for two different Colonies offering different rates, and the new depôt, though controlled by one officer, must comprise two separate premises, for which separate staffs will be required.

5. It remains, therefore, to decide the site and area of the new land that will be required in Calcutta when the lease of the present Trinidad, &c., depôt expires. As explained above, the establishment of the up-country dẹpôt will not reduce in any way the area that will be necessary here so long as different terms are offered to intending emigrants by the West Indian Colonies: but the new arrangement of joint monthly steamers, combined with the amalgamation of the Agencies' staffs, will modify very materially our needs in that respect. The recommendations of the Committee appointed in 1909 were made on the assumption that premises capable of accommodating not less than 1,000-1,100 emigrants simultaneously were essential -as, indeed, was then the case: but the joint-steamer arrangement renders it un- necessary to make provision for housing more than 500-550 coolies at one time in either dépôt, and, as a result, I am happy to report that I find myself in a position to recominend a site for the new depot which I believe will meet our requirements in all respects and will not call for the heavy initial and recurrent expenditure which would be entailed by the acquisition, even in part, of the land offered to us by the Port Commissioners. The premises in question are situate at No. 64, Garden Reach: they face on to the main Garden Reach Road, and the entrance gate is only about 250 yards distant from the gate of this Agency on the east or Calcutta side. The area is approximately five acres and the contour of the property offers every facility for the erection of adequate coolie lines, kitchens, latrines, &c., on a very convenient plan. The compound is already walled-in on two sides and fenced-in on a third, so that the outlay in this direction will be small and another great advantage is that the premises comprise an excellent two storied house, with stables, servants' quarters, &c., which can be utilised as a residence by the Assistant and which also contains ample accommodation for such depôt offices as will be necessary. For this house and grounds the landlord, Mr. Farrington, asks a monthly rent of Rs. 250 (£200 per annum), which, I need hardly point out, compares very favour- ably with the figure demanded by the Port Commissioners for even the smallest of the three plots of land offered by them opposite to this Agency, for which the monthly rental (exclusive of any house or building whatever) works cut at about Rs. 680 p.m. (£544 per annum) or, with house, at about Rs. 1,000 annum). Moreover, Mr. Farrington will agree to a year-to-year lease, whereas the (£800 per Port Commissioners propose a minimum lease of ten years for their property. A regards facilities for embarking and disembarking emigrants, it will be necessary in any case to do this at the docks for some years to come; and when the railway sidings referred to in Sir F. Dumayne's letter of the 2nd February, 1909, have been laid along the riverside it will be just as easy for us to utilise them if we lease Mr. Farrington's premises as it would be if we were tenants of the Port Commissioners. In this respect also, therefore, my present proposal labours under no disadvantage.

6. Mr. Marsden observes rightly that the house of the British Guiana Agent will not admit of expansion for office purposes when the two staffs are amalgamated, and if we lease land from the Commissioners a new subsidiary office will have to be built but Mr. Farrington's house has plenty of accommodation on the ground floor which the Assistant will not require, and which can be appropriated for this purpose with but slight structural alterations.

7. Quarters for the staff attached to the new depôt will have to be built in any case, but the cost will probably not exceed £1.200, instead of £2.000 as estimated by Mr. Marsden in paragraph 6 of his letter under consideration. ̧