CO885-(20-21) — Page 525

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

186

2. I am to suggest that this report should be laid before the Surgeons Super- intendent with the other papers on the subject which were enclosed in my letter under reference.

13173

No. 121.

I am, &c.,

H. J. READ,

for the Under-Secretary of State.

COLONIAL OFFICE to THE GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION AGENTS AT CALCUTTA.

[Answered by Nos. 129 and 172.]

GENTLEMEN,

I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to acknowledge the receipt of your

Downing Street, 24 May, 1913. joint letter of the 3rd of April,* respecting the amalgamation of the British Emigration Agencies at Calcutta and Madras, and I am to.express to you his thanks for the full report with which you have furnished him.

2. Mr. Harcourt notes that you are not in agreement as to the arrangements to be made for supervising and taking charge of the work at the up-country depôt and at Madras, and that you are consequently unable to submit a joint recommenda- tion on this question. I am to refer you to the third paragraph of the letter from this office of the 20th of February last,t and to inform you that Mr. Harcourt adheres to the views which he then expressed. It is possible that it may hereafter be found most convenient that one of the Emigration Agents should reside at Calcutta and the other at Madras, and there is no necessity for taking a final decision upon the subject at present. But it will certainly be necessary that one of the Emigration Agents should be close at hand while the new depôt is being started. and that he should spend most of his time up country, until it has been brought into working order. Mr. Harcourt has decided that Mr. Marsden should be responsible for the work connected with the up-country depôt, and he therefore desires that Mr. Marsden should make his headquarters at that depôt for a year at any rate. At the end of that time the matter should be reconsidered, when it is hoped that you may be in a position to submit joint recommendations in the light of actual experience of the working of the new system.

3. It will presumably be necessary that one of you should spend a considerable amount of time at Madras in connection with the rearrangements which will be necessitated by Mr. Conran's retirement; and I leave it to you to arrange which of you can most conveniently undertake this work, and instruct Mr. Conran's successor in his duties. It is noted that you have written to the Indian Government to enquire whether, in view of Section 10 (1) of the Indian Emigration Act, 1908, it would be possible to appoint an Assistant Agent to the Madras Agency. Mr. Harcourt will bring this question to the notice of the India Office, but as at present advised he is not disposed to attach much importance to the difficulty to which you refer. Though it has been decided, in the interests of economy and efficiency, that the successor to the present Emigration Agent at Madras should be made subordinate to the Emigration Agent at Calcutta, Mr. Harcourt would see no objection to giving the new officer the title of Emigration Agent at Madras should the wording of the Indian law make that course desirable.

4. Coming now to the other points dealt with in your letter, I am to inform you that Mr. Harcourt approves of the proposed lease of Mr. Farrington's property at No. 64, Garden Reach, upon the terms which you propose, and also of the pro- vision at the new premises of the necessary accommodation for emigrants at a cost which you estimate at about £900. The premises should be leased from the 21st

† No. 113.

No. 119.

187

of September, or such earlier date as may be necessary, in order that they may be in readiness when the lease of 21, Garden Reach expires at the end of the current

year.

*

5. You were informed in the letter from this Department of the 11th of March last, that the Indian Government, with the approval of the Secretary of State for India, have agreed to postpone action with regard to the restriction of the area of recruiting and the method of remunerating recruiters for the period of one year.

6. You are aware from recent correspondence that Mr. Hill, of the British Guiana Immigration Department, and Mr. Doorly, Protector of Immigrants, Jamaica, have been selected for temporary service as Assistant Agents in India. Mr. Hill has now left England for Calcutta, but Mr. Doorly's departure from Jamaica has been deferred in consequence of your telegram of the 13th of May.‡

7. With reference to the telegram addressed to you on the 17th of April.§ informing you of the decision of the Government of Fiji to acquire the Natal Emigration Depôt at Madras, I am to observe that as some time must elapse before the new Agent at Madras can have acquainted himself sufficiently with local condi- tions, there is no reason for dispensing with Mr. Conran's services until the preli- minary arrangements for the new organisation have been completed.

8. In regard to the staff at Calcutta, Mr. Harcourt agrees with your view that the case of the clerks whose services must be dispensed with is deserving of special consideration; and he is recommending to the Governors of the Colonies concerned (viz., Trinidad, Jamaica, and Fiji) that the rule which is generally applied to unestablished members of the Service in certain Colonies should be applied to these officers. Under this rule any of these clerks who have served for over ten years might be awarded a compensation allowance equal to three-fourths of the amount to which they would have been entitled had they held pensionable appointments; and in the particular circumstances of this case Mr. Harcourt is inclined to think that those with less than ten years' service might receive some gratuity, which might be calculated upon the basis of three-fourths of one month's salary for every com- pleted year of service. It will not, however, be possible to arrive at any decision upon this question until the views of the Colonies concerned have been ascertained.

9. I am to express general agreement with the views expressed in para- graphs 9-12 of your letter, and to approve the grant of a carriage allowance to the Assistant Agent at Calcutta. It is clear that the question of the staff of the Madras Agency must stand over for the present, and that two depôts must be maintained at Calcutta.

10. It will be necessary to consult the Governments of the three West Indian Colonies and of Fiji in regard to the modification of the existing financial arrange- ments, which is dealt with in paragraphs 13 and 14 of your letter. advised, Mr. Harcourt is disposed to favour the proposal to lump together, and As at present divide up at the close of each financial year, the expenditure of the Calcutta, Faiza- bad, and Madras establishments, excluding expenses in connection with return ships from any such arrangement. He would be glad to learn whether you consider that the new system might be introduced as from the 1st of April last, i.e., made applicable to the current financial year.

11. I am to take this opportunity of acknowledging Mr. Marsden's letter, No. 444, 1913, reporting on the result of his visit to Faizabad. Of the four pro- perties to which Mr. Marsden refers, Mr. Harcourt is disposed, so far as he can judge from the information before him, to regard that indicated in (c), viz., certain cultivated land belonging to the Government, as the most suitable for the establish- ment of an emigration depôt; and subject to the concurrence of the Indian Govern- ment in the selection of Faizabad as the centre, he would be prepared to agree to the acquisition of this property upon a short lease, though he does not, of course, wish to fetter Mr. Marsden's discretion should it prove, on further enquiry, that this property is unsuitable, or that some other and more suitable property can be obtained. It is, of course, as Mr. Marsden has indicated, essential to curtail capital expendi- ture so far as possible. It is understood that the cost of surrounding the property

• No. 115.

16330: not printed. § 12320: not printed.

No. 120.

188