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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

PERC.O. 885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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objection to offer to the Ordinance. We desire, however, to invite your Lordship's attention to paragraphs 3 and 4 of our despatch, No. 45, dated the 1st August, 1912, in which we expressed our dissatisfaction with the provisions of the Trinidad Labour Law relating to the obligation of employers to prosecute deserters, and to the arrest without warrant of labourers found without a pass outside the limits of the estates in which they are employed. We understand that the advisability of undertaking legislation on the lines suggested by us will be considered after the visit of the gentlemen deputed by us to the Colonies. We trust that these points will not be lost sight of, and that the Government of Trinidad will then be able to see their way to modify the provisions of their Labour Law to which we have taken exception.

2. We also request that our Department of Commerce and Industry may be furnished with a copy of the Immigration Ordinance No. 56 of 1912, which does not appear to have been received by us.

The Most Honourable

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We have, &c.,

HARDINGE OF PENSHURST.

O'MOORE CREAGH. HARCOURT BUTLER.

SAIYID ALI IMAN.

W. H. CLARK.

R. H. CRADDOCK, W. S. MEYER.

the Marquess of Crewe, K.G.,

His Majesty's Secretary of State for India.

(No. 308.) SIR,

No. 140. JAMAICA.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 6 September, 1913.)

[Answered by No. 156.]

King's House, Jamaica, 18 August, 1913.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 148, dated the 31st May last,* transmitting for my consideration copy of correspondence with the Emigration Agents at Calcutta respecting the amalgamation of the Agencies at Calcutta and Madras.

2. In reply to paragraph 2 of your despatch, I have the honour to state that I concur in the proposal for granting retiring allowances to the clerks at Calcutta with whose services it is proposed to dispense, and in this connection would invite attention to your despatch, No. 136, dated the 16th April, 1907, and to Sir Sydney Olivier's despatches, Nos. 31 and 32, dated the 30th January, 1908.†

3. I also concur in the proposal for taking the total expenditure at the close of each financial year and dividing it amongst all the Colonies which make use of the Agency.

4. It does not appear that there are any other points in this correspondence at present requiring my observations.

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(No. 266.)

SIR,

No. 141.

BRITISH GUIANA.

I have, &c.,

W. H. MANNING,

Governor.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 16 September, 1913.)

Government House,

Georgetown, Demerara, 27th August, 1913. IN pursuance with the instructions conveyed in paragraph 4 of No. 288, of the 3rd December, 1912, and in continuation of my despatch, No. 158, your despatch,

No. 86.

• No. 123.

† 13172/06, 5076/08, and 5077/08: not printed,

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of the 24th May last,* I have the honour to enclose a memorandum received from Mr. J. McNeill, Indian Covenanted Service, of the suggestions it is probable he and Mr. Chimman Lall are likely to submit for the consideration of the Government of India, in connection with immigration under indenture from India to certain British Colonies.

2. I also enclose a copy of Mr. McNeill's covering letter, and would especially call attention to the fact that their conclusions may be modified before their pro- longed tour is concluded, and that the memorandum transmitted is only semi-official. 3. A memorandum giving my own opinion on the points raised, and the present action desirable, is also transmitted. The papers are now being submitted to Mr. Crawford, the Acting Immigration Agent-General, and on the return of Mr. Hampden King, Immigration Agent-General, his views will be also obtained.

I am afraid that modifications of the existing Immigration Ordinance will not be received willingly by the British Guiana planting interest, unless the attitude of the Planters' Association changes considerably from that shown in their letter, dated 15th February last, to the Government Secretary, in reply to that officer's letter, No. 410, of the 21st January. Copies of these two letters are also enclosed. The planters do not yet realise that their choice is between a considerable softening of the existing law and the stoppage of indentured immigration.

I have, &c.,

Enclosure 1 in No. 141.

WALTER EGERTON.

THE SUGGESTIONS OF THE INDIAN IMMIGRATION DELEGATES.

1. The recruitment is unsatisfactory. The immigrants include too many persons who are unfitted for work on estates. Some are physically unsound, some are too old, some belong to castes which do not engage in manual labour. The inferior recruits are troublesome and expensive, and tend to create an atmosphere of querulous discontent. The subordinate recruiters are men who know nothing of the conditions under which immigrants live and work in the Colonies, and must rely on their own imagination for details. It is thought that recruitment might be improved if some of the subordinate recruiters were selected from immigrants who had completed five years of industrial service. These might be remunerated by regular monthly salaries, small bonuses per approved recruit, and might, after ten years, receive a bonus of 200 to 500 rupees, according to the efficiency of their work as recruiters. The experiment is at least worth trying.

1-(b) More women should be recruited. The 40 per cent. minimum is not exceeded. Recruiters of the kind proposed might be more successful in getting young married couples to emigrate. In any case, the minimum should be raised to 50 per cent. If it is difficult to get more women, the adjustment of the proportion by the mere exclusion of inferior men would be a gain. Returned" immigrants,

if physically fit, should be encouraged and not discouraged.

2. The possibility of undertaking systematic treatment of ankylostomiasis on board ship should receive careful consideration. We are informed that medical officers in charge of immigrant ships have adopted a non possumus attitude. It is true that they may not be able to treat all cases. But if they are assisted by three or four compounders trained in this work it should be possible to do good work. The serious cases will have to be treated sooner or later, and treatment on the voyage should be less, and not more, expensive. It is obviously wrong to send coolies suffering from ankylostomiasis to estates as efficient labourers, and it is undesirable that their indentured service should begin in a hospital at the Immigration Depôt or on an estate. It is better that the coolies should realise that they were unhealthy in India. 3. The medical arrangements on estates are very good. It is thought that a weekly weighment of first year immigrants would be advantageous. After the expiry of the indentured period the immigrant is on the same footing as the creole. He must pay for medicine and treatment unless he gets a certificate of pauperism. A certificate of poverty entitles him to treatment at a reduced fee. Individual doctors dispense with certificates. East Indian labourers and small settlers are dissatisfied with the system. They state that they cannot easily get certificates,

•

No. 125.

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