CO885-(20-21) — Page 551

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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C.O.

Reference :-

885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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15. Part X. of Ordinance.

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We think it would be desirable to recognise a number of Hindu Priests and Musalman Kazis as marriage officers, the officers so recognised being compelled to keep registers, give certificates of marriage to the parties, and to send copies to the local marriage registrar. Marriages performed by such officer, according to the religion of the parties, should be recognised as valid, subject to the existing minimum age limits. No reference to "personal law of parties should be made. It will create endless possibilities for mischief. As regards Section 145, the existence of a living wife need not affect a second marriage of this kind. The provision may be less conducive to monogamy than to blackmail. No previous certificate need be required, but the marriage officer might be required to give fifteen or twenty days' notice to the Immigration Department.

16. Part XI, of Ordinance.

(a) The Immigration Agent-General should have power to make transfers and inter-transfers with or without the consent of either employer or immigrant, subject to a right of appeal by either. When he wishes to prevent murder or other serious trouble he should require no person's consent.

(b) In every case an indentured immigrant should be entitled to commute his service at any time on payment of an amount of commutation money proportionate to the unexpired period of indenture. Neither Government nor the employer should have any option. Whether the money is paid out of the immigrant's earnings or by his friends, the change will be salutary, and will obviate charges of oppression, forced servitude, &c.

(c) The Immigration Agent-General should have discretionary power under Section 187. If the conditions of employment on an estate were such as to con- tribute to the loss of days, the lost days should not be excluded. In practice, lost days do not seem to excluded, and the need for this provision in any form might be considered. Its retention involves a considerable amount of office work.

17. After ten years' residence an immigrant is entitled to an assisted passage to India. This can be claimed at any time after it has accrued. We think that if the Colony desires that the claim should be made within five years after the right has accrued the change would be reasonable. Of course, any such change would not be restrospective.

18. Section 213 might require in general terms the preparation and sub- mission of such returns as were prescribed by the Surgeon-General with the approval of Government, and the publication in the Annual Report of such information as may be communicated by the Surgeon-General under the orders of Government.

19. We are aware that in prisons an attempt is made to segregate immigrants convicted under the Ordinance from ordinary criminals.

It would be much better and much more expedient to arrange for separate prison accommodation, preferably near Government farms. No costly establishment or buildings would be needed. Dread of severe punishment in a common gaol would prevent absconding or refusal to work. Effective and inexpensive measures may easily be devised for preventing temporary absence at night or nocturnal communí- cations with outsiders.

20. Many, probably most, Managers have a regular orderly room system. The system should be universally enforced under departmental influence. Managers sometimes think they are accessible when coolies hold strong opinions otherwise. If the orderly room is a daily arrangement there will probably be fewer complaints, &c., than if more infrequent fixtures are made. While making the suggestion, we think it well to add that the Managers in British Guiana need not, as a class, fear comparison with Managers elsewhere as regards consideration for immigrants.

21. At the end of an immigrant's industrial residence he should be free to return to India or remain in the Colony, That the choice should be really free settle- ment on the land should be facilitated. There is an almost unlimited amount of land, but its settlement will largely depend on two factors. It should be in easy communication with existing centres of population and employment, and should be so drained and irrigated that the occupant may be relieved of heavy capital out- lay. The cost of constructing and maintaining an irrigation system should, we think, be easily recoverable in the form of a fixed State tax on the land. While plots may be of five to ten acres in area, an effective system of drainage and irri- gation would comprise upwards of 100 such plots. If no revenue is charged for a few years while the occupant is engaged in clearing and surface work, a tax rising in a few succeeding years to two or three dollars an acre should cover all

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capital expenditure and maintenance charges. The settlers will dislike fluctuating charges and will prefer a fixed tax, Government being responsible for upkeep of main channels. It will be for Government to consider if a State Irrigation Depart ment would not manage large irrigation schemes constructed at Government expense better than a local body concerned primarily with sanitation. Perhaps, as in many parts of India, the original full assessment per acre might be guaranteed for thirty years, with a further guarantee against an increase of more than 25 per cent. at each subsequent thirty years' revision. Possibly, with a large uncultivated area, there would be little need or justification for an increase. However, that is of no immediate concern. Nothing seems to be gained by accepting an occupancy price, which is an initial burden on a poor settler and an inadequate equivalent of Govern- ment rights, rather than a permanent tax. When an area is prepared for settlement it would be well to give the Immigration Agents power to make allotments, ie., select occupants. We have read some of the reports dealing with former land settlements, and have seen settlements which have attracted, and others which have not attracted, immigrants. Where failure has been ascribed to the peculiar temperament of the immigrants we have been unable to accept the conclusion.

23.

22. Agricultural banks or co-operative credit societies should be organised both for settlers on land and for urban residents. It is thought that Indian experience might be valuable. There is much official literature, and each Province has tackled this problem independently.

We think that in localities where there is a substantial East Indian popu- lation, Hindustani or Hindu should be taught in the schools. Probably full-time teachers would not be needed for the daily teaching of the lower standards, and in the upper standards tuition might be given on two or three days weekly in several schools by a full-time peripatetic teacher. Possibly it may be well to regard any solution proposed as tentative, without being discouraged by its failure to work smoothly and satisfactorily at once.

SIR,

Enclosure 2 in No. 141.

Mr. J. MCNEILL to the Government SecreTARY.

Kingston, Jamaica, 17th July, 1913. IN accordance with a promise made to Sir Walter Egerton, I have the honour to send you herewith, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, a brief memorandum of the suggestions that Mr. Chimman Lall and I are likely to make concerning immigration arrangements. We have not been instructed to submit suggestions to the Governments of the Colonies which we visit, and we cannot, of course, guarantee that our views will commend themselves to the Government of India and the Secretary of State. It is also possible that after we have completed our tour, and have had time to consider more fully all the information obtained, we shall feel bound to modify some of our provisional conclusions.

I shall be obliged if you will acknowledge receipt of the memorandum, my address being" Care of the Secretary to the Government of India, Commerce and Industry Department, Simla. To await arrival."

I have, &c.,

1.

Enclosure 3 in No. 141.

COMMENTS ON MR. MCNEILL'S MEMORANDUM.

J. MCNEILL.

There is no doubt that the recruiting is most unsatisfactory, and that a great deal, if not the bulk, of the unrest is due to the drafting of recruits belonging to castes which do not engage in manual labour. The suggestion that subordinate recruiters should be selected from immigrants of five years or more residence in the Colony seems to me an excellent one.

(b) I have already raised this question. I am in favour of the minimum being raised to 50 per cent. and I think it might be advisable for the Colony or the Immi- gration Fund to be debited with the cost of giving free passages to another 10 per cent., subject only to the stipulation that they live on estates where indentured immigrants are resident for three years after arrival.

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