CO885-(20-21) — Page 576

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

C.O. 885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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make transfers. The wording of this section does not impose a liability on the employer to whose estate the magistrate removes an immigrant.

Section 24, idem. In Trinidad casual adultery was held not to be co-habitation under a similar section. Adultery should be penalised, and the Court ought to be authorised to inflict a substantive sentence of imprisonment not exceeding three

years.

Law 12 of 1897, Section 1 (3). An immigrant who marries an immigrant should retain his or her right after two years, so long as the spouse's right continues.

Law 13 of 1905. Section 2 is objectionable and should be deleted. So also 6 (c), which is much too sweeping and is not restricted to cases of fraudulent misrepresentation.

7. We think it would be desirable to recognise a number of Hindu priests and Masalman 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 officers, 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 possi- bilities for mischief. As regards Section 7 of 22 of 1896, 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.

8. Separate prisons, preferably near Government farms, should be established for offenders under the Ordinance. They cannot, in ordinary prisons, be kept apart from vicious scoundrels. The association is not merely bad for the individual immi- grants. The existence of the risk embitters immigrants generally, and is, of course, resented in India.

9. Many, probably most, Managers have a regular orderly room system. The system should be universally enforced under departmental influence. Managers some- times 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 mixtures are made.

10. 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, settlement on the land should be facilitated. Obviously, a high occupancy price is undesirable. Land fit for settlement should require little capital outlay, and should he in easy communication with markets and centres of employment. East Indians attach great importance to the provision of an adequate water supply. Where suitable unoccupied land is not available, occupied land might be acquired and made over on permanent leases, providing for revision of assessment at long intervals, on terms which would recoup all outlay in due course. Loans for the purchase of land might also be made, one-third of the price being paid by the immigrant, and a mortgage executed by him for the remainder, advanced as a loan repayable in (say) 15 years. We have seen immigrants apparently prosperous under a sympathetic landlord near Kingston. As owners they would be still more prosperous. Grants of land or loans should be made to persons selected by the Immigration Department. Occupying owners would be much benefited by the organisation of co-operative credit societies.

10A. During our tour we noticed one striking difference between the conditions under which immigrants are employed in Jamaica and those obtaining in Demerara. In the latter the "free" immigrants on estates usually exceed the indentured immi- grants. Free immigrants are supplied not only with dwellings, but with small plots of land for cultivation, either rent free or at a moderate rent, and with rights of pasturage. Moreover, the indentured immigrants who work satisfactorily are, after three or four years' service, allowed to cultivate a quarter of an acre or half an acre of rice land. Arrangements are made to spare them a few days occasionally, being supplemented by Sundays and holidays. Indentured labourers value this privilege, and the relations between them and the Managers are improved where a stimulus to work is provided by hope of extra legal reward. The grant of permission to keep cattle is also valued, and not only promotes contentment, but directly affects the health of the coolies, more especially the children. While it would be more diflicult in Jamaica to grant similar privileges, we think that mere might be done than is now customary. The desirability of withdrawing a small part of the estate

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land from ordinary cultivation, and giving plots of about an acro to "free" immi- grants whose labour for three or four days a week can be counted on, is obvious. Some estates in Demerara employ only "free in this way.

The granting of quarter or half acre plots to industrious immigrants immigrants anchored to the estate in the fourth year of their indenture both rewards merit and prevents the coolies generally from regarding Managers as taskmasters relying on a highly-systematised code of punishments, counterbalanced by no recognisable system of rewards. On some estates immigrants are allowed to breed ponies, but all immigrants are unable to take advantage of this privilege. The cultivation of a plot of land requires no capital or special knowledge, and the profits accrue in a few months. The purchase of a cow requires a little capital, but again, the return is immediate and continuous. In many parts of the island an increased milk supply would generally be advan- tageous. We think the Immigration Department should urge on employers the great desirability of granting privileges such as we propose to deserving indentured Immigrants. The Managers hands would be strengthened, immigrants would be more contented, and the system, as a whole, would be less exposed to hostile criticism, We understand that the pioneers of the system of retaining and attracting "free immigrants" by land grants in Demerara were at first regarded with much suspicion by other Managers, but the system is now generally adopted. by us leases for a term of ten years, with right of renewal, were granted. Ordinarily On one estate visited the tenancies are annual.

11. We think that in localities where there is a substantial East Indian popula- tion 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 pro- posed as tentative, without being discouraged by its failure to work smoothly and satisfactorily at once.

12. Our experience in the West Indian Colonies has suggested to us the very great desirability of selecting for the Office of Protector of Immigrants an officer who is acquainted with not only the language, but the habits and sentiments, of East Indiah immigrants, and is able to command their respect and confidence. Where an officer so qualified is not locally available, it would, in our opinion, be desirable to have an officer deputed from India. While expressing these general views as to the special qualifications required in this important post, we think it only right to add that the present incumbent of the post in Jamaica possesses the qualifications regarded by us as essential in a fuller measure than any officer discharging similar duties in other Colonies.

Enclosure 2 in No. 186.

MEMORANDUM BY ACTING PROTECTOR OF IMMIGRANTS. HONOURABLE COLONIAL SECRETARY,

I HAVE the honour to submit the following observations on the proposed suggestions of the Commissioners :-

(1) Since 1911 the physical standard of the immigrants supplied has not been as good as it ought to be, and has necessitated the release from indenture of many who should not have been recruited. It would be far cheaper, and much more satisfactory every way to curtail the number despatched from India, rather than ship some who are absolutely useless, and who soon become a charge on the Fund and also on the employers who have signed promissory notes for them. Increasing the proportion of women would most likely reduce the number of cases of wounding and murder on account of jealousy, and be an excellent arrangement from the male immigrant's point of view, as there would not be such a dearth of East Indian women as there now is on a good many estates. But it is no use increasing the proportion of women if they are to be picked up off the streets. This will only lead to further trouble, as these women go from man to man, and are ceaseless causes of jealousies and quarrels. On the other hand, some employers will feel aggrieved if they are compelled to pay for a larger percentage of women than at present, because indentured women, as a rule, are not nearly the equals of the men as agricultural labourers.

(2) The proper time to start treating the immigrants for ankylostomiasis is undoubtedly on hard ship on their way from India. The Surgeons Superintendent contend that they are unable, with their other duties, to undertake this treatment,