CO129-140 - Public Offices - 1869 — Page 479

in the event

back to Hongkong.. of the Agreements, in its present form, be repudiated by the Importers. Beyond this he could

If out that

not well go. He pointed

&

the contract is made with

the Importers of the Emigrants and

"their assigns"

#

and that under

these words the labourer may

be

transferred from one Master to

Master, or even sold by auction, as is said to be the case in

Cuba. It is true that the same

words occur in the contracts

made in China with the same Agents recruited

for the

Colonies. But there is, as he

points out, no analogy

between

the two cases-

477

one, this

Government sees that every

precaution against abuse is

Enforced. In the other it is

powerless

and has not the

means

of

interfering

or becoming acquainted with the treatment of the Emigrants.

But as for

the direct

or indirect responsibility of the Colonial or Home Government

in this species of Emigration

is concerned, no questions

can in future arise, should Her Majesty's Government

have decided, in accordance

with the Earl of Clarendon's views, to prohibit the Emigration...