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who had come to their country on a visit, and ware returning to Singa- pore, for motives of economy, se steerage passengers, but wishing to avoid the irksome formalities of resilence in an midration Boarling House, and examination in the Harbour Office, hired a substitute to re- present then. These were technical braaches of the law, but promptaj
by no illegal motive.
10. Another type of offender, and one almost impossible to discover,
was the "professional enigrant", who still survives, but was never really 301400. Ho pate himself forward as a free midrant, - now more often as an "Assisted midrant" date an advance of wades, and zone clothes, from the reoraiter; does on board, ani, as the ship is leaving the har- bour, generally in the Sulphur Channel, he jumps overboard and swins
ashore. Sometimes he used to be picked up by a launch which happened to be passing at the time; but more often he preferred to reach the shore by himself, and disappear. It was more than suspected, on several occa- sions, that the convenient launch was there for the express purpose of picking up any bal ewigners who might jamo overboari. In one instance,
the coxmain of the launch acknowleided to me that he had been sent there
for the purpose of picking up anyone who might jump overboari, but he
declared that he lil ast know who the man was who employed hin. One
man had been picked up by him, but bolted as soon as the launch touchel
the shora. I at first imagined that the paopla it was desired to pick
up were onwilling enidrants, but I am now satisfied that most of them (+
(there have not been many) have been of this type of "professional
"egidrant", who is only after the advance and clothes, and has no latent-
ion, from the first, of enigrating.
·
11. In 1903 the old office was vacated, and the present builling coca-
pied. At first the examination of midrants was carried on as before,
but, at the close of 1903 a murderous attack was made on the 1st Clerk.
who was examining the Free Vale Reidrants in the boat house of the new
office, by a man whos he had rejected, and the present system was inau-
gurated in consequence.
This system differs from the previous one
only
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