CO129-509-6 Recruitment of Chinese labour in Hong Kong for work in North Borneo and Spanish guinea... 27-3-1928 - 27-12-1928 — Page 58

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to do as he pleased when he landed at his destination,

was another question and depended on a variety of

circumstances; it was a matter in which the Hong Kong

Government would find it difficult to interfere.

If

Chinese emigration from Hong Kong were prohibited, it

would not stop the supply, it would be recruited direct

w

from China without the safeguards imposed by the Hong

Kong Ordinance.

Mr.Boyd agreed that so long as there was no question

of recruitment in Hong Kong of Chinese for actual

indentured labour in Sarawak or North Borneo, there would

probably be no criticism from the International Labour

Office. It seemed essential however, that we should

be prepared to insist on the distinction between what is

generally termed "indentured labour" and the conditions

under which Chinese recruited through the agency of Hong

Kong labour in Sarawak and Norther Borneo.

Mr. Ellis said that if the conditions of labour in

Sarawak were adjudged to be unsuitable by the League,

no doubt the Secretary of State as representing Sarawak

internationally would bring pressure on that Government

to have them amended. But at present there was no evidence

of that.

It was therefore agreed unanimously to recommend

the approval of the proposals of the Officer Administering

the Government of Hong Kong in his despatch of the 9th

November, with the omission of the word "indentured" in

sub-paragraph 2.