CO129-515-7 Recruitment of Chinese labour for Sarawak 7-12-1928 - 8-4-1929 — Page 17

17

1915.

Section 17 of the Ordinance

forbids emigrant ships to carry any

but free emigrants. This term is

defined in Section 2 as meaning

emigrants who are not under any

contract of service what ever, and

it would not appear that the applica-

tion of the Ordinance is

affected by the fact that the

agreement into which the emigrant

may have entered in Hong Kong may

not have been reduced into writing

there.

3. I feel, therefore, that

the Hong Kong Government would not

be justified in conniving at an

arrangement of the kind proposed

and I am unable to approve the Shared

proposal that permission would be

granted for continued emigration to

the Miri oilfields on the conditions

described