CO129-536-2 Recruitment of Chinese labourers for Samoa 26-5-1931 - 29-1-1932 — Page 3

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emigrants and it may be noted that the

boarding houses are under Government control

under Sections 42-46 of the Asiatic Emigration

Ordinance No. 30 of 1915 (copy herewith)

In view of the complete denial of the Hong

Kong authorities I think we may take it that

there is no serious abuse in this regard.

Sir Miles Lampson is, however, uneasy

about the suggestion that it is usual for the

recruiters who go to China to persuade far

more Chinese to come to Hong Kong than have

any chance of being actually engaged. It is

probably true that this is the practice as the

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recruiting Company must have some reserve to

cover the would-be emigrants who decline engage-

ment at the last minute or who are found unfit.

If the statementsof the Hong Kong authorities are

correct, it does not seem to be a great hardship

hee of charge

on the men as they are kept in Hong Kong and

their only expense is their fare to the

Colony and even that is sometimes paid for

them. In any case, it is difficult to

see how Hong Kong could prevent this. If labourers

in China are persuaded that there are good

chances of employment being obtained in Hong Kong,

it would be very hard for the Hong Kong Govt.

to prevent their coming to the Colony.

system of licensed recruiters might be theoreti-

cally possible, but it would be very easy to

evade