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A.--Well, you might look at it in this way that the coolie might come to you with a fraudulent registration certificate and you might think he was all right and so
on.
Q.-But if he has got his photograph on it?
A.-There is not much likeness sometimes in a photograph.
Mr. Wilcox.-But they would be changed every year.
A.-They would! Would you mind letting me see what I wrote before? [Reads.]
The Chairman. You say there that you are in favour of the unregistered coolie seeking or obtaining employment being fined but not of the master, and I say to you, is it quite the right thing that the master who accepts the services of the coolie should not be fined? Is there any justice in that?
A. There is nothing indicated in this printed question to bar a coolie from coming and offering his services, and it should not be possible for a coolie to do that. It is all put down here on the master and there is no reference to any penalty being attached to the coolie.
Q.--What you mean is this, that if the coolie is to be punished, then the master should also be liable?
A. Yes, but only on that condition. It is not fair that the master should be the only person.
The Chairman. We never intended that at all. have any more questions to ask.
That being so, I don't think I
Mr. Wilcox.-If it were not penal on the master, I am afraid it would become a dead letter because there are some very careless people.
Witness. If, on the other hand, masters were the only people to get into trouble,
it would not be fair on the master.
The Chairman.-Can you tell us the opinions of Mr. Law and Mr. Robertson on this point? Do they coincide with yours?
A-I think they would be similar, but I could not say definitely.
Mr. Wilcox. Do you remember the operation of the old law that fell into disuse
chiefly because there was no means of identifying the coolies?
A. Yes, that was so.
Governor Pope Hennessy was here at the time, and I think that the Light and Pass Regulations were also abandoned at the same time.
Mr. Wilcox. I know when I came here it was in effectual operation, and so far as
it went, it was a decided check on servants.
A.--It was a check, but then you had not the photograph.
The Chairman.-You have no objection such as undue interference with the liberty of contract ?
A. This only refers to private coolies. It is not a case of public works or anything of that sort.
Q.-You don't see any objection on that ground at present?
A.-I confess I don't. You ask the question straight out, but some point might arise afterwards to qualify my opinion.
[The Commission then adjourned till Tuesday, 8th October, it being agreed to summons Messrs. G. W. F. Playfair for 2.30 p.m. and Mr. J. T. Lauts for 3 p.m.
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