388 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



December 15, 1917. 



PROPOSED SETTLEMENT SCHEME FOR 



EAST INDIANS. 



In the issue of this Journal for October 20, p. 332, 

 a brief note appeared in reference to a scheme of assisted 

 colonization for East Indians in British Guiana, Trinidad, 

 Jamaica, ami Fiji, recently drawn up by the Inter-Departmen- 

 tal Conference to replace the indentured system of immigra- 

 tion which is being abolished in response to the strong objec- 

 tions entertained by educated Indian opinion. Before referring 

 at greater length to the proposed new scheme, the details of 

 which appear in The Times of September 1, 1917, it might 

 be desirable to record what seems to be generally recognized 

 as a fact, that under the abolished indentured system, the 

 indentured East Indians who have become free settlers, 

 suffer no political or socinl disabilities. On the contrary, the 

 free Indian communities are admitted to have attained a 

 high degree of prosperity; they take their place in the life of 

 the colony on the same terms as other inhabitants. There 

 are in .some of the colonies many East Indians of independent 

 means; some occupying positions of trust and honour in the 

 Government service, a few in the professions, law and 

 medicine; many are well-to-do merchants, while others still 

 retain their relation to the soil, being either cane farm- 

 ers or lai.ded proprietors. If is evident, therefore, that 

 the abolition of the indentured system of immigration is not 

 due to any disability suffered by the immigrants in the endeav- 

 our to better their condition. 



To summarize briefly the more salient proposals con- 

 tained in this new scheme; their broad general aim, as stated 

 in The Times, is to encourage the settlement of East Indians, 

 after a probationary period of employment in the colonies, 

 to train and fit them for the new conditions of life there, 

 and at the .same time to afford a supply of labour essential 

 to the well-being of the colonies themselves. To this end 

 the scheme seeks to encourage the emigration of permanent 

 settlers. The immigrant will be entirely free of any financial 

 liability connected with the cost of his introduction into the 

 colony. The outlay incurred is to be met not by individual 

 employers, but by the Government of each colony concerned, 

 out of a common fund raised by rateable contributions from 

 the employers either (1) of all Indian immigrants other than 

 those locally born, or (2) of an immigrant during the tirat 

 three years of his re.sidence, or (3) during the period laid 

 down as necessary to qualify him for a free return passage. 

 On first arrival the immigrant will undertake wor]< for 

 a 'probationary' period of si.x months under selected employ- 

 ers, the object being to enable him to learn colonial ways of 

 life and work, and colonial methods of agriculture. He will 

 then be perfectly free to move from one employer to another 

 at a months notice, being encouraged for the ensuing two 

 and a half years in agricultural industries by the offer of 

 numerous and important benefits .subsequently as a colonist. 

 At no time will he be under any indenture or contract, and 

 the relation between him and his employer will be purely 

 that prevailing in the colony between any master and servant; 

 hence he will only be liable to be proceeded against for any 

 breach of engagement by way of a civil suit in the ordinary 

 course of law, and will not be liable to criminal penalties 

 As to terms of employment, in the interest of the immi- 

 grant it is insisted that the < "olonial Government should have 

 power to decide who may and who may not employ him. 

 To that end provision is made for the keeping of a register 

 of approved employers by the Protector of Immigrants, and 

 for prosecutions being brought against any person not 

 entered thereon, who employs an East Indian during the first 

 three years of his residence. A fair minimum wage will be 



fixed, and be revised every five years on the basis of changes 

 in the cost of living. During the first twelve months children 

 under eleven years of age will be entitled to free rations on 

 a scale to be determined by the Government; while children 

 under five will be given free milk rations during the whole 

 time their parents are at work for an employer on the register. 



The granting of free garden plots of from j'jy to J-acre 

 to each immigrant engaged in agriculture after he has com- 

 pleted his first six months of service is also provided for. In 

 addition, steps are to be taken by the Government to make 

 land available in the simplest and cheapest manner that can 

 be devised for all immigrants who desire it, and who have 

 completed three years' employment. Land not exceeding 

 o acres in extent will be granted to an immigrant after 

 three years' employment. The rent will vary according to 

 the fertility and position of the land, and will be subject to 

 revision every thirty years. For ten years after the grant 

 the tenant will be prohibited from alienating or encumber- 

 ing his right in the land, except with the sanction of the 

 department of the colony by whom the arrangements will 

 be carried out, and the department will have power further 

 to resume possession of any land not brought under culti- 

 vation within two years of the grant. 



This land settlement scheme is coupled with terms of 

 repatriation to provide liberally for any imuiiarant who, for 

 any rea.son, wishes to v,o back to India and not to take 

 advantage of the facilities for settlement. He will be granted 

 for hira.self and his dependents half the pa.ssage money 

 after three years', three-quarters after five years', and the 

 whole after seven years' continuous residence in the colony. 

 Should an immigrant, who has had a free or assisted return 

 passage, return to the colonj', he will have no right to 

 a second repatriation, wholly or partly, at the cost of the 

 colony. The Protector of Immigrants may grant free return 

 passages in full, in cases where he deems repatriation desirable, 

 even in the ca.se of settlers who have been reduced subse- 

 quently to indigent circumstances. 



The emigration of whole families will be encouraged, 

 and particularly of families containing young, unmarried 

 girls who may become in the colonies the wives of other 

 immigrants. Women, however, unaccompanied by their 

 families will not be assisted. The proposals as to marriage 

 registration are claimed to be an improvement on the present 

 law: they provide immigrants ivith an easy method of 

 legalizing marriages performed according to their own customs. 



It is quite apparent from the foregoing brief ,-ummary of 

 details, that this proposed new scheme is avowedly one of col- 

 onization, its fundamental purpose being the establishment of 

 East Indians a.-, permanent settlers in the cf>lonies concerned. 

 From the East Indian immigrant's standpoint the new arranj e- 

 ment would appear to be quite admirable, for he will be 

 entirely free of any financial liability connected with the 

 cost of his introductiim into the colony. From the planter's 

 point of view, however- — ancb here allusion is made more 

 particularly to those planters who have herttofore been con- 

 cerned with operations under the old indentured system — it 

 is obvious that the cost of East Indian labour will be greatly 

 increased; the increased burden however, not necessarily fall- 

 ing on the .shoulder of the individual planter "nly, inasmuch 

 as the outlay incurred is proposed to be met, not by individual 

 l)lanters, but by the ( iovernment of each coli my concerned, 

 out of a common fund, raised by rateable contributions as 

 detailed in the scheme and outlined above. There are 

 other important considerations, too, which may evoke 

 opposition to the scheme from those who have been concerned 

 in the employment of labour under the indentured .'system of 

 immigration. For instance, the essential cerrssity of 



