48 Timehri. 



person he generally is, can appreciate what an adventure it must 

 be for him — with his old rooted prejudice to crossing the sea — to 

 embark for a country he has never heard of and which is 45 days' jour- 

 ney by sea from his " Mulk." And if this is so with the Male of the species 

 how much more so must it be with the female, than whom there is no 

 more timid creature in the world. And yet without the minimum number 

 of 40 women to 100 men no shipment of Indians may be made overseas. 

 Despite rates frequently twice as much as for a male, with bonuses added 

 where more than 3 women are provided with 5 men, and deductions 

 where this proportion is not maintained over a season's recruiting, the 

 greatest difficulty is experienced by Immigration Agents in obtaining 

 the requisite number of women. On account of the heavy cost to them 

 in importing labourers, planters used naturally to look for able bodied 

 ones at any rate, to compensate them for their heavy outlay, and families 

 with young children and nursing infants were not regarded as 

 good bargains. Latterly — about 1915— families were asked for but, 

 whether the system did not lend itself to the recruitment of these latter 

 (it did not in the writer's opinion) numbers were not forthc ming — at 

 any rate in Upper India. This narrowed the field to practically widows 

 as, by reason of child marriage which is customary in India, there are no 

 spinsters to draw upon. Registering Officers could, and frequently did, 

 refuse to register single women until enquiries by the Police confirmed 

 that they were in fact Widows, had been desorted by their husbands 

 or, at any rate, were not wanted by them. These enquiries often taking 

 weeks, the women in the interval became unwilling and were lost to the 

 Agency. 



And woe betide the recruiter who relying on the word of a woman — 

 who may have wandered from a distant district — that she was a widow, 

 investigation subsequently brought to light she had run away from an aged 

 husband or a tyrannical mother-in-law. Unless he can clear himself, a 

 heavy fine or even imprisonment and the cancelation of his licence are 

 likely to be his lot. 



For this and like reasons Sub-Agents and recruiters found the re- 

 cruitment of women a risky and often an unprofitable task, with the 

 result that seldom more than the minimum proportion were embarked 

 over a season's recruiting. 



As to what system would secure families, the writer believes that 

 one in which bonuses or grants were offered to the recruits themselves 

 would have the desired effect, same, of course, to be paid on arrival at 

 their destination. 



That such a scheme would be more costly is likely. The risks pre- 

 viously taken by Sub Agents would fall upon the colonies. And again in 

 such a scheme the standard of all round fitness would have to be lowered 

 as one of several members of a family might be defective in some particu- 

 lar, the rejection of whom would mean the entire loss of the family. In 

 some cases aged and feeble dependants would have to be accepted for like 

 reasons. 



