20 7 



by Post Office orders alone. It is impossible to estimate the amount 

 remitted through chetties or hoarded by coolies, and taken back to 

 the coast in the form of jewellery and cash. 



It is to be trusted that Government will realise the vital import- 

 ance to the whole country of a steady flow of labour, and, by a 

 generous policy now towards the agricultural interest, insure for the 

 country that future prosperity that, can only be obtained by steady 

 and regular supplies of cheap labour. 



Free Tickets. 



The year under review was the last of the three, during which the 

 Government of the F. M. S. originally promised this Association an 

 annual issue of 4,600 free tickets. 



These tickets have greatly attracted the flow of labor into these 

 States, and it is only to be hoped, that the Government will not 

 only continue this enlightened policy for the future, but even 

 enlarge its scope. 



Labour Ordinance. 



. The working of this Enactment has been most unsatisfactory, and 

 in most Courts, in Selangor especially, it has been practically 

 impossible to obtain a conviction against a cooly for absconding, and 

 there have been numerous cases of desertion from estates. 



In August, a Deputation from this Association and the Malay 

 Peninsula Agricultural Association waited on His Excellency the 

 Governor to discuss the working of the Labour Enactment, and your 

 Committee are glad to report, that an Enactment has been passed, 

 wmch calls upon every employer of labour to register full particulars 

 °f any labourer engaged by him with the Superintendent of Immi- 

 grants within 7 days of the date of his engagement, under heavy 

 Penalties to the employer who fails to do so and to the labourer who 

 lurmshes any false information as to the particulars regarding his 

 P^vious employment. 



Your Committee feel that if this Enactment is rigorously enforced, 

 a great improvement must take place very shortly, for if there were 

 no employers of bolters there would be few, if any, desertions. 

 „ An Immigration Committee has recently been appointed by 

 rnment, to consider the whole labour question as it affects the 

 :r ated Malay States and the Straits Settlements and to advise 

 government as to the best means to be taken to increase the 

 Permanent labour force of the country. 

 The thanks of the Association should be accorded Government 



Feder; 



for their 



so promptly realising the vital importance t 

 y generally of a constant and settled labour force. 



