55 



4. It was obviously unfair that anyone should be expected to 

 undergo a great deal of trouble and expense in recruiting labour, and 

 that after the arrival of this labour in the country, the non-recruiter 

 should, by offering a slightly increased wage (which is quite unneces- 

 sary as far as the cooly is concerned) be able to entice the labourer 

 to leave and yet be in a better financial position than if he had 

 recruited the cooly himself at a lower though ample wage. 



5. It would be a great loss and a serious matter for ail parties 

 concerned, if the present scarcity of labour be allowed to continue, 

 and a large number of employers persisted in obtaining coolies locally, 

 merely by offering higher wages. This would only increase the cost 

 of labour all round, would not increase the labour supply of the 

 country, and would lead the coolies into extravagant habits. 



6. In his opinion, the man who can recruit coolies into the 

 country by the kangany system, should be given every encouragement. 

 He should not be expected to bring coolies over here for the benefit 

 of other people, without being recompensed financially. 



As he had already said, he did not think Mr. Mansergh's scheme 

 would be a practical solution of this difficulty ; he would therefore 

 suggest the following : — 



1. That the assessment rate should be raised from $5 to $10 per 

 head. 



2. That the money thus obtained should be used to pay all 

 expenses of the coolies from their villages to the Port of disembarka- 

 tion, and that has high a rebate as possible should be paid per cooly 

 to each person who imports kangany recruited labour. 



A committee should be appointed to ascertain the average cost of 

 each cooly to the recruiter. It should be the aim on the Indian 

 Immigration Committee to fix the rebate to the importer as high as 

 possible, though perhaps the rebate might not be sufficient to cover 

 the full cost of each imported cooly. As time went on however the 

 fund will increase, and the rebate will be increased proportionately, 

 until there were sufficient funds to compensate each importer fully. 

 In this way, the employer of locally obtained Tamil coolies will be 

 penalised, and greater encouragement would be given to recruiters, 

 and employers of locally engaged coolies would soon realise that it 

 would pay them better to import their own labour. 



Mr. Jarvis reminds the Meeting that a similar Committee had been 

 appointed a couple of years ago, which had advocated a similar remedy 

 as that now brought forward by Mr. Mansergh, but that the only reply 

 theyliad got from Government was that the scheme "would greatly 

 hamper^the movements of labor and would be likely to defeac its own 

 pftds by acting prejudicially on the supply of immigtants, to v/horn it 

 \^ould no doubt be obnoxious." 



