394 



LABOUR. — During the past year, the weighty question of estab- 

 lishing a satisfactory system of recruiting free Tamil coolies from 

 Southern India has very largely engaged the attention of the 

 Government both in the Colony and the Federated Malay States, 

 and of your Association. In the person of the Resident-General, 

 Mr, Treacher, your Committee feel that they have had a deter- 

 mined and always sympathetic official to deal with ; no detail has 

 been too insignificant to merit his attention ; no mistake has been 

 committed which has not been at once recognized and as far as 

 possible rectified; your Association has always been granted a fair 

 hearing when the efficiency of the kangany system has been im- 

 peached by those who do not sympathize or agree that it is the best, 

 and on more than one occasion, the Resident-General has paid us 

 the compliment of consulting us upon points whereon he has judged 

 our advice likely to prove of service. Your Committee desire to 

 place on record their emphatic opinion that having realized the 

 important part that the Tamil Coolie is to play in the development 

 of this Country, nothing could be more admirable than the sound, 

 businesslike, and liberal manner in which the Government have 

 faced the question, and endeavoured not only to master its theo- 

 retical aspect, but also to make it abundantly clear that they are de- 

 termined to render what promises in the near future to be a labour 

 market of the greatest importance, easily accessible to the enormous 

 surplus population of India. 



As instancing the strenuous efforts which the Government are 

 making to bring about this desirable result, a few examples of what 

 has been done during the past year will, your Committee feel sure, 

 prove of special interest. 



(a) Another agreement was entered into between the B. I. S. N. 

 Co. and the Straits Government, by which the Company agreed to 

 provide and maintain a fortnightly service of steamers between 

 Madras, Negapatam, Penang and Singapore, connecting with the 

 P & O Homeward and Outward Mails at Bombay, and to carry by 

 these steamers up to 20,000 coolies in the year if called upon to do 

 so, the rate up to t 0,000 being eleven rupees per head between 

 Negapatam and Penang, the Government guaranteeing to take 

 10,000 tickets and further paying the Company an annual subsidy 

 of $50,000. 



During 1901, your Committee regret to learn that 2,757^ tickets 

 out of the 10,000 guaranteed were not issued, the F. M. S. share 

 in this loss amounting to §18,584.24. It will be remembered that 

 when the Government began to import coolies on their o wn account, 

 a large number of poor wretches, of very indifferent physique, were 

 sent over by the professional recruiters. To prevent a recurrence 

 of this in the future a compulsory medical examination of all ap- 

 plicants was strictly enforced, the sole exceptions being coolies 

 collected by the Government's own trusted agents and by the plan- 

 ter's kanganies. As a result of this policy, large numbers of ap- 

 plicants for tickets who in the past would have pcured into this 

 country to spread disease, and ruin the reputation of the Malay 

 Peninsula as a desirable field for Indian labour, were rejected as 



