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APPENDIX A. 



SUB-COMMITTEE* S REPORT ON CHINESE LABOUR. 



Gentlemen, 



Having been appointed by you to report on the question of es- 

 tablishing a Labour Bureau for the importation of Chinese labor, we 

 proceeded to make the necessary enquiries, which have resulted in 

 the following conclusions : 



1. The Chinese Labor employed at present on Estates in the 

 Peninsula is largely free labor, locally recruited, whilst only a small 

 percentage is labor coming in from China. 



As for the free labor, this class is drawn in the last instance from 

 the mines, and whilst we do not hear of many complaints now that 

 the Mining Industry is somewhat depressed, it is clear that the 

 supply of these free laborers is in any case a very limited one. The 

 result is, that there is already competition for this class of labor with 

 a tendency to higher prices ; a position, which at any time might be 

 very seriously aggravated by a rise in the price of tin. 



The Chinese labor, entering the F. M. S. from the outside, is 

 practically confined to indentured coolies, procured in Singapore under 

 the Sinkeh system, an expensive and uncertain source of supply. 



2. The only way of remedying this unsatisfactory and precarious 

 state of affairs is in our opinion the direct importation of Chinese 

 from China to Malaya. 



It is a well-known fact that the present system of Tamil free 

 labor was started by the Importation of Indian Immigrants under 

 long indenture and whilst it seems necessary to start the Immigration 

 of Chinese agricultural labor on the same lines, although on a shorter 

 indenture, it is hoped that in the near future a steady and increasing 

 influx of free labor will result. 



Such direct importation of coolies from China, is, in our opinion, 

 not one which could be undertaken by your Association, and is, we 

 consider, distinctly a matter that had more properly be left to private 

 enterprise; and we understand that a Company for the very purpose, 

 mentioned above, has actually been constituted. 



3. Your Committee thought it advisable, before proceeding any 

 further, to obtain the views of H. E. the High Commis>ioner on the 

 subject. H. E. was good enough to grant us an interview, ^nd we are 

 glad to be able to report, that his views entirely coincide with ours. 



Malcolm Cumming. 

 N. S. Mansergh. 

 H. C. E. Zacharias. 



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