485 



Mr. Skinner suggested that until these accounts were in their 

 hands it was premature to discuss any Amendment Bill. The present 

 Enactment should stand until the end of this year, and then be amend- 

 ed, if necessary, in the light of the financial statement for the year just 

 passed. He predicted that the apportioning of rebates would prove a 

 great nuisance. In any case he felt strongly that the change that was 

 required was for the cess to be levied in future on those coolies only 

 that had been recruited during the preceding quarter, and not on the 

 total labour force employed. Some coolies never changed and it was 

 absurd to have to pay perhaps as much as $50 for the same coolie. 



Mr. E. Macfadyen said that until a definite shape had been 

 suggested for the rebate, it was impossible to predict whether it would 

 be easy or difficult. 



Mr. H. M. Darby : Is this Bill the final amendment ? 



Mr. L. H. Clayton; Of course, an Enactment can always be 

 changed. It is now about a year since the original Bill was passed by 

 the Legislative Council, and I take it this is what His Excellency had 

 in his mind when he said the Ordinance would be re-cast in another 

 year. 



Mr. A. B. Lake thought that the main difficulty was financial. 

 They would always be behindhand with the figures, and how were they 

 to criticize any new measure without having any figures before them ? 



Mr. Darby agrees with Mr. Skinner that the cess should be on 

 newly recruited coolies only. 



Mr. Harrison said that the principal object of the present Enact- 

 ment was to make the non-importer of labour pay. If in future the cess 

 was only going to be levied on the number of coolies imported, the 

 whole scheme would be stultified. 



As regard figures, he would give them the following approximate 

 summary of assessment collected for 1st Quarter: — 



Estates: — 



Colony 

 Perak 

 • Selangor 



4,950 

 11,500 

 22,800 



4,700 

 200 



Negri Sembilan 

 Pahang 



Railway Department, Colony and Federated 

 Malay States 



Government Departments (excluding Railways), 

 Miners and Contractors : — 



44,150 



9,050 



Colony ... ... 3,100 



Perak ... ... 10,100 



Selangor ... ... 6,800 



Negri Sembilan ... 2,000 



Pahang ... ... 800 



22,800 



$76,000 



