130 
The object of the Singapore Protectorate will be 
to see that they proceed to their proper destination : their 
departure will be notified to the Chinese Protectorate in the 
Federated Malay States. 
C. J. Saunders, 
Secretary for Chinese Affairs. 
Singapore, ;th February, 1911. IOr L ' mnes< 
12. RECRUITING IN BENGAL. 
The Secretary placed on the Table the following letter : 
9th February 1911, 
. d6. Nfirth^m Pnarl Pomnn- 
Bengal side of India where the class of labour (agricultural) that is 
required on rubber plantations is plentiful and easily obtainable. 
Uwmg to the failure of the Indigo Industry and the closing down of 
nearly all the concerns, there should be no difficulty in securing 
coolies at a cheap rate more especially as I am told no coolies are now 
• ei ^ g t Cnt t0 J ama * ca as f° ri nerly. The districts I refer to are Behar 
m 1 erhort and Gurrockpore in the North Provinces. I was an Indigo 
Planter in Behar and thoroughly know the whole district. Should 
you think there is anything in the idea, I am prepared to take up the 
matter and would return to India to recruit and send out coolies from 
Calcutta to Penang or any other Port. I should make my headquar- 
ters in Behar and would put the coolies on board myself in Calcutta 
as recruited. Should it be deemed advisable, I could come with them, 
the cost of a cooly’s passage feom Calcutta is $12, but I think I could 
arrange for a substantial reduction through Messrs. Apcar & Co 
and jardine. 
I am prepared to give this scheme a fair trial for three months 
starting for Calcutta at once and would accept 400 dol. (four hundred 
dollars) a month and pay my own expenses in India including the staff 
of recruiters etc. I should have to engage. I shall expect my steamer 
passage also from here to Calcutta and back if I returned' with the 
coolies myself. 
Should the scheme prove successful, a new arrangement could be 
made and an agreement drawn up between us, personally I am quite 
confident of success. 
I enclose my credentials and trusting to have the favour of an 
early reply. 
C. M. Cumming, Esq., 
Yours faithfully, 
(Sgd). S. Gordon Simes. 
Seremban. 
