486 
Total Contributions: — 
Colony 
Perak 
Selangor 
Negri Sembilan 
Pahang 
Railway Department 
8.050 
21,600 
29,600 
6,700 
1,000 
9.050 
$76,000 
I calculate that during the first quarter about $38,000 has been 
paid towards the importation of labour by employers who previously did 
not pay anything. Practically the whole of the labour imported with 
free tickets paid for by the Fund has gone to estates, and the laiger 
portion of it to Selangor. 
Mr. C, L. Gibson asked for some indication of the lines on which 
the rebate would be given, and pointed out that if they ’were going to 
go back as far as 1905 the rebate in each individual case would be a 
mere driblet. 
Mr. Clayton said that- the original idea had been to give a rebate 
retrospectively for one year only, but that it had been pointed out that 
it would be better to give the Immigration Committee a free hand. As 
soon as the Committee got the full figures, they would have to devise 
the best means of granting a rebate, and at the same time rule out 
those who in the past had depended exclusively on locally recruited 
labour. His department had kept records of all Immigrants who had 
come over since 1905 and also, separately, the number of those who 
had come over on state-aided tickets. 
If the surplus was not large, the rebate would be taken on the 
basis of one previous year only ; if large enough, on the basis of the 
three previous years. 
Mr C. L. Gibson enquired what the liability of the employer 
would be under the new definition of the term; more particularly 
whether a Manager would be entitled to deduct any cess which the 
contractor might incur before paying the amount of the contract due 
to the contractor. 
Mr. Clayton stated that such procedure would be perfectly legal. 
He would however suggest that a proviso to that effect be added to any 
contract about to be made. 
Mr. Lake was afraid that one planter might slur over this liability, 
whilst another would be more conscientious, with the result that the 
latter might find difficulty in getting contractors to work for him. 
Mr. Browell thought that the word “ contractor wanted defining. 
Mr. Parkinson came back to the point originally raised, viz., that 
the rebates should be based on the number of coolies imported, not on 
the number of coolies on which cess had been paid. 
Mr. Skinner still thought the best plan would be to approve of the 
Bill as it stood, and to reconsider same as soon as the accounts for 
the whole of 1908 were available. 
