( 18 ) 
It was not till nearly twenty years later that the 
special enactments for the protection of Netherlands 
Indian indentured Labourers were introduced, fafter 
protracted negotiations with the Netherlands Indian 
Government, and their introduction very shortly 
preceded the abolition of indenture in the case of other 
forms of immigrant labour. 
22. Two causes have prevented any great develop- 
ment of this form of labour immigration: — 
i. The high cost of recruitment. 
ii. The success which attended the Immigration 
of free labour from India under the Immi- 
gration Fund System. 
In the Federated Malay States at the end of 1922 
the total number of Netherlands Indian Labourers on 
estates was 4,922, a decrease of 800 from the preceding 
year. Of these only 1,203 were still under indenture 
(contract of service). 
On estates in the Colony there were 2,340 of these 
labourers, none of them under indenture. 
23. Although the organised introduction of Nether- 
lands Indian Labourers has not been attended by any 
great measure of success there has been a steady . 
influx of voluntary settlers along the whole of the 
West coast of the Peninsula. Some 60,000 acres of 
land have been givdn out in small holdings to Javanese 
settlers in Lower Perak and similar large areas in 
Northern Johore and other parts. But this kind of 
immigration only indirectly affects the supply of labour 
available for the large estates and public works. 
