8. I have already laid before Her Majesty's Government, in my Despatch MAURITIUS. No. 22,* of the 30th January, what I consider to be the real remedy, and the * Page 207. only one which is likely to prove efficacious, namely, to give up the fiction of allowing the Indian to choose his own master, a selection which, owing to the peculiarities of his character, and the circumstances in which he finds himself placed, on his first arrival in a strange country, he is not likely to make for himself; to sanction the engagement of men, in India, subject to careful restriction, at the depôts of the several agencies, and to corresponding scrutiny here; and to entrust to the protector of immigrants alone the power of allotting to their respective masters those immigrants who prefer coming down with the Government contingent, and engaging themselves in the colony. I have, &c. (signed) William Stevenson. Enclosure 1, in No. 20. Sir, Surveyor General's Office, 22 May 1858. On the 23d December of last year, 34 men and 16 women, belonging to a larger number who had been kept in quarantine on Flat Island, were engaged for one year to work for Government, and one of the conditions of their engagement was, that their wives should receive their rations of rice during the time of service of their husbands, which condition was accepted on the recommendation of the protector of immigrants. 2. Since that time these women, 16 in number, have received their rice, and, in order to obtain credit at the Audit Office for these rations, it would be necessary to have a special authority from his Excellency the Governor to distribute such rations, and to include them in our accounts of delivery. SUBMITTED for the approval of his Excellency the Governor, I should be glad to have permission to offer rations of rice to the lawful wives of all immigrants who may engage with the Road Department. It would be a strong inducement to the immigrants to engage, and would not entail much expense upon the Government. 22 May 1858. (signed) J. R. Mann, Enclosure 2, in No. 20. MEMORANDUM. Government House, 7 July 1858. I HAVE the honour to lay before the Honourable Board a letter from the Acting Surveyor General, dated the 22d May last, requesting that a special authority may be given for the issue of rice to the wives of a small band of Indians lately engaged by Government for road labour; and, further, recommending that rations of rice may henceforward be given to the lawful wives of all immigrants engaging for the Road Department, in order to reconcile them, in some measure, to that unpopular but necessary service. 2. The extra rations to the small baud I have already allowed, as they were engaged after detention in quarantine under peculiar circumstances; but the general allowance, as a rule, to the wives of married men actually engaged, appears to be also desirable under the present extreme difficulties of retaining workmen on the roads. 3. From the report of the Auditor General upon the above-mentioned communication, it appears that this measure might necessitate a probable extra annual expense of 1,350 l., if the entire number of labourers that ought to be attached to the Road Department were in constant employment, and if one-third of them were married; but, in fact, we have not, at Encl. 1, in No. 20. Encl. 2, in No. 20 MAURITIUS. present, one-half the number that were contemplated when the road estimates were made neither do I think we are very likely to obtain many more in the present difficulties of the labour market, and the insurmountable objection entertained to road work. 4. Considering, however, how completely the public roads are already obliged to be sacrificed for the purpose of avoiding, as I desire to do, all possible collision with the planter, but considering, also, that road work is so unpopular as to require some attraction of the nature proposed, I feel no hesitation in recommending the Board to vote the sum estimated. (signed) William Stevenson. No. 21. Governor Stevenson to Sir E. B. Lytton, Bart. M.P. 24 Sept. 1858. Eccl. in No. 21. EXTRACT of a DESPATCH from Governor Stevenson to Sir E. B. Lytton, (Received, 5 November 1858.) I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith a General Return of Indian Immigrants for the quarters ending 31st March and 30th June 1858. Enclosure in No. 21 GENERAL RETURN of INDIAN IMMIGRANTS for the Quarter ended 31st March 1858. GENERAL RETURN of INDIAN IMMIGRANTS for the Quarter ended 30th June 1858. MAURITIUS. (No. 211.) COPY of a DESPATCH from Governor Stevenson to the Right Honourable Mauritius, 27 September 1858. 2. As, however, the Protector reports that every ship taken up to carry return immigrants is now subjected to a survey by the harbour master, when she has not come in with immigrants, and that a copy of the survey is forwarded to the Protector of Immigrants in India, I have not thought it necessary to take any further steps in this matter, other than to direct that Mr. Hugon should be furnished with a copy of the Passenger Act, of the provisions of which he appears to have been in ignorance, and to require that for the future, the Instructions conveyed by the Despatch and enclosures now under reply shall be strictly pursued. I have, &c. (signed) William Stevenson. No. 22. Governor Stevenson to the Right Hon. Sir E. P. Lytton, Bart., 27 Sept. 1858. Enclosure. MAURITIUS. Encl, in No. 22. Sir, Enclosure in No. 22. Immigration Office, 9 September 1858. IN answer to your letter, under date the 22d July last, regarding the Despatch of return inmigrants per ship " Bengal Merchant," in 1856, without previous survey of that vessel,. I have the honour to report that no copy of the Passenger Act having ever been in the office, I was not aware of its provisions, and I have never received information as to its being applied to the emigration of Indians, from my predecessor or any one else; and as up to the time that the "Bengal Merchant" was taken up, vessels engaged to carry return immigrants had not been surveyed, that ves-el formed no exception to the practice; being a teakbuilt ship, her age was not, in my opinion, objectionable, as ships of the same class and age had been and are still engaged in India to convey emigrants to this port; amongst them I may instance the " Cornwall," built in the same year as the "Bengal Merchant," which was lost this year on Cannonier Point, with immigrants on board; the throwing overboard of cargo in bad weather is not an uncommon occurrence with ships coming to this port deeply loaded with rice, and is not considered by practical men a proof of sea unworthiness. 2. Since a communication has been made from India about the "Bengal Merchant,' every ship taken up to carry return immigrants has been subjected to a survey by the harbour master, when she has not come in with immigrants, and a copy of the survey report is forwarded to the protector of immigrants in India, with the other documents. The Honourable the Colonial Secretary. I have, &c. (signed) T. Hugon, Protector of Immigrants. (No. 243.) No. 23. No. 23. Governor Stevenson to the Right Hon. Sir E. B. Lytton, Bart. M.P. 17 Nov. 185 * Page 288. Enclosure No. 1. Enclosure No. 2. COPY of a DESPATCH from Governor Stevenson to the Right Honourable Sir, Mauritius, 17 November 1858. (Received 24 January 1859.) I HAVE the honour to acknowledge your Despatch, No. 47,* of the 26th July ultimo, enclosing a correspondence between the Colonial Office, the Emigration Commissioners, and the India Board, and sanctioning two points which I had strongly urged in a former Despatch, viz., the privilege of contracting in India for service in this Colony, and the power of the Government to make fair and beneficial allotments of the immigrants arriving here under Government arrangements, and not under contract for special service. 2. I lost no time in communicating this Despatch to the Council, who received the intimation with much satisfaction, believing that the privileges now conceded will, in the first place, prevent many of the disappointments that have hitherto been experienced, and, in the next place, obviate many of the difficulties that have prevailed at the depôt, and which there have hitherto been no proper means of removing; and I have myself no doubt, that, if the details are carefully worked out, very great improvements in our immigration scheme will result from these concessions. 3. As soon as I had prepared outlines of the measures I proposed to introduce, and of the preliminary regulations which appeared necessary for the successful operation of the new arrangements, I thought it right to meet the Immigration Committee of the Council, and to place those outlines before them for careful consideration and discussion; and I explained to them fully my views of the manner in which the measure should be worked out, and received in return several useful suggestions; and the result was afterwards communicated to the Council, at the first subsequent meeting, and approved of by them. 4. That result is briefly shown by the letter written, by my direction, to the Government of India, with the outline of regulations to which it refers, copies of which I have the honour to transmit for your perusal. 5. These outlines, and the minor documents and forms referred to in the letter to the Government of India, were likewise transmitted to our agents at the different Presidencies, who had ample preliminary intimation communicated to them by the circular letter of which I have also the honour to transmit a copy. 6. I thought it right to transmit all these provisional documents to India by the first opportunity after they were completed, in order that no time might be lost in drawing the attention of the Indian Government to the consideration of the manner in which the new arrangements were to be carried into operation, so that, without delay, their acquiescence might be obtained to all those details which related to the scheme, as far as they were to be carried out in India. 7. The remaining details which related to the mode of operation here, and a local Ordinance which was to give effect to the contracts in India, I promised to complete without delay. These, under the assistance of the Procureur General, have now been completed; and, after having been carefully considered by the Council, at several recent meetings, the Ordinance, No. 30 of 1858, and the Regulations in pursuance of that Ordinance, have been finally passed. MAURITIUS. Enclosure No. 3. 8. I have now the honour of transmitting this Ordinance, and the Regulations* which it authorises. Other copies and explanations have been Vide Appendix, forwarded, by this mail, to the Indian Government, and full instructions and No. 25, page 344. all necessary forms have been likewise transmitted to the Agents at the Presidencies, so that all the preliminary arrangements which have fallen to the share of this Government, for the furtherance of the alterations you have sanctioned, are now complete. 9. Although I think it right to transmit, for your information, the letters to the Indian Government and agents, and the outline of proposed Regulations which accomprnied them, yet it would, perhaps, have been enough for me to send you only the Ordinance, No. 30 of 1858, and the Regulations in pursuance thereof, now forwarded; for those two documents are alone necessary to show in what manner your sanction to this scheme, and your instructions for its execution, have been carried into effect; and, for that purpose, I draw your attention to those two documents alone. 10. Notwithstanding the Regulations in pursuance of the Ordinance are to be made, and from time to time altered when necessary by the Executive Council, I nevertheless considered it right, when these Regulations were to be considered, to invite all the members of the Legislative Council to assist in the discussion; for, as they were to form the first series of Regulations under the new scheme, and required all the care that practical experience of details could furnish, I considered that the new code would be likely to give greater satisfaction, and prove more practically useful, if all those who were conversant with the past systems contributed the assistance which their experience enabled them to afford. I also invited the aid of the Protector of Immigrants, who likewise assisted at the discussion; and I took care that the Regulations, before their final completion, should be published for general information and comment, and that copies should be sent to the Chambers of Agriculture and Commerce, both of which were materially interested in the measure, and suggested some practical improvements. 11. I have every reason, therefore, to believe that these results, after all the precautions which have been taken, will not only carry out the united views of the Home and Indian Governments, but will also be found sufficient for all local purposes, and satisfactory to those who hope to benefit by the correct operation of the measure, in all its details. 12. It cannot, of course, be expected that all points of practical difficulty can be at once anticipated by the provisions of these Regulations; but it is satisfactory to know that, under the broad permission which the Ordinance. gives, these Regulations may, from time to time, be amended, or others added, according to circumstances, by the Governor in Council, without the ceremony of resorting, upon every trifling occasion, to an amending Ordinance, a course which has always been found inconvenient in such cases, and productive only of complications in the laws themselves, where improved Regulations for their practical operation, are alone required; and experience proves that in these as in other cases the power to make rules, and the rules in pursuance of the power, should always be kept distinct. 0.13. KK 3 13. Accompanying |