Parliamentary Papers

MAURITIUS.

The pilgrims to Merea take that route, and never that of Calcutta.

7. A glance at the map of India will show that many of the immigrants we receive via Calcutta from the districts of Central India, above Cawnpore, could come more easily via Bombay; they would take that route, and in greater numbers, when once assured of their having a depôt to go to; there would be less risk of sickness, the atmosphere of the Ganges being avoided; taking men from three instead of two different points, a better choice could be made.

REPORT of the Immigration Committee on the following Papers referred to them by
His Excellency the Governor.

THE Committee have had under consideration a letter from the Protector of Immigrants, on the expediency of having a properly constituted emigration establishment at Bombay.

The office of Emigration Agent at Bombay appears to be filled by the Assistant Registrar of Seamen, who receives an addition of 120 l. per annum, and the a-sistance of one clerk for this extra duty.

There is no depôt to receive and lodge the Indians, and the system has been, to have a contractor for the supply of emigrants, who is supposed to keep them until they are sent on board. When a ship is taken up, this contractor receives notice of it, and sends the people on board as they are picked up. This system causes a detention of the vessel for a considerable time before a complement of passengers can be made up, with a consequent increase in the rate of passage money, and the absence of any depôt where the emigrants can be lodged and taken care of increases the chances of men being sent on board in an unsatisfactory state of health. These are serious disadvantages, and the agricultural body of Mauritius will hardly be satisfied of the policy of the present arrangement, however economical, as it must necessarily keep the Bombay agency in a crippled and unsatisfactory

state.

It is calculated that, if properly conducted, the Bombay agency may be able to furnish as many labourers as that of Madras; and it appears reasonable, therefore, that it should be put upon a similar footing.

The committee accordingly recommend that the establishment of the Agent for Mauritius Emigration at Bombay should be under the same regulations as to the supply of food and the expenses of recruiting as at Calcutta, and that the establishment should be as follows,

viz.:

Should, however, the Colony be disappointed in its expectations from an actual paucity of emigrants from Bombay, or have reason to believe that the Agent has not shown sufficient zeal and activity in procuring labourers, it will be well to have at hand the diminishing the establishment, both as to strength and remuneration, and the committee therefore suggest the propriety of subjecting this matter to an annual revision.

power of

In recommending this expense, the committee are of opinion that the services of the Agent at Bombay should be exclusively confined, for emigration purposes, to this Colony; and venture to express a hope, that the consideration which the Secretary of State has been giving to the question of a separate agency at each Presidency for Mauritius, may have for its result the concession of this advantage, which is a strictly fair one, and for the cost of which the Colony is prepared to make ample provision.

Felix Bedingfeld, Chairman.

MAURITIUS

Enclosure 3, in No. 16.

MINUTE of Reference of 22 April 1858.

I BEG to recommend to the Council, under the circumstances disclosed in the letter of the Protector of Immigrants of the 2d February last, and those stated in the accompanying report of the Committee of Immigration, both of which I have myself carefully considered, that provision be made for 995 l. 16 s. per annum, for maintaining an agency at Bombay, on the footing of that at Madras, and in substitution of the defective system now prevailing at the former Presidency.

Encl. 3, in No. 1