§ MR. HAROLD COX (Preston)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Transvaal Government has introduced a Bill to prolong the restrictions of the Chinese Labour Ordinance after that Ordinance expires in March next; and, if so, what action His Majesty's Government intends to take.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. CHURCHILL,) Manchester, N. W.The policy of the Transvaal Government, so far as I understand it, is to repatriate the Chinese labourers at the termination of their indentures, without permitting those indentures to be renewed. Under the Letters Patent the existing Labour Importation Ordinance lapses on 21st March, 1908. An interval will therefore arise during which some provision for the government of the Chinese who are awaiting their turn to go is indispensible to the order and security of the Colony 792 and, indeed, to the complete termination of the Chinese labour experiment. His Majesty's Government have always recognised that some measure of this kind would probably be necessary as part of the machinery of repatriation upon expiry of contract, and the Secretary of State explained the necessity in his place in Parliament in reply to a question on 17th June last. I have as yet no official information upon the provisions of the Bill which is said to have been introduced to that end, and in the absence of the full text it would be premature to express an opinion.
§ * Mr. REES (Montgomery Boroughs)May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether there is anything in the law of the Transvaal which will make it impossible for the Kaffirs who take the place of the Chinamen to compete with skilled European labour?
SIR GILBERT PARKER (Gravesend)asked whether the Transvaal Legislature would have to make a new Ordinance to carry on the contracts of the Chinese labourers after the expiration of the time fixed in March next for the completion of those contracts?
§ MR. CHURCHILLI fail to distinguish between the substance of the hon. Member's supplementary Question and that of the Question on the Paper.
SIR GILBERT PARKERMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether the present Bill introduced into the Transvaal Legislature will cover the finishing contracts from the time of expiration in March next and also provide regulations or Chinese labour after March next?
§ MR. CHURCHILLThough I am not informed of the precise conditions of the measure, I presume it will provide for the government of those Chinese who are awaiting the expiry of their indentures. It is certainly not advisable that they should be turned loose.
SIR GILBERT PARKERMay I ask whether this Bill will contain regulations dealing with restrictions on Chinamen after March next, and, if so, whether His Majesty's Government will take these restrictions under review and, if they 793 contain conditions of slavery, veto the Bill now before the Transvaal Legislature?
§ MR. CHURCHILLI think it would be very inadvisable for me to express an opinion as to that hypothetical question.
Mr. CHUKCHILLIt is a question very largely of opinion as to the extent to which Kaffir labour will come into competition with skilled white labour, and whether that labour will compete to a greater or a less extent than the Chinese labour.
§ MR. HAROLD COXWhen does the right hon. Gentleman expect to have a draft of the Bill in this country?
§ MR. CHURCHILLI do not think it has yet passed the Legislative Assembly, and after that it has to go to the Legislative Council, and then come here.
§ MR. HAROLD COXHave the Government been consulted in this matter, as the Bill practically re-enacts the Ordinance which the Government said they would not enact?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe hon. Gentleman has the advantage of me. I do not know what the effect of the Bill is. It is not the practice of self-governing Colonies to submit their Bills to the Home Government before passing them.