§ MR. G. W. HOPEsaid, that during the period his noble Friend (Lord Stanley) was in the Colonial Office, he instituted a system under which natives of India were permitted to emigrate to the Mauritius, the expense of their passage being paid by that colony; and it was provided that at the expiration of five years they should be entitled to a return passage free; and that in the meantime they might employ themselves as they thought proper. It was also provided, that if they wished to return to 272 India before the expiration of the five years, they might do so at their own expense. In the course of the recess, about the month of December, a statement appeared in one of the newspapers—he believed in The Times—purporting to be an abstract of and an extract from a despatch which was represented to be then on its way from the Colonial Secretary to the Governor of the Mauritius. The purport of that despatch was this—that instead of being permitted, as was the case under Lord Stanley's regulations, to employ themselves as they thought proper, they were to be subjected to certain fines, and, in default, to imprisonment, if they were not engaged in industrial residence; and, what was more important still, that they should not be permitted to return to India before the expiration of five years without obtaining a passport, for which they were to be charged at the rate of 1l. for each unexpired year of the term of five years. The consequence would be, that any one of these persons wishing to return to India at the end of the first year of his residence in the Mauritius, would not be permitted to do so without paying 4l.; and he would also be liable to defray the expenses of his passage himself. He (Mr. Hope) wished to know whether the abstract of the despatch, as it appeared in the paper, was correct; if it was correct, whether this regulation and tax had been imposed in accordance with that despatch; and, if the tax had been imposed, whether the natives of India introduced into the colony under Lord Stanley's regulation, and before the imposition of such tax, were to be liable to its payment?
§ MR. HAWES, after thanking the hon. Gentleman for giving him notice of these questions, observed, that with reference to the first question, as to the correctness of the abstract which appeared in the newspaper, it was, to the best of his (Mr. Hawes's) recollection, perfectly accurate; but the best answer he could give to the hon. Gentleman was, that in the course of a very few days he (Mr. Hawes) would lay upon the Table his noble Friend's (Earl Grey's) despatches, which would afford all the information that could be desired on the subject. He (Mr. Hawes) wished, however, to take this opportunity of correcting the hon. Gentleman opposite on one point. No ordinance had been passed on the subject to which he referred; merely the heads of an ordinance had been transmitted to the Governor of the Mauritius. 273 No tax, therefore, was now imposed, and no regulation of the kind to which the hon. Gentleman had alluded was in operation. As, in a very few days, the hon. Gentleman would be in possession of all the information he could gain from the despatches, it was unnecessary for him (Mr. Hawes), on the present occasion, to enter further into the question.
§ MR. HOPEhad omitted to ask whether, previously to sending out the despatch—which he (Mr. Hope) did not mean to describe as an ordinance, but merely the orders to pass an ordinance—the concurrence of the Indian Government had been obtained?
§ MR. HAWESreplied, that the concurrence of the Indian Government was not obtained; and he thought he was bound to say that the Indian Government dissented from certain portions of the despatch—not entirely from the whole scheme, but from a portion of it.
§ SIR J. W. HOGGsaid, that, as far as the East Indian authorities were concerned, they were perfectly satisfied with the tone and spirit of the despatch sent out by the noble Lord. The despatch was not an ordinance, nor the heads of an ordinance; it only contained instructions to be acted upon and suggestions to be considered by the Mauritius Government, who were to report their opinions; and the Colonial Secretary gave specific orders that these suggestions were not to be carried into execution till the ordinance, whatever it might be, was first sent home for consideration. Nothing could be more fair than the spirit in which the instructions were sent out, although some of them might be such as the East Indian authorities could not agree to.