§ MR. O'DONNELLasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If his attention has been called to the Special Correspondence of the "Standard" of the 23rd instant, which states that though—
The numerous complaints of ill-treatment, and breaches of the Convention under which the Réunion planter was permitted to obtain his labour in Hindostan, led, as is known, to the Indian Government stopping the immigration altogether, there are still 46,000 coolies on the island whose deplorable condition is not in the least degree affected by that much-needed measure. They are flogged, we are told, at the will of their masters. They may even be flogged to death, and there is no redress or punishment. They complain to the British Consul, who can do little to help them, that they are not paid regularly, and that when their term of service has expired they are detained for longer and indefinite periods on some excuse or other. Indeed, of these 46,000 men, women, and children—British subjects, but practically slaves—only some 800 annually get away from Réunion, and these chiefly are individuals unfit for work;"—whether it is true that 46,000 British subjects continue to be subject at Reunion to the abuses which caused the Indian Government to prevent further Coolie immigration into the island; and, if so, what steps Her Majesty's Government intends to take?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEThe latest Annual Return in our possession is that of the 31st of December, 1881. At that date the number of Indian immigrants in Reunion was said to be 41,234. During last year only 813 were repatriated. The Government are doing all in their power, by representations to the French Government, and through the exertions of the Consuls, to ameliorate the condition of the immigrants. Now that immigration has been stopped, special attention is being paid to the question of repatriation.
§ MR. O'DONNELLgave Notice of a further Question on the subject, as he believed the Government of India were not doing their duty.