§ CAPTAIN SINCLAIR (Forfar)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Government of Trinidad and British Guiana bear part of the cost of importing coolies into these Colonies; and whether such artificial lowering of one of the elements in the cost of production of sugar constitutes a bounty within the meaning of the new Indian Act?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIESThe answer to the first Question is in the affirmative. The contribution referred to has never been considered as a bounty on the production of sugar. It is rather in the nature of a part payment of the extra cost imposed on immigration by conditions insisted upon by the Government for humanitarian reasons in the interest of the labourers.