§ DR. MACNAMARA (Camberwell, N.)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, in the changes contemplated in the Transvaal Labour Ordinance and the indentures attaching thereto, he will consider the advisability of cancelling the existing provision for the re-enlistinent of any Chinese coolie at the close of his present term of engagement.
§ MR. CHURCHILLA clause in the Ordinance for the enlistment and importation of Chinese labourers permits the labourer to re-engage at the expiry of his original indenture for a further period or periods not exceeding in all three years. The earliest contracts will not expire before May, 1907, by which date the Transvaal will have become a self-governing colony. In these circumstances, His Majesty's Government, while reserving to themselves entire freedom 499 of action upon the general question of the conditions under which Chinese labour is carried on, do not propose to cancel the provision of the Ordinance referred to.