HC Deb 07 May 1906 vol 156 cc966-8
MR. DALZIEL (Kirkcaldy Burghs)

I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, under the proclamation that has been issued in respect to Chinese labour, the final decision in individual cases rests with the Superintendent of Foreign Labour; and is it still possible for the Chinese who so desire to be repatriated free of expense to themselves.

* MR. CHURCHILL

The responsibility for deciding upon individual cases is placed upon the Superintendent of Foreign Labour, subject to any instructions he may receive from the Lieutenant-Governor. The policy of His Majesty's Government is, and has always been, that no Chinaman who wishes to purchase his discharge under Clause 14 of the Labour Importation Ordinance should be prevented merely through want of funds. Under the notice which has been read to the House the Chinese labourers will be expected to make a contribution in addition to their savings towards the expense as a proof of the genuineness of their desire to return. But my hon. friend may rest assured that these provisions will not be allowed to defeat the main intentions of His Majesty's Government.

MR. DALZIEL

Then may I take it that the reply is in the affirmative to the Question that the policy of the Government is that a Chinaman who wishes to to return, even without any contribution whatever, can return?

MR. CHURCHILL

Yes, Sir. I did not desire to imply that a contribution of any kind would be necessary in all cases, provided that the bona fide desire of the Chinaman to return was very plainly made manifest.

MR. LEHMANN

I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies what laws of the Transvaal are referred to in the recent proclamation to the Chinese coolies in the mines as punishing any attempt to deceive the Superintendent of Foreign Labour by misrepresentation; and whether His Majesty's Government will consider the advisability of issuing to the Chinese coolies on the Rand a further proclamation, to be signed by the High Commissioner himself, in order to explain that the repatriation proclamation is in no sense intended to intimidate them or to doter them from applying for repatriation.

* MR. CHURCHILL

I presume the reference is to the ordinary law. The Secretary of State proposes to await the results of the present proclamation which he believes will give full effect to the intentions of His Majesty's Government.

* MR. LEHMANN

Are we to take it that these representations are to be made on oath?

* MR. CHURCHILL

I do not think so, but that is merely my personal opinion.

MR. LONSDALE

I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has any official information showing that the West Rand Mines and the West Rand Consolidated Mines have been ordered to be closed in consequence of the determination of the Government to proceed with the repatriation of Chinese coolies; and whether he can state the number of skilled whites who will be thrown out of employment from this cause.

* MR. CHURCHILL

I have no official information on this point; but the closing down of mines, as my hon. friend will perceive, cannot well be a consequence of a policy of repatriation which has not yet become operative.

MR. LONSDALE

Then when will it become operative?

* MR. CHURCHILL

The notice is to he posted to-morrow morning, and it will therefore be operative in a few days.

MR. BELLOC (Salford, S.)

asked whether the Crown had power, as Mr. Kruger certainly had, to prevent the shutting down of the mines by force, and to keep them open if such a threat was made.

* MR. CHURCHILL

I should hesitate to reply to a Question involving such, grave and complex legal points as to whether the Crown has or has not power, in a great public emergency such as occurred in the South African Republic on the outbreak of war, to make considerable inroads on the ordinary rights of private property. But I should have thought it was undesirable that the Government should undertake the management of derelict gold mines which would not be placed at their disposal unless it had been found that every other method of making them profitable had failed.