§ MR. MACKARNESS (Berkshire. Newbury)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether a Return has been received by the Secretary of State from the Transvaal Government showing that on the 30th June last there were confined in the Transvaal prisons about seven times as many Chinese coolies as either Europeans or natives in proportion to the total numbers of the Chinese, Europeans, and natives, respectively, in the Colony and, if so, whether any part of the extra 1325 cost incurred by this excess of Chinese crime has been borne by the mine-owners who imported the criminals, or whether it has all fallon upon the general taxpayers of the Colony.
§ MR. CHURCHILLFor the purposes of comparison it is necessary not to contrast the Chinese with the total white population or with the total native population, but with the adult males, and so considered, the European and native rates would appear to be about six per 1,000, or a third of the Chinese rate. The great majority of the offences of the Chinese are breaches of disciplinary regulations which are not in themselves criminal acts, but taking more serious crimes as being those represented by sentences of six months or more, the Chinese rate would appear for such serious crimes to be on about the same level as the European and native rate, the Chinese rate being 4.4 per 1,000. The Legislature of the Colony has not hitherto made any special arrangement for throwing the whole or a part of the cost of Chinese crime upon the mine-owners.