§ SIR G. KEKEWICH (Exeter)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether nearly 1,600 Chinese coolies were discharged for repatriation from the Transvaal during the month of October; if so, how many of those were so discharged for reasons of immorality, and how many as criminals or suspected criminals; whether six were struck off the roll by order of the Executive Council; if so, on what grounds and by what authority; and where the total number ordered to be repatriated are kept until embarkation.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. CHURCHILL,) Manchester, N. W.One thousand six hundred and thirty-seven labourers were repatriated by the steamship "Cranley" in October. Of these thirty-four were suspected of immorality and 419 were criminals. Six were repatriated in September and one in October by order of the Executive Council under a Resolution which permits employers not to continue to pay passport fees in respect of men undergoing sentences of imprisonment who were to be repatriated on the expiration of these sentences. Undesirables suspected of
† See (4) Debates, clvi., 353–4.820 immorality are being sent to the depot at Durban once every fortnight as also criminals whom the Foreign Labour Department inspectors may report on as a source of danger to the control of the compound to which they belong. Labourers who are not undesirables are, I presume, sent to Durban as may be convenient.