§ SIR HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies how many men, women, and children have been exported from the New Hebrides during the six months ending 31st January, 1908, under the indenture labour arrangements concluded by His Majesty's Government, and particularly how many were shipped to the French settlements.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. CHURCHILL,) Manchester, N. W.The hon. and gallant Member will probably have seen from the Report, a copy of which has recently been placed in the Library of the House, that the New Hebrides Convention, to which I presume he refers, only came into force on 2nd December last, and has not therefore been in operation six months. He will also have seen, from the despatches printed on pages 33–42 of Cd. 3876 of 1908, that the French Government are, as they always have been and must remain, solely responsible for the recruiting of New Hebrides natives for New Caledonia, just as His Majesty's Government remain similarly responsible for recruiting for 1100 Fiji. The Question of the hon. and gallant Member is, therefore, not one for His Majesty's Government, so far as it refers to New Caledonia; so far as it refers to Fiji, I may say that there is no reason to suppose that during last December and January there were any more natives recruited for that Colony than during the two corresponding months in the many previous years for which Fiji has obtained labourers from the New Hebrides. During the five years 1902–6, inclusive, the total number of New Hebrides natives recruited for Fiji was eighty-seven. If this average of about seventeen a year has been maintained the total number recruited during December and January would be nearly three. Natives are not recruited for any other places outside the group.