§ Mr. COURTHOPEasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will state for how many years the Government have contributed 25 per cent. of the cost of the Ceylon agency for recruiting coolies on the coast of India; whether the Government have the right to employ the coolies so recruited on Government works; whether the Governor of Ceylon has recommended the continuance of the above contribution; and whether he will reconsider his decision to reject the Governor's recommendation on this matter?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Mr. Harcourt)The contribution to which the hon. Gentleman refers has been paid since 1904. The local Commission which reported on labour in Ceylon in 1908 stated that no drainage of labourers from estates to the labour forces of the public works, railway, or irrigation departments ordinarily occurs, though when railway construction is being undertaken through planting districts, wholesale employment of estate coolies by the contractors who are doing work on behalf of the railway construction department takes place on a large scale, but, as a rule, with the concurrence of their estate superintendents. I am aware that the Governor is in favour of the continuation of the subsidy, but the Commission did not accept his argument as altogether valid. I consider that the continuance of the subsidy cannot be justified, and I regret that I must adhere to my decision.
§ Mr. COURTHOPEIs it not the fact that the Government have obtained an option on the first employment of coolies?
§ Mr. HARCOURTOn a question of detail of that sort I would rather have notice.
§ Mr. COURTHOPEasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will lay upon the Table of the House the papers and despatches relating to the recent reform of the Legislative Council of Ceylon; the proposed extension of the railway to Badulla and Panara; and the withdrawal of the Government contribution m aid of the agency for recruiting coolies on the coast of India?
§ Mr. HARCOURTPapers with regard to the reform of the Legislative Council have already been laid as Cd. 5,098 and 5,427. It is not proposed to publish any further papers on this subject, or papers with regard to the other two matters to which the hon. Gentleman refers. A number of papers on the two latter subjects have been published in Ceylon as Sessional Papers, and I have placed copies of them in the Library for the information of the hon. Gentleman.
§ Mr. COURTHOPEasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the goods traffic from Badulla had recently increased; whether the trade of the Badulla district was rapidly expanding owing to the gradual displacement of tea plantations by rubber in other parts of Ceylon and the consequent development of tea plantations in the district; whether the destruction of draught oxen by rinderpest was seriously hampering the development of this trade; and whether he would order an immediate survey to be carried out with a view to the extension of the railway to Badulla, as recommended by the Governor of Ceylon?
§ Mr. HARCOURTThe answer to the first and third parts of the hon. Gentleman's question is in the affirmative. I have no official information as to the suggestion in the second part, though I believe it to be correct. I have recently seen further representations from the Governor as to the proposed railway, and am giving my careful consideration to the matter.