§ Mr. WEDGWOODasked whether the Governor of Jamaica has decided, with the advice of his Privy Council, that henceforth the planters who require East Indian coolie labour must pay the whole cost of their introduction and repatriation themselves instead of the burden being thrown on the whole community, including those planters who employ free labour; and whether this change is due to the action or advice of His Majesty's Government?
Mr. HARCOURTThe answer to the first part of my hon. Friend's question is in the affirmative. The change is not due to my action, but has my approval.
§ Mr. O'GRADYasked the Under-Secretary if he will state what number of indentured Indian coolies are employed in Natal under agreement between that Colony and the Government of India; whether the suicide rate among these coolies is equal to 501 per million; if so, whether he will take steps for immediate investigation into its causes; and whether His Majesty's Government will consider the desirability of stopping the exportation of coolies to South Africa, especially in view of the treatment they receive there and of the conduct of the Governments of Natal and the Transvaal towards their free kindred?
§ Mr. MONTAGUAccording to the latest statistics the number of Indian coolies under indenture in Natal was 40,931. The number of suicides amongst 1517 these indentured labourers in 1909 was twenty. My hon. Friend will see, if he compares these actual figures with his calculation, that this is an excellent example of the dangers attendant on the use of percentages; or more accurately permillionages. The treatment of indentured coolies has received the careful attention of the authorities in South Africa and India. It has already been decided that indentured emigration from India to Natal shall cease with effect from the 1st July next, on the ground not that there has been any general ill-treatment of the coolies in Natal, but that the unsatisfactory position cannot be perpetuated which was created by the divergence between the Indians' and the Colonists' standpoints, and the absence of any guarantee that Indians will be accepted as permanent citizens of the South African Union after expiration of their indentures. An announcement in these terms was made in the Indian Legislative Council in January.