§ Mr. BENNETTasked the Secretary of State for India if his attention has been called to a Report by the medical department of the Fiji Government, in which it is stated that one indentured Indian woman serves three indentured Indian men as well as various outsiders, and that the result in regard to syphilis and gonorrhœa cannot be in question; whether the promise of the Government of India last September to negotiate with the Government of Fiji for the release of these Indian women still under indenture has been carried out; if so, with what result; and whether the can give an assurance that the conditions admitted by the Fiji Government to exist shall not be allowed to continue until the closing of all indentures in November, 1921?
§ Mr. MONTAGUThe Report referred to is not by the medical department of the Fiji Government but by the officer of one district. I am glad to say that his account is not confirmed by other medical officers of the Deartment or by the immigration officers, who report that it is incorrect. In the opinion of the chief medical officer the assertion is entirely unsupported by evidence and a libel on many Indian women in Fiji. I have been and am in communication with the Colonial Office as to the urgent need of improving the married quarters of indentured Indians on the estates and otherwise ameliorating their surroundings. I have also communicated to the Colonial Office for consideration the Resolution of the Indian Legislative Council on the 11th September last recommending the early release of Indian labourers in Fiji whose indentures had not expired. But cancellation of indentures would not of itself remedy the evils com-374W plained of and the dearth of shipping would for the present be an obstacle to the return of released immigrants to India.