The reports of Professor C. F._ Andrews. of Calcutta, in condemnation of the system under which Indian indentured labour was, until recently, provided for in the sugar fields of Fiji, have been published in booklet form (says the South Australian "Register"). Frofossor Andrews states that the- Viceroy's promise that the indenture system would be brought to an end as soon as possible has been definitely confirmed, and the system _ is now dead. His object in publishing the rojxirts in Australia is to make known certain improvements, which need to be undertaken at once, "if the evils of the old indenture system, under which Indians in Fiji have suffered, are to be remedied,'' and he expresses the hope that the force of public opinion in the Commonwealth will assist to this end. Now that indentured labour has ceased, he remarks, the natural increase of the Indian population will very slowly equalise the sexes. To accelerate this he proposed that as soon as a ship, can be obtained free return passages should be given to unmarried men in Fiji to go to India and bring back their own wives, and to parents that they might go to India and find wives for their sons. He regards the bringing of more women to Fiji as the primary remedial measure, and urges that no expense or pains should be spared to accomplish that end. At t the first possible moment all present indentures should be cancelled, and the whole of the Indian labour in Fiji should be declared "free." This would at once raise the self-respect of Indians in the islands, and with this would inevitably follow a rise in the moral standards of living-"
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19190115.2.73
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Press, Volume LV, Issue 16421, 15 January 1919, Page 9
Word count
Tapeke kupu
281Untitled Press, Volume LV, Issue 16421, 15 January 1919, Page 9
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
Ngā mihi
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.