RECRUITMENT FOR ASSAM,

269

possibility of abolishing all restrictions. We have been assisted in this
direction by the official examination of the question in 1925 and subsequent
 years, when the Government of India again raised the question
of free recruitment, but were advised by practically all those acquainted
with conditions that the abolition of all control would be inadvisable.
We have considered the opinions expressed at length in this correspondence
and have reviewed them with the assistance of witnesses both in the
recruiting provinces and in Assam.

Recruitment and Forwarding.
There are three stages in the emigrant’s progress to be considered
 :—
(1) up to the time of his despatch from his own district ;
(2) from that time until his arrival on the garden ;
(3) after arrival there.
The term “free recruitment > has often been used to denote the position
that would be reached with the abolition of all control. Here, however,
We propose to use the term with reference to the first of the above stages
only, and in that sense free recruitment, in our opinion, is not inconsistent
with control over the transit of the emigrant. The considerations which
determine how far control is required at each of the first two stages are
not necessarily the same. This point is recognised clearly in the evidence
given to us by the Indian Tea Association which, in asking for freedom
to choose the agencies by which it will recruit, contemplates the possibility
 of combining this freedom with control over the forwarding of
vecruits. The representatives of the industry were also anxious that,
as far as possible, control by the industry should be substituted for official
control. Their plea was, in fact, that they should be given the opportunity
 of showing what they could achieve if this were done. Government
could retain the power to re-impose restrictions, but it would be the aim
of the industry to demonstrate by the actual working of the system that
there was no necessity for re-introducing control. We consider that this
is a reasonable claim, and in the proposals that follow we have done our
best +0 meat 1+

A New Act.

The first necessity is the enactment of a new Emigration Act and
the repeal of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act. The Indian Tea
Association has suggested that it might be possible to retain the Act and
to construct upon it a ‘better system of control. We are satisfied that
bhis course is not possible, even if it were expedient. We have enumerated
the principal defects of Act VI of 1901, and are satisfied that the time
13 overdue for its replacement by an Act which is intelligible and is
satisfactory from both the legal and the administrative points of view.
Essentials of Any Scheme.
The main criterion which must be satisfied by any scheme of
control is that it must give a reasonable prospect of eliminating itself.
We regard as one of the gravest defects of the present system the
De