vores CHAPTER XX. Principle of Indenture. The obvious means of ensuring this was by legislation, and legislation was adopted. All the laws regulating recruitment to Assam {and there is a long history of these) were based on the principle of inden- bure. Even the present law contains provisions for indentured labour, which, however, have been rendered inoperative by means of notifica- tions issued under the Act. The general scheme was that the labourer was bound by a contract to serve for a specified period on the garden to which he was recruited ; if he failed to work without reasonable cause, or absconded, he could be punished criminally, and the planter had the right of arresting an absconder. As a set-off against the grant of these powers, Government prescribed a minimum wage and provided for the protection of the labourer in certain other respects. The system of in- denture did not solve the difficulties ; 1t would be more accurate to say that it aggravated them. It increased the disinclination of labourers to go to Assam, and while the demand for labour became keener as the industry expanded, the supplies threatened to dry up. Assam had for long been regarded with justice as unhealthy, the labourer who went there had little chance of returning without the assistance of an em- ployer, and he had to surrender his liberty for a term of years. The price of a labourer rose, and there grew a class of contractors and of profes- sional recruiters, known as arkattis, many of whom were ready to adopt any device to secure the large prices obtainable for the supply of labour- ers. Grave abuses became common in the recruiting areas, and parti- cularly in Chota Nagpur. Reform of the System. Finally, after various legislative efforts Government took the step of prohibiting all recruiting except by garden sardars, and also made it illegal for anyone else to assist, induce, or even persuade a recruit bo go to Assam. A garden sardar is a man who has actually worked and is employed on a tea garden, and the operations of garden sardars are fenced round with numerous regulations. Local Governments were also empowered to prohibit recruiting absolutely in specified areas and these powers were used by more than one local Government. To this day a large part of the United Provinces is closed to all recruiting for Assam. Moreover, a body known as the Assam Labour Board was set up with a view to the better control of recruiting. This body, which is financed almost entirely by cesses on tea planters, is composed of repre- sentatives of the tea industry with an official chairman, and its duties involve the supervision of the machinery regulating recruitment in and smigration from the recruiting provinces. It has no responsibility for labour after it has arrived in Assam. These changes, together with the willing co-operation of the industry, secured their immediate object with the result that cases of serious abuse are now exceptional, though their memory remains in certain districts, and has still an effect on recruiting ; but the real difficulties remained unsolved. The Government of India had always professed adherence to the principle of free recruiting as the deal mn view ; but the alterations made in the law which restricted