RECRUITMENT FOR ASSAM. 375 
Cess on Emigrants. 
With the abolition of the Assam Labour Board and of Act VI 
of 1901, which we have recommended, will disappear the cess which is 
now levied on garden sardars and emigrants. To meet the cost of the 
Protector of Immigrants and his staff, the law which will take the place 
of the present Act, should empower the Government of India to levy on 
emigrants a cess somewhat similar to the existing one. The cess would 
not, however, be payable on garden sardars or on emigrants who are 
returning to Assam after a stay of less than twelve months, so that it 
may have to be fixed on a somewhat higher rate on the remaining 
emigrants. The total expenditure on the staff we recommend should be 
less than that involved in maintaining the Assam Labour Board. whose 
abolition we have recommended. 
Powers of Central and Provincial Governments. 
The subject of internal emigration is at present central, and 
under the existing Act, the powers exercised by provincial Governments 
are subject to the control of the Central Government. We recommend 
that, as the question concerns movements from one province to another, 
the character of the control necessary should be finally determined by 
the Central Government. This will ensure that, where control is neces- 
sary, it is imposed with a view to the interests of India as a whole, and 
that the decision is not unduly coloured by local interests. We do not 
suggest that the Central Government should retain authority over the 
dmmistrative control ; it should be responsible merely for deciding the 
type of control that should be applied in any area. Thus, for example, 
if that Government were satisfied that it was necessary to re-introduce 
limitations on actual recruitment in any area, it would issue the necessary 
notification, but it would then be for the provincial Government to decide 
to whom licenses to recruit should be given. Similarly, the provincial 
Government will be responsible for taking action against a local agent who 
has been guilty of misconduct, and it should also be possible for pro- 
vincial Governments to divide their provinces into specified areas, and 
to prescribe that recruits shall not be taken to depdts outside the area 
within which they were recruited. The appointment of the Protector 
of Immigrants should provide the necessary link between Assam, the 
recruiting provinces and the Central Government, and his annual reports 
should supply the public and the Governments concerned with a reliable 
account of conditions in Assam as they wonld appear fo emigrants from 
other parts of India. 
Need of Constructive Policy. 
Many factors such as the rapid expansion of the industry, official 
restrictions, memory of past conditions and the drain from the tea gardens 
to independent cultivation have made it necessary to continue organised 
recruitment on a large scale. But there are other factors which contribute 
materially to the scarcity of labour experienced by the industry. We 
were struck by the wide differences in conditions obtaining in different 
vardens and their effect on recruitment. At one extreme are gardens