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were largely responsible for the bad name of Assam in the recruiting dis- 
tricts, have been very successfully held in check. The arkatti or profes- 
sional recruiter, who in the days gone by used to boast that in a few 
minutes, by his peculiar methods, he could make any one “willing” to emi- 
grate to Assam, is now suppressed as soon as he commences his activities. 
For this the credit is very largely due to the tea industry itself, which has 
genuinely endeavoured to set its house in order. Complaints have been 
made of fraud and misrepresentation by garden sardars, but we were unable 
bo obtain any evidence of this on any appreciable scale. The emigrants 
are produced before local agents, whose duty it is to explain the condi- 
tions of employment to them before they are sent forward to Assam. As 
far as we can judge, cases in which labourers have gone to Assam as 
victims of fraud and misrepresentation must be few, considering the 
volume of the migration. It was stated that cases occur where members 
of a family run away from home, seek work in Assam and live 
there under an assumed name. Such cases, however, are not peculiar 
to Assam, and we do not feel justified in making any recommenda- 
tion. A more serious complaint is that women and minors are taken 
away to Assam without the knowledge or consent of their husband or 
guardian. But here, too, we found that the industry has taken special 
care to prevent such abuses and that, in accordance with the rules 
framed by local Governments, women and minors are detained at the 
depot for a certain fixed period during which the local agent institutes 
enquiries as to whether there is any objection to their proceeding to Assam. 
Nor does the evidence which we obtained in the recruiting districts lend 
support to the allegation that abuses in connection with the recruitment 
of women and minors are assuming alarming proportions. If abuses do 
exist, it is now within the powers of local Governments to check them by 
insisting on registration and production before a magistrate of all women 
and minors proceeding to the gardens unaccompanied by their husband or 
parent. 
Ideal of Free Recruitment. 
The official control of recruitment has always been regarded 
as a regrettable necessity and as a temporary expedient. On various 
occasions the Government of India have announced their adherence 
to the ideal of free recruitment, but little visible progress has been made 
bowards the realisation of that ideal in recent years. As the preceding 
account shows, we have been impressed by the serious objections to control, 
and in particular the injurious effects it has on the tea industry and, 
ultimately, on those employed in it. A further grave objection to the 
present system is its tendency to perpetuate itself, thus effectively 
preventing the industry from progressing to a more healthy form of 
recruitment. The system of control enhances the cost of recruitment, 
with the consequence that temptations towards abuses are increased. 
This, in turn, increases the difficulty of removing control, and so furnishes 
the justification for its retention. We are in entire accord with the view 
that the danger of serious abuses affords the only justification for the 
continuance of control, and we have examined with some care the