quite possible for a number of substitutions to be effected. Second, the small craft which ferried batches of emigrants to the ships, which for reasons of draught were usually
anchored on the roadstead, could have been replaced by others containing the rejects. Finally, on the Negapatam-Penang voyage, many emigrant ships were captained by South Indians, most of whom were said to be in collusion with Indian
speculators and recruiters.^ It was suspected that after some of these ships were cleared at Negapatam, the captains veered to some other South Indian port or rendezvous where they embarked rejected recruits. When the native-owned
barque Sri Panganayagi once took fifteen instead of the usual ten or twelve days to reach Penang, and arrived with more
passengers than she had embarked at Negapatam, the suspicions
2
regarding the vessel’s illegal trade were confirmed.
There is other evidence implicating the Sri Ranganavagi. The Straits Medical Officer and the Protector of Immigrants
described a large number of the 171 immigrants disembarked from this vessel in 1880 as ’’old, weakly and diseased”.^ But the Chief Surgeon at Negapatam indignantly maintained that the contingent he had sent comprised ”a particularly good lot of men” , and that the assertion made in the Straits was ’’most ridiculous” .^ Furthermore, he claimed that the emigrants had been passed by himself, and that the Civil Surgeons who had
1 MPP, vol. 1555» 24 February 1880. 2 Ibid.
3 C.O. 273/105* Weld to Kimberley, no. 259» 7 December 1880. 4 MPP, vol. 1555, 24 February, 1880.
assisted him had exercised the ’’greatest care” in examining them and had rejected those who had the slightest appearance of physical weakness, or who were over forty years old.1 23 In support of his contention, he quoted the Protector of
Emigrants as having described this shipment as containing
p
a ’’capital batch of emigrants.” The conflict in views between the Negapatam and the Penang officials concerning this batch of emigrants suggests either that one view at least was incorrect, or that something drastic had occurred during the voyage to change their status.
Corroborative evidence, however, tended to substantiate the Straits officials' claims that there was frequent
substitution of ’’decrepits” for those passed at the depot.
’’Vague rumours” to this effect we re said to have been verified by an (unquoted) statement voluntarily made on oath by
Mootoosammy, one of the emigrants who had been aboard the Sri Panganavagi« and who was hospitalized at the Butterworth General Hospital immediately after arrival at Province
Wellesley in 1880.^ Besides, the discovery by the Commission of 1881 of many instances of non-agriculturists among the indentured immigrants led it to conclude that the "practice of substitution was sometimes resorted to.”^
Despite the regulations contained in the Indian Emigration Act V of 1877, embarking the emigrants at Negapatam afforded ample opportunity for this evasion.
1 Ibid.
2 MPP, no. 909, 16 June 1880. 3 Ibid.
Recruits could not be received on board unless they produced the embarkation pass issued to them by the Emigration Agent and then countersigned by the Protector,^ But there was no guarantee that the emigrants embarked were the same ones certified at the depot. The passage ticket did not state the passenger’s name; it merely read ’’one adult” or ’’one minor”. Thus, anyone to whom a maistry had given a ticket, and who managed to elude the port authorities could represent himself as an indentured emigrant.
Furthermore, manifests provided by the Emigration Agent to the captains of vessels, which were intended to
prevent this malpractice, were found to be ’’erroneous and perfectly unreliable, fictitious names appearing in the return”.^ Moreover, to verify such returns on board would impose an enormous amount of work which would be harrassing
even under favourable circumstances. But when hundreds of passengers of various categories were in the company of animals in an open roadstead, and had to be dealt with individually to ensure that person, name and number
corresponded, the confusion was said to be ’’indescribable.”^ An added difficulty was that a certain proportion of the ordinary passengers did not ’’appear on the scene until the eleventh hour”. Thus, the Harbour Master or the Emigration Agent could not be expected to furnish reliable manifests,
as it was quite impossible for either of them to do so within
1 See A c t V of 1 8 7 7 , a r t i c l e 34. 2 PRAD, no. 4, M a r c h 1 8 8 6 .
the twenty-four hours before the ship sailed. Besides, some ordinary passengers did not purchase their tickets for the crossing until the "last minute". This was because with the keen competition among the shipping companies, many passengers waited until the fares were reduced. To muster such a
heterogeneous crowd on board a vessel under ordinary
circumstances would have been difficult. To do so during the monsoon when the passengers were "nearly all sick" would have been impracticable.
Illegal Emigration from Karikal
However lax the formalities at Negapatam might appear, some Indian speculators and their maistries. preferring to
take no risks, transferred their locus operandi to the adjacent French port of Karikal. This was illegal. The
Emigration Act V of 1877 declared only four ports (Negapatam, Madras, Calcutta and Bombay) from which British Indian
subjects might be exported for the purpose of labour. Since the Protector of Emigrants could not exercise any direct
control over the maistries in foreign territory, the speculators and their maistries were thus free to neglect and oppress the emigrants with impunity.
According to Madras officials, these Negapatam speculators, who were the principal perpetrators of the illegal trade from Karikal, included "perhaps the keenest and most eager traders" of Madras Presidency; they were men who "would do anything and dare anything in the pursuit of gain."1 They were anxious to make Karikal the headquarters
of their trade, the port not being controlled by British Indian authority. This increased the chances of their
competing successfully with their French rivals. Thus, they would not relinquish their illicit trade until, Madras
officials said, they had "exhausted every trick and subterfuge that their experienced ingenuity could suggest to them."^
That a system of illicit emigration from Karikal to the Straits had long existed, more or less fitfully, there was no doubt. Since about 1870, the year in v/hich the Madras government declared indentured emigration to the Straits
illegal, Madras officials reported that the traffic operated in this way. Steamers plying between Karikal and Penang conveyed as passengers persons who in reality were British
2
Indian indentured emigrants. Besides allegations constantly made by Bowness Fischer, the British Consular Agent stationed at Karikal, and the personal discovery in June 1871 by the French Emigration Agent of one of his recruiters' involvement in the trade,^ there was the testimony of Captain Wilhelm of the French brig Macassar. In August 1871 (when indentured emigration to the Straits was still suspended), Wilhelm’s declaration to Fischer and to the Collector of Tanjore that his mission to Karikal was principally for "coolies", who he understood had been recruited in the Tanjore district for
labour in the Straits,^ confirmed the suspicion. Furthermore, some Karikal speculators who were also engaged in shipping
1 Ibid.
2 Tupper, Note on Indian Emigration« p. 8. 3 MPP, no. 547, 10 December 1874*
across the Bay of Bengal, "frankly admitted" to Fischer that a large proportion of the passengers they transported to the Straits were de facto indentured emigrants from British
India,1 23 In mitigation of their admission, however, they declared their willingness to submit to any rules and pay any fees that might be demanded of them if the traffic were recognised by the French authorities, and if the same status were accorded their business as was enjoyed by Indian emigration
to the French colonies.
The French authorities at Karikal would not agree to this latter suggestion. They were anxious to have the illegal traffic to the Straits terminated. They believed if another line of emigration was permanently established at Karikal, the ensuing competition for emigrants would eventually destroy emigration to the French colonies in the West Indies.
There was little doubt about this happening because compared with emigration to the French colonies, the traffic to the Straits presented certain advantages. By sailing
vessel, the voyage to Guadeloupe and Martinique lasted around 2
ninety days; Penang could be reached within a maximum of
twelve days. The engagements contracted by emigrants proceeding to the French colonies were of five years’ duration;^ Penang- bound emigrants signed three-year contracts. It is true that the French colonies paid twice or nearly thrice the equivalent
1 Ibid.
2 Xavier S.Thani Nayagam, "Tamil Emigration to the Martinique," Journal of Tamil Studies, I, No. 2, Pt. 1 (October, 1969), 81.
wage rates offered by the Straits planters, but this was in return for the longer contract. It is also true that the French contracts stipulated free passages to and from the colonies. But the planters in Martinique and Guadeloupe
would not defray the cost of repatriation until the labourers had completed their contract and had served a further five- year ’’industrial residence” which was nothing less than a euphemism for another term of indenture.
In the final analysis, the greater number of British Indian labourers emigrating to the Straits than to the
French colonies suggests, admittedly not very convincingly, that emigration to the former colony was more popular.
Between 1878 and 1883 (when Tamil emigration to the French West Indies was discontinued), a total of 5>012 labourers emigrated to Martinique and Guadeloupe.^ For the same