, 1889-03-09

subsidy 20 the Immigration Fund from the
Colonial Treasury shall cease. The mean.
ing OF this subsidy appears on referring t.
the Ordinance of June 1862, where it il sta.
ted that the Immigration Fund is to re.
celve u tax Of 10 cents per acre on land,
nd that the Land Treasury is to pay
yearly out of other revenues such a sum as
viii bring the whole up to $4,000 a year.
During the last 3 years, as appears from
the rem arks TO the Draft, this subsidy has
averaged 1880. If this were stopped, the
annual income of the Immigration Fund
would therefore be G4650. Condition No. 2
provides that the existing capital of the I'm.
migration Fund, about $50, 1000, should he in.
vested in easily realisable bonds, the interest
OF which should be added to the capital
ana the whole kept as q reserve fund for
use for Immigration purposes under ex.
mhfaaRRegN dlssgg rSt lt ff fGe'rcS65f nccooffdantt co6iSesnf Of
the government and the Council IS rtQHir.
ed, and also. during the 3 years. the con.
sent of the Ministry of Finances. 1t will
be seen then thai under ordinary circum-
stances only 94650 would be available
yearly for immigration purposes, and rs
the cost OF introducing All immigrant
from one Of the neighbouring islands seems
to average about $50, VT may say that
about 1856 labourers could be introduced
annually. One Of the important questions
connected with the Draft would therefore
be, whether this number under ordinary
circumstances would be likely to be sufi.
cient, but this point WAS not touched upon
during the discussion. Condition No. 3
provides that the government after con.
ference with the Colonial '%OunCil, should
fix the rules for using the immigI alton
tax and for distributing the introduced
lahOurrrS, and from the remarks ii appears
that those rules wuuId be chiefly for the
purp oar Of fixing the maximum amount to
be paid for the introduction Of "a ~lauOurcr
and Ia see that correct accounts were pre-.
scented and thar the distribution of the la
bOUrprs WAS equitable, which would be
done by - commission of 8 members, 9
elected by the Cnuncil, and the rest, in.
Guiding he Chairman, appointed by the
Government.
In Introducing the Draft. His Excel
lenCy the Governor said tlIt the y, eXent
Draft had it's origin i'll the discussions
which took place now nearly a year ago on
the Introduction by private initiative Of II
Draft for changing the immigration Ordi-
nance in Rnch a way that for l wear the en-
tire expenses Of immigration shOu Il be paid
10y the Immigration Fund. 1t would be re-
lMemherrd that the Draft WAS referred to a
Committee, which approved of the change,
but wished it Ia be mad" perpetual, while
the amount to he used waste he fixed by he
Government. curing The first discussion
he had put forward some grave objections,
which wOnld be found in the printed Pro-
Ceedings aud had advised that the ,liScns-
sion should be suspended III order that
planters might consider whether they
wished the proposal carried through. In
the meantime he had found chat the plan
terRiwrre apparently unanimous, and the
Council also voted for the measure. He
had therefore promised 70 lay the matter
before the Home Government. This he
had done. and although the Ministry land
himself alSo) had grave doubts, yet they
had not thought it right to refnse to meet
the withes of the planters. The present
Draft therefore makes the same enactment
as the private Draft, but for a term of 3
years, and subject to the stop page of the
subsidy from the Colonial Treasury and
some other conditions. He would beg to
lay the Draft, which could not be framed
otherwise than it was, before the Council,
and would leave it TO the Council to say
whether it could be adopted or not.
Mr.. Hewitt and Mr.. Leevy opposed the
Draft, their chief objections being based
on the restrictions imposed by the condi.
tions embodied in the Draft. Mr.. Hewitt
said, that although he had no personal in.
terest in the matter, since his properties
49,