🚀 go-pugleaf

blessing. The magnitude of
    the Singapore labour trade will be understood when it is known
    that the number of Chinese who came to this port last year, either
    as genuine immigrants or for transshipment to other ports, was
    122,029, which is actually more than the entire Chinese population
    of the town. In connection with the immigration of this multitude
    of men and women, speaking many dialects of a language which is
    wholly unknown to the officials of the British Government in the
    Straits, with the exception of perhaps half a dozen persons, it
    cannot be wondered at that many abuses arise, and the suspicion
    has gained ground and is frequently given expression to, in the
    public press and elsewhere, that many of the immigrants do not
    come to Singapore of their free will. Moreover, it cannot be
    denied that the circumstances under which the Chinese come to
    Singapore and are forwarded to their destination lend colour to
    this suspicion, so that it may fairly be inquired whether the
    efforts made by the Government of the Straits Settlements to
    control the Chinese coolie traffic and to prevent a secret form
    of slavery have been attended with any success, or are at all
    adequate to the requirements of the case.

    The Annual Report for the year 1892 on the Chinese Protectorate in
    the Straits Settlements which is the department charged with the
    control of immigration, was published on the 5th of May, 1893, and
    states that of the 122,029 Chinese deck passengers who arrived in
    Singapore from China during the year, 111,164 were males, 6,867
    women and 3,998 children. The circumstances under which the men
    and the women are brought to Singapore are in many respects the
    same, but inasmuch as a large number of the women and some of
    the children are imported for immoral purposes, this part of the
    subject will