Supplement to the Gazette of India. February 24 1917

2. The recommendation which you have made for the abolition of the indentured system is one for which I had not been prepared by perusal of the correspondence that followed the report of the Sanderson Committee while the suggestions made by Messrs. [...] Such confusion is excusable in view of the history of the Indian question in Natal but it is necessary to remark that the attitude of Canada and Australia towards free Indian immigration is due to deeper causes than the existence of indentured labourin the West Indies and Fiji and will not be affected by the discontinuance of the system. [...] 4. I am however entirely prepared to accept the policy advocated by Your Excellency’s Government and will invite the Colonial Office to coperate with me in devising the most suitable means for giving effect to it with due consideration of the interests of the Colonies affected and with adequate safeguards for the protection and well-being of immigrants under the new system which you suggest [...] While the restrictions on freedom involved by the indenture system seem to have a direct bearing upon the ratio of suicides the question of sexual immorality is quite distinct connected as it is with the disproportion of the sexes and the action of recruiters in collecting women of an undesirable type. [...] I am not at present sure that the scheme oulined in the 17th paramph of your letter of the 15th October is entirely practicable and I shall be glad to learn whether in the opinion of Your Excellency's Government the introduction of arrangements similar to those in force in regard to emigration to the Federated Malay States would satisfy Indian public opinion and at the same time provide suffic