The question of Chinese labour was raised by Mr. Lyttelton
on the second reading of the Consolidated Fund (No. 1) Bill in the Commons on Monday, and led to a heated debate. Mr. Lyttelton maintained that by re-enacting the Chinese Labour Ordinance the Government had gone behind Parliament, broken their pledges, and sanctioned the revival for a period Of the very conditions of indentured labour which they had denounced. They had pledged themselves, if the Trans- vaal Government decided to let the experiment continue, to subject it to conditions imposed by his Majesty's Govern- ment, and they had entirely failed to redeem that pledge. He complained that Parliament had not been informed officially of the re-enactment of the Ordinance, condemned the silence of officials, and challenged Mr. Churchill to reconcile this re-enact- ment with the rudimentary principles of plain and open dealing. Mr. Churchill in reply justified the agitation against Chinese labour, and laid stress on the efforts of the Transvaal to get rid of the evil. The coolies had been reduced from sixty-three thousand to twenty-eight thousand, and by the end of next year none would be left. The Ordinance they had sanctioned was not for continuing this form of labour, but for deter- mining it.
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