Indian indentured labour in Mauritius

5.3.1 Local politics

The person in charge of the British administration in Mauritius during the tranĀ­sition from slavery to indentured labour was Governor Nicolay.^[508] A member of the military, of the rank of lieutenant colonel, he previously held governorships at Dominica, Antigua and St.

The new governor reportedly disembarked on the island with great apprehenĀ­sion, due to the events in Mauritius which had accompanied the news of the abolition of slavery, discussed in the previous chapter. He was however able to assume his position peacefully and one of his first acts was to dismiss the ViceĀ­President of the Court of Appeal, J.M. Virieux, as well as Colonel Draper, the Collector of Customs, and Adrien d'Epinay, in his capacity as a member of the Legislative Council.^[510] Their removal paved the way for the return of John JerĀ­emie, who after his unceremonious ejection the previous year, was finally able to

Informal indenture and apprenticeships 111 take up his position as Procureur General on the island. Unfortunately, Jeremie's tenure appears to have been chiefly concerned with the pursuit of a personal vendetta against the local establishment, which in the end led to his dismissal after only a short time in office. The governorship of Nicolay remained otherwise quiet and largely uneventful as far as disturbances on the island were concerned.^[511] Emancipation was effected peacefully on 1 February 18 3 5,^[512] though as already indicated, slaves were not actually free but bound as apprentices for a further number of years. Their anticipated freedom however motivated planters to find a substitute workforce quickly, to sustain the sugar monoculture that had been cultivated for over a decade.

5.3.2 First arrivals

As noted above, scholarly assessments of Indian indentured labour tend to focus predominantly on state-regulated emigration post-1842, neglecting the period in the immediate aftermath of slave emancipation, which saw private importation taking place on an informal basis. The second phase however saw a modified verĀ­sion of immigration that built upon the experience of the first phase, and thereĀ­fore must be placed in relation to it.

In Mauritius, the Indian presence can actually be traced back to Dutch occuĀ­pation, where Indians were to be found among both slaves and free people in a society that never exceeded a few hundred.^[513] Another significant component of the workforce were also, as previously discussed, Indian convicts first introduced under Governor Farquhar in 1815.^[514]7 The first arrival of individual workers from India at the initiative of the French planters is commonly placed between 1820 and 1830. A random sample from the MGI Archives^[515] indicates the embarkation of workers from various Indian provinces in 1826.^[516]9 Detailed records of the outĀ­come of these early experiments with Indian labour do not appear to have been made,^[517] but given the subsequent large-scale expansion it may be assumed to have been satisfactory to the local planters.

With the abolition of slavery already effective in the other colonies, the latter part of 1834 saw the arrival of Indian indentured labourers under a private, yet

organized, importation scheme. Records show that in September 1834, 36 IndiĀ­ans signed five-year contracts with a representative of Hunter Arbuthnot & Co. of Mauritius, in front of the chief magistrate at the police office in Calcutta, and arrived at the island on 2 November. They were preceded in August 1834 by a batch of 39 free labourers.^{[518] [519] Table 5.2 provides a detailed breakdown of the numĀ­bers of Indian immigrants who arrived in Mauritius between 1834 and 1910.}

Table 5.2 Indian immigrants, arrived at and departed from Mauritius, 1834-1910³²

The data in Table 5.2 is included in detail to support the forthcoming analysis. As previously mentioned, 1834 is commonly taken to mark the beginning of Indian indentured labour to Mauritius, whereas 1910 marks its end.^[520]

Several general observations can be made from a first glance at these numbers:

ā€¢ Indian immigration throughout the period rarely followed a steady pattern but shows considerable fluctuations, sometimes drastically from one year to the next.

ā€¢ Immigration was highest in the years between 1843 and 1865 during which time the annual influx was routinely greater than 10,000. It reached its peak in 1859 and from 1865 onwards tailed off significantly.

ā€¢ The number of departures were significant but in the early years at least remained low in comparison to the arrivals, generally fluctuating between 1,000 to 4,000 throughout the entire period irrespective of the arrival numbers of any given year. They reached their highest level in 1858 and 1859, with over 8,000 and 5,000 departures respectively. In later years the number of departures was occasionally higher than that of arrivals, but in a broad sense one could imagine that the aggregate population numbers were largely stable.

ā€¢ Male and female immigration became at no point balanced and remained significantly biased in favour of the former. In most years the male immigraĀ­tion was two to three times that of female immigration.

These prima facie observations will be addressed in this and the next chapter, and the data will be further checked against relevant historical events.

5.4