Introduction
After a brief suspension of roughly two years, the ban on Indian labour emigration to Mauritius was lifted in 1842. In this second phase, which lasted until the end of Indian indenture to the island around 1910, indentured labour was set on a new footing.
The era was marked by significant state involvement, manifesting itself not only in the laws governing immigration, but also in the provisions which regulated labour on the island locally.This chapter, which examines the final part in the 19th century “assembly process” of Mauritian society, demonstrates the shifts which took place in the labour debate. With the apprenticeship system having ended, emancipated slaves were free from any obligation to work on the sugar plantations and, as will be discussed below, they indeed chose to stay away from the fields. With attempts at importation of workers from other countries having largely failed (as examined in Chapter 5), the focus in Mauritius from the mid-19th century forward was very firmly on Indian immigration. Numerous coercive measures were devised to retain labourers and control their mobility and options in the labour market. Towards the end of the century, this gave way to yet a new way of organization as a local Indian peasantry developed.
6.2