Labour Supply to Plantations.

IF the system of indenture of labourers from India to British Colonies to serve on the plantations were abolished, it is obvious they will be available for employment at home on fair terms. But some of the planters prefer to try the experiment with the employment of criminal tribes under the supervision of the Salvation Army agents. In almost all gardens in Assam, says a correspondent, there are to be found old jails birds of whom some have turned a new life and others retain their old proclivities. This gives promise that the tea plantations will serve as excellent ground for the reform of criminal classes. But care must be taken that the workmen do not generate into conditions which the old indentured coolies found.