Commission On The Situation of Plantation Tamils of Ceylon
Following protests against indentured labour by activists of the Indian independence movement, the Government of India aPpointed a commission under Charles George Todhunter to investigate the condition of the plantation Tamils of Ceylon. On 22 October 1916, the Government of Madras overruled the decision of the Indian Government and replaced Todhunter with Marjoribanks. C. E. Low, the Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, complained to Sir George Barnes over the "bad behaviour" of the Madras Government. He suspected the abilities of Marjoribanks, saying "he is not quite class enough, socially and from the point of personality, to do us well". Barnes then conveyed his strong opposition to the India Office. However, the Governor of Madras, Lord Pentland gave Marjoribanks his full support:
He is careful, generally well-informed, and will be thoroughly master of his subject. He is eminently of cool temperament and sound judgement: and to a keen and critical intellect and the giver of clear and concise expression he adds the advantage of a long Secretariat experience
The Emigration Bench examined his service record and approved his candidature saying that "his record looks as if he is a pretty good man". Eventually, a delegation comprising Marjoribanks and A. K. G. Ahmad Thambi Marakkayar left for Ceylon on 19 November 1916 and spent six months gathering information from the planters and the Government of Ceylon. The team prepared a report which was submitted at a conference held at London in May 1917. In the final report, the team pointed out the defects of the existing kangani system. But strangely, the report did not examine indentured labour on the whole. As a result, when the report was made public, it was criticized by Indian nationalists.
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