In 1885, a Royal Commission found that Islanders destined to work at Alfred Cowley's Hamleigh Plantation were blackbirded in that they were recruited in a way that was "cruelly deceptive and altogether illegal". Likewise, the Commission found that many Islanders were deliberately kidnapped or murdered during a recruiting voyage for CSR's Victoria Plantation, describing it as a record of deceit, cruel treachery and inhuman slaughter. In 1886, both the CSR and Hamleigh companies received government compensation for the removal and repatriation of some of the Islanders who had survived these recruiting events. This money was given despite an inquiry showing that the annual death rate of South Sea Islanders was as high as 17.5% at both these plantations. The use of Islander labour continued on the Herbert River valley until the early 1900s.