THE LABOR PROBLEM LN THE TROPICS. 



489 



age, native place, with the same information in regard to the man's 

 wife. He could also make out an account showing every day the man 

 had worked during the term of his indenture, and the reasons 

 why he had not worked on the other days, with the exact amount 

 earned on each working day. In addition to this he could state 

 how many days the man had spent in the estate's hospital and 

 what was the matter with him on those occasions, besides furnish- 

 ing a copy of every prescription made up for the man in the estate's 

 dispensary. 



A striking evidence of the desire of the Government to protect 

 the coolies from ill treatment of any kind is afforded by the rule of 

 the immigration department that, if any overseer on an estate is 

 convicted of an offense against an indentured immigrant, the dis- 

 missal of the offender is demanded, and each estate in the colony is 

 warned that if it employ the man the supply of immigrants will be 

 cut off. 



The coolies are given every facility to complain of ill-treatment 

 or breach of contract on the part of the planters, for, in addition to 

 the opportunity afforded by the regular visits of the subagents, the 

 right is secured to them by law of leaving any estate without permis- 

 sion in order to visit the agent general or the nearest magistrate ; and 

 either of these officials has the power to issue all process of law free 

 of cost to any coolie who satisfies him that there is a prima facie 

 cause of complaint. 



Such, in brief, are the features of the East Indian immigration 

 system of British Guiana.* 



Those who approach the question of the labor supply for the 

 American colonies with an unprejudiced mind will see that there is 



* To those who are interested in the subject of indentured labor in the tropics, the 

 following statistics, compiled by me from official sources, may be of interest. The figures 

 relate to British Guiana : 



Year. 



1886 

 1887 

 1888 

 1889 

 1890 

 1891 

 1892 

 1893 

 1894 

 1895 

 1896 



Number of 



indentur'd 



laborers 



imported 



from India 



4,796 

 3,928 

 2,771 

 3,573 

 3,432 

 5,229 

 5,241 

 4,146 

 9,585 

 2,425 

 2,408 



Number of 

 time-ex- 

 pired im- 

 migrants 

 who re- 

 turned to 

 India. 



1,889 

 1,420 

 1,938 

 2,042 

 2,125 

 2,151 

 2,014 

 1,848 

 1,998 

 2,071 

 2,059 



General 



death rate 



of the 



colony. 



25.56 

 32.41 

 29.27 

 28.13 

 39.80 

 37.00 

 39.00 

 35.00 

 33.53 

 29.58 

 24.10 



