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COOLIES 



pelago, settled by thousands and tens of thousands 

 in Java and in the Straits Settlements, and 

 threaten eventually to displace the natives in Siarn 

 and the Malay Peninsula. The discovery of gold 

 attracted large numbers of Chinese to California 

 and Australia. The first railway across the Rocky 

 Mountains was partly made by Chinese labour, and 

 M. Lesseps invited their help for the excavation 

 of the Panama Canal. In spite of his utility (> the 

 coolie has become an intolerable offence to the 

 working-classes of America and Australia. He is 

 accused of gambling, opium-smoking, and immoral- 

 ity ; but the head and front of his offending is his 

 working for low wages, and lowering the market 

 value of labour. In 1881 the United States 

 negotiated a treaty with China, by which restric- 

 tion of Chinese immigration was secured to the 

 States in return for American prohibition of the 

 opium trade on the coast of China. Another treaty 

 between the two powers in 1888, prohibiting the 

 entry of Chinese labourers into the United States 

 for a period of twenty years, has been refused 

 ratification by the Peking government. In British 

 colonies the attempt has been made to exclude 

 the obnoxious coolie by the imposition of a poll- 

 tax. The legislature of British Columbia passed 

 an act in 1884, by which every Chinaman was 

 obliged to take out a license, and pay a fee of 

 $10. A Chinese, named Wing Chong, refused to 

 pay the fee on the ground that the act was uncon- 

 stitutional, and an infraction of the existing treaties 

 between Great Britain and China. A judge of 

 the Supreme Court of the colony decided in 

 Wing Chong's favour, and though the colonial 

 government initiated an appeal to the Privy- 

 council, they failed to prosecute it ; so the act 

 became a dead letter. In Australia, similar acts, 

 though quietly submitted to, failed to secure the 

 desired end, Chinese immigrants continuing to 

 arrive, in spite of the heavy poll-tax of 10 a 

 head. In 1888 the New South Wales legislature 

 passed an act to prohibit the landing of Chinese 

 immigrants ; but this case also the law-courts 

 decided against the legislature. At a conference 

 of delegates from the governments of all the 

 Australian colonies, it was unanimously agreed to 

 endeavour to secure the exclusion of the Chinese, 

 through the negotiation of a new treaty between 

 the British and Chinese governments. The exist- 

 ing treaties which promise protection to the Chinese 

 immigrant are the Treaty of Nanking (1842), the 

 Treaty of Tientsin (1858), and the Convention of 

 Peking (1880). 



The coolie in the United States and in some 

 British colonies is an uninvited and unwelcome 

 visitant. At the same time his services have been 

 eagerly sought in other colonies, the governments 

 and planters of which have borne all the expenses 

 of his passage, paid him a small advance, and in 

 addition paid head-money to the agent who obtained 

 him. To recoup this expenditure, the planter re- 

 quired the coolie to bind himself to serve for a term 

 of years at a fixed rate of wages. Coolies thus 

 indentured occupy a similar position to apprentices, 

 soldiers, and sailors. Theoretically the system is 

 quite justifiable, but practically it has shown 

 itself liable to the grossest abuse. The dark story 

 of coolie emigration to Peru and Cuba, carried on 

 from Macao (q.v. ), rivals in atrocity the horrors of 

 the slave-trade and slavery. This branch of the 

 coolie traffic was brought to an end in 1873 by an 

 enactment of the Chinese government, requiring 

 that in the contract a clause should be inserted 

 securing to the coolie a free passage home at the 

 expiration of his term. The planters were not 

 willing to incur this obligation ; and coolie emigra- 

 tion from Chinese ports ceased. During the years 

 between 1847 and 1873, there was a fearful loss of 



life, some perishing on shipboard in vain attempts 

 to recover their liberty, others dying of ill-treatment 

 or disease, or by suicide. The only redeeming 

 feature in this sad business was that some time or 

 other it came to an end. The slave was a slave 

 until death : the coolie could look forward to the 

 end of his contract. In 1878 Consul-general Cowper 

 reported to Lord Salisbury that out of 116,267 

 coolies actually landed in Havana, about 50,000 

 were then in Cuba. 



Coolie emigration under contract to British and 

 French colonies is mainly Indian, with a small per- 

 centage of Chinese in its ranks. Both the Indian 

 and the colonial legislatures have taken great 

 pains to prevent abuse of the system, and with 

 considerable success, although there is evidence 

 that constant watchfulness is necessary. Every 

 step of the process, from the first solicitation of the 

 labourer, until the ship carries him out of port, is 

 regulated by the Indian government. The agents 

 who collect the coolies, the clepdts where they are 

 lodged, the contracts they sign, the ships in which 

 they embark, are inspected, licensed, supervised by 

 government. Protectors of emigrants are appointed 

 in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, from which 

 ports only the emigration is lawful. In like man- 

 ner the colonial governments have enacted regula- 

 tions and appointed protectors, to secure to the 

 coolie limitation of his task, sufficient food, suitable 

 lodging, and medical care in sickness. The imperial 

 government has intervened by conventions entered 

 into with foreign governments, with France in 1861, 

 with the Netherlands in 1870, to secure the fair 

 treatment of the coolie in foreign colonies. That 

 all this legislation is neither unnecessary nor un- 

 fruitful is proved by the case of Reunion. In 1880 

 M. Rougon reported to the French government that 

 the coolies in this island ' were badly clothed, badly 

 fed, badly paid, and badly cared for when sick.' 

 The Indian government receiving similar reports, 

 put in force a provision of the Emigration Act, and 

 prohibited emigration to Reunion. The British 

 consul at Cayenne reported that the coolies in 

 French Guiana suffered ' barbarous and inhuman 

 treatment ; ' and in 1876 emigration to that colony 

 was stopped. According to the Indian Emigration 

 Act of 1883, at present in force, emigration under 

 contract is lawful to the following places : British 

 colonies Mauritius, Jamaica, British Guiana, 

 Trinidad, St Lucia, Grenada, St Vincent, Natal, 

 St Kitts, and Fiji ; French colonies Martinique, 

 Guadeloupe ; also to Dutch Guiana, and the Danish 

 island, St Croix. In 1886 the Jamaica government 

 suspended immigration from China and India to 

 that colony. In Trinidad the coolies, about 55,000, 

 are one-third of the population. They are usually 

 well fed, not overworked, and are well treated in 

 sickness. A large proportion elect to remain in 

 Trinidad when they are entitled to a passage back 

 to India ; and of those who go, a large number take 

 sums of money with them, and not a few, having 

 gone back to India, return again to Trinidad. 

 Some coolies, too, remain on particular estates for 

 many years. Occasional cases of injustice or ill- 

 treatment no doubt occur, but on the whole the 

 coolie is well used (Governor Norman's report, 

 1885). On the other hand, there are unfavourable 

 reports from Mauritius, where the Indian coolies 

 number in round figures 150,000. There are about 

 25,000 in Natal, 13,000 in Jamaica, and 70,000 in 

 the French colonies. 



Coolie contract labour in India is regulated by 

 the Inland Emigration Act of 1882, which relates 

 to 'emigration from other parts of India to the 

 labour districts of Bengal and Assam.' Its pro- 

 visions are similar to those of the Indian Emigration 

 Act of 1883. Every possible precaution which a 

 government can take appears to have been taken ; 



