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as the men to whom they administered it : in other 

 cases unqualified Medical Officers were sent in 

 charge j labourers were embarked in some instances 

 almost in a dying state ; over-crowded Flats were 

 lashed to Steamers day and night, 'and the Coolies 

 on board were thus deprived of their only chance of 

 free ventilation. The Committee found that there 

 was no uniformity of system in the despatch and 

 recruitment of Coolies; labourers, in most cases, 

 were provided by Native Contractors at so much per 

 head ; practically the supply of labourers was, they 

 found, an ordinary commercial transaction between a 

 Native Contractor and the Planter, f all parties 

 considering their duty and responsibility discharged 

 when the living are landed, and the cost of the dead 

 adjusted' There appeared to be no specific engage- 

 ment on starting between employer and labourer, 

 a state of things which opens a road to an immense 

 amount of false statement and exaggeration on the 

 part of the Native Eecruiters. They found an en- 

 tire absence of any efficient Medical inspection of 

 Coolies before shipment, and even when the men 

 were inspected by the Planter's Agents, feeble and 

 sickly persons were, it was believed, substituted for 

 the healthy men accepted and passed, persons at the 

 point of death having been known to be sent on board. 

 There was no inspection of the boats employed. The 

 depot of a Native Contractor is thus described by 

 the Committee. ' We found little trace of any 

 habitation, but a square of ground was pointed out 



