166 THE HUMAN FACTOB 



he can save two or three times this amount. Finally, 

 when his period of indenture is finished and he starts 

 working for himself his efficiency increases by an 

 amount which is variously estimated at 25 and 50 

 per cent. In effecting this change the factors of race 

 and climate had no part ; for the men were Indians 

 of the poorest classes, and the climate of the countries 

 to which they emigrated was a tropical climate. 



The change that occurred was a change of institu- 

 tions, and from the group of influences we may 

 eliminate the factors of religion, education and govern- 

 ment, for no change in these matters affected the 

 indentured Indian emigrants. What happened was 

 this. Upon arrival in the colony the emigrant came 

 into contact for the first time in his life with an 

 organised and capitalised industry which supplied him 

 with permanent work at a reasonable wage, and in- 

 cidentally with effective medical assistance. But 

 this would not have been of much use to him unless 

 he had been able to increase the efficiency of his 

 labour so as to take advantage of this opportunity. 

 The road to increased efficiency was opened to him 

 when he escaped from the social and economic 

 regulations and restrictions of family, caste and 

 village organisations. The mill-stone of family 

 obligations, that weighs down so many men from 

 their earliest years, as a result of the obligation of 

 early marriage, was removed. The caste rules 

 which assign or prohibit particular work and par- 

 ticular methods of work to each man were no longer 



