38 COFFEE I ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



occasion when they are all mustered) against their 

 names in the estate books. 



This is the simplest way in which labour is 

 imported. When it comes from remote districts, 

 or even across the sea (Malay labour has been 

 tried in Northern India), the expense, as will readily 

 be understood, is greatly increased. 



Lieut. -Col. Edward Money says on this subject, 

 in his admirable " Cultivation and Manufacture 

 of Tea:"* 



" Each coolie imported costs Rs. 30 and upwards (it used 

 to be much more) ere he arrives on the garden and does any 

 work. After arrival he has to be housed ; to be cared for and 

 physicked when sick ; to be paid when ill as when working ; 

 to have work found for him, or paid to sit idle when there is 

 no work ; and, in addition to all this, every death, every 

 desertion, is a loss to the garden of the whole sum expended in 

 bringing the man or woman. Contrast this with the advantages 

 of local labour. In many cases no expense for buildings is 

 necessary, as the labourers come daily to work from adjacent 

 villages, and in such cases no expense is entailed by sick men, 

 for these simply remain at home. There is no loss by death 

 or desertions. When no work is required on the garden, 

 labour is simply not employed. All this makes local labour, 

 even where the rate of wages is high, very much cheaper than 

 imported." 



Contract labour again, where it is possible, has 

 many and obvious advantages. The manager of 

 the estate is freed from the petty and harassing 

 worries resulting from personal care of workmen. 

 Yet, if this arrangement of giving jungle-felling, 



* Published by Messrs. W. B. Whittingham and Co., 91, Grace- 

 church Street, E.G. 



