346 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov, 2, im. 
LABOUR ON CEYLON ESTATES : 
A LABOUE LEAGUE SCHEME. 
PLANNED BY MR. D. J. MACGREGOR. 
' (Bead before the Maskeliya Planters' Association,) 
" 1, It ia needless to dilate on the acate stage the 
Labour Qaestion has assutnsd. That is apparent Co all. 
There ate too few cooUes in the island for estate 
requirements, and they are not coming in from the 
Goast as they were in tlie habit of doing. The existing 
mode of recruiting la the island — one planter out- 
bidding another for cooliea — is most disastrous and 
the cause of tne enormous increase in advances, and, 
if persisted in, will only result in pushing them 
higner still. 
2. Some writers to the papers advocate legislation 
in this crisis, but I think it would be a great mistake 
,to meddle with the Jjabbur Ordinance as it now is. 
Our present difficulties have been brought upon us by 
ourselves, through local recruiting, and we must en- 
deavour to overcome them the best way we can. If 
all the Proprietors of Estates and the Managers of 
Companies and Agents were to combine and stop the 
issue of all local advances after a given time, the 
coolies would remain on the estates on which they are 
at present located, for the simple reason that they 
would ret no advances from any other estate, and 
work Oii their advances on tne estate on which they 
happened to be employed. This may appear at first 
eight a drastic remedy, but severe diseases require 
desperate remedies. Were this scheme adopted all over 
■ the planting districts simultaneously the local 
labour difficulty would be solved. It would be to the 
advantage of every estate in the island to join this 
: scheme; but as perfect unanimity cannot be expected, 
if 80 per cent join, the scheme would be quite work- 
■ able, as the remaining 20 per cent could only absorb 
a limited amount of labour, and they will soon be 
.',,glutted with the heavily indebted gangs. 
; '-■ 3. On certain estates the advances per cooly appear 
' lii the estate books as low as 5 or 10 rupees ; but this 
is no criterion of the indebtedness of the cooly, as we 
all are aware, when a tundn from such an 
estate is presented showing 20 to 50 rupees a head. 
On these estates the tteaa Kangani provides and 
finances the labour supply. He is influential if not 
Wealthy. He has large powers and is in good repute 
with tne chetties and money-leuders, because he 
promptly meets his liabilities; and to enable him to do 
• this he has only to ask the Buperinleudent of the 
. estate to hand over to him one or two months of the^ 
Check Roll balance pay, and it is done. The Super-' 
intendent of such an estate would probably object to 
the scheme proposed. Such estates, however, are the 
exception and not the rule. 
Each migration from one estate to another for 
■ high6c advances represents a serious loss to the 
coolies, but this does not distress them. Has not the 
Uarai given *&/ big advance on which they will all fare 
luxuriously — more especially the Kangani —until the 
time comes for another move ? And so it will go on so 
long as there is a way of postponing the day of reckon- 
ing indefinitely. 
Bona Fide Coast Advances. — So far 1 have only 
dealt with coolies in the Island and local advances. 
But the labour difficulty will never be solved unless 
every estate recruits from the coast ; and the only 
way to do this is through the Kangauis. The reports 
of the Agents employed on the ''\Vestland" scheme 
and of tne other recruiting Agents are useful, and 
indicate the districts from whiou labour may be pro- 
cared ; but recruiting by European Agents will not 
work, and will end as such scnemes have ended in the 
past. Labour can be procured from the existing 
sources, principally Xrichinopoiy and Madura Dis- 
tricts, and if local recruiting comes to a sudden end, 
the Kanganis will at once revert to recruiting from 
the Coast, as was their wont. We are simply cutting 
our own throats by recruiting locally, and ruuning up 
Sidvanoea to an unrecoverable limit. The Kangania 
have no incentive to recruit from the Coast _ 
Ihey find it easier to recruit locally, 
They can read the labour barometer as correctly as 
we can and are perfectly aware that scarcity of 
labour, which is now chronic, meaus increased local 
advances 1 Not only that, but we have now to snbsi- 
dise them to retain the labour already on the estates. 
No advances to recruit locally siaould be issued. 
Advances should be bona-fide coast advances to recruit 
from the coast of India. The kangani. to whom the 
money ia advanced, should sign an agreement to procure 
a certain number of coolies for a certain sum of money, 
say one cooly for RIO or R15 within a certain time, 
in failure of which 9 per cent, interest should be 
charged. If an agreement of this sort ia properly 
drawn up. stamped and witnessed, a kangani who 
faila to procure the coolies, or to return the mpneyj . 
is liable to be prosecuted criminally for a breach of 
contract — as the money was paid for the special purpose 
of procuring labour, and nothiug else ; whereas the 
existing system of pro-notes between the Superinten- 
dents and kanganis is merely an acknowledgment for 
money due, failure to pay which is a matter for civil 
action only. And it says a great deal for them that 
they seldom repudiate or attempt to evade payment of 
their debts. 
How TO Recovee Advances. — Should this scheme 
be adopted the labour force may be looked on as per- 
manent as there will be no moving about from one 
estate to another. The advances can be recovered 
little by little, extending over several years, from the 
kanganis' head money alone. 
Take an estate employing 200 coolies, and advances 
at R25 each =R5,000. Of these 150 should turn out to 
work daily=3,750 per month, which at 5 cents head 
money (2 cts. head kangani and '6 cts sub-kanganis) 
=R187'50per month — or R2,250 per annum. Then there 
would be caddy and other outside debts which 
must not be repudiated. These would probably oome to 
R5,100 which with the estate advances amount to 
R6,500. In three years the above aum would be paid 
off from the head money alone. Over and above the 
head money there would be the weeding contracts 
which could be paid to the kanganis for subsist 
tence money. But would it be necessary to clear 
ofi all the advances in 3 years ? No one would 
object to have RIO to B15 per cooly outstanding 
always. Under this scheme it would be necessary 
to pay monthly, and into the coolies' hands. By 
doing so they would know exactly how frhey stand 
from month to month, and have the meaus to buy 
necessaries without getting into further debt to the 
kangani or caddy-keepers. The kanganis could 
recover the money due to them by the coolies in 
monthly instalments of Bl or 50 cents, as was the 
custom before the tundu system came "into exis- 
tence, or the practice which now prevails of handing 
over to the kangani one or two months of the 
check-roll balance pay whenever he demanda it. 
And for the protection of the coolies, each payment 
to the kangany could be entered in the check-roll in 
a column for that purpose. One month of the 
kanganis' head money could be credited to the 
estate advance account and one month paid towards 
caddy and outside debts alternately. 
7. TuNDUs. — If a kangani or cooly demanda his 
tundu it cannot be refused whether he ia in debt or 
not. We all know that a kangani before asking 
for his tundu, has decided on the estate to which he is 
going, and has already made hia arrangements with 
the head kangany or some otber kangani of that 
estate for the payment of hia debt. Members of 
this confederation would have nothing to do with 
a kangani preaenting a tundu showing any money 
due to the estate from which it was issued. If the 
kangani or cooly is free and- has no debt, it ia 
quite a different matter, and he would be at liberty to 
be employed wherever he pleases. He would hold 
his discharge note free of debt, and any member of 
the confederation would be perfectly justified in tak- 
ing him on if he so desired. (See note A — exemptions). 
