340 
THE TROPICAL AGRiCULTURiST 
[Nuvemcer I, i8go. 
where they sold their labour for wages, 
but did not sell themselves into slavery, as some of 
the former slaveholders, especially those in the 
French Colonies, were too apt to think Ihej had done. 
Sir Charles Bruoe states ; — 
It was only after long experience aud many years 
of tentative experiments in the passing of regulations 
that the Home aud liidi iu G vernments were satisfied 
that the introduction of Indian labourers into our 
Colonies conduces ns much to the wi Ifare of the emi- 
grants as to the general prosperity and commercial 
wealth of the Colonies. 
Many of our readers will recollect the Commission of 
Inquiry which was sent to the very Colony from 
which Sir Charles Bruce now writes, of the results of 
which Mr. Jenkins, the author of “ Ginx’s Baby,” 
gave 80 fair an account. Emigration to British 
Colonies was not only continued but encouraged, 
while the persistent cruelty and injustice of the 
planters in French Colonies deprived them of the 
benefits of this form of labour. After showing that 
the conditions of emigration to the Straits and 
Ceylon are essentially different to those applying to 
the more distant Colonies, the writer proceeds to 
give a summary of the conditions which apply to the 
latter. We quote a passage which shows that the 
cooly who earns wealth in one of those eldorados 
is not permitted its free enjoyment in his own 
country : — 
Tbe wea’th of the returned emigrant often excites 
the cupidity of his neighbours, anil unless he can 
soon find a good investment, the attempts to get 
niouey from him under various pretexts, such as caste 
dinners, &c., aud even by theft, bi-come fanrdeu." iine, 
and fo many re-emigratc, after a few mouths, fairly 
disillusioned with Hindustan. 
The conditions under which Indian emigrants are 
generally employed are thus summarized ; — 
Genri'nlly the period of indenture is five years. In 
some Colonies coolies are allowed to reiodeuture, in 
others their iudu'-trial residence, as it is termed, r- 
minates at the end of the original period of itdfiiture. 
Everywhere ihe coolie is entitled to a free dweliirg 
and garden gro und, and it is the constant care of the 
Governra-nt that all needful rtquirtnienta of accom- 
modation, ventilation, and sanitation shall be observed 
in the construction and maintenance of his dwell- 
ing at the eo-t of the employer. The rate of wages 
varies according to the nature of the work, which in- 
cludes the cultivation of the s lil and the manufactures 
of the mill. The minimum daily ware for able-bodied 
adult males is geueially about one shilling. There are 
many kinds of work at which larger wages can be 
easily earned when the immigrant has had practice 
and experience. In some Colonies wages are partly 
P' id in rations, and in all arrangements are made for 
the rationing of coolies in certain circumstances. The 
L( urs of wo k vary generally from five to ten hours, 
according as the work is in the field or in the factory 
buildings. Where task work is set, an able-bodied 
adult can earn the minimum wage well under eight 
hours. The identured coolie is always entitled to 
medical care and maintenauce during sickuess. The 
hospitals provided in the Colonits for the accommo- 
dation of the coolies p'aoe tl.em in times of sicknrss 
in a po-ition of singular adv-mtage ns compared with 
agricultural or urban labourers in Europe, lleturn 
paasaKes, when claimable, are given genera'ly after a 
continiu us residence ot ten years, five jorrs having 
been passed under indenture. Such passages are claim- 
able m llio ease of all the more distant Colonies, 
but a comparatively small proportion are claimed. 
Ab tlie Indian population in a Colony grows, as cbil- 
(Ireu are born sud families become bound to the Co- 
lony by new ties, each succeeding g- notation becomos 
more and more firmly rooted in the soil Of those 
who do return to India, a larsC number bring back 
Ihoir friends sirl relations to tlio land of their 
adt.p' ion 
Bir (,'harleB Bruco irrooecds ; — 
The Jmptrial intorcBts ^ rncorued in the system woro 
broadly stated by Lord Salisbury in a despatch to the 
Government of India of the 24th of March, J875, in 
which he said ; “Having regard to the greatness of 
our Indian population, aud to the probability that 
under the protection which the British Government 
affords from depopulation bj war, and, as far as pos- 
sible from famine and other evils, that population 
must continue very greatly to increase — especially in 
the healthier and more densely populated parts oi tbe 
country, where the numbers alreaoy press on the means 
of subsistence, aud the lowest clus-es are at ail times 
little removed from want — it appears to me that, from 
an Indian point of view, it is’ desirable to afford an 
outlet from these redundant regions into the ti epical 
and sub-tropical dominions of Ltr Majesty, where 
people who hardly earn a decent subsistence in their 
own country may obtain more lucrative employment 
and better homes. tVhile, therefore, from an Indian 
point of view, emigrat on properly regulated and ac- 
companied b sufficient assurauce of profitable em- 
ployment and fair treatment seems a thing to be en- 
couraged on grounds of huraaifiiy, with a view to pro- 
mote the well-being of tbe poorer classes, we may 
also consider from an Imperial point of view the great 
advantage which must result from peopling the warmer 
British possessions, which are rich in natural resources 
and only want population, by an intelligent snd indus- 
trious race to whom the climate of these countries is 
well suited, and to whom the culture of the staples 
suited to the soil and the modes of settlement and 
labcur are adapted. In this view also it seems proper 
to encourage emigration from India to Colonies well 
fi'ted for an Indian p pulation. Under extraordinary 
circumstances— such as famine, flood, or other great 
calamities, W’heu large numbers of the poorer classes 
are deprived of the means of subsistence, or are left 
without houso and home — the Government officers 
might themselves engage emigrants for those Colonies 
which have agreed to receive people recruited under 
such circumstances.” 
Lord Salisbury deserves all credit for his large and 
statesmanlike views of what is best for the Indian 
Empire, for the British Colonies and for the Indian 
labouring classes, who are in their own country 
multiplying beyond the means of existence. As Mr. 
Grierson wrote •. — 
“Surely emigration may be looked upon as an engine 
of immense power for good to India. The more safely 
valves there are for a pent-up population in time of 
famine the greater chance there will be of saving 
life; and, if I may venture to offer an opinion on 
such a point, I maintain strongly that it is Govern- 
ment’s imperative duty to actively encourage emi- 
gration by every legitimate means in its power, and 
to let it be known tar and wide that the Emigration 
Department is a Government one.” 
Sir Charles Bruoe adds ; — 
It may bo said that np to the time of the passing 
of tbe Emigration Act of 1883 the Government of 
India tolerated tbe system as o, favour to the Colonies, 
while from that date it has actively encouraged it as 
a power for good to India. 
And now comes the portion of Sir Charles Bruce’s 
paper which will be read with most local interest, 
from the frank testimony he bears to the courage 
and enterprise of the Ceylon planters. We are also 
grateful for the terms in which he recognizes our 
own efforts to help forward the enterprise on which 
the prosperity and progress of the Colony depend 
and which has rendered it famous wherever “ the 
cups that cheer but not inebriate ” are prized. 
As a homely but none the lees important illustration 
of the Imperial iuterests concerned in Ihe successful 
conduct and expansion of emigration from India, may he 
pointed out its effect upon the cheapness and abun- 
dance ot the commodities of the breakfast table. So far as 
the production of these commodities in British possss- 
sioDS is concerned, it may he said that the pc ssibility of 
their remunerative cultivation depends upon immigrant 
labour. In the year 1878, when I became officially 
connected with the Island of Ceylon, the export of tea 
amounted to some 400 lb. ; the export of the present 
