July  i,  1895.J 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
tg 
tooiicloo,  and  then  whoever  takes  these  coolies  on, 
does  so  at  his  own  risk.  Hy  working  thus  we  should 
soon  get  rid  of  those  scoundrels  who  go  round  getting 
high  advances.  I heard  a case  the  other  day  which 
certainly  opened  my  eyes.  1 made  a remark  about  the 
dreadflii  state  of  things  the  advance  system 
was  coming  to,  and  a reply  was  made  to  me  : — ■"  Yes, 
and  it  will  get  worse.  Why  fancy  so  and  so  actually 
likes  to  have  his  coolies  with  large  debts,  for  he 
thinks  this  keeps  a hold  over  them.”  This  I anr  sure 
is  true  and  if  men  act  so,  nothing  will  ever  put  a stop 
to  this  wholesale  crimping  and  large  advances. 
As  for  the  Planters’  Association  it  is  very  good  in 
its  own  way,  I daresay,  and  would  be  more  so  if 
some  fresh  blood  w'as  allowed  to  enter  in  ; but  under 
the  present  mode  of  working,  it  would  take  fifty 
years  to  get  over  the  first  preliminary  points — tco 
much  talky-talky. — Yours,  Ac.  X.  Y.  Z. 
No.  VTII. 
De.vb  Sir. — I believe  that  the  Ceylon  Planters 
want  a number  of  Indian  coolies  for  their  Estates. 
Would  you  kindly  place  me  in  communication  with 
them  and  oblige. — ^Yours  faithfully, 
ALEX.  M.  TRUTER. 
No.  JX. 
Sir, — At  this  time  when  the  “ authorities  ” are 
taking  np  the  sticks  upon  this  all-important  subject, 
I would  venture  to  suggest  that  you  should  re-pro- 
duce Mr.  Wilson-Wood’s  letter  on  the  subject  which 
appeared  either  in  Ohsafrer  or  “Times”  or  both 
(about  Seiiteniber  ?)  last  year.  It  is  a deliverance 
very  much  to  the  point,  and  should,  inter  alia,  be 
duly  considered,  for  the  simple  reason  that  no 
point  can  be  of  more  importance  in  this  puzzle  than 
the  point  as  to  the  financial  basis  upon  which  the  Ad- 
vance System  rests. 
If  Mr.  Wilsou-Wood’s  theory  is  sound,  cooly  immi- 
gration carries  with  it  its  own  guarantee  of  stability, 
and,  as  Mr.  Chas.  Young  more  than  suggests,  the 
chief  drawback,  so  far  as  planters  are  concerned, 
that  the  system  suffers  from,  is  the  suicidal  policy 
of  “beggar  my  neighbour”  which  so  many,  in  these 
latter  days,  regard  as  wisdom  ! — Yours,  Ac., 
AWAY  WITH  THE  CRIMP. 
No.  X. 
May  15. 
Hear  Biu, — Your  correspoildeht  from  Dambadeniya 
shows  a full  and  jiractical  knowledge  of  the  coolie 
districts,  but  he  makes  a mistake  when  he  refers  to  the 
number  of  resident  coolies.  Heriilent  in  mi/  sense  of  the 
word,  does  not  include  those  who  journey  to  and  from 
their  villages.  1.  It  would  not  surprise  me  to  find  in  the 
records  of  the  Immigration  Department  that  so  few  of 
the  incoming  coolies  had  been  in  Ceylon  before.  My 
Words  were  “ These  know  not  the  country  of  their 
fathers.  " I must  further  disagree  uitl;  “Planter  ” when 
he  says  that  it  is  a bad  sign  to  find  so  few  entering 
Ceylon  who  had  been  there  before.  That  proves  that 
many  remain  never  to  retuni. 
In  continuation  of  my  former  letter  I would  wish 
to  narrate  another  successful  importation  of  outside 
coolies — not  into  Ceylon  but  into  Mysore.  The  labour 
in  Mysore  is  chiefly  composed  of  Eastern  (Moodlars) 
and  Dhaut  (Naad)  Canarese.  But  on  the  estate 
which  I was  first  in  charge  of,  two  men  from  the 
Shevaroy  Hills  (Salem)  had  brought,  some  years 
before,  a large  number  of  Tamil  coolies.  My  former 
instance  was  Canarese  brought  amongst  Tamils.  This 
instance  is  Tamils  brought  among  Canarese.  These 
Tamils,  when  their  Doraies  were  burnt  out  and  com- 
pelled to  leave,  chose  to  stay  ; and  there  tliey  were 
when  I was  there.  Many  of  them  took  trips  all  the 
way  to  Halein  and  Arcot  and  brought  other  coolies 
back  with  them  every  year.  Besides  this  there  is 
the  whole  Telugn  country  untouched.  This  is 
not  a case  for  the  Planters'  Association.  The  Chair- 
man has  too  great  a fondness  for  forgetting  the 
dignity  of  his  position  and  writing  to  the  Press.  It 
is  not  a case  for  any  special  appointment  of  a 
General  Agent.  Let  ; omc  of  our  big  Com|)auies  send 
and  recruit  in  the  North  and  their  requirements  will 
soon  be  supplied.  There  is  much  in  what  Mr.  Young 
and  others  say  when  they  dejirccatc  the  cry  of  in 
sufficient  labourers  in  the  country.  Short  lime  dur 
ing  the  greater  part  of  the  3'ear  and  a squeeze  for 
two  monchs.  How  is  that  to  be  met  ? I should  say 
bj-  pruning  to  avoid  having  an  nndutdy  large  area  iii 
full  Mushing  trim  in  the  months  of  April  and  May. 
Now  I come  to  a very  different  story  indeed.  The 
P.  A.  comes  in  hei'e  and  serious  steps  should  be 
taken.  Mr.Young,  one  of  our  chief  V.  A.'s  and  a pro- 
niinent  Planter,  formulates  a terrible  charge  against 
his  brother  planters  in  his  letter  of  May  11th.  I 
cannot  say  I have  found  crimping  to  be  so  rampant, 
I have  known  Chetties  and  Kaddie-keepers  put  pres- 
sure on  gangs  in  order  that  the  Kangany  should  again 
put  pressure  on  the  Dorai  for  more  money — failing 
receipt  of  w'hich  the  Kangany  demands  his  tundu 
and  refuses  to  stop.  If  the  tundu  is  once  issued  the 
writer  of  the  tundu  cannot  complain  if  another 
planter  in  his  sore  need  and  troubfe  hails  the  arrival 
of  the  tundu-bearer  as  a heaven-sent  messenger.  'We 
cannot  cry  out  if  the  wretched  harassed  recipient  joy- 
fully pays  the  amount  of  the  tundu  and  Homethim/ 
more,  besides.  That  is  not  crimping.  We  must  halt 
and  examine  the  meaning  of  the  word.  Mr.  Young 
may  have  come  across,  as  he  seems  to  have  done,  nu- 
merous instances  of  crimping.  He  should  show  the 
men  up.  In  Mr.  Y''oung’s  younger  days  (no  pun 
meant  1)  which  he  refers  to  in  his  letter,  he 
had  no  “ tundu”  system  in  vogue.  Gang’s  were 
held  together  by  the  cohesive  force  of  blood-relation- 
ship and  village-ties,  rather  than,  as  at  present,  by 
the  wretched  bondage  and  slavery  of  Chetties’  extor- 
tionate agreements.  Thus  coolies  owed  allegiance  to 
but  one  master  and  he  was  a fair  Britisher,  instead  qi, 
as  now,  a host  of  greedy  remorseless  extortic 
The  remarkable  rareness  of  Tamils  repudiatiing  their 
advances  speaks  well  for  the  natural  honour  of  the 
race ; and  I think  it  would  be  better  that  such  cases, 
as  that  of  Mr.  Sinclair,  never  reachfed  the  Courts;  be- 
cause they  simply  open  the  eyrfs  of  the  canganies  to  * 
the  weak  points  and  Maws  of  our  laws.  If  we  kept  our 
checkrolls  here  as  they  do  in  Mysore  all  danger  of 
undergoing  Mr.  Sinclair’s  experience  would  be  at  an 
end.  The  checkroll  would  be  ruled  like  this 
Total  debt  Amount  Total  amount 
from  last  pay'  this  of  rice  and 
mouth.  month.  cash  advances  , 
Th  'S  except  to  a few'  coolies,  there  would  be  no 
pay-day.  You  could  start  by  ascertaining  and  settl- 
ing each  coolie’s  indebtedness  to  the  cangany, 
each  sub-cangany’s  indebtedness  to  the  head  can- 
ganj',  and  all  the  debts  could  be  put  against  either 
the  pay  list  or  weeding  contracts.  Then  mooteries 
could  be  signed  beginning  with  the  head  cangany  down- 
wards. Then  every  month  fresh  advances  would  be 
issued  and  carried  on,  andbj'  this  means,  except  in 
a few  instances,  there  would  never  be  a pay-day,  never 
any  paj'-due,  no  extortion  by  the  canganies  and 
perfect  safety  from  the  uncertain  liuniours  and  con- 
Mictiiig  judgments  of  our  Supreme  Court  Judges. 
ABERDONENSIS. 
Balance 
debt. 
No.  XI. 
Sir,-— 1 quite  agree  with  “Custos,”  that  Mr.  Charles 
Y’’oung  deserves  the  thanks  of  the  whole  planting 
community  for  his  letter. 
The  want  of  combination  amongst  us  seems  to  be 
the  great  cause  of  the  rise  in  the  rate  of  coast  advances. 
If  districts,  or  groups  of  estates  even,  combined,  and 
engaged  not  to  take  on  coolies  from  each  other, 
without  thorough  enquiry  from  the  last  employer, 
the  power  of  the  kanganies  to  raise  advances  would 
bo  checked.  I do  not  think  any  one  can  help  noti- 
cing how  many  tundus  arc  to  be  seen,  just  before 
a busy  month,  such  as  A]U'il.  It  is  certain  that  the 
planter  does  not  give  these  tundus  of  his  own  free 
will,  but  the  kanganies  give  notice,  because  they  can 
get  better  terms  elsewlierc,  and  the  employer  is 
obliged  to  give  a tundu  to  save  liis  advances. 
The  kanganies  with  large  advances  are  not  blind 
to  their  own  interests,  and  do  not  want  to  bring 
fresh  labour  from  the  coast,  and  for  nyy  own  part 
I would  never  adsance  money  to  send  to  tlic  coast, 
to  a kanganv  who  was  heavily  indebted  to  me. — • 
Yours  faithfully,  20  YEARS’  EXPERIENCE, 
