348 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  r,  1895. 
country,  and  placed  people  in  a position  to  meet 
their  engagements  from  month  to  month  without 
personal  embarrassment. 
It  will  not  be  denied  that  our  position  in  the  pre- 
sent day  is  such  as  to  enable  us,  without  much  in- 
convenience, to  pay  our  Coolies  regularly,  and  it  Is 
high  time  tb.at  they  shared,  to  this  meagre  extent 
at  all  events,  in  the  general  prosperity  of  the  island. 
The  principle  involved  in  the  prompt  and  re^lar 
settlement  ot  wages  due,  is  one  which  cannot  for  a 
moment  be  contested,  and  if  circumstances,  have 
arisen,  which  render  it  impossible  to  give  effect  to 
this  principle  ourselves,  we  should  be  grateful  if 
Government  can  be  induced  to  step  in  and  remove 
the  obstacles  for  us. 
The  arguments  which  one  hears  against  monthly 
payments  from  a practical  point  of  view,  are  that 
Canganies  and  Chetties  are  opposed  to  it,  and  that  it 
might  lead  to  a loss  of  outstanding  advances,  &o. 
The  Canganies  object  because  it  deprives  them, 
to  a great  extent,  of  the  power  of  recovering  debts  of 
doubtful  origin,  which  we  insist  upon  them  paying, 
but  they  vety  soon  reconcile  themselves  to  the  change 
and  as  for  the  Chetties  and  other  moneylending  sharKs 
if  regular  monthly  payments  result  m a loss  of  out- 
standings in  that  direction,  we  need  not  repine.  Real 
and  just  debts  should  of  course  be  paid  if  they  can 
be  proved,  but  not  those  which  have  been  carried 
forward  from  time  immemorial,  with  interest  added 
and  in  this  connection  it  must  be  remembered  that 
as  the  influence  possessed  by  Chetties  over  our  la- 
bourers has  never  been  exercised  for  good,  we  may 
welcome  anything  likely  to  weaken  the  chain  w'hich 
has  hitherto  linked  them  together. 
The  question  of  outstanding  Coast  Advances 
is  no  doubt  a more  serious  one,  but  let  us 
look  at  things  as  they  are.  On  the  majority 
of  Estates,  as  already  mentioned,  debts  have 
accumulated  to  such  an  extent,  that  they  are  no  longer 
recoverable  in  their  entirety  from  the  people  who 
are  supposed  to  owe  the  money,  but  rather  from 
emploi/ers  of  labour,  and  as  the  amount  increases 
almost  every  time  the  account  is  transferred  from  one 
Estate  to  another,  it  stands  to  reason  that  before 
very  long  whether  the  Coolies  are  paid  regularly  every 
month  or  irregularly  as  at  present,  losses  must  occur. 
The  sooner  this  is  realized  ny  proprietors  and  their 
representatives  the  better,  and  the  sooner  the  atmos- 
phere will  be  cleared  of  the  impurities  which  have 
for  such  a length  of  time  withheld  from  our  Coolies 
the  light  of  more  prosperous  days. 
If  in  dealing  with  large  advances  it  were  custo- 
mary to  regard  them  as  merely  so  much  money  paid 
away  temporarily  for  the  benefit  the  Estate  derives 
from  the  coolies’  labour  without  any  intention  of  re- 
covering it  from  the  labourers  themselves,  the  sys- 
tem would  be  relieved  of  much  of  the  scandal  with 
which  it  is  now  associated,  but  we  know  that  in  a 
great  number  of  cases  the  Coolies’  pay  is  kept  in 
arrears,  and  fretjnently  confiscated  altogether  for  the 
purpose  of  meeting  these  oustandings,  and  it  is  here 
where  the  injustice  comes  in ; for  in  the  majority  of 
cases  I repeat  they  probably  do  not  owe  very  much 
more  than  a fraction  of  the  money. 
It  may  be  asked  why  monthly  payments  should 
of  necessity,  or  be  likely  to,  lead  to  loss  of  Advances  ? 
The  reason  is  that  while  coolies  have  no  great 
objection  to  paying  off  debts  even  though  they  may 
have  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  contracting 
them,  provided  they  can  borrow  money  for  the 
purpose,  it  is  quite  a different  thing  when  they  are 
expected  to  do  so  out  of  wages  paid  into  their  own 
hands.  It  is  only  under  such  circumstances  that  they 
began  to  realize  the  value  of  money,  and  pay  away  such 
as  is  due  but  nothing  more. 
I hardly  think  we  shall  ever  see  the  day  when 
Raniasanii  will  deliberately  repudiate  a just  debt, 
nor  one  which  there  is  a moderate  prospect  of  his 
being  able  to  repay  within  a reasonable  time  ; in- 
deed the  tendency  is  all  on  the  opposite  direction. 
A planting  friend  of  mine  of  great  experience,  in 
charge  of  a large  and  important  Estate,  has  paid 
his  coolies  every  month  for  many  years  past,  and 
has  abundantly  proved  the  blessings  of  this  system, 
his  only  regret  being  that  he  cannot  pay  them 
once  a fortnight.  Ilis  experience  ia  that  the 
Coolies  greatly  prefer  it  to  any  system  of  irre- 
gular and  deferred  payments,  and  the  C uiganio.s 
learn  to  appreciate  it  also  when  they  get  accastoineJ 
to  the  change.  He  has  no  Coast  Advances  outstand- 
ing, and  his  transactions  with  the  Chetties  are  few 
and  far  between. 
It  is  HIS  suggestion  that  a system  of  compulsory 
monthly  payments  throughout  the  Island  may  the 
means  (slowly  perhaps)  of  restoring  order  where  chaos 
now  reigns,  and  I pass  it  on  to  the  readers  of  this 
paper  with  every  confidence  that  he  has  not  over- 
stated the  benefits  likely  to  be  derived  from  it.  Re- 
ferring to  the  proueness  of  the  Cooly  to  get  into 
debt,  he  naturally  enough  enquires  how  we  can  ex- 
pect him  to  keep  clear  of  it  if  we  withhold  from  him 
the  only  legitimate  means  of  doing  so? 
Possibly  it  might  be  found  advantageous  if  com- 
pulsory monthly  payments  became  Law  to  avail  our- 
selves to  some  extent  ol  Indentured  Labour  under  con- 
ditions which  Planters  and  Government  might  mutu- 
ally agree  upon,  but  the  first  and  most  important 
thing  is  to  arrange  for  Coolies  in  all  parts  of  the 
Island  and  on  overy  estate  to  receive  their  wages 
regularly,  which  after  all,  is  only  their  just  due. 
In  a recent  Memorandum  from  the  pen  of  the 
Chairman  of  the  Planters’  Association,  reference  is 
made  to  the  want  of  touch  between  Coolies  and 
their  employers  such  as  existed  in  older  days. 
No  douDt  this  is  the  case  to  a great  extent, 
and  strage  though  it  may  seem  the  Medical  Aid 
Ordinance  is  probably  more  to  blame  than  anything 
else  for  thus  alienating  the  Coolie  from  his  master. 
Government,  of  course,  did  not  contemplate  such  a 
result  as  this  when  the  Ordinance  was  introduced^ 
but,  nevertheless,  it  practically  had  the  effect  of 
taking  Coolies  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Superintendents 
as  regards  their  little  ailments  and  so  forth,  and 
in  many  cases  they  have  been  left  to  shift  pretty  well 
for  themselves  ever  since. 
There  are,  how'ever,  serious  responsibilities  attaching 
to  employers  of  labourers  in  a country  like  Ceylon, 
and  while  there  may  not  be  any  very  general  desire 
to  avoid  these  responsibilities,  the  tendency  has 
been  rather  in  that  direction  for  some  time  past, 
and  I doubt  very  much  if  the  Cooly  would  ever  nave 
drifted  into  his  present  position  if  he  had  been  pro- 
perly looked  after. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  the  abolishment  of 
the  Tundu  system  might  go  some  way  towards  solv- 
ing the  labour  difficulties,  and  special  legislation  in 
respect  to  runaway  coolies  has  been  put  forward  as 
a possible  remedy  for  the  evil,  but  neither  of  those 
appear  to  me  to  touch  the  real  seat  of  the  disease, 
and  the  mischief  associated  with  the  former  would 
probably  disappear  to  a great  extent  if  a system 
of  regular  payments  applied  to  every  estate.  The 
Chetty  would  not  then  have  the  power  to  shift  Coolies 
about  from  place  to  place  as  he  has  now,  and  even 
if  he  had  the  power,  he  would  gain  nothing  by 
doing  so. 
I have  endeavoured  to  shew  in  this  paper  that  our 
Canganies  and  Coolies  are  labouring  under  the  demo- 
ralizing influences  of  an  unrighteous  and  ever-increas- 
ing debt,  and  that  we  have  no  right  to  expect  any 
great  or  permanent  improvement  in  the  labour  ar- 
rangements of  the  country  until  this  burden  has  been 
removed  from  their  shoulder,  or,  at  any  rate,  greatly 
reduced  in  weight. 
Individual  planters  may  quote  their  own  and 
other  cases  to  prove  that  the  conclusions  which  have 
been  arrived  at  are  wrong  or  overstated,  but  I am 
not  dealing  with  individual  cases.  I am  dealing  with 
Coolies  generally,  and  that  their  ))osition  in  respect 
to  debt  is  practically  as  I have  represented  it  to  bo 
will  not  be  denied.  If,  however,  it  is  questioned,  1 
would  again  ask  how  is  it  that  Estates  lose  and  have 
lost  so  little  by  advances  ? 
Hundreds  of  cases  might  bo  cited  to  prove  the  great 
injustice  of  making  pauper  labourers  of  the  present 
day  pay  the  debts  of  pauper  labourers  who  have  gone 
before  them,  and  it  is  time  in  our  own  interest,  as 
well  as  on  other  grounds,  that  the  immortality  of 
these  outstanding  should  be  destroyed.  Our  labour 
system  will  not  rest  on  a sound  basis  until  this  has 
been  accomplished, 
