FURTHER EXPERIENCES OF MR. FRESK. 
overlooking and examining his account. But those who 
were actually in receipt of deficient pay and overcharged 
for rice, solely and wholly proceeding from a clerical 
error on the part of the superintendent, did not give 
him credit for an unintentional mistake, as they would 
without doubt do in the present time. They thought 
it was an attempt to cheat them for his own benefit .1 
And thus it happened that they preferred receiving 
their pay from the hands of the “ Periya Dorai,” be- 
cause, as the money was his, he could not be suspected 
of stealing his own property for his own personal use I 
But this preference for the “ big master ” paying them 
was very often found to be a very grave error, had 
they only known it. For the big master ” being re- 
sponsible to none, just paid them what he pleased, 
and let them grumble as they liked ; there was no 
higher authority to whom they could appeal, no 
“ higher court ” superior to him, who could set aside 
any of his actions ; whereas the superintendent had 
his owm character to sustain and uphold. If he had 
any sense at all, and felt tempted to be dishonest, his 
argument would undoubtedly be ; “Of what avail will 
it be to pocket a few rupees at the expense of losing 
my good name and character as an upright man 
amongst the men? What if any -well-founded com- 
plaints of short pay should be taken to the proprietor ? 
Even if without any foundation at all, such complaints, 
if persevered in, frivolous although they might be, 
might injure my character as a superintendent ; I 
must be careful and pay every man bis just due.’’ And 
so it was, as a rule, that plain honest John Smith 
took a great deal of time and trouble in paying j if he 
had no small money or coppers, be handed to the 
cooly small pieces of paper currency coined by himself 
with a pencil on a small piece of paper, written 
thereon — “jRamasamy, one penny. — J. S.” When pay- 
ing was done, all the small penny and twopenny note& 
were called in, the sums written down on a sheet 
of paper, added up, and the total amount handed to 
some responsible trusi worthy man amongst them, to 
divide, subdivide, and settle amongst them at their 
leisure. Now, do you think the proprietor, Mr Big Wig, 
would take all this trouble and bother ? Not he. 
He would boast of the short time it took him to 
pay, as compared with ^ ‘that slow fellow Smith,” who 
was always wanting coppers and small monej ; “If one 
man’s pay was 8s. 6d, give him four rupees, and if 
the next on the list had 7s. 6i. due, why, give him 
four rupees also ! And so on : the pay list would 
balance all right at the bottom and so also was 
balanced all the grumbling at the end. If the man 
who received eight shillings, instead of eight and six- 
