February i, 1892.] 
tHF TfiOPlCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
53 *) 
the diapUcement of Indian. It was done, and 
can blame the Ceylnn plsuterp ? But they smashed 
oar market, and their own too, and created tho 
poaifioD in which we now jointly find our«'elves — 
which, after all, is not so bad as it might be. — 
Yours, &c. Vis Unita Fohtiob. 
THE LABOUR PROBLEM IN ASSAM. 
Moro than one leading planter has written to ns 
to point out tho evsU of tho present system of re- 
cruiting labour for tho A«aam tea gardens. We do 
not doul t that the matter has the attention not only 
of GoTeruiHcnt but of tlie agoncy and that 
all that is possible is being douo to remedy the evil. 
It may streiigtlieu their hands if we try to consider 
briefly whore the trouble lies. Statistics seem to show 
that AsHaru absorbs every ye^r from 30,000 to 50,000 
immigrants. We have every reui^ou to believe that 
ho planters wonM gladly tako au oven larger snpply 
if tho diatric'B of recruitment could furnish it. 
During tho Ust five yetra the average number of ad- 
ults flont to Aseam waa 29,775, aud of children 
0,302. In 18b0, a year ol < xoeptionally large ex- 
portation, no Il-ss than 37.649 ndults and 18,110 
children were aeut to Assam. It seems to be 
admitted that Ihe supply of useful coolies, suited 
to the conditions of tei garden life is failing 
Plautors go further afield, to Ganjam, Jubbulpore 
and o her remote placoa, and proaorably have to pay 
more. Even thvfo remoter Bourco.s of supply must fail 
in lime, for the Indiim ryot does not migrate »o readily 
as the Irif-h peasant, aud the mo'.t vigorous recruiting, 
the most lavish expenditure is rot likely to make auy 
very sousible impression upon the crowded population 
of the recruiting districts. 
At the end of 18B9 the total labour force of Assam 
was 300,404, Dnnug 1890, 36,000 coolios, nearly 10 
per cent, were imported; 17,000 in round numbers en- 
tered into contracts in Asaara, 7.000 wore nceived 
from other gar»len«, 600 deseriera were recaptured, 
14, (^0 remikiiied on the gardens after the exoiry (f 
their contracts, rowe 23,(X)0 were “ otberwi-o ob- 
tained,” and them were lO.-iOO births. Altogotbt-r 
the additioDB to the present or prospective labour 
force came to about 107,500 toalj. This would 
have been an ample if it had been a roal ir.creaae. 
It is instructive to balance against thia the de- 
dnotions : 4,500 coolies were traupferreU to other 
gardens (a number curicu*ly less than the num- 
ber received from other gardone), 50.600 left with 
permission, 14,000 died, 13,000 deserted, 7,500 labourers 
already workii g on girdeus were put under contract, 
and about 400 coolies had their contracts cancelled for 
various reasons. Altogether thtre aro about 90,0(t) 
souls to be written off. Tho net increase, therefore, 
was only about 17,500 and this in spite of 10,000 birtha 
and Sfi.OOO new immigrants. Aasumiug thit all the 
who oDterod into contracta locally (17,000) and 
®ool»08 ** otherwifo obtained ” (23 000; were all 
Ola hauda who re-engagod themselvea, there wa^i still 
A substantive and actual iocrea'-eof 46,000 souls to the 
population. That the net inorbsae waa only 
17,600 ahows that the loshcs are heavy. Now it must 
be remembert-d that the cost of importing 36,(X)0 now 
ooolies was probably not loss, at a very moderate com- 
putation, than two millions of rupees. This U the actual 
cost lo the employer of landing 3G,00() new, raw and, for 
a long time, perfectly useless hands in Assam. Many 
01 these are bad bargains and represent a dead 
i u' lA® competition inonases, the oumber of 
baa bargains incteases, and there is an in- 
creasing tendinoy on the part of ooulractors to 
solid up men from of India, the climatic and 
other conditions of which do no fit them for 
gardon labour. The actual ocafc of really g* ol 
working hands is thorofore grcitor than ouv 
estimate. Oa tho other hand, tho labour laws 
enable employers to pay ocoliea a less rate of wage 
than would bo poi-siblo under a system of free 
competition in labour, and accordingly a portion of 
the initial expondituro is recouped in this way. But 
it is obviously iDadvisnble that employers of labour 
should be tempted in times of pressure, and on 
gardens which do not pay, to reduce wages to a 
minimum. One of the n^o&t important t&sk^ which 
fall to the lot of an inspector of labourers is to 
satisfy himsolf that wages are adequate f r healthy 
oxiBtenuo. But bu is compelled to ndy on avomgrin ; 
aud some coolies, especially in the working season 
esru such good wages that many coolies may earn 
very poor wages without greatly affecting tho 
average. Obviously wages are a very important 
item in dealing with tho lal)Our question and 6S> 
pecially whon it is remembered that the proSlfro of 
iocreasing the area of exterior supply seems impossible 
cf solutioQ. 
The way cf deliveranco seems to lie in consvrvirg 
the existing labour force. What car bn done ifi this 
direolioii ? A high death-rate as oomnarod with that 
ofthe ordinary rustic populatioo is perhaps inevitable, 
especially on newly cleared gardens. Lo>>kiDg to 
(he conditions of tea garden life, to tho Let 
that the wouien work out of doors as well os 
tho men, that many of the coolies are uraccli- 
mati^ed new importations, it is perhaps surpri- 
sing that the birth rate does not fall extremely 
Ifar behind the death-rate. But it is clear that 
of the 50,000 coolies who refused to renew their 
agreements aud tho 13 000 deserters, a very 
arge prop) rtion were lost to Assam, or at all 
eveuts to toe tea gardens. Somo may have set- 
tled iu tho province as ordinary peasants, 
but the majority would seem to have disappeared. 
This IS a voty serious evil, when the coat of procuring 
new labour aid the admitted evils of the present 
f-y^tem of recruiting are remembered. 8 <methiDg may 
poFsibly be done iu the way of reducing the death- 
lat*, and the Government of India have very propvrly 
ordered storn moasurca to bn taken with gar- 
dens which porHisiently slmw a hi^ih mortality. 
Hut from the employer's point of view the most 
diHUcartening thing is the Icsa of able-bcdie<i 
labour by other oanst a than death. That 13,000 coolies 
s' ould nave deserted iu a single )ear is a serious 
m»iter when coolies are so expensive. We are not 
sufti iently acquainted with the details of tea-garden 
management to know whether many of these deser- 
ters engaged themselves on other gardens. Tho net 
deficit would seem to show that this is not tho case. 
The conclusion to which wo are driven is that a 
groat part of the labour force of Assam is kept in 
the province by the artificial means of tho labour Jaw. 
This law can be defended on the ground that labourers 
wto have cost so much to import may righteously bo 
deprived of their liberty for a while, and may bo 
bound to Inbour fer a term of years at a fixed 
rate of wages. But it seems clear that labour 
under thefe conditiooa is not really popular. Tho 
plauting industry of Assam has beon iu full force 
and vigour for many years. Its conditions must be 
well kuowp by this time in the parts of India from 
w'licb coolies are obiefly recruited. Yet tho net in- 
crease last year, deducting the 10,000 births of obil- 
droD who, at present at all events, are not available 
for work, was under 8,000, though at least 36,000 
sou's were actually, and at enormous expense, im- 
ported. 
We hope tho soggoition we have to make may not 
be regarded as a truism. Tbero are many obvious 
truths which are not always applied to prActicnl lile. 
Surely the remedy for the exorbitant expense of 
importation lies iu the more careful conversation of 
the coolios who have found their way to A*«sam. 
At present coolies are kept on the gardens chiefly, 
as we have said, by tho artificial mcauH of the labour 
law, and by mere inertia- Some diatriots— nud, judging 
by the last Immigration Report of the Assam Govern- 
ment, Sylhot seems to bo emo of them— have a 
sufficient supply of labour. Probably in such diitriots 
local conditions favonr the labourer, and espsoialiy 
tend to make his wag<'s suflioient for his comfort, 
health find happiness. These, it is noticeable, are the 
very districts in which importation is cheap : they 
