landed annually in the island, and some 48,000 returned each year to their homes. In Penang it is calculated that 25,000 souls out of a population of 150,000 are Indian coolies, It is in domestic and agricultural service that they are employed in the Straits settlements, and more recently large numbers of coolies have been induced to work in the tea-gardens of Assam. On the other hand, in Burmah, they work as dock labourers and porters. In Mauritius, again, the first regularly recorded attempt at organizing coolie emigration from India took place in 1834, when forty coolies were imported. Between 1834 and 1837 about 7000 labourers must have been shipped from Calcutta, and about 100 from Bombay, to Mauritius, but it was not till 1836 that the colonial Government determined to put the trade under official regulations. In 1837 an emi gration law was passed for Calcutta, but it also applied to all territories of the East India Company, providing that a " permit " must be got from the Government for every shipment of coolies, that all contracts should terminate in five years, that a return passage should be guaranteed, and that the terms of his contract should be carefully explained to each coolie. As regards the emigrant ships they were allowed to carry one coolie for every ton and a half of burthen a rule now extended to one coolie for every two tons burthen. Then as now the Indian Government watched the deportation of labour from their dominions with jealous and anxious care, and when in 1838 it was found that up wards of 25,000 natives had, up to that year, gone from all parts of India to Mauritius, the Government became a little alarmed at the dimensions the traffic was assuming. Brougham and the old anti-slavery party denounced the trade as a revival of slavery, and the Presidency Government suspended it in order to investigate its alleged abuses. The nature of these may be guessed when it is said that the inquiry condemned the fraudulent methods of recruit ing them in vogue, and the brutal treatment coolies often received from ship captains and masters. It was not till 1842 that steps were taken to formally reopen the coolie trade between Mauritius and India. A regulating Act was passed, the most important provisos of which were the appointment of authorized emigration agents at Indian ports, and a prohibition against contracts being signed till the coolie had been forty-eight hours on shore in the colony for which he was bound. At first the term was for one year, and the wages were five rupees a month, food, clothing, and medical attendance being found. Return passages were also guaranteed. In 1844 coolie emigration to the West Indies was sanctioned by the Indian Government. Jamaica, Trinidad, and Demerara were permitted to import coolies under the Mauritius rules, slightly modified, one of the most important differences being that 12 per cent, of the emigrants to the West Indies were to be women. None of the colonial codes, however, seem to have carried out this modification. In 1847 Ceylon suffered by the political accident of having a separate Government. Her supply of labour was cut off, as the Indian Government prohibited all emigration save to the West Indies and Mauritius. The unfair prohibition was withdrawn, on the Ceylon Government adopting certain protective regulations in favour of the emigrants, and ever since the coolie trade with the island has gone on pretty smoothly. In 1851 the Indian Government agreed to relieve Mauritius of the obligation to provide return passages save for the destitute and the sick. In 1853 Lord Dalhousie s Government extended the term qualifying the West Indian coolie for return from five to ten years service. In 1857 the colonial Governments proposed to commute the coolie s claim for a return passage, by giving him its value in land ; but Lord Canning s Government viewed the suggestion with great jealousy, saying there must be some guarantee that in arranging the commutation the coolie was not swindled. In 1859 voluntary commutation was agreed to by the Indian authorities. Since then many changes have taken place, but, generally speaking, the Indian coolie trade is now regulated by two Acts—those of 1864 and 18o9, of which the main provisions are as follows:—
Resident colonial emigration agents are appointed for the different ports. They appoint sub-agents or remitting parties, who must bear licences from the Protector of Emigrants at Calcutta. It is their business to beat up the country for coolies when there is a demand for them. The intending emigrants, when collected, must be taken by the agents before the resident magistrate of the district, who registers each one. A copy or certificate of registration is given to each coolie, stating particulars as to age, sex, name, caste, and former occupation. Of these documents duplicates are trans mitted to the colonial emigration agent. When this formality has been complied with, the coolie is then sent on to the depot and examined there by the colonial agent and surgeons. If physically unfit for the work for which he is wanted, of course he is summarily rejected. Each coolie ship must undergo rigorous sanitary inspec tion, and carry a surgeon, who reports on all the deaths and cases of sickness that occur during the passage. The contract which the coolie signs with the emigration agent binds him to serve not more than for 7^ hours a day for five years, as an agricultural labourer, on the estate Jto which he may be sent by the authorities at the port of debarkation. The wage in money is to be that which from time to time is paid to unindentured labourers in the colony. (In Demerara the Indian coolie earns Is. 2d. a day, -women about Is., and children 6d. each). The coolie also is provided with a house, garden, and medical attendance, rations and clothing being subject to the special arrangements affecting wages ; while at the end of ten years service they are entitled to a free return passage to India.
arrives, of course there is much dispute. Statistics in dicate that it cannot have been very considerate. From 1834 to 1872 Demerara, Trinidad, Jamaica, St Vincent, and Grenada imported 161,539 coolies, of whom 16,938 have returned home, and 48,548 are dead, leaving 96,053 in those colonies. As far as official rules can protect him a great deal is done by the Govern ment. When he lands he is subjected to an examina tion by the immigration agent-general and an officer of health. Those not fit for agricultural labour are set aside, and those that are fit are allotted to different planta tions in accordance Avith the demand made for them. Family life is respected, and children under fifteen years of age must not be parted from their parents. After their five years indenture is ended, they are at liberty to re-engage on an independent footing, a bounty of about 11 being given to those who re-contract for another term of similar duration. How these apparently equitable provisions work became a matter of dispute in the case of Demerara and Mauritius ; and serious complaints were made in 1869 with reference to the former colony by Mr G. W. des Vceux, a stipendiary magistrate, who had spent five years in the country. Commissioners were therefore despatched to inquire into the matter. They suggested certain reforms for the purpose of guarding the indentured labourer against the possibility of ill-treatment, and the powers of the immi gration agent-general, or protector of immigrants, were en larged so as to enable him to inspect estates more regularly, frequently, and efficiently. The medical officers of planta tions, too, were made civil servants, and relieved from their dependence on the planters for their salaries. The question of re-engagements was also dealt with by the reforming ordinance of 1868 in a provision enarting that the manager of every estate should, at the half-yearly visit of the agent- general, produce before him every coolie who had com pleted his term of service, or would complete it in the course of the next six months. To each coolie in this position a certificate or a provisional certificate of exemption from labour must be handed, and not till then may the manager
or any employer negotiate with him for re-indenture.
