THE INDIAN COOLIE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9552, 27 July 1909, Page 7

THE INDIAN COOLIE.

IMPORTATION INTO FIJI.

"The importation of tho coolies is entirely in the hands of the Government of Fiji, and every effort is made, so far as possible, to provide against some abuse and injustice," writes the Rev. J. W. Burton, Methodist Missionary in Fiji, in hia book on "Indian Work in Fiji." "Whatever criticism may be made against the 'system'—and it is open to reflection of the gravest sort — praise is due to the Immigration Department of the Colony for the manner in which it seeks to carry it out. The emigrants are selected in India by an agent of the Crown and are recruited mainly from the United Provinces of Agra and Oude. A strict medical inspection in Calcutta rejects the unfit, and upon arrival in Fiji there is a long qaurantine, and then another examination. Those who pass the necessary tests are then 'indentured' for a period of five years to the individual planter or company applying for their services. The cost of importation is about », £l6 per statute adult. For five years the coolie is obliged to serve his master on the plantation and at the end of that term he rises in the scale of being and becomes a "free"lndian -or, as he proudly styles himself, , a 'preo maan.' After ten years' residence in Fiji he is entitled to a free passage to India; or he has the option of settling permanently in the country. Of this latter privilege the great majority avail themselves, fj "The life on the plantation «»s an indentured coolie is not of a tcry inviting character. The difference bewteen this state and absolute slavery is merely in the name and the term of years. The coolies themselves, for the most part frankly call it ('narak') hell. Their wages are low and the. cost of living is comparatively high. The official returns for 1906 give the average earnings for males at eleven pence, and for males at fi«e pence halfpenny. For it must be remembered that the women as well as tba men are compelled to work in the cane fields. A system of 'tasks' prevails. So many chains of weeding or so many yards of ditching are considered a 'task' by the overseer, for which the payment is one shilling. So long as the teak is ju;'ged by the coc)i° to be fair—all goes moderately well; but when it ia counted excessive, the overseer may find himself with a broken head. The Oriental has summary ideas of justice. "The accommodation appears to us very wretched. The coolies live in long rows of tarred wooden buildings which might well be taken as the very apotheosis of ugliness. These sheds are divided into cubicles of about ten feet by seven. In each of these miserable little kennels three men, or one family, are consigned to eat and sleep. In this box all their worldly possessions have to be stored, and room must be left j for "three bunks and a common fireplace. Sometimes a few fowls,. a dog or two, and a couble of goat share the space also. Here and there these black 'lines' are fairly well kept and good sanitary arrangements obtain; but there are some where the [ coolies are herded together like so many penned cattle amid the moat insanitary conditions and indescribable filth. "There is no effort made either by the Government cr by the employers to provide the cooliea with any elevating influences. Here and there an employer takes a semipaternal interest in his 'labour;' but such are too few. The coolie, like the mule or bullock, is an argicultural animal and so long as he can be maintained in sufficient health to enable him to do hid work—what more is needed? The chilaren are allowed to run wild—no educational privileges whatever are given. When they ar<> twelve years of age they are caught and harnessed to their tasks with their parents. it was only after a stubborn fight that the Christian Missionary was allowtd to instruct either children or adults. He was rudely told that the field mule* were a more suitable object for Christian effort. Fear was expressed that if the coolies were educate j they would be spoilt as labour! That fear, one is thankful to say, is rapidly dying out, and the Christian Missionary is not so unwelcome as he was. "One of the saddest and depressing sights, if a man has any soul at all, is a 'Coolie Line' in Fiji. Vice, misery and open wickedness abound; dirt, filth and vile stenches greet one at every turn. Coarse, evil-looking women throw their jiues at criminalfaced men, or olse quarrel with each other in high strident voices and wild angry gestures. Little children play cheerlessly in the squalid spaces. The beholder turns from the scene debating whether disgust or pity is uppermost in his mind. "Yet among this seeming vicious rabb'e are to be seen faces which bespeak intellectual, high-spirited men. of good caste and refinement. There are men from good homes in India with a proud descent behind them. They have made a foolish step in the old land and have come to —this! Ore might tell story after story of such cases. Sometimes the suffering is borne quietly by men who have learned the a:t of 'drugging pain with patience'; at other times a passionate rebelliousness and unreckoning vindictiveness are the outward and visible signs of feelings beneath."