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Q. Then he lived in the house?
A.--Yes, he lived in the house.
Q. What could a coolie live on in Hongkong now?
A.-I don't know what a coolie could live on, but it is absurd to suppose that a Chinaman can live on two dollars now. A coolie would need three or four dollars at the very least.
P
Mr. Badeley. What would be the effect of reducing the fares of public rickshas and chairs? Of course they could be reduced by Government, but Government could not reduce the wages of privately employed nien. What would be the general effect
of a reduction in the fares ?
A.--I fancy you would have a good deal of trouble over it and possibly a strike.
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Q.-Putting aside that, I mean the ultimate result. What would they do if their business was made much less lucrative? Would they go back to their country or would they become private chair coolies or would they swell the general labour inarket and reduce rates there?
A.--They might swell the market and reduce wages as godown coolies. Some might go abroad to Singapore. Some might be contented to stay with private families.
Q. Do you think the pay of public vehicles is a determining factor at all for the general wages of the Colony? Is it a large enough business to have any appreciable effect?
A.-I think so. You see it is a betterment of a man's position, who is with a private family, whenever he choses to take it up.
Q.--Is the public vehicle business such a big concern, as compared with the gen- eral unskilled labour in the Colony that any difference in its conditions would have a widespread effect on labour conditions generally?
A.—It would have some effect. How far I can't say.
Q. Do you think, if we reduced the fares, it would have a general effect on the general wages of the coolies in the Colony?
A. If you reduced them considerably, I should think it would.
Q.--The godown coolie, would he be able to keep up his present rate of pay if the fares of public vehicles were reduced considerably?
A. I think it would have a tendency to bring his pay down a little, but how much I can't say. It would affect the house coolies first, I should think.
Q.-Did the articles about registration apply to chair coolies as well?
A.-Oh, yes. It applied to all domestic servants.
Q.--What did the Registrar General's Office do ? Did they simply give a ticket or did they act as an agency bureau ?
A.--When you wanted a servant you did not send to the Registrar General's Office and say 'I want a servant'.
[The Chairman here quoted from the Ordinance the passage defining the word * servant'.]
Mr. Badeley. The Government never undertook the business of providing the public with servants ?
A.-No; simply registration of servants, and complaints were sent down, if ser- vants had not been behaving properly, to the Registrar General.
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