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A. None at all.
Q. Do you know whether Portuguese have any difficulty in obtaining and keeping private chair and ricksha coolies?
A.-I don't think they have. There are very few of them that have chairs.
Q.-With those of them that employ chair and ricksha coolies, is the difficulty one of obtaining chair and ricksha coolies or is it merely the difficulty of retaining them and keeping them long in their service?
A.-It depends upon the kind of work they have to do, whether it is light or hard work, and whether masters treat them well. If servants are treated properly they will remain long in your service; if not, they will simply go away.
Q.-It appears that things are somewhat different now from what they used to be, that these servants are well treated yet they won't stay in your employ. Have you observed that difficulty with the Portuguese?
A have thought of that; not much among the Portuguese community.
Q--
What is your own experience?
A.-I have had servants for a long time and they are still with me,
Q.-Chair coolies?
A. No, not chair coolies.
Q. -We are only speaking of chair and ricksha coolies, not of any others. I assume that there is no difficulty in obtaining servants of this class, but the difficulty is in retaining thein?
A.-I believe there is a scarcity.
Q. -If there is no difficulty in obtaining coolies, there is no scarcity, but the diffi- culty, I believe, is in retaining them?
A.-The difficulty is in retaining them. They would go into employ, but they won't remain.
Q. Can you explain to us the reason?
A. I can't explain that.
Q.-That is a different state of affairs from what, once prevailed here, is it not ?
A. Such a thing was never heard of before as a difficulty in retaining coolies.
Q. You don't offer any opinion as to the cause of this difficulty?-
A.
-I believe that they go away on purpose on account of the plague. Q.-But now when there is no plague here?
A. Now that the plague has gone, I believe they are gradually returning to the Colony and the difficulty won't be felt for so very long.
Q-But in the winter time, the difficulty, so far as we know, is just as great as in the summer time?
A.
-I am not aware of that.
Q.--But if the difficulty is as great in the winter as in the summer, can you give us any cause ?
A.-No, I can't.
Q.-Can you tell us how wages compare to-day with the wages paid by Portuguese ten years ago in regard to coolies ?