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A. When they are ill up at the Peak, if they want to come down, they can come down and live at the boarding house. There is a place there for them to boil medicines.
The Chairman. It is a contribution towards a sort of benevolent society.
Mr. Badeley-How long have you been running this business?
A. Since there was a tramway from the Peak.
Q. That is about twelve years is it not?
A, I don't know how long it is.
Q.-Were you an ordinary chair coolie at that time, or have you always been a head chair coolie man?
A. When I was 21 years old I came to Yaumati and worked there as a boatman, then I left the boat and worked at Samsuipo for six years as a lime burner. After I left the lime kiln, I worked a few years at Wing Sing street selling eggs. A man by name Lum Kam, came to me one day and said: "You have a little money, I know. You can come up to the Peak with me." General Gordon said to Lum Kam:
a start at the Peak with eight chairs."
Q.-There were no chairs there at the time?
A. No, there were no chairs at that time.
Q. You have never been a chair coolie at the Peak yourself?
A.-No.
Q.-Nor a ricksha coolie at any time?
A. No.
Make
Q. You have sometimes got coolies for Captain May and his friends-private coolies-have you not?
A. If Captain May asked me to get some coolies for him I engaged them for him.
Q. Where did you get them for him?
A.-If he is my fellow villager and he is a good man and has never been a thief and can do things properly, then I engage him.
Q.-Have you ever engaged them from among the men you are employing at the Peak, or do you get them from outside?
A. From outside.
Q. Which is the hardest day's work-the private chair coolie or the public chair coolie ?
A.-I think the public chair coolie because they want to earn more money, so they do more work.
Q.-A private coolie has an easier job, but you seemed to suggest to us before that a private chair coolie had the hardest job. What do you mean by that? You told us before that men left private employ and became public chair coolies because they could not carry their masters.
A.-A private coolie is bound to carry so many times a day whether he is weak or strong, but a street coolie can do as he likes.
Q. When they don't feel up to it they can lie off?
A. Yes.