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The first weeks of April were especially busy. Chinese officials, both those under Allied control as well as those elsewhere in the province, and the allied commissioners worked to outlaw illegal coolie traffic even as they moved to put into place a more regular system of contract labour.
Both Huang Tsung-han, the Governor-General, and Po-Kuei issued proclamations condemning the kidnapping while suggesting that a more regular method of recruitment, devoid of coercion, might be allowed. Po-Kuei even offered a reward for the capture of any kidnappers. As for the allied commanders, their own proclamation was issued on 7th April. Again they made it clear that while regular recruitment would be allowed, they would suppress the illegal trade with all the power at their command.
That summer and autumn plans were made to reorganise the system of recruitment. The new procedures included an elaborate system of recruitment, an interviewing process designed to ensure that everyone involved completely understood the terms of the bilingual contracts and was entirely willing. Altruism aside, the allied occupation forces had to deal with the kidnapping immediately or face a crisis which would have made the summer of 1858 look mild in comparison. It was one thing for the city residents to accept European occupation in place of the rather distant and at times unpopular Manchu control and quite another to have submitted to the authority of a government unwilling to suppress the kidnapping of their children and family members.
Nevertheless, the world labour situation did require cheap labour, and hence the necessity of searching for a means of satisfying both the local Chinese as well as the foreign coolie markets. It would be many months, however, before a full system was in place which met both obligations.
Regularising the coolie trade
If it was obvious that the occupation simply could not continue while the locals were continuously outraged by the kidnappings of their relatives, it was no less clear that honest recruitment of labourers for work overseas was to be an important responsibility of the allied government. Therefore, by the autumn of 1859 the allied administration