446
Then at one of the Finance meetings, as those
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
[December 2, 1901.
CHAIR AND JINRICKSHA COOLIE Victoria Registration Ordinance No. 7 of 1866
COMMISSION'S REPORT.
The following is the report by Mr. Justice T. Sercombe Smith, Acting Paisae Judge, Mr. K. C. Wilcox, and Mr. F. J. Badeley, Acting Captain Superintendent of Police, who com- posed the Commission appointed by H.E. Sir Henry Blake to enquire into and report on the question of the existing difficulty of procuring and retaining reliable chair and jinricksha coolies for private chairs and jinrickshas :-
The undersigned, Members of a Commission appointed to inquire into and report on the question of the existing difficulty of procuring and retaining reliable private chair and jiaridk sha coolies, have the honour to report as
follows:
1. We have held 14 meetings between 3rd September and 4th November, 1901, and have examined 30 witnesses.
2. We have ascertained the views, on certain points, of over 12) residents by means of a printed paper of questions, which forms Ap- pendix C.
present might have seen from the papers, a vote of $12,000 had gone home for confirmation, and, he believed, had not yet been comfirmed. At any rate they had had no notice of it. The Colonial Secretary had told them that he thought the $12,000 would not be got to build a home for the nurses, that they did not know where they were going to put it; and there seemed to be some difficulty about the matter. The interim Hon. Secretary (Mrs. Slade) had therefore been instructed to forward the following letter to the Colonial Secretary :- "In view of the vote of $12,000 included in the Colonial Estimate for 1901-2 for building a house to accommodate the nurses belonging to the Hongkong Nursing Institute, I have been requested by my Committee to lay before you the following proposal. The temporary ar- rangement for housing the nurses at the Peak Hospital has been found to work exceedingly well, as the position is very central and the nurses appreciate having the companionship of other nurses off duty. Further, if the nurses
ยท are housed in a separate buiding, the Committee feel it would be necessary to have a matron or housekeeper to look after the house when the nurses
were both away on duty, and that this and the separate staff of servants would involve the Institution in consider-ricksha coolies. ably increased expenditure. My Committee have reason to understand that this arrange- ment can be continued if required. I am there- fore asked to propose to for your considera- tion that the capital sum voted of $12,0 0 should be handed over to the Trustees of the Institute for investment subject to your approval, and that the income of such invest ment should be devoted to the payment of expenses for lodging at the Peak Hospital." In
to that they had had letter from the Government saying that this proposal had been forwarded home to the Colonial Office and that the Governor had recommended it. That was how the matter stood at present. Perhaps they might hope to have in the future a separate institution or home for their nurses, but they did not feel justified in seeking to provide such a place at present because of the very much increased expense it would involve. The Chairman concluded his remarks by moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet (already published in the Daily Press.)
answer
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Mr. H. W. SLADE seconded and the motion was agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN then asked for nominations for the Committee. According to the rules the Committee, which consists of five ladies and two doctors, retires annually, but members are: eligible for re-election.
Nominations having been made a vote was taken, with the following result:-Dr. Stedman, 16; Dr. Gibson, 16; Mrs. Siebs, 16; Mrs. Dickson, 14; Mrs. Robertson, 13; Mrs. Slade, 12; Mrs. Playfair, 9; Mrs. Turner, 9. Owing to the equality of votes for the last place, it was agreed to leave it to the two ladies concerned to arrange who should serve on the committee.
Mr. C. S. SHARP said that before parting they ought to show how very much they were indebted to the working office-holders of the committee, whose services they did not fail, he could assure them, to realise the value of. He had great pleasure in moving that a cordial vote of thanks be awarded them. (Applause.)
The CH IRMAN thanked Mr. Sharp for the kind way in which he had spoken, and added that they felt sure they had supplied by this Institution a want which had been felt very much in the Colony.
The meeting then terminated.
3. The answers to those questions show con- clusively that there has been difficulty in pro- curing and retaining reliable private chair and
4. As to the causes of the existing difficulty, we find that the main cause of the difficulty in procuring such coolies is a demand for increased wages, which many non-Chinese refuse to pay.
5. We observe that there has apparently been no difficulty in procuring six hundred coolies from China to man the three hundred new
public rickshas which have recently been licens. ed. Further, we observe from the annual re- ports of the Captain Superintendent of Police that in the year 1897, 7,164 drivers and bearers were licensed; in the year 1898, 8,25; in the year 1900, 9,984, or an increase of 2,820 drivers and bearers in a period of 4 years, that is, an increase of nearly 40 per cent. in the number of drivers and bearers. These figures seem to show that the demand for public chair and ricksha coolies has been amply met, and lead us to the conclusion that there is an adequate number of men procurable for private service, provided the wages offered approach in amount the takings of the licensees of public vehicles.
6. We are of opinion that the price of lodg- ing is not as a rule a serious factor in the matter, because private coolies are usually lodged, rent free, by their masters; and we think that the increased cost of food has been approximately met by the advance in wages which has occurred in the last five years.
7. The demand for wages exceeding $8 a month seems, in the main, due to the fact that the calling of a public chair or ricksha coolie, especially the latter, is more lucrative, and induces private coolies to leave to join the ranks of public coolies.
8. The evidence tends to show that no regular guilds of chair and ricksha coolies exist, but each lodging-house seems to be an effective centre for combination
9. The causes of the difficulty in retaining such coolies when procured are :---
A-That such coolies, in many cases, object to perform old jobs, such as chit-carrying, punkab-pulling, tennis-fielding, housework, &o., which they once did without demur. B. That there is some doubt whether the law makes it penal for such coolies to neglect their duty, or to absent themselves from duty, or to leave service witout notice, or to disobey lawful and reasonable orders, &c., &c., although such a law exists in respect of domestic servants. (Vide section 3 sub-section 3 of Ordinance 14 of 1845.)
C.-That a knowledge of the earnings of public coolies makes private coolies dis- contented and induces them to leave private employ at the earliest opportunity. D.-That they sometimes object to give their
whole time to their masters' service. E-That if they leave a master, they can usually find employment with another master or obtain other work.
The following appointments have been made at the Admiralty-Lieutenant: R. R. Roto- man, to the Amphitrite, to date Nov. 1; Sub- Lieutenant: H. P. Boyd, to the Glory, to be lent to the Amphitrite, to date Nov. 1; Mid- shipmen: G. W. E. Naper and D. F. Dolphin, to the Endymion; R. V. Holt and R. L. Pennington, to the Goliath; H. O. P. Weston, to the "Glory L. T. C. Sackville-West and A. R. F. Spottiswood, to the Cressy, undated 10. As to whether it is advisable and practi- Fleet Engineer: J. Bennington, to the Duke cable to introduce any, and (if any) what legis of Wellington, for the Centurion, to date Oot.lation on the subject, our answer is yes, and we Jeutenant T. E. Crease, to the Eclipse append a draft Bill which we think would meet
the case. (G:), to date Nov 1
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11. We are aware that the provisions of the
affecting the registration of servants and repealed by Ordinance 13 of 1888, were not worked with much success. The reasons for this failure, were, we believe, the absence of photography, laxity in enforcing those pro- visions, indifference on the part of masters, the preference of personal convenience to the general advantage, the doubtful applicability of sub-section 3 of section 3 of Ordinance 14 of 1845 to other than domestic servants, the fraudulent transfer of certificates of registra- tion, and, probably, the payment of a registra- tion fee.
12. The draft Bill referred to in para. 10 provides, inter alia, for compulsory registration at the Central Police Station, for the photo- graphing of every private coolie, for the regula. tion of the conduct of private coolies, and for making it penal for masters to engage unregistered coolies and for unregistered coolies to seek or obtain employment in the same capacities.
13. We are decidedly of the opinion, which the evidence supports, that to be effective, registration must be compulsory, universal, and in the hands of the Police Department.
We think that the scheme of registration, embodied in the draft Bill, will give both the Police and masters desirable and, we trust, effective control over private coolies.
The
14. In answer to question 6 of Appendix C, Whether persons who engage unregistered private chair and ricksha coolies should be liable to a fine in the Police Court," there were 78. ayes, 26 conditional ayes, and 24 nays. evidence of Mr. Poate shows that there was misapprehension as to the meaning of this question. When it was explained to him that it was not proposed to punish the master, and leave the coolie alone, he adopted the view of this Commission, that no scheme of registration could be successfully enforced if masters were not made liable for engaging un- registered coolies. If this is borne in mind, it is evident that the majority of ayes in favour of making such masters liable would probably have been greater; as it is, the proportion of ayes to nays is that of more than 3 to 1.
15. We recommend that registration shall be free, because the payment of a fee in former times may have conduced to render the former Ordinance nugatory, and because the existence of a fee may be made the ground for demand- ing higher wages.
16. Apart from the reason that the omission of the penal clause affecting masters will defeat the whole purpose of registration, we consider that it would be unjust to punish the coolie who offers his services and not also the person who accepts those services.
17. Generally, we think that registration will tend to weed out of the ranks of private coolies the bad characters sometimes met with, because persons unfavourably known to the Police would not be registered.
18. Some persons fear that registration will tend to limit the number of coolies now avail- able, and therefore wish to be at liberty_to engage unregistered coolies who may offer themselves. The limitation of numbers, it is said, will arise (1) from the Police Department refusing to register as private coolies men known to be bad characters, but who, qua coolies, are capable servants, (2) from unwillingness on the part of private coolies to register.
In our judgment, if the result (1) anticipated by the sceptics concerning registration is at. tained, it will prove an unmixed advantage to the community, which will thus be relieved of the presence of rogues masquerading as private coolies who, we should not be surprised, would also prove on enquiry to be to some extent at the bottom of the present difficulty.
As regards result (2) we believe that no persons who wish to become coolies would be deterred by free registration from enterning private service.
By the draft Bill, which we have submitted, it is provided that a master may have in his employ for 48 hours unregistered coolies. This period of 48 hours will enable the coolie to become registered, and will give the master reasonable time to insist on the coolie being registered.
We do not oppose an enlargement of this period of 48 hours, but would point out that if
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