ENCLOSURE 143.
Extract from The "China Mail" dated 20th December, 1901.
826
C.0
The Ricksha Coolie Difficulty.
The difficulty in procuring ricksha coolies seems to have been almost met by the recent action of the authorities in placing 500 extra public rickshas on the streets. There are now twelve hundred of these conveyances plying in Hongkong, and the coolies, finding that their earnings are not so profitable as before, are throwing aside the public ricksha and going into private employ. The public ricksha owners grumble that many of their machines are lying idle for want of coolies. The grumble, of course, is justifiable when one takes into consideration the fact that the licensee has to pay $72 a year to the Treasury for the license for each ricksha.
4004
Prob STEB 2