Whi
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.
Reference :-
885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Nos. 1, 2, 3.
No. 1.
30
EMIGRATION FROM CHINA TO THE WEST INDIES.
Chuliah men (natives of the Madras Presidency, and from the range of the There are 8,711 Malay men against Coromandel coast,) against 2,021 women. 7,959 women. In province Wellesley there are 7,598 China men against 1,139 The Malays number women, and 1,583 Chulialı men against 360 women. 27,602 males against 25,408 females. For convenience, I have put these state- ments into a tabular form; and I annex tables, marked 1, 2, and 3, which show the relative proportions and respective employments of the various races which frequent or inhabit these dependencies.
Chinese.
Males. Females.
Natives of India, or Chulishs,
Males.
Malays.
Females.
Malea Females.
Singapore
Penang
Province Wellesley -
2,255 25,760
12,152 9,305
1,133 7,598
838 6,612 5,59+ 5,429
5,816 2,024 8,711 7,959
1,583 360 27,602 25,408
Tutal -
•
45,510
12,822 6,699
3,222 42,925 38,961
5. These statements show the immense disparity which exists in the propor. tion of the sexes, and, bearing in mind that all the females considered as Ĉhinese are either Malays or of Malay extraction, and that the females considered as Chuliahs are, for the most part, of the same class, they prove, beyond a doubt, the existence of powerful causes to prevent the emigration of women from India and China. Some of the Chuliahs, and a great number of the Chinese, are in easy circumstances; the intercourse with the Coromandel coast and with China is frequent and regular during the favourable monsoons, and the cost of convey- ance is trifling; and yet, in spite of these favourable circumstances, very few I am afraid, there- women are introduced from India, and from China none. fore, that the motives which are of sufficient power to prevent the introduction of women to these settlements will operate with equal, if not greater, force to prevent, or at least greatly to restrict, their emigration to the West Indies.
6. The table No. 4 shows the number of inimigrants who arrived in Penang Of the Chinese, and province Wellesley during 18-48, 1849, 1850, and 1851.
the greater number remain: the rest remove to Malay towns in the neighbour. hood, or to the coast of Sumatra, in short, wherever they feel themselves secure, and can carry on their commercial operations to a profit. Of the Chuliahs, about two thirds return every year, so that they add little to the resident labour- ing population.
The number of Chinese who arrived in Singapore in 1849 and 1850 was I could obtain no 10,928 during the former year, and 8,204 in the latter. record of the Chuliahs, but the number is inconsiderable, and principally for domestic service. There is no emigration from Calcutta to any of these settlements.
7. The emigration from China and the Coromandel coast is perfectly voluntary, that is, the emigrants come over of their own accord, in quest of money and employment, paying their own passage money, and returning whenever they please at their own cost. From China they arrive during what is termed in Singapore the "Junk Season," that is, during the prevalence of the north-east monsoon. From the Coromandel coast they come over during the lull which intervenes between the north-east and south-west monsoons, and after the rice harvest is over. The cost of a passage from China to Singapore is from 10 to 12 dollars, and to Penang from 12 to 15 dollars. From the Madras coast the cost of a passage is from 3 to 4 dollars, and in both cases the price varies according to the demand for labour. The passage money, which is paid in the first instance by the employer, is paid ultimately by the emigrant himself, that is, the emigrant enters into an engagement as soon as one can be obtained to serve for a certain number of months (generally for a year), and to allow a certain sum to be deducted from his wages until the amount of the passage money has been refunded. After that he is free to seek his own employer, and to apply his labour in whatever manner he pleases. In every case, when Chinese are required by Europeans, they are engaged through an agent, who is generally
EMIGRATION FROM CHINA TO THE WEST INDIES. 31
some wealthy and respectable shopkeeper or merchant. This man becomes security for them, and engages to make good to the employer any injury he may suffer from the misconduct or running away of the emigrants. He secures himself against loss by taking collateral security from others, and derives a profit out of the transaction by charging each emigrant with a small sum as pay ment for becoming their security. The system with regard to the Chulialis is similar to this, but they are so much more tractable that little difficulty is experienced. Since the system of job-work and contracts has been established upon the sugar estates in province Wellesley, the Chinese are seldom or never engaged directly by the Europeans. The Chinese contractors who undertake to do the field work find their own labourers, and the duty of the manager of the estate is therefore confined to getting the work done on the lowest terms, and to seeing that it is properly performed before the contractor is paid.
8. Of the three races who form the principal inhabitants of Singapore the Chinese are the most numerous, and are beyond all comparison the most laborious and industrious. They are here the pioneers of civilization, and it is to their indomitable energy that Singapore is indebted for clearing the forest and preparing the way for the occupation of man. As seen from the top of Bukit Timmah hill the country presents in every direction small clearances which have been effected by the Chinese. These are the only symptoms of active life throughout the extensive forests that spread over the land. Here the Chinese cultivate gambier and pepper for export and provisions for their own use, and when the soil is exhausted, or they can effect a sale of their
property, they retire further into the forest, and making a fresh clearance renew the cultivation they have surrendered.
As day labourers they are seldom or never employed by Europeans. The certainty of receiving a fixed sum as wages at the end of the month makes them careless of exertion, and their own naturally unyielding temper and overweening contempt for foreigners make them difficult to manage. As contractors they are invaluable; they compete readily for any work that may offer, however hard or laborious, and persevere in it, without fail, until it is completed. From the principle of combination which pervades every operation upon which the Chinese enter, whether of agriculture or commerce, these contractors divide their responsibility with other parties, and fiequently every labourer whese services are required has a share in the undertaking. By this means the utmost amount of exertion is secured, and the workmen, being all interested, keep a watchful eye on the conduct of each other. When the contract is completed they divide shares, according to the irrespective interests; and this system is so well under- stood and so generally acted on, that disputes or fraudulent misappropriation of money by the contractors are of rare occurrence.
The great bulk of the Chinese live in the town and in the neighbouring villages, and they have almost entirely in their own hands the retail trade and internal traffic of the island. A few of them are respectable merchants, and are men of wealth. Some are employed, as I have already stated, in clearing the forest and in cultivating gambier and pepper, and others are owners of and cultivate with success small nutmeg and cocoa-nut plantations. They associate together and deal exclusively with each other; and I think it very probable that in time they will, by their superior industry and energy, entirely displace the other races whom they are even now disposed to regard with a feeling strongly allied to contempt.
There is one trait in the character of the Chinese emigrants which shows them to so great advantage that it would be unfair to omit mention of it. It operates not only in Singapore, Penang, and other British settlements, but also with equal force in every other settlement where they have fixed their residence. What- ever be their occupation or station in life they never fail to remit annually to their parents, or, failing them, to their nearest relations in China, a sum of money proportioned to their means. The feeling of duty on this score is so strong, and the obligation considered so sacred, that the meanest and commonest coolie, who can gain little above a bare subsistence, hoards up a portion of his earnings and with scrupulous fidelity remits it to his relations. If unable to earn a sufficiency for this purpose he endeavours to borrow what is necessary, and never fails to perform the engagement entered into for the repayment of this necessary advance. The money is remitted to China by means of agents, who deliver it in person to the parties entitled to receive it, and charge a per
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