No. 18
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TLC.O. 885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO'
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
48
CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO
mere existence in the statute book of the prohibitions referred to, is an additional induce- ment to men of property who have rendered themselves amenable to them to remain at a distance entirely removed from their reach.
Query 4-What is the average rate of pay per diem for agricultural labour? Large landholders in China seldom cultivate their own estates, but lease and sublet them in such small portions that the labour of a family, with the assistance of their neigh- bours, often given and received, will sometimes suffice for the cultivation of an allotment. Labour, when required, is either hired by the year, or merely as occasion renders neces- sary; in the former case, the labourer receives three full meals of rice per day, and a ration of wine, or its value, if he prefer it, which does not amount, however, to more than six cash, say a farthing English. At the close of the year he receives his pay in kind. This varies from five to ten stone (the last is considered a high rate) of grain or rice un- husked. A stone weighs about a pecul and a half, or not quite 200 lbs., and its usual value is a little under two dollars; thus, therefore, the average rate of pay per diem, exclusive of food, ranges from 14. to 3d. To this is added, in the shape of a bonus, a small share of potatoes or garden produce, deemed of second-rate importance in Chinese husbandry. Labourers are allowed to cut grass or fuel, or do other work on their own account in leisure hours. Sometimes they are hired by the season, implying about three months labour, near and at the time of harvest, for which they are paid three or four stone of grain. At harvest time, or whenever important work is required, labourers can often get employment at the rate of 200 cash, or 8d. per diem, but without food, which is valued, in the case of agriculturists, at one half of this amount.
Querica 3 and 5.--What is the general character of the people of Canton as regards industry, suitableness, and capacity of labour to a tropical climate?
The remarks already given on the fitness of Chinese generally for labour in a tropical cli- mate are as applicable to the people of Canton as to those of the other departments named. Whether the same numbers could be procured in this vicinity as easily as elsewhere, and at the same advantageous rates, may, however, admit of some question. Experience has hitherto proved that coolies of better character than those attainable in the south can be procured at Amoy more readily than at Cauton. Labourers from this neighbourhood are inore athletic, perhaps, than those from other quarters, and as carpenters or builders they excel all others; still they are not so strictly frugal as their countrymen of Fuhkeën, are possessed of over-weening pride, and entertain considerable contempt for foreigners, to whom they owe their increased means of sustenance. The absence of this spirit, and its attendant hostile feeling, in the districts further north, accounts for the more submissive and subordinate disposition of the coolies of Amoy, who have already been sent to Australia to the number of 3,000, and are now being shipped to the West Indies to a much greater extent.
Query 6.-Would men of respectable character join the emigration if conducted on a large scale?
Men of good character, and also of capital, would be found ready to proceed to the West Indies in the same manner as to the East, if assured of freedom and security, and of good means of trading or investing their money. The success of the first emigrants must, however, be proved, and the accounts they bring back satisfactory, before they would be followed by married individuals; nor could permanent settlers of this class be soon looked for in a place so far removed from their own country, and so entirely foreign to them us the West Indies.
Query 7.-Would emigrants take their families with them?
One of the Chinese laws regarding subjects going abroad forbids them to take their families with them, and this seems to be almost the only one on the subject to which due effect has been given. Inquiry, however, will show that the chief reason of its observance exists in the strong repugnance of the Chinese to remove their families, not only to foreign regions, but even to different places in their own country. Women, in Chinese opinion, ought never to quit their homes; and even men are not wholly free from the bins enter- tained against wandering. Necessity in the case of the latter has overcome prejudice; but whilst they have emigrated by millions, women of respectable character are nowhere to be met with, not even in Siam or Cochin China, where the tastes and habits of the people are in many respects akin to and are influenced by those of the Chinese. Although when abroad they may live with native women, they never regard them as their legal wives; but their objections do not extend to the daughters born to their countrymen by these concubines, with whom they freely intermarry. Since, however, the Chinese have had greater command of the superior travelling accommodation of foreign vessels, slight indications of amelioration have been observed even in this deeply-rooted prejudice. At Amoy several instances have been known of stern cabins liaving been engaged by Chinese passengers for themselves and Chinese wives, and one occurred lately at this port also.
Married persons either return to or constantly revisit their homes in China; but those who go out young and single are often induced, by their connexion with native women, and the greater liberty they there enjoy, to stay abroad.. The naturalized or Straits-born Chinese of Singapore, &c. are ever ready to assert their privileges as British subjects, and a little too apt to presume upon them when their business brings them to China.
EMIGRATION OF CHINESE COOLIES.
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Query 9.-Would emigrants pledge themselves by contract to work at certain rates for the same parties?
Contracts of this nature would be indispensable to protect the interests both of the emigrants and their employers. It is only the pledged promise of regular pay and provision which induces the coolies to proceed to an unknown locality. They object, however, to any contract which binds them to labour at a fixed rate for more than five or six years, after which time they should be free to make their own arrangements. A contract system has been pursued with theru on sugar plantatious at Singapore, and found to answer; the proprietor gives the ground to the Chinese, who plant and cultivate the grain, at their own expense, and deliver to him the raw sugar at a certain rate. In such case the great interest which the cultivators have in the production naturally prompts them to do their utmost to secure a good crop.
A few additional Observations.
In shipping coolies it would be well to avoid during the voyage the services of linguists or of Chinese speaking English from foreign colonies, as they have been found to con- tribute to insubordination rather than to peace. The presence of a headman, respected by the coolies, and charged to watch over both their interests and their behaviour, would he productive of good results; he should be treated with deference by the oflicers and crew, and encouraged to bring with him some of his relations or friends, who would assist him in the task of maintaining order. The emptier the ships are of cargo, and the smaller the advances paid to the coolies, the better. They have no prejudices in regard to food, and complain only when it is unwholesome or insufficient; they are orderly if not injured, but are apt to resent a blow. The emigrant ships from Amoy have been supplied with Chinese doctors in addition to European practitioners, which has added materially to the confidence of the coolies; for however ignorant the former may be of their profession, the coolies naturally incline to attach most faith to the nostrums of their own physicians.
Lastly, it may be observed, that although the Chinese will submit to and require a strict system of control, they become impatient under vexatious and unnecessary restric- tions, being accustomed in their own country to a system of government which interferes little with the mass, however arbitrarily and unjustly it may deal with individuals.
HARRY PARKES. Canton, September 1852.
No. 18.
(Signed)
COPY of a LETTER from the COLONIAL LAND AND EMIGRATION COMMIS- SIONERS TO HERMas Merivale Esq.
Colonial Land and Emigration Office,
January 7, 1853.
SIB,
1. WE beg to acknowledge your Letter of the 18th ultimo, enclosing the copy of a Letter from the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in which he transmits the following documents relating to Chinese emigration:-
1. A letter from the Superintendent of Trade at Hong Kong, respecting the means of preventing abuses in English ships concerned in that trade.
2, 3, and 4 Letters from the consuls at Canton and Shanghae, and from the first assistant at the Amoy Consulate, containing answers to a list of queries proposed, by Lord Malmesbury's directions, to the consuls at Chinese ports.
2. We also take this opportunity of enclosing the copy of a letter which we have received from Mr. White, the recently appointed emigration agent in China, reporting the first steps which he had taken on his arrival at Hong Kong.
3. The mutinies and loss of life which have taken place on board the "Lady Montague," and other vessels conveying Chinese emigrants, have led the English Government to consider whether any measures could be taken for imposing rules on this emigration, so far as it is carried on in British ships. Such rules might be enacted by the Legislature of Hong Kong, or by Order in Council, under the Act 6 & 7 Vict. cap. 80. But if so passed, they would only be binding in China and within 100 miles of the coast. In order to give them a greater extension, the consul at Shanghae urges that they should be imposed by Act of Parliament.
4. We would point out, however, that under any circumstances it would be very difficult to enforce the law against any British ship after it has left China for any foreign country. So that in this case the Legis'ature of Hong Kong G