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EMIGRATION FROM CHINA TO THE WEST INDIES.

8. The emigration from China may be carried on throughout the year, but probably to more advantage, and perhaps also with more economy, during the period between November and March. This is the season of the north-east monsoon, when the passage may be made from 30 to 40 days quicker. Agricul tural operations are in some measure at a stand, and less employment can be obtained in the fields. Better men may therefore be obtained, and perhaps, also, on more favourable terms.

9. At present an abundance of shipping might be secured for the emigration service. The large influx of American clipper-built vessels from California has had a most injurious effect upon British shipping, as a preference is given to them for the conveyance of teas, on account of their superior sailing qualities. British shipping have, consequently, been thrown out of employ. Many of these are well titted up, and well found, and would be obtained now on lower terms than will be the case hereafter, when the balance of the shipping interests shall be re-adjusted by the construction of better vessels in England, capable of competing with the American shipping.

10. All the further information I have received confirms the opinion expressed in my last communication to your Excellency, that it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to induce the emigration of women and families. They never have done so hitherto, and the Chinese cling with such tenacity to ancient cus- toms that they will hardly be persuaded to adopt a new course in this instance. Women are considered as property, and can be obtained only by purchase; and I believe that the only feasible plan of procuring their emigration would be to give an advance of $20 or 880 to such of the emigrants as were disposed to procure respectable women. This might, perhaps, induce some of them to take their wives and families with them, and the additional sum thus advanced might be deducted by monthly instalments out of the wages of the husband.

A few women might probably be procured by such means, and if the accounts sent home by them to their relatives should be satisfactory, the confidence thus established would no doubt induce others to follow, and in time an adequate number of women and families might be obtained; but in the first instance this will be attended with considerable difficulty. I am afraid, also, that if any large number of women should be found to leave the country, it would attract the notice of the Mandarins, and have the effect of putting an entire stop to emigra- tion. The Mandarins would readily avail themselves of this as a plea to obtain some pecuniary "consideration."

11. I cannot account satisfactorily for the difficulty of procuring women. Female infanticide is very common in the Province of Fokien; and I saw at Amoy, in some ponds in the centre of the town, several bundles of matting, which were pointed out to me as containing the bodies of new-born female infants. Under such circumstances, one would naturally infer that the Chinese would be glad of the opportunity offered, by means of emigration, to relieve the country of its superabundant female population. The men appear to me to be domestic, and fond of their families and of children; and yet, while they emigrate by thousands, there is hardly an instance of any woman having left the country. Many of the Chinese settled in Singapore Java, and elsewhere, are com paratively wealthy; but instead of sending for their families, they prefer making remittances to them, and the connexión is kept up by occasional visits to their native land. The few Chinese women in Singapore, were purchased here as young girls, and I am informed that this system is carried on now, but not to any great extent.

12. It must be borne in mind that the women in China do not work in the fields, at least I have never seen any engaged in any agricultural operation, Probably one half of the floating population who live in boats, on the rivers, and along the shores of China, are women and girls. They are extremely hard. working and industrious, and manage their boats with as much tact and facility as the men. I am inclined to think that these women, from their habits of hard work and eagerness to acquire money, would soon take to the lighter descriptions of field work in the West Indies, and to the weeding and the moulding of the cane. They are large-footed, while those living in the country are doomed to

EMIGRATION FROM CHINA TO THE WEST INDIES.

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perpetual inactivity, in consequence of the wretched practice that prevails of having their feet distorted to unnatural smallness.

13. Boys of eight to ten years of age may be obtained, I believe, in consider- able numbers, at wages varying from 1 to 32 per month. Girls can only be obtained by purchase. If families should hereafter be induced to emigrate, it would be necessary to pay the father a bonus for each girl. This advance might be recoverable from the girl by resolving it into so many years wages paid to her in advance, or, as she would soon form some permanent connexion, the amount might be recoverable from her husband. from six to ten years of age, being hawked about the streets in Amoy, for whom I saw several young girls, the price asked was from $20 to $50. These were small-footed girls, and con- sequently of higher value.

14. I have no reason to alter the opinion formerly expressed, that the Chinese are admirably adapted as labourers for the West Indies. They are strong, active, and intelligent, disposed to work, and to make money. The climate here, at least at this season of the year, is very similar to that of the West Indies, and I think they would enjoy health and strength in their new location. The extensive cultivation of rice and of sugar in the low lands, in the two provinces of Canton and Fokien, would seem to qualify them for a residence“, in Trinadad and Demarara, and I believe they will be found hardy and industrious.

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The system of payment by monthly wages will not answer well. It dis courages industry, and the Chinese will, no doubt, take advantage of it, to do as little work as possible. The system of job-work is more consonant to their habits; and though it may be necessary that there should be contracts of service at monthly wages in the first instance, the sooner they are supplanted by special agreements the better will it be for the convenience and interest of both parties. 15. There is one trait in the character of the Chinese which makes me some- what doubtful as to their conduct in the West Indies. I refer to their habit of combining together for all purposes, whether good, bad, or indifferent. Chinaman ever acts from individual impulse, but always in concert with others. This principle of their character, if pushed to any extent in such colonies as British Guiana and Trinidad, where the demand for labour is greater than the supply, might be found very inconvenient and injurions. They are also repre- sented to me as being of rather stubborn and wilful disposition; but I believe that this arises principally from the idea of their own vast superiority over all other people, and would probably give way to better information. These two traits will render it necessary to exercise a firm, judicious, and vigilant controul, in order to check misconduc tat its very commencement. them an interest in the soil and its produce will probably be the most effectual I think that giving means of preventing such combinations.

16. I think also that some consideration is due to the great distance of the West Indies, the want of intercourse with China, and to the impossibility of their visiting their native land. With the exception of Australia and California, to which emigration has only recently set in, there is frequent intercourse between China and every island in which they have settled, so that emigration is, as it were, only a removal from one part of the empire to another. "To remedy the inconveniences probably arising from this, it will be necessary to give facilities for enabling them to correspond with their friends, and to make remittances of ̃· money. This will tend to remove the feeling of distance from home; and the necessity for it will decrease as greater numbers settle in the country, and they become organized into a society of their own.

17. I have several forms of contract, but I send only two, which may serve as samples for the rest. These were entered into by emigrants for Sydney and the Sandwich Islands; I send also a form in which the principle has been adopted of giving them an interest in the soil. These people emigrated to the Bashee or Babuyane Islands, a small group to the northward of, and a dependency of Manilla. I am informed that the experiment, so far, has been successful; but as the emigration only took place recently (about a year ago), it is too soon to form any definite opinion.

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