CO885(1-2) — Page 357

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

PEPEE C.O. 885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

46

CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO

Many labourers from Fuhkeen emigrate to other provinces, and are there employed in clearing and breaking waste grounds, in hill cultivation, consisting chiefly of sweet potatoes and ground-nuts, and also as manufacturers of crockery and burners of lime and

charcoal

Character of Chinese emigrants.

The absorbing aim of the Chinese emigrant is to better his condition.

Of this object *he never loses sight; and as he often continues to retain it, even after he has gained the competency for which he first commenced to strive, it frequently follows that he finally adopts as his permanent home the locality in which he has reaped his profits, if adapted by climate, and the presence of others of his countrymen, to his native habits and mode of life. Unlike the negro, who works and denies himself for a time, and with a view only to gain the means of maintaining himself for a corresponding interval in case and idleness, the labour of the Chinese knows no cessation, and his savings are formed into a stock which he is always endeavouring to increase, but never to exhaust. Different again to the coolie of Hindostan, the Chinese is ignorant of the blighting effects of caste, and is as strongly bent on raising himself to a higher position as he is on acquiring wealth

Though laborious not servile.

Instead, however, of their laboriousness being attended with servility, a feeling of independence enters strongly into the character of the lower orders of the Chinese, and is particularly noticeable in that of the agriculturists, who, from the estimation in which their calling is held at home, and the native system of tenure which divides the land into small holdings, are often led to consider themselves in their own country as on an equality with the proprietors of the soil they till, and in no way beholden to him for furnishing them employment, from which he derives equal or more benefit than themselves.

Can accommodate themselves to a variety of occupations.

It is curious that whilst in their own land they seldom quit the particular calling they adopt in early life, to which they are often born and bred for successive generations, the Chinese evince when abroad a particular talent, for Asiatics, of adapting themselves to any circumstances; readily quitting oue trade or occupation, if they find it does not yield the remuneration they had expected, for another of a wholly different nature.

Commercial spirit a particular feature. Their reputation in foreign settlements as planters and merchants.

A strong commercial spirit rules all their proceedings, even of those who emigrate ns agriculturists. Froin husbandmen they become planters, and often change this vocation for that of the merchant, or perhaps combine the two. This course can be traced in all their numerous settlements. Forinosa, comparatively unknown to them three centuries ago, is now supposed to contain three millions of Chinese; and the amount of sugar, rice, hemp, and indigo which they export from thence is immense. Nearly an equal number is spread through Annam, Siani, and the Straits settlements, where they are the princi- pal cultivators, traders, miners, and artizans. The Gambia plantations of Singapore, employment on which is attended with danger on account of exposure to tigers, are entirely in the hands of Chinese, chiefly men of Tiechin. In Java they are large indigo and coffee planters, and the extensive sugar and tobacco cultivation of this island was at one time wholly in their hands, until European capital and machinery were brought to compete with their industry. Elsewhere, as in their own land, they are growers of cotton, and their delicacy of touch peculiarly fits them for the occupation of sorting the different qualities. In Manilla, Singapore, the ports of Java, &c., almost the whole of the foreign trule passes through the lands of Chinese, who, in the capacity of middlemen or brokers, conduct the transactions between the European merchants and the Indians, Bergis, Arabs, or Malays, changing the huckstering traffic of the latter into wholesale dealings, more suited to the means and time of the former.

Tropical climates suited to the Chinese.

The tropical regions of the cast and west resemble each other, it is presumed, in their main features; in both there are lofty mountain ranges, dense jungles, swampy savannahs, m' and a heated humid atmosphere. Experience shows that climates of this description agree with the Chinese, who, like the negroes, prefer to fix their habitations in low plans. But if the report be true that the 800 coolies, shipped from Amoy to Cuba in 1847, lave thrived, and realized the expectations formed of their labour, all doubt as to the suitable- ness of the climate is satisfactorily removed.

Conclusion that the Chinese are well adapted to West Indian labour.

There can be little question, therefore, that much advantage would result from the introduction into the West Indies of a class of labourers, who in similar latitudes of the East have proved themselves proficients in growing sugar, coffee, cotton, indigo, tobacco, pepper, rice, or dry grains, and many minor articles; and are also adepts at felling timber, clearing jungle, constructing bunds or dams, and opening irrigation.

The following remarks Lear more particular reference to certain of the queries of the Right Honourable tlie Earl of Malmesbury:-

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OUTLINE TO ACCOMPANY

MR PARKE'S REMARKS ON CHINESE EMIGRATION.

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