CO885(1-2) — Page 400

No. 45.

130

CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO

A little medical treatment, assisted by their own habits of personal cleanliness, soon got rid of it. They are now all in good health and excellent spirita

2d. I kept no regular account of their work during the first month, but every one (save the sick ones, and there was very little sickness amongst them) worked every working day. They did a good day's work. They took pains to do their work well, and they work with such a cheerful willingness as cannot but give great satisfaction to employers generally.

3d. One man (who came sick upon the estate) has not yet worked; another was laid up for more than the half of the month.

4th. The money wages and allowances of food will amount to more than 30 cents per head daily (day's work); and, besides, I furnished them each with a blanket, a tin pan, a pot, a hat, knives, forks and spooos, a hoe and cutlass, medical attendance and a nurse, also duty on assignments. All this put together will make their labour very expensive for the first month; but if, at the expiration of three months, they are to be put on a footing with the other labourers, not only will we be indemnified by having so effective a supply of continuous labour, but the people themselves will be more indus- trious and comfortable; as for two tasks they will get double wages, and they will have their own gardens, pigs, poultry, &c.

There have been no deaths amongst the Chinese immigrants on this estate, and for upwards of four years there has not been a death on this estate amongst the coolies.

If the very objectionable condition of the Chinese agreements, that they are to receive pay as well as be fed when sick, were done away with, and if they were put on the same footing as other new immigrants, I would greatly prefer them to any labourers we

have.

MACOYA RETURN.

I have, &c., (Signed) J. TAYLOR.

19 Chinese for the month ending 10th April cost 199 dollars, or 10 dollars 40 cents each. The monthly rate on this estate is high from the circumstances of one having died, and the remainder having lust 153 days by sickness.

Their daily work averages 15 cents.

SIR,

Garth Estate, April 19, 1853.

I AM in receipt of your letter of the 17th instant, and in reply beg to inform you that I received on the 10th March 24 Chinese labourers; of these two have died. The quantity of day's work and task from the whole amount to 572, which, at a total expense of 163 dollars for sick inclusive, gives an average of a little over 30 cents per day. I am Sea of opinion that the climate had nothing to do with their sickness on arrival liere. scurvy broke out on many, as well as sore legs. The two deaths were from dysentery and fever, which, I may remark, were generally prevalent among the creoles on the estate at the same period; 17 of the Chinese were seriously indisposed. As a labouring class they are, in my opinion, equal to any introduced into the colony. The principal difficulty was that regarding the language.

In reply to your last query, as to how many coolies I have received on Garth estate, and how many have died, I have to state as follows:-On the 28th February 1846, 25 coolies; on the 5th May 1846, 25 coolies,-one of the last died within ten days after arrival, of dysentery; on the 19th June 1847, 27 Madras coolies, who all ran away as soon as the Coolie Ordinance was disallowed at home. (Mem.-I never got back my 54. sterling from Government House.) On the 13th March 1852, 15 coolies, who are all alive; and on the 5th June 1852, 10 coolies, one of whom came in a dying state, and only survived ten days.

I have had many coolies from other estates, but the deaths above mentioned are all that occurred bere, namely, two coolies and two Chinese.

Henry Mitchell, Esq.,

Acting Agent General of Immigrants.

I have, &c.

(Signed) WILLIAM TAYLOR

221 April 1858. I have further received a verbal port from the manager of the Jordan Hill estate, on which one of the largest Chinese gangs is located; the people, though somewhat expensive, are giving full satisfaction, being both intelligent and willing. They, like nearly all the rest, have laid out most of their month's pay in poultry, pigs, and clothing, tastes which will tend fully as much to the general welfare of the colony as to their own comfort, and are likely to prove their best chance of escape from rum drinking, for which they show a rather stronger predilection than might have been pre- dicated from tea drinkers.

H. M

EMIGRATION OF CHINESE COOLIES.

No. 43.

COPY of a DESPATCH from Governor Lord HARRIS to the Duke of

(No. 59.)

MY LORD Duke,

NEWCASTLE.

Trinidad, May 7, 1853.

CL

131

I HAVE the honour to report the arrival here of the ship Clarendon "

on the 23d of last month, with 251 Chinese men.

I enclose the reports of the Health Officer and of the Agent General of Im- migrants.

I send also a copy of one of the agreements which had been entered into with these men.

There are two points in these agreements which

wish to bring to your Grace's notice, as they both tend greatly to diminish the advantage of this immigration.

The first is, that these people are allowed to remain thirteen days in hospital at a time and not lose their pay, so that a man may secure the whole of his month's wages by working only three days, and by remaining in hospital the rest of the time.

The second is of greater importance, and the untoward consequences of the arrangement are not to be got over. It is, that by the contract an engagement is made to pay five dollars a month to these people.

By this act I have been placed in a most awkward predicament, and was at one time at a loss to know what I should do with the cargo, for the planters at first declined to take them at a higher rate than those which had previously arrived, who receive four dollars, and the Chinese stoutly refused to take less than had been agreed on. A number of the agents and proprietors of estates came forward with great spirit and divided the cargo amongst them, whether they needed them or not, and relieved me of the difficulty.

I do not know who may have been the actual author of this very careless arrangement. So far as I can gather it appears to have been left to the dis- cretion of some agent, at two or three removes, of Messrs. Hyde and Hodge, who commissioned the captain of the vessel to make the bargain, and that the rate might have been even higher lød he pleased to raise it.

He appears at all events to have been quite unconscious of one very necessary element of the labour question, which is, that there should not only be a supply, but that the rate of payment should be such as will afford a prospect of remu- neration to the employer, and which will not upset the arrangements already entered into with the rest of the population.

There is at present not only the probability that all the Chinamen who had previously arrived will be dissatisfied unless they receive the same rate of wages, but that discontent will be aroused amongst the rest of the population, Indians, Africans, and creoles.

The difficulty is aggravated in consequence of the non-arrival of vessels to take the coolies whose term of five years has expired, so that there exists a larger number of immigrants than was expected at the time when the calcula- tions for the necessary supply for this year was made.

It is very disagreeable to me to feel it my duty so frequently to point out defects in the manner in which the immigration to this colony is conducted, and I am aware how easy it is for those inexperienced in the difficulties of any par- ticular case to find fault. At the same time it is a cause of great disappoint- ment to me, after having been toiling at this business for six and a half years, and after having accomplished a successful result, for it was working admirably and as smoothly as a well-kept engine, with both proprietors and labourers satisfied and contented, to see its stability risked by such careless treatment.

I am, however, not unprepared with a remedy, for I feel certain that the immigration to this island could be carried on without a difficulty by merely the two present loan agents and an agent in London, and one agent in India and another in China.

I may add that the additional dollar granted to this batch of Chinamen will be an increase of expense to the planters of 13,000, supposing, which will probably be the case, that the wages of the whole body will have to be raised;

R 2

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference -

C.O. 885

1 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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