The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1880-11-03
rCommunicated1

The Indian Coolie question is one which has al
ready been ventilated considerably, but at the
same time from only one side we have had great
guns from Mr. Rhodes, we have had small ones
from the Advertiser have had few pertinent
questions from the GAZETTE and there has been
considerable amount of casual talk from all sorts
OF quarters The questions asked by the GAZETTE
have for several weeks remained unanswered save
by three gentlemen who are recent arrivals here.
We have heard nothing from Mr. Rhodes lover his
slgnature) and the AdrertiSer has made merry on
the subject of the GAzETTE's questions. now pro-
pose to give little insight into what has been
really done in the matter
In 1873 Mr.. Carter was sent to England for the
purpose of arranging certain matters connected
with our treaty with that country which Recipro
city Treaty with the United States had put out Of
gear As pendant to this mission Mr.. Carter was
asked to enquire into the matter of Indian Immi-
grafton. Mr.. Wodehouse accompanied Mr. Carter
for the ayowed purpose of furthering him in the
matter of the treaty clauses the then existing
government did not send either Mr.. Carter or Mr.
Wodehouse (whoSe expenses they paid) for any
other purpose than for regulating the treaty clauses
this 1 state on the authority of the Prime Min
lister of that Ministry with whom l conversed
upon the subject few weeks ago. / make this
preliminary statement because / know that in
many minds there dwells an idea that this object
of Mr.. Carter's mission in that year was Indian
Coolies, when In fact it was nothing of the kind.
Mr.. Carter when he looked into the Coolie mat
ter III London found that the state of the was
as follows (Of course promise that your readers
understand that MIR. Carter applied himself to the
very best authorlties.) In the first place it was
stated that Hindu Coolies would require a special
set OF laws to be enacted for them, Coole
would in fact entail a change in our con-
sttutlon. This, however, is a political question
which might or might not be modified. Secondly,
an enquiry was made as to what machinery was
required for getting Coolies together. The reply
was that the Indian Government allowed no com
mission to be paid and that they required
salarled officer, to be approved by the Governor
General, to do the work. This officer would have
to appoint runners, likewise salaried, for again
even IN this no commission is allowed to be paid
who would collect the labor together. We have
heard much of the Hill Coole, of his splendid
physique, of his stamina of his fidelity naturally
having our salaried agents and runners We
would expect to be able to get the Hill labor, far
from IL, all that can be got from that district is
absorbed by the Assam Tea Plantation and army
The most fertile field for laborers for the English
Colony of Guiana is Madras. However granted
that we have obtained permission, have started our
agencies, have hired our runners, have built our
barracks and have collected together sixty or one
hundred men at considerable initial expense; be-
fore stepping on board ship fifty of these men
suddenly afraid of the distance they have to come
may express wish to return; matter what out
lay we may have been at, no matter what contracts
may have been made, the Indian Government re-
quires that such men should be free to leave-that
such discontent and distrust should spread among
the people at first is certain, and we NAV be sure
that It would be fostered by the agents of the
British Colonies who find It hard fill their order
already and would view with enmity foreigner
Ill the field This distrust of course could be over
come, but only In time, say three OF four years
after we had brought and returned number of
laborers. Much has been said about the Indian
Coole bringing his family along with him; as a
fact, lately, the whole machinery of emigration to
Guiana was at a deadlock because the agent was
unable to make up the quota of women required
by the Indian Government; he said it was impos-
s1bie to do so and that to get what women he had
he had been obliged to sweep the streets of Cal
cutta-desirable women for this country certainly
Much has been said about the absurdity of the
statement that at time of famine it was impos-
sible to obtain laborers from India the statement
appears to us very reasonable: British India is
full of demagogues who would at once say that
supplies of rice had not been forwarded to the
famine stricken districts by the Government or
that precautions against famine had not been
taken with a view of creating such state of
things that the natives should be forced to emil
crate to cultivate the Colonial sugar estats such
statements might be villainous fabrications never
theless they would have their weight. Again no
sane man would ever dream of bringing across the
seas a number of half starved wretches, with the
seeds of disease in their constitutions large pro-
portion of whom would die long before they reach
ed their destination, and the rest arrival would
form disease centre.
With regard to expense, the statistics derived
from the present cost of carrying laborers to Brit
ish Colonies are not sufficient for us, must also
consider what the initial cost would be the initial
cost to the Colony of Guiana was in the neighbor-
hood of e400O00i
Since 1 have looked into the matter / find
there is already plenty of information at hand but
psrg T 1s9nr ns indian e Soosa
here Is evidently no easy matter, moreover it Will
be an expensive matter and a considerable amount
of time will have to be spent in getting all the
machinery in working order.
Labor we must have, and labor we may possibly
get from India, but we must not be surprised il
do try that field that we do not succeed as well
as some people wouldlead us to expect. V.k.