The Hawaiian gazette., 1881-03-16

capable of taking care Of himself. It il
now believed that in no British Colony has
the East Indian any Just cause of CON-
plant, but it is only because he is held as q
ward of the British Government, whilst
/ the laws of the Crest Empire of India and
more particularly of each Colony are re-
quired to be specially modified to suit tho
system. In these appendages to the British
Grown, aboriginal races have no voice
profitable sugar growing is the one grand
object, and plentiful supply of cheap la
Dor is of course the great means to that
end, SO that they frame their laws as best
they can in the attempt to try aud meet the
philanthropic views of the people of Great
i Britain and at the same time enable them
to control the coolie labor. 1t has been re-
marked, perhaps with more of sarcasm
than justice, that the form of government
of those Colonies is can autocracy of su.
gar tempered by Exeter Hail." an imputa-
/ ton however under which any colony or
country that relies mainly on raising sugar
by East Indian contract coolie labor is apt
to rest. R7rf Uaf1 Euzrs %
Great Britain has extended this privilege
Of employing East Indians to certain Colo
Dies of France, Denmark and Holland, on
condition of passing and maintaining in
force codes of laws approved by the Indian
Government.
1t is of Importance to bear in mind in
considering the working of this system,
that the importation of certain limited
! number of coolies usually supplies the de-
mand, but that as the old contracts run out
and the coolie goes back to India with his
accumulations, or finds out another method
of living in the Colony, new lots of men
from India have to be obtained to keep
down the rate of wages to its normal level.
The working of the system in the neighbor-
ing island of Mauritius, an island of less
area than Maui, has resulted in q some
what overcrowded population on January
LIST, 1880, of 357, 339 souls, of which the
Indian population numbered 24S, 586. Of
these 150,857 were males and 92,529 were
females, showing an excess of males among
the Indians of 58,328. The excess of males
in the whole population taken together was
at the same date Ga, sol, showing that the ex-
cess of males was mainly caused by the coolie
system, and which is remarkable in an ISL
and SO close to India, and where the come
munication is SO cheap and frequent that
the Indian Government does not insist on
the coolies being granted free passage
back to India, as they do in all other Colo
MES to which they are permitted to emil
CRATE. The agents of some Of the Colonies
admit that it is next to impossible to obtain
the prescribed proportion of Indian women,
even by sweeping the streets" of the
towns of the most abandoned class of fe-
males.
It will be seen therefore that when the
people, the government and the planters of
this country commit themselves to this sys-
tenn, Great Britain consenting, they do not
simply admit few or even considerable
number of laborers or people to be added
to the general supply, but rather they inau-
gurate labor system which seems usually
to swamp all others, at least if intended to
accomplish the object which you propose,
that is to secure steady supply of cheap
labor obtainabIe without reference to the
suitability of the people as permanent
population for the country.
With the views held by this government
as to the general impolicy of adopting the
British India Coolie system, it may per-
haps be unnecessary to refer here in much
detail to the difficulties which stand in the
way of satisfactorily arranging the matter
with the British and Indian Governments.
Having however been requested when in
England to look into this matter, it may be
Ill - Al sc
quIries at head quarters. In the first place,
it is absolutely necessary before introduc-
ing single Indian under contract, either
to make special convention with Great
Britain, or to agree to bring them under
the terms of some convention already made
with another country or colony. In carry
ing ont such an arrangement it would be
necessary for this kingdom to modify its
laws to suit the system. The Imperial
Government insists on certain strict regu-
lations for the protection Of the coolie, but
at the same time the Colonies find it neces-
sary to make some very stringent laws for
their control, which am convinced wonld
be pronounced here unconstitutional, for
the protection of the planters and to enable
them to get a fai1o amount of work from
the coolie, who is admitted on all hands to
be " indolent to fault" unless held under
some compulsory law to work.
Where the population consists mainly of
East Indian coolies, or similar people, there
is usually not much difficulty in passing
such laws; but situated as we are with an
intelligent native, foreign-born and mixed
laboring population, who have the selection
of the Lawmakers in their own hands, the
difficulties would seem insuperable; nor is
the difficulty any less if it is proposed to
modify the Constitution SO as to permit
class Legislation, and apply laws to the
coolies which would not affect the general
population. Even in British Guiana, with
large Indian population, the system of
making laws to suit other countries is
found to be inconvenient, and it is stated
in the essays previously alluded to,
Yide Pare Essays, Page SO: "A great
misfortune to the Government of Guiana,
as indeed must be expected in any country
the laws of which are passed at the dicta-
tion of other countries, is that very strin-
gent laws not always well digested are
zorr, ekir1ee crnde1 .aa