The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-06-03
Il.dutn Coolies.

y plmph!cI has recently been published
by the National Liberal Federation of
Great Britain, setting forth the condition
of the agricultural population in India,
which contains some matter of interest
here, in view Of the discussion which is GO
ing OH amongst US rs To the availability of
Indian Coolies as labOrers for our planta-
tious and the propriety of seeking to obtain
them. The contents of the pamphlet have
Il bearing On our local question i'm SO far as
they naTrute the miserable condition in
which large numbers of industrious agTi-
cultural labOrers are now living in several
districts of the Indian Peninsula, and
through the emphatic testimony they af-
ford a. 10 the tractable and peaceful char
acfer Of the people thus situated. The
pamphlet itself is a strongly wOrded protest
against the character of British rule i'm In
diu, which i treated of in the spirit of po-
litical partiZHnship, and condemned i'll II
wholesale manner. The truth appears to be
that the rule of the white invaders" has
secured for the rural population an immu-
nifty from the devastating and murderOus
wars which Indian Princes were continu-
ally waging among themselves, and has
suppressed many Ubiquitous customs in ac-
cordance with which a multitude of lives
were annually sacrificed. Hence the rural
population has Increased in a far greater
measure than the supply of TODD, and mil
lions live precarious lives, nsufficiently
fed, scarcely housed at all, and liable any
year to be decimated by famines caused by
adverse conditions of the weather. On
his point, we will quote from an account
of the pamphlet above referred to- which
appears in an English paper, the Liver
pool Mercury, politely forwarded to US by
Mr.. James Woods of Kohala), the follow
ing painful picture:
at was discovered by the Famine Com
m~issioners i'm 1879 that in u portion of Ben
gal "A population .of p, 900, 900 were strug-
Cling to live upon u, COG, 900 acres, or a lit
tie more than half an acre each. At half
AN acre apiece the struggle is hard but Il
good harvest yields just sufficient food to
enable the people to exist. a season of
drought reduces thousands to a condition of
actual starvation. There are over 100000,
600 Of people in India; of these, 80 per cent
are STATED by Mr.. Digby to be engaged i'm
agricultural pursuits, whilst half of those
so engaged are declared never from years
end to- years end TO have their appetite sat
isfied. In other words, 10000 900 of people
are in daily course of starvation in India.
Official statistics, which always err on the
favorable side, estimate the number as one
person in every six of population. The
poverty of the Indians can perhaps be best
realized by considering the character o
their houses, and OH this head the Famine
Commission brought a number of most dis
tTessi. Z facts to light. The home of the
average Indian agriculturlst Is destitute
even of those meagTe evidences of cOmfori
which the English laborer's dwelling. OF
even the Irish laborer's nut. may be founC
to afford. Mud walls and matched roofs ar,
the rule; the rooms are, OF course, devOiC
OF ceiling and the floor Is of simple earth
beaten hard. There are no chairs or beds
or anything Of what Is called furniture
the people for the most part sleep on tia,
> earthen floor. This description applies t.
the homes of the ryOts, who may be calleC
Well-tO-dO. OF the labOTers, who may ID,
II counted 10y millions, an even worse story i
told. IL j. estimated that the value of al
> ordinary dwelling is less than one poun,
sterling, but countless Indians are unable
to meet even 80 small an outlay for hOml
and shelter, and are compelled to sleep tn
whole year round in the open air"
This appalling picture of destitution rem
ders it quite certain that, wherever the in
p disposition to leave the land in which the.
were born can be overcome a multitude o
4 East Indians will better their condition i
AN almost infinite degree by exchangin
their present life for that of laborers on Ha
: waiian plantations. Moreover the agIta
ton which has arisen in England in regar
To- the condition of the Indian population
= will bring AN ever increasing pressure I
, bear on the Indian G. vernment, forcin
= upon them the actual encouragement {
& emigration Instead Of the passive attitud
i'm regard To- il which has hitherto bee
adopted. ~ to the facts set foi tn above
they are accredited by the character an
personal knowledge of the writer of tin
N pamphlet. Mr. VIM Digby, whose letters t
the Times woke up in England, that move
y ment by which S4,OO0,OOJ were vo!uutaril,
J subscribed there in "A short space of time t
H. relieve the population of India during tn
, late famine.
q Thus much for the question as to whethe
70 supplies Of Indian IabOrers ought to b
found available. Let Us see what NJ
3 Digby has to testify a. to- the character {
the people who are thus situated. w
Al quote again from the same source:
D." Mr.. Digby asserts from intimate know
edge Of them that there are not more law
=. abiding, cOnteutei- and on the whole, lows
- be races under the sway OF the Queen tina
the people If India. There il less Grim
M among them than among people similarl
situated in any European country. /
4. times of sore distress, their patience il dC
scTibed a. truly sublime. They saw the
crops perish before their eyes without COZ
sidering IL their business to wreak vengeanC
IT, upon their rulers; they were starving, bU
not one IN = hundred reSO-tcd to robbeTN
- TIE lower classes of the people in Indi
are said to he exceptionally temperat,
- MI. Dl-bE tens u~ lleN 10 uOI consume II
=, tONicatin@ drinks except ut the annual T,
10 ligiouS festival, and even then sparingly
T. They are a benevolent people. During III
famine campaign, ore Indian gentleIna
0P fed 1880 people daily in his own cOmpoun'
The poorer Indians have equally noble in
pulse-. Mr.. Digby speaks Of big boy
bringing little boys To the relief camps, an
Though laHk and hIngry themselves. an
De casting longing eyes on food intent only a
- seeing that their charges got their allotte
rations."
Inn From all this, va learn that whilst "
10 may assist ourselves in our own difficult
as to laborers by sending to India for then