Evening star., 1919-10-12

Sugar, If you please
"One, two or three?'
Three, l think, of those dear httles
Jumps; why, 1 haven't seen anything
so delicate since we left Paris
where did you get them?' s
why, they came in a case off
French delicacies which the depart
ing consul sent to my husband a few
weeks ago"
The governor himself entered at
this moment and. after greeting the
guests, sat down by Mrs. Tompkins'
side and joined them in the conver-
sation about the accident. \
YES" he said. 1T is a strange and
occurrence. and II 1T was
only one ease 1t wouldn't amount to
anything and would soon be forgot
ten. The trouble is. however. that
this is the fifth within week. and
Inspector Wallace tells me that the
wharf coolies are becoming quite ex-
cited about it and may strike and
refuse to work at any moment"
well, there are surely thousands
of others who will be glad to take
their places, my dear" broke in Lady
Evington. "Are there not? Why.
there seem to be so many of them
waiting around there with their bam-
boos that one can hardly count them.
and they all look so poor and hungry
that it's quite pathetic"
"Ah, that's Just the difficulty in
the case You see. the Chinese are
very c,annish, and, though it is true
they don't have the iron-bound castes
that give US so much trouble in In
dia. yet they have all sorts of guilds
and local and provincial distinctions
and every gang Of laborers seems to
have some special privilege which no
other one can take away from 1t
without a serious row. My esteemed
friend, Mr.. Wang Foo, explained all
this carefully to me last night
sent for him, you know. because l
consider. him the very best informed
has wonderful faculty of making
Chinese problems clear to the Euro
pean mind-he says that the handling
of tea is entirely separate matter
from any other kind of cargo, and
the ordinary wharf coolie would not
be allowed to touch chest of it.
The loading and unloading of it has
been a sort of monopoly for years in
the hands of a gang of coolies from
a northern village above Canton and
they resent any interference with
their inherited right"
"And do you actually mean that
this free and enlightened British COL
ony is not free to employ any one it
likes to do its work and unload its
ships? inquired Mrs. Tompkins in a
tone Of thorough British patriotism.
DO We allow ourselves to be die
tated to by bodies of native laborers?
Where is our boasted civil liberty
and our wonderful control over the
Asiatics? Where is the benign in
fuence and gentle swaying power
that we are always hearing about
in parliament and in the papers at
homer"
His excellency Sir Wayne Evington
was just llttIo TuHlcU ht tnlS OUT.
burst from his Australian guest, but
kept himself under perfect control
and, soothing his nerves with a cup
Of delicious tea, quietly and politely
my dear Mrs. Tompkins,
permit me to explain that after you
have resided year or two in the
colony among these people you will
some of these things much
better than you possibly could now,
even though l should give you the
most careful and detailed explana-
ton. We are not here to antagonize
them, but rather to try and live in
peace and harmony with them and to
build up our International commerce.
Those who have lived longest among
them and who know them best assure
us that this can only be done by con-
them when no great princi-
pie is at stake. l believe this most
and have tried to act up
to it ever since I came here The
coolie Is as hard working a slave of
his fellow man as you will find any
where on earth, toiling from daylight
to dark for his Few small coins. He
is a necessity to us; we are absolutely
dependent upon his help. Why should