Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, February 1899: Volume LIV, No. 4, February 1899 — John Shaqi
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, February 1899: Volume LIV, No. 4, February 1899Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, February 1899: Volume LIV, No. 4, February 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
On arrival in the colony the coolies are allotted to the different
estates. The coolie is bound to remain for five years on the
plantation to which he is allotted, and to work during that time five
days a week, the day's work being seven hours. In return for this the
planter must furnish him with a house free of rent, and built in such
a way as to meet the requirements of the inspector of immigrants'
dwellings in regard to ventilation, size, and water supply; and no
immigrants are sent to any estate until these houses have been
inspected and passed as satisfactory. The planter must also furnish on
the estate free hospital accommodation and medical attendance, and in
addition provide free education for the children of indentured
immigrants.
The medical officers are Government servants, and the colony is
divided into districts, each of which has its own doctor, who is
compelled by law to visit each estate in his district at least once in
forty-eight hours and examine and prescribe for all immigrants
presenting themselves at the hospital.
The planter is further bound to pay a minimum daily wage of
twenty-four cents to each man and sixteen cents to each woman. This
appears at first sight a very small sum, but when it is taken into
account that a coolie can live well on eight cents a day it will be
seen that the wage is three times the living expense, a rate very
rarely paid to agricultural laborers in any part of the world.
That the coolies do, in fact, save considerable sums of money will be
seen when the statistics of the immigration department are examined.
These records show that during the years 1870 to 1896 38,793
immigrants returned to India after completing their terms of
indenture, and that they carried back with them to their native land
over $2,800,000. At the end of 1896 there were over five thousand East
Indian depositors in the British Guiana Government Savings Bank and
the Post-Office Savings Bank, with a total sum of more than $450,000
to their credit.
At the end of five years the indentured coolie becomes absolutely
free. He may cease work, or, if he prefer it, remain on the estates as
a free laborer. The whole colony is open to him, and he may engage in
any trade or profession for which he may be fitted. If he remains for
five years longer in the colony, even though he be idle during the
whole of that time, he becomes entitled to a grant of land from the
Government. The law in this respect has been recently changed. All
coolies who came to the colony prior to 1898 have the choice at the
end of ten years of a free grant of land or an assisted passage back
to their native place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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