Coolie Slavery in the Pacific.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 22, 13 April 1870, Page 7

Coolie Slavery in the Pacific.

( A mtralavan.)

In the last number of the Australasian we described the mutiny and suicide df upwards of 200 coolies. Since then, intelligence has reached us from San Francisco conlirnialdry of the story. In further illustration of the brdtality to which the coolies are subjected, ail Englishman and his wife, who have recently arrived in California, have furnished the local correspondent of the New York World with the following statementTil 1864, dt London, he engaged with tile agents of the Tahiti Cotton and Coffee Company (limited), to gO to Tahiti for the ternl of five .years as overseer of coolies on their plantation. He arid his wife were furnished yvith free passages, and they were assured that on the plantation they would find a house for tlieir reception, furnished with everything that a family could require for comfort, convenience, and subsistence. They sailed, and in due time reached Tahiti. Oil their arrival the manager of the company and his corps of atton hints and flunkeys met them at the wharf, but he did not spO ik to any of the party, or allow them to hold any intercourse with those previously employed. They Went to the plantation, and were received there in a similar manner, and in *their house found only a bare bedstead and two stools. His wife Was ill, and both of them Were hungry. He applied to Mr Janies, a storekeeper, for some food and wine for his wife, and he said he would see the manager, The. manager refused their request, and. during the day they were unable to procure other food than a small piece of raw pork. His first duty Was to oversee a gang of coolies ill the cotton-gin shop. He found them all enlaciated, and many suffering greatly from wouilds, bruises, and loathsome uliiors. Still they Worked patiently, and out of pity he neglected to urge them With the orange club which had been placed in his hand. The next day the managei dame to him and complained that he had not beaten any of the people, and when lie suggested that it was not necessary, the man fell into a towering rage, and threatened to take him before the tribunal of Papetee, an institution before which all the managers and bosses in the island may enforce their threats or orders-. On the following day. lie was sent into the field without his breakfast, and he bad no food till night. He remained as overseer in the field about four months, and theii the manager having failed to convince him that lie ought to maltreat the coolies, took him. out of the field and made him a Watchman, his business being to ride on the outside of the plantation to prevent escapes-. There Were about 1400 coolies on it, and the farm Was about four miles square: They were treated with the utmost cruelty by all the other overseers, and a (hording to the ferdcity one of these Wretches could display was the measure of his fatfor with the manager. One day, out of niefd dapride, the manager made our informant a prisoner in his dwn house, and kept him there for five days. In addition to that he deducted lodol. lsc, from hiri pay. Last Christinas, he met with two or three of the “disciples” of the manager. They were drunk, saluted him, and he returned the salutation. The manager saw it, asked hinl how he dared to speak to one of his men, and sent him a prisoner again for five days. When the term was nearly out, he did something which displeased the manager, and the latter gave him his choice to go to Papdtee, or have his agreement cancelled and leave the island. • He was glad to take the latter alternative at almost any cost, signed the cancellation, and, with his wife, embarked for this port, where he arrived only a few clays since.

Other men employed on the place were less fortunate in their relations with the manager;

A man named Mahood, of London, brother Of a jeweller in Oxford-street, was the object of his tyraniiy* aiid was sent, with scarcely a rnOntent’s notice* to the tribunal of Papetee, accompanied by his sick wife; There he was abused and nearly starved ; they are there yet in a destitute condition. On one occasion Mahood drank some brandy in the hospital : he did so again, and was almost fatally poisoned ; and once he was sent to prison by the “Tribunal for the term of One year, for some trivial offence. John Bible, an Irishman, was overseeing some coolies who were picking cotton for the Paris Exposition. As he did not beat them, he was abused* and fi naily, by order of the manager* he was placed in irons* and kept in that position till he became a raving maniac. He was then scut to Papetee, and his wife, who was endente, accompanied him. She was told that they would be sent to England, but, instead, they wore put on board a vessel and scut to Auckland.

Martin Hennessy, who has a wife and child living m this city, bcc' ime' one' day slightly intoxicated. - He was ironed; and Sifter waftls driver! along the road by two men, who beat hint fririously with orangewood clubs. Thomas Kirman and his wife were banished to Auckland for same trivial fault of bis, and were sent off penniless. The coolies are not permitted to return

to China or India when their original terms of service expire. They are induced td extehil theui hy methods of v.diich till* following are ;t type A few month ll ! Since a large hurrihef of the coolies wet'i! erttitlefl to return to their homes by tli3 cxpiartioil Of tlldir terms, bvtb the met! were iii dtibl (as is gdnefaliy the case) to the company, T'heif wivds however, [ios< sessed of niore inclependdiicd-, and tired of remaining longer thd slaves of beastly lecherous ovefsders, niilstered in front of the store and demanded their liberty* The tyrant sent itteri who drovd then! like sheep into a cldsd pfisdu 10ft widd and l ift long. The air was close and stifling. T'heyhad neither food nor water* At intervals one of the “ pets” of thd manager would enter the den bearing a heavy club, and with that he would beat them right and left till many of the helpless women lay bleeding and almost dead at bis feet. For three whole days and nights they were kept shut Up in tin? dreadful place, without a morsel of food) and only occasionally a drop of water* Soldo became delirioUs, and all were so weak and stupid that they scarcely moved under the descending club of the miscreant overseers. On the morning of the fourth day they all “promised voluntarily” to remain on the plantation another term, aiid were then dragged out and nursed, till, like beasts, they could be driven td their appointed tasks. . The men are often “ persuaded” in a similar manner, but the Usiial course was to keep them constantly in c.eht to the plantation owners. On this plantation the coolies are allowed only one ideal per day, and that is given at evening. Horses are fed td them, and pigs and other animals which die of disease are saved and served out to those miserable wfetclies for food. Several times horseflesh was set before the Europeans on the plantation, but they refused to partake. Everything possible is done to keep tin! coolies in a condition of abject servitude, and dur informant says no pen can ade qiiately poiirtray the scenes of suffering, misery, 'starvation, and butchery which he witnessed at different times during his residence at Tahiti* Murders are oi frequent occurrence on all the plantations, and the condition of Europeans and coolies alike is deplorable in every respect. The whole business of procuring coolies is in the hands of ship-owners, who employ agdnts to go aboiit in Opium and gamblings houses.and pick out such as are in debt;* they advance a small sum, the men are placed dp a dirty old junk, and when the cargo is full, the ship takes them off and sails with them to the field of their labors,

These wretched people do not generally know the length of the voyage nor of the privations and cruelty td which they ard sure to be subjected. Hundreds of them get home-sick and cdmniit feticide, and others, packed into the vessel without sufficient air and exercise, expire during the voyage. Those, who survive are sold to the highest bidder for a nominal term of years; and in some cases as high 280doh is paid per head for them: At the end of the service they find themselves in debt to the owners of the plantation; and must remairt, being in this way subject to perpetual slavery.

In these remote plafieaj shut off from all but occasional intercourse with the rest of the civilised world, have sprung up a class of island tyrants who, in the capacity of ageiits arid superintendents of merit and corporations, set at defiance every principle of justice and mercy, aril lord it over the plantations with a rigor and ferocity of which Christians would seem incapable.