CHINESE SEAMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 69, 22 March 1928, Page 11

CHINESE SEAMEN.

THE BOSS COMPRADORE.

womxzxo not oreat system

METHODS OUT EAST.

(By QUILL.)

The evidence given In the Hamilton Supreme Court to the effect that three Chinese seamen were substituted on the articles, brings forcibly to the public ncticc the apparently unsatisfactory system that operates out East in connection with the employment and payment of labour.

In no other grade of employment is there so much bribery and corruption, and no white man in the interest* of efficiency would attempt to alter the state of affairs, and if he did attempt some form of protest the wheels would work and trouble would ensue. y young Chinaman or Lascar desiring to go to sea gives his name to the coinpradore or foreman who puperL" , the en 8 a £ in g of a certain number of seamen. This might appear an unsatisfactory system, an.l doubtless it is but m the words of a well known exoflicer in the British India Co., Ltd., it is impossible for a white officer to remember the Lascar and Chinese. Not only are their faces so alike, but the languages are so full of dialects, that no Englishman would attempt to talk to

Honcnr Without Cash. The consequence is that by a system ol extortion the seamen are mulcted of a percentage of their pay in the following simp e manner. Lach map agrees to give the compradore a certain amount for the privilege of a job aboard the Yessel and it is paid from the advance note given to the seamen, as soon as the vessel leaves port. On the vessel the system again operates, in that the seaman has to pay a percetnage of his wages to ioh.lt b° sun who agreed to let him join the vessel. Invariably the men are so poor upon joining that thev have to draw from the ship slop-chest for suitnf 8 ! . Thi ® Hgttin is arranged la Sirf H e «° a,KI thou S h the price is perfectly fa.r, and the master and officers do not take part m any way with L" S the l'oor I^ascar seaman has to pay an extortionate amount to the bosun, simply because he not . k . now the E »glish price, cannot read, and has to sign a receipt which he , ° understand. The consequence is that for a matter of two years at sea the ar seaman arrives home with onlv a small credit balance to his name,Wt in the eyes of hie countrymen it is* a Kir r and - honour to "have worked " f °repn ; going vessel and to hive seen the world. Hence he goes ashore with ln * satisfaction, despite the small amount he has drawn, for his lengthy service. Gambling is one of the Oriental forms £l^r meDt aboftrd * Bhi P among Se a ° d »*»*• » sliding of toll is levied by the bosun for the doubtful privilege of running a school/* ffliould any individual seaman create di^? rd inclined to kick against the extortionate system of .J 14 " operating, he is discharged at the Home port by the 'bosun by the simple method of exchanging him for another ascar. The master and officers cannot poesibly keep a track of the facial likeness of any eeaman, despite the fact that a system of photographs is operated in connection with the signipg-on of seamen. The Native Overlord. An example of the sly system of graft operating was explained to the writer where the chief officer instructed the 'bosun to discharge a certain seaman for some impertinent mannerism. The 'bosun certainly explained to the seaman that he was sacked, but upon a promise to pay an extra amount of "toll" to the Ijosim, he was signed-on again, and the chief officer was quite unaware of his presence aboard the vessel. The age-old method operating out East of tipping, or, as the Western mind would term it, "grafting," has been a custom for centuries, and any established business or company makes allowance and provision for this fact, and settles the difficulty by haying the management of the native done by a native overseer. The work is carried out satisfactorily and efficiently, and no complaints reach the white executive, simply because the overseer is a little king within his sphere and metes out punishment by a perfectly accepted syttem of cash fines. The men themselves know that this is part and parcel of the working of their positions, and no complaints are forthcoming from the seamen, who realise that they would be marked and banned from obtaining another position, so perfectly doea the system operate out East. | The white officers are also the recipients of mysterious presents of sums of money and presents of exquisite Orl(i»i tal silks, etc., which find their way into I the cabin usually a day after leaving port. Even the cabin-boy does not and will not say who left the sealed envelope containing the "kumsbaw" or present on the officer's desk, or the bulky parcel reclining upon the settee. Sufficient to, say, it is impossible for the mind, even of an officer well versed the methods of foreign going and Omental shipping, to find out the individual who left the "present," and it would also be unwise to attempt to fossick wt JJj origin of its arrival. It i« therefore The Dialect Tangle. Due to the numerous dialects on board a vessel it it also impossible for an officer to converse to any extent with his crew, and even if the seaman could understand he would no heed of the other than a simple Yes. or■ No. Any lengthy orders or questions are given to the bo'sun, who acts as interpreter, and his interpretation is correct, So matter bow much it may inconvenl™eetha poor individual underneath. There is an Easern quotation Do not against the goad," which ably covers the position, and as kicking against the goad would involve considerable inconvenience upon the part the seamen, the plwid and indifferent spirit shown in their faces is an inheritance from their ancestors working through centuries of a similar system. The writer many years ago was in - tprpstfed in the Chinese language, ana %XX of text books and an interpreter endeavoured to learn it, but after twelve months' arduous attempt and being met with a stony look upon the face of any native when spoken to he considered that a "W 1 was the accepted attitude of the Oriental workman against the white man. Further experience out East and M acquaintance with several educated Chinese iKXjn r w « f, p it understood that there were several hundred and so mixed up was the population that it would take a matter of centuries for one man to understand the complexities of the language. . .