STAFF OF MURDERERS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 25 October 1924, Page 14

STAFF OF MURDERERS.

MAKE GOOD SERVANTS. CAREER FOR 1 EX-CONVICTS. Burma, as in India, the servant uimeulty is ,a seripus one. It is onh by a stroke of luck that one obtains a servant who is reasonably honest. Tc secure the services of one who is absolutely honest and trustworthy is not altogether impossible, but is nearly so. “Eha” (E. H. Aitken) has devoted a whole volume to the tricks of Indian servants of the type on which Europeans in Burma have tc depend; and his “Behind the Bungalow” is still read with amusement fai beyond the borders of the Indian Einpire, particularly by people who have not' been the victims of the irritating artifices of the Indian noukef. In Rangoon and some of the other large towns of Burma, the Indian servant holds sway* and the European is more or less .at his mercy. In a small percentage of cases Burmese servants are employed, and are said, to be fairly satisfactory. But, as a rule, the Burman does not seem to take kindly to domestic service. It implies a certain amount of discipline, and there is nothing a Burman detests more than that. ■He likes to be tree and independent, to give orders himself rather than take them. Another dra.wback to the ordinary Burman servant is that he does not speak English ,- and, in Rangoon at all events, there are, or were till recently, only a few Europeans who car speak Burmese. The language of the Burman, like that of the Chinaman, is a difficult one to “pick up.” It is a monosyllabic tonal slanguage and its frequent changes from flat to sharp tones are extremely puzzling to the untraine'd ear. j The average* (Indian servant, however, speaks English, and often speaks it very well. Most of them are native Christians from the Madras Presidency. They are very clannish, anc a mixture of servants usually means a house divided against itself. The master is at the mercy of his servanl brigade. He is pludered every daj by the cook who makes the bazaar—i.e., purchases tl|e day’s food supplies ; and every one of his staff- is ever on the- watch for all opportunity to add to his wealth at his master's expense, so far as purchases are concerned. There is no doubt that many of the servants are old gaol birds. To be imprisoned for robbing some European master, or anything of tha,t sort is no,offence in the eyes of the servant- class; and, either out of friendship or for a consideration, thej quickly find employment for the culprit on hjs emergence from prison. How extensive this gaol-bird servant sdpply really is has been illustrated in ,a recent issue of the Crim inal Intelligence Gazette of the Unitee Province, a copy of which is at pres out receiving • attention in the Police Headquarters of Rangoon. The polio undertook an inquiry into the charac ter of all the domestic servants in i certain town in the United Provinces The final conclusion reached, wai that,' of every three servants em ployed in the town in question, on< was dishonest, or worse. The Commissioner of Police has now issued orders for a- similar'inquiry to he held in Rangoon. It is not improbable that the percentage of ex-c-onvict§ i; domestic employ wall be found to be greater there, because it is easy when a servant lias made India toe hot to hold him, to go to. Burma where there, is generally a shortage pi labour of all classes. ; At the same time it must be borne in mind that an ex-convict is nol necessarily a bad servant; he may ever be a strictly honest one. A plantei from the Andaman Islands, the Indiai penal settlement in the Bay of Ben gal, tells me that the whole of his staff of servants are murderers, Anc he adds, that he never had a finer 01 more devoted set of servants. He lock nothing up, and he has never missed anything. Discussing this question with (the Lady Commandant of the Salvatior Army, who is interested in the Home which receives ticket-of-leave convicts from the Rangoon Central Gaol, I was assured that, by far the best worker: and best believed inmates of the Home are the murderers. The explanation I am told, simply is that convicts ol this class often belong to fairly decent families, are not crime-sodden offenders, and owe their handicap in life.to the curse of a violent temper which, as a- general rule, they most deeply regret. I understand that, as the Abdamar penal settlement is to be closed, aboul 1000 convicts, including a large percentage of murderers, will .be returned to Burma. Owing to limited gaol ac eommodatio-n here, and the lack o.i funds to erect a new prison, foi which it is said an expenditure ol some 15 lakhs of rupees (£IOO,OOOI would be required, the Governmenl have been at a loss to know what tc do with this expected large influx ol prisoners. The Salvation Army have been invited by the Government tc take them over and establish them on farms which are to be prepared pn Government forest land, • possibly in the vicinity of Maymyo. which is the summer capital of the Government of Bn rma.

The Salvation Army are prepared to undertake this heavy task, provided that the Government hands over sufficient land to enable the convicts to earn an honest living, and provided also, that a grant of money is made towards the cost of clearing the land and stocking the farms. This land scheme, it is considered, will be; much cheaper than building a new gaol, and very much more satisfactory in it* results. —Times Rangoon correspondent.