CHINESE ON THE RAND.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12899, 9 February 1906, Page 3

CHINESE ON THE RAND.

COMPLAINTS FROM THE MEN. A special correspondent of the " Daily ■Chronicle" ai Johannesburg, in one of his letters deals with the complaints of the Chinese workmen.

A few days ago, in the Chinese Club, I bad % taJk with the intelligent Chinaman, Leung Kwoii, to whom A have previously referred. He is in a position t« know all about the Chinese labour question, for he meets most of the interpreters and other. Chinese officials who are engaged in mines. " And what do your countrymen think of .South Africa?" 1 asked Leung Kwan. " They hate it," was the empnatic rejrty. They had no idea of what kind of work

they had to do when they were recruited. Some thought they were coming as soldiers to fight for England in South Africa. There are thousands of skilled men among them—carpenters, masons, bricklayers, etc. —and these naturally thought they were coming to work at their trades. To their

difignst, they find that they are put to unskilled -wort, for which many of them, are entirely unfitted."

" There are some bad characters among your fellow-countrymen over here." I ventured to suggest to Leung Kwan. "Of course there are/' re replied. " Some of .them have seized this opportunity of getting out. of their country. In some cases they are robbers—what you call 'bandits,' is it not? They come from the mountains in the interior. They had heard that South Africa is a very rich country, and full of gold. Naturally .-they seized the opportunity of getting over to a country where they imagined that the

opportunities for plunder would be greater than in their own."

" Then, again," Leung Kwan went on,

"I have heard, although I cannot vouch for the truth of the statement, that some of the prisons in China are being emptied j arid the prisoners, sent to the recruiting stations, and told they can -have a start"

in a new country." a , - > " And will many of your fellow-country-men be willing to renew their contracts, when their' three years' service has expired?" I asked Leung Kwan. "Not- any-thafc I have ever heard of,"' was the reply. "They will be only t-oo glad to get back to their • own country - -' As for imprisonment," many of them have told one that; they prefer gaol'to' the mines. " I should say that quite -fifty have--com-mitted srcdcide sirice the lirst lot- c arise..

The coolies don'tlike' working underground,' and in many mines, where they are sloping shafts, they Ifave to walk down 2000 steps with a heavy load of drills upon th'eir shoulders. Of course they have all these steps to climb again when their shift is finished.

Then'" Leung Kwan continued, " the .system of payment is a very unfair one.

If they -do not drill 24in they get no ticket. They may perhaps drill 25in., and be paid nothing for it. In some cases they get no food either if the regulation number -of inches are not drilled.

"As punishment, the lower class coolies do riot mind flogging so much, but there are men of a higher class who feel the degradation "of it acutely. 'At one mine they -have a ' cangue,' which is 'a heav*-, square of wood, with a hole in the

middle. The culprit hae to stand for hours with, this resting on his shoulders." ' " But you have your own Consul here. Why dgn't you make complaints through him V'

Leung Kwan laughed. "We do."' he said, " £uid then we are referred back to

the compound managers. As these are the -men of whose conduct -we have to complain, can you imagine what satisfaction •we get." - • .-' . • Can w« ; wonder, if this is the feeling among -..the Chinese,. that -there • have been ! so manv deserters ? :

. • An, ex-compound manager then t-.ok np ; the story. : "I have,' 1 he said, "cdpies ;of all the letters I addressed to the manager of the mine on -which I. was employed. I cannot ehow them to you, as I have -put-them isto*-'-safe , keeping, but I shall, be ablfr produce them when the time comes."-' <

. . "-Bnt .wiy intosafe keeping," I asked. "'AJi'! itfyAfriradv" was the reply, "you eYiilen&y do not know the Rand. ' A colleague of mine,- who resigned his position, one fine \-Hay^ ; ionnd--"4hat. his rooms had been • burgled,* tuid every document on which he was relying ' carefully cleared away. lam going to take care that- they do not get mine." "And why did you resign?" I asked. > ".Because I wished protest against-1 -the way in which"my;'boys 5 were being! treated. I like the, Chinese. I have worked among them for years, and when I found that the contracts made as to' wages -were deliberately being' broken, I gave up mj- post rather than submit. Tliey were .jprbmised increased, pay after six ' months' service. They never got it. Their Atork T-snfairly npi and little bits were nibbled' off .their wages. " Then there is a system -of ' allotments.' by means of which a certain sum is : deducted eveiy month, and supposed t-> b©| remitted to friends "at home. I know] perfectly well that these sums went into j the liands of brokers in China, and I supported the demand of my ' boys.that these allotments' -should not be sent.. " Complaints were always being made that my 'boys? -were not doing enough work, and because I refused to allow them to be knocked about and beaten there was trouble. But I have sent the full story to the proper quarter, and I believe a full investigation will be made." Then my friend introduced me to another interpreter, who had left another mine for similar reasons. He told me that he had himself seen a cooiie with his hands bound to his side, and his pigtail tied< to a beam. One of his " hoys " h:id a crippled hand, raid therefore could Mt hold Ins jumper properly. He was - •{?? ad regularly every two cr :!;iee !; : y>\ all the same. In every compound tlice are two or three Chinese of high standine and ability, who are out here watching all these things. They are in some position on the mine> - doctors, interpreters, police, or what not. I met one Sunday morning, and as we drank te;; out of his pretty csipx he -><> id ni'? that these things were not passing vvremar ked or unpublished in China. He was the son of a mandarin of the Cential Provinces—a man of education and refinement, who spoke English perfectly. lit

had taken up this humble position in order to watch over the interests of his fellowcountrymen. AH his letters were going to a friend in Paris to be sent on to Chlco. " 1 don't care about having them read by the Chamber of Mines." be said. He told me "that all the Chinese newspapers were ringing with denunciations of Kng. land and the English fur their treitir.eiit of the ccoTies.

And this is what tJsC Randlords hnve brought, us to. Tlie Chinese go out tinder covenant with the British Government. It is we. who have to bear the blame; it- j,V upon our name as Britons that the odium fall's. Throughout the Kast the *'nry. is being tdd that- 50.000 coolies are being cheated and ill-lreated hv Britain. Truly we are having the gold of the Rand at a fearful price'