The next source of loss which calls for observation is that arising from the system of giving advances to labourers and to maistries—­the name for a class of men who take large sums to advance to coolies, and are paid a commission on the number they bring in.  The planters have lost large sums from this pernicious and troublesome system, and in the remarks previously made on planters’ grievances, the reader will find allusions to the existing legislation on the subject, and the need for fresh legislation to grapple with the evils arising out of giving advances for labour.  Sometimes the coolies die, and the money is lost altogether; sometimes, and not unfrequently, they abscond, and in the latter case it is such a difficult matter to trace them that the planter simply resigns himself to the loss of the money.  Then as regards money advanced to maistries to bring coolies, somewhat similar difficulties occur.  The maistry may die, he may abscond, and sometimes he advances to coolies who decamp and take advances from another planter or his maistry.  In short, whether the planter advances directly to coolies, or to maistries to bring coolies, he finds himself involved in a mixture of losses and worries and uncertainty as to getting through his various works at the proper time.

Now nearly every human system is calculated to serve some purpose, and arises out of a greater or lesser degree of necessity.  But it sometimes happens that the original causes for the system have either disappeared or very largely vanished, and that the system goes on by the force of custom—­very strong in all countries, and especially so in the East.  And thus it is with the advance system.  When labour was as low as 2 rupees 4 annas a month (which was the rate I paid at first), it was quite impossible that a man could, within any reasonable time, save enough money to pay the expenses of a marriage; thus borrowing became a necessity, and the labourer therefore mortgaged his future labour, the sole security he had to offer.  The lender was, of course, always a man who wanted work done, and by lending the required money obtained a certain command over the labourer.  In the early days of planting the local labourers were always in debt to some native employer, and when they wanted to come to a European plantation the owner of it had to pay off the sum owed by the labourers, and when these labourers’ sons wanted to marry it was customary to advance enough for the purpose, and sums of from 20 to 40 rupees a head were thus advanced, and, in the end, many thousands of rupees were thus lent to the labourers, and led to the losses I have described.  But in these days, when labour has risen to 7 rupees a month, and the labourer can live on about 2 rupees a month, he can save in a single year nearly enough for his marriage, and therefore the old necessity for his getting into debt no longer exists, and some years ago I began to give up making advances for marriages, and find that I am still well supplied with local labour; and I feel sure that if other planters would only follow my example, the advance system would gradually be reduced within small limits, and thus one great source of loss on a plantation would be either abolished or reduced to a minimum.