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The chief characteristics of this system, the fount and origin of
the conditions in the Duars as they now exist, must be clearly under-
stood if we are to grasp the most fundamental factors at work in bring-
ing about the notorious unhealthiness of this area. Perhaps the most
important feature is that whilst in Assam there are regulations regard-
ing the protection of the coolie and a system of Government inspection
of gardens, in the Duars there is neither the one nor the other ; and did
Government inspection exist there would appear to be no powers un-
der which any measure of sanitation could be enforced. Another im-
portant feature is that in the Duars there is no system of compulsory
registration. A coolie who has entered the district is on the busi-
ness books of the garden only so long as he is an actual worker whose
earnings have to be calculated and from whom advances have to be
recovered. Since the labour force forms only a fraction of the total
coolie population on a garden, a large number of the latter are not
registered in any way and their sickness or death entails no respon-
sibility upon anyone. A coolie on his arrival at the garden is given a
house or the materials with which to build one, but there is no actual
obligation regarding this, nor is there any recognised standard of
accommodation to which he is entitled. As with house accommodation
so with water-supply, in the majority of instances the coolie is left to
select his own source of supply from the nearest spring or stream, or
from wells which would not be passed by any sanitary authority.
In regard to food supply the coolie again is left to make his own
arrangements, no matter what the state of the local market may be ;
and though in a few cases at certain seasons a manager may purchase
rice and supply it to the coolies at cost price, this seems to be a very
limited concession affecting only coolies of assured position. Where
the jungle is not available for fuel, firewood is often supplied to the
coolies at a fixed rate, but again as a rule this chiefly affects people of
good standing among the labour force.
A very striking feature of the Duars labour system is the lack
of any provision to ensure that coolies when sick shall receive, as
they must under the Assam Labour Immigration Act, the means of
subsistence, and there is no arrangement to prevent sick and needy
coolies suffering from extreme hardship or even actual starvation.
F 2