§ MR. O'DOHERTYTo ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will state the number of coolies employed on the work of construction on the Uganda Railway, and the number of natives employed there-on; and will he say whether coolies have been imported before for working on the making of railways in Africa, and the respective cost of the coolie and of the native per head.
(Answered by Lord Cranborne.)For the first part of the Question I would refer the hon. Member to the Report 1639 presented to Parliament in Africa, No. 4, of 1902, at page 2. As far as I am aware, Indian coolies have not been before employed on African railways. Native labourers are paid according to the amount of work done. The Indian coolie is not so paid, and a comparison, therefore, would present considerable difficulties, but the Indian coolie is said to be the more efficient.