Sir Charles Trevelyan's contempt for political economy seems to have
infected the Legislature of Bengal. That little Council has just passed an`Act for the enforcement of contracts between coolies and planters in Assam which actually fixes a minimum of wages, sentences the coolie to three months' imprisonment for" desertion," and only allows him to go free after his employer has been twice convicted of ill-treating him. The engagements are to last three years, and the employer is not to work his people more than nine hours a day or six days'in a week. There is slavery, though of a kindly sort, in the spirit of that Act, more especially in a clause which enables the planter to inflict fines for indolence, and a minimum for wages is a dangerous innovation not required by local circumstances. The power of combination inherent in the system of caste, and the pressure of demand upon supply are always sufficient, in India to keep wages far above starvation- point.
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