In 1874, the Pacific island nation of Fiji was forced to cede to the
British. Fijians' right to govern themselves was respected, as long as
they paid taxes to the British, while sugar plantations were expanded
as a means of helping British settlers achieve self-sufficiency. The
British governor Arthur Gordon (1875-82) decided that plantation agriculture
of sugar with imported labor was the best option. His choice of Indians
as indentured labor was influenced by his colonial administrative experience
in Trinidad and Mauritius.
First ships
The first ship carrying Indians to Fiji, the Leonidas, arrived on May
14, 1879 with 463 immigrants aboard. Most of these immigrants were indentured
workers from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat.
Between May 1879 and 1919, a total of 87 shiploads of Indians were transported
to Fiji to work out their five years of indentured servitude - known
as girmit (from the word agreement).
Sugar
The Colonial Sugar Refining Company, based in Australia, was awarded
complete monopoly of all sugar plantations in Fiji by 1880.
Girmit
Girmit, from the English word 'agreement,' was a binding contract that
required an indentured worker to cut sugar cane for a master for 5 years.
Working in the plantations for 9 hours every week day, and 5hours on
Saturday, they had to buy housing and medical care from their employers.
The 1890s were the darkest days of the indenture experience, a time
of heart-rending rates of infant mortality, of excessive discipline and
repressive legislation, and of a general unwillingness of the government's
part to guard the rights of the laborers. (Lal 1992: 41)
Recruitment
In order to recruit Indians, agents made promises of easy money and
work; recruiters also used promises of reuniting with family members.
The tragic consequences of such methods are evident in the words of one
Devi Singh, who was working in Calcutta when approached by one such recruiter:
" an arkatti came and told me I could
get a job working in the canefields but all I would have to do
would be walk around with a stick.And
when I registered
I was told to give my age as 20 years. I was attracted because I was offered
a better wage of 12 annas per day. We were told Fiji was 700 miles, and an
island. Had I known the real distance, I would not have come, it
was too far from home."
Ahmed Ali, Girmit: A Centenary Anthology 1879-1979 (Suva, Fiji: Government
of Fiji Press, 1979), p.49.
Plantation Life
The 1890s were the darkest days of the indenture experience, a time
of heart-rending rates of infant mortality, of excessive discipline and
repressive legislation, and of a general unwillingness of the government's
part to guard the rights of the laborers. (Lal 1992: 41)
