64               TEE QUESTION OF LABOUR.
	this great disproportion of cost, and taking into con­sideration, on the other hand, the greater advantage accruing from the employment of skilled and ex­perienced workmen, it will readily be admitted that the interests of a mining corporation must be bound up in the encouragement and education of native labour; which, considering its abundance and cheap­ness, will necessarily be the best for all kinds of work, except actual operations on the solid reef. And even at such work some few of the Canarese coolies are beginning to show aptitude that promises well in the future. It is clearly, therefore, a good policy to select such men from the rest and pay them higher wages as an encouragement. If this be done, I have no doubt that, in time, a better class of workmen will be attracted to the mines; and so the present difficulty will disappear. I should not omit to say, here, that an attempt is being made to find employment for Madrasse Eurasians, or lads of mixed parentage. Their services may be obtained at from Es. 25 to Es. 30 per month; but as a class, Eurasians have hitherto not shown much disposition to undertake hard manual labour. They are too often addicted to the vices of drink and improvidence ; and as long as they have money to spend, it is spent in the manner most likely to render them unfit for work. This failing is well known to all who have had experience of them. Indeed, within the last few years, an association has