Chinese-Operated Tin Mining in Perak during the late 19^<th> century : Hiring practice changes and the problem of worker abscondence

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the influence of the developing tin mining industry in Perak, Malaysia on the industrial structure and community formed by Chinese immigrants during the second half of the 19th century. Due to a significant increase in the demand for tin from mid-century on, in Larut, where from the 1840s the Malay peninsula's "Straits tin" are had been mined and exported to markets in the West, increased production from the 1870s on, after being made into a British protectorate. Mining operations there were managed by the heads of influential Chinese families hiring Chinese immigrant labor. A comparison of labor and tariff expenses with the price of tin at the time suggests that the are deposit mining business was not always profitable. However, the mine operators were able to reap large profits through wages paid by issuing credit to poor immigrant workers for expenses and necessities and such side businesses as selling opium. Consequently, mine workers became personally dependent on the mining enterprises for their livelihoods. These conditions began to change after the "tin rush" that broke out from the 1870s on, which was fueled by a rapid jump in international prices and led to the opening of mining operations farther inland, in Kinta, which had been considered unprofitable up to that time. Kinta became the region for small scale, short term extraction by Chinese prospectors, and with the rising demand for labor there, these operators lured workers by offering such incentives as profit-sharing deals. Attractive by such offers, mine workers in Larut began absconding their employers and heading for Kinta. Those Larut operators who could not match or better the incentives offered by their counterparts in Kinta tried and failed to persuade the British authorities to prevent their workers from leaving the region. It was such changes in management style and hiring practices that hindered the exploitative patronage exercised by influential Chinese families over immigrant Chinese labor. As a result, a more modernized labor market situation arose, in which immigrant workers ended their personal dependence on the mining companies and were free to shop around for the best employment opportunities available, while operators could obtain sufficient supplies of labor by offering workers attractive employment packages.