Nimblefoot by Robert Drewe

Author:Robert Drewe [Drewe, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia

DOING THE ROUNDS

That Sunday evening, as he did most Sundays, the Sportsmen’s Hotel’s genial publican, pink-cheeked after a Saturday spent at the races, graced several dining tables with a chat. His cordial attentions, English suiting and twinkling eyes – maybe a firm passing grip on a male guest’s shoulder – made the chosen diners feel specially favoured.

To break the ice when doing the rounds he might first remark to the chosen table on the brilliant sunset before them, then that the solemn Chinese waiter (‘this young Celestial gentleman’) serving their devilled chicken at that moment – maybe Pan Wan or Kung Tack – was definitely worth any two Australian servants.

To the guests’ baffled expressions, he’d add with a rueful grin, followed by a snort of laughter, ‘That’s if I could find two decent Australian servants!’

An old jest of his, meant to put first-timers at their ease. Perhaps teach them about sophisticated dining, in case the guests weren’t used to the intimate intrusion of an Oriental fellow darting a napkin onto their laps or handling their cutlery.

At Maurice Thornett’s standard Sunday-night patter any nearby waiters, Chinese or Australian, would roll their eyes. After singing the self-conscious waiter’s praises, he’d draw up a chair, top up the surprised guests’ glasses with a fresh bottle, and share his current servant circumstances with them.

If he’d recently had some staff setback, however, it might lead into a different but equally familiar refrain. Although there were a number of Chinese visible in the local landscape, working as cooks, greengrocers and market gardeners, and every settlement had a wandering ‘John Chinaman’ with his pigtail and vegetable cart, the colony’s ‘most suitable servants’, as he called them, had to be imported from China.

As he’d explain, with a doleful, over-burdened smile, this was a complicated business. A tough regulation for any enterprising landlord wishing both to save money on wages and offer superior service.

Chinese importation was restricted by a particular rule of thumb: a ship could only bring into the colony one Chinese for every five hundred tons of its registered tonnage.

No worker could be imported without a contract made at the port of shipment with his employer and approved there by the government representative. The contract had to set out the wages, the planned period of service (no more than three years), and the employer’s undertaking to provide food and accommodation. And to return the Chinese to the port of shipment, Singapore, at the end of his time.

What’s more, when the import arrived in the colony he had to go before a magistrate to have the contract registered. If he proved a valuable servant and both parties wanted him to continue serving beyond three years, he had to appear before the magistrate again to have the period extended.

After going through all that export-import red tape – the puzzled guests would be told – it was disappointing if the import that he’d supported – nay, coddled – turned out to be incompetent or troublesome.

Depending on how many drinks he’d

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