华人社团内部高利贷之一例澳洲三位华人1923–1927年捐.PDFVIP

Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies, Volume Six, 2013 南方華裔研究雜誌, 第六卷, 2013 An Example of Usury Within the Chinese Community: An Account from Wagga Wagga, 1923–19271 華人社團內部高利貸之一例：澳洲三位華人1923–1927 年捐銀2 © 2013 Barry McGowan and Li Tana 麥區文和李塔娜 Due to a lack of sources we have seen little on how transactions were made among the Chinese communities overseas. This source from Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, is precious and sheds important light on this subject. It gives an account of donations made by three Chinese men (the source calls them “three brothers”) to the Chinese community 3 in Wagga between 1923 and 1927. The yearly average amount of their donations was between $16.9 and $20.9. The denomination of this money is unclear. Australian currency in the 1920s was in pounds, shillings and pence, and there were twenty shillings to the pound. The document does not indicate the occupation of the three persons, but according to McGowan’s study on the Chinese in Wagga Wagga, they were most likely 4 market gardeners, or possibly labourers. The annual wage of a labourer was between 30 and 50 pounds, and that of a market gardener between 50 and 100 pounds. If the denomination of the donations was in pounds, the donations of the three Chinese were around one-fifth to one-third of their annual income. If in shillings, as suggested by Dr Kuo Mei-fen, then the donations, as a percentage of salary, are much less. As the document indicates, these donations were made under various names. These include the day that the deity Guandi opened