Every area of the mine has a supervisor, notable by his white suit and Topi. In the Monitor area of this open-cast mine, the supervisor is called Sam. Nobody knows whether that is his real name but that is what he us universally known as. He has been in the mine since he was a teenager, pushing trolleys full of ore along railway tracks. After 10 years of that slavery, he was made Supervisor.
Sam can be really hard on his coolies if he thinks that they are slacking, and many of them have borne the brunt of a beating with his long stick. On the other side of the coin, if the coolies work hard, he will treat them like a father, give them sound advice and protect the ‘piglets’ (new arrivals) from the bullies.
He has lived in the mining Kongsi for so long he barely remembers his home in Meizhou.
