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Sam Lee: Overseer of Chinese Labourers

Black and white head and shoulders portrait photograph of a youngish Chinese man with very closely cropped hair, clean shaven, wearing a dark colored Chinese-style collarless jacket.

Source: Ladysmith Archives

Date: circa 1908

Chinese labourers were employed through a broker or overseer in Ladysmith in the early 1900s by Canadian Collieries to put coal into sacks, load and trim coal on ships, do track maintenance, and tend steam locomotives.