When shown around the family plantation at Albion, in the Corentyne district of British Guiana, Jock was appalled by the living conditions of the coolies, the East Indian cane cutters. The East Indians had been brought into the country after the liberation of the slaves, and were housed in the same tiny, dark, vermin-infested, earth-floored “logies”. Next to the logies was a more pretentious building, clean, painted, smart-looking, a mansion in comparison to the shacks. “Jock enquired who lived in the hovels: 'Our coolies,' replied Bee (the estate manager). He then asked of the residents of the trimmed building. Bee said, 'Oh! We keep our mules there.' A naïve 22-year-old Jock asked flippantly: 'Why don’t you move your coolies to the mules’ palace and put your mules in the hovels?' A stunned Bee exclaimed cryptically: 'Mules cost money, sir!'"