Generally Satisfactory

Goldfields Labour

Problem Of Discipline

IT is estimated that there are now 3,000 native labourers employed on and about the Morobe goldfields.

These natives have been recruited mostly from the Sepik and Markham Valleys and are generally of a good type. There are also a few Kavieng natives and a number have been brought from Rabaul to act as house servants. There are very few Bukas.

A strict system of inspection is fol lowed, and it is generally conceded by the Administration that the native labourers are being well treated by the gold mining companies.

The problem of feeding these la bourers is a serious one, because all goods have to be transported from the coast to the goldfields by aeroplane.

However, in the past year or two, the companies have started very exten sive gardens and plantations, where increasingly large quantities of na tive foods are being produced. The country in and about the goldfields, although very rough and broken, is also very fertile, and vegetables, etc., grow luxuriantly.

There is a good deal of anxiety on the part of the goldfields employers in regard to the maintenance of dis cipline among the labourers. The policy of the Administration, as poin ted out in last issue, is to maintain discipline by a kind of moral suasion; no employer is allowed to inflict cor poral punishment —the offending na tive must be brought before an ad ministration officer and prosecuted and, if guilty, he is sent to gaol, or, as it is termed, “given a spin in the calaboose.”

This method of maintaining discip line among natives is regarded by em ployers with the contempt it deserves.

These New Guinea tribesmen do not understand moral suasion, or any thing of the sort, and official kind ness is regarded by them as weak ness. The result is that employers find it very difficult to suppress cheekiness and insolence, and there is no doubt that some of them have their own methods of enforcing white man's discipline.

On account of the lack of author ity allowed to employers, there has been a great deal of desertion among goldfield labourers. Parties of eight and ten at a time disappear into the bush and make down towards Sala maua. When they are caught, they are solemnly reproved by the Admin istration and sent to the calaboose for varying periods. There is no such thing as personal chastisement. The native quite enjoys the calaboose — regular food and not excessive work.

The employer receives him back eventually, cheekier and more undis ciplined than ever. He receives no compensation for the loss of that man's services for two or three weeks or months, as the case may be,

although he has paid substantial money to have him recruited.

Fortunately the administration offi cers on the goldfields up to date have been broadminded, sensible men, who thoroughly understand New Guinea conditions; and they have assisted the employers of labour by co-operating with them in a reasonable way in maintaining discipline while, at the same time, conscientiously discharg ing their official duty in seeing that labourers are not harshly or unjustly treated.

The result has been that on the whole native labour conditions on the goldfields have been satisfactory.

There has been a good deal of petty theft and much desertion; but, as against that, the great majority of the natives have behaved themselves and there has been no suggestion of offences against the few white women on the goldfields.