Asiatics For
p. 29 · Read in the full issue
Solomons.
Planter Defends
Proposals.
“I IKE many other Groups, the British Solomon Islands are in the unfor tunate position of being wholly dependent upon one product—namely, copra,” said Mr. Geoffrey E. Clift, a well-known Solomon Islands planter, in the course of a chat with ‘‘The Pacific Islands Monthly.” ‘‘We hope,” he continued, ‘‘that the rising price of copra means the end of the depression so far as we are con cerned. We are always conscious of the fact that when the bottom falls out of the copra market, we have no sec ond line of defence. ‘‘l have always been of the opinion that our great need is a secondary crop, but it is difficult to decide which would be suitable for this purpose, be cause we are too far from the markets of the world, and the Australian mar ket, if not closed to us by Customs barriers, may become so at any mo ment. The production of a secondary crop on a large scale would also mean the introduction of fresh capital; and the main trouble in this connection is the shortage of native labour. ‘‘There is a fair amount of native labour available at the present time, but if copra continues to rise in price and the plantations resume normal pro duction, all the available labour will very soon be absorbed and we shall be back in the position that we were a couple of years ago, when labour was very hard to procure.
“So far as I can estimate, 4,000 na tive labourers is the limit of the labour supply in the Solomon Islands —that is, 2,000 entering into contract service each year. You have already published the fact that the old estimate of the native population, namely, 150,000, was quite inaccurate. The latest census gives us a little over 90,000.
“The work of developing the Solo mon Islands will be carried on under a severe handicap until such time we can draw upon Asiatic sources of labour. I am told that this is a vexed question, but what I am giving you is my deliberate opinion. In most cases the opponents of such a system of in dentured labour have not lived in countries where Asiatics are employed.
I am quite certain that had Indian labourers and peasants not been brought to Fiji many years ago, the position of Fiji to-day would resemble that of the Solomon Islands.
“Of course, we must give serious thought to the social effect of the in troduction of Asiatics to these Islands groups. I have read with interest Mr.
Vegan’s article in a recent number of “The Pacific Islands Monthly,” and I agree with him that even if there was an intermingling between the Asiatics and the Islands races, it would be to the benefit of the latter, both physic ally and mentally.
“So far as finance is concerned, I think that the introduction of Asiatic labour would benefit the Protectorate Government. Each Asiatic would have to pay at least £1 per annum toll tax, while the maintenance in the Solomon Islands of large numbers of Asiatic
labourers would add considerably to both exports and imports.
“The question of bringing in Asiatic labour is never likely to become acute under present conditions; but as soon as copra prices permit the full work ing of the coconut plantations, and all the available native labour is absorbed, the Asiatic labour question will become a very live one.”