Outspoken Criticism Of

Administration

Non-Official Members of Solomons Council Demand Reforms

Tulagi, Nov. 15.

MEMBERS of the British Solomon Islands Advisory Council are ap pointed for periods of three years, and the first session of the fifth series was held at Tulagi on October 25 and 26.

The following were present: Official members: His Honour the Resi dent Commissioner (Mr. F. N. Ashley), President: the Chief Magistrate and Legal Adviser (Mr. P. C. Hubbard) ; the Trea surer (Mr. F. E. Johnson, I.S.O.); the Acting Secretary to the Government (Mr. S.

G. Masterman).

Non-official members: Right Rev. H.

W. Baddeley (Bishop of Melanesia); Mr.

D. Mackinnon, Mr. G. E. Clift, and Major F. R. Hewitt, M.C.

The President, after administering the oath to members, briefly addressed the Council, and concluded by reading the following radiogram, which had just been received from the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, Suva: “Please express my greetings to newly appointed Council, with an assur ance of my close personal interest in the welfare of the Solomon Islands. The disastrous fall in price of copra is a matter of gravest concern, but it is dif

cult to devise any scheme to meet the situation. I shall be grateful for Coun cil’s advice in this and all other matters affecting the interests of the Group, and I assure them that their representations will receive my earnest and sympathetic consideration. I sincerely hope that profit and advantage may accrue to the Protectorate through their delibera tions.”

Members subscribed to a message in reply to his Excellency, and the President having vacated the chair, the Council re solved itself into committee to consider the Estimates for the year 1934-35, which formed the only Government item on the agenda.

Finance.

On resuming the formal sitting, the Es timates were first disposed of.

The Treasurer was complimented on his budgetary proposals to meet forecasted expenditure.

Non-official members individually ac knowledged that items appeared to have been as closely pruned as was consistent with the maintenance of the existing es tablishment and public service commit ments. They, however, took the oppor tunity to point out that the Administra

tion was proceeding on its normal course regardless of the calamitous state of the planting industry, which had now reached so desperate a stage that many of the smaller estates had already closed down, and even the larger companies were seriously considering taking that step if the market for the staple product did not soon show signs of revival.

Government Criticised.

The non-official members, in a gene ral criticism, declared that the Govern ment remained aloof, and deaf to all warnings. It withheld assistance with in its power to give without incurring sacrifice or hardship, and apparently in tended to continue its amazingly myopic policy of inaction until the commercial structure of the Protectorate crashed about its ears.

So far, they declared, no attempt to as sist the foundering industry had been made. On the contrary, vexatious, bur densome and unjust exactions, to which attention had been called over and over again, were continued, and all protests ignored in a manner that appeared to in dicate a complete lack of understanding of the desperate conditions prevailing in the Protectorate, and the need to amelior ate these conditions at a period when every shilling counted with the planter and trader as never before.

The Tobacco Duty It was again urged that the “extraor dinarily high” duty on tobacco (a com modity that to some extent fulfils the function of currency in the islands), be reduced or, alternatively, that tobacco be eliminated from the scale of compulsory issues to labourers. (Two ounces of to bacco to each labourer per week forms part of the compulsory ration, and the im port duty practically doubles the cost to the employer.) Payment of Native Taxes.

Attention was again drawn to the in equitable system under which employers are compelled to pay the tax of every labourer he employs, notwithstanding that the rate of wages paid in the Pro tectorate is on a most generous scale, being at least double the amount paid to native labourers in the adjoining terri tory of New Guinea.

It was claimed that the Administration, although repeatedly challenged, has never attempted to justify this unfair levy upon Europeans for what is specifically de scribed as a “native” tax. A tax upon natives, it was argued, should manifestly be paid by natives, and not by the over burdened European, who, in addition to many others, has to contribute a head tax —that relic of very early pioneering days when it constituted the sole means of revenue. It is now camouflaged, said non-official members, under the more eu phonious term “Residential Tax,” which, however, does not alter its objectionable and retrogressive character.

Other Means of Relief.

Further recommendations stressed by the non-official members included the re duction of the export tax on copra to one shilling per ton: the suspension of land rentals during the period of extreme economic depression; and the permanent adjustment of the inequitable difference between rentals of Crown and native leaseholds —a difference that has already resulted in the abandonment of a number of leaseholds, the rentals of which had been fixed arbitrarily many years ago.

Time has proved those rates to be un economically high, and if they were per sisted in, the outcome must be inevit ably the surrender of all areas to which they apply.

The Copra Industry It was contended that a new era has

dawned for the copra industry, and it was contended that all phases of Administra tive and commercial functions must sooner or later go into the melting pot and be re cast and readjusted to the changed econ omic conditions; among alterations that must be made is the arbitrary minimum wage to labourers.

Native Passes Edict Two other main items on the agenda gave rise to adverse criticism by non official members of the Council.

One was the Regulation making it com pulsory for natives to obtain passes (for which they had to pay one shilling each) if they wished to travel from one district to another, but within the confines of the Protectorate. This was called a re strictive measure, a direct and quite un necessary interference with the liberty of the subject, and futile because it could not possible be generally enforced, thus bringing the law into contempt. Members expressed astonishment that so unjust and irksome a Regulation should have re ceived the approval of the High Com missioner.

“Wave of Crime”

What was described as a “wave of crime” in the Protectorate was the theme on which members based strong repre sentations for the incorporation of cor poral punishment in sentences imposed upon malefactors found guilty of crimes accompanied by violence or likely to lead to violence, particularly offences against white women. These offences have been committeed at intervals over a period of years, and, recently, determined and atrocious assaults have been perpetrated.

Offences of this nature, it was pointed out, were not confined to the lonely, iso lated places in the Protectorate, but even at Tulagi, the headquarters of Govern ment and of the police establishment, it had proved impossible to give adequate protection. As one member put it: “You will continue to fail in affording that pro tection until impractical idealism gives place to cold reason and stern justice, and the punishment is made to fit the crime.”

A sentence of simple imprisonment, it was claimed, was no deterrent, as was proved by the frequency with which it was found that accused natives had pre vious convictions for similar offences re corded against them. Within the last year, an amazing series of burglaries had been committed in various parts of the Group. Large quantities of spirituous liquors had been stolen at one centre, and drunken orgies had taken place which might easily have led to murder being committed. The death of one native was attributed to alcoholic poisoning.

The sentences imposed by the magis trate, who doubtless took into account the fact that the accused were for the most part old offenders, were not unduly severe, but nevertheless they were sub sequently reduced by higher legal au thority—an act of misplaced clemency that to the natives was an indication of weakness, and served to encourage them in their defiance of the law.

The ineptitude of the authorities, it was declared, as expressed in inadequate sen tences and lack of understanding of native psychology, led European residents to openly state their intention to take dras tic measures for the protection of their lives and property, should the occasion arise.

The Government was urged by the three members, who spoke to the issue before the Council, to instruct the Courts to exercise their powers under the penal code to the fullest extent in certain cases of crime, and if those powers debarred flogging—the only effective deterrent— authority must be obtained, if unconsti tutional acts were to be safeguarded

against. At present, the Administration appeared to be under the stigma of de ferring action until someone was killed.

His Honour, the President, undertook to bring the matter to the notice of the High Commissioner without delay.