Ruining Native
p. 19 · Read in the full issue
Labourers.
Inexperienced Miners In N. Guinea and Papua.
A subject that one often hears discussed in Papua and New Guinea mining districts is dealt with by
“L.H.W.” :
ONE of the most common growls of the old hands —and mostly with good reason—is with regard to the way in which natives are handled by men who come to the country without ever having seen a native before. A native is very easily “spoiled” and, once spoiled, he is very little more good to himself or anyone else, as it is almost impossible to unspoil him.
Old hands in this country have made a study of the native ways, and have worked hard to earn the natives’ respect for the white man. Then these new men come upon the scene, often as heads of mining companies and they ruin one native after another, by pampering them and joking with them.
Another of our problems is the rate of pay given to a boy. The general thing with mining companies is 12/6 per month.
A particularly good boy may be paid up to £1 per month. These rates are made by companies who are employing large staffs of natives, and who are doing a lot in the way of opening up the country by training bush natives in the art of using the pick and shovel, etc. It really seems to be a more important thing in the long run than teaching them to read and write.
Then along come the new companies.
They keep an eye out for the best boys and, when contracts of the latter ex pire, they go to the boys and offer them exorbitant wages. Besides that, when the boys accept the offer they are pam pered, and, when the companies “finish up”—which they generally do in a year or so—the native is of no more use to the established concerns, as he demands the same wages as fie had been getting, and even then he will not work well.
There have been several cases of local boys employed at £1 per month by the senior company in my district, and, im mediately their time expired, they were given up to £5 per month to work for other concerns. Needless to say, the other companies soon went broke; but, in the meantime, they succeeded in ruining the said natives for further employment. If these men were out to make their con cerns pay, or were paying natives with their own money, it would be a totally different story.