New Guinea

Dwindling Labour Supply In

Is Introduction of Coolie Labour the Solution?

Prom A Special Correspondent

THE future commercial development of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea depends to a great extent on an adequate labour supply being avail able for the man who is prepared to take up land for agricultural purposes, or to work mining leases.

Although the present labour situation cannot be described as one to create im mediate apprehension; it is, neverthe less, one which should be given consid eration before it becomes a vital prob lem. For it is at this stage when far sighted employers are beginning to real ise that the demands on the man-power of the Territory, plus the changing eco nomic conditions, are indications of an approaching problem which should be forestalled and some scheme prepared, ready to be put into, operation when the problem becomes acute.

A survey of the Territory’s male in digenous population as at June 30, 1938, shows that there are approximately 200,- 000. Of this number nearly 42,000 are indentured labourers. Compare these figures with those of 1914 when the total native population was put down in offi cial figures as 230,000 (including 78,000 estimated). Of this number, 57,115 were enumerated males and of the 78,000 es timated it would be safe to take 40,000 as males, making a total of 97,115, with 17,000 indentured labourers. The com parison shows approximately twice as

manv indentured labourers used in 1938, in the ratio of native male population, as in 1914. The increase is easily ac counted for by the greater extent of planted land on the various estates and the development of the gold industry.

Latest figures show 20,855 labourers em ployed on plantations and 7,189 in min ing There is an increase of 1,600 labour ers in 1938, as compared with the fig ures at June 30, 1937.

EMPLOYERS of large numbers of na tive labourers state that each year they are experiencing greater diffi culty in obtaining fresh supplies of workers. Official figures show that the number of workers renewing their con tracts are becoming less each year. Take the following figures for four years as an indication: — ,

These same employers are of opinion that conditions will become worse as the years go by, and there is no reason to doubt such an assumption. One of the main contributing factors to the decrease in the renewal of contracts is the lack of economic pressure which compels the indigenous native to work.

Unlike the Malay or the Javanese, where there is a dense population and the necessities of life are not so easily obtained, the New Guinea native is abundantly supplied with his every need, without the necessity of working to any marked degree and also he can procure all his ordinary requirements without money. The ground is so pro lific that all his food can be grown with the minimum of energy; the sea is full of fish; or, if inland natives, the jungle is full of small game to supplement the vegetable diet. Native tobacco grows profusely—he either makes his own pipe out of clay or he utilises the dried ba nana leaf in which to roll his cigarette: the beaten out bark of certain trees pro vides him with suitable clothing and the übiquitous coconut and betel-nut palms supply building and household materials. Why, he asks, should he work?

THAT is a question which I, too, have often asked and the answer seems to be that it is only the spirit of adventure, the urge to visit the un known. the inquisitiveness of the human that sends him hundreds of miles away to bind himself in an agreement for years and often to return empty-hand ed, yet with a brain filled with greater knowledge and a changed outlook upon life in general. In a lesser degree one might compare this urge to that which prompted the young country lad from the Australian bush to enlist and go overseas during the Great War. He re turned with a greater knowledge and a broader vision.

With no economic necessity to force the New Guinea native into the labour market, it follows that when his natural curiosity has been satisfied then the number offering for indenture will con

No. of labourers renewing Period. contracts. 1924-25 .. .. .. 9,477 1935-36 .. .. .. .. 7.244 1936-37 .. .. .. .. 6,330 1937-38 . . . . .. .. 5,581

siderably decrease. Admittedly, each year the enumerated population increases, thus making more eligible for employ ment; but the end must be reached some day. Added to this is their improved economic condition as a result of the higher prices they obtain for their pro duce since the introduction of legisla ture whereby they sell their copra direct to the exporters, receiving ordinary mar ket prices. By this means many of the natives in the more thickly-populated districts, and where there are good roads, have purchased their own motor lorries, erected their own hot-air kilns and work independently of the white or Asiatic trader who, at one time, served as the middleman in the tropics.

In the not too-distant future com mercial and agricultural undertakings in New Guinea will be forced to restrict their development on account of labour shortage at the present rate of native prosperity, decrease in extension of con tracts and increase in the demands for labour.

THE most practical solution of the problem which suggests itself is that the supply of indentured native la bour should be taken over by the Gov ernment, and an official Labour Bureau established to control the supply of plan tations, mining activities, commercial, and other interests requiring native la bour.

Unfortunately, Article 3 of the Terms of the New Guinea Mandate includes the clause: “The Mandatory shall see that the slave trade is prohibited, and that no forced labour is permitted, ex cept for essential public works and ser vices, and then only for adequate re muneration”. This is a hurdle which presents a difficulty hard to surmount from a legal point of view, though from a common-sense and practicable point of view it cannot but be agreed that na tives, after having served one or two terms under a contract of service, leave no doubt as to the benefits they derive from nourishing and regular food, medi cal attention, hygienic surroundings and mental advancement together with the general moral improvement as a result of discipline and a regular mode of liv ing. In fact it may safely be said that the employers of native labourers are really doing a greater work in educating and improving the New Guinea native physically than is generally appreciated.

His praises are seldom sung; more often one hears only of the isolated cases when some unsuitable individual has trouble with his employees, and some unknow ing person treats it as a general occur rence.

FAILING the supply by the Govern ment, the other solution lies in im ported labour from one of the East ern countries where the dense population and economic conditions compel the masses to seek unskilled work at a low rate of pay. It has been argued that New Guinea plantations and other acti vities would not be able to stand the cost.

This is a debatable point. The world points to our present “cheap labour”.

That is also open to argument. The average labourer here, recruited and in dentured, costs the employer about £l5 a year or 25/- a month for a type of labourer far down on the efficiency scale. The coolie class would perform at least twice as much work as the aver age New Guinea native, who invariably has to be given the strictest supervision to obtain results. Here again the lack of economic pressure in New Guinea is demonstrated for the employee has no fear of dismissal, it carries neither stigma nor destitution for, unlike the coolie, he

is able to subsist comfortably from the provisions of a bountiful Nature.

It would be Utopia in New Guinea with coolie labour—for the planters to be freed of the ever-constant problem of ob taining fresh recruits for his labour line; to be freed of the never-ending urging on of unwilling workers who so often seek the slightest opportunity to escape the duties allotted to them. There would be a decline in the number of neurotic cases amongst the whites and a tend ency for a higher standard of living.