Guinea?

Asiatic Labour For New

Letter to the Editor YOU seem to advocate, in a recent issue of your journal, the introduction of Asiatic labour to meet labour needs in New Guinea, subject to a strict guarantee of repatriation. I presume that this means Asiatic men would be brought in for a fixed period, kept in labour bar racks. and then returned. Do you think it would be right to introduce such an evil to New Guinea? Do you know any thing of the horrible practices which occur when men are herded together like this, and separated for a long period from their womenfolk? Better keep them out of New Guinea altogether.

I am, etc.,

Social Worker.

Sydney, August 15, 1939.

EDITORIAL NOTE—Our correspond ent is either very innocent, or is trying to pull the editorial leg. If “Social Worker” ever had been in New Guinea he would have known that the New Guinea indentured labourers are separ ated from their wives and families for years on end; that they are kept in iso lated labour lines, on the goldfields and plantations: and that sodomy and all other kinds of evils are rife, in conse quence. If he is interested in this sub ject, he should read, in this issue, the article about Wau’s latest scandal —the “sing-sings”, organised by the indentured labourers of the goldfields.