In Defence Of Contract Labour

By H. S. N. Robinson, Secretary of the Melanesian Mission, Sydney

“TNDENTURED” is perhaps an unfor- X tunate word —a word associated with the bad old days and, in the minds of so many people, associated with “forced” or compulsory labour. There are not a few who regard it as something akin to a modified form of “slavery”—and, of course, the exploitation of the poor native.

Indentured, really, is merely- another word for contract as opposed to casual labour. A vast amount of nonsense is talked and written about the matter and idealists are often a bit of a nuisance.

Indeed, many—some known to the writer —don’t seek the facts of the situation, as it is to-day, but look merely for con firmation of their own preconceived, ill based ideas.

I do not pose as an expert; but I have travelled much; I have sofight the views and experiences of many competent to judge; visited many of the islands of the South Seas on more than one occasion; know something at first hand of the native peoples of other countries—and particularly those far removed from the usual trade and tourist routes.

I know the views of the missionaries, and their difficulties, and I warmly sym pathise with them; the views, also, of the trader and planter. And, frankly, I hold no brief for “Big Business.’' AH my sympathies are with the native—while having nothing whatever in common with the over-class-conscious product of a

degenerate democracy.

IT may be taken that the white man has lost none of his acquisitiveness, and that development will take place —inevitably. Now, how can this be car ried out best in the interest of the native the real owner of the land? I know of the so-called octopus grip of the “Big Firms.” I have met and talked with both sides, and have seen the native as com paratively few white people have seen him.

Just what are the objections to con tract labour? What is contract labour?

Is it not merely an agreement between a plantation employer ,and a prospective native labourer who desires to work on

the plantation? The contract or agree ment has been drawn up by the Administration—the conditions provide ample security for the native. The em ployer is assured of labour for a pre determined time—failing which he could not carry on. Even a member of the class conscious- coterie informed the House of Representatives that “the favourable attitude of the natives to the cause of the Allied Nations is believed by the Government to be due, to a great extent, to the sympathetic administration of native affairs by past administrations . . . etc.,” which doesn’t go to show any undue anxiety concerning ill-treatment or ex ploitation. No—the native knows full well ’ tha t his position is secure, and that he can obtain immediate redress from the local DOs.

It is difficult to learn just what are the objections to a system of labour based on agreement or contract between employee and employer. The writer is not aware that these objections have been defined in detail.

Settlement and development cannot proceed, without labour—and so, what kind of labour is best in the interests of the natives? Local, under Government supervision, backed-up, maybe, with the kindly assistance and co-operation of the missionary societies; or imported: labour, as tried in the New Hebrides Islands, with all its attendant difficulties.

Imported labour would be economically and morally unsound. Casual labour is not workable in most of the, as yet, undeveloped Pacific Islands. Those who know conditions, and have had experience, know that the natives lack any sense of responsibility—very few are sufficiently mentally developed to understand any system of casual labour. The position arising from the employment of natives who, after receiving their first pay, would come and go just as their child-like fancy urged—is impossible. Some form or sys tem of “agreement” is absolutely essen tial in the present stage of native devel opment-essential quite as much for the welfare of the native as for any form of employment.

I AM not interested in dividends. I try to take a long view: What is best for the native, the real owner of the land —those people to whom we now owe so much and on whose account we have made all sorts of promises, protestations and charters.

Do not let us hamper or prohibit sound commercial development, but, recognising that it is inevitable, rather let us pro pound a scheme under watchful Govern ment supervision—something constructive —to cover a period of not less than a generation or even two—at any rate until such time as the natives are ready for a more advanced stage of, say, peasant farming, working and developing their own plantations.

The land is theirs—“ Big Biz” has got only leases. Under existing legislation, land cannot be bought, and leases only are arranged, and under the watchful care of Government. It will be more than a generation before these people are ready for any form of even partial self-govern ment.

Let those who talk and write so glibly about the exploitation of the native seek adjustment of the following points: Who controls the price of copra and many other Island products, and consequently the rate of wages? Not the local “Big Business,” but the inner circle of world financial wanglers, so difficult to trace.

Why not have international fixation of

prices? The basic wage seems to be sub ject to ready fixing. Why not basic profits?

THE worst period in the employment experiences of the native, and when he is subject to exploitation, is the period between being paid-off by the plantation manager and his return to his native home village, a period often tak ing from six to eight weeks —during which waiting time he is at a loose end, and the prey of the unscrupulous Asiatic trader and others. This is an important mat ter, and one for the attention of the Administration or/and the missionary societies Education; medical services; employ ment under benevolent discipline, develop ing a sense of moral responsibility; plan tations staffed with Melanesians (not Asiatics) housed with their families in what we might call garden villages; cared for and instructed by trained and intelli gent, friendly whites, backed by mission ary organisations—it seems that in such way lies wisdom.

These are not visionary ideas. Literally thousands of these natives have scarcely reached the school-child stage; they are not yet free from their fears and extra ordinary superstitions, their tabus. We need a system, to be introduced over a long period of years, where the native will be encouraged to move his place of abode to new native houses, on land con tiguous to plantations, where he will learn cleanliness and a better mode of life, and raise families in better condi tions. As health improves, so will men tality, and they will become better able to learn trades. Villages, then, will evolve alongside plantations which will ulti mately be taken over by the native when qualified to do so with some degree of success.

IF labour cannot be obtained on some basis of agreement or contract between employee ajid employer, then it would appear likely that the large plantations—especially those situated some distance from availability of native labour —will close down. It is not to be expected that any employer will bring labour from distances without some assurance that such labour will remain for a reasonable time. Nor will natives travel distances without some security of employment.

A trained observer, with many years’ intensive study of the Melanesian, one who has been all over many islands and in no way associated with personal or company aggrandisement, who has no vested interests to serve, refers to the present system of employment as “a con tribution to the development of the native.” He reports that labour has been well looked after. He expresses the opinion that “the regular hours of labour, the regular food, the benevolent discipline of plantations, has done a lot to improve the health of the natives and has been a real contribution to native development.”

Dr. S. M. Lambert (whose great ser vices throughout the Pacific are too well known to require any reference here) approved of the system and methods of obtaining labour carried out by the British Administration in the Solomons, and summed up: “The recruiting of con tract labour was once a curse, but more enlightened government has turned it into something of a blessing; wise labour laws have made it so that a worker usually leaves the plantation with his health better than when he came.”

The Resident Commissioner of the New Hebrides, Mr. R. D. Blandy, accom nanied by Mrs. Blandy, arrived in Ade laide, SA, at the end of October on fur rough.