New Asiatic Colony In New Hebrides

What Followed Breakdown of Tonkinese Indentures

By R. D. BLANDY, late British Resident Commissioner in New Hebrides.

rHE Anglo-French Protocol of 1914 provides for the intro- Juction of “foreign” labourers by sither co-sovereign Power without ntervention —or interference—or any brm of control—by the other Power.

During the nineteen-twenties, when t had become clear that only a small >ortion of the rich agricultural lands rf the group could be developed by neans of the relatively scanty local lative labour force (Already at ixhaustion point)—and as part of a lolicy of “mise en valeur” (de elopment) of French overseas erritories —the French Government tarted importing Indo - Chinese oolies on indenture for the benefit •f French planting and trading nterests.

The underlying idea was to acrease (1) trade with France and 2) French material wealth and restige in the Condominium.

Though the coolies were, at rates hen riding, relatively cheap, French iterests concerned had to undertake arious obligations as regards cost of Production and repatriation, hous ig, clothing, rationing, etc. At the me, however, the total cost of these onkinese worked out much cheaper ian that of native labour, particu irly as the coolies’ hours of work 'ere longer than those permitted by le Protocol for natives.

By the beginning of the Great )epression (1930) some 8,000 adult oolies (including women) were work ig for French interests and much ich additional land had been cleared nd planted. Finance had been berally supplied in the form of )ans through the Bank of Indo china, and planters and traders had een encouraged to go ahead regardless”, as a result of which lost of them developed most xtravagant habits.

The Depression brought prices of □pra, cocoa, coffee and cotton imbling down below the cost of reduction of all but the more care jl and solvent planters, and it was ot long before a great number of mployers were faced with bank uptcy and the inability to carry out ieir obligations towards the Ton inese. Large numbers of coolies 'ere returned to the French uthorities (Contracts broken) and, nally, planters’ and traders’ debts 'ere assembled and funded (on datively easy terms) by the French

Government under the form of the “Credit National”. The majority of the returned coolies were repatriated.

Some Tonkinese, however, re mained; and, as soon as the depres sion started to abate, introduction of coolies was restarted, but on a smaller and more cautious scaie, and French development of New Hebrides lands continued.

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AT the time of the French Armistice with Germany there were some 3,000 adult Tonkinese in the group. Trade with France, and ‘further supplies of coolies, ceased simultaneously; but a more lucrative trade commenced with the United States, to which country the produce of the New Hebrides had been hzoned”, as a war measure. In (addition, very large numbers of US military personnel were stationed on Santo and Efate, and Tonkinese were extensively (and most advantageously) used in supplying their incidental needs, chiefly through the medium of restaurants, laundries and “boot legging” . . . [ The departure of the US troops, and the end of the war, brought a stop both to opportunist money making and to export trade to America. There was a partial and smbarrassing vacuum until trade with France was restarted.

In the meantime, however, the contracts of the Tonkinese tiad become time-expired, and sventually these were declared ‘free men” pending repatriation, [n due course, about 2,000 (in ;luding all known active Vietminh lympathisers) were repatriated.

The balance, about 950 adults and r OO children, remained on in the

group “awaiting repatriation”, and started a new life as free-lances (em ployees of various kinds on high wages, making copra “on shares”, storekeepers, barbers, artisians, taxi drivers, market gardeners, etc.).

Their standard of living was much raised, and they have since prospered and multiplied.

This nucleus of Tonkinese is still there, and looks likely to remain there permanently for various reasons, among them the following: • The position in Indo-China has deteriorated, and repatriation has be come very difficult. • The bulk of these Tonkinese, having tasted comparative luxury and freedom, have ceased to desire repatriation. To the children, the New Hebrides is Home. ° The Tonkinese in the New Hebrides, being “loyal”, have now acquired “free citizenship of the French Union” and, as such, help to swell the predominance of the French population in the Condominium. • Labour of all kinds has been very short, prices of produce have been very high, and the plantations (built up by 8,000 Tonkinese) are in full bearing, without adequate labour to work them. The Tonkinese have

Ttherefore, become doubly valuable, particularly to French interests, and able to demand their own figure.

It would seem, therefore, that this Tonkinese colony will almost cer tainly stay on in the group: also that it will breed rapidly, prosper, and

grow every year politically strongei and harder to get rid of, if that were ever the policy.

A problem on the lines of Fiji’s Indians may be in the making.

Further supplies of “indentured” labourers are, of course, not avail

able under present circumstance and the question of labour to develc the New Hebrides remains unsolve