Caledonia

Japanese For New

Social Aspects of the Labour Problem

ONE of the fundamental pro&j lems of the Pacific Islands-J how to ensure a suitable suppli of labour for established industries —may be seen in all its nakedness in Australia at the present time. I The Chief Secretary of the French Colony of New Caledonia M. Biros, has undertaken a diplo] matic mission to Canberra, to disj cuss with the Australian Govern] ment a proposal under which fronj 600 to 1,000 Japanese will b€ brought into NC under indenture to work the nickel and chrom] mining industries, backbone of thj French Colony’s economy.

In the past, NC has gone to Java and Indo-China for this labour] To-day’s post war political troubles have shut off both sources. The fen Javanese left in NC are being callee home. The Melanesians of NC anc the Loyalties, in the French view are neither numerous nor depend] able as labour. The employers musi go, therefore, to China or Japan.

Apart from the facts that Au& tralia is only 700 miles away, anc there is much trade between NC and Australia, Australia has m voice whatever in NC affairs. But knowing Australia’s extreme sensi. tivity in relation to Asiatic settle/ ment, NC is tactfully consultirtj Australia.

There is no doubt about Ausi tralia’s popular reaction. The De: puty Leader of the Parliamentary Socialists, Mr. Calwell, and tin president of the Returned Service men’s League, have raised lorn voices against the plan. They hav' good reason.

ALREADY there are heavy imi plantations of Asiatics in NeT Guinea, New Hebrides, Fiji am Tahiti; and every one of them ha taken place because the repatriation provisions of a system of indent tured Asiatic labour broke down and the eager Asiatics were allowed to make permanent settlements. J An international discussion, wit a view to the adoption and imple mentation of a policy to contro Asiatic settlement in the Sout: Pacific Islands, is now called fon Australia should take the initiative in such a discussion, because Aus tralia’s White Australia Policy i due for revision. Unless the Unites States is prepared to join with us fii keeping a million armed men pen manently on guard in the Guinea area, the surplus milliom of an overcrowded and awakenin; Asia cannot be kept indefinitely or;

of the comparatively empty lands of [;he South Pacific.

If we cannot stop the flood, at jeast we should try, for tne sake of our own survival, to adapt ourselves 1,0 the conditions which it imposes.

However, that deals with the long view. The immediate question is: If Australia does not like the ihought of establishing a Japanese community in NC, where are the ►French industrialists going to get labourers? And, by the same token, why should they not take a look at Fiji? There should be no diffi culty in recruiting a few hundred Piji-Indians for service in NC.