earling War

Australia And The apanese

Skirmishing on Eve of New Season

r appears from recent Canberra announcements, that the Jap pearling-luggers and mother ip will be back this year in irth Australian waters under the ence system set up last September the Pearl Fisheries Act. At that ne Australia declared sovereignty er the “Continental Shelf” which, far as north Australian waters e concerned, stretches about 300 les off-shore. rhe season lasts from about April November.

Io fish for pearlshell in this area eryone—and that includes Aus ilians—must have a licence, or Australia says. The Japanese e disputing Australia’s right to e Continental Shelf and will take e case to the International Court. , the present moment Australia id Japan are exchanging “notes” id “preliminary documents” and ing through all the motions at gh diplomatic level although it expected that the International >urt will not get down to cases r anything up to two years.

In the meantime, Australia says at she has agreed to the matter ing to the Court if Japan will serve a provisional pearling reement acceptable to Australia.

Australian MOP interests believe at the reappearance of the panese in north Australian iters to fish for pearlshell is due American pressure on the Aus alian Government; they believe, so, that an American firm was hind the Jap pearling fleet of 25 so small ships and a mother ip which collected at least 1,000 ns of shell in northern waters st season.

This is what they say happened; nerica informed the Australian svernment that if more MOP ire not forthcoming from Aus alian waters, American button ctories would switch over entirely plastic buttons. This would timately force the Australian ell industry out of existence, nerica suggested that a Jap fleet, eked by American money, collect ell for American button manu cturers only—only the second iss or broken shell being retained Japan. [THAT actually happened was ▼ that the shell the Japanese fished, plus the regular Aus alian production, plus shell from e half-dozen other parts of the Drld where it is produced, over ipplied the market—particularly ,e American market —and de

pressed the price.

The American firm that was behind the Japanese enterprise not only had sufficient to supply American manufacturers, which was the point on which they applied their pressure on Canberra, but had, also, sufficient to sell to UK and Continental consumers— that is, Jap-fished Australian shell was being sold by Americans to the UK and the Continent.

The Japanese made 1,500,000 dollars out of their part of the proceedings That is what most of the pearl shell interests in Australia believe; and it does not please them.

Since the war, and the withdrawal of the Jap divers, who realists admit made the North Australian pearling industry, costs of pearling with the inefficient

labour now available has made the industry uneconomic unless fan tastically high prices are received for shell. Pearling masters in the north now simply cannot compete with the Japanese on a cost basis.

It is estimated that the men em ployed on the Jap fleet received about £2O or £25 per month for the duration of the season; for this they lived in most primitive con ditions and worked unlimited hours. No Australian government w ° ul J ™ U thelr which the Japanese work on their luggers. A few - Japanese the area should be worked by Aus tralians, under Australian <con ditions of available labour mostly islanders, (Next Page)

rhis would not oversupply the MOP narket and would therefore keep ;he price high and still economic :or Australian operators.

This is the traditional Australian ipproach to any industry cost >rocedure: If they cannot pro luce it economically themselves, hen the obvious solution is to pass egislation to make it impossible or anyone else to produce it at all. rhis is a dead-end attitude and oust sooner or later end in iisaster, particularly in such an ndustry as pearling where virtually iverything produced is exported.

Bring Back The Japs.

They Say

As an alternative, the realists [who are in the majority), say bring back the Jap pearl divers, inder a system of indenture, to /ork for Australians.” And, al hough this would bring the usual lowl of protest from people in the

>outh, particularly from returned

ervicemen who, with all due espect to them, know nothing -bout the pearling industry, it is, n fact, the only sane solution.

There is scarcely a pearling aaster in northern waters who /ould not welcome back the Japs nth open arms; and morally, what 3 the difference between Aus ralians, in their own waters, em iloying Japanese to produce shell, ,nd Americans employing Japs to [o the same thing?

The difference as far as Australia /as concerned in the last season /as the 1,500,000 dollars which /ere lost to the country.

Objection to any plan to re produce Jap pearldivers would ertainly come from the Queens and Government which, since the /ar, has made a great effort to rain and finance Torres Strait slanders to run their own luggers. >ome of these luggers are doing n efficient job. A great many of hem are not. There would be no eason why the efficient should not ontinue their operations. In a ompetitive industry the inefficient, -s is right, would soon be weeded iut.

It is unlikely that even if the nternational Court upholds Aus ralia’s claim to the Continental >helf, that Australia will be able o efficiently police the vast area if water it involves in the north, (articularly against the wily Japs vho respect other peoples’ rules nly when they are at the wrong end if a gun. None of us like Japs, iut let us face it: There are some hings they can do better than we. *earl diving is one of them,' and Lshing is another.

The clever thing for Australia o do is to use Japanese know-how or the benefit of Australia. But /ill it? The whole conduct of the >earl-shell industry since the end if the war indicates political neptitude and muddled thinking.

The chances are that north Aus tralia is now in for a long period of squabbling over the pearling grounds for, unless Australia em ploys a whole fleet of inspection vessels, the odds are very much in favour of the Japs.

IN PASSING: One of the few reparations Australia received from Japan was the secret of producing “culture pearls.” We know that experiments have been going on in northern waters but so far as we know Australia has not produced any results. Nor have there been any progress reports.