THE SOLOMONS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 142, 20 June 1927, Page 17

THE SOLOMONS

LABOUR SHORTAGE

RESULTS IN STAGNATION

PLANTERS' DIFFI-

CULTIES

It is a firm conviction with many of, if not all, tie planters in the Solomon Islands that unless the problem of securing adequate labour is met the plantations will in the not distant future revert to the jungle. Development has been stagnant in the gronpr for years, and without development the planters claim, with every truth, a country is already, half dead. The case for the planter was put recently by- Mr. J. M.' Clift, of Aruligo, in the Solomon Islands, who is revisiting New South Wales, states the "Sydney Morning Herald/'^ If the British settlers in the •New Hebrides could make out a good claim_t© the right to import labour and Jive, he says, the residents of the Solomons could state a case hardly less strong. With an area<of 14,000 square miles, he went on, the group was one-fourth tho s'ze °i,Java, and Java supported more than 30,000,000 people. At the last cen--8B the population o! the Solomons was 500 whites and 150,000 natives. At present, and for some time past, the revenue and the prosperity of the group depended upon the product of fewer than 4000 native labourers. From 1911 to 1926 the average number at work on plantations and vessels had not been more than 3750 Every device has been tried to augment the supply of labour," Mr. Clift con--10% +h Althoußh wages were doubled in 1J26 there were 300 labourers fewer than in the previous year. Because of a decrease in the population, and, in a lesser degree, of the influence of 4e missing tmually diminishing. In 15 years recruit i doubled. Hardly any planting companies vM lT*f lMtead fcrf active d" yelopment there is stagnation-surely a hSrSJ"? Say Of a co«ntry w^ ic^ has been for 30 years or so under the i xirinsn. nag. •

DWINDLING POPULATION. According to Mr. Cliffc startling figures in regard to the dwindling population^* supplied by the Marist B? o thTs' m£ s £n. wW^L aIM tllat * ledg«- « kept, in which the names of all converts are entered. Turning back but a few years [n niciesmf whole w^dZd tmcuy with httlc crosses, and each crosa ™enve 3 al .« g/h Ye > -tie forest^ 3^ an ai years, the mißsionaries eav fS* "Tht" b^r le^v in the So'om^ frp^tt^-*6^™"" account.ofjbad conditions on the panto ?*S vf,S boOT-W:.»gned on and paid off be S lip fn filf T •that rjgid conditions have -Mala" 1 •T,?ro- U, P T l6B «Vtt£& Alala. This island," says Sir cut? "•

ASIATIC LABOUR. smsm trahan Government employs AsiaHn iT the State Xfr d-°° o vcrnment worka planters in X^V 1680 Cll'cumstauces the fepatriarchfrf6llll-?^ ~uU be lepamate Chinese labour as soon n«i t\Z Xft Ilk. c shutting tiic stable door atter tho horse : was out. In al)y cvo ,,(; ha added, the opinion was expressed fey many ma position to kuow that ihe ul laneeiaii-native had little-to learn from fa nn hvbfT' nnd that ,tlle Chino-Melane?-mn hybrid was generally a useful citiypn Incidentally, the Chinese have' SS fnTe group 3'"108' th° "m°U "^ "\Vith proper safeguards taken as to repatriation of Asiatic labour," Mr. Clift declared,, "the benefits to be derived from it in this potentially rich group would be enormous,.not only, to the Solomons, but to Australia as well. Half of the capital Invested m the group is Australian; practically all its imports come through Sydney and would continue to come on-a vastly augmented scale as the effect of a settled labour question made itself felt; ?o HvS™ £"* "2?*- of its cx P°rts com^ to Sydney, where they are converted into secondary products." ■■■:■■■■

GOVERNMENT'S INDIFFERENCE. Figures cau.be,quotca to show an increase m the exports of-, the group, but tins increase is the fruit of labour expended years ago iv felling-the jungle ah* planting coconut plantations. It. will not continue indefinitely; soon, unless., a measure of relief 13 secured, it will cease. The' contention of the Solomon planters is that development is stationary, that costs are prohibitive,/ and that a force of 4000 nativo labourers is inadequate, even if there was an assurance of the numbers remain-' ing constant. In any other young country it is considered an.obligation on the part of the Government to assist those engaged '» (Ifveloping the primary ipdustries—in Australia, for instance, you have rural banks-^but there is a feeling in the Solomons that the planters yill have to fight •their own battles -without expecting Help from any quarter. - ■ "Repeated representations have been made to the authorities on the question of indentured labour, -but no satisfaction has been received. We once heard unofficially that the Secretary of. State for the Colonies (Mr. Amery) had said that he did not wish to go into the question. When the SIS? 1 i Y oraS llßsioner visited the group in 1925—the first visit of a High Commissioner to the settlement, incidentally—a petition touching on this ana other mattors was presented to him, but no reply to it had been received." Another factor jvhich tended to retard development. Mr. Olift went on, was the extraordinarily high rents charged for land m the group. Some years ago the planters had asked for sonic relief in that

direction, but the view was taken in certain official quarters that since the planters had entered into hard and fast agreementsi they should be observed, quite losing sight.^ofr the. greatly changed conditions. Hecently there had been a general reduction in., rente, but they were still iinucb; hjghe'r thaa'tie"rents for similar country!ltr Papua.;- ■' ■ > . Thfc residents of "the group are hopeful that the "Solomonsi will*be converted from a protectorate ihto:"a Grelwn colony. They will';; thus be giyen' .direct access to the Colonial Office, and, although the change would; add to the cost df administration, they believe that. tUe[. new status would more than Compensate them. "There\ isJia Btrong feeling in the Solomons," saidvMr..Clift,'in conclusion, "that it is Australia's;;attitude that counts most, and that it is up to Australia to give Australians in the group some relief from an intolerable -situation. The Australian in the Hebrides can 'go French'; in tho Solomons he can only carry on and trust to a fair deal from his people some day, arid, if some day, wHy not now, when he has still some fight left in him?"