A YELLOW INDUSTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16431, 24 December 1913, Page 14

A YELLOW INDUSTRY.

HOW ALIENS DOMINATE THE > PEARLING INDUSTRY. ; (Melbourne Correspondent Sydney " Sun.") • ; Most of the romance associated with the great Australian pearling grounds is fictional. Ruthless., laws of supply and demand have made the industry a drab and dismai picture. ' The pearling grounds aro rich, and many profitable hauls of pearls and beche-dc-mer still await the plucky boat owners and divers. But the industry has got almost wholly into the hands of the coloured men. Of the 133 boats engaged in and near the Torres Straits, all but an insignificant few are manned exclusively by Asiatics", the divers being Japanese, and the 'crews Malays tod Papuans. Tho same story is to be told of the West Australian coast, where once the white diver figured prominently as tho swashbuckling master of the deep, clad in diamonds, gold and white duck while on shore, and autocrat of his boat while at sea. Till recently, there were some 330.,. luggers engaged along the north-west, but tho white diver had almost disappeared, and here again the Asiatic had usurped the white man's position. Under lax State laws, the Japanese diver secured a foothold in Queensland. As tho shallower beds became depleted of shell, the white divers wouid not undertake the risks of securing the oysters in the deeper waters. The Japanese, on the other hand, were indifferent to depth, provided shell was plentiful in the lower beds, and they were imported in large numbers. A Japanese diver will unhesitatingly go to a depth of forty fathoms, or even lower, to. beds reputedly, rich in shell. -risks- .taken in this, way are extreme. Mortality "in ' all' depth's is 11 per cent of divers. More than ten out of every 100 of these low-depth divers dive some day to their doom. That does not frighten the Japanese, with whom death is no great sacrifice/ But it makes tho white Australian think. Ho says ho is quite prepared to work at this level, hut the rewards must be high. " Give me good returns," he told.,l;he_sheller,. "and. I will do..this ideep-'divrng,- too/''- •' - - •'••• -'■■'-- "■: WHITE,.MEN..SQUEEZED; OUT:.;

This is where, unorer the old State laws, the law of supply "aiid demand came in. Employers went for the cheap Jap. Tho fishing villages of Japan were resorted to, and a,suitable class of labour engaged. The white'diver" was retained to teach these new arrivals how to get shell. The Japanese proved "apt- pupils, "and" in a short time ousted their white teachere from the -industry. The newcomers used ever, the industrial arguments of the* old pearlers. They said they would strike if the work were given to the white men, and.-:-.'this.'- threat secured- their position, as the ; dominant-factor.' Soon it became a common argument that the luggers. could riot practically or.profit-, ably be manned with. white crows." "Tho industry is unquestionably in tho hands of tho Japanese," stated the Federal Royal Commission in a report' presented- to ■ Parliament last week. "They are riiasters of tho situation. Prior to Federation, no restriction was placed on the importation of Japanese into Queensland, and as soon as they applied themselves to tho work, these newcomers displayed absolute fearlessness and a most romarkablo-aptitudo:-' - Th Parliament cannot, however, put the whole blame on State laws. It has neglected the. industry, and it has introduced many permits allowing special introductions of Japanese divers since Federation. JAPANESE IN COMMAND. • The question arises"; whether these mistakes have.not wholly ruined the industry as a white man's occupation. What can be done? Every sheller says ho would sell his boats if white, divers were forced upon him. Tho shellers quite freely admit that their business is to obtain shell; and that tho locality j or depth whence it is- sectored is left to the discretion of the diver. No instructions aro given to divers, who have absolute, control of tho boats, as to ; where they should or should not fish. Consequently the divers select tho locality where in their opinion the take of shell will be greatest, irrespective of tho Tisks taken. Tho services of the i Japanese diver are therefore highly prized by the and preference is always given to him over the white man. . . i At the end of this year a decree issued by Mr Thomas, as Minister for External Affairs, will come into force. i It provides that no further permits shall

be granted for the introduction of coloured divers. Shellers are already on the West Australian coast selling luggers in anticipation of the change. The problem of whether the industry is worth Federal financial support, such as that given to the sugar industry, is therefore becoming urgent. . BOAT BUILDING MONOPOLY. Not content with collaring.the shellraising part of the industry, the Japanese have invaded the boat building section. It'has become almost a monopoly for the Japanese boat-builders. They are building not only for pearling, but for general trading. The reason adduced by the strong position now held by the Japanese boat builders is that upon their advent they paid comparatively high prices to obtain possession of certain boat-building slips, and having got possession, worked more cheaply than the white boat builder could work,/.' No".evidence was adduced by the Federal- Commission to show that any, whitelboat.builder has entered.into serious competition with the_ Japanese in recent years.: Shellers maintain that the cost of-boats built locally is quite as great as that of boats of the same class built at Sydney, but that they have the advantage of being able to supervise the building of the boat on the local slips, arid of having their own designs faithfully caTried out. It is 6afo to assume, therefore, that-this part of the business could be fully as well, probably "better, : undertaken by whites. If Parliament forced white divers oh shollers, the difficulty of securing trained men would at once arise. Ths Torres Strait Pearl Shellers' Association has a scheme for the ESTABLISHMENT OF A SCHOOL OF /DIVING, .;,'

and it has been suggested by others I that the herring fisheries ■of Scotland j and elsewhere, in which a hardy seafaring population may bo found, should; .be tried as likely fields in which to procure men suitable as divers. One section of shellers asks the Government to recruit men.from the sponge fisheries of Southern Europe. An extraordinary suggestion is that the youths of Queensland reformatories should be trained to : take to the water'. The Federal Com- I mission hit on the idea of introducing crofters. Its suggestion is that the mixed industries of pearling, fishir£ and farming should appeal to immigrants, and that the islands in the vicinity ot Cape York should be given over to such people. "By such means," wrote Mr Bamford, M.H.R.. chairman of the Commission, " the Commonwealth would be establishing a sturdy race of British people in a locality sadly in need of population, and would certainly afford better opportunities than have yet been available for introducing white labour into tho pearling industry." COST OF WHITE LABOUR. The extra .cost of -white labour is,, -however,, a.more, seridus factor than the scarcity-"of white divers. Pay .white men well., and.they will do'anything. But '"the : 'p'ay must bo good. Coastal! -steamers now pay their sailors £7 10s a month, and if all luggers were manned with men costing that sum, the industry would be hard hit. Similarly the employment of white men would necessitate, the.improvement of conditions on tli,e- vessels. Power-driven machinery is - desi£abla,_if—not necessary.;- results, an engineer," and more expense. Better sleeping accommodation should be provided. Again, the cost would bo great. And, again, tho shellers complain at the suggestion. JAPS. MUST GO. Ultimate supplanting of the Japanese is j an evidently sound national aim. They must go, and the industry, if it is to survive, must become white.- The Federal Commission unanimously declared'for a wholly white-population fcrt Thursday Island. "Granted that tae industry should eventually become one .undertaken by white workers only,", it says, "men who would make their hemes on Thursday Island, it would scertainly become advisable that the mixed population of the island should become subject to the same conditions and the same changes as the fishing industry itself." The first step seems to i>o a prohibition of coloured or alien.crews within territorial waters—within three miles of the shore. This would at least keep the shallow beds for white men, and would be a start towards the ultimate prohibition of boats i carrying yellow crews.