THE KANAKA QUESTION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2730, 11 July 1906, Page 28

THE KANAKA QUESTION.

REPORT OF A ROYAL COMMISSION.

BRISBANE, July 3.

The report of the Royal Commission upon the questions of the deportation and lepatriation of kanakas and the sufficiency of labour for the Queensland sugar industry covers 14,000 questions and ans^eis and n number of appendices. The recommendations include the following. — That the Resident Commissioners in the vaiious groups acquaint the chiefs that the islanders may shortly be returned in large number.?, so that increased food supplies may be provided ; tliat the islanders be landed wheio they will be <-afe from personal injury ; that exemption fiom depoitation be allowed in ceitain cases, wheie deportation would inflict severe haidship and injustice ; that 2000 islanders be repatriated in January next, and thereafter 500 monthly.

Dealing with the question of the future supply of labour, the commission lecominends:— The establishment of a labour intelligence bureau ; that Clown lands be made available in small holdings for occupation by woikers of limited means; that during the next six months efforts be made to ascertain the number of unemployed in Queensland, New .South Wales, and Victoiia, and to brin^ under their notice the nature of the employment available ; that if a sufficient supply of labour is not obtainable in this manner, information be disseminated in the United Kingdom and Europe regarding the sugar industiy and the facilities for land settlement, with a view of attracting immigrants.

All three of the commissioneis signed the repoit. Commissioner Paget adds a rider recommending that the kanakas be allowed to continue work until such time as transport facilities are afforded.

The report states that in Apiil last there were 5280 islanders liable to deportation, and the deportations during the next &ix months Will probably i educe the number to 4000.

July 4,

The lepoit dealing with the questions of the deportation and repatriation of kanakas further points out the necessity of making exceptions in the matter of deportation. There are some kanakas who, owing to their extreme age and bodily infirmity, would be \mable to obtain a j livelihood if sent to the islands with the others. They have lived here so long that j their tribe has become extinct. There are others whose prolonged subsistence on English diet will unfit them for vegetable food, which chiefly constitutes the suste-

nance of kanakas on the islands. Others, again, had left their homes to escape death and punishment for various breaches of tribal laws, and if sent back would probably be killed. The report also deals with the wives of those kanakas who are not natives of the same island, and considers that it would be inhuman to deport such persons.