FIJI LABOUR TROUBLES

Otago Witness, Issue 3443, 9 March 1920, Page 7

FIJI LABOUR TROUBLES

CLASHES WITH INDIANS, TROOPS DISPERSE MOBS. . MANY ARRESTS MAD£ LIFE "UNDER MARTIAL LAW. , (Feom Cue Own Oorbesfohdent.) SUVA (FIJI), February 17. Suva is practically under martial law. There is no one left in the large stores but the owners and a girl or two. Business has practically stopped. Everybody i 3 a special constable. There is mild excitement in the air, and nervous people shut their doors at night. Taking a stroll after dark through eomo of our pretty hilly roads in the suburbs, one is either bailed up at every corner by a sentry's "Who goes there?" or a patrol of four or six bright young lads .armed with clubs pas 3 breezily by. The sentries have loaded, rifles and glistening bayonets, and on the Victoria Parade lights gleam everywhere. From the City Hall come the strains of a gramophone and the hum of song by a- boy from Maoriland, for we have the New Zealand Government vessel in the bay, the Tutanekai, and she has disembarked 60 artillerymen and six Lewis guns, and she carries heavier artillery for &n. emergency. Further along the Boys' Grammar,- School hums with bustle. It is headquarters. Here Colonel Hall is officer commanding, and a dozen motor cars and motor wagons are "parked" in front. Sometimes the telephone lines hum, and lads in khaki come pouring out, and in five minutes 20, 30, 40 are off three, five, eight miles out like a flash. Sometimes a machine gun flashes after the squad.

There is an Indian "strike" on. It is nominally a demand for more money. It is really a war -against white rule, fomented by sclover rascal from India, who has been working up the agitation foT years. The Indians cut the telephone wires to Rewa, so a wireless apparatus spar-ks on the roof of the school, while another has been installed at Nausori, on the Rewa River, where the C.S.E.. Company's mill is. ' DEFENCE FORCE MOBILISED. Three or four hundred FijLans have been brought in from outlying islands, and are being hastily drilled, and there .are nearly 100 .white special constables. The defence force has been mobilised, and besides the two native' platoons tliere are two or three more of whites and half-castes. The Government some time ago disbanded the country rifle clubs, and withdrew rifles and ammunition. Now they have despatched a supply for the few whites at country centres where the Indians are numerous.

That is how matters stand, and yesterday the sloop of war (mine-sweeper) Marguerite a.rrived from Australia with more help. The Indian leaders acknowledge that advantage was taken of the engineers' strike in Australia. There have been a few collisions, but clubs have quietened the mobs, and some 200 Indians have been arrested. No resort has so far been made to firearms HISTORY OF THE TROUBLE.

The Indians, mostly of the lowest and most ignorant type, came here under indenture for five years, with a further five years' free residence. Most of them, however, stayed on, and to-day the Indian community is a really well-to-do comfortable crowd. The few thousands still under indenture were released of their agreements on January 3. The planters need more labour, and " a mission" is in India trying to induce further emigration. To further placate the Indians who made many demands at a meeting in Suva on Boxing Day, the Government further agreed to two Indian members on the Legislative Council, to be elected by the Indians. Wages for common Indian labour ran from 2s to 2s 6d a day. The Indian leaders talked of ss,and even more. No demand was made on the employers, however, and without warning the Indians stopped work in Suva, on the Rewa, and at Navua, where the Fiji-Van-couver mill is (with 4500 Indians in the Navua district). The cook and house boys, and store and other town hands continued work. Then they were all told or threatened that if they did not ceat&e work by February 1 they would be beaten. The Government received a deputation of supposed leaders. The Governor promised a commission to inquire into the wages question and cost of living, and the deputation promised to try to get the men to return to work. The_ men did not resume work, but the commission has held five sittings. The evidence sitpplied was really ridiculous. Men said they earned ,11s 6d a week and spent £2 6s on food. The minimum ration for a single man was given at 2Slb of sharps,' rice, and dhall. with vegetables, milk, and a long list of other things weekly. An old planter swore that if an Indian ate all that he would not be able to work. IMPUDENT AND ARROGANT.

Then threats were made to the loyal "boys," and an Indian Women's Association took a hand. They waylaid and brutally ill-used some of the men, mutilating them and acting more like ghouls than human beings—purely Bolshevist.

On January 29 a mob invaded the town to punish a European. The native police and returned soldiers beat them back with" clubs. Matters got warmer. Everywhere the Indians were impudent and arrogant. The women began to' visit business premises to get at loyalists. Then on Tuesday a special constable, a lad from a Government office, tried to arrest the leader of one of these harpy bands, when hundreds of men sprang up from everywhere. This was in the Indian suburb of T'oorak. The " special" and four native constables had a bad time, but other " specials" were rushed up, then police with rifles, then military and machine guns. Fully 2000 Indians (armed with sticks and stones) were fighting mad. Some men and women had knives. Thirty or forty "specials," with fiddling little batons, and the native police finally arrested 151 men and 12 women. No firearms' were used. SEVERAL EUROPEANS' INJURED. An old man, George Pilkington, who gallantly tried to help the lad, had an arm broken, and was seriously injured. Mr Savage, of the Customs, fell, and while down was brutally treated, and was taken unconscious to the hospital. Mx Charlie Caldwell, of the Treasury, received a knife wound and other cuts on the head, and one arm bone was broken. Others had abrasions. No one was killed. The next day four bridges on the main road to Rewa were damaged, planking torn up, etc., and the .telephone line was cut. Three of the bridges were repaired, and a mounted squad brought in the Europeans from Nasinn, where the Indians 1 - were threatening. On Thursday a mob of between .200 and 300 at Samabula refused to disperse for the military, crying out " Shoot! Shoot!'' Finally 80 or 40 "specials" charged them._ Marry Indians were injured, and the crowd! dispersed. The same evening a crowd at Larni was dispersed and 15 were arrested.

Much anxiety was felt for the settlers up the Rewa River, along 60 to 70 miles of country, the Indians being very numerous and very threatening. One or two la/Ige gatherings were dispersed by the firmness a-ad toot of the dfetrlot commissioner, and a display of force, with a machine gun, was made one night. Now a strong military post is established! at Nausori, and relief parties oan be despatched up the river as required. Everything is now reported quiet. A number of agitators are uuder arrest, and it is likely that the lead-era will be drastically dealt with soon. The main body of the coolies is composed of quiet, hard-working men, with no desire for fighting. A special session of the Legislative Council last week passed an Ordnance, giving wide powers to the Governor and police, and making .all meetings of Indians illegal, and the position is now well in hand.

There is no doubt that the agitation is a political one. The natives hate the Indians, and are supporting the Government loyally. A section of the Indian leaders has appealed to the people to go back to work. PERMIT SYSTEM INTRODUCED. SUVA, February 18. The permit system has been brought in andl no Lidians can enter or move in Suva without one. This has had a very pacifying effect, and the men are returning to work everywhere, on the old terms. The commission will probably continue its sittings, and it is most likely that some concessions will ba made. The schooner Alumna arrived in Levuka from Sydney with 150 tons of rice and other food on Monday, and this will help to mend matters. All is reported quiet, and a more settled feeling, prevails. The road to Rev/a is now in use. On the voyage here the Marguerite ran into the cyclone on this side of New Caledonia, and' a seaman was lost overboard. EXTENT OF THE STRIKE. Travellers who arrived by the steamer Novua had little information fo give which is not contained in the message of the Herald's correspondent. One gentleman, however, said that it should be understood that the whole of the Indian population is not involved in the strike. The strike, he said, was limited to the region between Suva- and Nasourij on the Rewa River. On the other side of the island —at Lautoka, for instance—the strike was unknown. In this district there are large numbers of Indians, many working for ■the Colonial Sugar Company. The fact that they remained iat -work is regarded as an indication that the whole trouble is the. work of political agitators at Suva, one of the most prominent of whom was deported' from Natal on account of his activities.

One of the leaders, it was stated, decided to stand on his dignity and refused to apply for the pass that Indians must now possess. Ha accordingly had to remain in his house, and incidentally has -become one of the joke» of Suva. Another traveller stated that one riot became so serious that the troops or special constables had to fire, a number being wounded and two or three killed. The Pijians, it is stated, are distinctly hostile to the Indians, and would rather welcome an opportunity of dealing with them in terms of force.