THE NEGRO.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9193, 24 March 1908, Page 2

THE NEGRO.

HOW TO MAKE HIM WORK. "The question of how to make th« negro work has been debated uumany; spheres of late," writes Sir H. H. John* ston in the "Nineteenth Century." "To make Africa am enormously wealthy continent & labour force is re< quired which must at first be directed by the knowledge and enterprise of the white man. The negro is constantly accused of being too lazy. To supplement him, or displace him, , attempts are" made over and over again to introduce' the Asiatic or some inferior type ot white man. 0 C course, in some districts as yet imperfectly controlled, th_ negro is unwilling to work lest tha! wealth he might amass from his labou* would be an inducement on the part ot some robber tribe or unscrupulous jchieß to inflict violence on him. The middleman is the curse of certain regions, of West Africa, where _c is still able, to prevent the enterprising and producing natives of the far interior froroNjoming into contact with the civilised negroor European purchaser on the coast. _Jut> all things being equal, and a reafionabla degree of protection being assured to thi native of Africa, *c m M.wging to work for a salary as the Asiatic or the European. From time .-memorial,' however, this one idea seems to -ha ve po-sess-d the Europeans and Asiatics who have exoloited, Africa— that the. ne_ro was a "fit subject to be cheatedp_f_t tolrt 3000 years the black man, where he has come into contact with: the whiTe one, has grown accustomed to b^ defrauded in greater or less i deoree Fortunately, unh_e the Asiatic, fe seems incapable of long cherishing any grudge— he is the readiest of all of all the human types, in no paru of tfrica has the negro been more unjustly treated than in those r-»on_ oi I ? TWo imperfectly controlled by St ___s____^^4TS-*iw_f-B_i£-_,V_4*_;___-_ __£_? «u_. «fs sftsss ul^Sks on the subject of forced These negro workers directly the amount of work they P u * £™ din a r y° immediate results were «^S_i -S The work at once was doubled trom^one da? another. In one year ninety kilometres were <*>^™*^/£w thirty-five the year before, andsubsequently the increase, the J»B°_* *™ tlie rapidity of the work went on dot ___« 'fhe aspect of thejorkshops was completely transformed.. Men volunteer _d for overtime work in order to ensure the completion of^their tasks within the fixed period. They themselves did justice on any dugmrd, ar^ dragged him, if necessary, to his task.