INDENTURED LABOUR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16905, 2 December 1922, Page 13

INDENTURED LABOUR.

MR ISITT’S REPLY. Mr Isitt opened, his meeting at the corner of May’s Road and Brett’s Road last night by making charges against the Rev J. Iv. Archer in reply to a W eekly Message” published by Mr Archer in last Saturday’s 11 Star.” 1 have a little matter to set right before I deal with general questions,” Mr. Isitt said. "* It’s in connection with Mr Archer, and a reporter is present for the express purpose of putting ray side before the public. Mr Archer published in- the ‘ Star ’ a statement to the effect that a man who would vote for Samoan indentured labour is worse than an atheist, and that J voted for it. X replied by stating that when 1 went to Samoa I called the missionaries together and that every man except one autended, and ho was of the same opinion as the others. They said : ‘ We believe that indentured labour is an absolute necessity here. The Germans established large cocoanut plantations in Samoa. Many of them rapidly are becoming great breeding-grounds for the rhinoceros beetle, and unless we have this Chinese indentured labour we can’t keep the beetle down, as the Samoans will not do it. It is a very serious thing, as the beetle is apt to destroy the cocoanut trees, which supply bread, clothing, and finances to the natives, and it the trees go the natives absolutely will starve.’ The missionaries said more than that. They said, indeed, that the Chinese were exceedingly well treated, well housed and well fed, and were better off in Samoa than their own land. Through a relaxation of regulations during the war, there was some concubinage, between Chinese and Samoan women, but it had been greatly exaggerated, and with proper restrictions it would absolutely cease. 111 the circumstances 1 was quite justified in taking up the position that v*e must go on with this indentured labour until we can educate* the young Samoans up to habits of industry, to enable them to do themselves the work now done by Chinese. “Mr Archer, in his f Weeklv Message’ m the ‘Star,’ begins with the words ‘ A missionary writes,* and he goes 011 to describe life on the plantations. Nine out of every ben persons who read the ‘ message ’ will believe that the statements apply to Samoa, in view ol what the Samoan missionaries had told me, I could not believe that a Samoan missionary had written in the way Mr Archer indicated. My inquiries took me to a book by Burton on Fiji, which condemns indentured labour in those islands in 1907. On page, 271 I found the first sentence in the letter Mr Archer tries to suggest came Jrom a Samoan missionary : on page 273 J found the second sent< nee, and a third part on page 262. The quotations have nothing to do with Samoan indentured labour whatever. My opponent is a Baptist ministcH«>~^ * 7 A voice: He may have been misled. Mr Isitt: He hasn’t been misled. He has used a. reference to Fijian indentured labour in 1907 a*s if it- applied to indentured labour in Samoa, and has said that I support it. Tf you can vote for a man who does that—if you think I could play a trick like that— I’ll draw out of the contest — A lady : Will you ? Mr Tsitt: Yes, if you can vote for a man who does anything so unworthy, I’ll stand out.