SAMOAN MANDATE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 17935, 31 July 1920, Page 5

SAMOAN MANDATE

INDENTURED LABOUR. DISCUSSED BY HOUSE OF REPRESEN TATI VES. WELLINGTON, July 30. The question of indentured labour in Samoa was discussed at length this afternoon and evening. Resuming the discussion on the report on tne island trade, Mr Sidey tnougbt the Government, should have brougnt down concrete proposals especiailV dealing with Samoa. Regarding education, the Government sliould make use ot the mission schools. Government, officers should be men acquainted with native languages. The grievances in the Cook islands and Samoa were to some extent. Ire-believed, due to the fact that spu'icuous liquor was permitted there, ‘trade with the islands cotild and should lie increased. New Zealand should have a more plentiful and cheaper supply of island 11 uit, which could only’be possible by a properly organised snipping service. Referring to the Labour position in Samoa, Mr Sidey said it was beyond question there was not enough island labour available to work t’he plantations and the whites couldn’t work in that climate. The Commission had been informed that three tfl five thousand labourers were required to w»rk the present plantations and enlarge the area under cultivation. An important consideration to be remembered, if Chinese were employed was the danger of deterioration of the native race. He quoted the suggestion by C. Brunsden Fletcher who. dealing with Fiji, thought labour troubles could be solved by the proper selection of Indian labour. Mr Sidey considered proper medical attention to improve the health conditions would resultin considerably increasing the island populations, so t’iujt they could supply their own labour needs. fhe House adjourned at 5.30.

The House resumed at 7.30. Mr Holland said he would confine himself to the question of labour in ■ Western Samoa. He proposed to divide the House on the Subject of indentured labour, and would move that all the words after “that” in [ the formal motion be omitted, and the following substituted: “This House records its opposition to the continuance of indentured labour in Western Samoa.” Mr Holland remarked that while Dr Soil’s administration was fair to a certain point, the natives were being gradually denuded of lands by big planters, Ger- , mans, and others. While the Parliamentary Party was at. Samoa a deputation of British planters waited upon them and said the Samoans would not work, white people could not wonk, and that it was necessary to import labour. Competition in . labour available during the war time had resulted in the wage for a Chinaman being raised to £2/10/-. and for Solomon Islanders to £2 per month. They pointed out that Captain Carter was then in China endeavouring to get a fresh supply of Chinamen. They further stated that if he had gone to the right place he could have got labour at 30/- per month. Failing a supply from this quarter, they suggested that labour should be got from Dutch Java, which labour was available at an exceedingly low fate. These people still had respect for Europeans, and would stick to their masters, which by inference meant that Chinamen had ceased io have respect for Europeans. They had been told that the Samoan would not work, but the reason for that was that he could earn for himself as much in one day as the planters paid I them for a month's work. What Jhon. gentleman, he asked, would [ work one month for one day’s wage? They were told last session that if lindentured labour was not agreed to [the mandate woul/i be endangered. >He now found nothing of the kind was the fact, because the Imperial i Government was against indentured labour. The New Zealand Government, behind the back of Parliament, had gone to the Imperial Government and the Australian Government and begged for indentured labour, knowing all the time that this policy was opposed to that of the Colonial Office. The only people who had a right to declare in favour of indentured labour in Samoa were the Samoans, and they were oppose dto it. The Hon. Lee: Where did you get that Mr Holland:: I got it from the Samoans themselves when at Samoa. They were prevented from getting officially the Samoan viewpoint on this matter, but he had got it privately, and he did not find o'ne Samoan ' who favoured indentured labour. They were particularly annoyed at the sight of half-caste children. The fact was the Samoan icould work, but not on coolie con[ditions or wages. They said they (were just as good as Europeans, and what was not good for Europeans was not good enough for them. They said the reason Chinamen were wanted in Samoa was because they were cheap. The Samoans’ objection to them was based on economic, racial, and moral grounds- They were allowed to interview indentured Chinaman, but he (Mr. Holland complained that some of the answers given to questions did not appear in the official report. This particularly appljed to a question regarding the punishments inflicted. He criticised the conditions of labour in Samoa, which he described as slavery, and the housing conditions were most unsatisfactory. A feature of indentured labour which we could not afford to overlook was the immorality at the back of the system. There was no legal marriage in Samoa between Chinamen and Samoan women, and when a Chinaman was repatriated h ■ had to leave his children behind, and Mr Holland predicted that people would not stand for that system, whether they belonged to churches or not. He contended that it was not a question of white man versus Samoan, but it was a question of giving the Samoans the right of self-determina-tion. We should not seek to enforce upon the Samoans a system which ‘ we would not tolerate In New Zealand. Mr Howard seconded the amendment. In taking over Samoa we

were taking over an' immature Ireland. Why had be taken over this box of trouble? If for the purposes of defence, then indentured labour was the most unwise step we could take, because if trouble came from the north it was strategically unsound to pass a stream of yellow labour through those islands, thus letting Chinamen and Japs know what we were doing there. If from the food production point of view, then there was more land fit for cocoanut growing in Queensland than in all the South Sea Islands put together. The real trouble in Samoa was air economic one. What the planters wanted was not the .good of Samoa or the Samoans, but they wanted cheap labour, so that they might get rich quickly. All they wanted was to get everything possible out of the Chinaman or Kanaka and then send him back like a sucked orange. The Samoan was a good worker when he got the full product of his labour, and when he knew no one ■was Jiving on him. The Samoans were unanimously, against indentured labour. On that point there was no possible doubt. Mr Isitt said indentu-ed labour was merely being turned into a political “stunt” by the Labour Party, and it was being worked for all it was worth. It. was mere camouflage. They opposed indentured labour. but supported racing and the licensed liquor bar, both of which destroyed in one year the morals of more women than indentured labour wotild do for Samoan women in many scores of years. They were against indentured labour blindly and stupidly, because they declared that no matter what the conditions were they would oppose it to the last ditch, and their methods of opposing it were not characterised by fair play. They had no open mind on the subject., and went to Samoa not to inquire into the question, but to get evidence in support of their alleged “principle.” It had been said that Samoans opposed indentured labour, but he claimed it was exceedingly difficult to get at the back of the Samoan mind, for it was characteristic of- them that they, always first endeavoured to find out what were their questioners’ views before they expressed their own. Then they said what they thought they were wanted to say. They verysoon discovered what the Labour members wanted them to say. Missionaries were not against indentured labour, and no one could question their sincerity in the interests of the Samoan people. The Labour members persistently’ evaded local conditions. Not much could be done with the adult Samoan, but the real remedy for the Samoan troubles was the right education of the young Samoan. Mr. Bartram discussed the relations of Chinamen with Samoan women, and declared the chiefs had been told by’ the people to declare at. the meeting with members that they were against indentured labour. The. chiefs did not do so. and he deliberately charged the Samoan Administration with having got. at the chiefs to prevent them makiifg known the wishes of the people. There was no other reason to explain why no expression of opinion was obtained from the people most concern dll.

Mr. Potter declared that the domestic conditions existing between Chinamen and Somoan women were satisfactory. There were white women living with Chinamen in Wellington to-day in conditions not so good, and yet the Labour Party raised no word of protest against this practice in our own midst. Mr. P. Fraser strongly condemned any system of indentured labour. If labour was necessary to save the islands let it be free labour. Mr. Massey said that on his arrival in England, Jiis first effort was to get Britain to take over Samoa because New Zealand did not want it. It was then the mandatory system was devised. It had , been ' said Samoa should be left to the Samoans, but he declared the islands could not be allowed to remain in the hands of the natives for twentyfour hours. The position was that if we had not taken the mandate a foreign country would have got it, because he knew that country put in the strongest claim for it. The period of indenture was only for two years, and though it was not generally known that the Chinese Government had consented to some Chinese- wives accompanying their husbands, there were about a hundred wives on their way to Samoa now. He did not like the system of indentured labour, and the sooner we got rid of it the better. The way to do that was to educate young ■ Samoans. To the value of labour be traced the fate of the native race in the Hawaiian Islands. The Samoans were of the same race, and it. was our duty to see that a similar fate did not befall them. We must take up what was sometimes called the white man’s burden to protect the native raee and see that no foreign power ever got a footing in the Pacific again. Mr. Wilford opposed indentured labour, and would never support the introduction of any Chinaman or Jap into any island under New Zealand’s charge. Mr. Ngata said that in the light of the experience of the Maori race the Samoans -were fortunate' in coming under the control of the British Empire as represented by New Zealand. After 1 o’clock the debate was carried on by Messrs MacDonald, Veitch and Read. (Left sitting/.