CHINESE COOLIE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 190, 13 August 1931, Page 5

CHINESE COOLIE

GRAVE SAMOAN PROBLEM WILL THEY BE REMOVED? APIA, July 23. As the outcome of a quarrel between two coolies in Faufusi Road, in the Chinese quarter of Apia, one of the coolies is now to answer a charge of murder at the High Court. The source of the trouble appears to have been a gambling debt, and one man used a knife. The other was badly wounded, and, after lingering for seven days at the Apia Hospital, he eventually died. At the recent sitting of the High Court another coolie w r as sentenced for disorderly conduct and for having in his possession an offensive and dangerous weapon, whilst yet another received sentence for having in his possession pij es and utensils for the smoking of opium.

The above facts may properly be taken to represent the undesirable state of unrest existing amongst the Chinese imported labour in Samoa today. At any time of the day coolies may be seen wandering about the streets of Apia and outlying districts, ostensibly looking for employment, and usually getting into trouble. Admittedly there is something to be said on their behalf, because even the most patient of people will tire of looking for something which does not exist. Not only are the coolies too common a sight on the streets, but they spend their days gambling. Every eating house in Faufusi at least, is infested with them.

And gambling is not their only pastime. Opium and Chinamen naturally go together. To just what extent the drug is indulged in here it is difficult to say, but it will undoubtedly increase when so many of its devotees have so much time on their hands, and so little scope for utilising it to any useful purpose. There is the undoubted danger of the Samoans being introduced and becoming accustomed to the drug, for who ever heard of a Chinese neglecting a possibility of making money? In the pleasure-loving, indolent, Samoan race, he may find an all too willing customer. Employment Schemes. European residents with the welfare of the Samoan at heart wonder what the Administration will do to better the position. They consider that some scheme could be placed on a practical working basis, whereby a coolie or coolies could be allotted an area of land upon which they could, cultivate cocoa, or vegetables, for which there is always a market. Some such scheme would encourage the naturally industrious Chinese to work, especially as the profits would be his own. Even the employment of the Chinese on clearing Government lands would be considerably better than the idleness now prevalent, and would not entail much more expenditure than exists at present, for the Administration is responsible for maintenance of the unemployed coolie. Employers’ Attitude.

The position of an employer of coolie labour in Samoa is that he must pay each man at least 3s a day wages, and also pay overhead charges to the Administration at the rate of 13s 6d a month per man. Recently an official notice was sent to employers of labour stating that in view of the early arrival of a Chinese transport it would be necessary to ascertain the number of coolies who could be guaranteed work and on which overhead, charges would be paid for a period of three years. The guarantee was required in writing. This requirement is regarded as unfair to employers of labour who cannot, in these uncertain times, be expected to commit themselves to the responsibility of employing a given number of labourers for three years, especially in the Pacific Islands, where the bottom has almost dropped out of nearly all markets.

The answer of one employer of labour in Apia, that he was ready to dispense with his Chinese coolie labour rather than sign for the threc-year period, and that he .would replace them with Samoan labourers, may be the attitude that will generally be taken. By many people it is hoped that this will be the course adopted, because then no Chinese coolies would be needed and there would be no excuse or reason for retaining any coolies. If the Chinese remain in Samoa the Samoan race will lose its individuality, its physique, and its happiness through union (illegal, but inevitable) with the low-caste coolies. In addition, it is not difficult to visualise a time when an impasse would be reached such as exists in Fiji, where Hindus of low type, imported in the first instance for work in the sugar plantations, now actually outnumber the Fijians.