SAMOA’S PROBLEMS.

Western Star, 9 April 1920, Page 4

SAMOA’S PROBLEMS.

THE LABOUR ISSUE. EFFECT OF REPATRIATION. WASTAGE ON~PLANTATIONS. [By Mr A. F. Clarke, Special Commissioner lor the Evening Stax.] The pivot of the parliamentary visit to the Islands rested upon the question of labour in Western Samoa ; that was the outstanding subject of inquiry, and as such it was recognised when the voyage was discussedl. From a chronological point of view the inquiry came late in the trip, but its importance overshadowed all the others dealt with by the legislative party. Prodigious waste is going on now in Samoa through lack of labour. Coco aunts are rotting on neglected or semi-cultivated plantations, cocoa plantations have gone back to jungle, rubber worth many thousands of pounds is being left untapped, and steady deterioration & apparent through the greater part of the Euro-pean-owned lands, upon which large sums were spent in development work. When the war began there were 3,060 indentured labourers in Samoa. That number has been reduced ‘By repatriation to 1,233. The original number left but a small margin for development work, and the number remaining is far below the requirements of the plantations ostabi liahed under the tripartite fttuS Gcri man regimes.

New Zealand has the grave re* sponsibliity under the mandate el preserving the native race, and this duty is so closely associated with the labour question that it is impossible to consider them apart. It is clear that unless outside labour is obtained the European plantations must be destroyed. It is equally dear that if male labour alone is brought in there will be, a» there is now, cohabitation with Samoans, unless great precautions are token to prevent this. The planters state that it takes a Chinese at least three years to become sufficiently acquainted with the Samoan language and people to take & Samoan wife—in the Samoan fashion, without benefit of clergy or registrar. It is also pointed out that the ChineeeSamoan cross has, in a large number of instances, resulted in the raising of families much superior in intelligence and capacity for work to the average native. But nobody want* to raise in the Pacific, dose to New Zeai nid’s shores, a tmm ®f semi-Asiatics, who would form, perhaps, an outpost for the awakening China, of the future; and it is conceded by the planters themselves that such miscegenation must be prevented at all costa. But unless Samoa is to be preserved as a sort of native Garden of Eden, the interests of the planters and traders set aside, the possibilities of the group negatived, and the possession made a permanent charge upon New Zealand, a supply of outside labour is absolutely essential. An adequate supply would 1 mean that the group would rapidly be self-support-ing, and that the financial assistance promised by Sir James Allen would become unnecessary. The Samoan is a fair worker when he feels inclined, but there is no surplus above that required to work hie own plantations. He has no need to work for the European; he dislikes field labour, andl this is the end if it so far as he is concerned. His tastes are simple. Ten shillings will buy him a complete outfit of a shirt or singlet (perhaps) and lavalara, as he calls his kneelong waistcloth. He grows his own food, with the exception of biscuits and “ bullamhcow," his euphonious name for tinned beef, in his swamps and plantations, his pig runs about the village, and his fowls trail everywhere. He does not affect European dress. If one sees an apparent Samoan in trousers one knows that he is a. half-caste. His scanty furniture is home-made, and, having little use for money, he has no icljea of its value, always excepting, cf course, a. few of the more sophisticated inhabitants of the seaports.

If a Samoan does .want money for his church or for some triviality introduced by the papalangi, he can get it in a very short space of time by retiring to his plantation for a day or two, and there cutting enough copra to supply his immediate needs. Then he will stop; work has lost its attraction, and back he goes to his usual method of life—a very dolce far uiente affair. Man and wife can earn more in a day in this way than tr planter can pay for a month’s work, and therefore the white man has no chance of getting a regular supply of native hands. If the native wants immediate! cash, or if his plantation has been neglected, he will perhaps seek work from a European, but as soon as lie has earned the minimum ho has set himself, that is the finish; he will do no more, plead you ever so hard. He will enter service with the assurance that ho will see the job through; if he stops three or four days his employer is lucky, and no matter what may be the inconvenience or absolute loss, he will cut adrift without the slightest compunction or apology. Quite without ambition, and perfectly childlike in character, though proud of Ids race and very sensitive to slight or insult, the Samoan may be written, right off as a factor in the labour situation, apart from the work on hk own plantations. The Germans realised the difficulty of the labour position in the early days of their occupation. They were not concerned with the purity of the Samoan race, and when they decided te import Chinese labour they imposed no safeguard’s. They made a covenant with the Chinese Government for the importation of a number of Chinese every year, and their subsequent repatriation at the cud of three years, subject to the right of rcindenture, while they also' imported black boys from their own Solomon Islands. Under these arrangements thousands of Chinese and Melanesians were sent to Samoa. The remnant now left is, as already stated, totally inadequate to keep the plantations going. The growth of weedis in these tropical islands ,with their great annual rainfall, is incredibly rapid, and unless the ground receives constant attention from the weeding knife

parasitic growths spring up and climb the trees till they positively choke them . The chief criminal is the fui, a variety of mock ivy or convolvuli! s> which will in a year strangle a banana plant, will climb ten the top of a cocoannt in two years, and which, by its weight and resistance to the wind, will bring down a big tree in •four years unless checked by the knife.

On the first clay of the visits to Upolo', the islaaid on -which Apia stands, the party were taken to visit a plantation in first-class order ami another which, through lack of labour, had gone back. On the first, owned and worked by a widow, Mrs Wetzel I, and devoted -to cocoa growing, a good supply of labour had been inlaintained during the whole war period. This had been possible, it was explained, owing to the fact that the property had been developed when labour was very cheap and) the plantation, being in first-class order when the pinch began to be . felt, offered easier work than, many of the others, and was therefore popular with the Chinese. The soil was absolutely clean, not a weed 1 being visible anywhere, the trees were free from disease and bearing a huge crop, the roads through the area were in first-class order, thus facilitating harvesting, and the whole place bore an air of prosperity, verifying an expert’s estimate olf £BO an acre as its present value. A remarkable contrast was provided by the next place visited, only a few miles away. This was the property of the Upolo Rubber and Cocoa. Estates, formerly employing 150 coolies and now down to nine. Here an attempt at cultivation was made in a. few of the blocks around the homestead, where a circular patch round each oSf the cocoa trees was kept comparatively clear, thus giving some little opportunity for the continuance of production. Outside these blocks, each a few acres in extent, the weed and the all-devouring bush were in absolute possession, the once carefullynursed trees being either killed) by disease or choked te death. Rubber trees, from which hundreds of pounds off valuable sap have been extracted, lifted their tops from a tangle of fui circling up the trunks on his mission of destruction. Whole rows of cocoa trees hadi completely vanished, bananas were swallowed whole, even ooooenuts were coming down, under the weight of the attacking mass 1 ; roadways had disappeared into the jungle ,aud on every side wag a pitiable scene of desolation. Land which should have been worth nearly £IOO an acre was simply a breeding ground) for all the pests of the island. The contrast was striking, and brought horn© to members the difficulties faced by the planters. A point firmly impressed on the members by their guides and by their own observation was ,that unless put ■ in order the plantations will become breeding grounds for the dread) rhinocerous beetle, which at one time almost threatened the cocoanut with extinction, but which is now, thanks to thei efforts of the military administration, well under control. Tho beetle has a free run in overgrown areas, and it is necessary, in the interests of the native plantations, that there shall be a return to> order amid the desolated areas. —A Matter of Policy.— What labour is to be utilised? The Japanese at the Peace Conference suggested!. the open door policy in the islands of the Pacific, but the delegates from the outer Empire would have non© of that, and it was dropped. If Japanese were allowed free access, then the door might as well , bo thrown, open to the free labour of all the Eastern peoples. Then the easy-going Samoan would be swapped ; out, and would in the course of ,a | few years, no matter what precautions were taken to safeguard! him, vanish as completely as did the Tasmanian blackfellow. The admission Of free coloured labour would be a crime—a crime which the New Zealand Government are not likely to commit. At present the Chinese Commissioner, Mr 11. J. Carter, is on a mission ! to China endeavouring to arrange for a supply of labour sufficient tc keep the number in Samoa up to the 1,100 agreed upon until Parliament has again discussed the situation, His progress is not yet known, but tho Chinese Consul has reported favourably on the treatment of Chinese in . the group, and it is not unlikely that ; he will obtain, tho number of men he I wants ,though Apia beach rumour as- j serts, apparently without (much ffouu- 1 dfltion, that so? far he has found it impossible to- get men. The subsequent policy must be determined by , Parliament, and its form is therefore j still on the knees of the gods, but the consensus of opinion among members who made the trip, and this should be: a determining factor in the adoption of the policy, is that, if they can be obtained, married Chinese and their wives should) be imported for an indentured period of nob more than five years, at the end of which they should be returned to China with their children, the women performing the lighter work olf the plantations, such as cutting copra and opening the cocoa. Tho cost of repatriation, overaged over a period of five years, with a wage limlit of about £2 10s a month and food, would) not pub the labour beyond the range of the planter’s capacity to pay, on the present selling rates, at all events. It is stated, however, that the Chinese Government will not consent to the emigration of women,, and that thus the Scheme will prove impracticable. As an alternative, a, threeyear iperiod of indenture (for single men is suggested, with no power to extend the term by reindenture. At least 5,000 men arc needed to restore the plantations and to ! supply the needs of existing; planters. Thousands more will be required to: develop the possibilities of Upolo alone.