SLAVERY IN PACIFIC ISLANDS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1886, 21 October 1913, Page 5

SLAVERY IN PACIFIC ISLANDS.

NEW HEBRIDES REGIME.

A TERRIBLE EVIL. FRENCHMAN'S PLAIN-SPEAKING. It is sometimes .considored that the Statements made by missionaries regarding matters iu tho New Hebrides under .the joint rule of Britain and Franco are overdrawn, but tho following articlo by M. Pierre Bernus, which appeared in "La Franco d'Outro Mer," has been pointed to as an indication of tho best French opinion on tho subject It is a frank acknowledgment of tho failure »f ' tlie Condominium, and the writer idoes not hesitate to condemn the illegal practice? of FreiKh settlers, though at tho samo time ho states that faults have been committed on both sides.

"We must recognise," says M. BerSus, "that tho joint rulo of England, and Franco is not working very satisfactorily. Faults have certainly been committed on both sides, and we must regret' that the representatives of the two countries do not succeed in coming to an understanding in a way more comfortable to the relation existing between tho two Governments and the sentiments of friendship which animate them, I, wish I could stop here., Unfortunately, I must give expression to a fact winch I can assure ( you is not at all agreeable to affirm, viz., that, after studying the question attentively, I have reached.the conviction that the responsibility for this state of things rests .with certain of our settlers, and that, -to speak quite frankly, these men aro m the way to ruin, littlo by little, our moral situation in the ATchipelago, with the tacit complicity of our authorities. ■ Condemned to Extinction. "I am, well aware that these settlers affirm that the whole evil is'due to the torriblo English missionaries, who are, always criticising them, and whose defeigns are of a venomous nature. It is tnie that the missionaries attack some of their practices in regard to the natives with no little- vigour, and quite fairly they havo just addressed their complaints' to the English Society for the Protection of •Aborigines, which has resolved to inform its Goveri.ment of them, and at the same time to appeal to French public opinion. This, at any rate, allows some confidence in our judgment. " What st-nlos me in these complaints 5s that they, show no sort of systematic •hostility to French influence. Their authors declare that many Erer.ch settlors aro entirely in agreement with thorn find thoy add thafc ( they aro the first fx> recogniso the merits of many of the French established' in tlhe islands,, hut thev belie/e that they are only fulfilling their duty in protesting against the abuses and crimes of whicn tho 11ativcw aro victims. "Confining myself to the essential jioints: (1) Most of tho stipulation® of .tho agreement of 1906 aro not applied. (This is not disputed by anyone.) (2) While tho salo of alcohol is in principle prohibited, tho' population, is being literally poisoned and condemned to rapid'extinction. (The reporters of our Budget havo made tho same complaint.) (3) The natives have no safeguard l before the Court, whose members do not oven imderstand their language. In criminal cases there is no defence., (Tins is strictlv true.) (4) Tlie recruiting of native labour goes on in flagrant violation of tho Convention of 1906 under abominable conditions. Slavery is, 111 fact, re-established. . "This last complaint is by far the most important. It is based upon real facts, which, if true (and, alas, they are I), constitute an unheard-of scandal which we in France ought to be the first to stigmatise and oppose; first, for reasons of simple humanity, which nro quite sufficient, and second for national interests.) "Worse Than Beasts of Burden." "I propose to try to show, in a few word's, under what conditions there is in the New Hebrides an -actual regimo of slaver)'. Tho great anxiety of tho Eettlers is to recruit native labour. .This becomes every day more difficult, for from a variety of causes the population, is going down.. It is very probable that if they offered the. natives fair wagos, and assured them of _ humane treatment, tho settlers would get the labour that they need; but tho natives are treated like beasts of burden, and even this is too good a term, for beasts of burden aro taken caro of. Their work is overwhelming, and their wages ridiculously small) often paid in kind, contrary to the terms of the regulations. Alas I it has become nearly impossible to obtain voluntary labour, and so one of the most disgusting forms of slavery has been established in order to procure labourers. The settlers equip a boat, and go from island to island; sometimes by craft, and sometimes by violence they seize tho native men and women'whom they want. This is what tho English call 'kidnapping, or, as we call it in-good French, la traite. Women and young girls are forcibly taken away from their husbands or relatives, and often find themselves at the mercy of the savage crews of the ships before they are sent to the plantations. Cases of sheer violence are numerous, and aro established by' documents whose authority is beyond question. ' , ; "I will borrow two examples from tho report of M. Violette on the Colonial Budget Of 1912:—'In December, 191.0, on tho coast of Malckula, a recruiter induced a tribe to come or board, pave them food and drink, and then weighed anchor and took'off his cargo. In Juno, 1911, a recruiter engaged a woman, her husband, and another Kanaka. To escape him the three natives ran away. Tho recruiter promised a reward to anyone who shouk bring them back. Tho woman, on tin point of heing recaptured, drowned her self, and of tlie two men orto was struck down with blows from a gun and the other was taken and put ii irons and loaded with blows.

Kidnapping Common. "In truth, the slave trado is reestablished uuder most abominable conditions, and it is tolerated by the authorities, who look upon kidnapping ns an offence of no importance. 'I'ho settlers do not hesitate to ask that this system should bo in some way legalised. "When taken to tho plantations, the natives are there treated like slaves during tbeir pretended contract of engagement; They aro detained by force, and aro cruelly flogged if they try to escape. If a labourer succeeds in running away, his comrades aro subjected to a long' term of servitude. AVhat difference is there between this and the slavery of old times. "I would refer to a- lotter addressed to the Governor by a settlor named Bonlerand, published in the last report of ;M. Violetto. 'It.o settlor relates as an ordinary incident how, a little boy having oscapcd, ho had bound him for a wholo day, and ho adds that he found out to his surprise that tho hands and foot of this boy woro an open wound. Ho strongly protests against an English missionary who accuses him of cruelty, an(. asks tho Governor to take •.in hand his'just plea, and to prosecute this troublesomo missionary who _ had excoeded all his rights in discrediting him to tho natives. The dotails of this lotter should bo read, for he says that they asked him to sell the boy, to which ho agreed, oti the conditions that another settlor to whom the boy belonged consented to his sale. This lotter quito frankly avows, as M. Violette justly remarks, that tho sale of natives is an ordinary transaction, or

otherwise the writer would not have dared to use this term when writing to tho Governor. "The conclusion is pretty clear that if the English missionaries have acquired with the natives a preponderating influence, the reason is that they showed thomselves, to bo their only friends and their courageous defenders. Are we going to allow our flag to cover any longer a regime of slavery like that?" __________