The Evening Star THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1872.

Evening Star, Issue 2818, 29 February 1872, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1872.

The Hawaiin Gazette of the 27th December contains a very well-written article on “ Planters ami their Pros- “ peote,” in which the cost of planting

in Fiji, the capital {necessary to success, and , the manner in which it must be appropriated, are fully explained. The subject'is imperfectly understood here, notwithstanding the revelations of the letter in the Daily Times. We do not by any means believe that galvanic shocks" will be resorted to by every planter to terrify sick men to work for fear of the mysterious power at the command of a brutal master ; but, , denuded of every disgusting surrounding, there is quite sufficient in the position of the poor islanders to awaken a generous sympathy on their behalf. _ A few extracts will show this. The writer assumes that an intending planter has secured a lease of 500 acres of laud, 100 of which he proposes planting with cotton. In order profitably to cultivate this estate, fifty imported laborers, in all, would be required. These would cost him £l2 each for passage money : their clothing (which need only be very lifjht ) and food for a year would cost £2OO more, for it would only be necessary to buy food for 250 days’ consumption. After that they would be sustained by food grown, upon the plantation. The wages of these fifty men would be £l5O a-year— ie., £3 per man, but this is payable in trade ; that is, the planter supplies his slaves with any little luxury they may take a fancy to, and charges them for it. It is easy to imagine the surplus that will revert to them at the end of their three years’ servitude. By the regulations, return passage money has to be provided for, but this “ is seldom more, “ 1 believe,” says the writer, “ than a “ pound per man”—a pleasant look-out for men kidnapped ever returning from whence they were taken 1 Only imagine any one of those pirate captain’s taking back a Solomon islander stolen by himself three years before! With Queensland within a few days sail, ready to pay £lO or £l2 passage money per head for imported labor , a cargo of return laborers from Fiji, on which a premium of £1 per head had been paid, would be a first-rate freight. Cargoes of this sort vibrating between Queensland and Fiji would form firstrate freights. After pointing out that “ the share Queensland has had in “ establishing this system of importing “ Melanesians ” as “ hired laborers ” should be borne in mind, the writer continues:—

Among those who follow the “labour trade” there must, judging from what we know of their doings, be some of the greatest villains unhung—caring for nothing but to secure “a cargo,” and that as speedily as possible. The requirements of humanity, and in all civilized countries of law also, are that a contract to be binding must be voluntarily entered into—and fully understood. The Melanesian, then, before he can be lawfully carried away to Queensland or to Fiji must freely engage to go ; well knowing where he is to be taken to, how long his engagement is to last, what kind of labor he is to perform, and what remuneration he is to receive. If any of these conditions are wanting there is no valid contract, and the compulsory service of the imported islander, however weU he may be treated, is but a milder kind of slavery. Still more clearly is this the case when the poor savage has been stolen from his home. Now there is an amount of testimony—including that of the late Bishop—which most people will regard as conclusive, that it would be utterly impossible to convey an intelligent idea of such a contract to the people of many of the islands from whence “labor” is procured; and that numbers of these people are got on board and carried off without their having the slightest notion as to their destination or the fate which awaits them. Can a man thus imported, and compelled to work on a Sdantation, be truly described as a free abourer, under any circumstances ? True, be may, when on the spot, enter into an engagement for himself, instead of insisting on being at once sent back to the home from whence he has been brought by violence or fraud ; but is any agreement of that kind ever made ? Certainly not. In such cases the men are all kept safely on board the “labor vessel” until they are handed over to the planters, who have paid the master or agent such a sum per head as has been stipulated for, or as may be agreed upon; such sum varying according to the state of the market. The men themselves have no voice in the transfer, it being assumed that they have made themselves over to the master or agent—their importer—to be disposed of to such employer as may satisfy his demands. I have said that these men are generally well treated, and this I can vouch for as a fact; but I am bound to add that 1 have heard, on the spot, and from persons on whose veracity I can rely, of more than one case in which the treatment of some of these people has been anything but good. I will not go into particulars, inasmuch as I do not know them of my own personal knowledge ; they have been pretty freely spoken of, and have produced some very evil results. Highly honorable and humane as are most of the merchants and planters of Fiji, they are blinded, by use, to certain features which distinguish this kind of labor from that of workmen or laborers contracting freely for themselves. The imported Melanesians are not called men—or even laboring men, or plantation labourers—but simply “ labor. ” The papers announce that the schooner so-and-so has arrived from a ‘•labor cruise,” with some forty or fifty “labor;” or that Mr Such-a one, who is going as a volunteer on such and such an expedition against a mountain tribe, takes with him four or five “labor.” The payment made to the ship-master or agent is for the passage-money of the men ; but instead of the amount being fixed, it varies according to the demand and supply, and according to the character and quality of the “labor” which he has bought. Frequently, in conversation and correspondence, as I have myself heard and seen, the labor thus brought is spoken of as having been “ sold ” at such and such figures. Hitherto, also, the planter has had power to deal with his imported “ labor,” pretty jnuch as he might

think tit. He could, of his own authority, inflict punishment when he deemed it needful for the maintenance of order, or the enforcement of his own commands. That this power has been very seldom abused, is certainly most true ; but the very existence of it is one of the characteristics of forced servitude.

Resident Magistrate’s Court. — ln ’ this Court the case of Proudfoot and others v? Banbury and Treasurer was proceeded with. Mr Bathgate made a statement relative to a letter to the Superintendeut by Mr Proudfoot, with which the Magistrate decided be could not deal. The case for the defendants had not closed when our reporter left the Court. Departmental Changes. —At the meeting of the education Board, Mr Hislop tendered ids resignation of the office ho hj .s held for so many years, and Mr John Sperry, of the Treasury, was appointed to the vacant secretaryship, the appointment to date from the Ist April. Mr Hislop’s sole attention will hj nceforward be devoted to the work of inspecting the schools of the Province, High School Entertainment. —We are glad to learn that tickets are being rapidly sold for the entertainment to-morrow evening, to be given by the pupils of the b ,ys’ High School. In order to prevent confusion it has been arranged that money will not be taken at the door. Tickets must therefore be procured. The advertisement intimates where they may be obtained. The Wounded Chinaman. —Ah Chow, the Chinaman who was wounded in the attempt to rob Mr John Ewing’s claim at Mount Ida, was transferred from the Gaol to the Hospital this morning, his term of imprisonment (three months) having expired, and he beiug incapacitated at present from earning his living in consequence of the injuries he received on the occasion referred to being still uncured. Accidents. —Two horses, drawing a timber-laden dray, bolted in Great King street yesterday afternoon, and in endeavouring to check the more restive of the two the driver, Edward MvEwen, was thrown down, one of the wheels passing over his leg. He was taken to the hospital and there attended to I >y the resident surgeon. M‘Eweu was found to be severely bruised, but had sustained no fracture of the limbs, and was able to be removed to bis house in the evening.—ln the evening, as the volunteer band was passing through the Octagon, a little girl, (nameunknown) was run over by a cab, but, strange to say, she received hardly any injury.—A serious acc dent occurred on the short road to the Industrial School this afternoon. Mr Sibbald, of the Provincial Hotel, accompanied by his wife, was dr.viug home, aid wl:en within a very short distance of his distillation,, the horse bolted, breaking away one of the shafts and overturning the buggy. In the fall Mr Sibbald had his right arm broken, and Mrs Sibbald received some bruises. The accident was observed by the driver of one of the Caversham “busses,” by whom Mr Sibbald was picked up and coba eyed to town. Castle Street. —His Honor the Superintendent, and Mr Bradshaw, the Secretary for Works, visited the neighborhood of Cumberland street yesterday, and, we nmdei’sf and, fully recognise the necessity, from a sanitary point of view, of filling in the swamps as soon as ever arrangemenl* can be made for the purpose. We believe, they arc •convinced, from personal observation, that the matter is not merely a local one, but of great importance to the whole inhabitants of the City, as it cannot be supposed that in the event of au epidemic fever breaking out, it would be confined to any particular locality. It appears now that the question has arisen, whether Bell Hill will furnish sufficient available material for filling up the swamp to high water mark—after the completion of the works at present in progress—this could be easily ascertained by the City Engineer, or Inspector of Works, and in the event of the Boil Hill supply proving inadequate (which wc do not think it will), arrangements might be made by the City authorities for procuring any slight deficiency elsewhere. We feel confident that his Worship the Mayor will use every effort in his power to induce the Council to cooperate cordially with the Government and owners, and prevent any delay occurring through the want of material for the culvert, which should be provided before the work is partially formed, to within a few feet of where the culvert will be required.