The Evening Star FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1936. SAMOAN PROBLEMS.

Evening Star, Issue 22465, 9 October 1936, Page 8

The Evening Star FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1936. SAMOAN PROBLEMS.

It will he fortunate if the Government is not preparing a peck of troubles for itself in Samoa. The recent Ministerial mission of “ conciliation,” with its assumption of mistreatment by preceding Governments, promised no effect so much as that of raising to an inordinate degree the expectations of the natives under the new regime. Mr 0. F. Nelson, the leader of previous disaffection, has been restored to his former position of power, and how he will act as director or adviser in the relations between the mandate Administration and the Samoans remains for himself to decide. The present indications point to the discovery of new grievances, or at least the resurrection of a very old one, and to new divisions. The Mau committee, with Mr Nelson as its leader, and the Fono of Faipules, which ' advises tho Government, have joined in asking for the repatriation of all Chinese. The planters are alarmed, and have lormed a Country Party to counter the representations of the Mau, while those Samoans who have always been well affected towards the Government are said to be considering an organisation of their own, so that they shall not be dependent on the Mau to speak for them. Mi- Savage has said

that Chinese labour is cheap labour, and indentured labour by Chinese therefore will have to go. The system thus condemned is an old grievance of Mr Savage’s party, but, as it has been reduced and safeguarded in later years, the old protests against it had practically ceased. It did not figure among the ills which the Commission of 1927 was required to adjudicate upon, and until the Samoan is willing to work it is not clear how its abolition can be in the interests of the islands. Chinese labour for plantation work in Samoa was introduced by the Germans, and at one time there were more than 3,000 indentured coolies in the territory. Dr Kecsiug, in his impartial study of conditions, ‘ Modem Samoa,’ recalls that the New Zealand authorities attempted to dispense with the Chinese and repatriated a great number in war time, but “it was found that they were essential for the maintenance of the agricultural and commercial life of the islands.” Neither the British Government nor New Zealanders were disposed to look with favour on the system Abuses of it in South Africa and later in Fiji gave it a bad odour. In 1920, however, after a long period of reducing the numbers, the planters complained that, with labour getting scarcer and scarcer, the position before them was impossible. Dr Keesing is convinced by their case. New terms were therefore arranged with the Hongkong Government, and in 1923 a new system, which was a combination of the- older contract method and of free labour, was instituted, and Las continued since. The principle was laid down that the number of Chinese labourers should be kept at an absolute minimum to fulfil the requirements of working the country, and that wherever possible they should bo replaced progressively by native labour. Last year no more than 603 Chinese in the territory. Dr Keesing writes that “ the relatively small number required, combined with the attractiveness of the terms, makes it easy to fill the quota when a transport is duo to sail.” Many would be glad to remain in Samoa, on the same terms or as free agents, when the six years’ maximum period of their indenture expires, but this is not allowed. “In practice,” we are told by this independent observer, “ there has been worked out a pattern of relationships between the Chinese labourer, the employer, and the Administration which all understand, and which functions with comparatively little trouble, giving considerable satisfaction at least to the first and last parties.” The interests of the labourers are watched over by a Chinese Commissioner on the spot and by the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, which asks questions about their treatment and has never had fault to find. The Labour Government may be hard put to it to devise a better system.