CURRENT LITERATURE.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 August 1923, Page 4

CURRENT LITERATURE.

DEPOPULATION OF -MELANESIA

It i- n commonplace that the indigenous population of the Pacific is decronsing at an alarming rate. Tho first European navigators in tin's ocean fount- the islands well filled. Now everywhere the inhabitants are rapidly diminishing in numbers, and in certain groups i lie re is a real danger that if the process i- not cheeked the natives will disappear altogether, liven in British New Guinea, where, the population of the welfare of the natives is the primary object of the administration, a similar tendency is observable. It is the custom to attribute tho decline to the iniquities of the white man. ( erl'iinly they have bad much to answer for, but they are an insufficient explanation of- tho phenomenon. "Black-birding” with it- attendant evils ha for long heel) a ihing of the past. The labour traffic is strictly regirtaled and the exploitation of the o.nice lias Iw-t-n prevented. In luiiny of the groups alcohol is prohibited. We must x-ck other causes than the while man's wickedness, and a great deal of fro-h light ithrown upon (lie subjci t by "Essays on the Depopulation of

Melanesia,’ - edited by Dr \V. IF. R Rivers.

Jn the preface to this invaluable book -Sir F.verani im Tliurn, for long High Comniissioner of I lie Western Paeilie, indicates the scope of the inquiry, and summari-e- ii r■■-nils. ’I he essays are com ribuied b\ l hive missionaries, the R'-v W. .1. Dun-ad, A. 1.. Hopkins, and W. ('. O'Fei rail. Dr Felex Speiser, a Swiss anthro|Kilogist, and Mr ( . M. Woodford, late Resident ('eimuissioiicr n, the Solomons. These essays, which embody the fruits of extensive personal experience in the Pacific, relate to Melanesia in general, hut have particular relerence to the Solomons, the New Hebrides, and the Santa Cruz Islands. There is a lettci on disease and its treatment, written by Sir William Macgregor not long before his death. And, finally, Dr Rivers reviews the evidence, draws certain conclusions from it, and adds some very interesting material on his own account. The infantile death-rate in Melanesia is npalliugly high, and is largely the consequence of improper feeding. Only the fittest can survive t lie* diet of yam and taro, which is the portion of the Melanesian h-tby. But this cannot lie said to lie a positive factor in the depopulation. for the infant mortality rate always lias been high. Thera i~ no doubt ihat ■•the rapid disappearance of the Melanesian folk is a direct, however unintended, result of the settlement among them of Europeans." Nor must it he supposed that for the depopulation the European's brutalities and vices are solely or even chiefly responsible. They have taken their toll, and a heavy one it has been. Hut "evil is wrought bv want of thought as well as want of heart." Sir Evorard iin Tliurn finds the decline due in some measure to the well-meaning "hut sometimes inadequate, efforts of missionaries and Government representatives to save the islanders from the worst effects brought on them b.v the inrush of Europeans. . . . The main cause of whatever failure there has been in the efforts of i hose whose desire and duly have been to soften the impact between the two races that have ' now met in the islands has been want of understanding by in of the islanders. and failure to grasp t lu- immense diflerence whieh lay between their t-ul-tttre and ours. .Settlers, missionaries, and Government representatives have all in varying degree been hampered by this form of error."

-Host of the writers regard tlm labour traffic a- being inimical to the host, interests of the native. From 0110 point ft view it may seem harmless enough. Recruiting is now in general free from abuse.*. Tho native gratifies a natural wish to see something- of the world outsale his own i-laud. ami earns more than in’ could over cam at home, lie i- Usually well treated from motives' ol exp-dieney, if net of humanity. NevorIhole**, plantation work i- bad for him. It take.* him away from home when ho should he marrying, -md producing n family. It has an unsettling effect on him, and scents to weaken the ties and the social restraints to which lie was subject in his own village. Some of the writers argue that plantation labour should he abolished it a reversion In the old mode of life were possible. Other- reeogni-e that this i- impracticable, and that the abolition would merely give rise to evils of another sort. Dr Speiser advocate- a kind of j industrial conscription, ihe Govern-! incut to control the whole of the lab-j our supply, the native to work six months of the year on private plant,o-! t ions, under close Government supervision. Dr Speiser - .* scheme, which lie works out in detail, i- a novel one, : but he thinks that there is no serious .

objection tn it. Disease, of course, has boon mi Important agency i n the dcpopulal ion. -Maladies which to tliii European mo of 1 rilling account work havoc with the native, although to sonic of them, sttcii as measles, in which the denlhrnte was formerly terrible, he has now acquired a certain degree of imninnity. Vencroal disease is not high on the list. The chief enemy is now the innocent cold, | which, with the native, frequently dcvcloj'cs into bronchitis. Ships, often missionary ships, carry the infection " ith disastrous results. In Drncinftn T?ny. in the Santa C’tuz Islands for example, the population has been halved in seven years from this cause. The unhygienic habits of the native have materially helped to swell the mortality rate. “Of all the evil customs introduced by civilisation, the wearing oi clothes is probably the greatest/’ I lie native bathes in them, and does not r hnitge. When he net)Hires new garment he puts it on over the old ones, anil goes about thus apparalled until the lowest layer literally rots off j him. The missionaries have been blam- | etl for imposing clothes upon their Hock I hut Dr. Rivers acquits them of re-j sjoHsibility. It is true that in earlier days they did encourage the use of clothing, hut this encouragement was quite unnecessary. To the native trousers ami coats are the distinctive mark of the white man. and nothing short of prohibition could have preventer them from being worn. Where the missionaries were at fault is that they did not recognise the hnrmfulness of the innovation, and set their faces against it. As a matter of fact, their inlluem-c is now being steadily directed to this end. In Melanesia there is no need of clothing for the sake of warmth. The requirements of decency are m general satisfied by the un-

tive costumes. The third function c! clothing, namely, adornment, can bo fulfilled without resort to European attire.

Another factor in the decline, the importance of which has hitherto been inadequately appreciated has been tire interference in the native’s pursuits, and the disturbance of his normal routine. The honest desire to “do the fair thing" by him has often had ttnf' rtunate consequences. Thus, in Fiji the laud policy of the Administration has made the natives “rentiers.’ - They do not- want to work and, deprived of the incentive of the struggle for existence, they are dying out. Dr. Rivers lays great emphasis upon this psychological factor, the loss of zest in life which ho ranks high among the causes of depopulation, tie reminds mof the ease with which the natives are killed by magic or as a re,stilt of the infraction of a taboo. A Melanesian will sicken and die because he believes that he is the victim of

tm enemies - spells or that lit- Inis offended against, -onto religious ban. ‘‘lf 1 oople who are interested in life- and do not wish to tlie can he killed in

a. few days, or even hours, by a more belief, how much more easy is it to understand that a people who have lost all interest in life should become the prey of any morbid agency acting through the body as well as through the mind." The crux of the matter is that the white man has aften destroyed old custom.- and practices without putting anything in their place. Where Christianity has been adopted and has struck it- routs deep, it has supplied

r e intc-iest in life, without which the native vegetates and loses vitality. Otherwise the lacuna remains unfilled.

Dr. Rivers supports his argument by numerous illustrations, of which the most instructive relates to the abolition by the Government of head-hunt-ing in the Srh.-nions. Head-hunting was not merely an exciting sport; it was - e one wav the young native had cf proving his manhood and winning a wife. The trophies, moreover, were needed to propitiate the ancestral ghost* when a new house was built or it new canoe launched, while they were also offered.in sacrifice at the funeral of the chiefs. The practice of headhunting again, was closely hound tip with the economic pursuits of the people. Tho expedition lasted only a few weeks, the actual lightiyg only a. few hours, hut this was the culminating

point of a process extending over years. For long before the preparation* had kept the whole of the community busily engaged. A licet of new canoes had to he made for tinforay. and the construction of these provided work of rn interesting kind for a censidetable period. Their manu-

facture was accompanied throughout by frequent rites and feasts, to which the naiive.s looked forward with the liveliest anticipation. and which .stimulated the indii-iries of horticulture and pigbreeding. The abolition of head-hunt-

ing took away at a stroke Hie principal i ecupationx ol the men. and now they simply loaf about and smoke in ulk ness.

Even the missionaries ileph re the effects of the prohibition, but this is not to say that they or any otheEuropean*, think that the practice should he revived. Hr. Rivers mentions that in other primitive societies, whore human sacrifice has fo: marly prevailed, an animal has taken the place of the human victim. He holt!* that in the Seluinoii,*, with tactful sugges-

tion. A similar arrangement, might be neet'.'p table. But he decs not believe that the substitution cf a porcine for a human lim’d would wholly solve the problem. It would not touch the economic aspects, a new motive would still have to b" provided for tho rnr.ualact.iire of new e.-iaoes and this might

lie found in the institution of canoe rates as elemnts in tlie ceremonial connected with ancestral offerings. Tt will be seen that these essays are not merely critical ; they abound in fruitltd and cirn-t nu tiv proposal*. They posses* , peculiar ini., rest for Australian'. I e--tiise. in IVpnu and our mandated lerriliuy we arc confronted with problem* and conditions which are not greatly different from those di-ettssed in this volume.