"RED RUBBER."

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 160, 9 January 1914, Page 4

"RED RUBBER."

The Puiumayo Horrors

Outrivallsd.

Englishman's Indictment.

LONDON, November 20. A story of the awful atrocities which are occurring on the Amazon, some of which exceed in brutality even those wiiich .Sir Roger Casement found existing in the Putumayo district, has lieen told this week by an Englishman who lias just returned to England after spending right year* on the Boliviun frontier. Ibis chronicle of alleged crime wis narrated by Mr J. F. Woodrolie, who tarnished the AntiSlavery and Aborigines' Protection Society with the account of the exploitation of the Indians of the Amazon in the interests of rubber enterprises, on which the society habased a report to the British Foreign Uttice with an appeal for Government protection for the hapless victims of man's greed for gold. Mr Woodrolie went to the Amazon eight years ago as an administrative officer in the employment of an English rubber company, and lie has been in the tropics until quite recently. During this period he travelled as a trader and in other capacities through the vast areas traversed by the upper reaches of the Amazon audits affluences. For three years Mr Woodroffo was in the Putumayo district, and this fact gives authority to his allegations that the conditions in the Beni, Acre, and the other areas are " wor.se than the Putumayo." What is known as the " peonage " system obtains in these districts, and it is on this system that he bases his indictment. The sjstem is explained by Mr Woodrolie as follows : Labour agents of the companies are sent out into the villages in order to induce the Indians to join a party for the collection of rubber. The Indian usually has certain petty debts which he wants to discharge, and the agent begins by making him a small advance of money. Then he is transferred from his home to the place of his labours, which may be anythiug up to a thousand miles away. When he arrives he has no food and little clothing. These he has to purchase, together with tools anil outfit necessary to enable him to collect his first parcel of rubber. The cost of these things is charged against him to the amount very often of £IOO. What this means in its operation is that the Indian has practically sold himself body and sou! to the company, for the hapless native—like many white men who get into the clutches of usurers—can never get out of the company's debt. Every little thing he has is debited against him. If he is ill he is charged from os to (is a day for his maintenance, and extra for medicine, whilst for the produce he delivers he is accredited with only a third or a had' of the current price of rubber, If an Inclian wishes to leave the district in which he is working he can only do so by running away. Then he is pursued and if caught thrashed until his spirit is broken. "Such,' - added Mr Woodrolie, "is the peonage system. It is the system under which rubber is produced in the American forests. If that is not slavery, what is 'i " INDIANS MASSACRED.

Another allegation which Mr Woodroffe mokes is that of the wholesale murders of natives, known as " braves "'—that is, Indian savages who have not come at all under the influences of civilisation. They are nomads, moving about in small parties numbering from _•> to -JO. "When they reach the areas where rubber is being worked and their presence becomes known to the rubber exploiters, armed parties are formed and the Indians pursued. When overtaken, in the majority of cases all the male braves are shot,

whilst the children and others not able to offer any resistance are brought into settlements and become the slaves of their captors. As far as the male savages are concerned, it is really a war of extermination amoDgst them. This sort of thing is an everyday occurrence, according to Mr Woodroffe, who declares that he has met with men who have actually taken part in the massacres. [•LOGGING, TORTURE AND MURDER. That Hogging and torturing take place is also alleged by Mr Woodroffe. Referring io the latter, he said : —" Since the Putuniayo affair torture has been piactised in more refined forms ; that is to say, in such ways as are not likely to leave tell-tale after effects. Instead, for instance, of using the whip, the [loggers employ a vegetable product called the tree beau. This is about Ift long, and is u-ed when in its green state. Consequently, while causing great wails, it doej not break the skin. Then, too, a great deal of kicking is done. In more remote districts, however, where there is little risk of outside detection and interference, the whip i--till nfi-i\, ami this for the most trivial offences, such as apparent laziness or disobedience of an overseer's command.

As to torturing, Mr Woodroffe gave one or two cases which came u itliin his personal nonce. " I knew one Indian," lie said, " littlo more than a buy, who lost one of his eyes as the result of ill-treatment. - ' Another case was that of a native who became a little obstreperous. His employer tied his hands behind his back with fine cord-, so that circulation was stopped. Mortification set in, and the Indian underwent an operation that cost him one arm and part of the other.

Another case was of :i man in business on a river called the Jacy Pearana, Dissatisfied at the presence of five Indians who wore lying about ill near his house, he had thorn put on a rock in the rapids near mid-stream, The following morning the five men were gone, having been washed oil the rock, and either drowned or eaten by alligators. Reverting to Hogging, Mr Wood- j rotle states that whipping is part of j the daily life of the country. Not only are men flogged for not bringing in a uflicieut quantity of rubber, j but women, where they are employed I iu dornestii work, arc inhumanly ! beaten, .aid lor the nto-l trivial fiiulto and ofltntUo.