VEILED SLAVERY?

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 97, 15 December 1931, Page 2

VEILED SLAVERY?

STRONG CRITICISM OF * . NEW HEBRIDES SYSTEM. CLERGYMAN'S ATTACK. In the New Hebrides, in the South- ' ern Pacific, there is a f orm of government known as the Condominium, iri which England and France share jointly. Under this there exists a form of native labour which is nothing less than slavery, however much its protagonists may dispute the. term, writes the Rev. R. de Yoil, in an English exchange. At Port Vila there reside two eommissiqners, one - English and one French, and, for certain legal offences concerning both nationals there is a joint court, consisting of a British and a French judge, with a president who was nominated by the King of Spain. For other legal disputes each national is judged by his own court, or where two -different nationals are concerned, in the court of the' def endant. But this-'iS'Only for .the whtie man. For purely native cases there are no courts and no recognised legal processes. Strange to say, murder of a native by.a native is no'crime in the New Hebrides, while if a native has a eomplaint against a white man there is little, if any, opportunity of his cfhtaining a hearing of his case. The chief product of the islandS is copra, and there are' many plantations, The native, through the bounty of nature, has no need to work hard for his own food", and has a constitutional dislike to continued beavy 'work. To meet this tbere are definte regulations for the recruitment of native labour. Natives may be signed on for periods of six months to two years, bri't no native women may, be eiriployed without their free consent, and the consent of their husbands, or their guardians, if unmarried. An express stipulation is that at the expiry of their service all natives are to be returned to the spot from which they were recruited. That is a stipulation which is s'eldom carried out, often by deliberate default, and has far-reaching effect both for the individual and the community.

British in Minority British. planters are in the minority, and labour regulations are strictly enforced against them, but the reverse is true of French nationals. My own short experience here has shown be most clearly the . existence of appalling injustices. Let. me explain. The Southern Cross, the Melanesian mission steamer, anchored at Port Vila recently. Immediately the doctor had passed us a native boarded, asking the bisbop for a passage back to his home on orie of the islands, and as we landed, there was a group of about thirty waiting with the same request. As we walked to the post office we passed groups of natives sitting by the roadside, poofly clothed, poorly fed, and utterly disconsolate. All these were people in the same plight. They were natives who had been brought from their islands to work on French plantations, and, on the expiry of their service, had not ben returned to their homes. What is their position? There are no regular steamers . plying among the islands — except one about every six weeks — even supposing they could afford a passage. They have not their families or their friends, they have no homes, and generally no money. For most of them there is no other course open but to sign on again at =ome plantation. They are virtually tied to the land and have no hope of escape — though by law they should have been repatriated.