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We make no protest against the principle of separation so far as it can be fairly and practically carried out. But we do not see how it is possible for this law to effect any greater separation between the races than obtains now. It is evident that the aim of this law is to compel service by taking away the means of independence and self-improvement. This compulsory service at reduced wages and high rents will not be separation, but an intermingling of the most injurious character of both races.

Mative Races and the

Dignity of Labour."

AMONGST the stock arguments advanced by King Leopold and his confederates in their piratical enterprise in the Congo was the "lazy native,” and premising the indolence of the native, they proceeded to justify their methods of teaching" the dignity of labour." It was the old argument of the Southern planters; it has been a perennial amongst the Portuguese of West Africa, and is to-day a prevalent delusion throughout Central and South America. Indeed, wherever rapid exploitation of native races is being pursued, the "lazy devils" argument is used in justification of every proposal for the adoption of various forms of force, from the lash to the Cepo. We have the Royal authority of King Leopold for the following words: "You will find the native essentially lazy and indifferent "; whilst the Presisent of the Appeal Court of Justice in the Congo said in public that the native was" entirely refractory to all kinds of work, only respects the law of force, and knows no other persuasion than terror." It matters little whether the labourer be a Creole, an Indian or an African; the prevailing theory amongst a large section of the community, but principally amongst an interested section of it, is that the "native" has more than his share of inherent idleness, which can only be eradicated by a liberal application of the whip or palmatoria, and in many cases the knife and the gun.

What are the facts? The real colonial objection to the Indian labourer, for example, is due to his thrifty and industrious habits; that he can make two sticks of cane grow for the one of the white man; that he will raise a small harvest of rice on a patch of land which the white despises as "waste." The Creole in the West Indies and the African East and West are replying to the allegation by pushing with extraordinary success the growth of copra, cocoa, palm oil, and rubber.

In a recent article in the Economist the writer calls attention to the development of tropical agriculture in the British Crown Colonies within a period of seven years. He says:

"Mr. Harcourt, during the discussion upon the Colonial Office vote. gave some striking figures demonstrating the economic success attending

British enterprise in the Crown Colonies and Protectorates. Most of these colonies a century ago were groaning under the yoke of slavery; others less than 50 years ago were in the throes of barbarism. But slavery and indigenous barbarism have given way to abounding prosperity, for these sunny lands are now covered with cotton fields and cocoa-nut groves, cocoa farms and rubber plantations. The increase of vegetable exports from the British Crown Colonies and Protectorates during the last seven years is told in the following figures:

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Mr. Harris, writing in the Contemporary Review of November last, dealt with the rapid production of rubber in the Orient. Until the year 1875 there were no rubber plantations in the Federated Malay States, the Straits Settlements, or Ceylon. It was due to that intrepid explorer, Mr. Wickham,

that seeds were obtained and planted at Kew Gardens under the direction of Sir Joseph Hooker, with the result that 7,000 plants were raised and despatched to Ceylon and Singapore. In 1898 the first consignment reached Europe, represented by a single ton weight; in 1912 this had grown to twenty-eight thousand tons and British capital invested in rubber plantations had reached the figure of £60,000,000.

Mr. Harris continued:

The world's demand to-day is approximately 100,000 tons, and the dominating fact is that the East Indies are about to satisfy that demand single-handed, for according to the Special Supplement of the Times of April 22 last, the estimated harvests of the Orient are :

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Mr. E. D. Morel has a striking article in the Nineteenth Century for March upon "Free Labour in Tropical Africa." Referring to the production of palm oil and kernels, he says:-

"Since then the palm-oil and palm-kernel oil industry has increased in enormous proportions. Liverpool, which is the European import centre for palm-oil as Hamburg is for palm-kernels, imported 80,000 tons of oil last year and 23,826 tons of kernels. Hamburg imported no less than 256,618 tons of kernels. In the last two years the natives of British West Africa have produced palm-oil and kernels to the sterling value of just under ten millions, and the natives of West Africa under German and French protection have produced just under two millions sterling of these articles. In the last two years, then, European and American industries have been indebted to the West African free producer for £12,000,000 of this particular raw material alone."

The romance of British cocoa production in West Africa is known in some measure to every member of our Society, and Mr. Morel comments upon this enterprise as follows:

"In 1890 the Gold Coast Administration made up for many political errors by a most excellent economic measure. It created an agricultural and botanical station in a carefully selected spot, and distributed young plants and pods of the cocoa tree gratuitously. Four years later the native farmers produced 20,312 lb. of cocoa, valued at £547. By 1900 the plantations yielded 1,200,794 lb., valued at £27,280. By 1904 the value of the output was £200,025. In 1908 it rose to £540,821. In 1910 it reached £864,419. Last year the Gold Coast headed the list of cocoa-producing countries with an export of 88,987,324 lb., valued at £1,613,468.”

Mr. Morel says of this achievement :

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Here then is a striking object-lesson of what the West African native is capable, working as a trader and a free man. Let us bear in mind that, inspired solely by his commercial instinct, he has voluntarily grafted upon his usage of, and internal trade in, the product of the oil-palm an export trade in the fruit of that tree, with no other assistance from the European than a market in which to sell, and, more recently, the creation of railways and roads."

Mr. Morel says very truly that amongst all the problems of tropical administration

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"One surpasses all the rest in fundamental significance. mic future, and, consequently, the racial future, of the tropical African native to be one of dependence or independence? In other words, is he to exploit the riches of the soil and cultivate the land under his own national systems, or is the white man to become the exploiter and the African the hired labourer (or the slave) of the more mentally advanced European? Economic in its essence, the problem is, nevertheless, for the white overlords of the African tropics, a problem not of economics only but of morality and statesmanship in the true meaning of those much abused terms,"

Once more the question of "State control" of land is agitating the tribes of West Africa; reports are current that instructions have been sent to the Nigerian officials to sound native chiefs as to their attitude towards State control. The West African Land Commission is still considering its report; it would, therefore, be premature to anticipate its recommendations, but "State control" has always been the corner-stone of African social life and custom, if by those words is meant a government of the people, by the people, for the people. The African will readily acquiesce in any reasonable reform having as its object native welfare, providing it carries with it State control in this sense. Mr. Morel, writing upon another African land question, once said: "The fundamental principle of a State' is the participating of the people of the land in the government of their country." So completely is this followed in Africa that the Chief himself in many territories cannot alienate an acre of land without the formal assent of the tribe.

The" State" control of land in which the African would never willingly acquiesce, is control by a form of government in which the natives only possess a representation liable under all and any circumstances to be vetoed by a temporary executive. It is an unfortunate and, unhappily, a well established fact that in almost every British Colony where the native tribes have been forced to surrender the control of their lands to the Executive, they have in the end suffered the loss of occupancy over very wide areas. It is the same story in Rhodesia, in South Africa, in British East Africa, in British Columbia and even in Nigeria itself, where to-day the natives appeal almost in vain to the administrative officers to assist them in maintaining their sacred rights to the land. Those who possess this information, and with due courtesy and respect submit it for the consideration of the authorities, are sharply censured for performing what common sense would regard as a real national service. It is this attitude which causes, and must continue to cause, grave apprehension with regard to any proposal for "State control" unless by "State" is meant a form of administration in which the natives themselves have effective representation.

Indentured Labour within the Empire.

AT a Conference arranged by the Nationalities and Subject Races Committee at Westminster on February 17, Mr. Harris was asked to give an address on this subject, to which he has devoted considerable study. The question is one in which the Society has always taken a deep interest.

Mr. Harris said that the British system of coolie labour from India is sound in principle, but so defective in administration that certain features both in India and the Crown Colonies constitute grave scandals. There is a growing demand in many quarters for the abolition of coolie emigration,

but an exhaustive study of the question in all its bearings shows that the cessation of emigration would prove very unfortunate for the Indian Empire and the Crown Colonies, no less than for the coolies themselves. It is the duty of public opinion to secure adequate reforms, a task in which the planters should co-operate, otherwise urgent reforms may be hindered and abolition thereby rendered inevitable.

Owing to the abuses of contract labour in tropical and sub-tropical regions, there is an opinion abroad that indentured labour is but a synonym for slave owning. It must not be overlooked, however, that there is nothing inherently vicious in contract labour-indeed, most of us are in some way or other serving under contract; there are, at the same time, certain features which must be observed: First, that the contracted labourer enters into the contract of his own free will, and that he understands the terms of the indenture the exercise of either fraud or force upon the labourer constitutes, in practice at least, action tantamount to slave trading. Secondly, the employer must faithfully carry out his obligations under the contract as loyally as he demands fulfilment on the part of the labourer. Finally, the administration should see that all the obligations of the contract are observed by both parties to the indenture. It cannot be denied that in each of the foregoing respects the British coolie labour system leaves much to be desired. The paper was followed by a discussion.

East Africa Protectorate.

REPORT ON NATIVE LABOUR.

THE report of the Native Labour Commission, which sat from September 1912, until April 1913, has been published, with the evidence given by 272 witnesses who represented the views of officials, missionaries, landowners, farmers, traders, etc., and natives of all classes.

The recommendations, therefore, which relate to a large number of questions such as the shortage of native labour and its causes, wages of labourers, food, and medical attendance, the recruitment and transport of natives, indentured labour, native reserves, taxation and squatting, carry considerable weight, and would if adopted undoubtedly introduce many reforms into the system. We refer to some of the most important sections.

RECRUITING.

The Commission held that the existing system of recruiting through labour agents-persons who recruit for gain-is bad; that the chiefs force the natives to go out to work either for labour agents or for the Government. The Commission recognize that the only satisfactory labour is that which is

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