Page images
PDF
EPUB

ABORIGINES' FRIEND.

JULY, 1927.

[The Editor, whilst grateful to all correspondents who may be kind enough to furnish him with information, desires to state that he is not responsible for the views stated by them, nor for quotations which may be inserted from other journals. The object of the journal is to spread information, and articles are necessarily quoted which may contain views and statements for which their authors can alone be held responsible.]

Forced Labour
Conference
with
Governors.

Quarterly Notes.

On the 1st June the Society with the approval of the Colonial Office invited the Governors and Representatives of the Colonies then in London for the Colonial Conference to a private conference on the subject of forced labour, with the special object of obtaining their opinion and advice upon the important memorial which the Joint Sub-Committee of representatives of the Society and the League of Nations Union has prepared for presentation to the Expert Commission which has been set up by the International Labour Office at Geneva. Lord Buxton presided and eleven Governors and Representatives of Colonies were present and considered the memorial in detail. The conference was felt to be a very successful and useful one.

Slavery in the Sudan.

SIR JOHN MAFFEY, Governor General of the Sudan, in a recent despatch to the League of Nations writes that "the progress made in abolishing slavery in the Sudan has been remarkable. Slave-raiding is a thing of the past, and the various forms of domestic slavery' have undergone such rapid adjustment to new ideas that the term, broadly speaking, is hardly justified.

“A gradual merger of races is taking place, and the policy of not forcing the pace unduly has been completely justified."

Owing to increased opportunities for independent employment, the number of domestic slaves in the Provinces North of Khartum is said to be insignificant.

Native Welfare

Societies in

South Africa.

The South African Outlook, the excellent monthly journal of the Lovedale Institution, contained in its April and May numbers articles on the growth and number of the Native Welfare Societies, or, as it is suggested they should rather be called, "Inter-Racial Councils" (on the ground that every section of the populationNatives, coloured people, and Indians alike-should be represented). It appears that seventeen of these organisations now exist in the Union, two of the latest established being at Kimberley and Bloemfontein. In the latter case the article states that a body of men exceptionally well equipped to do effective work throughout the Orange Free State has been brought together. It is pointed out that there never was a time in South African history when co-operation between the races was more necessary, and the creation of an informed public opinion more urgent. At the moment, urgent political issues have of necessity been forced upon the attention of these bodies, but the non-political side of the work of these societies is of the first importance, and local problems such as housing, health, recreation, and education must always occupy them primarily. The Convener of the Joint Councils is Mr. J. D. Rheinallt Jones, Johannesburg.

Southern Rhodesia.

NATIVE JUVENILES' EMPLOYMEnt Act.

THE following reply has been received from the Dominions Office to the Society's letter, published in our last issue.

It is the fact, however, that the Farmers claimed that the Act was drafted under pressure from their association, and Sir Charles Coghlan, the Premier, is reported by the Rhodesia Herald to have said at a special Congress of the Rhodesia Agricultural Union, "We have now got, not without difficulty, on the Statute Book, the Native Juvenile Apprenticeship Act." This, as the Rev. A. S. Cripps has pointed out, seems to be a clear response to a resolution of the Union in 1925, that native piccanins should be indentured or in some way be brought under the provisions of the Masters' and Servants' Act.

DOMINIONS OFFICE,

DOWNING STREET, 13th May, 1927.

The Secretaries, The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society.

GENTLEMEN,-With further reference to your letter of the 4th February on the subject of the Southern Rhodesia Native Juveniles Employment Act, 1926, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Amery to inform

you that a reply has now been received from the Government of Southern Rhodesia stating that it would appear that the objects of the Act have been misunderstood.

[ocr errors]

2. The Southern Rhodesia Government explain that the Act was designed primarily in the interests of the native juveniles themselves in order inter alia to protect them against such evils as loafing, undesirable employers, and undesirable companions and surroundings. They note that the objections raised by the Society are directed mainly against Section 6 of the Act. This Section, they point out, applies only to juveniles who are without proper employment and whose parents or guardians cannot be found. It is not anticipated that many juveniles will be dealt with under this Section-at the most a Native Commissioner will exercise his powers of "contracting" juveniles once or twice a year. It should be remembered that any juveniles who may be dealt with under the Section will be those who have entered a town without the consent of their parents or guardians, and it is pointed out that it is eminently desirable that Native Commissioners should have the power to assume guardianship in such cases, particularly as in industrial centres there is a marked disproportion of the sexes giving rise to dangers which need not be particularised.

3. The Southern Rhodesia Government state that there is, therefore, no foundation, either in the terms of the Act or elsewhere, for the suggestion that Native Commissioners will" become in any way agents for recruiting labour." No recruitment is intended and none will be allowed.

4. In regard to paragraphs 3 and 4 of your letter the Southern Rhodesia Government state that the practice in the past has been that detailed in the first part of paragraph 3 of that letter. The Act does not enable juveniles to enter into service, in town or elsewhere, "unaided," or without the "advice, explanation or consent of any parent, guardian or person in loco parentis." On the contrary, the Act regulates their entry into service in almost the precise manner outlined in paragraph 4 of your letter.

I am, etc.,

A. C. C. PARKINSON.

We regret to learn that this Act is being followed up by a further ordinance dealing with the control of natives by the Native Department, which confers drastic powers on the Native Commissioners for trying and punishing natives "guilty of insolent or contemptuous behaviour or of failing promptly to obey and comply with any lawful or reasonable order, request or declaration."

When natives convicted appear to be under sixteen, they may, "in lieu of any other punishment, be sentenced to receive a whipping privately not exceeding fifteen strokes with a rattan cane or rod."

Forced Labour.

MEMORIAL TO THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

Prepared by a Joint Committee of the League of Nations Union and the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society.

London, 15th June, 1927.

To-M. ALBERT THOMAS, International Labour Office, Geneva,

SIR,-We beg leave to express to you, on behalf of the British League of Nations Union, and the British Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society, the high appreciation by both organisations of the decision of your Governing Body to proceed with the examination of the varied problems of Native Colonial labour with a view to international agreement concerning them.

In our opinion the two classes of Labour which to-day lead to the gravest abuses are Forced Labour and indentured Contract Labour. In this memorandum we are limiting the representations we venture to make to Forced Labour. On this question some progress has been made towards agreement in Article 5 of the Slavery Convention-where it is laid down :

"The High Contracting Parties recognise that recourse to compulsory or forced labour may have grave consequences and undertake, each in respect of the territories placed under its sovereignty, jurisdiction, protection, suzerainty or tutelage, to take all necessary measures to prevent compulsory or forced labour from developing into conditions analogous to slavery."

(1) FORCED LABOUR FOR PRIVATE PROFIT.

We note that it is agreed in the above named Convention that "Subject to the transitional provisions laid down in paragraph (2) (Article 5) compulsory or forced labour may only be exacted for public purposes." We, however, hold that for many years most civilised Governments have accepted the view that forced labour for private profit is but another name for Slavery. The late Lord Cromer, whose authority upon this subject will not be challenged, expressed in the following passage a view generally held by students of Colonial policy:

"Here, therefore, is the explanation of British views which M. de A.

[ocr errors]

seeks. The answer to his question, what we

« PreviousContinue »