The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1879-07-22
NUMBER 1907.
Prom the San Francisco chronicle

oOuIo Caubtu thpt. ~. II. LUCE, tutu
senior commander OF the English South
Pacific Squadron, to institute an inves-
tigation into the causes Of the trouble
between the traders and the islanders.
IL resulted in ascertainiLg that there
was n large number of small vessels
cruising abont the islands kidnapping
the natives or inducing them TO affix
their ''marks" TO papers Of which they
knew nothing, and then delivering
them to men in the colony OF Queens
land. Australia, who paid so much per
head for them. When the remaining
islanders saw their relatives and friends
thus taken To return no more, they
avenged themselves in truly savage
style by destroying every vessel
they could capture and massacering
ever white man they could catch, in
many cases roasting and eating him.
Communications were forwarded by
Capt. Bruce To the Queenland and
English governments, setting forth the
outrages Committed by the slave-hunt-
ers, for such they are in fact, aud the
retaliation practiced by the islanders.
Official documents followed, and the
matter finally ended in the passage Of
regulating what is known as the "Poly-
nesian Labor Trade. "Slaye Trade"
would be q much better and more APP
plicable title. The cotton and sugar
planters Of the colony OF Fiji obtain
the bulk of their labor from the same
source, and the traffic has now assum-
ed large proportions. A great many
small vessels and hundreds of men are
now engaged in it. There are laws in
accordance with which this trade in
human beings is supposed to be carried
on, but their provisions are violated
constantly. No account of many OF
the crimes and outrages perpetrated is
ever reported 10 the civilized world,
for various reasons. They are COM
mitted on the small, out-of-the-way
islands OF the South Pacific. the island
ers know nothing of the authorities to
whom they can appeal for redress OF
wrong, aud the brutal slave-hunters
are not at all inclined TO publish ac-
counts Of proceedings implicated by
themselves. The planters who have
robbed and wronged their servants do
not court inquiry. 1t is only when the
islanders seize arms aud break out in
open rebellion, as they did in the
Maryboro district, Queensland, not
long ago, or seize vessel in search OF
island laborers, and slaughter all on
board that the public are made aware
of the existing evil. White labor in
Queensland, feeling itself aggrieved by
the system, agitated the matter, held
large public meetings, and called upon
the government to stop what is justly
termed "the slave trade" Nothing was
done, however, beyond amending ex-
istIng acts, in order to render them
more stringent. The planter must have
labor; white labor is too costly, and
cannot be procured in sufficient amount,
and so the ships still go down TO the
seas in search Of the simple native
Thousands of Chinese are In the coun-
try, but they will not work upon the
plantation. The rich alluvial diggings
pay too well. The Indian coolies can
be obtained easier than the islander,
but they cost more and have and un-
pleasant way OF asserting the rights
they possess. The islander innocent,
tractable, aud can be bullied, worked,
beaten, and cheated far more easily
than any other class. The ships en-
gagged in the trade go out with well
armed crews from ROckhampton,
Maryboro, Mockey and Brisbane, in
Queensland, aud from Levuka and
other ports in Fiji. They have their
hunting grounds and know them az
we'll as the old whaler knows his. Their
object is to obtain men from the islands
TO work upon the plantations; and,
thongh they are supposed TO carry out
the work in accordance with the laws
passed 10 regulate il aud though an
officer, called an inspector, accom-
panies them TO see that they do so,
nevertheless their task is in a manner
somewhat similar to that pursued by
the old-time slave-trader. They visit
island after island, cruise about them
| for several days, and send word TO GER
tain chiefs or white men engaged IN
| the traffic, that they want men. Some
times the islanders come on board, and
I they are then treated with great
courtesy by the traders Every means
/ is employed 10 induce them TO consent
to go, and the parties engaged In the
trade have many ways OF accomplish
ing this object. They furnish them
with liquor; they talk sweetly; they
use every effort that ingenuity can sug-
gest, aud when the vessel sails she
usually has several of the uufortunates.
/ Other islands arc visited aud the same
process repeated until the requisite
number is secured, when the ship sails
away TO its owu port.
Here the islanders are transferred 20
the agents of the planters who have
sent her out. In some cases planters
have their own boats. They are taken
up the country to the sugar planta-
I tions, where their life differs but little
/ from that Of the slaves Of the United
States in the -bellum times, and at
/ the expiration OF the three years which
they are supposed 10 serve they receive
/ the magnificent sum of $50. This is
the legal earnings Of three years
about cent a day, clothing, food aud
| transportation to and from the islands.
In mauy instances, however, the
islander is cheated ont of his money,
the manager Of the plantation alledging
that 1t has been paid in kind during
the years OF servitude. On some Of the
plantations they are treated well; on
others their lot Is a hard one. The
climate is tropical, so that the question
OF clothing does not perplex them
much, but their food supply has been
found ia some cases 10 have been mis-
erably inadequate, though OF the
simplest and cheapest character. In
some places they have been subjected
to cruel brutality, which the public
hear OF only when they rise mp and
massacre the person or persons guilty
Of the outrage. When their term
expires they are returned TO the island,
and nearly always carry arms and am
munition with them 10 be used in
tribal wprs with bloody effect. The
treatment received by them on the
plantations does not appear 10 be OF
such a character as 10 induce them TO
remain after the three years expire, al
though many are found to do so, nor
TO return again. IL is now n difiicult
matter 90 procure fresh labor, and the
system is rapidly degeDeratiDg into a
kidnapping business. The ships in
search Of men must find them, or there
is no money 10 repay those who spent
both money aud time IN the enterprise.
Natives are sometimes seized, put on
board, aud carried off; some are in
duced 30 drink, and while drunk de-
clare their willingness 10 GO anywhere.
Every subterfuge a. resorted To, aud the
demand is only partially supplied. A
well-known aud recent writer upon the
South Sea Islands declares that nine
tenths Of the outrages committed by
the islanders against the whites are
caused by the brutality aud abuse