Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-07
IN NEW CALEDONIA
Odd Features of Life in the French
Penal Colony.
GREAT PLACE FOR CARPET BADGERS
Transforming Hardened Criminals
Into Decent Citizens.
IMONIAL METHODS
TREAT PLACE FOR CARPET BADGERS
IMONIAL METHODS


PARIS, September 20. 1899.
On May 8, 1884, the French governor of
New Caledonia addressed these words to
24S transported French convicts. the first
batch sent out, for their own regeneration
and the population Of the colony:
you have been sent to New Caledonia to
participate in important works for the up
building of this French possession. 1 have
been awaiting you impatiently, as devoted
auxiliaries; and / am sure that you will
not betray the confidence reposed in you"
He called them transported working
men," and asked them to rejoice in the
title ''If, on the one hand, it recalls to
your mind your origin, on the other 1t
opens to you a future with all its hopes"
He was a good man, Governor Guilltan,
and meant what he said. Apart from few
rare adventures, this magnificent tropical
possession-which resembles our own
Philippines-had in his ten-year governor
ship received no colonists. 1t is. indeed, the
history of tropical islands. White men
hesitate to settle in them. So when Gov
ernor Guillian welcomed his first convicts,
he was welcoming at the same time the
first white population of this colony.
An Army of Carpet Baggers.
1t was all that was needed-a white popu-
lation. Immediately the army of carpet
baggers found duty of invasion. The per-
fected French civil service furnished the
transported workingmen' with directors
and subdirectors. penitentiary administra-
tors, chaplains chefs de-bureau, cashiers.
clerks, bookkeepers, storekeepers, agricul-
tural agents, mining engineers, inspectors
and prospectors, all drawing salaries from
the government at home. And as large
proportion of the convicts were handy men
of various trades. anxious above all things
to please their masters. the ludicrous spec
tacle soon presented itself Of colonys
servants being served by the colony. There
was no bookkeeper too small to have a
convict servant. The transported work.
ingmen" had increased to 1850 when only
300 were engaged on public works. The
carpet baggers soon began to employ their
convict servants in the mines as gang
bosses of native labor. New Ca'edon!a
prospered wonderfully. Great buildings,
factories, storehouses and villas sprang up.
Only the transported workingmen' did
not own them.
This year the first report on the work
Of the Free Colonization of New Gale
donia." authorized by the reforming law
OF 1895, has at last been published. Free
colonization, as distinguished from the bu-
reaucratic exploitation of the last thirty
years, means simple demonstrating. 1t APP
plies to convicts sons and grandsons as
well to unstained emigrantS from
France. Yet the tale of the struggle
against the mighty administration" which
is almost beyond belief Since 1895 only
500 agricultural concessions have been dis
tributed to free coloniStS'' In white pop
ulation of over 10000 individuals, bound
hand and foot to the old regime. Yet the
partisians of free colonization profess to
be encouraged. 1t reminds one of those
shops in Paris to which free admission"
is guaranteed as an extraordinary liber-
atty.
How the French Do 1t.
The regime of bureaucracy-not unknown
in India and Australia-undoubtedly OBJ
tanned it's strongest hold in New Caledonia
through the convict system AS the trans
ported workingmen'' increased by thou
sands their civil service guardians mag
ined ways to train them into useful citi-
c:xrs. Model farms and immense pracu-
cal plantations were undertaken. Mines
were opened and factories were established,
all at the expense of the home government.
The penitentiary administration insisted on
producing at any price. 1t reported herds
and focks, sugar cane and rice plantations,
distilleries, forestry and mineral wealth ga
lore. To Justify the battalion of carpet
haggers. 1t hit on the creation of those
agricultural centers," peopled by convicts
sill under punishment which form today
the most curious feature of Sthe colony.
They would have been proper had the agri-
culturists been chosen among the convicts
whose terms were nearly expired. To
start such penitents-supposed by the law
tQnbe engaged in public works. like road
and bridge buiding-would be in the spirit
If not the letter Of the law. The admins
tration, however, preferred to undertake the
farming on Its own account. q prove that
its stewardship amounted ton something
Choosing the longest-term CONFLICTS for ag-
ricultural and Industrial sserfs. they began
at once to neglect the short-term and liber-
ated men.
Must Shift for Themselves.
The consequence has been terrible These
less interesting convicts free at the expi-
ration of their time, but still forced to re-
main in the colony as relegates, found moth
ing arranged for Them Given up to day
laboring and alcoholism, they wander
about the islands to the number Of 5000
or 5000. They are the free laborers of tho
mines and the patrons of the administra-
TONS saloons and stores. Their pay being
spent in debauch. they have their choice
OF going on the tramp or starting in to
work again.
On the other hand-such is the irony OF
thngs-the favored concessionares of the
agricultural cerlters and the factory enter
prises have always made good citizens.
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