PORTUGUESE CONTRACT' LABOUR.
THE papers recently laid before Parliament on the subject of contract labour in Portuguese West Africa present a very marked contrast to those which were published two years ago. In 1913, not merely was the apparent inaction of the Portuguese authorities criticized with some severity both in Parliament and in the Press, but the attitude taken up by the British Government provoked a good deal of unfavourable com- ment. It was thought that official action had been too rigidly official, that the Foreign. Office and its subordinates had shown some excess of zeal in apologizing. for the short- comings of the Portuguese, that the fact that practical serfdom could perfectly well coexist with legal freedom was insufficiently recognized, and that a somewhat un- seemly and mischievous tension had been injudiciously allowed to spring up between the official and unofficial representatives of the Anti-Slavery cause.. All this has now been changed. Sir Edward Grey appears. to have taken the matter personally in hand and with the happiest results. In the autumn of 1913 he informed the Portuguese Government that he proposed to appoint a Consul-General for Portuguese West Africa, whose duty it would be to superintend the Consular posts already established on the mainland and in the islands, and he invited the Portuguese Government to afford to this officer and his subordinates full. facilities for acquainting themselves with all the circumstances connected with the contracting of labourers, the conditions in which they carry on their work on the plantations, and the manner in which, when their contracts expire, they are repatriated. The Portuguese Government responded with statesmanlike alacrity to this proposal. Mr. Hall Hall was appointed Consul-General. He and his staff, notably Mr... Smallbones and Mr. Bernays, the latter being a recent appointment, appear to have per- formed their arduous and responsible duties with com- mandible zeal, ability, and discretion. On the one hand, the result of• their exertions has been that the very defective system which heretofore existed has been greatly improved, whilst, on the other hand, nothing has been done of a nature calculated to rouse the susceptibilities of, or to evoke complaint from, the Portuguese authorities. The beneficial changes which have certainly been effected are not, however, wholly due to the exertions of the British Consular officials. It would be in the highest degree unjust not to recognize the really strenuous efforts made both by the Government at Lisbon and the superior local authorities in West Africa to remove the defects of a system which bad led to accusations calculated, in the words used by the Governor of San. Thome to Mr. Hall Hall, " to weigh on his soul as a Portuguese." Local opposition, which Senhor Vasconcellos told Sir Arthur Hardinge in 1912 went far to paralyse all attempts at reform, is, indeed, still active.. Time-honoured fallacies, such as that the slave prefers servitude to liberty, still occasionally crop up. " The view of the plantation owners was that the blacks, while working in the islands and having their families there, being well fed and housed, would be happier than in the woods from whence they originally came, where they were exposed to the abuses of native chiefs, to wars, to hunger, and to sickness." It is eminently satisfactory to note that the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs, in communicating this hoary and fallacious platitude to the British Minister,- whilst expressing the opinion that the views of the plantation owners were " not unreason- able," added that they were "unacceptable for the reason that no person's liberty can be infringed, even for his own benefit." The reasonableness of the plea may be question- able. Its unacceptability admits of no manner of doubt.
Before dealing with the results now obtained, as set forth in the White Paper, it will be desirable to allude briefly to one important point of principle which would appear to demand attention. The Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs, in speaking to Mr. Carnegie of the campaign conducted_ against the Portuguese Government in England, said that " he had asked himself what was at the back of this campaign, and, after due consideration of various facts which had come to his knowledge, he had arrived at the conclusion that there was a deliberate inten- tion on the part of certain interested persons to ruin the planters, depreciate the value of their estates 'with a view to buy them cheaply, and of eventually cornering the cocoa market." It has been generally recognized that, in a world whose actions are largely governed by self-interest, the Anti-Slavery movement constitutes the most striking example of disinterestedness, and of a willingness to sacrifice material advantages for the sake of realizing moral ideals, that is recorded in history. The accusation of the Portuguese Minister, inasmuch as it involves a serious reflection on the reputation and good faith of the 'British nation—or, at all events, of some of its members—cannot be allowed to pass wholly unnoticed. Senhor Freire d'Andrade may rest assured that, if he can bring forward any trustworthy evidence to show that individual English. men are endeavouring, for sordid motives of self-interest, to taint the nobility of a righteous cause, there will be no sort of disposition on the part either of the rulers or the public of this country to shield them. Their conduct would unquestionably be held up to public condemnation. But the charge must be proved. It is surely not asking too much of the Portuguese Minister that he should specifically indicate the "interested persons" who wish to ruin the Portuguese industry, and that he should also specify the precise nature of the "various facts which have come to his knowledge," and which led him in July, 1914, to come to a conclusion so damaging to British reputation. If ho does not do so, the inference to be drawn is that the accusation now made is devoid of foundation, and that it is completely refuted by the information which is available in this country. What we know here is that British commercial interests have been repeatedly invited to assume responsibility for certain cocoa plantations, and have as repeatedly refused to do so. We also know that frequent applications are made to the Anti-Slavery Society by respectable cocoa firms as to whether, in their opinion, the labour conditions in the islands are such as to justify them in purchasing the bean, of which they stand greatly in need, without incurring the charge that they are indirectly encouraging a system of disguised slavery, which they condemn to the extent of refusing to participate-in its guilt by making any personal profit out of its results.
In estimating the value of the reforms which have been introduced, it is necessary to bear steadily in mind the precise object which the reformers have recently sought to attain. That object, described in a single sentence, may be said to have been to substitute a system of real freedom for that of the legal but wholly illusory freedom which previously existed. " Voluntary engagement," Sir Edward Grey said some two years ago, " is not slavery, but forcible engagement is slavery." Conclusive evidence was forthcoming to show that, until quite recently, the engagements contracted by the black labourers were " forcible." The efforts of the reformers have been mainly directed to making them " voluntary." It would be a great exaggeration to say that their efforts have as yet been crowned with complete success. Nevertheless, considerable progress has been made towards the attainment of the object in view. Mr. Bernays, indeed, writing on January 14th, 1914, is not only able to say that "con- ditions have wonderfully improved in the last few years," but to hold out the brilliant hope that " we are slowly approaching a time when the liberty of the servical ' will be almost beyond question." It is to be hoped that this view is not too sanguine. It must, however, be admitted that, in spite of the unquestionable progress already made, much remains to be done before the full ideal of perfectly free labour can be realized.
Turning to the question of the repatriation of labourers after the expiry of their contracts, it is to be observed that up to 1908 some seventy thousand labourers had been imported into the islands and that none of them had ever been allowed to return to their homes. Subsequent to 1908, repatriation commenced on a small scale, but never- theless thousands of " servicaes," who were legally entitled to leave, were detained on various plausible, but wholly in- admissible, pretexts. Mr. Bernays, writing on January 20th, 1914, states that the curator's plea that " many labourers when their contracts have expired voluntarily agree to stay a few months longer on the plantations, is too transparent to require comment." Sir Edward Grey has on more than one occasion drawn the attention of the Portuguese Government to this abuse. The main excuse proffered has been that an adequate supply of shipping was not available to transport the time-expired men to the main- land. Without entering into the detail connected with this branch , of the subject, it may be said that, on examination, this plea proved to be quite valueless. Some progress in the direction of repatriation has now certainly been made. In 1910, only four labourers were repatriated. In 1911, the number was 885 ; in 1912, 1,550 ; in 1913, 2,071; and in the first five months of 1914.1,821.
The conditions under which the labourers are repatriated have also been greatly improved. A " Repatriation Fund," consisting of money subscribed by the labourers themselves, has for some long time past been in existence. It was intended to provide for a payment of £18 to every labourer upon disembarking on the mainland, but it was so grossly mismanaged that until quite recently the Alen received little or nothing. A great improvement has now been effected. In 1911, the amount paid to each of the Angola labourers was £2 lls. ; in 1912, only 17s. 10d. In 1913, payments per bead increased to £11 7e. 9d., and during the first five months of 1914 to £12 lls. 4d. Moreover, the statistics published as regards native labour are much more complete than heretofore, mainly owing to the praise- worthy exertions of Dr. Cabedo, to whom, Mr. Hail Hall says, credit is due for " bearing the brunt of the animosity of many planters in San Thom() in the performance of his duty in enforcing the new labour regulations."
Strenuous and very successful efforts have also been made under the skilful guidance of Dr. Brute da, Costa to cope with the ravages of the sleeping sickness in the island of Principe, and some other useful measures, of whtch perhaps the most notable is the proposed codification of the laws regulating the conditions of native labour, are under consideration.
The result of all these beneficial reforms is that the very natural reluctance, which the natives of the mainland previously displayed, to enlisting for service in the islands, appears to be gradually giving way. Mr. Hall Hall was quite justified in writing on December 14th, 1913, that it was "reasonable to expect that the steady repatriation of Angola natives month after month, which is now taking place, all with substantial sums of money, will prove the most successful method of destroying the prejudice against San Thome, and of inducing a stream of voluntary labour for that island." An ever-increasing number of labourers have expressed their willingness to enter into service con- tracts for one year only, but it is most unfortunate that the planters appear to have set their faces against signing contracts of this nature. The reason given is that it takes a "servical " six months to learn enough about plantation work to be of any real use. The insufficiency of this plea is abundantly proved by the fact that the Spanish planters of Fernando Po take annually several thousands of men on these conditions, and pay about £7 for the passage of each man to and from the island, as well as the recruiting expenses. On the whole, it may be said that, although much remains to be done, and although strenuous and persistent efforts will be required before all the abuses of the past are completely stamped out, still real and substantial progress in this direction has been made. The Portuguese Government may congratulate itself on having made a. serious endeavour to free itself from the humiliating taint of permitting slavery to exist under the flag of Portugal. Englishmen, on the other hand, may reflect with pride that, whilst some of their sons have been laying down their lives in defence of the liberty of the world on the blood- stained plains of Flanders and elsewhere, others have been successfully engaged in a campaign, fortunately bloodless but by no means inglorious, in order to confer on the black populations of West Africa the inestimable
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