26 THROUGH ANGOLA 



years ago, and a section of the press of Angola 

 recently, have denounced what they called " The 

 Slave Labour of the Plantations." 



The truth is this. The recruiting of natives 

 for the cocoa islands takes place not only from 

 Angola but other colonies as well, and is carried 

 out on similar lines to the recruiting for the 

 Transvaal mines, and is under a similar concession. 

 This recruiting department, while financed and 

 organized by the cocoa planters themselves, is 

 controlled by Government, and the recruiting agents 

 arc Government officials. The native contracts for 

 terms of two or three years, receives food, clothing, 

 a house, and at least 10s. a month for a nine- 

 hour day, and can earn more than double his 

 wages in bonuses. Every man has a pay-book 

 which can be regularly inspected by a Government 

 inspector or any visitor to the plantations. At 

 the end of his contract, the native has complete 

 liberty to decide as to whether he will stay or 

 not, and the English people I met at San Thome 

 were unanimous in stating that there is no 

 forced labour or compulsory retention of these 

 indentured labourers. 



The Portuguese case, for which I hold no brief 

 but a sense of justice, could be judged on its 

 economic basis alone. The plantations are very 

 rich and the business a very profitable one. It 

 pays every planter, and it pays the Government 

 of San Thome to treat the native more than well, 

 and attract him to the island, for fear that Angola 

 or other colonies will offer better inducements to 

 retain their native labourers. Every native who 



