xvii LABOUR 169 



and anyone but a fool knows that the only way to 

 get the native to work is to raise his hut- or poll-tax." 

 Almost directly afterwards I had occasion to pass 

 through Rhodesia. There I attended a mass meeting 

 of farmers called with respect to labour, which was 

 then both scanty and expensive. This meeting was 

 equally heated and indignant with the authorities. 

 They almost unanimously expressed this sentiment : 

 "Anyone but a fool would know that to increase 

 the hut- or poll-tax will not increase the supply of 

 labour, but only the rate of wages ! " It would seem, 

 therefore, that there is no royal road to control the 

 supply of labour. The East African native is at 

 present an improvident creature and his wants are 

 simple. All he wants is enough money to buy food to 

 eat and enough to pay the light taxes imposed on 

 him. Therefore when he has made what he can out 

 of his crops, a certain surplus remains to be found 

 and that represents the available labour supply. Thus 

 we will say that in a certain area to supply the simple 

 wants of the native population and to pay his taxes 

 Rs. 200,000 are required. Of this sum Rs. 50,000 are 

 found by the sale of surplus crops, etc. This will 

 leave Rs. 150,000 which has to be earned by manual 

 labour, or, at Rs. 3 a month, 30,000 men working 

 one month. If this supply more or less corresponds 

 with the demands of adjacent employers, all is 

 well. If, however, the demand is insufficient, 

 either the price of labour will go up, or, as is probable, 

 the surplus labour will go further afield. If, on the other 

 hand, more labour is required, the employers must 

 either themselves go further afield or find some induce- 

 ment to increase the local supply. One thing seems 

 certain at present, and that is from that district you 



