Prurrurs.— Civilization of the Pacific. 81 
the few remaining aboriginal inhabitants of the West India islands are of 
late years increasing in numbers. 
Imported Labour. 
I have before stated that the true wealth of the Pacific, and indeed of all 
tropical countries, does not rest in the soil nor in its productions, but in the 
amount of resident voluntary labour obtainable to cultivate the soil. To 
prove this statement it is only necessary to refer to the West Indies. Im- 
mediately after the emancipation of the slaves, estates whieh were worth 
£50,000 would hardly realise £5,000 ; the liberated negroes refused to work, 
and the planters were ruined. It is therefore the primary task of any 
Government to superintend and supply the demand for labour if it desires 
to advance the prosperity of tropical lands. 
Hitherto the labour supply has been conducted by private individuals, 
and the evils which have arisen to both labourers and employers prove the 
necessity of Government interference. In Fiji, Samoa, and Tahiti the 
greater portion of the labour used has been imported from the neighbouring 
islands, but the supply is uncertain and very small. It may almost be said 
that there is no labour to be obtained in the Pacific. The removal of a few 
natives from one group of islands to another, whereby the first group 
becomes depopulated for a time, is not a supply—it is doubtful whether 
such a transfer is advisable either for the sake of economy or for health ; 
neither is any certain supply to be found in the resident population. 
The existence of 140,000 men, women, and children upon 7,400 square 
miles of tropical land, as is the case in Fiji, affords no supply: hardly 
twenty to the square mile. Java contains a population of 337 to the square 
mile, and Ceylon 87. My general estimate of the population of the Pacific 
(vide chart) is 1,200,000 upon a superficial area of 98,000 square miles, 
giving about twelve to the square mile. Tropical lands admit a far denser 
population, and the Pacific must look either to the natural increase of the 
population, or to foreign countries, in order to obtain a fair supply of 
labour. The natural increase will be found much too slow a process, and 
the only remaining alternative will be to import labour from abroad under 
Government superintendence. In South-eastern Asia there exists a labour 
market able to supply the world. China and India contain a population 
which is commencing to burst the bounds that have so long restrained them 
within certain limits. That population is beginning to emigrate, and soon 
a flood of Asiatics will pour through the long-closed gate of South-eastern 
Asia, and scatter themselves over the eastern and western tropical and 
temperate zones. 
Now, the Pacific Islands lie close at hand, and a little regulation will 
direct a stream of labour which will amply supply any demand. This 
K 
