COR a6 aS pe SPD, 
LETTER XVI. 
THE LABOUR TRAFFIC—-THE TWO GREAT EVILS CONNECTED 
WITH IT—-THE MISCHIEF DONE BY THE PROCURERS OF 
LABOUR—THE BAD EFFECTS OF THEIR RESIDENCE ABROAD 
UPON THE NATIVES—DEPOPULATION OF THE ISLANDS. 
Anelcauhat, Aneityum, 
February, 1873. 
Ni a 
DO not know that there is any group’in the Southern 
Pacific which supplies a greater number of natives for the 
plantations of Queensland and Fiji than does the New Hebrides. 
The labour vessel is a familiar sight to everyone living here ; 
indeed, it is no rare thing to see several lying in harbour at one 
time. I have seen the ships sailing off to the distant planta- 
tions with their living freight, and I have seen them sailing back 
and discharging the returned labourers upon their native 
islands. I have met scores and scores of returned labourers 
and I know them well. What follows is the result of my ob- 
servations. 
I do not go the length of denouncing this traffic as always 
and necessarily a slave trade; I do not look upon every vessel 
engaged in it as a prowling slaver, and I do not consider that 
its master must be a villain of the deepest dye: but I do think 
that this traffic, as it is carried on at present, is an unmixed 
