174 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



are paying their passage, not knowing we have 

 to pay a cess of 8 dollars per head per annum 

 which would do more than cover it. They 

 look to the .Protector as their head, to 

 interfere in all sorts of frivolous matters, 

 and wheu the Protector comes round, refer 

 to him as the ' periya durai,' which has a ten- 

 dency to undermine the planters' authority, 

 flow would Ceylon Managers care for this sort 

 of thing? When their labour force looks to 

 another instead of him as their P D ? Of course 

 it is irritating, and Raniasamies can only be 

 asked who brought them to the Estate, and who 

 gives them their rice and curry, who gives them 

 money fur their needs and the large sums to 

 remit to their country. Still the feeling pre- 

 vails; a case of ' not by your leave are we em- 

 ployed.' 



" There is a great deal of bolting, and after 

 all the expense, say 15 to 20 dollars in getting 

 them over with quarantine and other expenses, 

 get them fit, teach them to tap and make them 

 efficient — they go over to a Chinaman's estate, 

 or other unscrupulous person's place and get 

 40 to 45 cents a day instead of the 30 cents we 

 pay. This practice has assumed quite serious 

 proportions. We are trying to stop it, but it is 

 a difficulty ; you cannot blame the cooly who 

 goes for the higher pay, and natives and 

 Chinese or those who keep outside the Associa- 

 tion don't recruit, but get labourers by a higher 

 wage, the fruits of our expense, and labour and 

 teaching, with no risk of loss, and it beats me to 

 see how it can be quite effectually stopped. We 

 brought in a registration fee for locally recruited 

 coolies; but up-to-date it has had little effect in 

 bringing about a better state of things." 



COCOA PRODUCTION IN WEST 

 AFRICA. 



THE LABOUR PKOBLEM. 



The interest created by the articles in the 

 Manchester Guardian, on " Cocoa Production in 

 West Africa," with special reference to the labour 

 problem, will be vividly remembered by all those 

 who read them at the time. They were contri- 

 buted by Mr. John H. Harris, Organizing Secre- 

 tary of the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protec- 

 tion Society, after investigation on the spot, and 

 have been reproduced with slight additions, in 

 pamphlet form. The first article deals with the 

 conditions obtaining in the Gold Coast. Twenty- 

 two years ago this Colony had not exported an 

 ounce of Cocoa. In 1910 a harvest of over 

 50,000,000 lb. was garnered and the Gold Coast 

 Colony claims to have risen to the position of 

 the third Cocoa-producing area in the world and 

 now challenges with coijfl-rleuce the premier 

 position. The organization of the industry is of 

 the simplest, the w hole being in the hands of the 

 natives and worked under a small holding 

 system — the white men being the middle-man 

 between the European manufacturer and the 

 native producer. The Government endeavours 

 to keep the industry in the hands of the native 

 farmers and assists them by sending lecturers 

 through the Colony, whose duty it is to advise 

 the farmers upon pruning, fermentation, drying, 

 the danger of pests and the general principles 



of modern agricultural science. The soil and 

 climate of the Gold Coast appear tn be peculi- 

 arly suited to the growth of cocoa. The hot sun, 

 coupled with a rainfall varying between 32'09 

 and 54 - 92 per annum, produces that " steamy " 

 atmosphere which is ideal for cocoa growing. 

 Prior to 1890 there were no exports ; in 1891 ex- 

 port began with 80 lb. weight, value £4 sterling, 

 the exports since then have been : — 



1891-1895 

 1896-1900 

 1901-1905 

 1906-1910 



Lb. 



62,998 

 2,573.350 

 35,526,803 

 165,494,360 



£ Value. 

 1,120 

 58,432 

 610,865 

 3.012,926 



In so far as the actual production of cocoa is 

 concerned there is at present very little cause 

 for anxiety. The indigenous population is ap- 

 parently numerous enough to bring into culti- 

 vation the major part of the soil. The problem 

 which faces administrator, merchant and 

 native producer is that of transport. This 

 threatens to become acute. At present 

 transport of cocoa on the Gold Coast is 

 divided between the railway, motor lorries, 

 barrel-rolling and carriers. With the extension 

 of roads and light railways, a fair price for cocoa 

 iu the home market and just treatment for 

 transport labourers, Mr. Harris thinks the pre- 

 sent difficulty will be automatically solved. 

 The normal head-load in West Africa is 60 lb. 

 but not a few carry a double load, t.e., 120 1b. 

 for which they receive double pay. According 

 to several merchants, not infrequently in the 

 season they will carry a treble load of 180 lb. 

 weight. These people engago in the work of 

 cocoa-carrying for four to six months, earning 

 from 3s. to 4s. per day, then they return to their 

 homes laden with kola-nuts which they sell at 

 enhanced prices. In the round trip, from the 

 triple enterprise of cattle-selling, cocoa-carry- 

 ing, and the kola-nut trade, they make a very 

 substantial sum. Providing this current of 

 transport labour can be maintained, coupled 

 with steadily increasing rail and motor facili- 

 ties, there would appear to be no reason why 

 the Gold Coast should not attain its ambition 

 and become in less than a decade the first cocoa 

 producing aroaof the world. 



The system of cocoa production which has 

 taken firm hold of the Gold Coast territories is 

 unique in West Africa. In Southern Nigeria 

 the natives are only now beginning to adopt the 

 methods of the neighbouring colony. In German 

 Cameroons, Spanish Guinea and Fernando Po, 

 French Congo, Portuguese San Thome, and in 

 some parts of British territory, the production 

 of cocoa is almost entirely in trie hands of Euro- 

 pean planters employing large numbers of native 

 labourers. The paramount complaint is short- 

 age or labour — a problem which is left by the 

 British Administrator to work out its own solu- 

 tion. It is obvious that whilst labour is swept 

 into the plantations, disabilities are placed upon 

 the small holder and native farmer; consequently 

 the best tracts of land and those nearest trans- 

 port facilites are passed over to the European 

 (foreign) syndicate. Having removed the native 

 from effective competition, in production the next 

 step is that of forcing ;him to labour on the planta- 

 tion a conditionof things which has been respon< 



