April, 1909. J 



369 



Miscellaneous. 



the amount of loan to be advanced to 

 any particular planter, and whether 

 the loans could be extended to other 

 industries. 



Hon. F. J. Clarke explained that the 

 sugar industry was in Barbados, and 

 the Imperial Grant of £80,000 was 

 given to sugar growers, and it was 

 specially stipulated that it was to be 

 used for the permanent and collective 

 benefit of the sugar industry. Appli- 

 cations for advances were sent to 

 the Directors of the Bauk, and they 

 decided how much should be lent to 

 each particular planter, The planter 

 made a return of the amount of crop 

 he intended to cultivate, the acreage 

 of his plantation, and so on, and the 

 Directors of Che Bank decided what loa n 

 it would be safe to make on the crop 

 and plantation, basing their decision 

 on the number of acres of land and 

 so on. 



With regard to making advances to 

 other than sugar producers, the mem- 

 bers of the Bank tried to be as liberal 

 as possible. If a planter wanted ad- 

 vances on what was practically a 

 cotton plantation, they insisted that he 

 must also have some sugar-cane grow- 

 ing, so as to come within the four corners 

 of the Act. It did not matter what 

 was the area he had planted in canes. 

 He might have a plantation contain- 

 ing fifty acres of land, of which forty- 

 nine acres were planted in cotton and 

 one acre in sugar. That would meet 

 the requirements and justify a loan. 

 — West Indian Bulletin, Vol. IX., No. 2. 



SLAVERY ON COCOA PLANTATIONS. 



For several years past complaints 

 have been reaching England of the 

 condition of the labourers employed on 

 the Portuguese cocoa plantations in the 

 Islands of St. Thome and Principe. A 

 great deal of light was thrown on the 

 subject by Mr. H. W. Nevinson, who not 

 long ago visited the islands and drew a 

 most painful picture of the cruelties to 

 which the imported labourers were sub- 

 ject. Much indignation was expressed 

 in the Home papers, and some of it was 

 directed against Messrs. Cadbury Bros., 

 as importers of cocoa from these islands. 

 In response to this agitation Messrs. 

 Cadbury Bros., in co-operation with 

 other firms engaged in the cocoa trade, 

 sent out Mr. Burtt to investigate the 

 labour conditions prevailing in Portu- 

 guese West Africa. Mr. Burtt took a 

 considerable time over his inquiry, and 

 seems to have conducted it with the 

 utmost thoroughness. On his return to 

 England his report was submitted to the 

 47 



Foreign Office, and by their request was 

 not published until representations had 

 been made to the Portuguese Govern- 

 ment. The embargo on publication has 

 now been withdrawn, and the report has 

 been published by the British and 

 Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. Mr. Burtt's 

 report begius by pointing out that the 

 labour problem in these two Portuguese 

 Islands has always been one of difficulty. 

 An attempt was made to import Goanese 

 Indians, but it resulted in heavy expense 

 and loss of life. The present sources of 

 supply are Angola, the Cape Verd 

 Islands, and the Portuguese Colony of 

 Cabinda, north of the Congo. It is from 

 the first-named of these that the bulk of 

 the labourers come, and it is with their 

 condition that the report is mainly 

 concerned. The Portuguese law regu- 

 lating the importation of labourers is 

 declared by Mr. Burtt to be on the 

 whole satisfactory. The trouble is that 

 it is not observed. For example, corporal 

 punishment is prohibited by law, but is 

 nevertheless extensively practised. The 

 law also provides for the repatriation 

 of labourers to their own homes, but in 

 practice no repatriation ever takes 

 place. That the Angola labourer does 

 not remain in the cocoa islands of his 

 own free will is proved by his frequent 

 attempts to escape. Nor does he come 

 voluntarily to the Islands. In order to 

 secure him all sorts of devices are 

 adopted by native agents in Angola, 

 who earn handsome commissions. 

 Quarrels are fomeuted between natives, 

 and when the offender is brought up for 

 judgment he is fined so heavily that he 

 can only pay the money by selling one 

 of his own domestic servants, or someone 

 Avhom he has in his power. The man 

 sold is sent secretly to the coast and 

 forwarded to the Immigration Agent. 

 At one place on the Zambesi River, a 

 trader is said to carry on regular 

 business with rebel soldiers from the 

 Congo, giving them oxen, rifles, and 

 powder in exchange for natives. Some- 

 times even white men sell their servants 

 for faults committed. At any rate, by 

 one means or another, the agents are 

 able to secure a constant supply of 

 labourers. That compulsion is used to 

 convey these unfortunate people to the 

 coast is proved by the frequent sight of 

 skeletons and wooden shackles by the 

 wayside. Summing up his report, Mr- 

 Burtt says: — "Of the compulsory 

 character of the enlistment there can be 

 no doubt. The labourers sent to the 

 two islands go there against their will. 

 There is no reason why the natives of 

 the interior should wish to leave Angola. 

 No offer of payment would induce them 

 to separate themselves from their homes 



