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 
