LABOUR. - The Labour Problem Is One That Must Be Studied And Solved
Before West Africa Can Advance Much Further Than
Its present culture
condition, because the climate is such that the country cannot be
worked by white labourers; and that
This state of affairs will
remain as it is until some true specific is discovered for malaria,
something important happens to the angle of the earth's axis, or
some radical change takes place in the nature of the sun, is the
opinion of all acquainted with the region. The West African climate
shows no signs of improving whatsoever. If it shows any sign of
alteration it is for the worse, for of late years two extremely
deadly forms of fever have come into notice here, malarial typhoid
and blackwater. The malarial typhoid seems confined to districts
where a good deal of European attention has been given to drainage
systems, which is in itself discouraging.
The labour problem has been imported with European civilisation.
The civilisation has not got on to any considerable extent, but the
labour problem has; for, being a malignant nuisance, it has taken to
West Africa as a duck to water, and it is now flourishing. It has
not yet, however, attained its zenith; it is just waiting for the
abolition of domestic slavery for that - and then! Meanwhile it
grows with the demand for hands to carry on plantation work, and
public works. On the West Coast - that is to say, from Sierra Leone
to Cameroon - it is worse than on the South West Coast from Cameroon
to Benguella.
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