§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the attention of the Secretary of State for the Colonies has been directed to the proceedings of a commercial body at Buluwayo, called the Rhodesian Native Labour Bureau, whose vice-president, and others of its principal members, are servants of the South African Chartered Company, which has announced that it will supply native boys from 5s. to 30s. per head; whether the Colonial Secretary is aware that complaints have been made that this bureau has interfered in the interests of the South African Chartered Company and of the mines with the native labour market in Rhodesia by the diversion of native labour from work on the farms to the mines, and that the farmers thus find it difficult to obtain native labour; whether the Secretary of State for the Colonies is aware of the charge against this bureau that natives have been prevented from going to work on farms and obliged to work elsewhere; whether there will be an independent investigation into this charge; and whether, in the interest of agriculture in Rhodesia and the liberty of the natives, the Secretary of State for the Colonies will consider the advisability of placing all agencies for the supply of native labour in Rhodesia under the control of a body by whom the wants and interests of the natives and of the community will be considered, which will be directly responsible to the Colonial Office.
§ COLONEL SEELYThe Rhodesian native labour bureau is a body constituted under an Ordinance of 1906, which was accepted by the High Commissioner and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1774 for the purpose of collecting and distributing labourers and for facilitating their travelling. I do not find that it is under the control of servants of the company, though two of its members are nominated by the Administrator of Southern Rhodesia. I am aware that complaints have been made that the bureau neglects the interests of the farmers in favour of the mines, but I understand that the natives, who are free to engage in farm work if they wish, are attracted to the mines by the higher rates of pay which they can earn. In its last report for the year ended 30th June, 1908, there is a statement that the bureau ferried 12,000 natives across the Zambesi free last year, of which 4,000 went through the bureau and 8,000 sought work for themselves. The Secretary of State is not prepared to disturb the existing arrangements in the absence of definite evidence that the native is suffering under them, but he will invite the High Commissioner to obtain a Report from the Resident Commissioner in Southern Rhodesia upon any specific statement with which my hon. friend may furnish me.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the agents of this company have intercepted the natives returning to their farms and compelled them to work for the Chartered Company in the mines? Are not statements openly made to that effect?
§ COLONEL SEELYIf my hon. friend will furnish any information Lord Crewe will inquire into it.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLWill it be treated as confidential?
§ COLONEL SEELYCertainly.