CO129-509-6 Recruitment of Chinese labour in Hong Kong for work in North Borneo and Spanish guinea... 27-3-1928 - 27-12-1928 — Page 26

Copy.

Ref. 70/Conf.

CHC

British Vice-Consulate,

FERNANDO POO.

26

9th November, 1928.

Sir,

I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your

despatch No. F.P. 21, dated 9th ult., and to report as

under:-

1. It is very difficult to form an opinion as to

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conditions of health and labour in Spanish Guinea. I have

never had the opportunity of visiting that portion of this

Colony, and do not anticipate ever being able to do so;

my duties as Bank Manager obliging me to remain in Fernando

Poo throughout my tour.

2. The bulk of labour at present employed in this Island

comes from the Rio Muni territory, and various reports

are current as to the methods employed in recruiting

there. The supply is gradually falling off, partly, I

believe, on account of a falling birth-rate occasioned

by the prolonged absence of a number of the men-folk in

this Island, and also (and principally on account of

the demand for labourers in Spanish Guinea itself. A

number of coffee plantations have been started in the

Rio Muni, and timber concessions are also being worked;

the labourers prefer, of course, to stay in their own country

whenever possible, as I understand that wages are much

the same.

3. As to health, I am informed that although the tsetse

fly is common in districts, the sleeping sickness does

not appear to have spread to anything the extent of its

ravages in Fernando Poo.

H. B. M's Consul-General,

Monrovia.

4.