La fragmentación de la experiencia educativa en el nivel medio

Nausori Other Fij i mills

P.O.C.S. 1898 1902 1898 1902

8% 7s 6d 5s Od 4s 2d Is 8d

9% 9s 2d 6s 8d 5s lOd 3s 4d

10% 10s lOd 8s 4d 7s 6d 5s Od

11% 12s 6d 10s Od 9s 2d 6s 8d

12% 13s 9d lis 3d lOs lOd 8s 4d

13% 15s Od 12s 6d 12s 6d 10s Od

14% 16s 3d 13s 9d 13s 9d lis 3d

15% 17s 6d 15s Od 15s Od 12s 6d

16% 18s 9d 16s 3d 16s 3d 13s 9d

Source:

Knox to Escott, 1912, Nausori to H.O. Private letters May to Dec. 1912.

Note: It was very unusual for the quality of cane at Nausori to exceed 13% P.O.C.S., and for that at the other mills to fall much below 10%.

50 H.O. to Nausori, 11 May 1880, Fiji Out 1880-91, 1 (1880-2), 1-5.

51 E.g. Knox to Gemmell Smith, 13 Oct. 1895, Private & Staff Out, 1893-9, 239-40.

52 Farquhar to H.O., 28 Aug. 1896, Inspectors Ltbk., 1895-6, 230-3; H.O. to Farquhar, 7 Sept. 1896, Inspector of Mills Out 1891-1900, 1 (1891-8), 117-21.

The instrument of supervision was the credit extended to planters by CSR. The poverty of the early settlers had forced the company to make advances to cover their cultivation and living expenses, and this practice was continued when CSR leased its plantations. Advances were made on

security of the land or the crop, and interest of six per cent a year was 53

charged. The supply of credit gave the company great influence over planters, for it kept a close watch on the way its money was spent. It could refuse further advances unless specific cultivation techniques were adopted, it could threaten to cut off credit if the planter was not more

diligent in his V \ / o r k , and it could use coiiipnny Jo.'uis to ensure tliat ];ind ₅₄

capable of supporting cane was not used for other purposes. The house- hold expenditure of planters could also be controlled. With characteristic attention to detail, in 1915 head office complained of the 'extravagance' of C.W. Southey in buying a motor car. The offending tenant was told that CSR would not continue to finance him if he kept the car.'^'^ The issue of new leases on easier terms in 1913 was accompanied by instructions from Knox that future advances to tenants were to be made in a more discrimin- ating way. Greater attention should be paid to the quality of work.

The Board thinks that the system of guaranteeing to the tenants a comfortable life, whatever the results of their work, has been an important factor in bringing about the failure of so large a proportion of the occupants of the plantations to make tiiem pay, for it is evident that once a man begins to lose ground his easiest course is to let

things go and live on his allowance. 56 The practice of making separate advances for living and cultivation expenses v,7as stopped. A single advance was made in the hope that if tenants failed

to work their land efficiently, the reduction in the balance left for living expenses would encourage improvements to be made. Credit was seen as a lever with which to lower the cost of cultivation by increasing

53 H.O. to Nausori, 31 Aug. 1880, Fiji Out 1880-91, 1 (1880-82), 24-8.

54 E g H.O. to Nausori, 14 March 1911, Nausori Out, 27 (1911), 9; Nausori to H.O., 21 May 1912, Private letters May-December 1912. 55 H.O. to Rarawai, 1 Sept. 1915, Private Ltbk., 11 (1915-6), 25;^ ^

Dixon, 'Notes for the Manager. Rarawai Mill', 26 Nov. 1915, Fijx Inspectors (Rutledge and Dixon) 1915-28.

e f f i c i e n c y on p l a n t a t i o n s . At the b a c k of Knox's mind w a s the hope that the company w o u l d e v e n t u a l l y b e able to reduce the price of cane.^^

CSR's c o n t r o l over planters w a s considerable but not a b s o l u t e , and w a s g r e a t e r over tenants w h o s e land it could resume than over contractors w h o could sell their p r o p e r t y , or perhaps switch to another c r o p . Around

1912 there w e r e e x a m p l e s of planters using CSR advances for purposes other than they w e r e i n t e n d e d , like the development of profitable side-lines in d a i r y i n g or growing r i c e . There w e r e i n s t a n c e s , too, of CSR failing to p r e v e n t p l a n t e r s a c c u m u l a t i n g debts of a size they could never r e p a y . By 1 9 1 1 the company had had to w r i t e off £2000 to £3000 advanced to W a r i n g , a p l a n t e r on the R e w a , and there w e r e fears that the amount lost could rise

5 8

to twice t h a t . Y e t these w e r e the e x c e p t i o n s , and w h e n matters did get out of hand the company could always resume land or take over the crop a g a i n s t x\rhich a loan had b e e n m a d e . H o w e v e r , CSR had less control over

the p o l i t i c a l a c t i v i t i e s of p l a n t e r s . Though it threatened to withhold ₅₉

a d v a n c e s if they p u b l i c l y criticized the c o m p a n y , it could not prevent them v o t i n g for J . B . T u r n e r , a long-standing critic of C S R , in elections for the L e g i s l a t i v e C o u n c i l after 1 9 0 8 . Sir Everard im Thurn (governor, 1 9 0 4 - 1 0 ) b e l i e v e d that the company had great difficulty controlling the

v i e w s of its tenants 'in any m a t t e r outside sugar g r o w i n g N e v e r t h e l e s s , taken over a l l , CSR's control of planters was so great that T u r n e r ,

r e p r e s e n t i n g the R e w a , had good cause to complain in 1911 that tenants were l i t t l e b e t t e r than employees of the c o m p a n y . ^ ^

T h e result of this tight control w a s that CSR realized its aim of g e t t i n g cheaper supplies than if it had grown the cane itself. Though it is impossible to q u a n t i f y this b e c a u s e the necessary figures are not e x t a n t , it is clear from CSR correspondence that the cost of company gro\m cane at N a u s o r i in the 1880s and '90s was substantially higher than

57 H . O . to N a u s o r i , 14 M a r c h 1 9 1 1 , Private L t b k . O u t , 6 (1909-11), 396. 58 N a u s o r i to H . O . , 15 J a n . 1 9 1 0 , N a u s o r i to H . O . Private letters 1906-10; H . O . to N a u s o r i , 28 M a r c h 1 9 1 1 , Private L t b k . O u t , 6 (1909-11), 4 0 5 - 6 . 59 H . O . to L a u t o k a , 31 July 1 9 1 3 , P r i v a t e L t b k . O u t , 8 (1913-4), 249-51. 60 Im T h u r n to C . O . , 2 0 7 , 6 D e c . 1 9 0 9 , C . O . 8 3 / 9 3 . I am grateful to Dr K . L . G i l l i o n for drawing my attention to this d e s p a t c h .

purchased supplies. In 1895 Farquhar told Knox that he thought CSR could eventually grow cane on the Rewa for 12s 6d a ton, the price paid to

6 2

planters, but that it was impossible to do this at present. And, of course, the only plantations to be leased elsewhere at first were those

that were uneconomic for CSR to farm. It seems, too, that labourers were _{6 3}

better treated after 1908 when the rapid leasing of plantations began. This averted the rise in labour costs which could have been expected

following unrest among immigrants on CSR estates. Table 3:5 shows that

there was no significant increase in the cost of cane to the company after ₆₄

1908. At Labasa costs seem to have been actually reduced. So it seems that one of the company's objectives in leasing estates had been achieved.

TABLE 3:5

Cost of cane (per ton) to CSR at the mill: