I must mention that my copies of the Westminster Gazette crossed no less than nine letters written to me by old friends and comrades from various islands in the Pacific, asking me to do what I had done—put the true condition of affairs in Polynesia before the public, and help to keep unsuitable and moneyless men from going out to the South Sea Islands to starve. For they had read the illuminating series of articles to which I refer, and felt very savage.
In a cabin-trunk of mine I have some hundreds of letters, written to me during the past ten years by people from all parts of the world, who wanted to go to the South Seas and lead an idyllic life and make fortunes, and wished me to show them how to go about it. Many of these letters are amusing, some are pathetic; some, which were so obviously insane, I did not answer. The rest I did. I cannot reproduce them in print. I am keeping them to read to my friends in heaven. Even an old ex-South Sea trader may get there—if he can dodge the other place. Quien sabe?
Twenty-one of these letters reached me in France during February, March and April of last year. They were written by men and women who had been reading the above-mentioned series of brilliant articles. (I regret to state that fourteen only had a penny stamp thereon, and I had to pay four francs postal dues.) The articles were, as I have said, very charmingly written, especially the descriptive passages. But nearly every person that the “Special Commissioner” met in the South Seas seems to have been very energetically and wickedly employed in “pulling the 'Special Commissioner's leg”.
The late Lord Pembroke described two classes of people—“those who know and don't write, and those who write and don't know”.
Let me cull a few only of the statements in one of the articles entitled “The Trader's Prospects”. It is an article so nicely written that it is hard to shake off the glamour of it and get to facts. It says:—
“The salaries paid by a big Australian firm to its traders may run from £50 to £200 a year, with board (that is, the run of the store) and a house.”
There are possibly fifty men in the Pacific Islands who are receiving £200 a year from trading firms. Five pounds per month, with a specified ration list, and 5 per cent, commission on his sales is the usual thing—and has been so for the past fifteen years. As for taking “the run of the store,” he would be quickly asked to take another run. The trader who works for a firm has a struggle to exist.
“In the Solomons and New Hebrides you can start trading on a capital of £100 or so, and make cent, per cent, on island produce.”
A man would want at least £500 to £600 to start even in the smallest way. Here are some of his requirements, which he must buy before leaving Sydney or Auckland to start as an independent trader in Melanesia or Polynesia: Trade goods, £400; provisions for twelve months, £100; boat with all gear, from £25 to £60; tools, firearms, etc, £15 to £30. Then there is passage money, £15 to £20; freight on his goods, say £40. If he lands anywhere in Polynesia—Samoa, Tonga, Cook's Islands, or elsewhere—he will have Customs duties to pay, house rent, and a trading licence. And everywhere he will find keen competition and measly profits, unless he lives like a Chinaman on rice and fish.