Today I was sorting through my huge collection of notes gathered from various archives over the years. While I was reconnecting with many of the documents and stories that I have written about, I also came across some of those random archival snippets – the stories you stumble upon that are not directly relevant to your research but are so interesting that you note them down anyway just in case they might be someday. One of these was a decree issued in 1900 on the preventative measures and monitoring to be undertaken on the “Asian” and “Oceanic” population during an outbreak of bubonic plague in New Caledonia.
From 1899 to 1941, there were eight bubonic plague epidemics in New Caledonia. The first was the most lethal with 140 cases recorded and 120 deaths (Rageau 1957, 8). What steps were taken to prevent the transmission of the plague among the “Asian” (Japanese, Vietnamese and Indonesian) and “Oceanic” (ni-Vanuatu) indentured workers who, at the turn of the 20th century were living in overcrowded and insalubrious conditions?
Reading the decree, it is clear that any apparent concern shown for the health of the indentured workers relates only to the fear of the plague spreading from them to the free settler population. There is a complete lack of agency afforded the workers. They exist purely as economic units belonging to their employers/masters and, as “others”, are seen as potential vectors of the plague.
The decree starts by signaling that, as the epidemic was progressing, there was urgency to take preventative measures against the “Asian” and “Oceanic” population. As soon as a case of the plague was found in a workplace, every single indentured worker “de race asiatique et océanienne” employed there would be sent to Île Sainte-Marie (an islet not far from Noumea) to quarantine. They had to stay there until the last member of the group had contracted the plague and then for 12 days after that. This implies that the authorities were not seeking to prevent individual workers from getting sick. Rather, they were isolating them as a group from the general population. In doing this, given the high death rate, they were more or less condemning them.
The sleeping quarters of anyone who contracted the plague were to be immediately evacuated and disinfected and not to be used again until they had been inspected and cleared by the Health Commission. It was in the interest of the engagiste (employer/master) to meet the standard of disinfecting required as, if not, the work would be undertaken and they would be ordered to foot the bill. Alongside the aim of preventing transmission of the disease, this measure would have a positive impact on the living conditions of any surviving workers at that workplace, at least in the short term.
The bubonic plague presented the opportunity to re-introduce* a curfew for the “Asian” and “Oceanian” workers, removing their agency to socialise after working a long 11 or 12 hour day. The decree noted the propensity of indentured workers “of all races” to sleep at each others’ places and this presented a danger for overcrowding. The engagistes were charged with watching their employees and making sure that they did not leave their place of work during the night. From 8pm, if an indentured worker was found outside of their home without written permission from their employer, the worker would be arrested and sent to quarantine at the expense of their engagiste. The engagiste could also, however, deduct expenses from the indentured worker’s meagre salary, money that they would only see at the end of their (usually 5-year) period of indenture. This clause is especially horrifying as likely healthy workers could be sent to Île Sainte-Marie to quarantine with sick people. This demonstrates the level of disinterest (or lack of humanity) of the administration towards non-white labourers.
If the night-time curfew was not enough, the authorities claimed that cases of the bubonic plague were more frequent following the drinking and partying that the indentured workers indulged in on Sundays and holidays (their only days off). Anyone caught drunk on these days would be held as a suspect and also be sent to quarantine (with sick people). So too would any indentured worker found in Noumea without written permission. Any “Asian” or “Oceanian” worker residing outside of Noumea who legally entered the city would not be allowed to return home without undergoing a medical examination and getting “disinfected”. They would then be required to produce a certificate of health to any local police chiefs on the way and to their local doctor. And if any “Asian” or “Oceanian” wished to take a boat to reach their destination, they would first have to undergo a “quarantine of observation” on the islet of Freycinet.
A significant fine and/or imprisonment would be meted out to anyone contravening the decree, although presumably this would apply more to the employers as the indentured workers were to be sent into quarantine where the outcome may very well have been death.
The decree makes for sobering reading and reminds us of the stark inequalities at play in the colonial context. Little, if any, regard was extended to the already exploited workers who formed the backbone of the colonial economy. Their cheapness made them expendable. Their otherness made them suspicious and, it appears, convenient scapegoats. Any fears for them contracting the plague were evidently not fears for their suffering as individuals but fears for the safety of the settler population. Through the clauses of this decree we can see the obsession of the colonial project with the (lack of) cleanliness of subaltern groups and the fear of contagion via their non-white bodies.
By Karin Speedy, 22 November, 2020
Notes
*In 1869, in an attempt to control errant Indian indentured workers, a decree was issued forbidding Indians (Malabars) from leaving their employer’s plantation and entering Noumea without express written permission from their engagiste (Speedy 2019, 106).
References
Feillet, Paul. 1900. “No. 262 – Arrêté – Mesures prophylactiques et surveillance à exercer sur la population asiatique et océanienne”, Journal officiel de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et dépendances, le 3 mars 1900, no. 2105.
Rageau, J. 1957. “Souris et rats en Nouvelle-Calédonie”, Association médicale de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, numéro spécial: https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_5/b_fdi_10-11/12882.pdf
Speedy, Karin. 2019. “Tracing Indian Languages in New Caledonia” in Appasamy Murugaiyan and Fred Negrit (eds.), Langues de l’Inde en diasporas Maintiens et transmissions / Indian Languages in Diasporas Retention and Transmission, Paris: SCITEP éditions, 99-118.
Embruns 