ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author draws attention to some features of the changing administrative policy and practice in the first half of the twentieth century, especially the attempt to regulate labour relations which were also race relations, before focusing on the way these were played out at Mainoru station in ‘Jack McKay time’. Labour relations were first regulated through a system of permits to employ natives in the 1911 Ordinance which, with amendments, remained in place until 1968. For instance, while the black workers showed deference to the boss, the author argues that this was a form of mimicry specific to particular circumstances rather than an acceptance of the need for hierarchical labour relations. That is, unlike the circumstance in the slave society described by Genovese, this paternalism did not become so well established that it was systematically understood and adhered to by both master and servant.
