TROUBLED NATAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 238, 1 July 1908, Page 6

TROUBLED NATAL.

Tiie Government of Natal seems at the present time to occupy a position that can scarcely bo described as enviable. It is a rare experience to find two members of the Imperial Government from their places in Parliament, the one censuring, tho other warning the Ministry of a British colony. This, peculiar distinction was, however, achieved a ijew days ago by the " Garden Colony." In the House of Lords, the Secretary of State for the Colonies censured Natal for stopping Diuizulu's salary without the consent of the Imperial authorities. Two days later, in the House of Commons, the Attorney-General,, replying to sundry questions and criticisms, hoped Natal would soon see the inconvenience and danger of martial law continuing, " otherwise the Imperial Government, always slow to move in such matters, owing to the constitutional difficulties involved, might bo compelled to act." Tho Unhappy situation existing in Natal and in' Zululand,' though its origin is probably of no recent date, seems to have reached definite forni about three years ago. Then tho Natal Government, to make good cortain deficits, imposed a poll-tax upon all adult males, black and white, within the colony. Little effort was made to explain the object and the temporary character of the now charge to the natives, and, in consequence, considerable trouble was experienced in collecting the . money in many of tho more isolated districts. Then followed tho shooting of white policemen at llichmond, the Government's drastic punitive expeditions, tho rising headed by a deposed chief —Bambaata— many sad months of turmoil for the inhabitants of Zululand, and, finally, the arrest of Dinizdlu, son of tho late King, Cetewayo. Martial law. was declared, contrary to' the desire of the Governor, Sir 1 Matthew Nathan—a circumstance which was responsible for much hostile comment against tho Natal Ministers. . A combined rising of tho blacks against the whites was advanced in explanation of the Government's actions—a contingency, that, from the first, seems to have, been entirely discredited, by residents qualified to speak on behalf of the native popular tiori.

All through the disturbed period the reticence of Ministers doubtless brought on them the criticisms wherewith they have been assailed. What would Natal not give to have a Ministry .like ours? In that part of South .Africa the trouble seems to' bo that Ministers seldom leave the capital, and decline almost every request to appear in'public. ' Hero Ministers refuso to remain near their offices, and'cannot be prevailed upon to coaso speaking. Only once has the Natal Premier broken silence. - Then it was in a style which suggested. that, over there, politicians are able to command rhetoric 'so forcible that, compared with it, even our 1 Premier's* denunciations of The Dominion are colourless and inane. In spite, howc"ver, of his fierce repudiation of the right of the outside world to interfere in.the affairs of his colony, Mil. Moor has since so far relented as to announce that, in .the coming Parliament, legislation will be introduced " to provide for the better administration of native affairs." Wo believe there are grounds for assuming that the legislators of Natal have displayed no great readiness to pasß laws for the betterment of the colony's dark-skinned inhabitants. Tho immenso preponderance in numbers of the blacks, and a fear that, had they the power and the opportunity, they would rise against the whites, present no doubt, the real explanation of Naial's apparent indifference to the needs of the natives. But education is spreading, and there arc now, in addition to the many thousands of " kraal kaffirs," very large corpmunitifcs of civilised; i law-abiding men and women who are deeply interested in public affairs and in the moral uplifting of their fellows. It is apparently recognised that present conditions cannot continue, and that safety lies in guiding, on right lines, the development of those now not far removed from savagery.

Tho Natal Premier hag had prepared thfeo Bills which, according to tho Natal Mercury, constitute tho first, and probably the most important, measures of. reform in connection with the administration of native affairs.". One Bill provides for bestowing fixity of tenure on landholders, and another,for appointing four commissioners whoso duty it will be to know and, as far as possible, to -meet the wants of the natives. Tho third proposes to confer a form of parliamentary representation, and with this in. view tho Now Zealand system of Maori representation has been chosen as the basis. But only as tho basis. Instead of the natives receiving tho franchise, the Governor will sclcct their representatives—four in number— and '/they will sit, not in tho Lower, but in the Upper House. This may be a beginning of reforms, but hero it must seem small indeed. A curious anomaly is presented in sending the representatives of the, Zulus to the Upper House. In-Natal that Chamber is one of review, and the representatives of the blacks will therefore bo found scrutinising, tho legislative work of the whites. The danger is that tho Bills, meagre as. the reforms they carry are, may bo rejected by tho Natal Parliament. Our Natal contemporary is barely correct when' ho describes the present proposals as tho first instalment; of ■ native refgrm. We find that, nearly twenty years ago, an Act was passed which exempted educated natives from native law, and extended to them all tho rights and privileges of the whites —including the franchise. But that law has been a dead letter. Only two natives havo in reality been exempted, and that bccause of the fears and the suspicions cntcrtaihcd among tile whites concerning their black neighbours. Natal, with respect to its natives, might, with good results, follow tho example set by tho lmp.orial Government in its dealing with

the Transvaal. Magnanimity, fair play, and confidence are just as likely to succeed as suspicion, martial law, and treason trials. 1 Owing to the events of recent years. New Zealand cannot bo without interest in whatever concerns the security and the peace of South Africa.