"A LESSON LEARNED.”

Dunstan Times, Issue 3113, 17 April 1922, Page 2

"A LESSON LEARNED.”

K ._ “Wlu'it ivc saw commandos. led hy | K . extremists, drilling with sticks, in and • ns around Johannesburg, we were amused, and did not take them seriously.” said Mr W. H. Robinson, son of -I. P. Robinson, formerly one of the Hand mining magnates, when interviewed by a New Zealand Times representatives, on his arrival in Wellington from South Africa this week. “Hut the files, of i j Xcw Zealand papers that ] have seen 1 01 , indicate how seriously the trouble hcC j l came. One is very happy to know it |ot is all over. 1 am satisfied that such lss a trouble will not occur again.” La, Pressed for reasons for this reassuring opinion, Air Robinson said that )]n the prompt action of the burghers (or rv Hoars, as they have been known to the dominions) was the best insurance posus fiiblc against a recurrence of the troulle hie. “The whole thing was engineered ed by extremists—-Socialists. Syndicalists. and Holshcviks—aided by funds a (rom abroad. They have been foniont()l. ing strife in the Rand mines for a long „{ time. Half the gold of the world is at produced from there, yet half the mines ] lO have had to close down, as the huge ls wages demanded made their working id unprofitable and impracticable. The ns miners’ leaders are not willing to accept a general rate of wages that would ho ensure the mines continuing, it- “I'o understand the position tholt. roughly, you must know that the status n- (>l o miner—Unit is. a white miner—er i". HbnUi Africa, if different from that ik, °1 the Australian or Xcw Zealand miners. ()n the Hand, the hulk of the lc work is done hy colored labor. The ell „ population of South Africa includes a s h million and a-half Europeans, live million natives, and nearly a million of l!t j oilier colored races. The minor has ~]i as many as fwenty-five colored hoys working under him; he is more of a IC . supervisor. The basis of Ins pay is ,; c difficult to set down at any actual )( | figures, but men on piecework are able, a in good times, to cam between L’SO and tIOO a mouth. The “hoy” averages , t from ,‘ts a day up. 1( ') “The propaganda of tlie extremists on the Hand embraces treating the " colored laborer badly. If yon treat I him well, you will get good results |[ , from him ; treat him liadly. and there ’ is always the chance that- he and Ins j kind will combine. and further embarj rass the peaceful condnct of the imlus- „„ try. So many colored boys are available that a miner can afford to have two personal servants, one- to do his . ’ cooking and one for general work, tie ® call pay these hoys up to tk'l a month. \ e Aetna! manual labor, as it is uuder--0 stood, does not concern the miner, and lo this is especially true in the Transvaal. kj “It is very pleasing to see how the t burghers volunteered in force and v- helped the Government pul down (lie "I policy of hooliganism and intimidation m that the extremist leaders were pracie fusing. The Government acted tardily, but there were apparently reasons lor .p this. Xeiiher they nor anyone else lu wen' aware ml the power of the organs. isation the extreme section had built n up. nor did they think that such a display of imliscrimiuate force would be shown. It is a lesson for South A Inca, how a few loud-mouthed agitators can w load the members of a peaceful industry 10 into disaster. The miners are a cos■se mopolilan lot. but they are anxious to ie work in peace with their employers, in They are not to blame, but a handful at of imported Holshcviks, Had it- not of been for the burghers, things would have been very serious indeed.”