Evening Post. MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1003. BRITISHERS NEED NOT APPLY.

Evening Post, Volume LXV, Issue 69, 23 March 1903, Page 4

Evening Post. MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1003. BRITISHERS NEED NOT APPLY.

♦ Tho blood nnd treasure poured out by tho Empire on tho African veldt has not beon expended, it would mem from tho cable dcnpalchos of the past few days, in tho immediate interests of tho British pooplo 00 much n« of the magnates of the Rand. Tho thousands of colonials who fought for tho causo and hoped that the day would come when, they might for a fair day's work win a fair day's pay from tlio urines of the Tranavtonl, nud> later prospect tho country for auriferous holdings of their own, nmy now stay at homo. To-day it is writ largo that "Britishers need not apply." The Semitic cdtorio that rule* the Itund— and it is not unrepresented in tho House of Commons—bus aaid that it will havo none of tho white miner, who — particularly tho colonial— ia a. pestilent democratic person given to insistiug on having a voice in tho government of tho country in which ho lives. In tho Commons on Inday Mr. Chamberlain said:— "The i'oroigu OIHco would allow natives to bo recruited experimentally in Central Africa for service in tho mines. No request had beou mode for forced or Chinese labour. Ho suggested that recreation would brighton the lives of tho natives and attract them to tho Hand as it had done to Kimbcrloy." On tho eamo dny at Bloemfontein the Intercolonial Conferonco of South Africa adopted v resolution declaring "that tho numbers of tho natives fiouth of tho Zumboai are insullicient to meet tho labour demands, tuid recommending tho opening of nil British South, Central, and East Africa for racruiting, nnd also that, if necessary, tho immigration of Asiatics should be permitted under Government control strictly indented, and with provision that they should bo lcpatriated at the end of their term of employment." It will bo nolod that this patriotic Conference, which would keep to itself the fruits of the victory that hits been purchased by the British taxpayer at tho cost of so many millions, would flood the country with coloured labour, wheresoever procurable, foe nil forma of industry. Mining, husbandry, and unskilled labour in all its manifold workings aro to be practically closed to tho British workman, nnd South Africa is nppnrcntly to be handed over to a band of modem robbir Barons that they may exuloit it* wealth With the lUd

of lcginu.s of "niggers," while thousands of while muu Mitliin tho Einpiro titaiid idlo for luck of employment. It would seem, however, that somo white men are to be encouraged to settlo in South Africa, but, not the Britisher. Tho Dutch landowners of Cupo Colony, we may supposo, want some other than Kiiilir labour to work upon their orehimls, vineyards, and furniM. They will hnvo HDiio of the liritinlier if he can be avoided, nnd so wo find Hint the Capo Government, dominated by tho Afrikander Bond, has arranged fieo passages for bnu hundred Italian laniilien, and gunnintee.s them a certain wage; and wo mo further told Unit lho (Jovernmont hopes that other Italian immigrants will follow KpontaiieotiHlv. flow will tliPhe men vote hitcr, they become naturalised — for tho Bond at the instigation of their <'inpjoycrs, or for British «uj)remacy? The mines of tho Rand, the richest in the v oriel, could employ ono hundred thousand white miners. Ten thousand of those, among tho best in tho world, could to-day ho drawn from Austmlin, and their pluces bo filled in a week, for the Australian is by turns commonly minor or bu.vhinan, and tho gie;il drought h«fl- deprived thousands of biifhinen of regular employment. In the Old Country, where, for the first time in its history, thero ia already agitation for employment by tho State of tho unemployi?u, thero must bo tons of thousands of capablo workers who, if assisted, would gladly take their places in tho Transvaal milieu. But no ! Mr. Clnmborlain, returning from his triumphal progress in South Africa, surrenders himself to tho brutal power wielded by the millfonnhes of the Hand, and avows from his plncc in tho Imperial I'ailianiont thut the Government if) willing that the great territory that has been Avon by the splendid patriotism of the democracy shall not become 1 white man's country. To us it booms that this ono great net of weakness, ttnloss ho can soon repair it, must ruinously discount his past uchicvomonts. Tho only sure nnd cortain way to dominate constitutionally the Boor nnd Afrikander voto was by an extraordinary accession of the British vole, tho granting of responsible government when that vote tjumo to bo in tho ascendant, and later tho inevitable triumph of the democracy. Thoro is room for ono hundred thousand white men in tho Hand alone, and their presence there would n-ssuro responsible government; bufc Mr. Chamberlain says that black men wiiL be allowed to usurp those plac«H, and while they romniii the fato of the Transvaitl must remain for years to como, tit the feet of tho Band syndicate and tho vanquished burgher. -Mr. Chamberlain seems to roalise this, clso why did he say that : "If tho majority of Boers and British asked for ualf-government it would bo tinwieo to refuse it, though he considered that in tho interests of tho colonies, nnd for the protection of tho minority, Crown Colony Government ought to bo retained for a few 3'eai-H. Moreover ft self-governing qolony would bo able to decido tho KaiKr questions, arid tho Motherland would not bo ablo to interfere." In plain words Mr. Chamberlain might have said, I deaired that tho great mining companies should employ white labour, »o that responsible government might bo conferred with sufoty directly it wan demanded, but the millionaires me afraid that a frets democracy would pass such laws rcgaiding mining tenure, tribute on gold won, hours of labour, rates of wnges, and lodgment of worker*, aa would diminish profits, and if investors woro to bo protected black labour must bo maintained. Doubtless ( also proper representations wore mado to tho Colonial Secretary thnt adoption of such radical proposals would "drive capital out of tho country" instead of attracting it, und that if insisted upon tho "oor millionaires would be unab'.o to contribute anything to the cost of the wtxt, whereas if thoy were allowed tr> ransack Africa for black labour, and keep tho whilo miner and potential voter out, thoy might bo able to discount future profits to tl» extent of fifteen millions, which thoy would present to tho Imperial Treasury. Anyway, both things havo happened, while tho lesson of a "White Australia" has been thrown away upon Air. Chamberlain and his colleagues and tho late .Republics, as Crown Colonies, nro to bo loft in possession Of tho millionaires, tho uurghors, and tho Kaffirs, for indefinite years. At tho Mansion House luncheon reported to-day, Mr. Chamberlain said thut "a now conception of tho Empire as a voluntary organisation bused on community of interests and sacrifices must bo infused into tbo colonies. This gospol, he said, must bo preached in colonial pulpits. By all means, _ nnd let tho preachers bogin by showing tho miners of these colonies tho nobility of their sacrifice, how lofty their conception of. tlio Empire, in voluntarily relinquishing all hope of sharing in tho auriferous wonlth of tho Transvaal, that it may bo wholly possessed by tho millionaire with the Kaffir as his slavo.