SOUTH AFRICA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 136, 9 June 1906, Page 9

SOUTH AFRICA.

•A CRITICISM FROM WITHIM G* tlemen who have come to New Zwilaßd from South Africa, after pawing seme years in the country, were recently »tervi«ivod by a representative of the Post. Their statemeats went to show that Africa was a sore place in the body Imperial, and they prescribed remedies. Their evidence is corroborated by a " man on the spot," the Hon. J. H. Merriman,. a notable figure in public affairs in Cope (Jolony, who has been conspicuous in movements for the betterment of South . Africa. In a letter to j Mr. Herbert Easton he gives a very I valuable diagnosis of the troubles of tho { Transvaal and sister colonies. . **lt is not necessary," writes Mr. 'Merriuiiin. " for me to go into all the econo mical arguments adduced in favour of th» employment of Chinese. Were they -as true as I believe them to be - one-sided ' and capable of disproof, it would not alter tha case one jot from our point of view. It is not a question of statistics, bnt of th« future well-being of a (ettied European community. UHforfcwiaWjr, England persists in regartKas South Africa as if it' was bounded by the goldfields, and aa if the influence of public policy- on the Stock Exchange w«3 tho be-all and rod-all of statesmanship. Ib is too often forgotten that before tho European race in that country lies the vast task bf controlling and of raising and bringing into civilisation a hugo native population. The problem that is always present, to us in South Africa is as grave as- any to be found in tho ' world. And our very existence is bound ' up in it« settlement. The future of the European race is suriously imperilled by the introduction of an element like the Chinese, of alien morality and civilisa- ' tion, who havo invariably shown when ' brought in contact with Europeans a ; fatal power of ousting them from their j hold ou the country, tn the great struggle with barbarism, which is the chief task before the European race in South Africa, we are deliberately weakening the garrison' by the_ introduction of Asiatics. " I say nothing now of the lowering j effect upon the whole labour problem of j South Africa of the introduction of hordes of Asiatics under femlo Conditions. The fewer the restrictions upon the Chinese, and the morb ordinary | rifrhts of citizens they obtain, the w.orse | and the more fatal will their presence j be to the European. Once before, now nearly two hundred years ago, England, by what was then looked on as a triumph of 'English statesmanship, forced •negro slavery on her unwilling colonies, in the interest of the capitalists who j made their profits out of th,e slave trade What an infinite sea of troubles has arisen from that fufal step. Yet thft problem dealt with in* the Assionto treaty was simple compared with that which lies < before us in Bouth Africa,' with its disparity of Europeans and natives. That the result, it persisted in, trill be equally disastrous is not ope» to donbt. Tm Cipe C«lanv and the Orange- River Calrtiy are praelicaTly^selicl avahut the Chinese. In the Transvaal all the Dntcli aad a majority oi the British take the same- view. "For Na*al I cannot answer. Sh-& lura an- Asiatic problem of her own, which stands as a menace and warning to thoee who wish to study the effect of such experiments. What we feel is that this evil has been inflicted on this country against our will, as expressed by petition in meetings and in the unanimous vote of • the Legislature, solely for the purposes of the Stock Exchange, and in order to prevent the inconvenience that would accrue to the owners of mines from having to deal with woikers who have the rights of free citizens."