SOUTH AFRICA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXII, Issue 112, 8 November 1906, Page 2

SOUTH AFRICA.

SOME OP ITS DIFFICULTIES. Mr. Horace B. Freeman, of Pieter-ma-ritzburg, Natal, is at present in Wellington on a tour undertaken for the benefit of Iris health. Speaking to a Post reporter, Mr. Freeman referred' to the question of indentured' Chines© labour. He had, he said, been over some of the mines in which Chinese are- employed, and he regarded Chinese labour as a necessary evil. "We must have cheap labour to work our mines, aid if we can't get it those mines can't be worked, because Very few limited liability companies will work a mine at a loss for the mere sake of working it. In A country like South Africa yG'U cannot have the white man and the black man doing the same kind' of work. The prestige of the white man, of course, is practically the security of his life, and his prestige would be destroyed if he did what we call black man's work." With regard to the supply of black labour, Mr. Freeman said the reason the Chinese had to be employed was the shortage of black labouT available, "and it looks," he added, "from Imperial interference aa if it would never be available." The colonial aim, lie went on to say, was to make the black man a useful member of society by. teaching him to work. The onlr way to do that was to make living an expense to him. So' long as he could, practically speaking, live on the results of polygamy he would not work, and until the Imperial Government allowed , the South African colonies to differentiate by legislation between the white and black it would be a very difficult problem to force the black man to ;wdrk. The trouble arose from the fact that the missionary 1 had. only taught the black man the privileges he would derive from Christianity, and not thi duty which it imposed 1 on him to labour for his livelihood. It is that teaching which is responsible in a great degree iOT ffle.dislike.of the black: to worK unles^ he is compelled. ' As to the questic-n of whether it would l^ot be possible to work the' mines by white labour, Mr. Freeman said, that the 1 reports published of the experiments made' in that direction were ridiculous. The work the' white men were pu+ to do '-was not the same ns that which the Chinese had to do ; it was- more or less in the nature of a picnic, and the nien were no sooner put on than they could see the utter futility "of making such an experiment. As to the result of the .del portation of the Chinese, it was difficult to prophecy, but it was probable that new avenues of recruiting black labour would be discovered, but if the deporta l tion TraS carried out afc one time there would be an absolute financial collapse. "Although," he added, "at pTesent, goodrie6s knows, it's bad enough. Things are very bad 'there now; you may not call it a financial " collapse, but there's practically a financial crisis. It is -due to the artificial condition of things which resulted from the prosperous times, and materially helped- by the enorinoiu amount of speculation which has gone on in the country." He thought things would improve and that South Africa would recovei in spite of everything that was being done to keep her back. "The fedvent of the new Administration at Home," continued Mr Freemaai, "is the blackest cloud that has ever come over South Africa. It has increased the racial feeling by giving it iievr birth, and unquestionably the whole objeci of the present Government is to- fix the power and administration as faT as possible in the hands of the Boers. The position that has been "created in the Transvaal is this, that even were the Biitish to vote solid (which is an impossibility) they could not secure a working majority m the House. The Dutch will, of feourse, vole solid', and the result will be ihe vesting of power in the men who were in aThis against us a few years ago. That will mean something like political chaos, and the only hope is tnut" the white population will unite to protect themselves against tho black element, which is the menace overhanging the whole country. *■.* "Our recent disturbances in Natal," added Mi. Freeman on this subject, "showed us how imperative it was that the conduct, of native affairs should be vested' solely and wholly in the colonials themselves. The interference ot the Im-i perial Government led fo a crisis, and feeling ran as high then as it line run in South Africa since the day 6of the Bc-er War. The native trouble, has only been temporarily relieved, but there has been no removal of the incubus. It is more than probable that this was only the prelude to a much bigger trouble unless most stringent precautionary measures are adopted. The native requires to be treated as one who is neither a child nor an animal, 'aiid feo that he will Tea-pscfc-liis masters. A Royal Commission is how delibjeratins fts to the best line of policy to be adopted." Turning to another subject, Mr. Freeman referred with pride to the cadet system which is m vogue in South Africa- ■- Every bey hv.a to go through the cadet course, aJid if lie does not then join a volunteer; corps- he is put into 'the first reserve, Hrc-m 1 7years to 30 years; then he goes into the second' reserve, till he is 10 "years ; and finally into the third, xo£€Tve, in which he ,xt;tys till he is 5S yea-ts of age * Thus tho whole male adolt population is available for service if necessity riiould arise. Generally speaking, Mr. Freeman is confident that there is a big future be-

fore South Africa, although the.vacillating policy which has been adopted by the Home Government in regard to its affaiTS makes existence" there almost 'ifttokfable. "It seems to me," he lemarked, in conclusion, "that we are drifting slowly towards an era when tlcere will noE be a British Government with a colonial depuTtment, but the ,yery reverse — a colonial Government with a Little England! Department, and a separate" P&rliaine'nfc. The colonies are the Empire, 'and -to save the Empire some sHich change must be made."' ,