A STAMPEDE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 148, 19 December 1907, Page 3

A STAMPEDE.

EXODUS FROM SOUTH AFRICA. A GLOOMY OUTLOOK. BULAWAYO, 12th October. I havo lately read in the weekly Times that the numbers of those (mostly British subjects) who during the first 6even months of this year had returned to England from South Africa exceeded those going out to South Africa by 8208, being an excess of 1161 over the figures for the same period last year (writes Mr. Frederick Walker in " tho London Daily Mail). Pondering over this confirmation, in cold official figures, of all I had seen and heard since I left England (in a three-parts empty ship), 1 began asking myself how far my studies of years and my observations and enquiries during the months since I had left England had supplied me with reasons to account for this stampede of' whites, "mostly English subjects," from the country which has caused us such irreparable losses in blood and treasure, and for which wo have hung round the necks of unborn generations such a heavy burden in the shape of Imperial guarantees. FOR INFORMATION OF INVESTORS. I could not help feeling that to me the causes were very clear and manifest — though as 33 r eb apparently obscure to those guiding tho destinies'- of the British nation — and I determined to try to write them down in as plain and simple language as I could command, not for tho guidance of politicians, but for tho information of those who maybe considering the advisability of investing money in South Africa. I have travelled from the Cape to nearly 400 miles north of the Zambesi. I have conversed freely and discussed the position frankly, not merely with statesmen and politicians, but with a wide selection of what -Pitt called "the middling classes" — importers and exporters, traders and distributors, Boer farmers, field cornets, mining officials, bankers, lawyers, doctors, clergy, railwaymen, prospectors, old Boer cx-of ficials, ''retrenched" English officials — and I havo arrived at tho conclusion that tho following facts are indisputable .- — 1. That from the Cape to the Zambesi and far north of the Zambesi the whole country (except perhaps Kimberlcy) has, during the 'last two years or more, been suffering from unexampled' depression. 2. That this depression centres in Johannesburg, all other districts feeling and reflecting the stagnation in that centre. 3.' That all parties and nationalities agree that tho base of this depression ir> an utter want of confidence, notwithstanding that the gold mining of the Rand is still iv its infancy, and, if systematically developed, might reasonably be expected to maintain, and even incroase.tho present output of gold for at leait another fifty years — perhaps for another 150 years. 4. That tho • Banket reefs of the Rand (though continuous and more uniform than fissure reefs, and on that account rennrkably valuable.) arc of so low a grade that they only yield a profit if worked on an enormous scale, and with much cheaper labour than can be supplied by white labourers. 5. That the coloured labour indigenous to the country supplied by various black tribes (herded together colloquially as "Kaffirs") is expensive, inefficient, and untrustworthy. On the last point my Dutch informants were even more clear and emphatic than the English. THE REASONS FOR EXCLUSION. Now in view of theso undisputed propositions, the managers of tho various mines belonging to shareholders mostly resident in England and the European continent sought other and more reliable supplies of labour and, with the sanction of the British Government, expended vast sums of money in securing an adequate supply of hard-working men from China. A fresh Government having assumed authority in England, these arrangements havo been qancelled without compensation, on the alleged ground that

the Chinese were kept in slavery. These allegations were not true, and are. now practically abandoned, but the repatriation of the Chinese is still insisted on, and fresh grounds for this interference with the arrangements and vested rights of tho parties have been put forward. These coneist in tho alleged - immorality of the Chinese, but I am assured, by all competent observers, that this more afterthought has little solid foundation in fact. I have, ind-eed, been informed by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Johannesburg that the morals of the European navvies imported some time ago to do railway work compared very unfavourably with tho morals of the Chinese, who for the- most part .were, a singularly decent and, according to their faith, religious body of men. It is now publicly and bluntly admitted, by at least ond of the leaders in the Transvaal of tho Labour party, that it is not the vices hut the virtues of the Chinese of which the Labour party is afraid. Personally, I do not propose io discuss the- propriety or impropriety of excluding Chines© or other indentured labour in tho real or supposed interests of the British working man. It is a pity, I think, that their exclusion should have been justified by foul and infamous accusations, but now that tho gromiJs for that exclusion aro frankly admitted — viz., 'that there is danger of tlieLcompeting with white labourers — I need not discuss this proposition. I merely accept the fact that tho existing Government of Great Britain recognises that ;t it too dependent on the working-class vote to allow Chinese indentured labour to bo introduced into a British colony. Tho position is now perfectly clear. In the Transvaal there is only ono industry capable oE bearing, or anyhow willing to bear, any substantial taxation, and that is gold mining. This one industry pays 85 per cent, of the whole revenue of the country; all the other industries put together— including even the 60 per cent, share of the Premier Diamond mine' profits — only contributing 15 per cent. CAPITAL AND CONFIDENCE NEEDED. In order to keep up and develop this ono great industry on which the prosperity, and even the solvency, of the colony depend, vast sums of capital must be continually expended. Last month I went down the Jupiter mine, extending to a depth of 4400 ft. I inquired how long ifc was since they began sinking. "About ten years," was the reply, "the work having been interrupted during the war." I then inquired how much had been, spent on ihe mine up to date, and was informed about £750,000— rather more. "When will you begin crushing?" I asked. "In about thirteen months," was tho reply. "How much more will you have to expend?" "About £250,000. We have not yet reached tho mill." Now this ono case exemplifies how the present want of confidence has- arisen in tho country. How can any body of shareholders in the future bo expected to sink hundreds of thousands of pounds, and wait years for their dividends when they are tpjd that the conditions of the industry existing when they began their enterprise may bo entirely' altered by the exigencies of a political party in England? The principal excuse now put forward for the repatriation policy is that thero are suciont kaffir labourers available to make the pmployment of Chinese unnecessary, and General Botha, in,a speech recently delivered, declared that during Iho preceding year 30,000 more kaffira had applied ior employment in tho mines than could bo taicen. on. I can only say in reply that in consequenco uf the general depression throughout South Africa thoro have been wholesale discharges of hands by the railways, a cessation of all avoidable public works, a great reduction in tho demand for "boys" for domestic service, and an extensive closing of shops ana shutting down of businesses. 'In Johannesburg alone nine breweries have been closed. Besides all this, several mines have oeased operations, including the Hercules, a big new deep-level proposition which was to have begun crushing in a few monLhs. In' view of these facts, there would be nothing to be surprised at if there wore at the moment a plethora of 30,000 boys, but the real fact is that so great is the dearth of labour that all these causes put together have not been sufficient to "produce any appreciable surplus of labour. FREDEPJCK WALKER.

Tho Bishop of Peterborough and a rural dean bavo actod aa coal-heaverb for half an hour. Tho bishop was on a motor car trip in his diocese, and the car frightened a horso drawing a coal cart. The horse bolted, and tho cart was overturned in the ditch. Tho rural doan sat on tho horse's head until it was roloasod from tho cart, and then tho bishop, tho dean, and tho bishop's chauffeur and valet holped tho driver to reload his cart.