A GRAVE FUTURE. THE AFRICAN NATIVES. ASSERT THEIR RIGHTS : ASK FOR JUSTICE. NEW EPOCH OPENED. (Specially Written for the Post.) By R. W. REID.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 64, 13 September 1911, Page 11

A GRAVE FUTURE. THE AFRICAN NATIVES. ASSERT THEIR RIGHTS : ASK FOR JUSTICE. NEW EPOCH OPENED. (Specially Written for the Post.) By R. W. REID.

A conference was hold in Johannesburg last month which may prove to be th« opening oi a new epoch ifl the history of South Africa. And who will be sufficiently bold to predict what the approaching years have in store for the lands south of the Zambesi? The conference alluded to was that attended by representatives from the thirty NativeAssociations which) within recent jeafe, have been formed within each of the four united province*. It is the- first assemblage of the kind ever held in South Africa, and is of profound significance. For the first time etnee ilio white man- took possession of the subcontinent a. body of educated natives, the majority of' them ratepayers ami taxpavere, but. possessing no nival, municipal, or parliamentary privileges, had met, and, in effect, publicly latovtn ed the white residents of South Africa, the Union, and the Imperial Parliaments and Governments that the darkskinned inha 1 .fcant* of the country are being deliberately ' deprived of their lawful rights. The fact has benm known for many yeans that the natives, who have reached a relatively high sUge of. civilisation— often for superior to that of, say, tho white "bywoncr',''— hftve fully realised, and bitterly resented, the unfair treatment they have received from their white lords and masters, both in and out of Parliament, t None ; fiavo the indifferent and the prejudiced, could fail to see and understand that the natives could not remain, for all time mere hewers of wood and drawers of water, often haraesed by special 'legislation, and, excepting in Cape Colony, without a voice in the government of their country. South Africa presents probably the most impressive spectacle of adherence- to non-British principles to be found at- the- present time within the Empire. There tha feStablished, elementary British practice of "no representation no taxation" is flouted and defied. In Natal, the, Transvaal, and Orange Free State the rule is : "For the native, taxation and plenty of it, but no representation. '' THE NEW UPRISING. What some- of the South African newspapers t«f!u the ' "new uprising u'ns inevitable. Mission schools are dotted over the country, and native colleges hay© for, many years been establiehed in Natal and the Capo province. Lovedale College alone- annually turns out, probably, a hundred well-educated, high-spirited young men. Every year, in Addition, American missionaries—wlloee chief stations are' in Natal—despatch several _of their brightest students to America, where they "finish" their education, and return to South ' Africa, all with the laudable desire to advance the welfare of their own peo' pis. Seme, described in the Transvaal press as a Zulu attorney, is a native of Natal, educated by the American miseionariep, and. some five years ago, de' 1 spakhed by them to the tjnited States. in America, Seme carried off numerous r prices, in particular, a large number for oratory. _ Dr. Kubusana, the first and only native to find a seat in & Provincial' Council-"the Cape's— ie president of the new < body. Another prominent member i* Mr. John L. Dube. also a Natal Zulu, who, more than a. year ag/>, while in tiolidon, appealed through S\v. W. T. Stead for 'help from the "British to assist him "to develop His industrial institution at Ohla-tige, in Nat»l, into an African Tuske*se." Much is heard concerning American opinion of the black*, tttt from what this Natal native told Mr. Stead, tho American attitude tdwardo his race would seem much more friendly than that of the English. "What we Zulus want is education," he said. "Toil have taken our country : gn*6_ us in return your culture, your civilisation." Dtibe stpted that he "had carried on his institution largely by mwrts of American money. "Ifrom the United States," ho proceeded, "which has no moral tt political responsibility for our people, I have received about £3000, From the United Kingdom I have received nothing." "You have taken our country" is too frequently heard nowadays among South African natives to pass unnoticed : it sounds as the refrain to a lons lament over the past, ( liko the wild wail placed in the mouths of the Macgregor's by Walter. Scott: "We're landless, landless/ Grcgaradi." * * THE NEW ERA OPENS. The new era— -/or stich the writer considers it to be— -may be" said to have opened when Sem«, the Zulu attorney, was interviewed by the '.Johannesburg .Star. Interviewing a native is also a significant deparlure, for a South Amc's.n newspaper. The average newspapers over there too often ignore native opinion, just as do the average politicians and legislator!*. Who caws what th native thinks who has got n» vote? The cdit&f of the Star (Mr T. Nicol tJunn) is, new to South Africa, fend, apparently, is still able to appreciate at their proper values the native rgrsn and the native problem. Seme cays m the Star : "We ate thinking l»u«ily and fiy means of the society we will" ha"ye an opportunity of expt-esttng our thoughts and getting the- white- . people to listen. We will discuss questions affecting the status of natives as a whole, such as the Pass Law. The question of the ffanclme is hop on the programme for the (fret convention; " If the right to Ante i? not to be disctts&ed now, the subject, it its obvious, is not far in the background. The newspapers with Sports, of the gathering have not yet "arrived, but on this occa*iort, in all likelihood, the debates would be well controlled, the claims advanced moderate. The methods adopted by Indians in the Transvaal, chiefly those of persistence and of passive resistance, were, in effect, successful. And tho example of the Indiansled by a young Indian attorney, Ghandi •T-has not been lost upon th& natives. The "Star expresses the opinion, in dealing editorially with the Seme interview, that "though' nothing definite was said to indicate reliance on pa<*ive resistance, it is not improbable ihsfc in certain eventualities recourse will be had Id it." . WfftT OF Tflfi FUTURE? J Nobody cm believe that the natives, !«'" i jvirtj[ (h^ir mnnuvical streiigtb alone, ■„!ll'r«[. content with an annual convention, poUt.9 «.n«vcue-«. and mild suggestion* "of reform. '!%• ?ivilised South African native is a, Very sunt^ minded, deadhead ed-"in ?hort, highly fntelli ! getitr— individual. Two factol*. in tlt& ! opinion of the writer, may. \\i\\\ ?nc , prising rapidity, produce '* dstfigrt-wa situation. One is the abnormal pitpickm and hatred with which probably the majority -of the older settled whites Idols upon the natives j tl-e oth*. 1 . that the natives remain most' rens'tivo to what they consider wroiias done to them and their people, and i^vamUy harbour desires for revenue. Nnt withotit extraordinary pressure will tht? Unirttl Parliament undertake reforms of a kind to satisfy f lic intelligent and educated s>ecUvus of tU« native wm-.

munity. Tlic older type of Dutchman is particularly \ irulent ■ agr.inEt env propwals of political oqMalitv bet-v^c-n blacks aiwl whiltt?. For yeaii theie eeeme to have I^e'i a frm conviction in the nii^da of even Englishmen, vho have lived long in th^ \ou.iti'y, th;u South Africa- would yet witness a. catsstrophp, a rebellious and disastrous upheaval on the part oi the natives. It ia beyond the power of any man io predict what the native leaders may do in South Africa during the next few years. That they will adopt, and quietly adhero to, a scheme oi passive resistance like tho "Indians is not afc all probable. The Zulus, the Baautos, and other ltilivo races are not mild, complaisant, and long-suffering such as arc the puny, much-ruled coolies from Madras a.nd Calcutta. Passive resistance WottW not loii'i continue among thf natives of South Africa; some unforeseen spark would, metaphorically, immediately set tho native v<4d ablaze. Further, the Natal style of stamping out disaffected natives — mowing them down with Maxime «'t.nd i Catling gunswill scarcely be possible under *h n Union. Natal # came very badly out of her latest "native rebellion," and Great Britain became extremely suopjeious. This "new upiising" of the natives is charged with immense pcppibilities for food or for ill to Soivth Afnca. tJnke3 the TJiiion Parliament deals justly by the nafeives, and promptly, South Africa appears destined to See further trouble, and trouble of a very gi'ave and farteaching character..