JOHANNESBURG TO-DAY.

Evening Star, Issue 12871, 21 July 1906, Page 11

JOHANNESBURG TO-DAY.

AN INTERESTING RESUME. We, have been permitted to make the following extracts from a letter written by an old New Zealander now resident in Johannesburg, South Africa:— Well, old chap, so far at this place is concerned, things are dead crook. I have sold out, and am sending the wife and family back to Auckland, where the girls will get a good sound education and be amongst people of their own nationality. Here it is a conglomeration of all nations under the sun—not at all an atmosphere for young girls. Parents have a great responsibility. I fed minei and have come to the conclusion that I will be doing my duty by sending the whole family back, where they can settle down. I don’t mean to buy any more property just now, and what I would pay for rent will keep them all well in New Zeailand. I don't like doing it, but I have come to the conclusion that it is for the best. I will remain here for a time. I can always make money, provided I keep my health, and up to now I have been very fortunate.

The Transvaal is at present passing through a great ordeal. ’The Liberal Government Are upsetting things fearfully. | They purpose giving us a Responsible Go-. vermnent, which the majority of Britishers | don’t want at present. What we want is : representative government, guaranteeing British predominance. Responsible government means the Boers in power, causing no end of trouble with the language question. Urey will want the two languages placed on an equal footing in the schools and public offices. At the present time the Hutch have schools of their own throughout th© country', just as the Catholics have in New Zealand, and you know well enough Britishers are not going to he browbeaten, and that is just what responsible government means. Then, again, they want the Chinese cleared out. They argue that if there never had been any mines in the country the British never would have bothered them. They would still be the lords of the veldt, trekking over tbo whole country at their own sweet wall, with their waggona. women, cattle, and goats, following the feed at different seasons, choosing th© low veldt in winter and the high veldt in summer. Now they can’t do that, and they are not sufted for anything else. They are a most helpless, slovenly, dirty, lazy people as a rule, though of course there are exceptions; but exceptions prove the rule. Well, now, so far as the Chinese are concerned, let me tell you that they, are essential to the successful working of the mines, which with few exceptions are very low grade, and if they were to be worked by white men at. say, 10s a day (and no man with .a family can possibly do on less than a pound a day, and very regular at that), only two or three mines would survive the ordeal; the rest would bo compelled to close down immediately. So you see the position. Before we decided on introducing Chinese labor a trig Commission was appointed to inquire into the supply of native labor, and after sitting for some months and collecting a tremendous amount of information from all over the country—from witnesses who knew the country from the Zambesi to the Cape—the finding wa? that there was not sufficient native labor available in the country. Now, I read the whole of the evidence, and the Commission could come to no other conclusion. It then amounted to this; If the mines are to go ahead, and with them the business of the country, we must have labor. It must be cheap, consequently black; and what does it matter whether it be one bladk man or another—a Kaffir or a Chinaman? It doea not affect the white miner, who simply directs the unskilled labor, whatever it be. So the Chinese wore introduced as indentured laborers for a term of three years. The Ordinance passed by our local Parliament was as binding as it is possible to male© an agreement. By it no Chinaman was to bo employed at anything that a white man could do, and nearly everything that could be thought of or surmised was provided for, and before the Bill was mad© law it was submitted to the local labor organisations for suggestions. They made several, all of which were embodied in the Ordinance, so you sec th© thing was carefully thought out. Of course there has been a lot of trouble with them, but. that was expected. The work was quite foreign to them. Some of them disliked it. others got home-sick; some miners ill-used them, and they resented it. Result: a lot deserted, and roamed the veldt, trying to find their way back to China- Hunger compelled them to commit atrocities, and so the thing went on; but taking it all in all, I believe th© Chinese are a success, and if they were only better understood and better handled they would bo a yet greater success. They spend their money very freely, and precious little gets back to China. You people in New Zealand are all barking up the wrong tree. White labor in tho mines is impossible; w© must have black. I did not intend to dilate so freely on the Chinese, but I thought I would make my views on the matter clear, and give you an idea, so as to judge for yourself. Of course if it came to a plebiscite the Dutch to a man would vote repatriation, while the British would vote for the retention, and we would probably be outvoted, for the simple reason that the Dutch would vote to a man, while a big section of the British are very halfhearted, and would probably leave it alone. There isa tremendous amount of dissatisfaction in the country. Men were promised all sorts of things after the war. They fought all through the campaign, and then could get nothing. The S.A. Constabulary, a Big permanent force, was until a few months ago entirely recruited in England. Government billets were also tilled by high-collared individuals from the same place, their only qualificationfriend of Lord So-and-so. There are men in this town who fought right through the campaign just starving—can get nothing to do, and can’t get away. The work that most of them could do is being done by Kaffirs, Indians, and Chinamen (such as small storekeepers, etc.). Coachmen are all Kaffirs or Indians, and there arc a great number. Indians control the fish, fruit, vegetable, butter, and egg business. The horse market and wholesale egg business are monopolised by the Russian Jew. Ail (be small grocery shops are run by Indians and Chinese. There are over 300 Chinese grocery shops alone in Johannesburg and suburbs. The small drapery shops are run by Indians and Arabs, small fruit shops by Indians, the higher clang shops by Greeks and Assyrians. The cab business is in tho hands of Russian Jews principally and Malays; while the market carts, that do the work that expresses do in New Zealand, arc owned by Russian Jews and driven by Kaffirs and Cape boys. I could go on and make you tired with illustrations of this kind. The best pay is given by the bus proprietors. They pay their drivers £l2 a month, and it is only Dutch who can work for that wage here. They live in poor shanties, and exist on bread and coffee; no butter or milk. Now, where does a Britisher come in if he gets down on his luck? Golden South Africa! Yes, you can bring gold in, but you’re lucky if you can get away with any. I lost every jienny I bad when I came here—thought I was clever, put all my money into the share market, and after waiting for twelve months for something to turn n n had to pay another £7 to get clear of it. Never mind, I’ve got it back, with a little interest, but it took doing, I can tell you. Living is getting slightly cheaper, but some of the necessaries of life are still dear—butter. Is 9d; eggs, 5s 6d; bread, 41b loaf (usually about slb), Is; meat. Is and Is 3d (thanks to the combine lit cold storages); potatoes, anything from 15s to 30s per sack; fish, fid per lb for fresh; smoked haddock. Is 3d lb; cheese, Is 3d; bacon, la fid. Clothing and boots, os the other hand, ore ridiculously cheap, owing to forced sales on account Of tie limes. Rent cape the lot. If I were tak- , ing up house again, 1 thoold have to pay , for a house similar to tbo one I have just I sold from £lO to £ls monthly. Now, you I would think it would pay to own property such as that, but it is not re I intended doing it, but my agent advised me not to do so. He gave me an Instance of a client of his who Lad invested over £8,000; his net return last year was £l2O. Property is coming down with a rush, and I am satisfied I got out in time. There will he • /*. tmoeadem aton® .within tho next _six.j

months. The shore market has gone to the coos; the property market most follow. Thousands of men are vending their families away—it is like rats deserting a sinking ship Still, things must right themselves in time ; the gold is here, so are silver, lead, tin, iron in abundance, 'and coal. What more is wanted? Only a settled country. When we are going to get it I leave to the Fates to answer. I am going to give it a. few more months, and if things don’t go more to sny liking I shall be looking for something new, probably Argentine or Mexico. I have just written to a friend of mine m Mexico, and if he confirms the reports I have of the place I shall give it a trial. Argentine is rapidly coming to the front, and before many years will be a very formidable rival to New Zealand. A lot of meat and butter comes here. Both undersell the New Zealand article, but it is deficient in quality, butter more noticeable than meat. When the quality improves, which it certainly will, you will have to look to your laurels. Then we get their wheat, flour, etc., which is all right, Vcw Zealand produce leads the way here, and your Dunedin butter is very much to the front. By the way, I enclose a wrapper. You might send or take it to the T. and P. M,lk Supply Company, and ajsk them wi-at they think of it. Some friends we had to tea a while back asked us what butter wo used. W© told them Taieri and Peninsula. Some time afterwards they told ns ;hey tried it, but it waa awful; wanted no more. Subsequently the enclosed wrapper came to my notice; it explains itself. Not able to buy it in he local market, they thought they would manufacture it—the customers wanted it.