The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, OCT. 29, 1907. THE “WHITE AUSTRALIA” POLICY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2223, 29 October 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, OCT. 29, 1907. THE “WHITE AUSTRALIA” POLICY.

Very little lias been heard lately on the question of excluding the yellow luces from Australia, and it is. now generally accepted (that though the people of the Commonwealth may differ oil the,subject of protection as against frectrade, or upon the site of the Federal capital, they are practically unaiiuimous that the great Southern continent shall he kept for .the wiki to race. At the same time the testimony of a recent convert' to this policy may well be quoted to fortify those who are in any way doubtful as to its wisdom. Mr. Valdor, who lias for some time been representing commercial interests as a Government agent in the Ear East, and also in South Africa, and who has just returned to Sydney, recently gave his experiences of the color problem in the latter country.

“Before I went to South Africa,” said Mr. Valder, “I'was fully convinced that the one thing we wanted to give up was the ‘white Australia’ idea. I was of the opinion that lit was good to work our cotton and sugar plantations with kanakas or Chinese or Indian or any other kind of cheap labor. But five years’ residence in South Africa has convinced me that the longer wo stick to tiro ‘white Australia’ policy the better. It is the only right course for us to pursue.

“In South Africa the colored races are ousting the white men from the trades. Take the Kafßr. At tho present time there are 45,000 Kaffirs being educated in Capetown. And when the Kaffir gets a. little education he says, ‘The Kaffir must do no hard work,’ with the result that he enters t-lio trades. Just as I was leaving Capetown I noticed a large public building, that would cost £30,000, in course of construction. On it not a single white man was ear-ployed. The Knffirs were doing the earpeii/tering and bricklaying, and Malays were the laborers. “It’s the same throughout the country; the white workman is going down before the march of the colored. In Natal a few years ago, where there are over 800,000 natives, the farmers could get no agricultural laborers, and Indians were indentured to do the work. These latter, liow number 110,000, in comparison with 100,000 white in the State. The Indians, too, as soon as their .•term of service “is up, stay in the country and acquire land. There are many of them landholders now, engaging mostly in gardening.”

All this is ver.v interesting, and while it emphasises the immensity of the white man’s burden in South Africa, it certainly seems to justify the people of Australia and of New Zealand iii adhering steadfastly to their present policy of excluding the Asiatics.