THE COLOUR LINE

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 285, 5 November 1925, Page 4

THE COLOUR LINE

SOUTH AFRICAN PROBLEMS. POLICY FOR THE FUTURE. CAPETOWN, Aug. 28. The Prime Minister of South Africa, General Hertzog, is at present on a tour of those native territories that arc included in the Union. He lias been meeting that huge black population of the country that has recently given indications of a restlessness due to such legislation as the Colour Bar Bill—which seeks to limit the uso of coloured labour in industrial undertakings—and the Pass Laws, which affect the movements of natives in and about the towns. General Hertzog has not yet enunciated to Parliament his native policy. He has promised to do so in the next session. It is therefore thought that the present tour of the native territories is in the nature of an inspeciton by the Prime Minister of the many problems at first-hand. At the same time, in his speeches, the Prime Minister has not hesitated to express what would seem to be a very decided gospel, as though tbe Government had already made up its mind on the main principles of native policy for the future. For example, lie did not hesitate to defend the socalled “Colour Bar Bill,” and asserted that the natives would be the first to suffer by the removal of the colour bar. “The policy of segregation in regard to land tenure,” he said, “has been in operation for years. White men are not allowed to trade in native areas without a license. That is a colour bar.. It is not unjust to the native that certain occupations should be reserved for the white man.” He went on to argue that the native should not make too much of equality, because inequality was the basis of the relations between the natives and the whites. ■ CRITICISM OF SPEECHES. These speeches rather upset some of the critics of the Colour Bar Bill. The Capo Times, for example, did not hesitate to express its disapproval. “Could anything bo more disingenuous,” it is stated, “than to call native land tenure in native areas a colour bar and try - to set-off that colour bar against the industrial colour bar of the Alines and Works Act Amendment Bill ? This is chop-logic that may, by the help of the orator’s art, dazzle the natives for a moment; but the eminently reasonable native mind will, oil reflection, see the staring fallacy and gain from the discovery no addition to its respect for white intellect and white sincerity. It is a dangerous game to play with false analogies before an audience that does not, like sophisticated, busy townsmen, forget a speech the moment it.is made, but that disperses to quiet places, with every word vivid in its retentive memory ancl destined to be thought over and discussed for weeks to come.” At the same time General Hertzog is saying many things to the natives in this town that are approved by all parties in South Africa. He said lie wanted tlio natives to admit that they had not attained the same stage of' civilisation as the whites, and it was a mistake to aim at the same kind of education as that of Europeans. He appreciated very much the manner in which natives were striving for education, but lie urged strongly that the education of natives would only lie good so long as it fitted the educated natives to live among their own people. NATIVE REQUESTS FOR LAND. It is significant that during the whole of his tour most of the native addresses that were presented to the Prime Minister contained requests for more land. There is no doubt that these millions of natives, now finding themselves debarred from certain industrial employment, find their narrow territorial limits much too confined. The Prime Minister replied to these addresses, saying that ho hoped to some extent to meet the demand for more land. The statement that natives were being replaced by “jioor whites” lie characterised as “a wild exaggeration.” It was the policy of the Government in the Nativo Territories to allow the natives to undertake whatever kind of work they might show themselves competent to do. The Prime Minister said that ho lioped that the right of the nativo to vote would not be taken away, but lie questioned whether the way in which the native voted to-day was the best way. He was quite prepared to agree that natives should have their interests represented in Parliament by someone for whom they must cast a vote. He promised that natives, as well as Europeans, should bo properly consulted. The question as to the best way of giving effect to this principle would be brought forward. Altogether, the 5,000,000 natives over whom the Government rules have received these announcements favourably. Tho African native is a patient being, lint education is changing that patience into impatience every day.