WHITE AND THE BLACK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19156, 23 October 1925, Page 11

WHITE AND THE BLACK.

SOUTH AFRICAN PROBLEM, ANTIPATHY BETWEEN RACES. DESIRE FOR DEFINITE POLICY* [ffEOM 008 OWN COKSESPONDEKT. ] JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 6. There is ene man in South Africa what is considered to be the authority on riativ<3 affairs. He is Dir. C. T. Lor am. a rnenw ber of the Native Affairs Commission* who has travelled through all the nativa territories of South Africa and is known in almost every native kraaL This week, he delivered an address on the relations between the white man and the black which is considered as one of tho soundest expositions of South Africa's most vital problem which has yet been heard. la view of the present tour of the Prima Minister, General Hertzog, through the native territories, the address has aroused considerable political interest. Dr. Lorq,m said that when one begarij to analyse tho white man's attitude toward native affairs, one found three! main currents, the first of which was one of apprehension; the second, tho desiro to be fair, and the third the desire for a native policy and action on that policy quickly. "In the first distance," he proceeded, "I think most Europeans in this country are afraid of race mixture. They are afraid that, ultimately, the white people may be absorbed by the black people. "There has been proved, a certain ani tipathy between the two races, and any idea of miscegenation is hateful to the white man. We see it particularly in Transvaal, where we have laws against the marrying of whites with blacks and where we are all so shocked by the ac-. counts of assaults by natives on whito women." Dr. Loram said that they must remember that natives experienced precisely the same shock when, their womenfolk were assaulted, and they had the same dislike of mixed marriages. A Second Apprehension. "The second apprehension that the white people have is the question of industrial competition," said Dr. Loram, "We are so apprehensive of this industrial competition that we have asked tho Economic Commission to make a special reference of the effect of native competition on the wages of white people. IE you analyse this situation for a moment you will find that we Europeans are largely responsible that such .competition exists. Until a year or two ago, our definite policy was to lure the native from his reserves into our large centres of population and industry. We let tha Transvaal native escape a certain amount of taxation, we encouraged recruiting iu the native areas and we preached that we must not give a book education to our native people, but that what we must do was to teach them industry. And so we have raised up a crop of what appears to be trouble for ourselves. It is a fact that certain jobs that used to be done by Europeans are passing into the hands of natives. "Then we have the new phenomenon among our white people, the phenomenon of unemployment, and we began to attribute this to the excessive employmentof natives, so that we have very considerable reason to fear black people as industrial competitors. How do we react to that apprehension T, Well, we pass in our Parliament a Minimum Wage Bill. We make an attempt to pass a colour bar. We talk, but don't act. We talk about segregating the native so that this industrial competition with the white man may cease. ESect of the Colour Bar. " Now, any thinking man who is puzzled by this question of industrial competition—and we all wish to find out if it is really the case that the activity in the employment of natives results in a decrease of European employment—should ask himself whether the colour bar is necessary, in view of the fact that the Government has established a wage bill with the'expressed intention of preventing the exploitation of labour. We should ask ourselves the question, what would be the effect of a colour bar, particularly on the minds of the natives, if on the statute book there is a definite restriction of the employment of four-fifths of the population in certain industries. " We might ask ourselves whether it is fair to restrict the employment of natives in our European areas—natives whom we have been so largely responsible for bringing in, before we have made any provision for employment for them in other areas. These, I. think, aro questions which puzzle the European when he thinks about native affairs." Mr. Cousins in his last census report had furnished figures, said Dr. Loram, which had staggered the white section or the community and figures which, if true, would tend to prove that in 50 years' time South Africa would be largely a black man's country. It was to be regretted that more white South Africans were leaving the country than were coming to it. "We dislike very much," continued Dr. Loram, " the fact that the natives in the Cape Province have the franchise on the same terms as the Europeans, we are timid about native development because we fear that if we develop them they may one day swamp us, and we are determined that the political power enjoyed by the natives in the Cape shall not extend to the Transvaal, Free States or Natal. Wild Men on Both Sides. " How should we look at that aspect of the native question," added Dr. Loram, " I think the man who would analyse Mr. Cousins' figures and prove them either true or false, would have done a very great service indeed to South Africa, because they have startled us more than any other thing in recent years. I think it would be interesting if we could know exactly whether the black man in this country desires that the white man should remain here or where he desires him to go. i " After a great many years' experience in | which I have met most responsible natives in South Africa, I don't remember one responsible native who wished the white man to leave South Africa. The natives realise the tremendous benefit that the white occupation has been to South Africa. We have always among them the wild native, who talks about driving the white man into the sea, but then we have the equally wild European who talks of_ driving the native north of the Zambesi. Dr. Loram asked that there should be no prejudgement of any native polio} introduced bv the Government, and advised that it should be carefully studied. He referred to the joint councils of Europeans and natives established in Johannesburg and elsewhere, and indicated that he regarded these bodies as one or the best signs of the desire of the white/ man siuu black man to co-operate.