NASTY NATAL.

NZ Truth, Issue 59, 4 August 1906, Page 7

NASTY NATAL.

HOW IT TREATS ITS NATIVES.

The Cause of the Rising Stated.

RAMSAY MCDONALD'S DECLARATION.

I The insurrection of certain of the colored i natives of South Africa, provoked, as it has :'. been, by unscrupulous scoundrels who seek : only to plunder and oppress the poor devils \ whom they have goaded into rebellion, draga j slowly along. The Zulus show astonishing I courage, and they fight with a determinations-.. ! that would probably make them succeed "^ were it not that they have neither the arms nor the training possessed by their opponents. It is, however, horrible to hear of the shocking slaughter even of semi-savages, and, therefore, one is interested m discovering how it comes about that the authorities m Natal have acquired a pretext for the perpetration of such butcheries. This ia explained by J. Ramsay Macdonald, M.F., the secretary of the BRITISH LABOR PARTY, m an article which he publishes m the "Clarion" for June the 15th, 1906. This article is as follows: — I have never said that the Natalians were "bloodthirsty." I have said that the con- ; duct of the Natalians to the natives, both African and Indian, is not m keeping with -- our Imperial traditions, and I have also said that for" some years a section of the .Natal people has been doing its best to ferment .A NATIVE RISING. The case against Natal is a very simple one; some Whites covet part of the native reserves; the colony has neglected to take steps to win the confidence of the native; it has, m consequence of the report of the Milner Native Commission, and m conjunction with the mineownera of the Transvaal, started- upon a policy of taxation designed . TO FORCE THE NAI^VE into the labor market. 1/ is . true (and it is very much to our disgracvt xtrat it should be so) that m the Transvaal the taxation of the native is higher than it is m Natal ; but on the other hand, the treatment of the native m Natal is very much worse than it is m Cape Colony. lam well aware that the whole body of> \ Natalians are not responsible for 'these POLICIES AND CONSPIRACIES, but that they are at the beck and call of these conspirators when' a crisis arises is conclusively proved by the way they have behaved during the last six months. It is perfectly true that men living with~3| their families m the region of the natives "howl out for their gun and bandolier" whenever the "Natal Mercury" . or thfy :■■ "Natal Witness" howls out that the nativa lis ON THE WAR PATH. It is not for me to say whether, if I were r , living under such conditions, I should or should not do the same. For the purpose of arriving at a sane estimate of what is ' going on it is advantageous to be removed | from circumstances which create "blue I funks" every now and again. For this is what happens. A poll-tax is imposed at the beginning of the year, and it ia provided m the -_..". POLL TAX ACT , that payments shall not be enforceable until the end of May. The natives grumble as our income tax payers grumble when a. penny or twopence is added to their burdens. The man with a family begins to get unhappy. ' A police force is sent out ; to the native' districts. Meanwhile, every liar m the colony is discovering that) natives are " p>GOING TO RISE. The man with a family gets m v" still >>* bluer funk. On a misty morning a white polioeman kilJs a native; ther&~is a^-fow, and a couple of policemen are killed. The man with a family then howls but for -his - r *^ gun and bandolier^ Martial law is pro- ' claimed, and is made to cover acts committed 'before"' the proclamation. Meanwhile tba ordinary courts are sitting, and there a no evidence whatever to show that ' the s suspension of justice is at all necesijaxy. The MAN WITH A FAMILY, J the gum, and a bandolier, sells us, how- ) { ever, that we know nothing about , it — '; that this is a matter for him, and for : { him alone, and so on. Later on twelve men -=><.■ are shot. Chief after chief is selected as Vj the object of lying slanders. Attempt " ■■ : after attempt is made by the interested j parties to induce the Government to ar- j rest chiefs, or otherwise to frighten them jj into flight. Men 1 , W IN DELICATE POSITIONS like Dinuzulu are the subject of dastard- . ly plots. All this time the man with a family, the gun and the bandolier is quite , convinced that he is defending' his hearth / and home "against black- hordes of semi- \ savages;" when, as a matter of fact, be , ! is only the victim of a faked rebellion. His -^ position is undoubtedly dangerous, but not '■, because he lives near natives, but because there is a section of Natalians and other South Africans WHO ARE SCOUNDRELS. & Now, what I have said to the Na\v talian is this: "Are you, of are you not, a? subject of the British Empire? If you are you must accept the notions of justice • ■' and of the administration of law which cannot be' dissociated from the rule of -■ that empire. If by accepting that notion of justice you feel you have to desert your family, your gun and your bandolier, then, j clear out of the British Empire altogether, m the v EYES OF THE WORLD, and do not make it impossible for us to . exercise an influence on European nations ' m favor of justice being, .done . to all subject races. , .^ , • "I say, further, your panics have Beeper - T shown by history to have been largely base- ■•'.; less, and your wars with the natives, when [fi they were serious, have been shown to be _^ mainly of your own making. Even m Natal " at the present moment the men who know '$ best, both theNatalian and the native, take :?| that view. Your Ministers have officially X admitted that you have appointed inagis- : trates over the natives who could not poa- '• >•_■! sibly impress the natives with any SENSE OF SECURITY. Your leading politicians, like Sir J. L. Hewlett, admit that you have placed policemen m Kaffir locations who have disgraced them- -v, selves and the authorities by their conduct. It is admitted that the man who was responsible for Gobizembe'a kraal being shelled has now been cashiered for drunkenness. "You have only to look across tho border into Cape Colony to see what could be dons to enable you to fulfil your duties as an affectionate father, and yet to lay aside YOUR GUN AND BANDOLIER as a protection against the 'black hordes of semi-savages. 1 " I have never called the Natalians "bloodthirsty." " I have said, and I say now, that they are responsible for the trouble that they have had with the natives, that a small section m the colony, for racial and economic reasons, has deliberately stirred up THE PRESENT'REBELLION, and that the neglect of the black man by the colony has enabled that section to work its sweet will. lam sorry that the average Natalian is so near that he does not follow ~~" the game that is being played with him as a counter. He cannot see the forest of tha policy for the trees of events. \ .