IMPRESSIONS IN NATAL

Otago Witness, Issue 2572, 8 July 1903, Page 88

IMPRESSIONS IN NATAL

;Bt A. D. Wilkinson, M.A., Formerly of Wellington College.) Impressions are, on the whole, risky things to trust, ye* sometimes we get a glimpse of reality through a frrst impression that a fuller acquaintance seems to miss. For the brain is like a sensitive plate in a camera, that registers with life-like fidelity whatever ia in front of it, if the exposure be instantaneous, but produces only a confused blur if over-exposed. So much by way of premise to the remarks that follow. I do not claim that they are absolutely and linreaervedly true; all I desire is that they will bo taken as the honest convictions of % man who has tried to see things with •risipn cc little distorted as possible. • When I came to Natal—" little, loyal Natal" — it was with the fervour of the imperialistic idea 6trong upon me. The union of many parts into one strong whole, the welding of the bonds of Empire so that the word " British " meant equality and fraternity wherever spoken — these were ideas as certain and as evident as the air ire breathe. And they are still, but in a modified way only, for here in Natal there » prevalent a feeling of active dislike and distrust on the part of the Home-born as •gainst the colonial-born, and a second and perhaps even more antagonistic feeling on the part of both of these against us of the Australasian seas. Why it should be co I know not. That it is so is only too patent. Yesterday I met a West Australian who had come over here to start in "business. Ho interviewed a Natal man with a view to employing him, but was promptly told that he could take his employment to a place warmer even than Durban, for he would " sooner starve than work for any bloomin' Australian!" This, remember, to « man he had never Been or heard of before. In the house I am staying in there are seven Englishmen, most of whom saw ■ervice in the late war. During the first few days of my 6t*y they, thinking I was English, expressed themselves in the most unreserved fashion concerning tEeir dislike of the coloniak^-indeed. to be called " a bally colonial" is regnrded by them as an opprobiou3 term of abuse. When, eventually, I told them I was from New Zealand, and proud of it, too, they froze, and they have not thawed since. I do not quite know what the reason of this dislike is — whether it be that they are somewhat jealous of the kudos gained by the colonials in the war, or that by the colonial type of man the Englishman, with his slow-going conventionalisms and insularity of thought M rubbed the wrong way; certain it is that the average Englishman, fresh from the Old Country, is less than friendly to bia cousin of the Southern Seas. Natal is " the garden colony," and deeerves its name. Flowers, trees, and vegetables grow in endless profusion — the flowers characterised by the brilliance of hue that indicates the sub-tropical nature of the climate, and the trees of a kind with which every Australian is familiar. It is this profusion of vegetation that makes the Berea (a Portuguese word meaning " ridge ") such • charming place to live in. It is a hill which runs right along the back of Durban, and is the principal residential quarter oi the city. Here are to be found garden after garden, often running continuously (for fences are by no means common) with a wealth of flowers and tree, and everywhere prominent the brilliant scarlet of the hibiscus and the tall, gracefully drooping bamboo-cane. The houses, however, are, as often as not, indifferently built, and lack the solid comfort that we of a colder clime require, or, at anyrate, are accustomed to. Ono thing especially is conspicuous by its absence, and that is the fireplace — it is quite a common thing to have only one chimney in a house, and that merely for cooking purposes. Washhouses are practically unknown, as people do not " boil " their clothes, washing usually being done by Kaffirs or coolies, who pound the dirt cut of the clothes with stones — a process which does not, bo it remarked, tend to the long Via of the garment. The housemaid uiffieulty is, to a certain extent, solved by the employment of Kaffir boys {all natives are "boys "), but those arc now becoming co '' cheeky " in their demands that many a Bou3ewifo would be only too glad to dispense with their services altogether. Wholly characteristic of Durban is the ricksha boy. Ho is here present i-n hifl thousand?, arrayed in most fantastic garbs. The commonest attiro is a white cotton tunic und loose knee-breeches bordered with Turkey red auill ; and, indeed, this is almost

universal: But it is in the headgear that one finds the va-iety. Tour " swell " ricksha boy most affects a pair of bullock's horns fastened one to each side of his head, but many incline to the fashion of wearing an enormous head-gear of feathers, these again sometimes dyed in the most glaring colours. Many of the boys, too, smear their logs with white chalk (a custom which will recall to classical 1 readers an ancient Roman practice with slaves), on which they trace elaborate designs; co that a ricksha boy arrayed in all his glory is certainly an object to behold. His life, however, is a short one. In two or three years he may make a competence, but in doing so he almost certainly contracts hear* disease from overexertion, or pulmonan disease from exposure and sudden chill. Indeed, the use of rickshas has been condemned as contrary to humanitarian principles, and in Johannesburg, for example, there is a movement to suppress the practice, though these rickshas are few and far between, and wholly indifferent. It is astonishing how so many of them make a living — a good livintr, too, — in Durban, especially in the teeth of the opposition of an excellent electric tram service — all the cars in which, by-the-bye, ate double-deckers, and very comfortable. But then people do not walk 'here — it is too hot; and if you are going round the corner, what simpler and more convenient than a ricksha? As far as business methods are concerned. I am free to maintain that the ways of Natal people are peculiar. I walked through the big market in Durban, for instance, and saw nowhere the price of anything marked up. A friend of mine went to some of the shipping firms. to find out the rates of freight for cargo to the East Coast of Africa. He was received with marked expressions of distrust, and in two cases the agents actually refused to quote them, tortured, no doubt, by visions of cut-throat opposition ! In the shops, too, that " tired feeling" (not quite unknown in some towna of New Zealand) seems to have taken hold ! of many of the assistants, and you are served not at your convenience, but at theirs. The price of meat (usually Australian) and ' of butter and cheese seems abnormally high to Austral colonists ; but , vegetables, flowers, and fruit are very cheap and very jrood. Violets and roses arrow to the most absolute perfection, and I bought a spray containing 19 magnificent Marchal Neil buds for 3s from a Kaffir hawker in the main street of Durban. There is undoubtedly a great field open for New Zealand meat and produce in South Afrioa, but unless the opportunity is , availed of it will pass. Now, if ever, is the time. Owing to the drought in Austra!ia, contractors are finding themselves unable to fill orders already booked, and until the drought and itn effects are over it will b<* quite impossible for Australia to extend her business. And Australia's extremity is New Zealand's opportunity. Only let our produce get a proper introduction to this country, and I have little fear of the result. Certainly the meat I have tasted in Africa is very much inferior to our ordinary New Zealand meat, and the Australian butter I have had the misfortune to come into contact with is of the kind that you look at — and pass. The cheese is rather better, while the Australian biscuits and tinned stuffs are excellent. Yet when I think of the splendid preserves (jams, meats, etc.) that many New Zealand firms make, I cannot but think that here is a market eurely worthy of exploitation. But there is one thine absolutely necessary, and that is direct and fairly speedy communication between Now Zealand and South Africa. To say nothing of the extra cost through transhipment at Australian ports, and depreciation through the extra handling of damageable goods, it is quite absurd to expect to sell goods to be landed at a date dependent entirely upon the will of Australian shipowners, which date may be weeks or even months after the originally-expected day of arrival. Nor must the time of the voyage be too lone. Only the other day th** Sussex arrived with a shipment of potatoes from New Zealand, after a delay of some weeks in Australian ports picking; up other cargo. The result was that by the time the ship ■arrived the potatoes had gone bad, and had to bo dumped into the f*a at Durban, , one firm losing over £1000, besides having to fill the orders from somewhere eke Whatever, then, is done in the matter of subsidising a service to South Africa from New Zealand, two points should be insisted on— "the service should be direct, and the time taken should be limited — indeed, as far as this second consideration is concerned, a time-table almost as strict as that for a mail service should be made a condition of the contract There is another point of very considerable importance to the New Zealand ship- ; jper, and that is the question of cold storage

in South Africa. There is not the slightest use of sending cargoes of frozen meat to this country if it is to be dumped on the iwharf (as I have seen it dumped) to lie in the full glare of an almost topical sun, simply because of a lack of the requisite cold storage. And at Durban, the natural objective of New Zealand shipments, more cold storage must be provided. I counted 19 waggons of frozen pork standing in a sweltering sun waiting their turn to be unleaded at the Durban Cold Storage Depot — this after a drive of over half an hour from the wharf. Just imagine how beneficial such treatment of the meat must be ! Precisely who is to supply the defioeiency in this connection is a matter of some difficulty, for there is on foot quietly, yet none the less surely, a movement for a combine in cold storage in South Africa, and as the men in the projected combine (already partly effected, by the bye) control most of the rotail butcher trade, it will at once be seen that to suggest competition in the cold storage line would be to court the opposition of a very powerful combination. But one step I would suggest as practicable, and that is the mooring of a refrigerating hulk in the harbour of Port Natal, so that frozen meat may be discharged into it, thus setting free the steamer, and keeping the meat in good condition until such time as the cold storage depot is ready to receive it. For variety of life, the city of Durban, as the British port of Johannesburg, must be hard to beat. Here (especially if you frequent the post office — oh ! for Sir J. G. Ward at that post office) you may rub shoulders with every nationality in Europe, and here you will not, though you may, do likewise with most of the nationalities of Asia and Africa — races which it would take a cosmopolitan to distinguish and classify. Swathy Arabs from the East Coast of Africa, wearing the fez and the badly fitting white trousers; the low-caste Indian coolie, white of raiment, black as to most other things ; the Kaffir (a generic, not a specific, term) in every shade of black from Jignite to anthracite — sometimes a lordly creature, as in the case of the Zulu policeman, bursting with his own importance, sometimes merely an imp of darkness, as in the case of the house " boy," always with magnificent teeth (which he keeps scrupulously clean), expaneive smile, and genuine love of music (he is a great performer on the mouth-organ), never quite respectful unless remonstrated with judiciously, with a sjambok; the Assyrian, even as we know him in New Zealand; the mild-mannered Chinese, whom it seems quite a familiar sight to see again ; the little brown man from Japan, with his seductive promises as to the excellence -of his waahing; the beetle-browed Afghan (a back-wash, I fancy, from West Australia/, looking as if he would have much pleasure in slitting your throat from ear to ear; — these are some of the types of coloured persons that on© sees in Durban. As for the whites, take of French and Germans more than enough ; of Boers a fair proportion everywhere, with the very broad hat-band of crape that speaks (ah, how eloquently it speaks!) of a father, brother, son "dead in the lost, lost fight for the cause that perishes with them " ; of Jews speaking every European tongue, ad lib. — they own Afrioa ; of Natalians, to 25 per cent. ; of English and ' Austral-born, quantum suff. — and you have white Natal. Truly, a curious . conglomerate ; but then we are a curious • people. For instance, if you want consideration from the authorities, be an Arab, or a Portuguese, or a German, or a Jew — anything but British, and your path will be made easy, and the bonds of red-tap* will be loosened ; but dare to make a simple, courteous request as a son of the Empire, and you will find yourself in the grip of the octopus of officialdom, both military and civil, and from that grip there is no escape. More stupid regulations than were in force wh,en we landed it would be hard to imagine. We thought, poor, foolish mortals, that having got a permit to come into South Afrioa we were then free to go where we listed. But not so ; the first unpleasant surprise we got was that permits had to be obtained from Johannesburg if one wished to go there, for without these one was powerless to move. Just imagine the position — though one had never been in Johannesburg and had no friend* there, yet one was asked to give references to two well-known citizens jf that town, and after filling up an inquisitorial form, to forward an application there. At Durban there was a. notice on the permit officer's door that " questions are not permitted as to when permits will be granted " — in short, you were practically requested to sit tight for a year and a day, and confidingly commit yourself lo the tender mercies of this second Circumlocution Office. In my own case, for example, the result was that' ! though all my paper? were in order, and j though I expected to be in Durban but a t few hours, I had to remain over three weeks. Yet I believe my referee 3 in Johannesburg were not applied to at all; the notice that a permit was waiting me at the Durban office was, when it did come, on a printed form ; tho actual permit itself was written out in my presence in three 1 minutes; so that if anything like a com- ■ mon-sense method had been adopted I , might have been called upon to show my credentials in Durban, answer the necessary interrogatories there, and spend not more than ten minutes on the whole affair. But business method or common-sense where tho army is concerned? Out upon the suggestion ! Yet not only in the Army Departments, but in other branches of the civil service the same accursed red-tape holda supreme command, and with all its paraphernalia of requisitions in duplicate, vouchers in triplicate, official intimations that " the matter will receive consideration in due course," and the like, brings the whole Government service into disrepute 1 by its vexatious delays and stupid anomaj lies. Still, one fact is certain— l have my permit; and so with it to-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new, afar from pleasant Natal.

Some of the old geysers at Tarewa (=ay3 the Hot Lakes Chronicle) are very active, boiling furiously and throwing out large quantities of water, forming quite a large* stream along the stock road, where the Native children indulge in their favourite pastime of bathing to their heart's content. To t*"«« who have not seen the ngaVnas, the placp is well worth a vi=it. Mr J. N. FRENCH, Evangelist, Palestine, Texas, Timies:

"A brother of mine contracted PXET7MONIA. No physician being -within reach, he ■was treated with Jaync's Expectorant, and ha» the best reason for believing that THIS MEDICINE SAVED HIS LIFE.*