A TALK WITH MR GEORGE HUTCHISON.

Otago Witness, Volume 14, Issue 2648, 14 December 1904, Page 18

A TALK WITH MR GEORGE HUTCHISON.

OFF AGAIN TO SOUTH AFRICA. (Fkou Our Owjs- Corkespojtdent.)

LONDON, October 29.

"Yes, I am off to South Africa again next week," said Mr George Hutchison to me the day before yesterday as we sat together over the fire trying not to see or feel the dense brown fog which made each of my office windows a framed picture of "The Jumps." He was looking, I thought, very well and vigorous. "I sail in the s.s. Briton on the sth."

Will 3-011 be long away from England? "Quite uncertain," replied Mr Hutchison, shrugging his shoulders expressively. "It all depends ! But there is going to be a great deal doing in the Transvaal, and I want to be on the spot." Business?

'Oh. yes, perhaps; I cannot say yet. Hut there is going to be a considerable stirring up of various elements when the first instalment of representative government comes in next year." How do you mean? ( "Well, you may be quite sure," replied Mr Hutchison, "that when once even a measure of constitutional government such as has been granted to the Transvaal shall have come into force Downing street will have no peace until all the rest shall ba granted. It is true that the Crown authorities will have a majority in the Chamber but they will be unable- to prevail in th® long run against the elected representatives. All that has been seen and tried before. When you give a Ciown colony even the smallest modicum of constitutional government it never rests contented until it has got the rest in one way or another. Downing street will have troublous times until it has given full represent a tive institutions tv JJie TranavaaU'i

Do you think the Boers will give much trouble under the new regime?

" Not in any sense hostile to the Crown or the Imperial Government," answered Mr Hutchison. " They will loyally accept tho position and will not taiks v>p any untriendly attitude towards England. But naturally they will have a keen to anything that works in their favora <ct makes for their interests. 'And assuredly t^y wilt rule — in a wholly peaceful way— ill any Transvaal Parliament .through shee. power of their numerical majority — that is all."

How about the Chinese labour question?

" That will settle itself in course of time, and in an entirely peaceful way," said Mr Hutchison. " When the constitutional government is established all parties will go on the basis that existing contracts must be respected. Only they will not permit any extension or any fresh immigration under such contracts as those now existent. South Africa is very rich in natural resources, and it is, and must be, a -nhitemau's country. All that talk about the* impossibility of obtaining labour was the merest bunkum and humbug. The mineowners did not want to give current wages, but wished for cheaper labour — that's all. Why, when the Angelo Deep Companywent about bemoaning themselves and declaring that they could not get white labour for 10s, or even 20s, a day, it is within my own knowledge that they could easny nave got any amount of it at Be. But they did not want to pay' so much if they could get labour cheaper, and hence the Chinese scheme. However, that will not prove a very serious trouble in the long run, for the Chinese now in the country will steadily save up all they can, and at the end of their contract time they will return to their beloved China."

"There is another phase of the labour question, however," continued Mr Hutchison, "which may come to be a source of future trouble. Indians are flocking into the Iransvaal in large numbers. They wilt constitute a very serious menace to whitelabour. They are Hindoo*, and according to the requirements of their religion they voluntarily live at an almost inconceivably v a P r ate — a* a far cheaper cost than even ■!u fe mese - Moreov &r, they will not trade with Europeans, but isolate themselves entirely as to trade, thus forming distinct foreign communities in the midst of the Juirop&an settlement, and largely underselling white labour. They may yet prove an awkward matter to deal with "

Several Milton shopkeepers complain of a recurrence of petty thefts from their shops. Florilinb J — For the Teeth anb Breath.— A. few drops of the liquid " Floriline "■ sprinkled on a wet tooth brush produces a pleasant lather, which thoroughly cleanses the teeth from all parasites or impurities, hardens lac gums, prevents tartar, stops decay, gives to the teeth a peculiar pearly-whiteness, and a delightful fragrance to the breath. It removes all unpleasant cdour arising from decayed teeth or tobacco smoke. " Tha Fragrant Ploriline," being composed in parts of Honey and sweet herbs, is. delicious to the taste, and the greatest toilet discovery of the age. Of all Chemists and Perfumers. Wholesale depot, 33 Farringdon road, London, England*