SOUTH AFRICAN AFFAIRS IS IT THE BOOM? (From Our Own Correspondent.) JOHANNESBURG, November 5.

Otago Witness, Issue 2650, 28 December 1904, Page 62

SOUTH AFRICAN AFFAIRS IS IT THE BOOM? (From Our Own Correspondent.) JOHANNESBURG, November 5.

•> , Johannesburg is again something like the Johannesburg of the old times; old times in this fast-living cosmopolitan community meaning, but a few years back. Yes, mining stocks have been on the rise for some weeks and are still soaring. Even the talk o£ war occasioned by the outrage of the Baltic fleet in the North Sea had . only . the most transitory effect on the market, when previously anything of the ' eort would . have brought about a complete slump. The streets are commencing to fill •with eager speculators, and people have become fairly- imbued with the conviction that at last the- wave 6*f depression has been stemmed. Is there solid ground for the optimism that believes the Rand is entering upon another term of prosperity? Let it be hoped so. Yet it is altogether too soon -to predict a recurrence of the halcyon days .before- the war. In any case we have a long leeway to make' up ; a great idle, or semi-idle, population to absorb; and it must be remembered the Transvaal is nqw/, ■addled with an enormous debt, which spells - heavy taxation. The aspect of the moment, liowever, is bright, and the anticipations of good .times may be well founded. This must be allowed. The activity on 'Change as no mere- flutter, seeing it is not only the swell-known, the gambling, stocks that have advanced; there has been an all-round improvement in values. General business, in conformity , with a rising market, has become much more brisk, and the worried look of tradespeople is giving place to complacency. Those that clamoured for alien labour for the mines take credit for the improvement in the outlook. And no doubt ' ithe certainty of having the mines fully manned is responsible for the change. Still, opponents -of Chinese labour never combated the view" that the importation of the yellow man"~~"would place the mining industry on a ljetteir /footing, and that'thusour languishing fortunes would' be restored. The anti-Chinese sentiment contended that any temporary prosperity that came in the train of the Asiatic horde would be dearly purchased by the legacy of contamination with this" Eastern race. But let the controversy anent alien labour rest: you have \ bad it ad nauseam. ' T#fe .position of labour r on the main reef is that there are. upwards of 10,000 Chinese •t work,- > with" half that number or -more cither landing or on the- water; while ■before the end of _ the year a, further 5000 - Bhouid arrive. It^is likely,' then, quite 20,000 foreign labourers will be under' the ■ control of the W-itwatersrand .Labour Association by the -Ist January;, and; coupled with this help from afar, the Kaffirs have •been coming in for service the past few months more freeljxthian^at any period since British rule has been established. This indeed -is'a very satisfactory phase in ihe labour situation. It was feared the Macks, in resentment at the importation oi Chinese, would-be more difficult to recruit than formerly; the contrary appears to be the case; moreover, the Kaffir is spurred to greater zeal by the presence of the yellow man.'- It must be said the condition of the black worker on -most of the mines" has been much improved., since, the advent of the Chinese. There can be* no cavilling «t the way these latter are being housed and fed, and the restrictions placed on •them are not so rigorous as the law allows — are not rjjjqrous enough, is the general complaint ;— and in keeping with the treatment of the new workers there has been fa beftenn-ent in the treatment of the blacks.