MR.FOWLDS, M.H.R.,IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 84

MR.FOWLDS, M.H.R.,IN SOUTH AFRICA.

CFbou Oub Own CosaESPOiroENT.) LONDON, March 17. " I had a very good time in South Africa," remarked Mr George Fowlds, M.H.R., when he called upon me yesterday. '" Everybody was most kind and hospitable, particularly those in official circles,. I lunched by invitation with Lox-d and Lady Selborne in Johannesburg. I met all the members of the Natal Ministry and the various South African Governors. All were extremely kind, and afforded me every possible facility for travelling about the country and investigating its condition. I was granted free | passes over all the railways, and made good use of them, visiting Pretoria, j Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Kimb&rley, j Mafeking, Durban, and all the points of interest, especially those connected with the late war." I presume that while you were on the spot you took the opportunity of looking into the Chinese question, about which

we have been hearing so much in England of late? "Certainly I did," replied, MrFowlds. " I investigated as * carefully as possible the condition "of the Chinese' labourers; ' every opportunity was given me ot doing co, and I looked into the matter -. as thoroughly a3 I could." And what conclusion did. you arrive at? ! " Nothing shook' my original - opinion," •answered ,Mr Fowlds, " that ■a. huge mist take was committed in importing- Chinese' ! at, all. On that- point I remained -as - firmly convinced as ever. But I .could-, find no grounds at' all for the representa-' tions that have been so. freely indulged' in 1 that ithe .Chinese , labourers £re in - any I respect ' ill-treated. On " the' contrary, I say emphatically that -the general ! condition and treatment of the Chinese i coolies is such as in their own .country" jthey never dreamed of. the 'possibility of enjoying. Most assuredly, .in' China they I could^never in- their. wildest 'dreams' have conceived ' the ' possibility"of \ their"; 'being fed and' lodged in 'thd-way.thc-y^are in -South Africa, " All the talk * about' "theirsuffering • ill-usage may be - dismissed, "as mere ' invention. ,■.'*. ' i '■' I Mt- is contended, is it Ino J t,vth*at most' of the low-grade : ofe" mines :camno£ be , worked; ~ { except at a loss, with white laihour? 1 -.' * f "That is alleged, no doubt," " replied -Mr - Fowlds ; " butl.jmagine'it is ,more "ajquee^ j tion of being' larger'- or smaller ' profits. -.'"tAs.^' ' for the assertion that climatic conditions are unfavourable to white ' labour-Tor; indeed, practically precludes its' employment, — I am satisfied there is nothing in that. ; Manifestly, the , importation r of Chinese labour has greatly helped the mining "industry, and particularly the • mine-owners. But the serious public question'-fs whether"' the many sooial disadvantages attaching .to this course do not - greatly - outweigh ite ■ few advantages.- For one thing, it neoes- | sarily tenets to encourage' the rage' for I excessively cheap labour. For instance, I , ■, saw ooolio women, working at twopence A 1 day, under a Kaffir overseer. The plain } fact is that in South Africa every white man regards physical labour as something • quite beneath his own dignity, and only to bo' performed by the coloured races. The mine-owners, on the other hand.- declSie that, even , with coloured labour,' .they s cannot get nearly sufficient for their urgent requirements. And, from their point of view, there js __possibly_ something io be said on this "score, but the objections to the importation of Chinese coolies are <far too great to be taken into account in "the interests of particular firms or individuals/*