"POOR WHITES” IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2968, 1 February 1911, Page 79

"POOR WHITES” IN SOUTH AFRICA.

It would be difficult to find within the four corners of the British Empire a more cosmopolitan population than exists in the South African Union at the present time ; all sorts, conditions, and nationalities commingle—Britons and Boers, - Hebrews of every conceivable type (from the man who buys rags arid bottles to the opulent millionaire), the swarthy Malay with his scarlet fez, the Greek fruitseller, and the Indian hawker, to say nothing of the innumerable tribes of blacks scattered up and down the sub-continent. But there is one class of people possessing specially noteworthy and interesting characteristics, their direct origin involved in a good deal of obscurity, and their future furnishing much perplexity to the humanitarian. Broadly speaking, the term Pp°r whites” may be taken to mean British subjects of -European origin who are domiciled in the colony, and who have been reduced to a condition of great indigence, from which, it seems, they are unable to raise themselves or-their f amilies without extraneous aid. ' Their number unfortunately is fast increasing, and the problem of finding a solution for their betterment is assuming every day a more serious aspect, as it is felt that many of them stand the chance of drifting into a state of helpless pauperism or becoming utterly demoralised. These “poor” or indigent ■whites, as they are termed, may be said to approximate in some degree to the “submerged tenth” in England; though, from a physical point of view, a sunny climate tells much in their favour. The most of them belong to the Dutch Boer class; but their ranks have from time to time been recruited by runaway sailors, soldiers, brokendown schoolmasters, as well as wastrels generally. Some have drifted into towns, and the effect of their contact with townsmen has in many cases been to familiarise them ■with the vices of urban life. Those in the country are nomadic and unsettled in their habits, trekking about, some of them, with a few sheep or goats. They may ..perhaps live in a tent or in a dilapidated shanty constructed of old sheets of corrugated iron or flattened-out paraffin tins fastened to wooden beams. A few perhaps may asuire to a tenement of sun-dried bricks, but there is hardly am pretence to comfort or convenience in. their dwellings. The children of many parents living in Bp l ively-populated- districts have been allowed to grow up in hopeless ignorance, and have never learned to appreciate the gospel of work or the value of time; indeed, self-respect is in too many instances an altogether unknown qiiantity. They vegetate rather than live in the ordinary acceptation of the term, and this listless, apathetic, spiritless habit of mind continues to be handed down from parent to child as the years go by. Apart from what may be called the force of circumstances, other causes which have contributed to the number of “poor •whites” have been the extension of the railways, which has thrown numbers of ox-waggon carriers out of employment; the subdivision of farms not adapted for supporting many families, which has compelled the less industrious owners to seek some other calling; and in some cases intemperance on the part, of individuals, leading to the impoverishment and ruin of those dependent upon them for support. One of the main causes, however, which has led to the coming into being of this class of people is the want ol proper education. The conditions of life in a sparsely - p op ul ated, non-agricultural country like -the interior of South Africa are undoubtedly favourable to the development of a type of character peculiar to the pioneer; but without education people of this class become more or less unfit for the more strenuous struggle for existence which supervenes on the increase of population. There is reason to hope that with the efforts which are being made to extend the advantages of education throughout the country —as, for instance, the establishment of farm schools —the evil in question will tend to diminish year by year ; but there are many prejudices to be surmounted, not the least of these being that, in the eyes of these people, dignity is lowered by the performance of honest manual labour. This trait has doubtless been festered to a large extent by the fact that in former times slaves performed all the menial and arduous work, and that today natives are the recognised hewers of wood and drawers of water. Very manv of the daughters of impecunious parents could readily obtain situations “domestics,” but they object to be designated “servants,” though “mother’s help"' might be more to their taste. In the course of examination by a select committee on this question a witness was asked, “What is the cause of these people being poor whites?” and the answer given was, “Because their parents were too proud to let them learn any trade, or, in fact would not let them learn to work at all. The young fellows aiv too proms

to work as ordinary day labourers—they all want to be klein baases; the girls prefer to sit at home and wait till they get husbands; a couple of the boys may look after the sheep, and the rest will hang about the place and get up to all sorts of mischief." I have heard of a comparatively poor family where there are 11 daughters, and not one of them shows any inclination to go out and work, poverty being preferable. And yet there is some invaluable material among these indigent whites. The superintendent of the Industrial School at Uitenhage, Mr M'Jannett, who had many years' educational experience in Scotland, speaks mcst highly of the lads with whom he has come in contact. He believes that the solution of the problem lies in educating the coming generation. Young fellows 16 or 17 years of age, who have had absolutely no instruction whatever, have coma to his school, and better latent talent is not to be found all the world over, if properly developed and supervised. I might 'say that the institution in question was founded by a committee of the Presbytery of the Dutch Reformed Church. It is supported by Government grants, coupled with the proceeds of the sal* of the articles manufactured by the lads There is also a girls' indigent home at Graaff-Reinet, the object of which is to take away children from undesirable surroundings and train them to become good mothers' helps, so that in after years they can earn a respectable living. The Destitute Children's Relief Act was passed in 1905 under which destitute children are admitted to the home- firstly, those who wander about uncared for and without parents or guardians; secondly, those who live in houses of immorality, or whose mothers lead an immoral life; and, thirdly, those who live among thieves" and drunkards. The matron's testimony is to the effect that not a single case has turned out a failure, and the only matter for regret is that such institutions cannot be multiplied and more waifs of humanity brought under their benign and elevating influence. Then, again, an experiment made at the railway workshops shows that the boys, after proper training, become excellent mechanics and do not compare unfavourably with imported labour, notwithetanding that when they start their career they are for the most part absolutely illiterate. An effort has also been made to enrol men of the "poor white" class in the police force, for which they appear well adapted, and great satisfaction has been given. One would naturally be led to suppose that, in a mineralised country like South Africa, mining was a pursuit which could be very advantageously exploited; but if European lads were to be taken on and taught the duties of a miner they would have to do the same class of work as the Kaffirs—eerre a sort of apprenticeship, in fact. Here again sentiment steps in, and the whites object under any circumstances to do the same kind of labour as natives do. Even in the _ Namaqualand copper mines the poor whites have not proved a success; men and boys alike have a kind of natural repugnance to the calling, whereas in Cornwall, for instance, boy® go to work with their fathers, and begin at the lowest rung of the ladder. One witness before the commission to which reference has already been made, who possesses a large tannery and boot factory, employs a number of poor whites, and finds them very amenable to discipline and training. The younger ones havi* no inclination, when they have learned the trade, to go back to the land, as they find there is more money to be made in the factory; out the older men who have grown up on farms have a tendency, after they have* accumulated some means, to get a few sheep and cattle and go back to the country again. Many of these latter, however, struggle along for a while and then return to the factory. It must be borne in mind that formerly, when a man got into such a condition that he had no land on which to live, he would simply trek a little farther, and was encouraged to do so, as the Government wanted the country opened up. Then there is the question of the larger farms, the owners of which may each have two or three families of the "bywoner" class upon their land. The farmer gives them a good deal of assistance, it may be; but after 20 years or so the two or three families may have become 20 families, and then there is no room for them. The same trouble has bee]' experienced in America. Another contributing factor to the existing state of things is the desire of the people always to live on the old farm, divide it, and subdivide it, and thus the progressive members of the poor white family are held back by their debased and undesirable surroundings. The farms and the water are divided communally, the mcst cannot be made out of the land because the people will not combine, and the good men are retarded by the others. A clergyman recently in the course of a lecture told his audience that he had obtained for 23 young men of poor Dutch families in his parish situations as porters, signalmen, and gangers; and, although the wages averaged £2 a week, only four of the 23 retained their posts. Some said, "Why should we carry passengers' luggage? We are white as well as they"; and others found the work too hard or too continuous, so they gave it up, and went back to idleness and beggary. It will be seen from the foregoing that the question is beset with difficulty, the pressure of circumstances and the lack of education telling heavily_ upon a verylarge class of the community who, experience has proved, can be raised in the social scale; although it seems that the process must inevitably be a slow one, denandlng all the fostering care and supervision that philanthropic effort can bestow. The by no means few instances that have come to light where poor whites have got the better of their surroundings and been converted into industrious citizens are a proof that we know but little

of tli} hidden qualities of things, and that treasure can be frequently extracted from jncst unpromising material.—Chambers’s Journal.