Labour on the Rand.

Southland Times, Issue 19264, 30 January 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

Labour on the Rand.

A lending resident of Johannesburg, writing to thu Premier of New Zealand, says :— You are interested, I know, in the trend of affairs in South Africa. Well, in the-d new colonies things uro in a si ute of chuoa. This is in truth a country of monopolies, and those who have the monopolies are holding on very tenaciously. Tho war freed the mineowners from many exactions ; but, not content with getting explosives at half former cost, other commodities at a like reduction, and concessions by sea and lund. they are holding up the country by demunds for cheap labour. 'It is all a shauu to suppose thero is not an abundance of black labour in South Africanative mces, rooted to tho land, that it is or should be our destiny to provide for. The natives census is based on what is~ received from tho hut tax, but tho blacks (like many Europeans) seek to evailu taxation, and so the return of poiiiilation calculated on such false promises is altogether erroneous. The cry for Chinese is not that they or any other alien labourers are u. necessity, but that it is supposed they will be cheaper. The supposition in regard to the cheapness of the Chinese has not bean borne out by the report of the envoys sent to China to arrange preliminaries, and in coneefjuence there is now u certain lukewarm- J

ness about them on tho part of the mining I houses. Still, with no move being mado ' things are coining to a dreadful pass on the Hur.d. Johannesburg is fun of unemployed. The tulk is all that they came to a country full of riches, where thero was work for till, to find that the show is run by a few millionaires, who dictate what is being done and should bo done. The accepted idea in this country is that every man has his price. What I we want is a loader above being bought, who will point the way. The minerals of tho country surely belong to the State, and if thofce who hold the reef will not work it tho solution is to nationalise the mines. Enough of high politics. Let us return to our muttons — I mean it literally. Two Now Zealand butchers hero tell me that most of the meat now being sent here fromi the colony is very bad. Our nwat, then, is getting a bad name. II would be well to pet it graded in the colony. Mr F. IT. IV Cresswell, whose evidence before the Transvaal Labour Commission on the subject 01* whito labour for the mines, led to his being relieved of his position as manager of the Village Main i Reef Company, was. before leaving JoI hnnnesburg, presented by the white miners of tin- company with an illuminated testimonial In acknowledging the gift. Sir Cresswell said that having struck n blow in their defence he was prepared to accept the consequences, which they saw in his dismissal lie warned them on no account to allow themsel-.es to bo bullied or cajoled into consenting to the importation of Chinese. White miners worked nnd thrived in other lands, and if Hie huge native population of South Africai was insufficient to supply the mines with labour ut a fair price, which no ono could seriously believe, the alternative to be insisted on was the importation of whites in sufficient numbers. He urged i lie men not to lose sight of the political aspect of the question, nor to forget that the importation of Chinese would leave the balance of power in all matters affecting their interests in the hands of the capitalists The only way they had of protecting themselves was by insisting on the submission of the whole question to the public, and always remembering that each one of them was a member of that public, ar.d entitled to bo heard in the decision. Writing under date of Bth December from Johannesburg, an Australian who has invested largely in that city, writes as follows to a, friend in Wellington : — '" I cannot say as yet what the probable course of events will be. The all-absorlv-ing question is that of labour for the mines. Prosperous as the mining industry was before tho war, the financial bowses were rapacious enough to desire 'lower working costs,' and (as you know") introduced.' as soon as mining was resumed, an all-round reduction in the Kaffir wages of one-third, and at the samo time brought, into operation u scheme for recruiting which took the form of a limited liability company, of which only the

MVBMOnM«MPMMWIM«DMW«HBM««w«aOHi«MMHfIU*. 'various groups' — and they -were practically all — controlling tho industry could become members. The lowering of iho wapcs was soon. found. to «o affect tho labour supply that, after about eighteen months, the former rates were reverted to, but although the supply improved, thero remained — and still remains — a cansiderable distrust in the native mind ugainst the methods of the ' Labour Supply Association, Limited." Somo five months ago a Commission was appointed to enquire into the visible- supply of native labour, and it has just recently rej parted that the supply is, and is likely to continue, inadequate- On this tho financial houses ha/ve* asked the Government fo legislate in tho directian of permitting indentured Asiatics to be brought in under conditions a.s to repatriation. The Oovernment has long been recognised ns being with the mine owners, and the report -of the Commission was anticipated from before the members were appointed. so thnt arrangements have as far as possible been already made to bring in (.'hine.se in numbers which do not fall short of 500*,000 within the next five yttirs. but now that they arc on. as they imagine, the brink of success, difficulties l.a\<- arisen with the Chinese Government, which probably means that much lash will In- required to overcome the diplomatic relations. There has been throughout a very considerable section of tho population opposed to Asiatic labour, more especially the Hutch ai.d the nrtisan classes, anil a formidable agitation is likely to arise | before any Chinese will bo allowed to land. Indeed, the trouble ahead seems to mo far more seriaus — in a different way— than the v.-ar. iu so far as the Transvaal and the other States of the sub-continent will stand in relation lo the Mother Country. My opinion is that Asiatics will be introduced, if not from China, then from India, and that there will in a constitutional way be very serious! estrangement between the great bulk of the European population allied with the Dutch aud tho capitalisticand governing classes. Meanwhile there is depression amounting almost to stagnation, without anj- real ca-use. The profits from the mines this year will aggregate over -t0, 000,000, and are mounting up every month, but the money nearly all goes out of the country ir. dividends on over-capitalised companies, while hero the recalcitrant population is punished by the dumping down of business. The next three months will be history making in a very marked degree."'