A Visitor from the Transvaal.

Southland Times, Issue 19549, 2 May 1905, Page 2

A Visitor from the Transvaal.

THE CHINESE AND RACIAL QUES-

GOOD COUNTRY FOR YOUNG MEN

Hie Rev. J. R. Flynn Anderson, Presbyterian minister at Zuurfontein station, Johannesburg, is at present in’ Invercargill, as tire guest of the Rev. Mr Lindsay. The visitor is on furlough, and has spent some months in Australia and New Zealand, admiring, as lie says, the beauties of both lands. His trip is to lie a truly “ grand tour,” as after leaving New Zealand he proposes to visit the Soutl'il Sea Islands, and thence proceed to India, China, and Japan. Mr Anderson, who is a young Scotsman of 28, has spent about six years in the Transvaal. He went out as chaplain at the beginning of the. war, and passed through all the stirring events which have nowj become matters of history. l,e was very frequently with the colonial troops, and in fact the conversations he had with many of them about the colonies raised in him an unquenchable desire to visit and see for himself if more than •' the half had been told.” At the conclusion of the war Mr Anderson was attached to the Presbyterian Church of Johannesburg) and prior to Mis departure V’as engaged on what is known as the Government Railway Mission. It must be understood that on the line of railway in. the Transvaal large tracts of country are very sparsely populated, and to reach these isolated people the Government provides the missionary with a special railway carriage, which is attached to tfce rear of the train, and may be s'lunted off at any particular station which the minister may desire to visit. The Johannesburg Presbytery’s sphere ‘ of influence estends to Rhodesia and Zambesi. Mr Anderson is firmly convinced that there is a great future before Rhodesia. The Government is encouraging settlers by giving them grants of land, and the new alluvial gold diggings will materially help to epen up the country. * • ’

Speaking on the Chinese labour question, Mr said that he was surprised to observe the attitude of the colonial press on this matter. When the proposal was first made, the white people were most strongly opposed to the im-. portation of Chinese, holding that there was sufficient native labour in tlh'e country. It was easy to understand why the Chinamen were wanted by the mineowners, as tlio Kaffir wanted 2s per day, and the Chinaman only Is per day. There were 50,000 Chinamen, ahd at Is per day saved this meant over '£'so,ooo per month to the mine-owners. The Chinamen wore not doing white men's wiork, ami it was 'a/ fact that since the importation took, place many hundreds more of white men had secured remunerative employment through fresh fields being opened up, The general public had been opposed to the importation, but they were glad enough to let them come so long as the distress in Fie country would bo relieved. As to the talk in the press about ” white slavery,” the De Beers had a great many Kaffirs in their compounds who were treated far more strictly than were the Chinese. Further, the N.Z. Government should reform things a little bit in Fiji before commencing reforms in .'South Africa Ho was satisfied that the Chinese would not be allowed to over-run the Transvaal as the Hindoos,had over-run Natal The Chinese were, under the contract, to be discharged in their own country, and public opinionf would enforce the observation of the terms of ttie c attract. Mr Anderson added that the poverty and lack of employment in South Africa was mull'll exaggerated in the minds of the people in Australasia. He was firmly convinced that any young man who was I'.onestly willing to work, and who was not afraid to commence on tlio lower rungs of the ladder, was hound to get on in South Africa. He would not say that it was a place for married men, but it was the place for a young fellow. People did not advertise vacancies ; the man on tho spot stepped in. He had seem an engineer working in a subordinate position at £l5 per nonth rise in one week to a responsible petition nt £35 per month. He was the man on tho spot. As rar ns agriculture is concerned Mr Anderson said that there Is much to be learned. It was an eye-opener to compare the up-to-date methods in New Zealand with the out-of-date ideas prevailing in South Africa. 'the Government, however, was doing a good deal to try and assist the agricultural industries, more especially by establishing experimental farms, etc. Racial differences have almost entirely died out since the war. Occasionally one heard of men stumping the country and trying to raise bad feeling), but the great bulk of the Dutch people were quite satisfied. In fact, he had been told by people who were there before t.h’o war that there is now far more harmony between the two races than before the war. His own experience on the railways was that the British and Dutch employes got on very well together. It was no unusual thing to see o'Dutch stationmaster and British porter, or vice versa, ot stations, and in all athletlics—football, cricket and vo'luntceilin^ —the British and Dutch plajN cd and worked most harmoniously together. He did not think that there would be any rooi'a trouble, though naturally the Dutchman wns taking all ho coutd got in the course of settlement.

Mr Anderson says that ft was really through meeting New Zealanders in tho Transvaal that he came out to this colony ; ” they do brag about their country, and I came out to see -f it was true.”- He is warm in his praises of the ’Government Tourist Department. He was surprised to see that the Government did such a lot for tho tourists, and in his opinion, from a visitor's point of view, the attention shown to visitors could not be very much’ improved.