A METHODIST AT JOHANNESBURG.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5667, 11 September 1896, Page 5 (Supplement)

A METHODIST AT JOHANNESBURG.

The arrogance of the- Dutch settlers of the Transvaal, and the slights to -which English residents are subjected, have been commented upon by most Englishmen who have any knowledge of South Africa. A gentleman, well known in New Zealand, the Eev Mark Guy Pearse, recently visited the Transvaal, and his impressions, which have been contributed to the Methodist Times, certainly bear out the prevailing view. Mr Pearse is careful to point out that he went to Africa on a mission of peace. "lam not," he says, "a jingo by any means, but I have tried honestly to see things as they are, and faithfully to describe what I saw." The gist of Mr Pearse's testimony is that although the raid was indefensible and the incipient revolution was unsuccessful, the necessity for reform is, if anything, greater than ever. At present the attitude of the Boer to the Englishman makes the latter's position well-nigh intolerable. The first thing the visitor found was that " to speak Dutch was to have the mystic sign put at once upon everything, whereas to be English meant an irritating snub." Mr Pearse is a good Christian, but he did not find his introduction to the Transvaal conducive to "brotherly love." It is, of course, possible that the fact of his arrival coming almost immediately after the Jameson raid may have had something to do with, this lack of fraternal feeling. What the raid did conduce to, according to Mr Pearse, was "to check German intrigue in the Transvaal," He was painfully impressed with the corruption of the Transvaal officials, and their cruelty to the natives. " I saw enough," he says, " to stir my blood to a fever of indignation that I felt it difficult to control." "Is it any wonder," he goes on to ask, "that Englishmen are made indignant by things like these P" A rather dramatic incident happened during the reverend gentleman's visit. An old friend of his, Mr George Farrar, had been sentenced along with the other mem-> bers of the Reform Committee. " I had known him long ago at Bedford, and could only think of him still as the lad with those I loved so well." He had the consolation of attending his old friend in prison, and the supreme satisfaction of witnessing his release. The scene was a remarkable one. " Attended by thousands of men, and followed by every kind of cart and car, they were," we read, •• dragged by a score of enthusiastic men to the Exchange ; and then again I saw my friend clinging to a couple of bare heads, whilst again he was shouldered and borne in triumph to his office." Mr Pearce is at least "jingo" enough to find this enthusiasm fully justified. . '