A GLIMPSE AT SOUTH AFRICAN AFFAIRS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12550, 13 July 1905, Page 8

A GLIMPSE AT SOUTH AFRICAN AFFAIRS.

OPINIONS OF A RETURNED NEW

ZEALANDER

EDUCATION MATTERS, AND BOER

BITTERNESS

THE CHINESE PROBLEM

Miss Davis, of Auckland, who went from Wanganui district to the Transvaal three years ago under engagement to teach in the schools of that Colony or of Orange River Colony, has just returned to New Zealand. She spoke en- . teriaingly and instructively on educational and general subjects to a Post representative. Her experience in three years sojourn was gained in two colonies, and in fourteen schools, and for this reason her observations on the Boer character are of special interest. The feeling of the Boers against the British, sho thinks, gets more bitter as time goes on. It is to be seen in the playground "between British aril Boer children. Boer children will not speak English unless they ape absolutely compelled to. There is little or no chance of another Boer uprising, but the two races ate separated by sharp lines, and the recent enfranchisement of the soldiers of the garrisons has further embittered the feeling, for the Boers say that if they now get representation in an electorate all the authorities will have to do to restore British preponderance will be to transfer a few garrisons of soldiers to a district on any pretence. In the Transvaal schools, books are provided free to all the pupils. It has been found that the cliildren treat the books carelessly, and on Ist July a new regulation was made that books should not be taken away unless the children paid for them, .at contract price. The foregoing experience is of interest in New Zealand, seeing that a movement for free books has lately been started here. Tho last school of which Miss Davis took charge was at Bulfontein, in the Transvaal. As showing the Boer children's ignorance of the English language, Miss Davis mentioned that on I the first morning she took charge only two out 6t thirty-five children understood her meaning, when she said, "Stand." She had been preceded by a Dutch teacher, and everything was "done" in Dutch except the English reading lesson. In the play-grounds the British children are beginning to talk Dutch because of the inability and unwillingness of the Boer children to converse in English. The Kaffirs of the localities know very little English; there is a tacit agreement amongst both Briton and Boer to speak to them only in Boer Dutch. Tho kindergarten system is insisted upon in all the country schools, . and during vacation special classes are held for teachers not up in the system. The whole education system of the colonies is liberal. The primary schools give tuition up to the.third standard, after which the pupils are sent to the high schools, whare tuition is* also free, for those who cannot afford to pay, under a pystem of bursaries resembling those of England. Those pupils who want to Sualify for teachers are continued in heir courses free of expense for two years at the Normal College. There are no universities there yet, but the want is to bo filled shortly. A system of transport of children from country districts to* town schools that prevails in the Transvaal might with advantage be adopted in this country. A committee known as the transport committee is elected by the parents to arrange for the bringing to school each day of out-back children, and it is a bright sight to see farmers' bullock waggons laden with children coming into town every- morning and departing after school is finished in the afternoon. An allowance of 4s per week per child is made, and in some cases the children are boarded out instead of bein^j driven in. The feeling in Johannesburg and districts against the introduction of Chinese labour to the mines is still very bitter. There is hardly anyone outside the mine-owners who favour the system. A deep conviction prevails that the authorities will be unable to control the conditions of affairs they are rapidly creating. The Boers are even stronger in this opinion than the British. Every week there is a riot in one or other of the compounds, and already 2 white men have been murdered there - by the Chinese. The. importations continue, thousands pouring in at short intervals. One murder took place a month or two since. The mines work day and night, week day and Sunday, year in and year out. Christmas Day is the nominal holiday. The gold won is increasing every month. From the Rand mines in the month before Miss Davis left the month's record was 399.7980z5. Horse-sickness is still prevalent in the Transvaal. One remedial measure prevents horses being driven more than five miles without "out-spanning" when the journey to be made is over ten miles. As a result of this a party with which Miss Davis travelled took from Sunday night to Wednesday morning; to cover thirty miles-. The Kaffirs are having the worst time new they have had since the war. Last year's mealie crop was a failure, and it will be necessary for the black to get work this year that he may pay his hut tax. Recently a census of the Kaffirs was taken. The process was by means of beads. "These were of different sizes and colours; a black bead for a grown male, a blue for a grown female, and so on. Tho system was found to work very well. Miss Davis enjoyed her experiences in the South African colonies, and has nothing but commendatory remarks concerning the educational authorities: they fulfilled their part of the agreements to the letter, and went beyond it in many cases.