Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1904. THE RAND LABOR QUESTION.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11167, 30 January 1904, Page 4

Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY .] SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1904. THE RAND LABOR QUESTION.

The most important and absorbing exclusively British topic, outside the fiscal question, during the past fortnight in the Colonies, has undoubtedly been the Band labour question. The present crisis has been gradually coming to a head since Hie end of the war, and the idea of cheap coloured labour was conceives even before that — as soon, in fact, as ultimate victory was Some two or three months ago we had .a leading article on this very subject. It appealed to us more than would otherwise have been the case because we foresaw where Mr Seddon's inclinations would lead him to, and we would have saved him from himself if he had been that sort of man. But he isn't. He did protest to the Transvaal authorities and to the Imperial Government, and that in no uncertain language; he did more — he contrived to bring Mr Deakin and the whole Federal Government over to his way of thinking and protesting. As we mentioned the other day, in an article on Australia, the Commonwealth Premier has completely altered his opinion in the last two years. Indeed, until quite lately he was firmly opposed to interfering in Transvaal domestic affairs at all. Probably he wishes now that he had not allowed himself to be led by Mr Seddon. He has ben snubbed for his pains by both the Transvaal and the Imperial authorities and, of course, our own Premier's dispatch has not been left unanswered. Besides, no good has been done. Absolutely none. We do not , even • think that the incident will be worth many votes by the end of next year, and we should have contemplated Mr Massey jumping the Premier's claim with absolute complacency. For the Opposition the move would not have been a bad one, if only because a move in some direction; for the party in power, with endless calls at' home for energetic attention and action, the protest was beautiful in theory but foolish in practice. We do not say that Chinese labour is necessary on the Band, because we do not feel sufficiently well-informed to give a definite opinion, which, to be worth anything, must be the outcome of a thorough knowledge of all the conditions. We do say, however, and most> emphatically and from actual personal experience of South Africa in general and the Transvaal in particular, I that it is abaurd to judge the Band by a New Zealand standpoint. Views not conceived on the spot are not worth expressing, and certainly not worth cabling. We have no right, then, , nor call to demand to be heard and consulted by a sister Colony in its internal arrangements. ! As it is, we " have, got out of it rather well, better than was to be expected, or we deserved. From - what we know of, South Africa we can quite believe that it is not a white man's country and never will be. The idea of a "White Transvaal" would be laughed to scorn on the Band by those who know what's what. There they are used to say that it is the last place the Creator made and He did not finish it. It is irreverent, certainly, but it expresses exactly the opinions of threefourths of the European inhabitants. We Britishers — many of vs — have extraordinary ideas of the rights of our race in this world. There are many hundreds* of millions of black, and yellow, and variously tinted folk in the universe, and they .must live. And to live most of them must also work. It is reasonable to suppose that the whites were not intended, ulimately, to wipe out entirely their shaded brethren; therefore some country must be open to them to toil in and live and die in. But if democratic British Colonial theory could be carried to its logical conclusion the blacks, and the yellows, and the reds, and the rest of the racial spectra, would be left no place at all. Is it not reasonable and Christianlike to suppose that there are quarters of the globe where coloured people must sojourn and predominate over whites by reason of being better suited to the climate and other natural conditions? Surely it must be so. Then, we have no hesitation in stating that if ever a land was predestined to harbour and nurse the lower types of human beings that land is Darkest Africa. Many hundreds of Europeans are there starving to-day and many' thousands more exist only. But the . country, where it can only support, say, a few hundred thousand whites in comfort, would afford opulence to millions of Kafirs, Malays, Hottentots, Coolies, Chows, et hoc genus omne. A Chinaman, for instance, will grow fat and rich on what would not keep a New Zealand or Australian workman, with, a democratic

appreciation .of what is due to him," aliye. This is truth, positive fact. We haye purposely refrained from referring to th* financial aspect involved. The advocafeV of cheap tinted labour — the big majofftjf —tell us that the Transvaal must go banirupt unless the importation takes place, and that soon. The minority, on- .the other hand, will have it that the mines • can be made to pay handsomely with white labour. Which is correct we do not presume to' say. It is significant, however, that many Australians on the spot, who are struggling to live and ought to knj£>w, toally disagree with Mr Deakin. What we plead for is that New Zealand should not judge others when they are in- 'no' position to do so. It is not politic and; it most assuredly is not fair. But let'ii; be distinctly understood that we have no ; sympathy whatever with cheap colored 1 labor, except where it can be shown that it is essential. Possibly the Transvaal riasuch a place. . • ;•*£'