BTRANDED AT THE CAPE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 12580, 29 September 1908, Page 4

BTRANDED AT THE CAPE.

South Africa has not proved the El Dorado it was prophesied it would be after the Boer war, and thousands upon thousands of people will have cause to regret that they were ever tempted to try their fortunes in that part of the British possessions. Thousands flocked there during and after the war, building high hopes, that were destined to be rudely dashed to the ground, amongst them being a large number of Australians. About 12 months ago the New South Wales Government paid the passages of many hundreds of stranded Australians who were anxious to get back home, but more were left behind than had the go6d fortune to receive assistance from a paternal Government. The Aberdeen liner Miltiades, which arrived at Sydney from Capetown last week, brought news that thousands of Australians are still stranded at the Cape. The majority of them are destitute and practically starving, and have but Jittle hope of ever getting a passage back again, unless they can secure the necessary money. An officer of the vessel, when questioned about the statement^ said, "Yes; they are there in thousands. They besiege nearly every ship coming this way, and but few of them are lucky enough to get a passage. Passenger ships take a few as extra stewards, but their numbers never seem to grow less. Many of them cannot get enough to eat. They are nearly all good tradesmen, too, who have been crowded out." oA passenger by the ship was Mr S. George, president of the Australian Association of South Africa. He told an interesting story of the vicissitudes of the stranded Australians. He had been in Capetown for some years, and saw all that was going on there, being for a time in charge of the Heidelberg Refuge Camp. It is an unkind land to Australians, he said, and it is nothing .more than a black man's land now. There are thousands of Australians and other white men there, particularly at Capetown and Johannesburg. They are starving. Hundreds of them are to be seen begging for a bit to eat in the streets. They crowd into the seaports, with the hope of working- their passages fcack on the various vessels bound this way, but there is little chance for them. The whole place is swarming with coloured races. One night, said Mr George, some of them stood in the street at Capetown and counted 300 coloured people to 30 whites. The aliens make the wii.^e people get off the footpaths: If they «cc a white woman on the path she is crowded out on to the road. Mr George reckoned the percentage of coloured races at Capetown at about 70 per cent. A"us« tralians are detested there because they belong to a white man's land. Neither the Government nor the people will help them, but a number are subsisting on the charity of other "Australians, who can hardly help themselves. Many are returning to Australia, having to leave their wives and families there until they can send for Iliem. The country has gone to ther.dogs. There is but little business of any kind

doing, because the black population spend but a trifle, of their earnings in mealies to keep them alive, and carry the remainder of their money back to their kraals. The plight of the Australians is a sad one indeed. They must remain there and starve, added Mr George, they cannot walk back. And no one seems inclined to help them to get back. The speaker said he saw a good deal of the rush for passages back to Australia when the New South Wales Government was paying the passages of many hundreds of the stranded people, ac a great number of them app'ied through the Australian Association at the Cape. The greater percentage of the applicants were bona fide Australians. But tnere were hundreds and hundreds so unfortunately placed away back in the country that they were unable to get to Capetown so as to secure a trip home.