the assistance of which the repopulation of Johannesburg with its refugees and others would pretty well suffice. Then their steady and perhaps rapid increase if you please; but always to give as much chance as possible to the deliberate and slow-moving Englishman at home. I should not scruple in the least to keep out the Levantine and Continental foreigner for that purpose expressly, among others; and when it is considered that all that is needed to keep such superfluous and unwelcome strangers at a distance is a modification of one of Lord Kitchener's expedients already at work, and that there is warrant for maintaining it for a while in the unsettled state of South Africa which must continue long after the peace, my proposal will not appear so very violent after all.

FREDERICK GREENWOOD.

SOUTH AFRICA

II

CHINESE LABOUR FOR THE RAND

THE supreme importance of the solution of the question of coloured labour in South Africa is now fully recognised, not only by the residents there, but by all who take an intelligent interest in the country; and more especially by those, and they are many and are scattered all over Europe, who, chiefly through the gold-mining industry, have a financial interest in the country.

This question, long a troublesome one, has of late years been growing more and more acute, and has now arrived at a critical stage, in view of the transfer to British authority of very large additional tracts of territory in which, and more especially in the Transvaal, many thousands of labourers will shortly be again employed by Englishmen.

The importance of this subject is brought home to us when we reflect that the extent of country affected by it, from Capetown to Northern Rhodesia, is, roughly speaking, about a million and a half square miles, or about the size of Europe exclusive of Russia and the northern parts of Norway and Sweden; and its importance as regards numbers is evident when we remember that the gold-mining industry alone in the territory requires about one hundred thousand men to keep in full work the, in round numbers, 6,500 stamps already erected; not to mention the increase in the future, which it is confidently asserted will in a few years on the Rand alone be double that number. Nor must we forget that as the development of the country advances the numbers required for pastoral and agricultural purposes will grow steadily year by year till, in all probability, they will far surpass those required for mining.

The employment of white labour, for spade and pick work, in agriculture and in the mines, does not enter into the question as it at present stands, and need not be further referred to here. The question is practically one of the employment of native labour only, or of the importation of Asiatic labour in addition.

Up till now the coloured labour employed has been, practically, all native labour, which, for the sake of convenience, we shall collectively call Kaffir labour.

The Kaffir is, as a rule, a muscular fellow, is a good herdsman,

and, after some training, makes a fairly good miner also; but he will not himself till the soil if he can possibly help it; he leaves that to his women folk. He will work hard for a few months at a time, or even for a year or two, if he has some special object in view; but he will not settle down to a life of labour. In British territories the Kaffir has, as a rule, sufficient land, cattle, and wives to supply his needs, but as his sons grow up they have not. The young men, therefore, go to Capetown, or Port Elizabeth, or Durban, or to the mines, and there work for a couple of years or so, when they return to their tribe, buy cattle and a wife or two, and spend the remainder of their days doubtless in the study of the transcendental and the combustion of tobacco. Should the young men find work at no great distance from their homes, they prefer to work for several short periods of four or six months each, returning to their homes for a few months between the periods of labour. This state of affairs is not viewed with satisfaction by the white employer, for, the Kaffir's ambition in money-making being so easily satisfied, his time of labour is short, hence labour is scarce and therefore gets dearer. But with better wages the Kaffir works fewer days for the white man, thus coolie labour, naturally, gets still scarcer and still dearer. To compel the Kaffir to work longer for him, and, doubtless, for revenue reasons as well, the colonists imposed a hut-tax of from 10s. to 158. per annum; but still the labour is dear, and, at the mines, far from sufficient.

Among the white population there is a strong party who advocate the imposition of a heavy poll-tax, as high as 21. per head in some districts, instead of the very much smaller hut-tax per family. It is pretty generally acknowledged, however, that the enforcing of such a tax would, in all probability, cause another rebellion among the natives. The Kaffir is, I believe, fairly contented under English rule, but to suppose, as is so generally done in England, that all the Kaffirs prefer English protection to their former independence is a great mistake. Sometimes, moreover, the Kaffir has visions of a shorter road to his ambition of wives and cattle, and many, especially among the warlike and conquering Bantu race, are then simply spoiling for a fight.

Thus the coloured labour question is by no means only a financial one, it is a grave political one as well. The School Kaffir' is not a success. The Kaffir generally has been educated far enough to know that he has improved, but he has also got to know that he can give trouble, and often feels that he would rather give trouble than be driven to learn or do what he does not wish to learn or do. Still as regards civilisation he must continue to improve or gradually be extinguished.

The moral and social aspects of the question we do not propose to discuss, only remarking in passing that we have it on the authority

of Mr. Muir, the Superintendent of Education at the Cape, that Kaffir children are as quick to learn as white children, and are as well behaved. Indeed it seems as if the social problem is not so much one of the education of the Kaffir as one of the education of the white man, for it is noticeable that the racial social friction is most marked in districts where the white man is least educated or has lately immigrated. The racial problem will never be solved by an uneducated, though dominant, white race.

Let us now turn to the question of imported labour. It is universally stated by all the mining companies on the Rand that the native labour is of indifferent quality, dear, difficult to procure, and, even under present development, quite inadequate in supply; and that when the development of the mines progresses in the near future the supply of Kaffir labour will, without doubt, be totally inadequate.

Mr. Rhodes, in the course of a speech delivered on the 31st of May last to the Chamber of Mines at Bulawayo, said that, in view of the labour difficulty in South Africa, he was in favour of legislation controlling the importation and deportation of Asiatic labour.

Some years ago an attempt was made to remedy this unsatisfactory state of the labour market by the importation of coolies from India, and some scores of thousands of them were brought to Natal. But it was soon found that, in a year or two, these Indian coolies, on saving a little money, did not continue at coolie work, but began trading in all sorts of ways, and, being sharp at business and very economical, began to undersell the trading colonists, and to-day there are about 6,000 of them so employed in Durban alone. Within the last few months a couple of thousands of Arabs have been imported by the Chartered Company to work by contract in the mines in Rhodesia; but the experiment was not successful. Many refused altogether to work under ground, and many proved insubordinate in other ways. Already several hundreds, chiefly from those employed in the Globe and Phoenix mine, have been sent home.

Now I venture to say, and I may as well say it at once, that every one that has had personal experience of each and all of the different kinds of labour-Somali, Arab, Indian, and Chinese-that it has been proposed to import will unhesitatingly affirm that, viewed solely from a commercial point of view, Chinese labour is by far the best. The Chinaman is not turbulent like the Arab, nor is he rebellious under pressure like the Kaffir; he is thrifty and economical like the Indian, but, unlike him, he is not mean and hoarding, but, on occasion, can and does spend, and even give freely. Doubtless he is more of an animal than either the Indian or Arab coolie, but he is by no means a semi-savage whose prehistoric days were yesterday. In physique he is at least equal to, if not superior to, any of the others, he is neat and (compared with other

coolies) intelligent in his work, while for patient, steady, persevering work (especially on contract) he has few equals and no superior. He has, however, his limitations and his peculiarities. He must be allowed to house and feed himself in his own way, interference with his domestic arrangements (especially with his food) would be fatal. He must be allowed his high days and holidays, averaging two or three days a month, and he must above all things be allowed a clear ten days at the Chinese New Year. Were a large number of Chinese imported into South Africa doubtless some of them would, if unrestricted by legislation, filter into petty trade, and a larger proportion would doubtless start each on his own account small vegetable gardens each with a pigsty attached, ingeniously constructed out of odds and ends. But both these enterprises are rather to be encouraged, as they tend to make the working Chinese coolie contented and happy, by supplying him with fresh vegetables and fresh pork, and with chow-chow from China, all of which his soul loveth.

Now let us take the two following points, which are, after all, the two chief pivots on which the question of imported labour really turns:

(1) Would it pay the large employers of coloured labour in South Africa to import Chinese labour?

(2) Would such importation be advantageous to the Government of the country?

From the southern districts of China, but especially from Amoy, Foo-chow, and Canton, hundreds of thousands of Chinese coolies leave annually to labour, on the contract system, in foreign countries. Their rate of pay varies much, according to the country to which they go, and whether their employers are their fellowcountrymen or not. If employed in a district that has a good reputation in the labour market, such as Malacca, and by Chinese, they can be had as low as 6 dollars (Mexican) or 12s. per month; but when employed to labour in, to them, practically unknown countries, on a three years' contract, for Europeans, the pay rises to 10 dollars or 208. per month, the coolie finding his own food, except on the voyage, but not his transport, nor his house accommodation. To this sum of 11. per month, or 36l. for the three years, must be added the cost of transport, food on the way, and agency; for Chinese coolies are no exception to the rule that all coolies, Kaffir included, must be engaged through agents of their own race or even tribe. It is difficult to estimate closely under these three heads of expenditure, but we should say that 120 dollars (Mexican), or 12l., would be a close approximation. Regarding the employers' liabilities for return expenses, we found, during an experience in the Farther East lasting over many years, that only a very small percentage of the coolies wished to return home at the end of their three years' contract, seldom so many as ten per cent., and many even of those would re-engage for a