(Qarnell Unioecaitg ffilbrarg 
 
 attjaca. SSetn ^orlt 
 
 SOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 HENRY W. SAGE 
 
 1891 
 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 088 412 014 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924088412014 
 
THE 
 
 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW 
 COLONIES UNDER LORD MILNER 
 
 BY 
 
 W. BASIL WORSFOLD 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 
 Vol. I. (Chapters I. to XIV.) 
 FROM THE VEREENIGING AGREEMENT, 31ST MAY 1902, 
 TO THE INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE LABOUR, JUNE 1904 
 
 LONDON 
 
 KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD. 
 
 BROADWAY HOUSE, 68-74 CARTER LANE, E.G. 
 
 1913 
 
 1\ 
 
(\^c^3asg 
 
 "I should prefer to be remembered for the 
 tremendous effort, wise or unwise, in various 
 particulars, made after the war, not only to 
 repair its ravages, but also to restart the New 
 Colonies on a far higher plane of civilisation 
 than they had ever previously attained." (Milner 
 at Johannesburg, 31st March 1905.) 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The source of what is most original and valuable in the in- 
 formation contained in this work is the very complete collec- 
 tion of papers relating to the period 1902-5, which is in Lord 
 Milner's possession. My primary and deepest obligation 
 is, therefore, to him : first, for his confidence in permitting 
 me to have access to these papers and to his private diaries ; 
 and secondly, for the unfailing kindness which he has shown 
 to me — a kindness all the more remarkable in view of the 
 many demands upon his time — during the six years that I 
 have been engaged upon the preparation of these volumes. 
 There is, of course, much that is of interest, both literary 
 and historical, in the private correspondence that cannot be 
 published now. Some of this material must rank as arcana 
 imperii, which cannot be divulged without doing injury to 
 the State ; some of it, again, would, if published, deal need- 
 less wounds, or re - awaken contentions long forgotten. 
 Indeed, it is impossible not to recognise that in the present 
 age, when the obligation of reticence is so widely observed, 
 the writing of the history of our own times — that is, of 
 a frank, complete, and impartial statement of all the vital 
 facts capable of proof — has become increasingly difficult. 
 Fifty years hence the historian will be free to record the 
 most confidential documents of to-day ; and to this extent 
 he will be better equipped than the contemporary writer. 
 On the other hand, he will have no acquaintance with the 
 thousand and one matters of common knowledge which 
 
 iii 
 
iv PREFACE 
 
 are, as it were, a part of the mental atmosphere of the 
 other. 
 
 While, therefore, the contemporary historian is hampered 
 by the obligation of reticence in the discharge of his task, 
 he may yet perform a useful, perhaps an indispensable, 
 service. This much he can do. He can endeavour to 
 make sure that when the time comes for the story to be 
 told without reservation, nothing in the new material then 
 available will be found inconsistent with anything that he 
 has written himself Some new facts, some fuller informa- 
 tion upon this and that episode there will be, and some 
 gaps, perhaps scarcely noticeable, will be filled up ; but his 
 story in all its essential features should remain unaltered 
 and unaffected. 
 
 If this book lives, it will be for a future generation to 
 say in what degree it has achieved this aim. 
 
 Apart from my great outstanding obligation to Lord 
 Milner, I am largely indebted to the published official 
 papers, both Imperial and South African, and to the 
 Johannesburg Star. In respect of this latter source of 
 information my grateful acknowledgments are due to the 
 Argus Printing and Publishing Company, Limited, for per- 
 mission to use the admirably full reports of Mr Chamberlain's 
 South African speeches, of Lord Milner's speeches, and 
 other matter which has appeared in this journal while it was 
 under the successive editorships of the late W. F. Monypenny, 
 myself, and Mr Geoffrey Robinson, now editor of The Times. 
 And here I take the opportunity of stating that, with 
 few exceptions, all the speeches quoted in this book are 
 taken from the pages of the Star. 
 
 My obligations to Sir Lionel Phillip's " Transvaal 
 Problems" (1905), Mr Beak's "Aftermath of the War" 
 (1907), and Sir Edgar Walton's " Inner History of the 
 National Convention" (1912) — works which are invested 
 with a special authority by the personalities of their 
 
PREFACE V 
 
 respective authors — are, I trust, properly acknowledged in 
 the text. 
 
 In addition to these published sources of information 
 I have received valuable assistance from Sir Harry Wilson, 
 K.C.M.G., formerly Colonial Secretary and Acting Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony ; from Mr 
 Patrick Duncan, C.M.G., now a member of the Union 
 House of Assembly, and formerly Colonial Secretary and 
 Acting Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal ; and from 
 Mr Lionel Curtis, formerly Assistant Colonial Secretary for 
 Urban Affairs in the Transvaal Crown Colony Administra- 
 tion. To all of these I am indebted for their kindness in 
 allowing me to consult them upon subjects which came 
 directly within their knowledge. 
 
 Since this work went to press the statesmanship of the 
 Empire has become the poorer by the untimely death of 
 Alfred Lyttelton. To him I am indebted for information 
 upon certain matters in which he was immediately concerned, 
 and for permission to publish quotations from his letters 
 to Lord Milner : and to Sir Richard Solomon my thanks 
 are due for the like permission in the case of one important 
 letter. 
 
 In an earlier book, " Lord Milner's Work in South 
 Africa, 1897-1902," now issued uniformly with these volumes 
 by Messrs Kegan Paul, I endeavoured to trace the events 
 of Lord Milner's High Commissionership (apart from the 
 military history of the war) up to the Vereeniging Agree- 
 ment. The period covered by these volumes extends from 
 this date (31st May 1902) to 31st March 1905 ; and I have 
 added an "epilogue" to bridge the interval between Lord 
 Milner's retirement and the birth of the Union of South 
 Africa on 31st May 1910. During the latter half of the 
 Reconstruction period, I was myself in Johannesburg, and as 
 editor of the Star had opportunities for personal observa- 
 tion which have enabled me to describe the events of the 
 
VI PREFACE 
 
 years 1904 and 1905 from a somewhat closer standpoint. 
 The three volumes, therefore, taken together should furnish 
 a connected narrative of the eight momentous years during 
 which Lord Milner served the Crown and Empire in South 
 Africa. 
 
 I am, of course, solely responsible for the presentation 
 of the facts, and for the opinions expressed in these pages. 
 
 W. B, W. 
 
 RoMDEN Place, 
 Smardkn, Kent, 
 \oth August 1913. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. I 
 
 CHAP. fAGS 
 
 PREFACE iii 
 
 I. "FROM lion's head TO LINE" I 
 
 11. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT . . . l6 
 
 III. THE REPATRIATION 37 
 
 IV. LORD MILNER ON TREK 59 
 
 V. FURTHER MEASURES OF RECUPERATION AND COMPENSA- 
 TION FOR WAR LOSSES 75 
 
 VI. THE TRANSVAAL AND DELAGOA BAY I07 
 
 VII. THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES AT THE TIME 
 
 OF MR CHAMBERLAIN'S ARRIVAL IN SOUTH AFRICA . 121 
 
 VIII. MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES . . . .15° 
 
 IX. MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY . . . .205 
 
 X. ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 233 
 
 XI. THE LABOUR QUESTION — THE ATTEMPT TO SUPPLEMENT 
 NATIVE AFRICAN LABOUR BY UNSKILLED EUROPEAN 
 LABOUR 264 
 
 XII. THE LABOUR QUESTION — CHINESE LABOUR THE ONLY 
 
 PRACTICABLE SUPPLY 29I 
 
 XIII. LORD MILNER AND CHINESE LABOUR 317 
 
 XIV. THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM BY THE 
 
 IMPORTATION OF CHINESE LABOUR 330 
 
 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V 
 
 THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE THREE FUNDS CHARGED TO 
 
 THE BRITISH EXCHEQUER 369 
 
 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI 
 THE MODUS VIVENDI OF i8TH DECEMBER I90I . . . 374 
 
 VU 
 
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW 
 COLONIES UNDER LORD MILNER 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 "FROM LION'S HEAD TO LINE" 
 
 With the surrender of the Boers at Vereeniging the whole 
 of Southern Africa, apart from the territories of Germany 
 and Portugal, became a part of the over-sea dominions of 
 the British Crown. The enormous area, stretching from the 
 southern shores of the Great Lakes to Table Bay, thus 
 united under a common flag, embraced not merely the most 
 fertile and highly mineralised districts of Africa south of 
 the equator, but — a matter of even greater significance — it 
 contained those regions of South and South-Central Africa 
 that are best adapted to form permanent homes for people 
 of European origin. Vast territories on the east and west 
 coasts, belonging to Portugal and Germany, remain outside 
 the British pale; but these possessions of the oldest and 
 newest of the European colonising powers in Africa are 
 beyond comparison inferior in natural resources and climatic 
 conditions to the highlands of Mashonaland, the Transvaal, 
 and Natal, the plateaux of the Cape and Orange River 
 Colonies, and the well-watered lowlands of the eastern and 
 southern coast line. 
 
 But if by comparison with the arid and fever-stricken 
 territories of Portugal and Germany British South Africa 
 may be termed both temperate and fertile, it must not be 
 forgotten that these relatively favoured regions are subject 
 to special physical disabilities which, aggravated, as they 
 VOL. I. 1 A 
 
2 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 have been, by political and social conditions of unprecedented 
 difficulty, have rendered the material progress of the country 
 as a whole both slow and uncertain, and even now cause the 
 industrial fabric laboriously reared during the nineteenth 
 century to rest upon economic foundations alike artificial 
 and unstable. Of these physical disabilities it is sufficient 
 to mention the insufficient rainfall, untimely in season and 
 variable in quantity ; the deficiency of navigable and 
 permanent rivers, and the insect pests and strange and 
 virulent animal diseases that respectively ravage the crops, 
 and decimate the flocks and herds of the farmer. 
 
 A few figures and a brief comparison will serve to 
 exhibit the peculiarities and deficiencies of the economic 
 position of South Africa. Speaking broadly, the new 
 English-speaking countries, whose rapid development is the 
 greatest event of the nineteenth century, are distinguished 
 by their large exports of the surplus produce of the soil. 
 With great areas and relatively small populations, such 
 countries naturally find their readiest sources of realisable 
 wealth in agriculture and the pastoral industries ; and, 
 although in almost all cases industrial progress has been 
 aided and accelerated by discoveries of gold, the ability of 
 their inhabitants to produce cheaply both the articles of 
 food and the raw materials of manufactures required by 
 the more densely-populated countries of Europe remains 
 the basis of their prosperity. Thus in the financial year 
 1904-5, in spite of the recent development of its manu- 
 factures, nearly two-thirds of the total export of the United 
 States — an export amounting to over ;^30o,ooo,ooo in 
 value — consisted of food and raw materials. In the same 
 year (1905) Canada exported (in round numbers) ;^30,000,000 
 worth of food and raw materials out of a total export 
 of ;^40,ooo,ooo ; while Australia, out of a total export of 
 ;£^ 5 0,000,000, sent ;£'20,ooo,ooo worth of wool alone; and in 
 the case of New Zealand two items — frozen mutton and 
 wool — accounted for more than half of a total export of 
 ;f 1 5,000,000 in value. 
 
 These exports presuppose an ample supply of food for 
 home consumption and a high development of agriculture 
 and the pastoral industries ; and these conditions are realised 
 
"PROM LION'S HEAD TO LINE" 3 
 
 fully in all the new English-speaking countries with the 
 sole exception of South Africa. Here we have a country 
 where agriculture is so backward that enough food even 
 for the needs of its own people cannot be grown, and 
 where the export of raw materials is conspicuously meagre 
 as measured by the returns of the other over-sea dominions. 
 In the year 1898 — the last complete year before the war — 
 whereas Canada, Australia, and New Zealand exported, 
 mainly to the United Kingdom, food and raw materials 
 (other than minerals) of the combined value of some 
 ;^70,ooo,ooo. South Africa sent no food and only some 
 ;^4,ooo,ooo worth of wool, ostrich feathers, angora, and 
 other raw materials. At the same time the value of the 
 total South African export for 1898 reached the high 
 figure of ;^26,8oo,ooo — a total which gave South Africa an 
 export per head of her European population of £2y in 
 value, as against £22 per head in Australia, £"] in Canada, 
 and £\'i in New Zealand. The magnitude of this total 
 export is due, of course, to the extraordinary mineral 
 wealth of the country. The value of the gold, diamonds, 
 and copper exported in 1898 was ;^20,Soo,ooo, or nearly 
 80 per cent, of the total export ; and in 1905 it had risen 
 to ^30,000,000, or more than 80 per cent, of the whole 
 {£l6,i,oo,ayS)y 
 
 The salient economic feature revealed by this comparison 
 is the fact that South Africa alone of the new industrial 
 countries is in a position approximating to that of old 
 countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany. 
 Instead of exporting food, it imports it — to the value of 
 ;£■!, 500,000 in 1898 and of .£'2,500,000 in 1905.' Unlike 
 other new countries its main export consists not of the 
 produce of the agricultural and pastoral industries which 
 give employment to the bulk of its European population, 
 but of the gold and diamonds won by a small section of 
 
 ^ These figures are based upon the "Statistical Abstract" of the trade of 
 the British Empire. The years taken are those of the period at which the 
 events of the narrative took place. The total export of South Africa for 1912 was 
 ;£'63,262,ooo in value — roughly a 100 per cent, increase since the pre-war days. 
 
 2 The import of food and drink of the Union of South Africa for the year 
 1911 was ;^6,336,262 in value. The two chief items were: "Corn, Grain and 
 Flour," ;^I,285,I57; and "Meats," £\^i,')(><i. 
 
4 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 its inhabitants under conditions both unstable and abnormal. 
 It is only within the last thirty years that any appreciable 
 industrial development has taken place ; and the additional 
 railways, harbours, and other public works, which form the 
 machinery of this development, are due to the profits of the 
 mines and to the exertions and needs of the small industrial 
 population engaged in working them. At the time, therefore, 
 of the outbreak of the war, the industrial fabric of South 
 Africa rested in a degree to which perhaps no parallel can 
 be found elsewhere,^ upon a single group of industries, and 
 a limited, and in part transitory, element of its population. 
 The significance of this salient feature in the economic 
 position of South Africa is emphasised by the existence 
 of social and political conditions, which distinguish it from 
 other over-sea British communities, and from the United 
 States, in no less marked a degree. These conditions are 
 summed up in the bare statements that to-day 2 of its total 
 population of 7,500,000, five - sixths are African natives, 
 mainly of the Bantu race, and the European population 
 (1,300,000), thus numerically a small minority, is itself . 
 divided into two almost equal sections, the one of British 
 and the other of Dutch extraction. In the United States, 
 as in South Africa, there is both a white and a coloured 
 population ; but whereas in the former the white population 
 is ten or twelve times as numerous as the coloured, in the 
 latter the coloured population is five times as numerous as 
 the white. In Canada, where the total population is roughly 
 the same in numbers as in South Africa, the coloured 
 element is so small as to be negligible ; and although the 
 7,500,000 of European population consists mainly of in- 
 habitants of either French or British extraction, the British 
 section is twice as numerous as the French. In the case 
 of Australia and New Zealand the contrast is still sharper. 
 In these countries not only is there no appreciable native 
 population — for the Maoris are a stationary if not a dwindling 
 race — but the European population is almost exclusively 
 
 ' Egypt in the early days of the British occupation, when the future develop- 
 ment of the country depended upon the successful irrigation of the cotton lands 
 of the Delta, is the nearest example. 
 
 ^ I.e., as shown by the census of 191 1. 
 
"FROM LION'S HEAD TO LINE" 5 
 
 of British descent. Politically and socially, therefore, as 
 economically, South Africa is a country sui generis. Canada 
 has its two nationalities, but a British majority of two to 
 one. The United States has a coloured population, but 
 its European population is ten times as numerous ; and, 
 what is more, the latter is increasing, mainly through 
 immigration, at a more rapid rate than the former. Australia 
 and New Zealand have neither the nationality difficulty nor 
 any native question. South Africa has a coloured popula- 
 tion, not dwindling, but virile and rapidly increasing, five 
 times as numerous as its European inhabitants ; and its 
 European population is not a solid British community as 
 in Australia and New Zealand, not a new and composite 
 stock as in the United States, not even a mingling of two 
 races with a dominant British element as in Canada, but 
 a combination of two almost numerically equal nationalities, 
 hitherto differing in language, pursuits, and in social and 
 political ideals, and now, after half a century of virtual 
 separation, united under the same flag by the compulsion 
 of a long and devastating war. 
 
 The backward condition of the country as a whole, as 
 revealed in the paucity of its exports other than minerals, 
 and the large extent to which its European inhabitants 
 are dependent alike for the slight industrial development 
 to which they have attained, and for the hope of material 
 prosperity in the future, upon the successful working of 
 the mines, are, therefore, the central facts in the economic 
 position of South Africa. And with them a no less 
 dominant political fact, the smallness of the British popula- 
 tion, must be connected. Remembering the comparative 
 unfruitfulness of the soil, the lateness of the discovery of 
 mineral wealth, and the relative smallness of the European 
 population required to produce the harvest of gold and 
 diamonds whose overflow has quickened the industrial 
 progress of the whole sub-continent, it is easy to understand 
 why the British population has remained so small, and why 
 the pastoral Dutch were allowed to have established them- 
 selves so firmly over so great a part of the land, that they 
 nearly succeeded in wresting the country from the British 
 Crown. During the nineteenth century, therefore, the 
 
6 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 physical and economic conditions of Soutii Africa constituted 
 as serious an obstacle to the success of British rule as the 
 military prowess of the Boers, or the separatist aspirations of 
 the Afrikander nationalists. The undeveloped condition 
 of the cultivable land occupied by Europeans west of the 
 Drakenberg ; the absence or inadequacy of the means of 
 communication and transport; the high cost of living to 
 the European in the towns, consequent upon these conditions ; 
 and the presence of a native population, which multiplied, 
 instead of dwindling, in contact with the European, and 
 by making it impossible for the white man to do manual 
 labour without loss of social prestige, excluded the unskilled 
 British labourer, while at the same time it failed to provide 
 a supply of such labour sufficient for the industrial needs 
 of South Africa — these were circumstances which all alike 
 operated to restrain the growth of the British element. 
 Nor was this all. These economic conditions tended not 
 merely to limit the growth of the British population in 
 South Africa, but also to keep the British population, 
 thus limited, separate, and distinct from the Dutch. The 
 meagre profits of agriculture and stock-raising, unaided by 
 irrigation, water-storage, and railways, offered little induce- 
 ment to the British immigrant to submit to the privations 
 inseparable from a farmer's life in the undeveloped and 
 sparsely-populated country districts. Commerce and the 
 mines, on the other hand, in addition to offering a livelihood 
 under very tolerable social conditions, afforded an excellent 
 prospect of rapidly acquiring wealth. And so, while the 
 Dutch clung to the soil, the British, when the discoveries 
 of diamonds and gold had drawn an appreciable stream 
 of emigrants from the United Kingdom and Australia, 
 became, relatively, more than ever concentrated in the 
 towns, where for the most part they devoted themselves to 
 pursuits which caused the Dutch to regard them with 
 suspicion and too often with open antagonism. In these 
 circumstances it is not surprising that the British popula- 
 tion in South Africa, even when raised by the expansion of 
 the gold industry to something like numerical equality 
 with the Dutch, failed to become an effective instrument 
 for that process of racial reconciliation, the importance of 
 
"FROM LION'S HEAD TO LINE" 7 
 
 which had been recognised by British statesmen almost 
 from the first moment that the British flag was flown over 
 the castle at Cape Town. 
 
 And when Lord Kitchener and the army of the Empire 
 had made it possible for the Home Government to re-unite 
 the European communities of South Africa under a common 
 flag, the " contentment " of the Dutch, this paramount object 
 which British policy had striven unsuccessfully for a century 
 to obtain, was not by any means secured. An obstacle fatal 
 to the attainment of this object — the assumption of the 
 military headship of South Africa by the Transvaal as a 
 Boer Republic — was removed ; but the question whether 
 the two European nationalities were, or were not, to co- 
 operate harmoniously in the future development of the 
 country was not decided. It was merely taken from the 
 m''"'^ry sphere, into which it had been suddenly projected 
 by Mr Kruger's ambition, and transferred back to the 
 economic sphere. The fact was brought to the knowledge 
 of the Home Government by the emphatic declaration of 
 the Land Settlement Commission, to which a reference 
 has been made in a preceding volume.^ 
 
 "We find among those who wish to see British rule in 
 South Africa maintained and its influence for good extended," 
 wrote the Commissioners, " but one opinion upon this subject 
 {i.e. the necessity of establishing British settlers upon the 
 land). There even seems reason to fear lest the vast 
 expenditure of blood and treasure which has marked the 
 war should be absolutely wasted, unless some strenuous effort 
 be made to establish in the country at the close of the war 
 a thoroughly British population large enough to make a 
 recurrence of division and disorder impossible."^ 
 
 The creation of a British-minded majority, the only sure 
 guarantee of the permanent ascendancy of British ideals 
 and of the maintenance of the British connection, still re- 
 mained, therefore, an object of future accomplishment. The 
 command of the administration of South Africa as a whole, 
 secured by the successful prosecution of the war, had opened 
 the way for the application of the' measures by which it 
 
 1 " Lord Milner's Work in South Africa, 1897-J902, " p. 516. 
 Cd. 626. 
 
8 RECONSTRUOTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 might be brought about ; but these measures had yet to 
 be applied. 
 
 It was an object, moreover, which, in spite of all the 
 disillusionments of the last three years, and the lessons of 
 the war and of the rebellion, still presented itself to the 
 mind of the Englishman at home in an aspect essentially 
 different from that in which it was viewed by the Englishman 
 in South Africa. To the former it was an object to be 
 attained by the (supposed) geographical juxtaposition of 
 the people of the two nationalities under a regime of equal 
 justice, in which education and material progress would be 
 allowed full scope as unifying agencies. To the latter, by 
 whom it was seen in the hard dry light of actual experience, 
 the creation of a British - minded majority was an object 
 which, under the existing economic and social conditions 
 of South Africa, could be obtained only by using the interval, 
 necessarily brief, in which South African policy could be 
 controlled from Home, so to strengthen the British element 
 that, under self-government, the attempt to re-establish 
 Dutch supremacy would be evidently hopeless and therefore 
 be abandoned ; and the two nationalities could thus co- 
 operate in the development of the country on a basis of 
 real equality. The error of the Home English lay in the 
 fact that they failed to perceive that the agencies on which 
 they were relying were agencies which had proved incapable 
 of bringing about the desired end in the nineteenth century. 
 They ignored the past history of British administration in 
 South Africa ; and yet the conclusions to which it pointed 
 were definite enough. Education had developed the natural 
 astuteness of the South African Dutch — or, more correctly, 
 Franco-Dutch — population, and changed what was at first 
 an unreasoning resistance to the authority of; Government 
 as such, into a definite assertion of racial superiority. 
 Industrial expansion had widened instead of narrowing the 
 line of cleavage between the Dutch and British inhabitants. 
 The grant of self-government to the Cape Colony had been 
 perverted into an opportunity for a determined and admirably 
 organised political propaganda in support of the maintenance 
 of the Dutch as a separate and dominant nationality. Even 
 the immediate lessons of the last ten years were ignored. 
 
"FROM LION'S HEAD TO LINE" 9 
 
 The Home Englishman forgot that the educated Afrikander 
 had everywhere shown himself to be the most convinced 
 and successful champion of the separate interests and the 
 nationalist aspirations of his Dutch fellow - countrymen ; 
 forgot, too, that industrial expansion, when the resources 
 which it created were controlled by the Transvaal oligarchy, 
 served to provide Mausers and artillery to fight the British, 
 and not irrigation works, experimental farms, and railways 
 to enable British settlers to live and thrive alongside of 
 the Dutch farmers. 
 
 To the majority of the South African loyalists, then, 
 the attainment of racial reconciliation was tantamount to 
 making the British strong enough to hold their own under 
 self-government ; and this object could only be accomplished 
 by largely increasing the existing British population, and 
 establishing part at least of the new British settlers side by 
 side with the Dutch upon the land. To men holding this 
 view, it followed that those physical and economic conditions 
 which were adverse to the growth of the British element must 
 be changed; it followed, also, that the authority charged with 
 the duty of giving effect to British policy in this all-important 
 matter must be invested with power to control the adminis- 
 trative and legislative machinery by which alone changes so 
 fundamental in character and difficult of execution could 
 be brought about. 
 
 On this vital point Lord Milner had made up his mind, 
 as early as 8th November 1901. He then put on record a 
 statement of the need for an increased British population 
 which was as luminous as it was precise. In a memorandum 
 of this date, prepared for the information of the Home 
 Government, he pointed out that an increase of the British 
 element was a condition precedent to the establishment of 
 the administrative union of the South African colonies 
 compatibly with the maintenance of British ideals. By 
 collecting the most reliable statistics then available, he 
 computed that at the end of the war, without an influx of 
 new settlers, the white population of South Africa would 
 stand as under : — 
 
 British. Dutch. Other Whites. Total. 
 
 368,000 496,000 76,000 940,000 
 
10 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Assuming that of the 76,000 " other whites " one quarter 
 only were British, and one half non-British, subjects, while 
 the remaining quarter were Dutch or nondescript, then on 
 a basis of one member to every 10,000 whites (or 2,000 
 electors) a Federal Assembly of 90 members would consist 
 of 39 British and 51 Dutch representatives. 
 
 But " by a policy favourable to the introduction of British 
 settlers," he calculated that five years after the restoration of 
 order there would be in South Africa : — 
 
 British. Dutch. Other Whites. Total. 
 
 615,000 544,000 111,000 1,270,000 
 
 In thus estimating the augmentation of the British 
 element. Lord Milner relied especially upon the industrial 
 expansion of the Transvaal, where he computed that the 
 British population would rise from 100,000 to 250,000.^ 
 
 On the same basis of representation as before, the 
 Federal Assembly would number 122 members, and of these, 
 thanks to the growth of the British element, 64 would be 
 British and 58 Dutch. If, further, it were assumed that a 
 certain proportion of the Dutch representatives would be 
 men who had become identified politically with the British 
 cause, then a chamber thus composed would provide a 
 British majority sufficient to secure the predominance of 
 British ideals in the Federal administration. 
 
 "But," Lord Milner wrote, "absolutely everything 
 depends upon starting the new self-governing confederation 
 with a British-minded majority. We must wait for Federa- 
 tion and Self-government until that majority is assured. 
 Otherwise we may have a repetition, on a vast scale, of our 
 deplorable experiences in Cape Colony." 
 
 Two further considerations must be included in this 
 rapid survey of the political and economic conditions of 
 South Africa as it was at the time of the great war (1899- 
 1902). The first is the importance of the Transvaal as the 
 chief contributory to the total South African export — the 
 export examined above as providing the best general 
 
 ' The census of 191 1 showed an increase in the European population of the 
 Transvaal (as against 1904) of 123,554; but it does not distinguish the British 
 trom the non-British increment. 
 
"FROM LION'S HEAD TO LINE" 11 
 
 indication of tiie industrial circumstances of the European 
 inhabitants of the sub-continent ; and the second is the 
 law, partly physical and partly social in its origin, which 
 forbids the European workmen to compete with the native 
 labourer, or to undertake any of the rougher forms of manual 
 labour as a means of livelihood. 
 
 According to the financial statement of the Treasurer 
 of the Cape Colony, issued on ist August 1899, the values 
 of the goods respectively exported by the republics and 
 colonies, which collectively made up the total South 
 African over-sea export of ;^25,730,ooo^ for the year 1898, 
 were these : from Natal, ;^840,ooo ; from the Free State, 
 ;£'939,ooo; from the Cape Colony, ;^7,95 1,000; and from the 
 Transvaal, ;^i6,ooo,ooo. Thus of the total South African 
 export, the main items of which have been previously 
 examined, an amount slightly less than two-thirds of the 
 whole came from the Transvaal. And this dominant con- 
 tribution consisted, as we have seen, almost exclusively of the 
 gold won in a single district of that state — the Witwatersrand. 
 The second point is concerned with an aspect of the 
 economic life of South Africa which is of the highest 
 significance. The labour required by the original Franco- 
 Dutch colonists, whether for domestic purposes or for 
 agriculture, stock raising, or viticulture, was furnished partly 
 by slaves — mainly imported from the East or from Central 
 Africa — and partly by the more or less compulsory service 
 of the Hottentots. When these first European settlers 
 spread eastwards and northwards they applied the same 
 system of compulsory service to the Bantu tribes, with which 
 they then came into contact, until they were checked by 
 the restrictions imposed upon them in this respect by 
 British administration. But the submission of the Dutch 
 to the British principle, that men of all races and colour 
 were alike equal before the law, was grudging ; and the 
 application of the new principle was largely evaded both 
 by the Dutch in the Cape Colony, and by the emigrant 
 farmers in their settlements beyond the Orange and 
 Vaal rivers. Thus, by the time that any considerable body 
 
 ^ These figures differ slightly from those given above and taken from the 
 " Statistical Abstract." 
 
12 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 of British settlers was introduced, the custom of regarding the 
 performance of manual labour as the special province of the 
 coloured population, and, indeed, as derogatory to the dignity 
 of the white man, was well established. Nor must the fact 
 that the climate of many parts of the country is such as to 
 make continuous physical labour irksome and sometime* 
 detrimental to the health of Europeans, be overlooked. 
 Moreover, the removal of the checks upon the growth of the 
 Bantu population— almost incessant tribal warfare, recurrent 
 famines, and epidemics of disease — consequent upon the 
 gradual extension and more complete establishment of 
 European supervision over the natives, within and without 
 the boundaries of the colonies and republics, had produced a 
 surplus of this population, of which a considerable section was 
 amenable to the attraction of the wages offered by European 
 employers at the epoch when the creation of mineral industries 
 on a large scale took place first at Kimberley and then at 
 Johannesburg. When, therefore, British emigrants of the 
 humbler class came out to South Africa, they found 
 themselves in a country where, alike on the farms and 
 on the mines, rough manual labour was assigned to 
 the coloured man ; and those of them who had been 
 accustomed to such labour in England or Australia readily 
 fell into the habit of expecting even the household work 
 necessary for them and their families to be done by a 
 coloured "boy." But, as there was practically no demand 
 for unskilled white labour, the British immigrants of this 
 class were almost always skilled artisans, or miners from 
 Cornwall, Australia, or America. The position is described 
 by Sir David Barbour as a naked economic fact, and with 
 no thought of its sinister bearing upon the political necessity 
 for strengthening the British element of the European 
 population, when he writes with impressive simplicity: 
 
 " The white man does not labour with his hands in South 
 Africa unless in special cases. This may be partly attributed 
 to the climate, but it is also due to the existence of a black 
 population, which, though small in proportion to the size of 
 the country, greatly outnumbers the whites." i 
 
 ' ' ' Report on the Finances of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony." Cd 
 628. (Dated 29th March, 1901). 
 
"FROM LION'S HEAD TO LINE" 13 
 
 Thus the main source of the growth of population in a 
 European country, or in the other over-sea British-speaking 
 communities, the increase by natural increment — or by this 
 combined with immigration — of the great class who earn 
 their livelihood solely by the work of their hands, was ex- 
 cluded by economic conditions from among the factors upon 
 which statesmanship could rely for the expansion of the 
 British race in South Africa. 
 
 To complete this review of the general South African 
 conditions by which Lord Milner's administration of the 
 new colonies was affected, one other circumstance must be 
 called to mind. The public support given by Lord Milner 
 to the movement for the suspension of the Cape constitution 
 had brought him into conflict with the Secretary of State. 
 To Lord Milner it had seemed the most natural thing in the 
 world to give advice and support to the loyalist leaders in 
 the Cape Colony, when, after the death of Rhodes, they had 
 turned to him for guidance. To Mr Chamberlain it seemed 
 no less natural, in view of the close intimacy of his relations with 
 Lord Milner, that no step of such importance as the latter's 
 public declaration of his approval of the Suspension Petition ^ 
 should have been taken without previous consultation with 
 himself; and the omission to consult him, he regarded, 
 therefore, as something of a personal wound and a matter 
 quite apart from any question of the rightness or wrongness 
 of the course pursued. In the face of this grave misunder- 
 standing. Lord Milaer requested to be relieved of his offices, 
 so soon as the situation in South Africa should permit of 
 his resignation taking place without injury to the public 
 interests. 
 
 Mr Chamberlain, however, declined to find in this mis- 
 understanding, however painful at the moment, any ground 
 sufficient to justify the retirement of Lord Milner. On the 
 contrary, he assured him that the Cabinet as a whole, and 
 himself personally, would regard his resignation as a serious 
 blow to the interests of Great Britain in South Africa. A 
 great work was to be done for the Empire in South Africa ; 
 Lord Milner was the one man most capable of doing it, 
 
 ' Conveyed in Lord Milner's letter to Sir W. Hely-Hutchinson (Governor 
 of the Cape Colony), published in the Cape Press on 19th May igo2. 
 
14 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 and, in these circumstances, Mr Cliamberlain urged him 
 to consider it to be his duty to carry on this work as long 
 as his health would permit. The temporary estrangement of 
 the two masterful statesmen quickly passed away ; nor did 
 the incident bring any loss of mutual regard. With this 
 exception the official relationship between the two men was 
 almost ideal ; and the mutual confidence which had existed 
 between them before, when once renewed, remained unbroken 
 up to the time when Mr Chamberlain left the Balfour Cabinet 
 (in 1903) on the issue of Tariff Reform. 
 
 Mr Chamberlain's decision not to suspend the Cape 
 constitution! made the rapid and successful development of 
 the Transvaal more than ever ■ necessary. The assumption 
 of office by a Bond ministry would preclude the hope of 
 any active co-operation on the part of the Government of 
 that colony in the measures rendering a large increase of 
 British population possible, which British policy demanded ; 
 on the contrary, there would be veiled or open hostility. 
 In any case, half the European population of South Africa, 
 and more than half the area of Dutch numerical pre- 
 dominance, were withheld from the immediate control of 
 the High Commissioner; and this at a time when the 
 policy which he aimed at putting into effect, was one which 
 was based upon the needs and conditions of South Africa 
 as a whole. None the less Lord Milner, having once with- 
 drawn his resignation, accepted the position without further 
 demur, and set about to obtain the maximum of advantage 
 possible from the skilful and enlightened administration of 
 the new colonies. If the Cape were fated to remain, as it 
 had been in the past, the Achilles' heel of South Africa, the 
 Transvaal was the potential seat of a great industrial com- 
 munity, British in sentiment as well as in race. To develop 
 its great natural resources, agricultural as well as mineral, 
 and to build up upon the foundation of this industrial 
 expansion a numerous and permanent British population 
 were the only direct means of adjusting the balance in 
 favour of the British race in South Africa, that remained 
 at his disposal. He determined, therefore, to make the 
 
 of tL'bTp7c1,in;),'Sd1'u,y'r/or '° ''^ ^- Hely-Hatchinson (Governor 
 
"FROM LION'S HEAD TO LINE" 15 
 
 utmost use of the opportunity afforded by the period of 
 Crown Colony government to administer the Transvaal in 
 such a manner that its population should become a strong- 
 hold of British sentiment, and its predominant industrial 
 importance a lever for removing the gross mass of divergent 
 state interests that had hitherto blocked the path to South 
 African federation. " You have no idea how the state of the 
 country cries aloud for judicious expenditure," he wrote on 
 the eve of peace to a correspondent in England. " It lacks 
 everything, and it is out and away the finest undeveloped 
 estate in the Empire. And there is no means of pacifica- 
 tion comparable to the effect of works of public improvement, 
 benefiting and interesting all its inhabitants." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT 
 
 The first weeks after the declaration of peace brought an 
 almost overwhelming mass of work upon Lord Milner. 
 Apart from his anxious correspondence with Mr Chamberlain 
 on the subject of the Cape Colony, the matters demanding 
 immediate treatment were : first, the questions arising 
 directly out of the surrender of the Boers, the withdrawal 
 from South Africa of the greater part of the British forces, 
 and the transference of the new colonies, as a whole, from 
 military to civil authority ; second, the obtaining of the 
 definite sanction of the Secretary of State to certain 
 administrative measures, already approved in principle by 
 the Home Government ; and, third, the expansion of the 
 machinery and personnel of the rudimentary civil adminis- 
 trations already established in the two new colonies — an 
 expansion necessary, not merely to enable them to carry on 
 the ordinary and normal work of Government, but to satisfy 
 the extraordinary demands of the repatriation. 
 
 Fortunately the main outlines of the work of material 
 development in the new colonies had been agreed upon, as 
 between the Home Government and Lord Milner, during 
 the latter's visit to England in the preceding year (24th May 
 to loth August 1901),^ and had formed the subject of con- 
 tinuous and exhaustive correspondence in the months which 
 succeeded his return. Although, therefore. Lord Milner was 
 uncertain up to the moment when, on the afternoon 01 
 31st May, Lord Kitchener ^ telephoned, " It is peace," whether 
 
 '^ See " Lord Milner's Work in South Africa, 1897-1902," chap. xi. " Preparine 
 for Peace." 
 
 "^ Lord Kitchener left the Transvaal within three weeks of the signature of 
 the Terms of Surrender. He was succeeded in the South African command by 
 General Sir Neville Lyttelton. 
 
 16 
 
THE ESTABLISHMEISTT OP CIVIL GOVERNMENT 17 
 
 the war would come to a sudden close, or drag on for weeks 
 or months until the Boer forces were worn down to a point 
 at which unconditional surrender could no longer be avoided ; 
 yet, directly the Terms of Surrender were signed, he was in 
 a position to submit for the approval of the Home Govern- 
 ment definite schemes in respect of the three questions — the 
 Gold Tax, Land Settlement, and Repatriation — upon which 
 immediate decisions were required, in order that the work of 
 economic reconstruction might not be delayed for a single 
 unnecessary moment. His schemes had been thought out 
 beforehand, and he was ready to begin at once. On 
 4th June, the Wednesday following the Saturday on 
 which the Surrender Agreement was signed at Pretoria, he 
 obtained in reply to an urgent telegram of 2nd June Mr 
 Chamberlain's assent to the gazetting of the lo per cent, tax 
 upon gold mining profits — an act which, by settling at once 
 a long debated question and by removing any apprehension 
 of unfair exactions, while it at the same time provided a 
 large and expanding revenue, materially contributed to the 
 rapid re-establishment of the chief industry of the colony. 
 On 6th June he telegraphed privately to Mr Chamberlain 
 that he relied upon him personally to obtain the funds 
 necessary for the repatriation and the general development 
 of the new colonies. On the 13th Lord Milner obtained 
 official authority, pending the issue of a development 
 loan, to incur an expenditure up to an additional ;^500,ooo 
 upon account of Land Settlement and other items not 
 included in the ordinary expenses of the Administration. 
 On loth June he telegraphed an outline scheme for the 
 repatriation of the Boers in accordance with the provisions 
 of Article X. of the Terms of Surrender, and on i8th June he 
 received the assurance that these proposals were " approved 
 generally." On 20th June he asked Mr Chamberlain to 
 "agree generally" to the conditions for the leasing and 
 sale of land to British settlers contained in his despatch 
 of 9th May, and the necessary sanction was telegraphed 
 from London on 7th July. 
 
 In the meantime questions directly arising out of the 
 Surrender Agreement and the withdrawal of the British 
 Army had been brought to Lord Milner for immediate 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
18 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 settlement from day to day ; since any delay in such 
 matters would have prevented the vast machinery of 
 transport, required to move hundreds of thousands of 
 men for thousands of miles across land and sea, from 
 being set in motion. During the week following the 
 signature of the Agreement Lord Milner was busy at 
 Pretoria making the preliminary arrangements for repatria- 
 tion. On Monday, 9th June, he was occupied at 
 Johannesburg — having ridden home from Pretoria on the 
 preceding Saturday — in discussing with Major-General 
 Baden-Powell the estimates for the maintenance of the 
 South African Constabulary, the serviceable and indis- 
 pensable force, which was to obtain security of life and 
 property for the European inhabitants in districts of the 
 new colonies, however desolate and remote, or however 
 densely populated by Kafir tribes, and render invaluable 
 assistance in the actual work of repatriation. On Saturday, 
 14th June, he was back at Pretoria, and engaged with 
 the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Kitchener, in making 
 arrangements for the transfer to the civil authorities of 
 the surplus transport animals and vehicles and the 
 surplus stores of the Army. As practically the whole of 
 the horses, mules, draft oxen, and other animals, which 
 constituted the sole motive power available for the transport 
 of human beings and materials of all kinds over the veld, 
 were in possession of the military authorities throughout 
 South Africa, it was obvious that the work of repatriation 
 could not be commenced until at least a portion of these 
 animals had been placed at the disposal of the Civil 
 Government. It is almost incredible that in the circum- 
 stances there should have been any disposition on the 
 part of the military authorities to exact more than a 
 fair price for surplus transport animals and vehicles, and 
 surplus stores, which were now no longer required by 
 them, but urgently needed by the civil authorities. Yet, 
 in point of fact, all, or almost all, of the transactions on 
 this head entered into as between the military and civil 
 authorities, were marked by a jealous regard for the 
 supposed financial interests of the War Office, which in 
 the end produced the deplorable result that a large mass 
 
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT 19 
 
 of surplus military stores, which might have been sold in 
 good condition at a fair price to the Civil Administration 
 immediately after the declaration of peace, was kept 
 back and eventually sold, when it had greatly deteriorated 
 in condition, to private firms at an enormous sacrifice. 
 The need for the transport animals and material was so 
 imperative that the Civil Administration was for the 
 moment at the mercy of the military authorities. Lord 
 Milner did everything possible to obtain from Lord 
 Kitchener an abatement of the monopoly values demanded ; 
 and by the closest bargaining succeeded in obtaining 
 approximately S,SOO vehicles (including 47 traction trains) 
 and 80,000 oxen, mules, and donkeys, with the almost 
 useless blockhouses and wire entanglements, for the sum 
 
 of ;^I,39I,000.1 
 
 The actual surrender of the Boer Commandos, both in 
 the new colonies and in the Cape, was accomplished with 
 such admirable smoothness and promptitude, that Lord 
 Kitchener was able to leave Johannesburg, en route for 
 England on Wednesday, i8th June.^ On the preceding 
 evening he was entertained at a farewell banquet in the 
 Wanderers' Hall, at which some four hundred persons, 
 including Lord Milner, had assembled to do him honour, 
 and where he met with a most enthusiastic reception. He 
 had desired that the civil officers should not enter the 
 country districts of the new colonies until the surrender 
 of the Commandos had been completed ; and the first 
 steps for the actual occupation of these districts by the 
 representatives of the Civil Administration were not taken, 
 therefore, until the last week in June. The surrender of 
 the Commandos was completed on 20th June, and on 
 Saturday, 21st June, the formal inauguration of the 
 administration of the Transvaal, under the constitution 
 conferred by the Letters Patent of the preceding year, 
 
 ' Subsequent purchases brought the total paid by the Repatriation Depart- 
 ments for " Army stores " to ^^3,521,000. These terms were so excessive that a 
 large sum was subsequently refunded by the War Office. 
 
 ■^ For the precise numbers of the Boers surrendering in the several colonies, 
 and for Lord Kitchener's recognition of the assistance rendered by the military 
 leaders of the Boers in effecting the surrender, see note at p. 573 of " Lord Milner's 
 Work in South Africa, 1897-1902." 
 
20 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 took place. On the morning of this day Lord Milner left 
 Johannesburg by train at 8.45 A.M., and, upon reaching 
 the station at Pretoria, drove in state with a military 
 escort to the Government Buildings, where, in the old 
 Raadzaal, the Letters Patent were read, and he took the 
 oath of office as Governor of the Transvaal. When the 
 members of the Executive Council had been sworn in, 
 and the ceremony was completed, the principal officers of 
 the new Administration took lunch at the Residency, Lord 
 Milner's official residence at Pretoria. Among the guests 
 were Generals Louis Botha and De la Rey, with whom Lord 
 Milner had a lengthy conversation afterwards upon questions 
 connected with the surrender. From the Residency Lord 
 Milner returned again to the Government Buildings, where 
 the first meetings of the Executive and Legislative 
 Councils, as constituted by the Letters Patent, were duly 
 held. On the following day, amongst a mass of other 
 administrative business, the High Commissioner had a 
 further interview with Generals Botha and De la Rey, 
 accompanied on this occasion by Mr Schalk Burger, the 
 late Acting-President of the South African Republic. He 
 then left for Bloemfontein by special train at 10 P.M. After 
 a night passed in the train, he reached the capital of the 
 Orange River Colony at 9.30 A.M., bringing with him 
 General Christian de Wet, who had joined the train at 
 Vredefort to discuss surrender matters with the High 
 Commissioner. At noon the Letters Patent were read, 
 and the oaths of office administered, in the Government 
 Buildings ; and it is noticeable that here, at Bloemfontein, 
 the public manifestations of satisfaction at the inauguration 
 of the new Government were much more enthusiastic than 
 at Pretoria. At 10 P.M. of the same day (Monday, 23rd 
 June) Lord Milner started on his return journey. At 
 Kroonstad he parted from General Baden-Powell, with 
 whom he had been in consultation during the early hours 
 of the night, and at 10 o'clock in the morning (Tuesday) 
 he reached Johannesburg, where he was at once immersed 
 in administrative business — on this occasion, the organisation 
 of the carrying capacity of the South African railways, and 
 its adjustment to the needs of the immediate situation. 
 
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT 21 
 
 These incidents, taken from among the mass of private 
 and official engagements recorded in Lord Milner's Diary, 
 will serve to illustrate the variety of the matters which 
 were brought to him for decision, and the manner in 
 which he met and satisfied the demands of this abnormal 
 period. But such incidents lay for the most part out- 
 side the main volume of the ordinary and extraordinary 
 administrative work, which continually claimed and absorbed 
 the largest portion of his time and energy from day to 
 day. The distinction implied in the words "ordinary 
 and extraordinary " is not meaningless ; for it must be 
 remembered that during the three years following the 
 declaration of peace the Administration of which Lord 
 Milner was the head was called upon to perform duties 
 which were quite outside of, and additional to, the regular 
 work of government as carried on under normal conditions 
 in any civilised state. 
 
 Of all these abnormal and additional duties the most 
 immediately pressing was the restoration of the former 
 inhabitants of the two colonies, both Dutch and British, to 
 their homes. So far as the British, or industrial, population 
 was concerned the task was relatively simple. In the first 
 place something approaching one half of this population had 
 been brought back, notably to the Rand district, while the 
 war was still in progress ; and the special and temporary 
 Government organisations, intended to regulate and assist 
 the return of the British refugees, the Permit Office, the 
 Refugee Aid Department, the Personal and Property Enquiry 
 Department, and the Labour Bureau, had been constituted 
 and set in operation for some months prior to the cessation 
 of hostilities. Moreover, the majority of the dwellings 
 of the British population, being for the most part within 
 the protected areas or in the smaller towns permanently 
 occupied by the British troops, were still in existence, 
 although most of them had been "looted" to a greater 
 or less degree ; and the refugees themselves were in the 
 coast towns of South Africa, the poorer classes living 
 in the refugee camps, and the more well-to-do in hotels 
 or in the houses of their relatives and friends. Yet even 
 the return of the remaining British population required 
 
22 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 both time and judgment. The railway system, which was 
 left in a hopelessly dilapidated condition by the war, 
 and was only gradually and with much expense and 
 effort restored to proper working order during the years 
 that followed, was subjected to an overwhelming strain 
 during the first two months of peace. Of the British 
 forces in the field, the local South African corps were dis- 
 banded, then over 30,000 regulars, selected for the Imperial 
 garrison, were drafted off to their permanent stations : 
 Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Middelburg, and Standerton in the 
 Transvaal; Bloemfontein and Harrismith in the Orange 
 River Colony ; Newcastle in Natal, and Middelburg in the 
 Cape Colony ; and the remainder, and large majority, of 
 the troops were at once withdrawn. At the same moment, 
 therefore, that thousands of British refugees were being 
 brought up to the new colonies, an army of between 
 100,000 and 200,000 men was being hurried down from all 
 parts of South Africa to the transports at the coast. And 
 all the time that this was going on, the food supplies, 
 mining and building material, seeds, agricultural tools and 
 instruments, and stores of all kinds, required by the military 
 and civil authorities for the garrisons, Constabulary, civil 
 servants, concentration camps, surrendered burghers, prisoners 
 of war, and the civil population already established in the 
 two colonies, were struggling up from the ports, over the 
 same single lines of railway, in trucks even more limited in 
 quantity and dilapidated in quality than the rolling stock 
 in which the passenger traffic was handled. Of this phase 
 in the inevitable conflict between the needs of the with- 
 drawing army and the returning population, Lord Milner 
 wrote nine months afterwards : 
 
 " The railway lines, necessarily in a bad condition at the 
 close of the war, and with all their employees desperately 
 overworked, were at times hopelessly blocked, and the 
 attempt to reconcile the demands of the Army, the Repatria- 
 tion Departments and the general public upon railways, 
 which were quite unable simultaneously to satisfy the require- 
 ments of them all, was, for at least two months, one of 
 the most pressing and most harassing of the duties of the 
 Administration. I have to thank General Lyttelton and 
 
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT 23 
 
 the officers of his staff for the great consideration which 
 they showed me in the really appalling difficulties with which 
 I was at one time confronted in this respect." ^ 
 
 But the restoration of the Boers to their homes was a 
 matter of far greater difficulty. It was a task which could 
 be accomplished only by means of a special and complex 
 organisation ; and this organisation, the Repatriation Depart- 
 ments of the two colonies, had to be created with the 
 utmost rapidity out of the materials, limited and inadequate 
 both in respect of personnel and equipment, that were avail- 
 able on the spot. In order to understand what repatriation 
 really meant, it is necessary to remember both the large 
 extent of the country over which the 155,000 men, women, 
 and children of the burgher population, together with the 
 100,000 farm natives who formed their immediate labour 
 supply, had to be distributed from the refugee camps, and 
 the denuded and devastated condition to which this great 
 area had been reduced by the methods of the guerilla war. 
 The united area of the two new colonies was 161,966 square 
 miles ^ (the Transvaal being 113,640, and the Orange River 
 Colony 48,326, square miles in extent) — an area roughly one- 
 third greater than that of the United Kingdom (121,000 
 square miles), or rather more than three-fourths of that of 
 Germany (210,168 square miles). The mills of the British 
 Army had ground slowly, but they had ground " exceeding 
 small." If we except the immediate neighbourhoods of 
 Bloemfontein, Pretoria, and Johannesburg, the few lesser 
 towns, mainly upon the railway lines, permanently occupied 
 by the British troops, the farms upon which the new British 
 settlers had been established in the protected areas of the 
 two colonies, and the few remote districts, chiefly in the 
 Western Transvaal, where the Boers had still maintained a 
 little stock and cultivated a little land, the whole of this 
 great area was left ravaged and desolate, with little but its 
 roofless houses and empty cattle-pens to distinguish it from 
 a barren and uninhabited wilderness. 
 
 ' Under date 14th March 1903 to Mr Chamberlain. Despatch on the progress 
 of re-settlement. Cd. 1551. 
 
 '^ The Transvaal area was slightly reduced at the peace by the grant of the 
 Vryheid and Utrecht districts, and a part of the Wakkerstroom district, to Natal. 
 
24 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Taking the protected areas of the two colonies as one- 
 fourth of the whole, the extent of the devastated and denuded 
 country in which lay the homes of the great majority of the 
 burgher population was equal to the joint area of England, 
 Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. But the mere extent of the 
 country constituted only a small part of the difficulty of 
 repatriation. The roads, which, apart from the railways 
 (some i,ooo miles in all of mainly single lines), and the 
 telegraphs which ran beside them, formed the sole means of 
 communication between the towns and the rest of the country, 
 were few in number and poor in quality — being, indeed, for 
 the most part mere tracks seamed by the wheels of ox- 
 waggons and mule-carts, and trodden into hardness by the 
 feet of cattle ; while scattered among the remoter and more 
 mountainous districts of the Transvaal there were 5CXD,ooo 
 dark-skinned Kafirs, some of whom were still living in their 
 primitive tribal organisation. When the repatriation com- 
 menced, and for some months afterwards, practically all the 
 supplies of food and other necessaries of life upon which the 
 Europeans depended, had to be brought for thousands of 
 miles from over-sea countries to the South African ports, and 
 then carried over the single lines of railway for distances 
 varying from i,ooo to 400 miles to the towns of the new 
 colonies. And, here, if a man journeyed into the country 
 districts away from the railway Hnes for even 20 miles, he 
 had to carry with him food and forage, for there was nothing 
 left to support man or beast, nothing to give him shelter, in a 
 land where the houses of the rare and far-separated villages 
 were roofless and stripped of furniture, and the scattered and 
 isolated farmsteads had blackened walls and empty stalls. 
 Moreover it was winter — not the cold and rainy winter of the 
 north, but a season of warm days abruptly changing into 
 cold nights, with rainless skies beneath which the grass lay 
 brown and sapless. 
 
 The condition of the Transvaal is faithfully described in a 
 passage which occurs in the final report of the Repatriation 
 Department issued in 1906. At the declaration of peace 
 
 "... all the farm houses had been laid waste, many of the 
 smaller towns had been destroyed and hardly a homestead 
 remained intact. The system of ' drives ' which had been 
 
THE ESTABLISHMENT OP CIVIL GOVERNMENT 25 
 
 organised by Lord Kitchener had denuded the country of all 
 live stock and supplies. In short, the Transvaal had been 
 stripped of everything which was necessary to enable the 
 country population to return to their homes and resume their 
 occupations. Added to this, the stocks of supplies and 
 merchandise in the hands of merchants and others in the 
 large centres and smaller towns along the railway lines were 
 so limited as to be of very little service in feeding or in any 
 way equipping the large numbers of people whom the declara- 
 tion of peace threw on the hands of the Government." ^ 
 
 And in the Orange River Colony, except for the fact that 
 the protected area here was larger than in the Transvaal, the 
 devastation wrought by the guerilla war was no less complete. 
 Who, then, were these people whom 20th June, the day 
 on which the surrender of the Commandos was completed, 
 left "thrown on the hands" of the Administration of the 
 new colonies, and what was their condition? First, there 
 was the bulk of the non-combatant population of the late 
 Republics ; the men, women, and children, who, having 
 been deported by the British military authorities, or 
 having voluntarily sought their protection, were collected 
 already in the various burgher refugee, or concentration, 
 camps, established both in the two new colonies and in the 
 Cape Colony and Natal. Of this population there were 
 69,219 belonging to the Transvaal, and 39,948 belonging to 
 the Orange River Colony, at the end of the war.^ Second, 
 there were 27,500 prisoners of war, of whom 24,273 were 
 in the over-sea camps in India, Ceylon, St Helena, and 
 Bermuda ; 2,226 were in the prisoners' camp at Simonstown, 
 in the Natal or other South African camps, or at large on 
 parole ; and 1,001 were held by the Portuguese Government 
 in Portugal. Third, there were the 17,621 men and boys 
 belonging to the Transvaal and Free State Commandos, 
 who had laid down their arms by 20th June, under the 
 terms of the Surrender Agreement. Fourth, there were 
 the " National Scouts " and other former burghers, who, 
 realising the folly of further resistance, had taken service 
 
 ' " Reports and Financial Statements of the Repatriation Department of the 
 Transvaal," Pretoria. Government Printing Office, 1906. 
 2 Cd. 1551, p. 64. S ' y 
 
26 EECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 in the British Army, or otherwise actively assisted the 
 British Government, during the continuance of the war. 
 Of these there were 1,480 at the date of the Vereeniging 
 surrender. And to the total of iSS,ooo persons, thus 
 composed, must be added some thousands of the poorer 
 classes among the 50,000 British refugees of whose return 
 mention has been made above, and the 60,604 natives con- 
 tained in the native refugee camps of the Orange River 
 Colony, together with an almost equal number in those of 
 the Transvaal.^ The helpless condition of the burgher 
 population as a whole may be gathered from the fact that, 
 when the final record of the Transvaal Repatriation Depart- 
 ment was made up, it was found that of the Dutch 
 inhabitants of the colony more than 95 per cent, in the 
 country districts, and 75 per cent, in the towns, had 
 required the assistance of the Government to enable them 
 to resume their former occupations and manner of life; 
 while the majority of the country Boers and their families 
 had been actually dependent upon the department for food, 
 in varying degrees of completeness, for no less a period than 
 twenty-two months. During the process of repatriation the 
 refugee camps in the two new colonies became receiving- 
 houses and centres of distribution for all these sections of 
 the ex-burgher population, with the one exception, however, 
 that the National Scouts and other ex-military burghers 
 were maintained in their dep6ts until provision was made 
 for them. The Boers in the field, on laying down their 
 arms, trooped off to the camps, either to take up their 
 quarters there, or to draw rations from them ; and they 
 and the non-combatant population were then sorted out 
 and redistributed, the various families or individuals being 
 sent in each case to the camp from which their respective 
 homes could be reached most easily. For the first few 
 months the departures from the camps were balanced by 
 the inflowing stream of the prisoners of war, gradually 
 returning from over-sea. Then one by one the camps were 
 emptied and finally closed down. 
 
 Before proceeding to narrate the methods of the actual 
 repatriation, it will be convenient to notice the manner in 
 ' The figures are taken from the official returns in Cd. 1551. 
 
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT 27 
 
 which the over-sea prisoners of war were brought back to 
 South Africa, and the system under which they and the 
 prisoners in the South African camps were drafted off to 
 the various burgher camps, ready to be removed to their 
 homes by the Repatriation Departments of the two colonies. 
 The task of transporting the prisoners of war from the 
 various over-sea camps to South Africa was carried out 
 by the Home Government ; but the general control of the 
 arrangements was necessarily placed in the hands of Lord 
 Milner, since the dates of sailing and composition of the 
 successive shipments had to be adjusted to meet the 
 exigencies of the Administration of which he was the head. 
 The execution of the arrangements for the reception of the 
 prisoners after they had left the transports, and for their 
 subsequent disposition, was entrusted to Captain W. F. 
 Bonham (Essex Regiment), D.S.O., who was charged with 
 the general supervision of all the prisoners of war. In this 
 duty he was assisted by some other staff officers, who, 
 like himself, had had experience of dealing with the Boers 
 captured during the war, and whose services had therefore 
 been placed at Lord Milner's disposal for this purpose by 
 the military authorities. The system pursued in respect 
 of the over-sea prisoners was this. Instructions relating 
 to the order of return, the preparation of lists, the taking 
 of the oath of allegiance, or the declaration substituted for 
 it, and other details were drawn up and forwarded to the 
 authorities in charge of the over-sea camps. In making 
 up shipments these authorities were directed to select for 
 return, first, prisoners who had volunteered for service 
 with the British forces, or who had in other respects shown 
 their readiness to accept cheerfully the change of Govern- 
 ment ; second, men of no special bias ; and, third, the 
 irreconcilably hostile, and men who had proved insubordinate 
 or mischievous in the camps. The first shipment, consisting 
 of 478 men brought by the Canada from St Helena, reached 
 Cape Town on ist July 1902 — exactly a month after the 
 Surrender Agreement had been signed — and the last,^ the 
 
 ' With the exception of (i) a few individuals, (2) a handful of Boers who 
 settled at St Helena, and (3) some 900 burghers, mainly in India, who refused 
 to make the necessary declaration of allegiance. 
 
28 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 291 men carried in the Sunda from Bermuda, arrived at the 
 same port on 1 8th February 1903. The prisoners in the South 
 African camps were set at large, and, with the exception of a 
 few men of independent resources, forwarded by rail to the 
 various burgher camps on 20th June, the day on which the 
 surrender of the Boer forces in the field was completed. But 
 two of these South African prisoners' camps, that at Simons- 
 town in the Cape Colony and the Umbilo camp in Natal, 
 were kept open to serve as " rest " or " reception " camps for 
 the over-sea prisoners during the three or four days which 
 elapsed between the disembarkation of each shipment, and 
 its despatch by rail to the burgher camps of the districts 
 to which the men respectively belonged. At the "rest" 
 camps the returning prisoners were sorted out according to 
 districts ; and exact lists, showing the names and numbers 
 of the men and the districts of the two colonies to which 
 they belonged, were prepared and forwarded to the Burgher 
 Camp Department, and to the resident Magistrates and 
 Repatriation Boards in the districts concerned. As the 
 system adopted at the two camps was practically identical, 
 the account of the arrangements at the Umbilo camp, 
 given by Captain Bonham, may be taken as descriptive 
 of both. 
 
 " The camp was controlled by a staff officer for prisoners 
 of war, who had a small staff of interpreters and clerks. 
 No military escort was ever found necessary in the camp. 
 The camp gates were left open and the burghers were at 
 liberty to go in and out at all times, but had to be back 
 in the camp by 9 p.m. in the evening, and had to answer 
 their names at roll-call twice a day. A large number of 
 the returning prisoners of war had their wives or other 
 relatives in the neighbouring burgher camps, such as 
 Merebank and Jacob's Siding. The men were at liberty 
 to visit these camps, to look for their friends and relatives, 
 and the inmates of the burgher camps were allowed free 
 access to the Umbilo campi during certain hours and 
 subject to certain camp rules. It is a remarkable fact that 
 in no single instance were these camp regulations trans- 
 
 ' In this one respect the aivangements at the Simonstown camp appear to 
 have dififered from those at Umbilo. In view of the heated political atmosphere 
 of the Cape Colony visitors were refused admittance at Simonstown, but the 
 prisoners were permitted to leave the camp, and return to it, as they desired. 
 
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF QVIL GOVERNMENT 29 
 
 gressed, although no steps were ever taken to enforce their 
 observance. This orderly conduct and sense of discipline 
 and obedience to authority are to be accounted for in a 
 measure by the months, and, in some cases, years of 
 discipline to which the prisoners had been subjected in 
 military camps, but these qualities are also a marked 
 characteristic of the race. 
 
 " On the arrival of a steamer at Durban bringing prisoners 
 of war, the men were disembarked and conveyed by train 
 to the Umbilo camp where they were treated almost exactly 
 as soldiers. The camp contained a library tent and a 
 general store and canteen, and there was also a large 
 recreation field. Every man who was badly off for clothes 
 was supplied with a complete set of clothing or with such 
 articles as he was deficient in, before being sent up country. 
 The Indian and other camps had, as a rule, already supplied 
 the men with everything they required of this nature before 
 embarkation, but the men dispose of or lose many things 
 en route. Each man was also allowed two Government 
 blankets to take with him, when he proceeded up country. 
 
 " Before being sent away every ex-prisoner of war was 
 made to produce his oath or declaration of allegiance form. 
 The oath is always made out in triplicate, and one copy 
 is given to the man taking the oath, who is advised to 
 retain it as proof of identity. 
 
 "No military escort was sent with the trains taking 
 prisoners of war up country, but each train was accompanied 
 by an interpreter, who exercised a general supervision over 
 the passengers and saw that the different parties alighted 
 at the right stations. The amount of luggage taken by 
 each Boer prisoner was quite remarkable, and the occasional 
 cases of baggage being lost are easily accounted for by 
 the enormous quantity carried about. Some attempt was 
 made at the time to limit the quantity, but such open 
 grief was caused amongst the men at being called upon 
 to part with the cherished rubbish and valueless curios 
 accumulated during two years in a foreign country, including 
 many pets and an average of at least one parrot per man, 
 that it was decided not to limit the baggage of returning 
 prisoners of war, and they were allowed to take everything 
 they liked with them at their own risk."^ 
 
 It should be added that prisoners of the bywoner, or 
 
 ' Extract from Captain Bonham's Report on "The Release and Return of 
 Prisoners of War," dated " Pretoria, Jan. 3rd, 1903." Cd. 1551. 
 
30 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 " poor white," class were the last to be returned to South 
 Africa. The justification for this course lay in the circum- 
 stance that such men had no land or resources of their own ; 
 and that, therefore, they had no possibility of resuming 
 their former occupations until the farmers — generally relatives 
 — upon whose land they had squatted, or their other employers, 
 had themselves been re-established. And, in point of fact, the 
 question of providing for these landless Boers proved to be 
 one of the most difficult of the repatriation problems, and 
 one for the solution of which, as we shall have occasion to 
 notice in due course, special measures had to be adopted 
 by the Administration in both colonies. Married men, on 
 the other hand, were sent back before single men ; since 
 the families of the former were in most cases already in the 
 burgher camps, and the reception of the head of a family 
 in these camps did not, therefore, demand additional tent 
 accommodation, as was the case when single men arrived. 
 The admirable manner in which the transfer of the 
 prisoners of war from the transports to the burgher camps 
 was carried out, is shown by the fact, to which Lord Milner 
 testifies, that 
 
 " all this was accomplished, as far as he was aware, without 
 a hitch, and without so much as a single unpleasant incident 
 occurring after the prisoners had once landed in South 
 Africa." 1 
 
 And he adds : — 
 
 "Great credit is due to them (the prisoners) for the 
 manner in which they conducted themselves, and accepted, 
 without making difficulties, the arrangements made by the 
 authorities. But no less credit is due to Captain Bonham 
 and those who assisted him for the excellence of their 
 arrangements, of which I have never heard a complaint 
 from any of the returned prisoners, though I have inter- 
 rogated considerable numbers." 
 
 While the prisoners of war were being thus brought 
 back to South Africa and drafted into the burgher camps, 
 the actual removal of the ex-burgher population of the 
 
 ' Repatriation Despatch of 14th March 1903, Cd. 1551. 
 
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT 31 
 
 late Republics, as a whole, from the camps to their homes 
 was in progress. The process was one of peculiar and 
 especial difficulty. To replace a population of more than 
 150,000 destitute persons in ruined homesteads and villages 
 scattered over an area as large as the British Isles, and 
 that area a wilderness ; to provide them with food, building 
 materials, stores, agricultural implements, draft animals, 
 seeds, and stock, drawn in most cases from sources of 
 supply thousands of miles distant ; to do this with few 
 railways and those choked with traffic, with fewer and 
 worse roads, with a transport system improvised out of 
 the draft animals and vehicles discarded from the service 
 of an army engaged for over two years in continuous and 
 harassing operations in the field ; and to do this, moreover, 
 whilst not overlooking the urgent need of the British 
 industrial population for every species of economic and 
 administrative reform, was a task which, if it had not been 
 actually accomplished, might well have been relegated to 
 the category of the impossible. And yet the accomplish- 
 ment of this task so unprecedented in its character, so 
 complex in its details, seems, as we now see it recorded in 
 despatches and official reports, to have gone forward under 
 Lord Milner's guidance and inspiration with the regularity 
 and precision of a piece of everyday administrative routine. 
 That this should have been possible was due primarily, as 
 we have noticed before, to the measures taken by Lord 
 Milner during the continuance of the war to render the 
 machinery of the Civil Administration in both colonies 
 capable of readily adjusting itself to the anticipated 
 exigencies of the change from war to peace. For, although 
 both he himself and the infant departments which he 
 had brought into being, were subjected to a strain at 
 once heavier and more immediate than had been antici- 
 pated—for who could have assumed that peace would be 
 made at Vereeniging, or, that peace being made, the 
 Commandos would lay down their arms within three 
 weeks of the signature of the Surrender Agreement ?— yet, 
 as the sequel will show, neither the one nor the other 
 failed in any material respect to satisfy the utmost demands 
 that were made upon them by the rapidity with which 
 
32 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the scenes were changed in the final act of the great 
 drama of the war. Indeed, the mere enumeration of the 
 services which the several departments concerned in the 
 repatriation were called upon to perform, and of the date 
 at which these organisations sprang forth, Minerva-like, 
 in full panoply of office, . to fulfil their respective tasks, 
 forms in itself an impressive example of what autocratic 
 power, when combined with high administrative capacity, 
 can achieve with means however inadequate, and in 
 circumstances however adverse. 
 
 The Surrender Agreement was signed an hour before 
 midnight on Saturday, 31st May. On loth June, Lord 
 Milner telegraphed an outline scheme for "the restora- 
 tion of the people to their homes" to Mr Chamberlain, 
 asking for the "general approval" of the Home Govern- 
 ment to the proposals it contained ; but stating that, as 
 time pressed, he was proceeding in the meantime upon 
 the lines indicated .^ On nth June, the Central Board of 
 the Orange River Colony Repatriation Department held 
 its first meeting, and on the 14th the Transvaal Repatria- 
 tion Department similarly commenced its official existence. 
 On the same day (the 14th) Lord Milner arranged with 
 the Commander-in-Chief for the transfer of the surplus 
 army vehicles and cattle to the Repatriation Departments. 
 Within the next few days the members of the Local 
 Commissions, promised in Article X. of the Terms of 
 Surrender, were appointed to serve in all the districts of 
 the two colonies, and instructions for their guidance were 
 drawn up and issued to each of the Resident Magistrates 
 by the Central Repatriation Boards. Thus by 21st June, 
 the day after the surrender of the Commandos had 
 been completed, and the first day upon which the Civil 
 Administration was free to enter into possession of the 
 vast wilderness which the military authorities were about 
 to abandon, the Local Commissions and the two Central 
 Boards were constituted; and on this day, as we have 
 seen. Lord Milner took the oath of office as Governor 
 of the Transvaal at Pretoria, and then proceeded to 
 
 1 The "general approval," as we have seen, reached Lord Milner on i8th 
 June. 
 
THE ESTABLISHMENT OP CIVIL GOVERNMENT 33 
 
 Bloemfontein, where, on the following Monday, 23 rd June, 
 the Crown Colony Administration was inaugurated in 
 like manner in the Orange River Colony. 
 
 But even so, with the Civil Administration formally 
 inaugurated, and the Repatriation Boards and Local 
 Commissions constituted, something more remained to be 
 done before the immediate agencies for the removal of 
 the burgher population from the refugee camps could 
 be set in motion. The existing mechanism of the Civil 
 Administration — both personal and material — had to be 
 extended rapidly from the towns and districts under 
 occupation to the furthest limits of the uninhabited and 
 devastated country, which formed two-thirds of the total 
 area of the two colonies. That this mechanism was often 
 at first of the roughest possible description goes without 
 saying. For many months in the more remote districts 
 the officials, from the Resident Magistrate of the district 
 to the telegraph clerks, lived and worked in tents or rude 
 sheds of corrugated iron, or in offices improvised out of 
 bare walls roofed in with tarpaulin. And not merely in 
 such districts, but in all localities removed from the 
 immediate neighbourhood of the railway lines, the Govern- 
 ment servants of all grades, no less than the burghers, 
 had to depend for many months after the declaration 
 of peace upon the repatriation transport for food and 
 other necessaries of life, and even for the means of com- 
 municating with the heads of their respective departments 
 at Pretoria. 
 
 To clear the way, then, for the return of the Boer 
 population, it was necessary to carry out simultaneously 
 three distinct operations : to police the country ; to extend 
 the framework of Civil Administration ; and to bring the 
 natives under control. 
 
 The instrument for the execution of the first of these 
 operations was the South African Constabulary.'- This force, 
 10,000 strong 2 at the outset, ceased to be a ''combatant 
 
 ^ For the creation and constitution of this force, see " Lord Milner's Work in 
 South Africa, 1897-1902," p. 530. 
 
 ^ It was reduced, however, at the end of the year (1902); and thereafter 
 rapidly and continuously until in 1906 it numbered only 3,700. See ii. p. 172. 
 
 VOL. I. C 
 
34 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 military force in the field " upon the cessation of hostilities, 
 and on i6th June it was relieved from military duty. In 
 the course of the same month the changes of organisation 
 necessary to enable it to discharge the civil duties for which 
 it was originally intended, and for which it was now 
 immediately required, were carried out "with scarcely a 
 pause to refit, or to adjust accounts of pay, clothing, equip- 
 ment, etc., or to give the transport a rest and overhaul." In 
 July, writes Major-General Baden-Powell, the Inspector 
 General, 
 
 "the various units were despatched with all possible 
 speed to take up their distribution over the whole face 
 of the country for the work of policing it. The organisation 
 of the Force enabled this distribution to be carried out 
 without any difficulty or delay ; a troop — a complete 
 self-contained unit of loo men — being sent to occupy 
 each sub-district of the two colonies, its headquarters acting 
 as support and supply depot to its several small out- 
 stations, which were then dotted about the surrounding 
 country. In this way a net- work of posts and patrols was 
 established over the Transvaal and Orange River Colony in 
 a very short space of time, and in such a manner as to ensure 
 every farm in the land being visited once a week." ^ 
 
 So rapidly was this net-work of constabulary posts and 
 patrols spread out, that by the beginning of August the 
 basis of physical force necessary to support the authority 
 of the Civil Government was provided.^ In all 28 districts, 
 61 wards, and 210 stations had been occupied by the 
 Constabulary, and the farthest boundaries of the country, 
 including the line of the Limpopo River with the Portuguese 
 and Tongaland frontiers, were being regularly patrolled 
 in all directions. 
 
 The Resident Magistrates and Native Commissioners, 
 with their respective staffs, took up their duties pari passu 
 with the arrival of the Constabulary. In the Transvaal 
 many of the Magistrates had not been able to set out for 
 their districts on 21st June, when the first repatriation 
 
 1 "R&umi of Progress and Organisation, etc.," of tlie S.A.C. for the half-year 
 ended 31st December 1902. Cd. 1551. 
 
 ' There was, also, of course, the permanent garrison of the regular Army at 
 Pretoria, Potchefstroom, and elsewhere. 
 
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT 35 
 
 circular was issued to them as the ex-officio Chairmen of the 
 Local Commissions ; but by the end of the first week in July 
 they were all at their posts. The Native Commissioners — 
 one for each of the five districts into which the Transvaal was 
 divided for the purposes of native administration — reached 
 the headquarters of their respective districts between the last 
 week in June and the second week of July. The Disarma- 
 ment Ordinance (No. 13, 1902) was passed by the Legis- 
 lative Council on 7th August, and the Native Taxation 
 Ordinance (No. 20, 1902) on the 22nd ; and in the course of 
 the next few months two measures, the disarmament of the 
 native population, and the inauguration of a new system 
 of native taxation, at once more fruitful and less onerous 
 than that established by the Boer Government, were quietly 
 and effectively carried out by the permanent officials of 
 the Native Affairs Department. It is scarcely necessary 
 to remark, however, that the execution of one or both of 
 these measures, if it had been placed in the hands of in- 
 experienced or indiscreet men, might easily have caused a 
 serious disturbance among a native population three times as 
 numerous as the white inhabitants of the colony, and one 
 which was at this moment dangerously excited by the events 
 of the war. As it was, no assistance either from the 
 Constabulary or from the regular Army was required ; 50,488 
 guns were handed in and the owners compensated according 
 to the scale fixed by the Ordinance, and at the beginning 
 of the new year (1903) Sir Godfrey Lagden, the Com- 
 missioner for Native Affairs, was able to report that all 
 fear of a serious native rising in the Transvaal had passed 
 away ; since " although the natives might be formidable 
 at close quarters or in the bush with naked weapons, they 
 were not now formidable beyond the range of assagais."^ 
 
 In the Orange River Colony, where the distances were 
 shorter and the country generally was more easy of access, 
 and where, too, there was no preponderance of native popula- 
 tion, the establishment of the Magistrates and the other 
 officials of the Civil Government in their respective posts went 
 forward with even greater rapidity than in the Transvaal. 
 And eight months later (March 1903), in reporting to Lord 
 
 1 Cd. 1551. 
 
36 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Milner on the progress of the repatriation in this colony, 
 Sir H. Goold-Adams was able to attribute "the gratifying 
 absence of any symptom of restlessness " among the burgher 
 population in the outlying districts in no small measure to 
 the fact, that " so short a time was allowed to elapse between 
 the surrender of the Commandos and the establishment 
 of civil rule." ^ Thus, within little more than a month of 
 the declaration of peace, the various parts of the machinery 
 necessary for the execution of the first great task of the 
 Crown Colony Administration — the restoration of the Boers 
 to their homes — had been assembled ; and the machine itself, 
 albeit imperfectly adjusted and insufficiently equipped, was 
 nevertheless ready to start. 
 
 1 Cd. 1551. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 THE REPATRIATION 
 
 " As soon as conditions permit, a Commission, on which the local inhabitants 
 will be represented, will be appointed in each district of the Transvaal and 
 Orange River Colony, under the presidency of a Magistrate or other official, 
 for the purposes of assisting the restoration of the people to their homes, and 
 supplying those who, owing to war losses, are unable to provide themselves with 
 food, shelter, and the necessary amount of seed, stock, implements, etc., in- 
 dispensable to the resumption of their normal occupation. 
 
 "His Majesty's Government will place at the disposal of these Commissioners 
 a sum of ;f 3,000,000 for the above purposes and will allow all notes issued under 
 Law I. of 1900 of the South African Republic, and all receipts given by officers 
 in the field of the late Republics, or under their orders, to be presented to a 
 Judicial Commission, which will be appointed by the Government, and if such 
 notes and receipts are found by the Commission to have been duly issued in 
 return for valuable considerations, they will be received by the first-named 
 Commissions as evidence of war losses suffered by the persons to whom they 
 were originally given. 
 
 "In addition to the above named free grant of ;^3,ooo,ooo. His Majesty's 
 Government will be prepared to make advances on loan for the same purposes 
 free of interest for two years, and afterwards repayable over a period of years 
 with 3 per cent, interest. No foreigner or rebel will be entitled to the benefit 
 of this clause." (Article X. of the Terms of Surrender). 
 
 The promptitude with which the necessary expansion of 
 the administrative framework of the two Colonial Govern- 
 ments was effected, enabled the work of the Repatriation 
 Departments to proceed uninterruptedly almost from the 
 very moment when the constitutions conferred by the Crown 
 upon the two new colonies had been brought into legal 
 operation by the formalities of 21st and 23rd June. 
 
 From an administrative point of view these Departments 
 were temporary Government organisations^established to give 
 effect to the recommendations of the Local Commissions, 
 promised in Article X. of the Terms of Surrender, which 
 were appointed, as we have seen, in all districts of the 
 Transvaal and Orange River Colony within three weeks of 
 the declaration of peace. Differing in methods of detail, the 
 two Departments were yet identical in their main features. 
 
 37 
 
38 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 The Transvaal Repatriation Department was constituted 
 in the manner following. The Head of the Department, 
 Captain Hughes, was the Secretary to the Central Board, 
 a body sitting at Pretoria and itself composed of the 
 respective heads of the five branches, or sub-departments, 
 of Transport, Supply, Stock, Accountancy, and Buildings, 
 together with the Secretary .^ Both the Local Commissions 
 and the Secretary of the Central Board were directly 
 responsible to the Colonial Treasurer, and all sums required 
 by either were drawn from the Treasury ; but the Chairmen 
 of the Local Commissions communicated with the Treasurer 
 through the Secretary of the Central Board. As the 
 Treasurer was a member of the Executive Council of the 
 colony, the work of the Repatriation Department was 
 placed by these arrangements under the immediate control 
 and supervision of the Colonial Government. Subordinate 
 to the Central Board were thirty-eight Repatriation Depdts, 
 of which twenty-three were established on the railway lines, 
 and fifteen in districts with which no railway communicated. 
 Each of these depots was placed in the charge of a Super- 
 intendent, whose staff consisted of an Assistant - Super- 
 intendent, an Accountant, and a varying number of clerks 
 and storemen. In locating the depdts the Central Board 
 selected places which were (i) the chief town or seat of 
 a Resident Magistrate, or (2) points from which a large 
 population could be served, or (3) points on the railway 
 lines from which supplies and stock could be conveniently 
 forwarded to one or other of the back country depdts.^ 
 The depdts themselves were stocked with animals, transport 
 materials, implements, seeds, and foodstuffs ; and it was from 
 them that animals and supplies of all kinds were issued to 
 the repatriated burghers upon the order of the Resident 
 Magistrates, as Chairmen of the Local Commissions. It 
 should be mentioned also that in addition to the Central 
 Board a Committee, composed largely of men thoroughly 
 versed in the local conditions of the country, was appointed 
 
 ' The substance of this account is taken from " Reports and Financial State- 
 ments of the Repatriation Department of the Transvaal," Pretoria. Government 
 Printing Office, 1906. The main report is signed by Captain A. M. Hughes, 
 the Secretary to the Central Board of the Department. 
 
 ^ A list of the places where dep&ts vieie established is given in Cd. 
 1551. P- 36- 
 
THE REPATRIATION 39 
 
 to act as an advisory body to the Colonial Government 
 in respect of the working of the Department.^ 
 
 "What was aimed at,'' writes Captain Hughes, "was 
 to give (the repatriated ex-burghers) only such assistance 
 as was absolutely necessary to enable them to resume their 
 normal occupation, and to guard against their being in any 
 way pauperised or given articles which were of no service 
 to them." 2 
 
 Of the duties assigned respectively to the five branches 
 of the Department, those of the Transport Branch were the 
 most onerous and important. Not only was this branch 
 charged with the duty of conveying the Boer country 
 population from the refugee camps to their homes, but it 
 was called upon to supply transport, and where necessary 
 — as was the case in the outlying districts — stores and 
 supplies for the Government officials. In connection with 
 this duty it must be remembered that at the declaration of 
 peace, as we have before noticed, very nearly all the animals 
 in the country suitable for transport work were in possession 
 of the military authorities ; and that, therefore, when the 
 Repatriation Departments took over what was the only 
 available supply of animals and vehicles, the two Colonial 
 Governments naturally looked to these Departments to 
 furnish the transport necessary for the maintenance of the 
 administrative system in districts which the railways failed 
 to reach. 
 
 " In short," writes Captain Hughes, " the transport branch 
 of this (the Transvaal Repatriation) Department was called 
 upon to do every form of Government carting and transport, 
 including the carrying of the mails, until such time as private 
 individuals could obtain the necessary stock and material to 
 enable them to tender for the carrying out of this work." 
 
 And he adds that the work was very heavy, and that although 
 in most instances a claim was made on behalf of the Repatria- 
 tion Department " against the Department concerned, and the 
 charges for this service were paid for," yet a very large amount 
 of service of this kind was rendered free of charge. 
 
 ' This Advisory Committee was due to the direct initiation of Lord Milner. 
 For the circumstances in which it was created, see forward chap. iv. pp. 71-2. 
 ^ " Reports, etc., of the Repatriation Department of the Transvaal." 
 
40 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 In supplying stores to the repatriated Boers every 
 endeavour was made to reduce the price to the lowest 
 possible figure. Customs duties were remitted by the 
 Administration upon repatriation stores up to the end of 
 1902 ; and the railways of the two colonies carried them on 
 specially favourable terms. This latter concession, however, 
 proved to be of doubtful value to the Department ; since in 
 granting these reduced rates the railway authorities divested 
 themselves of any liability for losses ex rail, and owing to 
 the congested state of the traffic at this time such losses 
 were of frequent occurrence. The sum at which the stores 
 were actually sold to the country population was made up 
 of (i) the price paid by the Supply Office for goods on 
 delivery; (2) the railage from the coast or elsewhere, and 
 (3) 10 per cent, added to cover the loss incurred by the 
 Department through the leakage or damage of goods in 
 transit or at the dep6ts. In short, the stores were sold at 
 the actual cost price to the Department, such cost price not 
 including charges for office expenses, cartage, and storage. 
 That this sum was far below the "market" price at which 
 such goods could have been obtained, especially in the more 
 remote districts, goes without saying. Indeed, in view of 
 the abnormal economic and industrial conditions which 
 obtained in both the new colonies during the months 
 immediately following the cessation of hostilities, it is 
 doubtful whether private enterprise could have availed to 
 supply goods on any terms at all to the ex - burgher 
 population at this time. 
 
 By means of the organisation which we have just passed 
 in review the Transvaal Repatriation Department was able 
 (i) to feed the ex-burghers ; (2) to convey them to their 
 homes ; (3) to supply them with bare necessaries when they 
 had reached their homes ; and (4) to provide them with the 
 funds necessary for the repair of their buildings and the 
 re-stocking of their farms. 
 
 A large proportion of the services thus comprised were 
 wholly gratuitous. Free rations were issued to all burghers 
 for one month after the declaration of peace ; to school 
 children up to 31st December 1903 ; and to old and indigent 
 persons as required. Widows were provided with rations 
 for three months, with a cow and a calf, fowls, building 
 
THE REPATRIATION 41 
 
 materials, seed for ten acres of land, and, where necessary, 
 their ground was ploughed for them. In the case of widows 
 who had no land of their own, relatives or friends were called 
 upon to provide ground upon which they could be established ; 
 and, where desirable, the gift of rations, stock, etc., was 
 commuted into a grant of £6^ in cash. Also, 833 head 
 of cattle and 1,119 horses, donkeys, and mules were issued 
 gratuitously, and as an act of grace, to certain burghers to 
 replace animals which had died within a short time of being 
 purchased from the Department. The conveyance of the 
 burghers, with their goods and belongings, from the refugee 
 camps to their homes was performed without any charge ; 
 and even when the repatriated population was charged for 
 the supplies provided, or the services rendered, by the 
 Department, the payments were fixed on a scale which was 
 not intended to cover either its trading losses or working 
 expenses. In both the Transvaal and the Orange River 
 Colony the cost of administration in the widest sense formed 
 no element in the price at which the goods or stock were 
 supplied, services rendered, or loans issued, by the Repatria- 
 tion Departments. As, therefore, in the Transvaal the 
 burgher population contributed only a small fraction — one- 
 eighth or one-tenth — to the revenue, the greater part of the 
 cost of the administration of the Repatriation Department 
 was as much a free gift to the country, or mainly Dutch, 
 population, from the industrial, or mainly British, population 
 of the colony, as was the .^3,000,000 granted under the 
 Vereeniging Agreement a free gift from the people of the 
 United Kingdom. In fact, out of the .£'6,645,472, iis. 7d. 
 spent on repatriation in the Transvaal, the whole of the 
 irrecoverable expenditure (.£^3,533,301, 8s. 2d.) and part of 
 the (nominally) recoverable expenditure (£3,104,797, os. 2d.), 
 were gratuitous assistance to the Boer population. And, 
 as will appear when we come to discuss the financial aspect 
 of the Repatriation as a whole, the gratuitous element was 
 almost as conspicuous in the assistance rendered in the 
 Orange River Colony. 
 
 While, however, the whole of the operations of the two 
 Repatriation Departments partook largely of the nature of 
 a gratuitous assistance, it had been wisely decided by the 
 Administration that the Boers, being possessed both as a 
 
42 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 community and as individuals of certain assets which, though 
 not realisable at the moment, would become realisable as the 
 work of settlement proceeded, should be required to pledge 
 these assets, and thus contribute in proportion to their 
 means to the cost of their restoration to their former homes 
 and avocations. To have taken any other course would 
 have been to pauperise and needlessly degrade a naturally 
 self-reliant and self-supporting community. These assets 
 consisted in the main of the ;^3,ooo,ooo grant, the 
 compensation claims of the "protected" burghers, receipts 
 for stock or goods supplied or surrendered to the military 
 authorities during the war, and the large proportion of the 
 cultivable area of both colonies which was the private 
 property of the Boer landowners. 
 
 Rations, agricultural and other implements, building 
 materials, seeds, etc., were supplied in accordance with scales ^ 
 
 ^ The "Burgher Ration Scale per head weekly" was fixed by a circular letter 
 of 24th September 1902, issued from the office of the Director of Supplies, as 
 follows : — 
 
 "Adults— 
 
 
 Flour, Boer meal, biscuit or mealies 
 
 7 lb. 
 
 Preserved meat or Machonochie's rations 
 
 S » 
 
 Sugar ...... 
 
 I ., 
 
 Coffee ..... 
 
 I ., 
 
 Milk ..... 
 
 I tin 
 
 Salt 
 
 i lb. 
 
 Soap ..... 
 
 i >, 
 
 Children — 5 to 12 years of age — 
 
 
 Flour or Boer meal 
 
 S lb. 
 
 Preserved meat or Machonochie's rations 
 
 3 » 
 
 Sugar ..... 
 
 I » 
 
 Coffee 
 
 i ., 
 
 Salt 
 
 \ » 
 
 Milk ..... 
 
 I tin 
 
 Butter ..... 
 
 J lb. 
 
 Soap ..... 
 
 i „ 
 
 Children — Under 5 years of age — 
 
 
 Flour or Boer meal 
 
 13 lb. 
 
 Preserved meat or Machonochie's rations 
 
 14 ., 
 
 Sugar ..... 
 
 I .. 
 
 Salt 
 
 4 .. 
 
 Milk 
 
 3 tins 
 
 Butter ...... 
 
 i lb. 
 
 Soap ...... 
 
 J ,. 
 
 of age, 
 
 The meal ration will be withheld in the case of children under two years 
 
 By Order, 
 
 W. P. G. MYLREA, Captain. 
 Director of Supplies, Transvaal 
 
 Repatriation Department.' 
 Cd. 1551, p. 37 (where further particulars of the same kind are given). 
 
THE REPATRIATION 43 
 
 fixed by the Central Board, and the value of each issue was 
 charged against the recipient's share of the ;^3,ooo,ooo grant. 
 In the case of every burgher returned to his farm, says 
 Captain Hughes, " a plough with gear, a team of animals, a 
 few simple carpenter's and other tools and a harrow were 
 provided, then seeds for about six morgen (12 acres) of 
 ground and rations for four months." Animals and waggons 
 supplied were charged against a promissory note of the 
 recipient. The note was required to be endorsed by a 
 landowner, matured in two years, and bore no interest. 
 Cash loans up to ;^400 in value were granted on the recom- 
 mendation of the Local Commissions ; and in the case of 
 substantial farmers who required to restock their holdings, 
 sums in excess of ;^400 were advanced on the security of a 
 first mortgage on the property. The former class of loans 
 were advanced on the security of the recipient, and subject 
 to a proviso that any sum awarded to the debtor as " Com- 
 pensation for war losses " should be applied to the reduction 
 or liquidation of the loan, were repayable in seven years, 
 during only the last five of which interest at the rate of 
 3 per cent, per annum was charged. In order to meet the 
 necessities of poor burghers who were unable to find a 
 landowner to endorse their promissory notes, the Depart- 
 ment supplied animals on the hire-purchase system. In this 
 case, and, under Ordinance 19 of 1902, in the case of rations, 
 animals, etc., charged against the recipients' shares in the 
 ;^3,ooo,ooo grant, the Government retained the ownership 
 in the supplies issued by the Department so long as the 
 accounts remained unliquidated. 
 
 Some assistance. Captain Hughes adds, was also given 
 by the Department to British subjects who had acquired 
 land by private purchase, and settled on it. Such persons 
 were allowed to purchase up to ^^400 value of stock for 
 cash, and up to ;^200, by promissory notes endorsed by 
 one landowner or two other approved securities. 
 
 The organisation of the Orange River Colony Repatria- 
 tion Department differed from that of the Transvaal in so 
 far as the Local Commissions were allowed, in each case, 
 to determine the particular methods by which effect was to 
 be given, in the several districts, to the general instructions 
 
44 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 of the Central Board at Bloemfontein. The greater freedom 
 of initiative thus granted to the Local Commissions in the 
 Orange River Colony was due in the main to the lesser 
 extent, smaller population, and more settled conditions of 
 this colony — circumstances which made the repatriation 
 here a less onerous and complex administrative task than 
 it was in the Transvaal. But the character and terms of 
 the assistance rendered were in other respects identical in 
 both colonies. 
 
 The ex-burgher population of this colony was divided 
 by Colonel H. MacLaughlin, the Secretary to the Central 
 Board, for repatriation purposes into three classes : National 
 Scouts and those burghers who had actively assisted the 
 new Government either in arms or as scouts ; landowners ; 
 and bywoners, or indigent persons.^ In dealing with each 
 of these classes a separate system of assistance was adopted. 
 Ex-burghers of the first class were assisted through the 
 agency of a special organisation termed "The O. R. C. 
 Volunteer Department " ; and each man of this class, " who 
 through war losses was unable to help himself, received 
 up to ;^5o in cash on loan." This sum was given to the 
 representative of the Volunteer Department, by whom it was 
 " expended to the best advantage — in cash or kind ; and a 
 personal bond, given by the applicant, was accepted in full 
 satisfaction of the expenditure, the details of which concerned 
 the Volunteer Repatriation Department only."'' 
 
 In dealing with burghers of the second class, owners of 
 i,ooo morgen (2,000 acres) or upwards of unmortgaged land 
 were held to be outside the scope of Article X. of the 
 Terms of Surrender; since persons possessed of the means 
 of borrowing money from any bank at the ordinary local 
 rate of interest (6 per cent.) could not be regarded as 
 "unable to provide themselves with food, shelter, and the 
 necessary amount of seed, stock, implements, etc., indis- 
 pensable to the resumption of their normal occupation." 
 But owners of 1,000 morgen or upwards, whose properties 
 were mortgaged to an extent rendering further borrowing 
 
 1 Memorandum enclosed in the Report on Repatriation in the Orange River 
 Colony of the Lieutenant-Governor (Sir H. Goold-Adams), dated 7th March IQO?. 
 In Cd. 1551. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
THE REPATRIATION 45 
 
 on the ordinary terms incompatible with the successful 
 working of their farms, and owners of less than i,ooo 
 morgen were allowed to borrow under the terms of Article X. 
 on first or second mortgage. The loans thus granted by 
 the Repatriation Department were of an average value of 
 between ;^300 and ;^400, and did not, except in special 
 cases, exceed ;^500. As a precaution against the employ- 
 ment of these advances in the satisfaction of personal 
 liabilities incurred before the war, and the consequent 
 diversion of the Repatriation funds from their proper object, 
 the loans were made as to two-thirds of the amount in kind, 
 and as to one-third in cash ; and in certain cases where the 
 possible foreclosure of an earlier mortgage would have 
 deprived the landowner of the benefit of the repatriation 
 loan, or endangered the security of repatriation loans 
 advanced on second or third mortgages, the Department 
 itself took over, or retired, such existing mortgages at the 
 original rate of interest, or at a rate not exceeding 6 per 
 cent., in addition to granting the new loan. 
 
 The question of how to assist the third class, the 
 bywoners,! or landless Boers, formed in both colonies one 
 of the most difficult of the repatriation problems. Here, in 
 the Orange River Colony, the treatment adopted was based 
 upon a prompt recognition of the fact that " the only solution 
 to this question would be found in inducing landowners to 
 take back on their farms as many bywoners as possible and 
 so repatriate them into the same condition as that in which 
 they existed previous to the war."^ In their own impoverish- 
 ment, however, the Boer landowners refused to take them 
 back except on condition of the bywoner receiving such 
 assistance from the Department as would make him a source 
 of profit, instead of a burden, to the owner of the land on 
 which he squatted. In these circumstances the requirements 
 of the landowners were met ; and the Department supplied 
 the bywoners with rations and seeds, and made arrangements 
 for ploughing their lands. The methods by which this assist- 
 ance was rendered were left to the discretion of the Local 
 
 ^ The word bywoners means tenants at will, or "squatters by permission '■ 
 on another man's land. ' ^ ^=01011, 
 
 Z:.I Cd. 1551. 
 
46 EECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Commissions, and varied in accordance with the circum- 
 stances of the respective applicants. In some cases the 
 ploughing was done by the repatriation teams, in others the 
 bywoners were supplied with oxen on loan for a specified 
 period ; and similarly, while in some cases the seeds were 
 given outright, in others a stipulation was made that a 
 corresponding amount of seed should be returned to the 
 Department, if required, when the crops had been harvested. 
 As we have already remarked, the terms upon which 
 the repatriation assistance in general was granted in the 
 Orange River Colony did not differ in principle from those 
 of the Transvaal Department. On this head Sir H. Goold- 
 Adams writes ^ : — 
 
 " Although Article X. had indicated a proportion of the 
 assistance being by way of free grant, it was decided that 
 all advances and issues should in the first instance be 
 treated as loans. To have encumbered the Local Com- 
 missions with the duty of deciding then and there who 
 was or was not entitled to a free grant might have 
 materially delayed the more important work of getting 
 the people back on to their farms before the end of the 
 current ploughing season. Nor were there at this period 
 any sufficient data to show even the approximate amount 
 that any individual might expect in respect of compensation 
 for war losses." 
 
 In these circumstances the ex-burghers who were unable 
 to furnish a valid or marketable security for the cash or 
 supplies provided by the Department, were required to sign 
 "acknowledgments of indebtedness" which in each case 
 covered the assistance received. These documents, in Sir 
 H. Goold-Adams's words, were 
 
 " in no sense legal instruments ; they were neither stamped 
 nor registered, and had little in common with the ordinary 
 promissory note ; they may best be compared to an 
 ordinary tradesman's account, which may, or may not, 
 become a bad debt." 
 
 Before tracing the subsequent development and final 
 closing down of the two Departments, it will be convenient 
 ' On 7th March 1903. Cd. 1551. 
 
THE REPATRIATION 47 
 
 to refer to the special difficulties which were encountered 
 in both colonies at the very outset of the work of repatriation 
 and during the course of the singularly abnormal agricultural 
 year of 1903. When the Departments commenced their task 
 in the month of June 1902, their first and elementary 
 requirement was a transport service capable of conveying 
 human beings, stock, and stores from the refugee camps 
 and railway stations over the great denuded areas in both 
 colonies, which, as we know, were devoid of all means of 
 communication except such as were afforded by the primitive 
 roads that here and there crossed the veld. At first sight 
 it would appear that the material for this necessary equip- 
 ment was ready at hand. Did not the surplus animals 
 and vehicles of the Army Transport Service, taken over by 
 the Administration for this very purpose, and under con- 
 ditions which, as we have before noticed, left it no alternative 
 but to accept the terms of sale, however rigorous, exacted 
 by the military authorities, provide all that was wanted? 
 Certainly without this material the actual repatriation could 
 not have begun, as it did, almost from the hour that the 
 last fighting burghers laid down their arms. But the work 
 of converting these discarded animals and vehicles into a 
 machinery of transport sufficient to meet the onerous con- 
 ditions of the repatriation service proved to be no easy 
 business. In point of fact four circumstances combined to 
 render the task one of exceptional and unexpected difficulty : 
 the bad condition of the animals and vehicles handed over 
 by the military, the commencement of the repatriation in 
 mid-winter, the repugnance shown by the natives employed 
 by the military to accept the terms offered by the Civil 
 Government, and the legacy of horse and cattle diseases 
 which the army animals left behind them. 
 
 As to the first of these circumstances, the accounts of 
 the Orange River Colony Repatriation Department showed 
 a loss of ;£'90,ooo written off up to 31st December 1902 for 
 deaths of army live stock ; and it was anticipated by Colonel 
 MacLaughlin at the date of his first report (3rd March 1903) 
 that a further loss of ;^i 15,964 would be incurred, as the 
 difference between the prices paid to the military authorities 
 and the prices realised by the Department on re-issue to 
 
48 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the burghers, in respect of this live stock. In the final 
 accounts of the Transvaal Department the loss from deaths 
 of animals is shown as £64.1,3^6, lis. lod., and among the 
 causes to which this heavy loss is attributed the chief is 
 the " poor or diseased condition of the army animals." In 
 the early records of the repatriation complaints are made 
 from all quarters on this head. 
 
 " More than 50 per cent, of the ox transport purchased 
 from the Army," writes Mr Duncan, the Colonial Treasurer 
 of the Transvaal, on 5th January 1903, "was unfit" to move, 
 and had practically to be nursed through the (South African) 
 winter." ^ 
 
 And Colonel MacLaughlin, the Secretary to the Central 
 Board of the Orange River Colony Department, says on 3rd 
 March 1903 : — 
 
 " I feel bound to call attention to the quality of the 
 transport taken over from the military. The oxen and 
 mules were naturally the worst they had with the exception 
 of class D oxen (which were useless for transport purposes), 
 and those they wished to part with at the commencement of 
 their reduction of transport. The oxen were in poor con- 
 dition, and, in many cases, old. The mules old, suffering in 
 many cases very badly from skin diseases, and saturated with 
 glanders ; the wagons in bad repair ... a very considerable 
 portion of our mule transport was useless for months." ^ 
 
 The books of the Department show that Colonel 
 MacLaughlin's complaint was not exaggerated. Out of 
 11,400 horses taken over from the military authorities at 
 an average price of ;£'2i, 1374 died of "poverty" or glanders 
 — the majority before they were issued to the burghers. 
 The mules were in a worse condition ; and out of 5896 
 taken over at an average price of £27, 1638 died in the 
 like circumstances. The state of the transport vehicles was 
 scarcely more satisfactory. The carts and waggons handed 
 over had been used up in the war, and it was necessary to 
 repair them before they could be employed in the repatriation 
 service ; and even then the maintenance of these used-up 
 
 ' Cd. issi. 
 
 ^ " Memorandum, etc." (as before cited). 
 
THE EEPATRIATION 49 
 
 vehicles, when required and issued for service, was costly and 
 laborious. In these circumstances, and especially in view 
 of the difficulty of providing food for stock of all kinds, it 
 may be asked why steam-driven transport was not used. 
 The answer is, of course, that the general absence of roads, 
 and the bad condition of such roads as did exist, made 
 steam-traction, as was proved by the experiments of the 
 military authorities during the war, practically useless for 
 the purposes of the Repatriation Departments. 
 
 The second circumstance — the fact that the repatriation 
 began in the middle of the South African winter, or, what is 
 more to the point, in the middle of the dry and almost rain- 
 less season of the high plateaux west of the Drakenberg range 
 — was one that considerably enhanced the original difficulty of 
 preparing serviceable transport out of the deficient materials 
 purchased from the Army. At this season, when the grass 
 remained brown and sapless until the first rains came in 
 September, or October, as the case might be, the whole of the 
 live stock had to be provided with forage: and as no supplies, 
 other than the small amount procured from the surplus Army 
 stores, could be obtained in the country, every kind of food 
 required by the healthy, as well as the unhealthy animals, 
 had to be imported, and, when imported, carried for long 
 distances by road to the various dep6ts and stock camps. 
 Obviously under these conditions the tending and nursing 
 of impoverished and diseased live stock was a matter which 
 threw a considerable and additional burden upon both the 
 finances and the available labour supply of the transport 
 branches of the two Departments. The position thus created 
 is well summarised by Lord Milner : — 
 
 "I need not repeat that we began working with the 
 country absolutely denuded of everything. Moreover, we 
 began in the dead of winter. The large number of animals, 
 mainly required, in the first instance, for transport, which we 
 took over from the military, were, for the most part, in the 
 most wretched condition. Hundreds of them died before 
 they had done any work at all ; many thousands were useless 
 for several months, and were only gradually resuscitated by 
 the greatest care and at considerable expense. It being 
 winter, there was no grass, and for some time forage had to 
 be provided for the whole number. In bringing up supplies 
 
 VOL. I. T» 
 
50 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 from the coast we were hampered by the tremendous strain 
 on the railway, due to the necessity of taking down an 
 Army of between 100,000 and 200,000 men, and bringing 
 up thousands of returning refugees."^ 
 
 The difficulty experienced by the Repatriation Depart- 
 ments in obtaining labour was an instance of the manner 
 in which the Civil Administration suffered in lesser, as in 
 greater, matters, from the abnormal economic conditions 
 brought about by the military rigime. It was not merely on 
 the gold mines of the Rand that there was a shortage of 
 native labour, or that it was found no easy matter to fix 
 a scale of wages which, without injuring the permanent 
 industrial interests of the country, would yet serve to attract 
 the Bantu tribesmen in sufficient numbers. As the result 
 of the high wages received from the military authorities, 
 many natives among those who were in the habit of seeking 
 periodically employment under European masters were in 
 possession of funds that made it unnecessary for them to 
 leave their kraals ; while others who would have been willing 
 to work for wages on the scale paid by the Army refused 
 to accept the more economically just remuneration offered 
 by the civil authorities. In this matter the Orange River 
 Colony, owing to the smallness of the native population 
 resident within its boundaries, was in a worse position than 
 the Transvaal. Not only so, but the " poorest bywoners and 
 their sons" from the refugee camps for the most part 
 absolutely refused to serve as " leaders " and " drivers " ^ for 
 the repatriation waggons, while a few who accepted this 
 employment "neglected their animals, wasted time on the 
 road," demanded increased pay, and proved generally 
 unsatisfactory. Ultimately a supply of native drivers and 
 " vorloopers " was obtained from the Native Refugee Camp 
 Department.8 And in this connection the reluctance to 
 
 ' Cd. 1551 (as above cited). 
 
 2 The native "leader" walks ahead of the first pair of oxen ; the " driver" 
 controls the whole team by his enormous whip, which he wields with extra- 
 ordinary skill and judgment. 
 
 ^ "The Aftermath of War ; An Account of the Repatriation of the Boers and 
 Natives m the Orange River Colony, 1902-4," by G. B. Beak. Mr Beak was an 
 official of this Department, and after the conversion of the Repatriation Depart- 
 ment into the " Government Relief Department " in 1903, he became Assistant- 
 Director of this latter. 
 
THE REPATRIATION 51 
 
 leave the refugee camps displayed by the bywoners 
 especially, and by the poorer burghers in a lesser degree, 
 may be noticed. In some cases, says Mr Beak, the Boers 
 actually refused to leave the refugee camps for their homes 
 in the respective districts; and, among other evidence on 
 this head, he cites the report of the Resident Magistrate at 
 Fauresmith as containing the statement that " great difficulty 
 was experienced in emptying the Heilbron camp." This 
 reluctance was partly to be attributed to the fact that in 
 the Orange River Colony the repatriation ration was "not 
 nearly so elaborate " as that of the refugee camps, " nor 
 could it bear comparison with that served out by the sister 
 organisation in the Transvaal." ^ But it is scarcely necessary 
 to point out how completely the experience of the repatria- 
 tion officials in respect of this circumstance confirms the 
 view previously expressed,^ that the charge of inhumanity 
 brought against the system of refugee (or concentration) 
 camps was entirely inconsistent with the facts. At the 
 same time, in drawing attention to this circumstance it is 
 only fair to the Boers, as a people, to add that the spirit of 
 dependence manifested in this reluctance to quit the ease 
 and comfort of the refugee camps was confined to the more 
 helpless members of the burgher population and received no 
 encouragement from their leading men. On this point Lord 
 Milner's generous and definite testimony may be taken as 
 conclusive. The Boers, he writes on 14th March 1903, 
 
 "recognised almost to a man that we were doing all we 
 possibly could to assist them, and, while, no doubt, there was 
 a certain lethargy at first on the part of the poorest and 
 landless class, who showed considerable reluctance to quit the 
 concentration camps, the better-to-do farmers were all of 
 them most earnest in stimulating the others to work both by 
 precept and example, and have shown the greatest anxiety 
 to counteract any inertia on the part of the Boer popula- 
 tion generally. In scores of interviews which I have had 
 with leading Boer farmers all over the country, whether 
 members of Repatriation Boards or others, I have almost 
 invariably found them anxious to urge the necessity of 
 
 \ "The Aftermath of War ; An Accouat of the Repatriation of the Boers and 
 Natives m the Orange River Colony, 1902-4," p. 143, 
 
 ^ " Lord Milner's Work in South Africa, 1897-1902," pp. 460 ei seq. 
 
52 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 doing nothing to encourage a spirit of dependence on the 
 Government, and of limiting our assistance to the poorer 
 men to what was really essential to enable them to make 
 a fresh start." ^ 
 
 To complete the recital of the embarrassments caused 
 by the bad condition of the army animals, it remains to 
 notice the subsequent outbreak of horse and cattle diseases 
 among the repatriation stock in general, and throughout 
 the two colonies, due primarily to the debility of the 
 animals that formed the original source of supply for 
 restocking the agricultural areas denuded in the war. The 
 Orange River Colony, owing to the comparatively more 
 advanced development of its country districts and to its 
 better climatic conditions, suffered somewhat less in this 
 respect than the Transvaal ; although, as we have seen 
 from the accounts of the Repatriation Department, the 
 immediate losses from the deaths of live stock were 
 extremely heavy. But in the Transvaal the position thus 
 created in the (South African) summer of 1902-3 was one 
 of great seriousness. The rains were late, writes Captain 
 Hughes, and one of the severest droughts on record in 
 South Africa followed. The loss of animals was great, and 
 the difficulties experienced in moving them were " increased 
 by a hundredfold." When the rains came, Rhodesian Red- 
 water appeared among the cattle of the Department, and 
 this was followed by an outbreak of lung-sickness. As the 
 veterinary assistance at the disposal of the Transvaal 
 Government was very limited, by an arrangement with the 
 Cape Government Mr Hutcheons, the principal veterinary 
 ofHcial of the latter colony, visited the Transvaal in the 
 early months of 1903, and reported upon the situation. 
 At this time, in addition to the outbreak of cattle disease, 
 the repatriation mules and horses had been attacked by 
 glanders, mange, and other diseases contracted during the 
 campaign. To meet the crisis a special Veterinary Branch 
 of the Department was established ; but it was only when 
 measures for the isolation, and, where necessary, the destruc- 
 tion, of infected animals had been instituted and strictly 
 
 • Cd. 1551. 
 
THE REPATRIATION 53 
 
 enforced, that it was found possible to keep the diseases 
 in check.^ 
 
 The recital of these gravely disadvantageous circum- 
 stances makes the work actually accomplished by the 
 Repatriation Transport the more remarkable. As evidence 
 of its general efficiency, it is sufficient to remember that 
 by the beginning of March 1903— that is to say, within a 
 period of little more than eight months— the entire burgher 
 population had been restored to their homes. It has been 
 noticed how, throughout the process of repatriation, the 
 concentration, or burgher refugee, camps served both as 
 receiving-houses and centres of distribution for the other- 
 wise homeless population of the new colonies. The pen 
 of an eye-witness provides a vivid picture of the manner 
 in which the Repatriation Transport carried out the initial 
 stage of its duties, the removal of the ex-burghers from the 
 camps to their homes. 
 
 " During hostilities these camps had provided a home 
 for those who, through the exigencies of war, had been 
 rendered homeless. On the conclusion of peace they 
 became a temporary resting-place for the last to surrender, 
 and the returning prisoners of war. But these tranquil 
 backwaters to the surging torrent of war, these harbours of 
 refuge and havens of peace from all the horrors and 
 sorrows of conflict, now suddenly became hives of activity. 
 Day by day, and all day long, for many weeks clouds of 
 dust were seen to rise as the long spans of oxen and mules, 
 dragging waggon after waggon, laden with food, tents, and 
 a strange assortment of domestic articles, crawled snakelike 
 out of the canvas town on to the illimitable veldt, wending 
 their way to some distant farmstead. The loading has not 
 been so easy a task as might be supposed. The conductor 
 knows that his waggons are not of the best, and his 
 animals none of the strongest. He cannot contemplate 
 with equanimity a breakdown on the open veldt. The 
 camp superintendent, ever mindful of the welfare of his 
 protdg^s, insists upon the absolute necessity of taking the 
 whole of the first equipment — the first month's rations, 
 bedding, and a tent against the restoration of the homestead. 
 But the old 'vrouw' has a host of broken furniture, in 
 addition to the food-stuffs she has managed to save from 
 
 1 "Reports, etc., of the Repatriation Department of the Transvaal." 
 
54 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 liberal camp rations. Her man has his curios, collected 
 or manufactured during his imprisonment over-sea. The 
 children are loath to leave behind their books and toys, 
 for which they have acquired a taste in the camp school. 
 There have been hot debates as to essentials and non- 
 essentials. 
 
 "But eventually, by hook or by crook, and by dint of 
 much rearranging, room has been found for all. The stodgy, 
 expressionless, sallow-complexioned, but withal hospitable 
 and kindly women crawl, not without difficulty and danger 
 of upsetting, to the top of the motley pile, and at length 
 a start is made. The crack of the long whip and the 
 familiar shouts of the native driver, as he urges forward his 
 cattle, ring out clearly in the sunlit air. 
 
 " It is not with unmixed feelings that the women quit 
 the camp which they had originally so dreaded and later 
 abused. . . . 
 
 "The trouble and anxiety which the uncertain future 
 may have in store are, however, for the moment forgotten. 
 The women-folk and children, joyous at the prospect of 
 return, prattle gaily ; the Boer draws his pipe and ponders 
 silently ' on the mysteries of Providence and the odd chances 
 of life.' In happy ignorance of the desert to be traversed, 
 and the ruin waiting them at their journey's end, their 
 first feeling is one of relief at being free from the restraints 
 attendant on war, and the discipline inseparable from 
 camp life."i 
 
 One further episode in the work of the Repatriation 
 Transport deserves to be related in some detail ; since it 
 not only affords a notable example of the spirit of practical 
 benevolence in which the Administration approached the 
 task of restoration, but constitutes in itself a conspicuous 
 achievement on the part of this branch of the repatriation 
 services in the two colonies. The episode in question is 
 the ploughing and sowing of the lands of those landowners, 
 or bywoners, who for any reason were unable by themselves 
 to get their mealies in the ground in time for the season of 
 1902-3. To understand the circumstances in which this 
 additional and unexpected assistance was rendered to the 
 Boers, we must go back to the month of September 1902. 
 At this time the progress achieved during the two months 
 
 1 Mr Beak in "The Aftermath of WTar," pp. 140, 141. 
 
THE REPATRIATION 55 
 
 immediately following the commencement of the repatria- 
 tion had somewhat lightened the excessive pressure put 
 upon all branches of the Civil Administration by the 
 declaration of peace. 
 
 " In the course of September," Lord Milner wrote in his 
 Repatriation Despatch, "matters began to improve con- 
 siderably. Although the strain on the railways continued, 
 and still continues, to be very great, they began, from that 
 time forward, gradually to reduce the enormous accumula- 
 tion of stuff at the ports struggling to come up, and at 
 present there is no reasonable ground of complaint with 
 regard to supplies. But, while our first great difficulty was 
 being got over, we were confronted with another. With 
 the close of winter, and the return of a large portion of the 
 country population to their homes, there arose a general 
 clamour, ever increasing in intensity, for ploughs and for 
 animals to draw them. The position was critical, for the 
 mealie crop, upon which the majority of the people would 
 have to depend in the ensuing year, if they were not to 
 continue to be supported by the Government, must needs 
 be sown in the next two or three months. The time varies 
 in different districts, but generally speaking there is not 
 much hope for mealies which are not sown before the end 
 of December. Now, we had imported ploughs in large 
 numbers (I need not go into details as to the many other 
 agricultural implements similarly procured), and these were 
 gradually coming up. But the animals were a greater 
 difficulty. The Repatriation Boards had virtually acquired 
 all the animals which the military had been able to spare 
 (except horses which, owing to the sickness, are useless for 
 ploughing in many parts of the new colonies), and they 
 had also brought up whatever mules, trek oxen, and 
 donkeys they could obtain in other parts of South Africa. 
 But the demand for animals for transport purposes in con- 
 nection with repatriation, that is to say, in order to keep 
 the dep6ts stocked for feeding the people, was so enormous 
 that there were at first nothing like enough left over for 
 ploughing. Every effort was made to distribute available 
 animals, but for some time the supply for ploughing 
 purposes was extremely short. Gradually, as a number of 
 the military animals recovered, and the demand for trans- 
 port animals fell off, it was possible, thanks to the immense 
 energy and resourcefulness of the officers in charge of the 
 stock, to distribute a greater number among the farmers. 
 
56 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 But even then we should not have succeeded (at any rate 
 in the Transvaal, where the difficulties, owing to the 
 enormous distances and shocking roads, are greatest) in 
 getting enough land ploughed to yield a crop sufficient to 
 support the rural population, had it not been for the system 
 of perambulating teams sent round the country by the 
 Government to plough successively on a number of farms 
 fast enough to keep the people going for one season." ^ 
 
 The particulars of the ploughing scheme as originally 
 organised in the Transvaal are to be found in Captain 
 Hughes' interim Repatriation Report^ of 5th January, 
 1903. Contingents of from five to ten teams of ploughs, 
 each placed under the charge of a conductor, were sent 
 round the various districts. These contingents, or " plough- 
 ing sections," as he calls them in his final Report,^ were 
 not allowed to plough more than five acres for any one 
 householder ; and the names of the farms where land 
 was to be ploughed, and the respective areas to be 
 ploughed on each farm, were shown upon lists, drawn up 
 by the Local Commissions in the various districts, with 
 which the conductors were furnished. The charge made 
 nominally (for credit was always allowed) was 5s. per 
 acre for old ground, and 7s. 6d. for land not previously 
 broken up. Early in November 1902 the scheme was 
 in operation in the south-eastern districts of the colony ; 
 and a memorandum embodying its main features was sent 
 round by Captain Hughes on the 6th of this month to 
 the chairmen of the various Local Commissions, who were 
 instructed to apply the scheme in their respective districts, 
 if they thought fit to do so. 
 
 Among other details set out in this memorandum we 
 find these paragraphs: — 
 
 "Two waggons accompany each contingent to carry 
 rations, the ploughs, and a quantity of seed mealies. 
 These mealies are for those farmers who have been unable 
 to obtain any seed, so that the operations may not be 
 hindered. The waggons are drawn by the animals used 
 for ploughing. 
 
 " In the case of farms where the families have not yet 
 
 1 Under date 14th March 1903. Cd. 1551. 
 
 ^ Cd. 1551. ' Issued in 1906. 
 
THE REPATRIATION 57 
 
 been repatriated, or which belong to prisoners of war who 
 have not yet returned, it is proposed to plough up a certain 
 acreage and sow it with seed mealies, the neighbouring 
 families paying or guaranteeing the cost. This will do 
 good both from an economical point of view, and also 
 from the effect it will produce upon the occupier of the 
 land when he returns. 
 
 " I hope to have the whole 28 contingents at work by 
 1 0th November." 
 
 It is obvious from the passage referring to the work of 
 the ploughing teams contained in the final Report of 1906, 
 that the details of this original scheme were subsequently 
 modified in various particulars, as circumstances required. 
 And Captain Hughes states in his early Report (sth January 
 1903), covering this memorandum, that, although up to the 
 15th of December 1902 the number of acres ploughed 
 under the scheme amounted to 11,132, the work had "been 
 much retarded by the severe drought, which continued 
 until about the middle of December, and in some districts 
 was such as to prevent any ploughing being done." He 
 proceeds to add that since that date general rain had 
 fallen throughout the Transvaal, and that an additional 
 5,000 acres had been ploughed by the perambulating 
 teams. And he then expresses the hope that in view of 
 these favourable rains, it is " within the range of possibility 
 that before the 31st March 1903, 75 per cent, or possibly 
 more of the people at present receiving rations will be in a 
 position to support themselves." This cautious expectation, 
 however, was not destined to be realised ; since, as will 
 appear in the sequel, the South African Jupiter was in a 
 mood that threatened to wreck the most skilful efforts of 
 the Administration, and did in fact directly undo in 
 certain particulars, and in both colonies, the work done by 
 the Repatriation Departments. 
 
 The effect produced upon the Boers by this timely and 
 practical assistance was most salutary. With regard to 
 this aspect of the repatriation work in both colonies Lord 
 Milner wrote : — 
 
 " By hook or by crook we had succeeded by the end of 
 1902 in enabling the people to sow a fairly large mealie 
 
58 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 crop, besides a considerable amount of forage, potatoes, 
 and other vegetables. The change in the attitude of the 
 farming population, about that time, was very noticeable. 
 The extreme depression which characterised them two or 
 three months earlier had almost completely passed away, 
 and they were looking forward to the future with much 
 more hopefulness."^ 
 
 And Mr Beak's account of the good effect produced in 
 the Orange River Colony is equally emphatic. He quotes 
 from a report from the Lady brand district the sentence, 
 " Nothing gave the Boers so much satisfaction as the loan 
 of these oxen for ploughing." And he himself writes : — 
 
 " This ploughing of their lands appealed to the Boers to a 
 greater extent than perhaps any other measure undertaken 
 by the Department for their welfare. At no time did 
 popular feeling towards the new Government approach 
 more nearly to gratitude ; at no time did that gratitude 
 appear more genuine. ' We now see,' it was said, ' that the 
 British really mean to help us.'"^ 
 
 It may be added that measures for the repatriation of the 
 ex-burgher population in the portion of the Transvaal ceded 
 to Natal at the conclusion of the war, similar in character 
 to those adopted in the new colonies, were carried out 
 without difficulty by the Natal Government. The territory 
 thus annexed to Natal included the districts of Vryheid and 
 Utrecht and part of the district of Wakkerstroom ; and a 
 sum of ;^ioo,ooo was paid by the Administration of the 
 new colonies to the Natal Government, as being the 
 proportion of the ;^3,ooo,ooo free grant to which the 
 ex-burgher population in these districts was entitled. In 
 addition to the proportion of the free grant, military 
 compensation was paid on the same basis as in the new 
 colonies, and the " protected burghers " within these ceded 
 districts received £66,660 out of the total sum available 
 for the compensation of this class of the ex-burgher popula- 
 tion as a whole. 
 
 ' Cd. issi. 
 
 8 "The Aftermath of War," 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 LORD MILNER ON TREK 
 
 In the Report furnished to the Secretary of State, on 
 14th March 1903, the results achieved by the Repatriation 
 Departments up to the date of writing were thus summarised 
 by Lord Milner : — 
 
 " In the eight and a half months that we have been at 
 work, we have restored about 200,000 of the old burgher 
 population in the two colonies to their homes, including 
 all the inhabitants in the concentration camps in the 
 Transvaal, the Orange River Colony, the Cape Colony and 
 Natal, and the prisoners of war. At the date (5th January) 
 of the enclosed Report on Repatriation in the Transvaal, 
 there were still several thousand persons in the Transvaal 
 camps. To-day there is not one left, and the camps have 
 all ceased to exist. In the Orange River Colony there are 
 now less than 100 souls, all of them widows and children 
 without support, or helpless infirm people, at Brandfort 
 camp, which is the only camp remaining, and these will 
 probably be provided for in a few weeks." ^ 
 
 And of his personal share in the working of the mechanism 
 of repatriation, he wrote : — 
 
 " It will be seen [from the reports enclosed] that while 
 this work of repatriation has proceeded, in the main, on 
 similar lines in both the new colonies, there has been a 
 considerable, and necessary, diversity of administrative details 
 owing to the great diversity of local conditions. My principle 
 has been, while exercising a general supervision over the 
 whole field, both from my office and by personal inspection 
 (I have travelled nearly 2,000 miles in the two colonies to 
 see the actual progress of work on the spot) to leave a 
 
 1 Cd. issi. 
 59 
 
60 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 great latitude to the two Colonial Governments, and they, 
 m their turn, have wisely accorded a large discretion to 
 their Local Commissions." 
 
 The "personal inspection" of the actual work of re- 
 patriation, to which Lord Milner here refers, did not begin 
 until the arrival of Sir Arthur Lawley, as Lieutenant- 
 Governor of the Transvaal, had relieved him of part of the 
 administrative business of this colony. Lord Milner had 
 requested the appointment of Sir Arthur — then Governor 
 of Western Australia, and formerly Administrator of 
 Matabeleland — to this office at the end of April 1902, 
 when the collapse of the Boer resistance had become 
 imminent. More than one consideration had made this 
 step seem necessary. As Governor of the two new colonies, 
 he was bound to consider the interests of each impartially ; 
 a Lieutenant - Governor of the Transvaal was required, 
 therefore, to balance the influence of the already existing 
 Lieutenant - Governor of the Orange River Colony in the 
 administration of affairs in which the separate interests of 
 the two colonies were sometimes in conflict. Moreover, 
 being High Commissioner for South Africa as well as 
 Governor of the new colonies, he needed time and freedom 
 to occupy himself both with matters of common concern 
 to South Africa as a whole, and with questions special to 
 Rhodesia, Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and 
 Swaziland — territories for the good government of which 
 the High Commissioner was responsible to the Secretary of 
 State. An even more urgent consideration was Lord Milner's 
 conviction that it would be bej-ond the power of an)- one 
 man, however capable and devoted, to give proper attention 
 to the details of the Transvaal administration, and at the 
 same time deal adequately with the large measures by which 
 the entire political and economic fabric of the late Republics 
 was to be reconstructed. 
 
 Sir Arthur Lawley came to Pretoria to take up his 
 appointment at the end of August 1902.^ He had not 
 
 ' At the same time airan_t;L-nients were made for tl>e continunnce of Mr 11. F. 
 (now Sir Harry) Wilson as Coloniiil Secretary at Bloemfontein, and for the 
 appointment of Mr Davidson, in succession to Mr Kiddes, to the Colonial 
 Secretaryship at I'lctoiia. 
 
LORD MILNER ON TREK 61 
 
 arrived a day too soon, for the strain of continuous and 
 liarassing labour was beginning to affect Lord Milner's 
 iiealth. 
 
 On Monday, ist September, and again on Tuesday he 
 was at work on the long and exhaustive despatch upon 
 the financial necessities and revenual resources of the new 
 colonies, which was to provide the Cabinet with the informa- 
 tion necessary to enable it to arrive at decisions in respect 
 of the Development Loan and the war contribution.^ In 
 the afternoon of the latter day he returned from the High 
 Commissioner's office to find that Sir Arthur Lawley had 
 arrived at Sunnyside. The Lieutenant-Governor had come 
 to stay for a few nights to " talk things over." On Thursday 
 Lord Milner wrote in his diary : — 
 
 " At home all day and busy, tho' not with the best results. 
 Weariness and disgust beginning to tell." 
 
 On Friday he was again at work " morning and afternoon 
 on the despatch." On Sunday he was " getting on with (his) 
 long financial despatch." And on Monday (the 8th) the 
 entry runs : — 
 
 "A day of fearful rush. I worked before breakfast. 
 G (the typist and shorthand-writer) came up immedi- 
 ately after, and he and I pushed on as hard as ever we 
 could to get my long financial despatch finished for the 
 mail. The mail train was delayed for half an hour, and by 
 a great effort I managed just to catch it with the despatch, 
 finished in a hurry and rather ragged. . . ? After dinner 
 work again, until I was too tired to go on. To bed late." 
 
 On Tuesday the Executive Council met at the High 
 Commissioner's office at Johannesburg, and Sir Arthur 
 Lawley took part for the first time in the proceedings of 
 this body, over which it was his duty to preside, as Lieutenant- 
 Governor, in the absence of Lord Milner. On Wednesday, 
 Lord Milner wrote, " I had a day of really fiendish drive,* 
 clearing up for my trek." This "trek," which began on 
 
 ' Most of this despatch is to be found in Cd. 1552. 
 
 ^ It was received by the Secretary of State on 29th September. 
 
 ' The despatch on Railway Construction, supplementary to the Financial 
 Position Despatch, was finished on this day. It reached London on 4th October, 
 and is given in Cd. 1552- 
 
62 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the next day (nth September), was the first of the longer 
 expeditions undertaken by the High Commissioner with the 
 object of supervising personally the work of the repatriation. 
 The vivid notes of these tours which are found in his diary 
 bring us closer to the actual scene than the more precise and 
 complete records contained in the official reports. On this 
 occasion Lord Milner visited the south-western districts 
 of the Transvaal ; and the details which follow are given 
 at some length, as affording a typical account of these 
 repatriation " treks " as a whole. 
 
 The party, which left by special train for Krugersdorp 
 at 1 1 o'clock, consisted of Lord Milner and his staff (Major 
 Lambton, the Military Secretary, with Captain Henley, 
 Lord Brooke, and Mr Hugh Wyndham), and General Baden- 
 Powell and Captain Kearsley. They were provided with 
 four waggons and a cape-cart, and accompanied by four 
 servants and the usual complement of natives. The railway 
 was abandoned at Krugersdorp, and at half-past one the 
 party were in the saddle and on the way towards the police 
 post at Steinkoppies — a distance of 17 miles — which was 
 reached at 3 o'clock. On the way Lord Milner saw and 
 spoke to some burghers returning to their farms, and over- 
 took a prospector trying to locate his beacons. At four, after 
 a halt for rest and food at Steinkoppies, the "trek" was 
 resumed. 
 
 " When we had ridden about an hour and a half," Lord 
 Milner writes, "a very severe thunderstorm, with heavy 
 rain and some hail, overtook us, and we were drenched to 
 the skin. After this progress was slow, owing to the drowned 
 state of the roads and the darkness. We halted for the night 
 at Wagonpadsdrift (15 miles from Steinkoppies). Too late 
 to pitch camp properly, so it was a case of roughing it 
 somewhat." 
 
 During the night the storm continued, but on the next 
 day, although the sky was overcast, no rain fell. The 
 narrative continues : — 
 
 "■Friday, 12th September. Up about 5.30, breakfast 
 before 7 and off again by 7.30. Halted about 9 at a place 
 called Oliphant's Nek, where I had a talk with a Boer of 
 
LORD MILNER ON TREK 63 
 
 British extraction, who told me something of the people's 
 troubles, about lack of ploughing oxen, etc., etc. We got to 
 Oliphant's Nek before lo. Visited police force there, and 
 called on an old British farmer, a descendant of George IV. 
 He has a good farm. Rode on to Rustenburg (total distance 
 from Wagonpadsdrift about 22 miles) by 13 o'clock. Just 
 outside Rustenburg we were met by the Native Commissioner, 
 the R.M., and the officer in charge of the Repatriation Depot 
 here. The latter is occupying a large, comfortable farm- 
 house, and he took us all in except B. P. and Kearsley. 
 Large lunch party including . . . After lunch rode on to 
 town and saw the Repatriation Commission, including the 
 
 former Landdrost, and . Saw also an old Dutchman 
 
 called . Back about 5 and made notes till dinner time." 
 
 On Saturday, the 13th, Lord Milner, having "slept 
 like a top for nearly 9 hours, a record for [him]," went 
 round the farm belonging to the Repatriation Depot in ,the 
 morning, and afterwards wrote letters (to Sir Arthur Lawley 
 among others) until lunch-time. 
 
 The letter thus written to Sir Arthur Lawley claims our 
 attention, as showing not only the sort of observations which 
 Lord Milner made, but the manner in which these observa- 
 tions were applied in his work of supervising and perfecting 
 the machinery of repatriation. It runs : — 
 
 " Krugersdorp. — Repatriation, as far as getting people on 
 to their farms, going pretty well. For compensation purposes, 
 I think the Commission will need strengthening. ... I may 
 say that so far the South African Constabulary all round, 
 seem to me our strongest point. 
 
 ^^ At Steinkoppies, a Police Post, there was a big Notice 
 Board in the main road, with Police notices ; good notion 
 this, and the Notices contained many things useful to the 
 people, such as the Arms Ordinance, the Cattle Diseases 
 Prevention Ordinance. But they were in English only. 
 I think this just a case where we ought to use both English 
 and Dutch. As you know, I am as keen as possible about 
 making the use of English universal and its position as the 
 official language quite clear. But I want also to use Dutch 
 where it is clearly a great convenience to people, and in 
 purely agricultural districts there are still many who can read 
 nothing else. I want to help them to understand what we 
 are doing and what we wish them to do ; also to break down. 
 
64 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 as far as possible, the aloofness of the people from the 
 Government, and the feeling that it is distant, strange, un- 
 sympathetic. 
 
 " After leaving the Krugersdorp district, I began to hear 
 numerous wails about the difficulty of people in getting 
 animals to plough with. This is, of course, vital ; as time 
 is getting on, and if they can't get the land ready for at least 
 a mealie crop, we shall have to ration them for months 
 ahead. 
 
 "At Oliphantshoek, south of the Magaliesberg and about 
 6 miles before you get to Oliphant's Nek, I had a long talk 
 
 with a man called , a burgher of British extraction, who 
 
 has been on Commando, but now, I think, means to be 
 friendly. He was busy getting a roof over his head (almost 
 all the farms hereabouts are, more or less, in ruins) and 
 he was very eloquent on the subject of oxen for ploughing, 
 also seed (especially mealie seed). All round, he said, the 
 farmers had difficulty in ploughing and were bombarding 
 the Rustenburg Commission for animals. 
 
 " The Government allowance, which we heard was 8 
 oxen per farm (of course this often means as much as three 
 or four families) was sufficient, if they could only get them. 
 
 " All along this part, I mean from Thorndale to Oliphant's 
 Nek, I saw a lot of Government cattle. They seem to be 
 picking up a living — grass just beginning to grow — and no 
 doubt are being kept here for some good purpose ; but if 
 we can let the people have some of them soon, it will 
 be business. 
 
 "On getting to Rustenburg I enquired particularly on 
 
 this subject of cattle for ploughing. , the Resident 
 
 Magistrate, who has only just arrived (having been ill for 
 some weeks) . . . confirmed all I had heard as to the need of 
 the people in this particular. He said he had just received 
 from Pretoria 8o (he could have disposed of Boo) oxen, 
 which had been at once snapped up, and that the difficulty 
 about traction-animals — for ploughing — was the great want. 
 Note that in this country horses and mules are not safe, 
 because of the sickness. 
 
 " I foresee that there is going to be the greatest trouble 
 with the Rustenburg district in the matter of transport. 
 There are two great ways of access : (i) the road from Pretoria 
 over Commando Nek, and (2) the road from Krugers- 
 dorp over Oliphant's Nek, by which I have come. At 
 present supplies are being sent here vid Commando Nek 
 with Traction Engines. These, as you know, have many 
 
LORD MILNER ON TREK 65 
 
 adventures, but, for the present, they no doubt answer more 
 or less well, and relieve the ox-transport on which the strain 
 in other directions is so enormous. But I fear that, when 
 the rains begin, traction engines, which already show a 
 tendency to stick on the heavy ground, will find this road 
 impassable. In that case we shall have to rely on animal 
 traction, whether we use the one road or the other. It has 
 occurred to me that, perhaps, the oxen I saw south of 
 the Berg were being kept for that purpose. 
 
 " , who is in charge of the Repatriation Depot here, 
 
 . . . tells me that he has 22 mobile waggons at present, 
 and will need at least 20 more when the engines are laid 
 by. It is the very devil having to dispense with the engines 
 in the summer, unless they can be used to advantage 
 elsewhere. It is worth considering — a mere suggestion, 
 there may be insuperable difficulties — whether the Krugers- 
 dorp road, which is excellent over nine-tenths of the way 
 for a South African road, might not be patched at the few 
 very bad places sufficiently to enable the engines to use it. 
 
 "Another thing re Repatriation. I believe it has been 
 already suggested. I think it would be useful to have an 
 inspector at each Repatriation Dep6t to go round and 
 see what the people are actually doing with their seed, etc., 
 and what they are really most in need of 
 
 " I met the Repatriation Commission here ... I feel sure 
 this district will be well worked, and that they will make the 
 best of their material, y^we can only get it to them. That is 
 the crux. 
 
 "Some compensation questions cropped up at the 
 Commission. I think this work, too, will be well done. I 
 told them that, subject to the instructions they have received, 
 or may receive from time to time, the Government wanted to 
 leave them a free hand and rely on their good sense and 
 local knowledge. I mentioned, not as binding on them, 
 but as a good plan, what the Rand Commission are doing 
 about British claims, viz., (i) rejecting all trumpery claims, 
 even if genuine — as for a kit-bag or an umbrella, and (2) 
 rejecting claims, even for substantial amounts, from rich 
 people, where the loss, though in itself considerable, is a 
 flea-bite to them. 
 
 " The object of compensation is not to recoup everybody 
 — an impossibility — but to help those whose losses have been 
 heavy, in proportion to their resources, to make a fresh start. 
 
 "This is a long screed, and hurriedly written. I shall 
 send another budget from Zeerust." 
 
 VOL.^I. B 
 
66 EECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 The "trek" was resumed at 2 o'clock, when an 
 inteUigence agent joined the party. 
 
 "We rode over Magato's Nek, over the battlefield of 
 Moedwil (Sept. 30, 1901) and to Koster's river, where we 
 bivouacked for the night. Henley and Brooke, who left 
 Rustenburg with the transport several hours before us, 
 had pitched our camp, so we were very comfortable this 
 night. We found a lot of returning Boers occupying a large 
 tin house near our camping ground, and had a long talk 
 to them. After dinner a game of Bridge and early to bed. 
 We had ridden about 20 miles. 
 
 " The sky had been overcast most of the afternoon, but it 
 cleared in the evening, and we had a lovely night. 
 
 " Sunday, \4tk September. — Up early. Camp was struck 
 before 7, so as to give the transport a start. Breakfasted in 
 the open air. Had some more talk with the Boers we saw 
 
 last night and some others, and started about 8. of the 
 
 S. A. C. left us here, and took us on. He is in command 
 
 of the next ward, stretching to Groot Marico. By 11.30 we 
 reached the site of Col. Hoare's camp at Elands River, where 
 the gallant defence of the Bushmen occurred in July 1900. A 
 number of graves mark the spot, and there were also the 
 skeletons of many hundreds of animals still to be seen. On 
 the next rise was a police post, where we lunched. This is 
 
 the headquarters of 's troop. We had ridden 17 miles. 
 
 The transport started off again at i, we riders at 2.30. It 
 was a hot afternoon, so we moved slowly. Seven miles 
 further on we came to a police post and a store kept by a man 
 
 called , with whom I had some talk. We reached 
 
 Wonderfontein on the Groot Marico river, which is the 
 boundary of the Rustenburg and Marico districts, at 6.30. 
 Crossing the Groot Marico, just before our halting-place, we 
 found one of our waggons, containing the tents, badly stuck 
 in the drift. It was only extricated by a party under Brooke's 
 command after some hours. Hence we were late at dinner, 
 and only one tent was pitched. Fortunately the night was 
 very fine. We had ridden 38 miles in all. 
 
 '^Monday, \i,th September. — Up before 7. There are quite 
 a number of S. A. C. officers at Wonderfontein. We started 
 at 8.30 for Zeerust. The road was for the most part through 
 a well-watered, fertile, and pretty country. We stopped for 
 
 half an hour at a farm belonging to some brothers called , 
 
 who are said to be very bitter. On my way I had some talk 
 with Captain , Major met us a little way out of 
 
LORD MILNER ON TREK 67 
 
 Zeerust, which we reached at 1.30. Distance 24 miles. We 
 had travelled slowly as the day was hot. 
 
 "At Zeerust I was met by the R. M., and a man 
 
 called , who is a trader here, and at whose house I am 
 
 putting up with Lambton, the others being in the hotel. 
 After lunch there was a meeting of inhabitants in the Court 
 House, whom I briefly addressed. Afterwards I had some 
 
 talk with the leading men, , , formerly Field-Cornet, 
 
 who is a member of the Repatriation Commission, , the 
 
 English parson, and , the Dutch parson. Back to my 
 
 office for tea. ..." 
 
 On Tuesday (i6th) Lord Milner began the day with 
 the despatch of a telegram to the Secretary of State in 
 reply to an enquiry as to the advisability of allowing 
 the Boer "delegates" — i.e., the Boers who had gone to 
 Europe to obtain political assistance in 1900 — to return 
 to the new colonies.^ He then inspected the school and 
 the Repatriation office and store. This done, the party rode 
 through a " beautiful and fertile country " for eighteen miles 
 to Otto's Hoep, which was the headquarters of a troop of 
 police, where the night was spent. 
 
 " Wednesday, lyth September. — After inspecting the police 
 we proceeded to ride to Lichtenburg. The country is totally 
 diiiferent from that which we have been traversing hitherto. 
 It is a flat upland, very stony, with little grass and only 
 a few stunted trees. Near Malmani Oog, about six miles 
 out, we came upon a large very poor - looking family, 
 squatting in a tumble down farm and complaining of want 
 of everything. I had a long talk to the man, and tried 
 to explain to him what to do. He seemed very helpless. 
 We halted at midday, having ridden 18 miles, at a place 
 called Uitgevonde, where there is a police post, for lunch. 
 Here I found a man and his wife, with their few belongings, 
 living in a tent. They came from Klerksdorp camp and 
 wanted to go to Zeerust, but had been dumped down on 
 the road with a tent and a month's rations, and could 
 not get on. I promised to try and relieve them from 
 their fix. . . ." 
 
 1 This matter was, of course, left in Lord Milner's hands. On 7th November 
 (1902) Mr Schalk Burger wrote to ask if he would advise Mr Chamberlain to 
 allow Messrs Fischer, Wolmerans, and Wessels to return. They would he 
 promised, "work willingly under the new Government." These three were 
 allowed to return— early in 1903— but not Mr Reitz or Dr Leyds. 
 
68 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Lichtenburg (31 miles ride from Otto's Hoep), where 
 Lord Milner was received by the Resident Magistrate, was 
 reached at 5 o'clock. After tea he saw some of the 
 
 Dutchmen , son of the General, Commandant , 
 
 and one or two others. The night was spent at the hotel, 
 and on the following morning (Thursday, the i8th) at the 
 
 Resident Magistrate's office, he received visits from 
 
 and — — , Field Cornet , and others. He then met the 
 
 members of the Repatriation Commission, and conferred 
 with them until lunch time. After lunch he saw more 
 visitors, and then went with the Resident Magistrate and 
 Major Lambton to see the Repatriation Store and Transport 
 Dep6t, in the latter of which there were some 300 to 400 
 trek oxen being nursed into condition for transport work. 
 
 On Friday, 19th September, Lord Milner left Lichtenburg 
 at 8, and rode for about thirty miles through a flat but 
 more fertile - looking country to Kafir-Kraal, where the 
 party out-spanned for lunch. 
 
 " At Kafir-Kraal," he wrote, " I had a long talk, in broken 
 
 Dutch, to a man called , just back from St Helena, who 
 
 had a very big farm at that place. As usual there was a 
 large family of all degrees of relationship. After a long rest 
 we rode on to Hartebeestfontein, upwards of 16 miles, 
 stopping on the way at another big farm, belonging to the 
 
 brothers , to one of whom I spoke. Here the people 
 
 were beginning to resettle amid the ruins. All this country 
 has been fearfully harried. We reached Hartebeestfontein 
 after dark. The place is a total wreck. Brooke, who 
 had gone ahead with the heavy luggage during the night, 
 had pitched a very comfortable camp for us. We had 
 dinner, and went to bed early, after a long and hard day. 
 We must have ridden nearly 50 miles. 
 
 " Saturday, 20th September. — Up very early. Before 
 leaving Hartebeestfontein I had a long talk to two brothers 
 
 called , and heard all their grievances. We rode 
 
 off about 8 for Klerksdorp, stopping on the road to talk 
 
 to a Lichtenburg Boer called , who was returning 
 
 with a very fine waggon and team — the best I have seen 
 
 from selling oranges at Klerksdorp. He was very sulky 
 at first, but I presently got him into a better temper." 
 
 Outside Klerksdorp the party was met by Colonel 
 
LORD MILNER ON TREK 69 
 
 , and a number of the townspeople, and escorted to 
 
 the hotel. An address of welcome was then presented 
 to the High Commissioner in the Market Square, and 
 subsequently a number of other addresses were laid before 
 him at the Magistrate's office. To all of these Lord Milner 
 made brief replies. These ceremonies were followed by 
 a luncheon at the hotel, at which he met the principal 
 people of the town and neighbourhood. Then, the Diary 
 continues, 
 
 "I went to the Burgher camp and Repatriation Depot. 
 
 Had a long talk with , , and , members of 
 
 the Potchefstroom District Commission. Back to my train, 
 
 very tired, for dinner and bed. G had come down 
 
 with it from Johannesburg, bringing the mail and a lot 
 of papers." 
 
 Among this "lot of papers" were the Cape journals 
 containing the reports of the Suspension debate in the 
 Legislative Assembly, which began on nth September, 
 the day on which Lord Milner had started on trek. On 
 this date Mr Merriman had brought forward a motion 
 condemning the petition for the suspension of the Cape 
 Constitution ; and in speaking in support of the motion 
 he made a violent attack upon Lord Milner, whose letter 
 to Sir W. Hely- Hutchinson he characterised as " a blazing 
 indiscretion." While Lord Milner, he said, was shown to 
 be " at the head of a conspiracy to do away with the rights 
 of the people of that colony," Sir Gordon Sprigg would 
 be handed down to posterity as its " saviour." ^ Did the 
 High Commissioner, he asked, expect "to set up a sort 
 of kindergarten of Balliol young men to govern that 
 country?" This part of Mr Merriman's speech was 
 described by Dr (now Sir Thomas) Smartt, who opposed 
 
 ' It is noticeable that Sir Gordon Sprigg in speaking at an anti-suspension 
 meeting held at Cape Town on 2nd June (i.e., on the eve of his visit to England) 
 used the argument, that vfhile the destinies of the colony could be trusted to 
 Lord Milner, and the (then) Unionist Government, the Unionists were likely 
 to be succeeded in office by a Radical Government composed of Sir Henry 
 Campbell-Bannerman, Sir William Harcourt, Mr Leonard Courtney, and others 
 of the sanie school, and that it would be unwise to place the interests of the 
 Loyalists in the hands of such men. The same argument was afterwards used 
 in 1904 to favour the grant of Responsible, as against Representative, Govern- 
 ment in the Transvaal. 
 
70 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the motion, as an "ill-judged, savage, malignant, and 
 ill-mannered attack " ; while on the following morning the 
 Cape Times and Argus published long and effective articles 
 in defence of Lord Milner's action and attitude on the 
 Suspension question. 
 
 How Lord Milner himself regarded the matter at this 
 time will be seen from the following words which occur in 
 a letter written a few weeks later (24th October) to a corre- 
 spondent in England. 
 
 " A great chance was lost when the Cape Parliament was 
 allowed to re-assemble in its present form, and much mischief 
 has resulted. At the same time, I am more than doubtful, 
 whether any good could be done by raising the question 
 of Suspension again at the present moment. Those who 
 advocated it, when they did, have been completely justified, 
 and there is no saying what we may see, and what action 
 may be necessary hereafter, in the Cape Colony. But, for 
 the moment, I am satisfied that the only thing to be done 
 is for the Loyalists to fight as hard as they can, however 
 much they are handicapped. If they could only get a good 
 leader ^ and hang together, I believe a great deal might be 
 done, though the Cape will always remain the Achilles' Heel 
 of the British possessions in South Africa. 
 
 " Meanwhile, we must do all we can to push on the 
 industrial and agricultural development of the Transvaal. 
 This is becoming more and more the main string of our 
 policy." 
 
 On the day following (Sunday, the 3ist), the High Com- 
 missioner's train left Krugersdorp at six in the morning, and 
 reached Potchefstroom, the old capital of the " emigrant 
 farmers '' north of the Vaal, at half-past seven. Here Lord 
 
 Milner saw Colonel , who was in command of the 
 
 troops, and Major , the head of the Military Compensa- 
 tion Board for this and the neighbouring districts. After 
 these interviews he visited the site of the proposed model 
 farm, and saw the settlers who had squatted on a part of 
 it ; and then on his return to the town he had a long talk 
 with the Potchefstroom members of the District Repatria- 
 
 ' Dr (now Sir Starr) Jameson had not come forward at this time ; both in 
 opposition and in office he subsequently displayed qualities of statesmanship which 
 were of the greatest service to the Cape Colony and to South Africa, as a whole. 
 
LORD MILNER ON TREK 71 
 
 tion Board. At twelve the train left the station, and at four 
 the party were back at Johannesburg. The entry in the 
 Diary under this date concludes : — 
 
 " At dinner we had the Martial Law Commission ^ from 
 England — Lord Alverstone, Mr Justice Bigham, Sir J. 
 Ardagh, Cockerell and Mellor." 
 
 Lord Milner lost no time in utilising the results of 
 his personal observation on the veld. On the 24th, the 
 Wednesday after his return, he had a long conference at 
 Pretoria with Sir Arthur Lawley, Mr Patrick Duncan 
 (Colonial Treasurer), and Captain Hughes (the Secretary to 
 the Central Repatriation Board), at which the operation and 
 methods of the repatriation machinery were fully discussed. 
 
 Two days later he embodied in a letter to Sir Arthur 
 Lawley two important proposals on this subject; the 
 establishment of an Advisory Committee to the Central 
 Board and the development and improvement of the already 
 existing system of inspection. 
 
 " Since we parted," he wrote on the 26th, from the High 
 Commissioner's office, " I have been thinking continuously 
 about Repatriation, and I have two considerations for your 
 suggestion, which if there is anything in them, should be 
 acted on without delay. 
 
 " I may say, by way of preface, that I am certain that 
 we shall be exposed to great criticism on this subject, mostly 
 unfair. Still it is desirable to disarm as much criticism 
 as we can. 
 
 " The proposals I have to make will, I believe, ensure 
 greater efficiency and also provide some answer to the attacks 
 which will presently be made. My first proposal is to revive, 
 and to give greater dignity and importance to, the Central 
 Commission. (Not the Judicial Commission to examine 
 claims, which is a different affair, but the Commission to 
 control the Relief side of the work of the Local Commissions.) 
 My original idea was to make the Repatriation Board at 
 Pretoria an important body which would command the 
 confidence of the public. In practice it has fallen into dis- 
 use — I do not know if it meets now, but in any case the 
 whole of the work is controlled by Hughes under the super- 
 
 ^ Appointed to review the sentences passed under Martial Law on rebels and 
 other offenders in the Cape Colony. 
 
72 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 vision of Duncan. No praise can be too high for the work 
 which they have both done, and it is for their protection, as 
 much as for anything else, that I should like to see the 
 Central Board constituted and active. What will certainly 
 be said some day by our critics is that Repatriation was one 
 of the greatest, if not absolutely the greatest, work before 
 the new Government, and that it has been left in the hands 
 of an official who, whatever his ability, is of comparatively 
 minor status, and run as a sub-department of the Treasury. 
 This will be mainly clap - trap, but it will be damaging 
 clap-trap. . . . My idea is that it would be a good move for 
 you, popular, calculated to strengthen your position and, at 
 the same time, to conduce to efficiency, if you were yourself 
 to initiate your Governorship by reviving the Repatriation 
 Board and putting yourself at the head of it. I should not 
 make it a big body, but I should be inclined to put at least 
 one leading Boer upon it (he should be a man who has taken 
 the Oath of Allegiance and is bond fide though not necessarily 
 friendly to the Government) with one or two other men whom 
 you might choose for their practical usefulness. The work 
 would continue to be directed by Hughes, and you could not 
 have a better man, but questions of policy would be decided 
 on a higher authority than his or even Duncan's. . . . 
 
 " My second suggestion is that the system of inspection, 
 which is very necessary and of which we were speaking the 
 other day, should be somewhat altered from its original con- 
 ception, and that instead of having an inspector attached to 
 every Local Commission you should have, say six Inspectors 
 attached to the Central Board, and reporting to it, who should 
 be constantly on the move throughout the country, but who 
 should each embrace several districts. I think this plan 
 would conform more to uniformity of working and enable the 
 districts to help one another. I fancy that the country is 
 already sub-divided in this way for the purposes of con- 
 trolling the transport, and it might be convenient that the 
 areas of inspection should correspond with what I may call 
 the Transport Areas. This, however, is a point upon which 
 I speak without complete information. 
 
 "A great advantage of having a smaller number of 
 Inspectors is that you could get better men and pay them 
 higher salaries. 
 
 " I do not say that these ideas are necessarily right. You 
 will, no doubt, consult Duncan, perhaps also Hughes, and 
 form your own judgment, but I am very confident that it 
 would be wise for us to strengthen ourselves betimes, both 
 
LORD MILNER ON TREK 73 
 
 to get the work done and to provide against the attacks 
 which will certainly come. . . . 
 
 " It is worth considering whether the class of Inspectors 
 whom I contemplate should be in substitution for, or in 
 addition to, Local Inspectors, id est, men inspecting on 
 behalf of each Commission. If both are necessary both 
 should be employed. In a matter of this kind it is no use 
 sticking at ;^S,ooo or even ;^io,ooo more or less, just as it 
 is worth while to spend ;^200,ooo more if necessary to_ get 
 the draught animals, or anything else immediately required, 
 in time" 
 
 Apart from the perfecting of the repatriation machinery 
 no administrative advances marked the interval between 
 Lord Milner's return to Johannesburg and the date of his 
 next tour of inspection. None the less every moment of his 
 day was fully occupied. There were the customary inter- 
 views with representative men of all sorts and conditions — 
 financiers and journalists, miners and mine-owners, farmers, 
 engineers, and the increasingly numerous visitors who had 
 " run over " from England to see how the new South Africa 
 was shaping. There were also, of course, constant con- 
 ferences with the Lieutenant - Governors and the heads of 
 Departments, and the protracted and almost continuous 
 sittings by which the Executive Council endeavoured to keep 
 pace with the administrative and legislative needs of a 
 colony, as it were, beginning its corporate life all over 
 again.^ 
 
 The repatriation of the Boers was the immediately 
 necessary task of the Administration ; and for five weeks out 
 of the remaining three months of the year (1902) Lord Milner 
 was " on trek." The week 6th to 13th October was spent in 
 visiting the north-western districts of the Transvaal ; between 
 28th October and 4th November he traversed the central and 
 south-eastern parts of the colony ; and on 24th November 
 he started for his last and longest tour of inspection, 
 which covered the whole of the Orange River Colony and 
 
 ' From the necessity of presiding at these sittings, however, Lord Milner, 
 was now to be relieved by Sir Arthur Lawley's presence. At the meeting of the 
 Executive Council which began on 30th September, we find that the Lieutenant- 
 Governor presided, and not as heretofore, the Governor, and in recording this 
 meeting Lord Milner adds— " The last I shall attend." 
 
74 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the extreme south-western districts of the Transvaal, and 
 lasted for just three weeks.^ Lord Milner returned to 
 Johannesburg late on the evening of i6th December, and 
 from this time up to the New Year he was suffering more 
 or less severely from the effects of sleeping in damp tents 
 on the veld during the storms encountered during the 
 last two days of this tour. 
 
 ' While in the Orange River Colony, Lord Milner was accompanied by Sir 
 Hamilton Goold-Adams and Colonel Pilkington. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 FURTHER MEASURES OF RECUPERATION AND 
 COMPENSATION FOR WAR LOSSES 
 
 Within a week of Lord Milner's return to Johannesburg 
 from his last repatriation tour, Mr Chamberlain arrived at 
 Durban (26th December 1902). The visit of the Secretary 
 of State to South Africa, permitting as it did of frequent 
 and prolonged consultations with Lord Milner, cleared the 
 way for the administrative reconstruction of the new colonies, 
 and coincided, roughly, with the completion of the process 
 of restoring the population of the late Republics to their 
 homes. The consideration of Mr Chamberlain's visit, there- 
 fore, will be postponed for the moment, in order that the 
 narrative of the repatriation of the Boers and the resettle- 
 ment of the British inhabitants may proceed uninterruptedly 
 to its conclusion. 
 
 In the two preceding chapters we have seen how the 
 initial difficulties of the repatriation were overcome, and how 
 large was Lord Milner's personal share in the work in its 
 early stages. Had the Administration found nothing more 
 to contend against than the original deficiencies of trans- 
 port and supplies, in spite of the vastness of the country, 
 and its denuded and devastated condition, the ex - burgher 
 population would have been enabled to provide themselves 
 with the necessaries of life within nine months of the peace 
 of Vereeniging. As it was, however, the work of resettle- 
 ment in both colonies was complicated and prolonged by 
 two adverse factors, the one social and the other political, 
 for which neither the wastage of the war nor the limited 
 character of the resources at the disposal of the new Colonial 
 Governments were responsible. The social factor was the 
 
 75 
 
76 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 necessity for providing some permanent means of subsistence 
 for the bywoner element in the Boer community ; the 
 physical, the accidental but singularly disastrous interference 
 of Nature. For the occurrence of the first drought in the 
 latter part of 1902, to which allusion has been made on 
 more than one occasion, was followed by a second drought, 
 severe beyond record in this land of droughts, in the year 
 1903 — the very year in which the repatriated farmers were 
 least capable of putting forth the additional efforts needed 
 to combat and restrain its hostile influence, or of supporting 
 the losses which it inflicted upon their crops and herds. As 
 the result of these two factors, not only had a large part 
 of the work of the Repatriation Departments to be done 
 twice over, but an appreciable proportion of the ex-burgher 
 population had to be supported for another twelve months. 
 
 The bywoner problem, which had appeared before the 
 war, had its origin in the excessive sub-division of land under 
 the local Roman - Dutch law of succession combined with 
 the uneconomic character of the Boer system of agriculture. 
 The farms apportioned to individual burghers upon the 
 occupation of the country, being of the recognised size of 
 3,750 morgen (about 8,000 acres),^ were sufficient even under 
 the primitive methods of Boer farming to support more 
 than the one family for whose maintenance they were 
 originally intended to provide. For a time, therefore, the 
 acquisition of new land from the natives together with the 
 sub-division of the original farms — especially those where 
 the land was of exceptional fertility — met the demand for 
 new homes created by the natural increase of the Boer 
 population. But concurrently with the development of gold 
 mining on a large scale, and the consequent introduction 
 of a considerable industrial population (1882-92) the time 
 came when a limit was put both to the acquisition of new 
 land and to the sub-division of the old. At the same time 
 the Boer farmer, owing to his inability to adopt new and 
 more profitable methods of cultivation, continued to require 
 a large area of land, roughly 2,000 morgen, for the support 
 of himself and his family ; and therefore, except in the rare 
 cases where the inheritor of the farm was an only son, it 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OP RECUPERATION 77 
 
 became increasingly necessary upon the death of the head 
 of the family for one or more sons to seek a livelihood in 
 the towns or to become bywoners, or squatters at will, upon 
 the farms of their more fortunate relatives or friends. The 
 former course was, however, rendered difficult by the circum- 
 stance that few young Boers had opportunities for learning 
 a trade, while at the same time the growth of a town popula- 
 tion, mainly of British or foreign extraction, which used up 
 the local food supplies and required the importation of both 
 food and other necessaries from over-sea, had raised the cost 
 of living to all Europeans except the primitive and almost 
 self-supporting farmers. 
 
 The social danger arising out of the increase of the 
 landless and " poor white " class among the burgher popula- 
 tion had forced itself upon the attention of the Boer Govern- 
 ment, and it was put forward by Mr Merriman as an 
 argument to be used for inducing President Kruger to 
 extend the franchise to the Uitlanders, in the remarkable 
 letter which he addressed to Mr Fischer, of the Free State 
 Executive, upon the eve of the Bloemfontein Conference. 
 
 "I most strongly urge you," he wrote on 26th May 1899, 
 "to use your utmost influence to bear on President Kruger 
 to concede some colourable measure of reform, not so much 
 in the interests of outsiders as in those of his own State. 
 Granted that he does nothing. What is the future? His 
 Boers, the backbone of the country, are perishing off the 
 land ; hundreds have become impoverished loafers, landless 
 hangers-on of the town population. In his own interests 
 he should recruit his Republic with new blood. . . ."^ 
 
 The bywoner problem, therefore, was not a new economic 
 difficulty but an old one, which was, however, intensified and 
 brought to a head by the wastage of the two and a half years 
 of war. In the endeavour to provide permanent employment 
 for the Boers of this class the methods pursued by the 
 respective Governments of the two colonies were not identical. 
 Owing to its better economic conditions the methods adopted 
 in the Orange River Colony were less novel and complete, 
 but more successful than those required in the Transyaal. 
 
 1 Cd. 369. 
 
78 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 In the former colony, as we have already had occasion to 
 notice, the Government in dealing with the question relied 
 mainly upon the endeavour to give such assistance to the 
 bywoners as would make it worth while for the Boer land- 
 owners to reinstate as many of them as possible in their old 
 positions upon the farms. But during the period that the 
 Boer landowners were themselves being conveyed to their 
 homes and re-established on their farms — that is to say, 
 during the twelve months following the declaration of peace 
 — special measures were taken to provide a means of 
 subsistance for the bywoners and other indigent whites. 
 Early in July 1902, a Relief Works Department was 
 constituted " to offer employment at a fair living wage to 
 all in need of such relief, until such time as their original 
 employers should be in a state to receive them, or until other 
 means should offer for their permanent disposal or settle- 
 ment." The works set on foot by the Department consisted 
 principally of dams and other irrigation works on Govern- 
 ment farms — a kind of employment which was both productive 
 of material benefit to the colony and at the same time 
 familiar and congenial to the bywoners. And at a later 
 date the construction of a five -mile section of the new 
 Thaba'nchu-Ladybrand railway was undertaken. The wages 
 paid by the Department were at the rate of 4s. 6d. for an 
 eight hours' day for men, with proportionately lesser rates for 
 women and boys ; and at the end of January 1903, according 
 to the Report 1 of the Director of Relief Works for the 
 Orange River Colony, there were five camps established, 
 so distributed as to serve the whole area of the colony, in 
 which collectively 1,218 men, 1,471 women and children, 326 
 children at school, and 31 sick persons (in hospital or other- 
 wise) were accommodated. The total expenditure of the 
 Department, including administrative costs, wages and tools, 
 up to the date of this Report was returned at ^27,113, lis. 8d. 
 And after the Repatriation Department in this colony had 
 been converted into the " Government Relief Department " 
 (ist May 1903), these and similar public works were kept in 
 operation. As, however, persons who were not able to 
 support themselves were not compelled by law to join the 
 
 ' InCd. 1551, 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OP RECUPERATION 79 
 
 Relief Works, a considerable number of bywoners and 
 other indigent whites continued to receive rations from 
 the Government up to the time when, on 30th June 1904, 
 the Relief Department was finally closed down. From the 
 nature of these measures, which were frankly temporary and 
 palliative, it is apparent that the better material position of 
 the burgher population in the Orange River Colony, together 
 with the less complex economic conditions of the colony 
 as a whole, prevented the bywoner problem from assuming 
 the same importance here that it did in the Transvaal. 
 
 In the Transvaal the question of providing for the 
 landless Boers was a much more serious matter. The 
 measures adopted in this colony for the solution of the 
 bywoner problem had their origin in the special arrange- 
 ments made for the resettlement of the 1480 National 
 Scouts and other Boers, who had taken service with the 
 British forces, designated collectively the " ex - military 
 burghers." Upon the conclusion of the war leave was 
 obtained from Lord Kitchener for the military organisation 
 and depots of the National Scouts and other burgher 
 volunteer forces to be maintained as long as might be 
 necessary to enable the men to be provided with a means 
 of livelihood. Thanks to the representations of Major 
 E. H. M Leggett, R.E., who had served as Staff Officer at 
 headquarters for the Scouts and the Orange River Colony 
 Volunteers, in addition to drawing an extra month's pay 
 and retaining a supply of waggons and teams, the scouts 
 were allowed to keep their ponies, and in many cases to 
 secure the much coveted permit right to possess a rifle 
 and ammunition. Other burghers who had rendered mis- 
 cellaneous services to the British military authorities were 
 permitted to share these benefits ; and subsequently the 
 arrangements for the repatriation of the ex-military burghers, 
 as a whole, were placed in the hands of Major Leggett. 
 Among them were many bywoners ; and it was to find 
 employment for this section of the ex-military burghers 
 that Land Settlements were originally formed. Later on, 
 bywoners and other indigent Boers who were not ex-military 
 burghers, but for whom no other provision could be made 
 were placed in the same or other settlements, which thus 
 
80 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 lost their distinctive "military" character, and became 
 known collectively as the " Burgher Land Settlements." 
 
 The Burgher Land Settlements, thus brought into 
 existence, and supervised by Major Leggett under the title 
 of " Director," were constituted through the agency of groups 
 of landowners and others, termed Farmers' Associations, 
 which were established at Standerton, Middelburg and 
 Belfast, North Pretoria, the Vaal River, Potchefstroom, and 
 Klerksdorp. The general plan of the Settlements was this : 
 The Associations acquired land under conditions permitting 
 them to guarantee to the settlers a minimum seven years' 
 tenure of their holdings, and provided them with buildings, 
 and, where necessary, with the use of animals and implements 
 for ploughing ; the Government paid to the Associations 
 ;^i for every ;^i of capital spent by them in the equipment 
 and working of the settlements, the total sum so advanced 
 being repayable in five years and bearing interest at 5 per 
 cent. ; and the settlers on their side undertook to render to 
 the Associations a part of the annual crops reaped upon 
 their respective holdings — namely, one-half where the settler^ 
 and two-thirds where the Association, provided the plough- 
 ing animals and implements. While rendering the due 
 proportion of their crops, the settlers enjoyed the right to 
 pasture a specified number of horned and other animals on 
 their own account, and were entitled, under certain conditions, 
 to share in the profits of the respective Associations. 
 
 The following account of the measures thus adopted for 
 the solution of the bywoner problem in the Transvaal was 
 given by Lord Milner to Mr Chamberlain : — 
 
 " Even before the war," he wrote,^ " the wealthier farmers 
 were becoming very intolerant of the increase in the number 
 of these poor relatives, who were more a burden to them 
 than a help, and since the peace many of them have shown 
 a very marked reluctance to take back their former quota 
 of bywoners. 
 
 "As a matter of fact there was much reason for this. 
 The status of the bywoner was good neither for the bywoner 
 himself, nor the landowner, nor the country. It may, there- 
 fore, be a blessing in disguise, that the embarrassment of 
 
 ' In the Repatriation Despatch of 14th March 1903, in Cd. 1551. 
 
FUETHER MEASURES OF RECUPERATION 81 
 
 many landowners, consequent upon the war, has brought the 
 bywoner problem to a head and forced the new Government 
 to take the matter up, though the particular moment of its 
 having to do so, when its hands were so full of other matters, 
 was perhaps not a convenient one. The question arose in 
 the first instance over the repatriation of certain National 
 Scouts or other 'ex-military burghers,' as for convenience 
 we may describe the whole class of those, who, in the later 
 stages of the war, had rendered assistance of whatever kind 
 to the British Forces. As you are aware, the military staiif 
 and organisation of the National Scouts and other Burgher 
 Volunteer Forces was, by the Commander-in-Chiefs orders, 
 kept up at the close of the war so far as was necessary to 
 look after the members of those forces until they had been 
 re-started in civil life. The assistance given by the Civil 
 Government was on the same scale and governed by the 
 same principle as the assistance given to all other ex- 
 burghers who stood in need of it, but among themselves the 
 ' ex-military burghers ' had this organisation of their own to 
 look after their interests and make the help given by the 
 Civil Government go as far as it could. The organisation, 
 which was in charge of Major Leggett, provided for a 
 number of the ' ex-military burghers ' in various employments, 
 such as the South African Constabulary, the Railway Work- 
 shops, Public Works, the Post Office Department, and also 
 assisted a number of them to return to the land. In their 
 settlement on the land, however, those of them who belonged 
 to the bywoner class met with even greater difficulty than 
 the bulk of the bywoners, the general reluctance of the 
 landowners to take back the bywoners being, in some cases, 
 aggravated by political differences. And even where they 
 were taken back, the ex-military bywoners found themselves 
 unpleasantly situated and exposed to social ostracism. To 
 meet this difficulty, a plan was devised to collect ' ex-military 
 burghers ' of the poorer class upon a certain number of farms 
 capable of closer cultivation, which were either owned or 
 hired by wealthier men in political sympathy with them, or 
 at least not bearing them any grudge. This plan had two 
 advantages. It protected the ' ex-military burghers ' socially 
 by bringing a number of men of the same sympathies 
 together. And it was also sound economically, for it helped 
 to turn men of the bywoner class from comparatively useless 
 hangers-on on large pastoral farms, where most of their 
 time was wasted in doing nothing, into peasant farmers on 
 land suitable for agriculture where, given some security of 
 
 VOL. I, w 
 
82 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 tenure, they only needed industry and perseverance to greatly 
 improve their economic position and at the same time benefit 
 the country. For it is part of the new scheme that the 
 bywoners, where thus grouped on agricultural farms, should 
 not be mere squatters at will and ' poor relations,' but should 
 come under a definite contract to the landowner, receiving 
 a fixed proportion of the produce of the land which they 
 severally cultivated, and being secure in their occupation of 
 it for a number of years. 
 
 " This system, however, was no sooner started for the 
 benefit of the 'ex-military burghers' of the bywoner class 
 than its obvious advantages led to its extension to a great 
 number of men of the same class who were not ' ex-military 
 burghers,' including not a few of those who had fought to 
 the last. Applications poured in from bywoners of every 
 shade of political sympathy, and Major Leggett and his 
 fellow-workers wisely decided to make no distinctions, but 
 to extend the system of these burgher settlements so far 
 as they were able to procure suitable land and owners or 
 capitalists willing to promote the scheme, and to embrace 
 bywoners of the 'wild' Boer class as well as 'ex-military 
 burghers ' and men who had surrendered and remained 
 neutral, provided they were willing to drop past animosities 
 and live peaceably together. The result has so far been, 
 alike from the social and economic point of view, remarkably 
 successful. Several thousand landless men, who would 
 otherwise have drifted into the towns, are at this moment 
 working hard as agriculturalists under conditions of security 
 they have never yet enjoyed and with good prospect not 
 only of maintaining themselves, but of gradually acquiring 
 a small capital. Men who have been divided by the most 
 bitter animosities and who, not long ago, were fighting 
 against one another, are living peaceably side by side and 
 show every sign of forgetting the past in their common 
 interest in their present occupation, and in the prospect 
 of an economic independence which they have never before 
 enjoyed. Moreover they are for the first time learning to 
 farm on improved principles. The Boers of the bywoner 
 class are, like all their countrymen, marvellously handy, 
 and quick to pick up improved methods. They are without 
 equals in the management of every sort of animal. But the 
 bulk of them have hitherto never come across any but the 
 most primitive agricultural methods or instruments, and 
 excellent as they have always been in handling animals, 
 they have had very little notion of improving the breed of 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OF RECUPERATION 83 
 
 stock In these Burgher Settlements, where the land is 
 owned or has been leased by people with a large command 
 of capital, able to import good stock, to employ machinery 
 to carry out a proper system of irrigation and, generally 
 speaking, to farm well, the tenants will rapidly pick up a 
 better system of cultivation. And if, as is to be hoped, 
 they ultimately become small owners, either of their present 
 holdings, or of some part of the vast Government estate 
 at present unsurveyed or inaccessible, they will be in a 
 position to turn the land to account as they never were 
 before. At the biggest of the Burgher Settlements, that 
 at Potchefstroom, a number of Italian peasants, and some 
 British farmers also, are mixed with the Boers, and the 
 latter are showing great interest in what was unfamiliar 
 to them in the methods of their new fellows. A settlement 
 of this kind, if it proves successful, is likely to become a 
 practical school of agriculture. The accidental necessities 
 of one section of the bywoner population has thus led to 
 the development of a system which is calculated to be of 
 great benefit to them all." 
 
 These measures for the solution of the bywoner problem 
 were not by any means ill-designed or ill-executed ; yet in 
 the event comparatively few of the Boer or British ^ settlers 
 thus established on small holdings succeeded in making 
 a permanent livelihood by agriculture for themselves and 
 their families. In reviewing the work of the Land Depart- 
 ments of the Crown Colony Administration it will be 
 necessary to return to the subject of these Burgher Land 
 Settlements ; but it may be said at once that the root-cause 
 of failure was the incapacity of the holdings, due to a con- 
 junction of conditions adverse to agriculture, to provide 
 both a livelihood for the settlers and a commercial return 
 on the capital invested by the Associations. In other words, 
 the settlers could afford to pay little or nothing by way of 
 rent, while the Associations, having paid high prices for the 
 land, could not afford to forego any appreciable portion of 
 the rent (or its equivalent), if they were to secure a return 
 over and above the sum sufficient to pay the interest on their 
 borrowed capital. In these circumstances it is not surprising 
 
 ' These are distinct from the "British Agricultural Settlers" (who had 
 farms, not small holdings). 
 
84 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 that the Associations generally failed, and the Government, 
 having foreclosed as mortgagees, were compelled either to 
 close down the settlements, or maintain them out of the 
 public funds. Nevertheless, as will appear in the sequel, 
 some of the original settlements have survived ; other 
 similar settlements have been started since the grant of 
 responsible Government, and the Burgher Land Settlements, 
 as a whole, fulfilled the immediate purpose for which they 
 were established — namely, to provide a means of livelihood 
 for the bywoners and other indigent Boers during the 
 abnormal period of the repatriation, which at any rate would 
 prevent this unfortunate class from becoming either more 
 numerous or more demoralised. 
 
 The second of the two special evils by which the normal 
 difficulties of the repatriation were intensified was the 
 unprecedented drought which occurred in the year 1903. 
 The adverse effects of this physical evil were felt not only 
 in the main work of the repatriation, the reinstatement of 
 the Boer landowners who formed the bulk of the ex-burgher 
 population, but also in the allied undertakings of providing 
 for the bywoners and placing British agricultural settlers 
 on the land. 
 
 As we have seen, thanks to the energy of the Repatria- 
 tion service, and especially to the perambulating ploughing 
 teams, a "fairly large" mealie crop— the crop upon which 
 the country population of the new colonies mainly depended 
 for subsistence — together with "a considerable amount of 
 forage, potatoes, and other vegetables," was sown by the 
 repatriated burghers by the end of the year 1902. The 
 cultivation and sowing of the land, however, had been 
 impeded by the lateness of the rains which are due in the 
 South African spring months (September to November). 
 But this initial disadvantage was as nothing compared 
 with what was to follow. Although no reliable records of 
 meteorological observations have been kept in the new 
 colonies until recent years, sufficient data are in existence 
 to enable us to realise the exceptional character of the 
 drought which prevailed, varying, indeed, in degree in the 
 different districts, from the beginning of the year 1903 to 
 the opening weeks of 1904. From hearsay and other 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OF RECUPERATION 85 
 
 evidence we know of the occurrence of droughts in South 
 Africa in 1821, 1841, 1862, and 1883. Observations taken 
 at Bloemfontein over the period 1 879-1 901 show an average 
 annual rainfall of 23.86 inches, with a maximum of 34.57 
 and a minimum of 16.05 inches. This latter was the record 
 of the drought year 1883. Taking the first nine months of 
 the year only, the minimum rainfall recorded was 1 1.82 inches 
 in 1886. The figures for the corresponding period of 1903 
 are 8.90 inches ; and in the opinion of Mr Beak the drought 
 of this year in the Orange River Colony surpassed the 
 "great drought" of 1862, and, indeed, that of any former 
 year of which any remembrance is preserved.'- In the 
 Transvaal the actual drought was less extreme, but its 
 effect upon the country population was more immediately 
 disastrous owing to the greater extent, and less advanced 
 condition, of the rural areas in this colony. And, moreover, 
 in the northern colony the long period of rainless weather 
 caused the prevalence of locusts, which in many districts 
 devoured even the scanty crops that had escaped destruction 
 from the drought. 
 
 The circumstance that the worst drought on record 
 should have occurred in the one year in which the 
 inhabitants of the new colonies were least able to support 
 such a visitation, and at a time when both the Government 
 and the people were straining every nerve to repair the 
 ravages and waste of the long war, is in itself sufficiently 
 remarkable. But the irony of events was emphasised by 
 the fact that the preceding seasons, during which agriculture 
 was almost entirely arrested by the war, were all good, and 
 the last, that of 190 1-2, extremely good. 
 
 " The first and most pressing problem — that of providing 
 from the land the absolute necessaries of life for the people 
 during the ensuing year — seemed to have been more or less 
 solved. Ill-fortune, however, has pursued us even in this 
 respect. During the war the seasons as a whole were good ; 
 last year extremely good. But this year, as bad luck would 
 have it, there is over large tracts of both colonies, though not 
 absolutely everywhere, a very exceptional drought. After 
 
 1 "Aftermath ofWar," pp. 168-9; to which I am indebted for the statistics 
 given in the text. 
 
86 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 all the strenuous efforts, alike of Government and people to 
 get seed into the ground, there is, I fear, a great probability, 
 amounting in some districts to an absolute certainty, that 
 the crops will not ripen. At the present moment the number 
 of people being supplied with food by the Government is 
 comparatively small. But we have to face the contingency 
 of seeing that number increase to a considerable extent 
 though not, of course, to anything like the figures of last 
 winter, during the next six months. For this reason the 
 Governments of both the Transvaal and the Orange River 
 Colony are keeping a very large number of transport animals 
 and vehicles in hand. The expense is heavy, but we have 
 no option, as, in the absence of such provision, the people 
 in many districts might be exposed to actual famine during 
 1903. This must, of course, at all hazards be guarded against, 
 and it has been guarded against." 1 
 
 Thus Lord Milner wrote to Mr Chamberlain on 14th 
 March 1903. His apprehensions, and the precautions to 
 which they gave rise, were only too completely justified 
 by the event. The mealie crop, sown under such difficulties 
 in 1902, was "an almost complete failure." The wheat crop 
 sown in April 1903, proved in many places " a total failure," 
 and elsewhere a scanty yield, when, in September, the time 
 came for harvesting it. The cost and labour required for 
 the upkeep of the Repatriation Stock and Transport 
 animals were largely augmented ; since the grass of the 
 veld, the natural and convenient sustenance of such animals, 
 was diminished in quantity, and deteriorated in quality, 
 while at the same time the inability of the repatriated 
 farmers to take over fresh stock in view of the deficiency 
 of pasture compelled the Departments to retain and support 
 a large number of animals, which, but for the drought, 
 would have been distributed many months before. 
 
 To sum up : the original provision of seeds and stock 
 calculated to make good the wastage of the war, had to 
 be followed by a fresh provision of seeds and stock to 
 replace the wastage of the drought ; much of the work of 
 repatriation and resettlement had to be done twice over ; 
 and the country population had to be fed by Government, 
 not only for the nine months anticipated — i.e., to the end 
 
 1 Cd. 1551. 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OF RECUPERATION 87 
 
 of March 1903 — but for twelve or thirteen months in addition 
 — i.e., to the end of May 1904. 
 
 "That a bad season," wrote the Administrator of Relief 
 in the Bloomfontein district in September 1903, "should be 
 followed by what promises to be one of the severest droughts 
 which this country has ever experienced is a disaster that 
 is likely to frustrate all the past efforts of the Government 
 in repatriating farmers." 
 
 The Caledon river, for the first time in the memory of 
 man, ran dry ; and the wheat crop failed in Basutoland as 
 elsewhere. In the Orange River Colony even the natives 
 required relief ; all who lived by the cultivation of the land, 
 bywoners, natives, and landowners, claimed, and obtained, 
 the assistance of the new Government.^ Consequently, 
 through no fault either on the part of the Administration 
 or on that of the ex-burgher population, but simply through 
 the act of God, the machinery of repatriation had to be 
 maintained, although the scope of its operations was 
 gradually reduced, for more than twice the period which 
 would otherwise have sufficed. 
 
 On 1st May 1903, the Repatriation Department of the 
 Orange River Colony became the "Government Relief 
 Department," and the Orange River Colony Repatriation 
 Department in this form was closed down on 30th June 
 1904. But while it was found that in the lesser colony 
 the people had become practically self-supporting by the 
 end of May 1904 — ^just two years after the surrender of 
 Vereeniging — in the Transvaal the work of relief was 
 continued for some months longer. It was, however, 
 possible to bring the general issue of rations to a close by 
 the end of March 1904, and from this date rations were 
 supplied only to " aged and decrepid persons," and this 
 limited issue was in turn largely reduced by the end of 
 July 1904. It remained, however, besides providing for the 
 few indigent persons that still required assistance, to dispose 
 of the surplus stores and stock ; and the subsidiary branches 
 of the Department employed in this work were not closed 
 down until 31st October. Even then the services of the 
 
 ' " Aftermath ofWar," pp. 190-2. 
 
88 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 few highly trained officials in the Accountancy Branch 
 were retained for the preparation of the final balance sheet, 
 and the books of the Department were at last closed on 
 31st March 1906. In the meantime — i.e., in 1903 — the 
 Colonial Office had sent out an auditor to examine the 
 Repatriation accounts in both colonies. This task occupied 
 three years, and the defects which it disclosed will be 
 discussed subsequently. 
 
 The results of the work accomplished by the Transvaal 
 Repatriation Department during the two years and four 
 months of its active existence are thus presented by Captain 
 Hughes, the Secretary to the Central Board : — 
 
 " It is not to be supposed that as a result of the 
 Department's labours, the country population were restored 
 to the condition in which they had been before the war. 
 To have effected this in the time and with the difficulties 
 which confronted the Department would have been im- 
 possible, even if it had been attempted ; what has been 
 done, however, is that a great part of the country population 
 of the Transvaal have been enabled to tide over the period 
 immediately succeeding the war, when they had no means 
 of supporting themselves, and have been placed in such a 
 position as to enable them to resume their normal occupa- 
 tions. They are to-day in the position of being able to 
 maintain themselves independently of Government assistance. 
 That there is still poverty in the country, and a very great 
 deal of it, is not denied, but absolute destitution, except in 
 a few cases, is unknown. The assistance given by the 
 Government, through this Department, has been such as 
 to give the people the necessary wherewithal to begin 
 again, without impairing their spirit of independence or 
 tending to demoralisation." ^ 
 
 The funds available for the repatriation of the ex-burgher 
 population of the two new colonies were the ;^3,ooo,ooo free 
 grant and ;^5, 000,000 allocated to this purpose out of the 
 Development Loan, to the issue of which the Home Govern- 
 ment had agreed in principle when the repatriation com- 
 menced, although the actual amount to be borrowed, and 
 the terms of issue, were not definitely arranged until Mr 
 Chamberlain's visit to South Africa in 1902-3. 
 
 ' " Reports and Financial Statements, etc.," Pretoria, 1906. 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OP RECUPERATION 89 
 
 With the exception of the initial and subsequent " free " 
 issues of rations, seeds, implements, etc., the cost of the 
 stock, stores, seeds, etc., otherwise supplied by the two 
 Repatriation Departments to the ex-burghers was regarded 
 as an advance to be paid for in the first instance out of 
 the proportion of the free grant to which the individual 
 ex-burgher might prove to be entitled under Article X. 
 of the Terms of Surrender, so far as the amount awarded 
 in each case would suffice. The ;£'3,ooo,ooo free grant 
 was, therefore, spent in providing the repatriated Boers at 
 once with the elementary necessities which they required. 
 Of the ;^5,ooo,ooo taken from the Development Loan, 
 ;^3,ooo,<X)0 was assigned to provide funds for the loans 
 promised under the Terms of Surrender, and _;£2,coo,ooo was 
 allocated to cover the administration expenses of the two 
 Repatriation Departments. 
 
 In the event much more than this sum of ;£8,ooo,ooo 
 was spent upon the repatriation. Independently of the 
 ;^3,ooo,ooo free grant, a total sum of over ;^9,ooo,ooo was 
 drawn from the Transvaal Treasury for the repatriation 
 expenditure in both colonies, and thus the ;£5,ooo,ooo 
 originally allocated was exceeded in the first instance by 
 over ;^4,ooo,ooo. A considerable proportion of this excess 
 (approximately _;^2, 500,000) was, however, subsequently 
 recovered. 
 
 As the administration of the Development Loan, when 
 raised in 1903, was vested in the Inter-Colonial Council 
 (established in June 1903), the two Repatriation Departments 
 upon closing down handed over their assets, in the shape 
 of recoverable debts, to this body. The Repatriation 
 Recoveries Department accordingly transferred to the 
 Inter-Colonial Council, as at 31st March 1906, assets of 
 the total (nominal) value of ;£'4,i5i,2 52, 6s., of which 
 j£$S4,i26, I2S. 8d. was paid in cash (being the loans, 
 etc., then repaid less expenses of administration), and 
 .^3.597ii2S, 13s. 4d. was the balance of the recoverable 
 debts due to the two Departments (^3,104,797, os. 2d. to 
 that of the Transvaal, and ^^492,328, 13s. 2d. to that of 
 the Orange River Colony). 
 
 In the statement of the Public Debt of the several 
 
90 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 colonies at 30th May 1910, issued upon the establishment 
 of the Union, the expenditure finally assigned to repatriation 
 in the two new colonies was ;^6,584,5i3, 17s. id., of which 
 ;^5,305,ioo, 14s. was apportioned to the Transvaal, and 
 ^1,279,413, 3s. id. to the Orange River Colony. 
 
 Closely allied to this strictly repatriation expenditure 
 was the amount expended on compensation for war losses. 
 The sums available under this head were the ;^2,ooo,ooo 
 voted by the British Parliament in November 1902, as 
 compensation for the war losses incurred by British subjects 
 and foreigners in the two new colonies, and the ^^4,500,000 
 paid by the War Office to defray the liabilities incurred 
 by the military authorities during the war on account of 
 (i) stock and goods purchased or commandeered, and (2) 
 the war losses of " protected burghers." 
 
 Of this repatriation expenditure, amounting collectively 
 to ;£i6,o84,Si3, 17s. id., ;^6,584,si3, 17s. id. was borne by 
 the Colonial Governments, and ;;^9,5oo,ooo was charged to 
 the British Exchequer. Of this latter total only the 
 ;£2,ooo,ooo grant, and the nearly y^a.ooo.ooo available for 
 the " protected burghers " out of the War Office payment, 
 were compensation for war losses in the strict sense of the 
 term. As, however, the claims upon all the three funds 
 charged to the British Exchequer — i.e., the ^^3,000,000 free 
 grant, the ;^2,ooo,ooo voted by Parliament in November 
 1902, and the ;^4,5oo,ooo paid by the War Office — were 
 ultimately assessed by a single body, the Central Judicial 
 Commission, sitting at Pretoria, the distribution of the 
 gratuitous relief and the satisfaction of outstanding military 
 liabilities came to be identified with the payment of com- 
 pensation for war losses both in the minds of the recipients 
 of the gratuitous funds, and from an administrative point 
 of view. The three funds are, accordingly, dealt with under 
 the title of "Compensation" in the Blue-book (Cd. 3028) 
 published in August 1906, upon which the detailed state- 
 ments of the distribution of these funds, given in the 
 Appendix to this chapter, are based. 
 
 The Central Judicial Commission, the body before which 
 all claims upon these three funds were ultimately brought 
 for adjudication, was appointed on 23rd October 1902, and 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OP RECUPERATION 91 
 
 issued its final report on 28th February 1906.^ The total 
 number of the claims investigated was 63,079, and the total 
 sum awarded and distributed was ;£9,5oo,ooo. The South 
 African Deportation Commission held its first meeting on 
 30th April 1901, and its last on 13th November of the 
 same year. The claims dealt with were 227 in number.^ 
 
 All sums allowed for claims under these three funds 
 were paid out at the principal centre of each district in the 
 two new colonies, and the claimants were able to cash the 
 cheques at the local banks. A much shorter period than the 
 three and a half years actually consumed in the investigation 
 and assessment of the compensation claims would have 
 sufficed for this purpose, had not the normal difficulties of the 
 Commission been increased by the illiteracy of the Boers and 
 by the number of dishonest claims which were put forward. 
 As examples of these latter the following cases, taken from 
 the pages of the Report of the Central Judicial Commission, 
 may be placed in evidence. 
 
 "One claimant asked compensation for war losses. On 
 investigation it was found, and claimant under examination 
 on oath admitted, ' I started the war with nothing, and I lost 
 nothing.' " . . . " One spinster claimed compensation for ' loss 
 of honour,' because the man with whom she was cohabiting 
 had during the war been deported by the military authorities." 
 ..." Another claimant asked that he be paid compensation 
 for war losses for clothes worn and food consumed while he 
 was on commando." ..." Another claimant asked that he 
 be paid compensation for certain fowls which appear to have 
 been killed and eaten. He also asked that a sum of £4^ 
 be paid to him for the value of the eggs which the fowls 
 might have laid, had they not been destroyed. He also 
 asked that, in addition to the value of the fowls and the 
 
 ^ Presented to Lord Selborne by Major T. M. M'Inerney, chairman of the 
 Central Judicial Commission. Cd. 3028. 
 
 2 Mr Beak compares the action of Great Britain in respect of promptitude in 
 dealing with the compensation for war losses with that of the United States and 
 France. Under Article XII. of the Treaty of 8th May 1871, between Great 
 Britain and the United States, certain claims arising out of the war of 1865 
 were examined by a Commission. This body met on 26th September 1871, 
 and held its last meeting on 25th September 1873. The claims brought before 
 it were 497 in number, and the sum awarded was ;^390,ooo. "In France, 
 after the war of 1870-71, the first act dealing with compensation was passed 
 in 1871. The last payments were made in 1879." (" The Aftermath of War, " 
 p. 255). 
 
92 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 value of the eggs which those fowls might have laid had 
 they not been turned into an article of diet, he be paid 
 the sum of ;£'S09 for 'moral indemnification' for the loss 
 of the fowls." 
 
 It remains to consider the spirit in which this unpre- 
 cedented liberality on the part of the British Government 
 was received by the mass of the ex-burgher population. 
 Unfortunately there can be only one opinion upon this point. 
 All payments from these three funds were regarded alike 
 as a partial and tardy satisfaction of a debt due legally to the 
 individual recipient ; and thus regarded, they evoked not 
 gratitude, but disappointment and irritation. No more 
 reliable witness on these matters could be found than 
 Mr Beak, whose exceptional knowledge of repatriation work 
 has been noticed before. The Boers, he writes, entertained 
 the idea that the ;^3,ooo,ooo grant was 
 
 " to be paid in compensation for war losses, that the moneys 
 expended on repatriation and relief were not compensa- 
 tion, and that the ;^3, 000,000 still remained untouched. All 
 classes in the community entertained the erroneous belief that 
 they were entitled to compensation and indemnification which 
 would place them in as flourishing, or even more flourishing 
 a position than they occupied before the war."^ 
 
 The delay, largely due to many Boers being unable to 
 read or write, was confounded with niggardliness of intention. 
 It was commonly said that " the funds devoted to compensa- 
 tion were being pocketed by the Claims Commissioners. . . ." 
 And "the system of allowing protected burghers to 
 obtain prompt relief by giving them at once 50 per cent, 
 of their assessed claims was generally regarded as a 
 swindle." 
 
 When the repatriation was accomplished the methods 
 and expenditure of the two Departments were subjected to a 
 searching official examination, and to some criticism on the 
 part of the general public both in South Africa and in 
 England. As already noticed, the Colonial Office sent out 
 an auditor so soon as the virtual completion of the work of 
 restoration permitted the accounts of the Departments to be 
 
 ' "Aftermath of War," p. 259. 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OF RECUPERATION 93 
 
 made up. This officer, in addition to tlie District Inspectors 
 of accounts already in the employment of the Departments, 
 engaged a separate staff which was established in inde- 
 pendent offices at Bloemfontein and Pretoria. But even so, 
 it was found to be impossible to give effect to the complicated 
 instructions of the Colonial Office. In order to bring the 
 enquiry within the limits of practical attainment, the 
 auditors employed were directed to ascertain that (i) all 
 transactions were properly vouched, and (2) charges for 
 administration were according to the authorised establish- 
 ment ; (3) stocks and stores purchased were properly dis- 
 posed of and accounted for ; and (4) the scheme of Repatriation 
 was properly carried out as defined in the Terms of Sur- 
 render, and any subsequent instructions issued to the 
 Departments. 
 
 The audit, thus limited, proved, however, to be so 
 laborious that it lasted from 1904 to 1907, occupying a 
 longer period than the Repatriation itself, and adding 
 appreciably to the heavy expenditure already incurred on 
 repatriation account by the Administration.^ 
 
 The defects of administration, which, in the opinion of the 
 auditor, were revealed by the examination of the accounts of 
 the two Repatriation Departments, may be grouped under the 
 four heads of (i) bad accountancy, (2) uneconomic buying of 
 supplies, (3) excessive surplus of stores, etc., upon closing down 
 and (4) criticisms of particular transactions. 
 
 A brief consideration of these complaints will enable the 
 reader to decide for himself whether such defects as a whole 
 could have been avoided in the exceptional circumstances of 
 the time and place, without incurring the far more serious 
 losses which would have resulted from delay. The original 
 allocation of ;^5,ooo,ooo was exceeded in the event by 
 ;^i, 584,513, 17s. id. But the plain fact is that nobody knew, 
 or could know, how much the repatriation would cost, and 
 the amount of this appropriation was, therefore, purely hypo- 
 thetical. What was known and recognised was the fact that 
 the population of the two colonies must be restored to their 
 homes at all costs and at the earliest possible moment ; since 
 any gain from administrative economies effected at the price 
 ' "Aftermath of War," pp. 213-4. 
 
94 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 of a delay in the resumption of their industries by the people, 
 would have been negligible in comparison with the loss of 
 national wealth and revenue which such delay would inevit- 
 ably have entailed. 
 
 The instructions on the subject of accountancy issued on 
 2 1st June 1902, to the chairmen of the Local Repatria- 
 tion Commissions in both colonies contained the following 
 directions : — 
 
 " All expenditure in connection with the Commission is to 
 be drawn from the Treasury {i.e., of the Transvaal) by a 
 requisition signed by the Chairman. A special banking 
 account is to be opened by him for the purposes of the 
 Commission. A cash book is to be kept showing payments 
 made for the purposes of the Commission. A return is to be 
 rendered to the Treasury at the end of every month on Form 
 No. I (Audit) showing the expenditure on salaries and other 
 charges incurred by the Commission. The original receipts 
 are to be attached. A transcript of the cash book must also 
 be attached."! 
 
 The instructions issued to the Superintendents of the 
 depots were equally precise, and the account books, printed 
 forms, etc., with which they were supplied, were those agreed 
 upon as between the financial authorities of the two Colonial 
 Governments and the Repatriation Departments. 
 
 Nothing could have been better calculated to secure 
 correct accountancy than these instructions, and the pro- 
 vision made for putting them into effect. None the less 
 the circumstances in which the repatriation was carried on 
 in its early stages made correct accountancy impossible — 
 impossible, that is to say, without sacrificing the supreme 
 object of the Departments, which was not merely to restore 
 the ex-burgher population to their homes, but to do this 
 so promptly that the rural industries might be set going 
 again as nearly as possible pari passu with those of the 
 towns. 
 
 The moment peace was assured the Repatriation Depart- 
 ments, the nuclei of which had been formed by Lord Milner, 
 were required to be expanded rapidly to their full comple - 
 
 ■ " Instructions for the guidance of Local Commissioners," Cd. 1551. 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OP RECUPERATION 95 
 
 merit of officials, and the whole departmental machinery 
 had to be set in motion immediately. Plainly it was no 
 easy matter to provide men who were competent in point 
 of technical knowledge and education, while at the same 
 time possessing the moral and physical qualities necessary 
 to enable them both to play successfully the part of 
 Government officials, and to endure the rude conditions of 
 life to which they would be subjected. Where it would 
 have been easy to obtain a hundred suitable applicants in 
 England, and under English conditions, it was difficult to 
 secure one in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony 
 under the then existing conditions of those colonies. 
 
 " As soon as depots were opened," writes Captain 
 Hughes, " they were at once required to issue stores under 
 the severest pressure so as to avert absolute want among 
 the people, and in the extreme urgency of organising and 
 equipping the depots with their staffs, a certain number of 
 men were placed in the positions of accountants who were 
 not qualified to carry out their duties ; these weak appoint- 
 ments were remedied as opportunities offered." ^ 
 
 And it was in view of this deficiency of personnel that a 
 staff of inspecting accountants was formed. 
 
 Mr Beak gives us a vivid picture of the circumstances 
 in which the Local Commissioners, as well as the depots, 
 commenced their work in the Orange River Colony, and 
 he renders the connection between these circumstances 
 and the faulty accountancy perfectly intelligible. It was 
 impossible, he says of this colony, to find twenty -two 
 competent accountants at a moment's notice, and the diffi- 
 culty was increased by the fact that, when the repatriation 
 commenced, the Irregular Corps, comprising the best civil 
 material for such work, had not yet been disbanded. 
 
 " The district repatriation officers, especially the secretaries 
 and accountants, had, like the Resident Magistrates, to be 
 taken almost entirely on trust. Forms had to be evolved to 
 suit the exigencies of the Department, and these had to be 
 pnnted and sent out to the districts. Postal communication 
 between the districts and the head office was infrequent 
 
 ' "Reports, etc.'' 
 
96 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 and irregular, owing to the great distances which had to 
 be covered, and to the scarcity of transport and inhabitants, 
 and it was sometimes weeks before the local accountant, 
 when appointed, found himself in possession of the requisites 
 necessary to carry out his work. 
 
 "Meanwhile the Resident Magistrates had got out to 
 their districts, and the local Boards had been formed. The 
 position at the time, then, was this : The Central Board 
 was engaged in ascertaining the requirements of each 
 district ; in purchasing stock, seed, building material, farm 
 implements, food-stuffs ; in confirming loans made by the 
 Local Commissions ; and in deciding the questions of principle 
 which from time to time arose. The Local Commissioners 
 were employed in returning families to their farms ; in 
 transporting supplies, which were being received from the 
 military and from the head office, to the district dep6ts ; 
 in issuing rations ; in granting advances of stock, stores, 
 and cash, to individuals ; and in generally supervising the 
 control and management of large mobs of draught animals 
 which had been taken over from the military, and which 
 demanded a considerable amount of attention on account 
 of their wretched and diseased condition. In addition to 
 repatriation work, the Chairman of the Board, whose duty 
 it was to supervise the accounts, had his own magisterial 
 duties to perform, and could not always be on the spot 
 owing to his absence on other duties, such as inquests, 
 periodical courts, etc. The Commissioners had their own 
 private business to attend to. Consequently to a great 
 extent in many districts the details of the accounts were 
 left in the hands of the secretary, who was also the 
 accountant, assisted in the first instance only by an issuer 
 and head conductor, for it was not until most of the mis- 
 chief had been done that the Central Board granted the 
 extra clerical assistance which was so essential. The 
 majority of the accountants were untried and unproven 
 men, who in most cases had to pick up the details of the 
 work as best they could. Several of the Magistrates, and 
 many of the accountants were still further handicapped by 
 ignorance of the locality and the inhabitants." ^ 
 
 The almost complete absence of the "plant" of a 
 civilised community in the rural districts of the Transvaal, 
 and the greater distances which separated these districts 
 
 1 "Aftermath of VV^ar," pp. 215-6. 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OP RECUPERATION 97 
 
 from the towns and the railways, made the conditions 
 under which the repatriation officials worked in this 
 colony even more harassing and onerous than those 
 described by Mr Beak as prevailing in the Orange River 
 Colony. 
 
 There is, however, one criticism bearing upon this 
 question of accountancy which merits attention, because it 
 touches a vital point in the discussion — namely, whether 
 the Administration and the heads of the Repatriation 
 Departments did, or did not, make the best use of the 
 material at their disposal. 
 
 "A considerable saving would probably have been 
 effected," the Auditor-General of the Transvaal writes, " had 
 a more extensive use been made of the Burgher Camps 
 Department. The machinery was in full working order at 
 the time peace was declared ; the officials were accustomed 
 to the receipt and issue of stores and the proper accounting 
 thereof, and also experienced in dealing with burghers and 
 their families."'- 
 
 Now this is a criticism which, if it were well founded, 
 would reveal a serious error of judgment upon the part 
 of the Administration. But a reference to the preceding 
 narrative will show that the complaint is not only unfounded, 
 but that it is one which could scarcely have been made by 
 a person familiar with the actual circumstances in which the 
 repatriation was commenced and carried on. During the 
 first two or three months after the surrender of Vereeniging 
 the system of the burgher camps formed an integral and 
 vitally important adjunct to the repatriation machinery. It 
 was in these camps that the ex-burgher population were 
 received, sorted out, transferred when necessary to other 
 camps, equipped with necessaries, and finally handed over 
 to the Repatriation Transport to convey to their homes. 
 During the months in question, and when the strain upon 
 the repatriation service was greatest, there was little or no 
 diminution in the burgher camp population ; since the 
 removal of part of the original inhabitants of the camps 
 proceeded pari passu with the arrival of the successive 
 
 * " Report on the Accounts of the Transvaal Repatriation Department," dated 
 5th May 1906. 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
98 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 shipments of the 25,000 over-sea prisoners of war.i But 
 while the ordinary work of the officials in the camps was 
 not lessened, a greal deal of additional work in the shape 
 of the identification of burghers, the preparation of correct 
 lists of the detachments sent to the various repatriation 
 districts, the equipment and despatch of the outgoing 
 parties, and the reception of the in-coming prisoners of 
 war, was thrown upon them. Plainly, then, in these months 
 of June, July, and August 1902, any reduction or weakening 
 of "Caa personnel of the Burgher Camps Department would 
 have been highly impolitic, even if it had been possible. 
 But it was in June that the accountants and subordinate 
 officials of the Repatriation Departments were appointed, 
 and it was during these first three months that competent 
 accountants, storemen, and other officials were especially 
 required to man the Local Commissions and the depots. 
 By the time that the population of the burgher camps 
 began to be reduced appreciably, and the staff of that 
 Department began to be available for other employment, 
 the most difficult part of the work of the Repatriation 
 Departments was accomplished. So far as the deficient 
 accountancy goes, the mischief was done. 
 
 In short, when the personnel of the Burgher Camps 
 Department was wanted by the Repatriation Departments, 
 it was still more wanted by its own Department ; when it 
 was available, the Repatriation Departments had got the 
 hastily improvised local staffs into fairly good working 
 order. Obviously the Repatriation authorities could not, 
 with any show of justice, then discharge their own officials — 
 the very men to whose efforts, strenuous and successful as 
 a whole, it was due that the population of the burgher 
 camps had been so quickly reduced, and the personnel of 
 that Department thereby set free for other employment. 
 What they did do was to draw upon the Burgher Camps 
 Department for the men required to fill the vacancy 
 created by the discharge of the obviously incompetent 
 officials whom they must in any case have dismissed. To 
 have done more than this would have been to seethe the 
 kid, not indeed in its mother's milk, but in its own. 
 
 ' See chap. ii. p. 26. 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OP RECUPERATION 99 
 
 The charges under the head of "uneconomic buying of 
 supplies," brought against the Departments, resolve them- 
 selves into the allegation that the system of public tender 
 ought to have been adopted, and that for all supplies pur- 
 chased from merchants the Departments should have taken 
 delivery at the dep6ts, and not at the ports. 
 
 "An immense saving might Iiave resulted," writes the 
 Transvaal Auditor-General, " if contracts for purchases had 
 provided for delivery at the depots where the stores were 
 required, then only the actual certified deliveries need 
 have been paid for, and heavy charges for Port Agents' 
 staffs, etc., would have been avoided." ^ 
 
 Here again is a complaint which could only have been put 
 forward in ignorance or forgetfulness of the actual conditions 
 under which the repatriation commenced. The system of 
 purchase by public tender is one, the adoption of which 
 would have been both proper and feasible had these con- 
 ditions been normal. At the time the repatriation com- 
 menced, and for many months afterwards, the conditions 
 of the new colonies and of South Africa in general were 
 extremely abnormal. The merchants had no stocks in 
 the country from which to draw. Had the merchants 
 tendered to provide the Departments with supplies, they 
 could only have undertaken to obtain them from over-sea 
 sources and to deliver them at the ports ; for what prospect 
 would they have had of getting their consignments up from 
 the coast by rail at a time when, owing to the requirements 
 of the military authorities, the Civil Government itself had 
 the utmost difficulty in securing the forwarding of the 
 supplies needed for the support of the civil population 
 already existing in the new colonies? — when, indeed, it 
 was unable to get the repatriation stores, waiting at the 
 coast, placed upon the trucks which had been assigned to 
 it by agreement with the military authorities, until the 
 Departments had appointed separate agents of their own 
 to prevent this Government truckage from being absorbed 
 by the military traffic. Again, what prospect had private 
 firms of obtaining transport to carry their consignments 
 
 ' In the " Reports, etc.,'' previously cited in the text. 
 
100 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 from the railway to the up-country depots, when all the 
 available transport in the new colonies was in the hands 
 of the military authorities or the Repatriation Departments ? 
 In the Orange River Colony, which, from its greater 
 proximity to the coast and its better roads, was more 
 favourably circumstanced in the matter of transport than 
 the Transvaal, the system of public tender was at first 
 attempted. Here, says Mr Beak, "at the commencement 
 the Department called for tenders, and advertised both in the 
 Orange River Colony press and in that of the adjoining 
 colonies."! There was no response. In both colonies the 
 railways were congested by the traffic incidental to the return 
 of the Army, business was disorganised, ordinary methods 
 of commerce were suspended. So far from the private 
 merchants being able to do better than the Government, 
 they sought the good offices of the Repatriation Departments 
 to enable them to fulfil their existing engagements for the 
 supply of the retail dealers in the towns. 
 
 The one circumstance that made the immediate com- 
 mencement of the repatriation possible, was the fact that 
 the nuclei of the repatriation services in both colonies had 
 been created before peace was in sight. Even so the work 
 could not have gone forward as it did, without a break from 
 the very day that the last commando laid down its arms, 
 except for the existence on the spot of the surplus army 
 stores and transport. These, as we know, the Administration 
 took over on the rigorous terms upon which the army 
 authorities insisted. After all the army suppUes of good 
 quality had been secured, orders for further supplies were 
 given to firms at the coast. It was in order to secure the 
 safe and rapid transit of these over-sea supplies that the 
 port agents were appointed — a measure which was amply 
 justified by the results obtained. Under normal conditions 
 the system of purchase by public tender, with delivery at 
 the several dep6ts by a specified time would have been 
 adopted, and such a system would no doubt have relieved 
 the Departments of a great deal of their most responsible 
 and arduous work. But to have relied upon the ordinary 
 methods of purchase and delivery under the abnormal con- 
 1 "Aftermath of War," p. 217. 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OP RECUPERATION 101 
 
 ditions that actually prevailed, would have been futile. The 
 Departments had to buy not upon any system, but when, 
 where, and how the circumstances of the moment afforded 
 them a reasonable prospect of seeing their orders executed. 
 Afterwards, when the railways had ceased to be congested, 
 and the business conditions of the two colonies had become 
 more normal, it might have been possible for private 
 merchants to contract to deliver supplies at the repatriation 
 depdts on and off the railways. But by this time the 
 Repatriation Transport Service was completely organised 
 and in full working order ; and the Departments would have 
 gained nothing by paying private firms to perform a service 
 which they were capable of performing more expeditiously 
 and more economically for themselves. 
 
 The Repatriation Departments were severely criticised on 
 account of the excessive surplus of stores held by them upon 
 their closing down. " Huge stocks," writes the Accountant- 
 General of the Transvaal, " remained on hand . . . indicating 
 that the requirements had been greatly over-estimated." 
 But the Departments claim that the large surpluses were due 
 not to any want of care or skill in buying supplies, but to 
 the shifting conditions and changing needs of the repatriated 
 population on whose behalf they were made. The greatest 
 care, says Captain Hughes,^ the Secretary of the Transvaal 
 Department, as to quality, price, and quantities was exercised ; 
 but the quantities of the various supplies ordered were very 
 difficult to estimate owing to the fluctuating numbers and 
 circumstances of those of the ex-burghers who required 
 relief. And Mr Beak, in replying to the same criticism on 
 behalf of the Orange River Colony Department, points 
 directly to the main cause of this fluctuation — the great 
 drought of 1903. 
 
 " So far as anything is known of the certainties, or rather 
 uncertainties, of the South African climate, 1904, instead of 
 being a favourable season, should have been the climax of 
 the drought. The purchaser of supplies was still haunted by 
 the cries for food which had characterised the early days of 
 repatriation, and he determined to err on the safe side."^ 
 
 ' " Reports, etc." a <• Aftermath of War," p. 232. 
 
102 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 In short, after the experience of the first fifteen months 
 of the repatriation, there were two courses before the 
 Administration. The first was to keep the stores down to 
 the limit which would suffice if a normal season followed in 
 1904, and thereby run the risk of being unable to support 
 the country population in the event of the season proving to 
 be abnormal. The second was to provide supplies sufficient 
 to meet the utmost demands that might be made upon the 
 Repatriation Departments in any event, and thereby run the 
 risk of incurring a considerable financial loss. The second 
 course was, in the circumstances, obviously the right one; 
 and it was this course that the Administration adopted. 
 
 So soon, however, as it was known that the surplus stores 
 would not be required, they were disposed of to the best 
 advantage. Under the scheme of liquidation formulated for 
 the Transvaal Repatriation Department, the surplus stores 
 at the several depots were sold after the end of March 1904. 
 It was at first proposed to sell the whole of the surplus 
 supplies to a single firm. Except, however, in the case of 
 the Pretoria surpluses (which were large) this course proved 
 impracticable ; and the stores were consequently sold by 
 public auctions held throughout the Transvaal. The surplus 
 stock remaining at the depots was in the first instance 
 handed over to the Transport Branch of the Repatriation 
 Department. It was then offered for sale, together with the 
 transport animals and vehicles, at auction sales ; and finally 
 the repatriated animals and gear which remained unsold 
 were taken over by the Transvaal Agricultural Department 
 on 31st October 1904, when, as we have seen, the Repatria- 
 tion Department, with the exception of the Accountancy 
 Branch, was closed down. 
 
 The low prices realised by these surplus supplies, which 
 materially increased the total loss on trading account 
 incurred by the Repatriation Departments of both colonies, 
 are in part to be attributed to the fact that the military 
 authorities were at the same time disposing of large quantities 
 of army stores and supplies. The circumstance which, as 
 already noticed, was due primarily to the unaccommodating 
 attitude assumed by the military authorities upon the 
 declaration of peace, was most disastrous. Not only did 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OF RECUPERATION 103 
 
 the financial interests both of the War Office and the local 
 Governments suffer through the competition between their 
 respective agents, but the trade of the new colonies was 
 adversely affected. Private firms, which by this time (1904) 
 had brought into the country large imports of provisions 
 and other supplies, complained that they were subjected to 
 heavy losses through being undersold by the vast quantities 
 of tinned food, forage, and other articles with which the 
 market was glutted by the military and repatriation sales. 
 With regard to the " criticisms of particular transactions," 
 it must be remembered that while the Repatriation Depart- 
 ments endeavoured to purchase only such stock, implements, 
 seeds, and supplies as they believed to be suited to the 
 needs and conditions of the ex-burgher population, they 
 had no power to compel the farmers to take over the 
 purchases thus made on their behalf Not only, therefore, 
 might a change of agricultural conditions, such as the 
 prevalence of drought or the outbreak of a cattle disease, 
 render purchases suitable at the time of ordering, unsuitable, 
 either in character or amount, at the time when they were 
 actually offered to the farmers, but it not infrequently 
 happened that some fortuitous accident, or some apparently 
 unreasonable prejudice in the minds of the Boers, caused 
 both stock and supplies to be thrown on the hands of the 
 Departments. The item of 7,000 merino rams imported 
 by the Orange River Colony Department, but rejected by 
 the Boers merely because they had lost condition on the 
 voyage to South Africa, is an example of the kind. In 
 this case, there appears to have been no error of judgment 
 on the part of the Department, as the rams were suitable 
 in themselves to replenish the flocks of the colony, and 
 were badly needed by the farmers. But on arrival the 
 animals were found to have lost condition on the voyage, 
 and on this account the Boers refused to have anything 
 to do with them. The Department, as the legal purchaser 
 had to bear the loss. And there were many more such 
 cases of losses which become perfectly intelligible when 
 once the exceptional conditions under which they were 
 made are realised, and when, in particular, it is remembered 
 that the Departments, the legal purchasers, had no power 
 
104 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 to prevent the farmers, for whom the animals were bought, 
 from refusing to take the stock, however eccentric and 
 unreasonable the grounds of their refusal might be.^ 
 
 Attention is drawn in the Report of the Accountant- 
 General of the Transvaal to two other instances: the 
 purchase of ;£■ 10,000 worth of seed potatoes in New 
 Zealand, which being found on arrival to have become 
 almost valueless in the course of the long voyage, were 
 sold for what they would fetch at the port, since they 
 were not worth the cost of forwarding by rail to the 
 Transvaal ; and a large consignment of harrows, purchased 
 for ;£'45,ooo, which became a dead loss to the Department, 
 because the Boers declared that they were unsuitable, and 
 refused to use them. 
 
 In respect of such transactions it was not contended 
 by the Departments that neither errors of judgment nor 
 miscalculations had been made. They claimed, however, 
 that having regard to the difficult circumstances in which 
 the purchases were made, the errors and miscalculations 
 for which the officials could be held directly responsible did 
 not exceed, either in number or character, the limit which 
 should be held permissible, or rather unavoidable, when 
 a rapidly created and temporary Government organisation 
 is called upon to carry out transactions of such magnitude 
 and complexity with a despatch dictated by urgent political 
 and economic necessity. 
 
 It remains to notice that upon the establishment of 
 Responsible Government in the Transvaal a Committee 
 was appointed in 1907 by General Botha's ministry to 
 examine the complaints of over-charges for stock and 
 supplies, which had been put forward by the burghers 
 against the Repatriation Department of this colony. The 
 Committee, which consisted of Messrs Loveday, Schalk 
 Burger, and Lindsay, owed its origin more to a desire on 
 the part of the Boer leaders to justify their persistent 
 and jealous criticism of the Crown Colony Administration,^ 
 
 ' "Aftermath of War," p. 221. 
 
 ^ For the attitude of the Boer leaders during the Crown Administration, see 
 forward chap. viii. pp. 157 et seq., and especially chap. xvii. ("The Boers and 
 the New Government"), 
 
FURTHER MEASURES OP RECUPERATION 105 
 
 and the specific pledges to reduce repatriation charges 
 given to their supporters in the political campaign which 
 preceded the general election of February 1907, than to 
 any genuine belief in the reality of the alleged injustice. 
 Its Report, published in 1908, found that for rations, seeds, 
 building materials, agricultural and other implements, the 
 ploughing of land, horses, sheep, harness and vehicles, the 
 charges were fair and reasonable ; but that the prices for 
 oxen, donkeys, and mules were excessive, and it recom- 
 mended, therefore, that a discount of 25 per cent, should 
 be allowed on cash payments in respect of the purchases 
 of these animals. Both the finding and the recommendation 
 are based upon two untenable assumptions: (i) that the 
 military authorities should have sold the animals in question 
 not merely at, but below, the market value on the ground 
 that they sold in bulk ; and (2) that the Civil Administration 
 could have compelled the military authorities to accept 
 payment on this basis by postponing the removal of the 
 ex-burghers from the camps to their homes. Moreover, 
 assuming for the moment that at the cost of some months' 
 delay, involving direct and indirect monetary losses many 
 times as great as the highest value of the gain to be secured, 
 the required reduction could have been obtained, and that 
 therefore the prices charged in respect of these oxen, donkeys 
 and mules were "excessive," by parity of reasoning the 
 Committee should have recommended that additional pay- 
 ments should have been made by the burghers in respect 
 of the far more numerous cases in which, as we have seen, 
 the Department sold at a loss, and in respect of the 
 conveyance of animals and goods to the farms— a service 
 for which, though not technically gratuitous, no charge was 
 made, and the performance of which materially increased 
 the net cost to the Department of the animals and goods 
 supplied. 
 
 On the strength of this Report certain sums were written 
 off the burghers' debts to the Repatriation Department more 
 than once under Responsible Government. The reductions, 
 however, were made generally in respect of animals which 
 were shown to have died shortly after they had been 
 purchased; and the action of General Botha's ministry in 
 
106 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 regard to this matter cannot be said to have exceeded the 
 limits of the political " dole." 
 
 To revert to the narrative, the Orange River Colony 
 Department was closed down on 30th June 1904, and that 
 of the Transvaal on 31st October in the same year. Before 
 these dates the surplus stores and transport had been sold 
 to the best advantage in accordance with the scheme of 
 liquidation adopted in both colonies. It remained, however, 
 to make provision for, first, the collection of the debts due 
 to the Departments arising out of loans, interest on loans, 
 and other recoverable repatriation expenditure ; and, second, 
 the administration of the compensation funds, which had 
 been carried out hitherto by the Repatriation Departments. 
 The first of these duties was handed over to the respective 
 Treasurers of the two Colonial Governments (by whom the 
 cash and assets then accruing were eventually transferred, 
 on 31st March 1906, to the Treasurer of the Inter-Colonial 
 Council), and the second to the Central Judicial Commission 
 before which the compensation claims were brought for 
 adjudication. 
 
 The reinstatement of the population of the late Boer 
 republics in their homes and industries, thus accomplished 
 at the cost of over ;^i6,ooo,ooo, was a measure without 
 precedent in the annals of history. As a political trans- 
 action it must always rank among the greatest achieve- 
 ments of European statesmanship ; and the manner of its 
 execution was as meritorious to the officials of the new 
 colonies as was the transaction itself creditable to the 
 British nation. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE TRANSVAAL AND DELAGOA BAY 
 
 We have seen by what methods, and at what expenditure of 
 effort and treasure, the Boers were restored to their farms, 
 supplied with stock, and enabled to rebuild their homesteads 
 and resume the cultivation of the land. But the accomplish- 
 ment of this task was not allowed to prevent, or retard, the 
 execution of any of the measures deemed by Lord Milner 
 to be necessary for the reinstatement of the urban popula- 
 tion, or the resumption and development of their industries. 
 Among these latter the gold industry was beyond com- 
 parison predominant, whether we regard the number of the 
 persons to whom it gave employment, directly or indirectly, 
 or the amount of its contribution to the revenue of the 
 Transvaal, and to the railway revenues of the Orange River 
 Colony, the Cape, and Natal. Yet no sooner was peace 
 declared than signs were revealed that this industry, and 
 the numerous and enterprising community to which it had 
 given birth, were threatened with an economic disaster of the 
 first magnitude in the shape of an unparalleled deficiency of 
 native African labour. 
 
 Lord Milner, upon whom rested the main burden of 
 responsibility for the peace and well-being of the new South 
 Africa, had served in Egypt as under-Secretary for Finance 
 in the Khedive's Government. In reviewing his experiences 
 in these two countries, he was accustomed to say that 
 South Africa was singularly "unfortunate" as compared 
 with Egypt. The remark was amply justified. Animal 
 diseases, insect plagues, and drought beset the work of 
 repatriation ; but these were as nothing compared with the 
 shortage of native labour throughout South Africa, which in 
 
 107 
 
108 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the new colonies from the first impeded, and subsequently 
 actually arrested, the development of the gold mines and the 
 construction of public works, and thereby threatened to 
 disorganise the entire fabric of the reconstruction. A 
 deficiency of unskilled labour was no new thing in the 
 industrial history of South Africa; but there was no 
 experience in the past to lead him to anticipate that the 
 resumption and expansion of industries, and the rapid 
 construction of railways and other public works, which 
 followed the declaration of peace, would be accompanied 
 by an appreciable shrinkage in the number of the native 
 labourers hitherto available for the service of the European 
 communities. As it was, to an increased demand was 
 added a decreased supply ; and the two combined to pro- 
 duce in the new colonies a scarcity of labour which 
 was as unprecedented in the economic sphere as was the 
 drought of 1903-4 in the physical. 
 
 In the course of the first six months of the year 1903 
 the labour question will assume an importance in comparison 
 with which all other matters will sink into comparative 
 insignificance. For the moment, however, it will suffice to 
 recall two facts: (i) without an abundant and economic 
 supply of unskilled labour, gold could not be extracted 
 profitably from the ore of the Witwatersrand ; and (2) the 
 prosperity of the gold industry was essential to the prosperity, 
 and therefore to the financial capacity, first of the Transvaal, 
 and then, in a scarcely less degree, of all British South Africa, 
 with the single exception of Rhodesia. In these circumstances 
 the grave difficulty in obtaining an adequate number of 
 African labourers for the gold mines, which was experienced 
 directly after the peace, was a matter which naturally engaged 
 the anxious attention of the Transvaal Government. Nor 
 is it surprising that the first action taken by Lord Milner, 
 apart from the measures immediately concerned with the 
 Repatriation and the establishment of the Civil Government, 
 was one which aimed at augmenting the labour supply of 
 the gold industry, and diminishing the cost of the food and 
 materials imported from over-sea for the European popula- 
 tion of the Rand, by winning the confidence and goodwill 
 of the Portuguese authorities at Delagoa Bay. 
 
THE TRANSVAAL AND DELAGOA BAY 109 
 
 Lord Milner's official visit to the Governor - General 
 of Mozambique occupied the three days, nth to 13th 
 August 1902.^ 
 
 Apart from the general advantages of a good under- 
 standing with the authorities of a neighbouring power, 
 there were two respects in which the active co-operation 
 of the Mozambique Government was of direct importance 
 to the Transvaal. In the first place something like two- 
 thirds of the native South African labour employed in the 
 Witwatersrand mines was imported from Mozambique; 
 and in the second, Delagoa Bay was the natural port of 
 the Transvaal, and, as such, the development of its railway 
 and shipping accommodation was a necessary factor in the 
 industrial reconstruction of the two new colonies. The 
 difficulty then, as afterwards, was to offer such a share of 
 the Rand traffic as, while it would be sufficient to induce 
 the Mozambique authorities to co-operate in both these 
 respects, would yet not be great enough to injure the two 
 British coast colonies by withdrawing from their ports 
 and railways the lucrative through traffic upon which the 
 financial stability of both the Cape and Natal Governments 
 so largely depended.^ 
 
 When, therefore, in the November of the last year (1901) 
 the exigencies of the military situation had at length 
 permitted the British refugees to return to the Rand in 
 considerable numbers, and it had become necessary to 
 secure the co-operation of the Portuguese authorities with- 
 out delay, the needs of the moment had been satisfied by 
 the arrangement of a working agreement, known as the 
 Modus Vivendi, which was made between the High Com- 
 missioner for South Africa and the Governor-General of 
 Mozambique on i8th December 1901. The immediate 
 
 ^ The province of Mozambique is the official designation of what is known 
 more generally as Portuguese East Africa. Lord Milner left Johannesburg by train 
 for Delagoa Bay on the evening of the loth. On the preceding day (9th August) 
 the postponed coronation of King Edward VII. took place at Westminster, and 
 he had taken the salute, as the King's representative, at the Coronation parade 
 held at 10 A. M. in the Market Square of Johannesburg. 
 
 * It should be remembered that if the advice tendered by the late Sir Bartle 
 Frere had been followed, Delagoa Bay would have been purchased by Great 
 Britain (after the MacMahon award), and all the dif&culties arising out of the 
 conflict between the British ports and Delagoa Bay would have been avoided. 
 See " Lord Milner's Work in South Africa, 1897-1902," p. 29. 
 
110 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 purpose of this instrument was, as stated in the preamble, 
 to re-establish the status quo ante bellum as between the 
 two Governments of the Transvaal and the Province of 
 Mozambique. In particular the facilities for the recruiting 
 of native labour and for access to the port of Delagoa Bay, 
 enjoyed by the Government of the late Republic, were to 
 continue to be granted to the new Government of the 
 Transvaal, so long as the tariffs and classifications of goods 
 in force upon the various South African railways before the 
 war, under which a substantial proportion of the Rand 
 over-sea trade had passed through Delagoa Bay, should 
 remain unaltered. The produce and manufactures of each 
 country were to be admitted free by the Government of the 
 other as heretofore ; and in these, and in other respects, it was 
 agreed that the changes brought about by the war should not 
 interrupt the industrial relationships of the two countries. 
 
 The temporary agreement thus negotiated by Lord 
 Milner was destined to play a considerable part in what 
 may be termed the Inter-Colonial politics of South Africa. 
 With certain slight modifications, made in 1904, it governed 
 the commercial and industrial relations of Mozambique with 
 British South Africa for nearly eight years — that is to say, 
 until it was ultimately superseded by the Ten Years' Agree- 
 ment made in 1909 between the Transvaal and Mozambique 
 Governments, but made with the assent of the other South 
 African self-governing colonies, and intended to be adopted 
 by the Union of South Africa, then in the throes of its birth. 
 An account of its more important provisions has been 
 given, therefore, in an appendix to this chapter. There is, 
 however, another circumstance which invests the document 
 with interest. As an agreement for the importation of 
 foreign labour, it does not differ in its essential provisions 
 from the agreement between the British and Chinese 
 Governments of 1904, under which a supplementary supply 
 of unskilled labour was obtained from China, subject to 
 the terms and conditions of the Transvaal Labour Importa- 
 tion Ordinance. In recording the political agitation to 
 which the employment of coolie labour in the Transvaal gave 
 rise, we shall have occasion to refer to this aspect of the 
 Modus Vivendi in greater detail. 
 
THE TRANSVAAL AND DELAGOA BAY 111 
 
 On the present occasion the immediate objects sought to 
 be obtained by personal consultation with the Governor- 
 General were the more effective working of the native 
 labour provisions of the Modus Vivendi, and the improve- 
 ment of the port of Delagoa Bay ; but apart from these 
 matters Lord Milner desired especially to remove that 
 suspicion of sinister designs on the part of the British 
 Government, which had been hitherto so deeply rooted in 
 the mind of the Portuguese authorities both in Mozambique 
 and Lisbon. In his intercourse with the Governor-General 
 he, therefore, adopted himself, and invited his host to adopt, 
 a tone of absolute frankness. The disappointing results of 
 the Modus Vivendi in respect of the influx of native labour 
 from Mozambique, he pointed out, were in part to be attri- 
 buted to an inclination to place obstacles in the way of the 
 recruiting agents of the Rand Native Labour Association 
 on the part of the local Portuguese officials. For this 
 attitude there was no excuse, since the new Transvaal 
 Government was resolutely determined to improve the 
 general conditions under which the African native worked 
 on the gold mines, and in particular to ensure a strict 
 observance of all the provisions of the Modus Vivendi 
 governing the employment of natives from Mozambique. 
 
 The same spirit marked the discussion of other matters. 
 In reply to a complaint of the Governor-General that the 
 facilities for civil traffic between Lorenzo Marques and the 
 Transvaal, which were promised in the Modus Vivendi, had 
 not been supplied, Lord Milner pointed out that the Civil 
 authorities in the Transvaal had suffered in the same 
 way; but that as the demand upon the railways made by 
 the military authorities decreased, more rolling stock would 
 be available, and promised that as soon as possible additional 
 trucks should be apportioned to the Delagoa Bay line. 
 
 On the general question of the conflict of interests 
 between the British ports and Delagoa Bay, Lord Milner 
 was able to make it plain that any unreasonable jealousy 
 of the development of Delagoa Bay could not command his 
 sympathy, since he regarded the development of Delagoa 
 Bay as almost as much in the interest of the Transvaal as 
 it was in that of Mozambique. 
 
112 EECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 And in discussing the general principles upon which 
 questions arising out of the improvement of the railway and 
 harbour accommodation of Delagoa Bay should be approached 
 he urged that, while politically there should be no inter- 
 ference on either side — a position not inconsistent, however 
 with the maintenance of the most friendly relations — com- 
 mercially, the Province of Mozambique and the Transvaal 
 should be regarded as partners, and as such should co- 
 operate completely in the development of their common 
 interests. In pursuance of this policy. Lord Milner expressed 
 the hope that the Province of Mozambique would send a 
 representative to the forthcoming Customs Union Con- 
 ference, since, from a business point of view, the Chemins 
 de Fer de Lorenzo Marques and the joint railways of the 
 new colonies were one system, of which the port of 
 Delagoa Bay was a branch. And in this connection he 
 mentioned that negotiations were in progress with the 
 coastal colonies for the reduction of the 3 per cent, transit 
 duty,i charged by them upon traffic carried over their lines 
 to the new colonies. Would the Government of Mozambique 
 take a similar step ? he asked. The reply was the welcome 
 assurance that, if the Cape and Natal reduced the duty to 
 I per cent, a similar reduction would be made in the 
 Mozambique transit duty. 
 
 Three months later (20th to the 22nd November), Lord 
 Milner received a return visit from the Governor-General. 
 The occasion was marked by an unusual display of ceremony, 
 and everything possible was done to show deference to the 
 official guest personally, and to prove that there were good 
 and sufficient reasons why the British Government should 
 wish to promote the commercial development of Mozambique, 
 and yet have no intention, or desire, to impair the sovereignty 
 of Portugal in its East African possessions. The High 
 Commissioner, accordingly, drove in state to meet the 
 Governor - General at the Park Station with a guard of 
 honour furnished by the Argyle and Sutherland regiment; 
 and an official dinner was given in the evening. On the day 
 1 In the case of the coast colonies this charge was made nominally to defray 
 the cost of coUectmg, and accountmg for, the duties leried at the ports uoon 
 goods destined for the mland colonies— «.«., the Transvaal and the Oranee Rrver 
 Colony. ^ 
 
THE TRANSVAAL AND DELAGOA BAY 113 
 
 following the Governor-General was taken over the Robinson 
 mine, and subsequently a number of deputations, represent- 
 ing the Rand industries chiefly concerned in the develop- 
 ment of Delagoa Bay and the maintenance of the supply 
 of native labour drawn from the Province of Mozambique, 
 were introduced to him. At the same time the long con- 
 versations, which again took place between him and Lord 
 Milner, helped materially to confirm the good understanding 
 between the two Governments which was destined eventually 
 to make Portuguese East Africa virtually a part of the 
 commercial system of British South Africa. 
 
 Not only was advantage taken of the presence of the 
 Governor-General at Johannesburg to enable him to assure 
 himself by personal observation both of the excellence of 
 the arrangements made for the accommodation of the 
 Mozambique natives during their period of employment 
 in the mines, and of the magnitude of the industrial and 
 trading interests which were directly concerned in the pro- 
 vision of increased railway and harbour facilities at Delagoa 
 Bay, but one particular offer on the part of the Rand 
 capitalists to assist in the development of the port was 
 recommended to him by Lord Milner as being deserving 
 of his approval and co-operation. This was the proposal 
 to construct a railway from the Swaziland coal fields to a 
 point on Delagoa Bay, the necessary funds for which the 
 firm of Eckstein, with the support of certain other financial 
 houses, was ready to provide forthwith. The consent and 
 co-operation of the Portuguese authorities was a necessary 
 preliminary to the undertaking, since the greater part of 
 the line — i.e., the section running from Umbelosi Poort to 
 the Bay — would be in Portuguese territory. Lord Milner 
 himself was prepared to give his approval and cordial, though 
 unofficial, support to the project, on the ground that this 
 line, if constructed, besides accomplishing its immediate 
 purpose of rendering the development of the Swaziland coal 
 beds possible, would at the same time constitute the first 
 section of a second and more direct line connecting Delagoa 
 Bay with the Rand. The Governor-General was furnished, 
 therefore, upon his arrival at Johannesburg with full in- 
 formation upon both the objects sought to be accomplished 
 VOL. I. H 
 
114 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 by the promoters of the line, and the methods by 
 which the Mozambique Government might co-operate 
 with them to the advantage alike of Delagoa Bay and the 
 Transvaal. 
 
 In order to understand the significance of this proposal 
 and the favour with which it was viewed by Lord Milner, it 
 is necessary to make a brief reference to the circumstances 
 in which the original and existing railway communication 
 between the Transvaal and Delagoa Bay was established, and 
 to the political considerations which had led the Imperial 
 Government to regard with disfavour the employment of any 
 capital other than Portuguese or British in the further develop- 
 ment of this port. 
 
 By an agreement made with Portugal in 1875, pending 
 the decision of the MacMahon arbitration,^ Great Britain 
 obtained the right of pre-emption of the southern shore of 
 Delagoa Bay. Sixteen years later under Clause VII. of the 
 Treaty of June 1891 (by which instrument the frontiers 
 separating the British and Portuguese possessions in Africa 
 south of the Zambesi were permanently settled ^), the British 
 Government obtained a preferential right to purchase any 
 part, or the whole, of the Portuguese possessions within the 
 scope of the Treaty in the event of the Portuguese Government 
 desiring to dispose of them, in whole or in part. At the same 
 time a corresponding right in respect of the British possessions 
 in Africa south of the Zambesi was given to the Portuguese 
 Government ; since, in (the late) Lord Salisbury's opinion, thus 
 to give a reciprocal character to the clause would, without 
 altering its actual effect, spare the patriotic sentiment of the 
 Portuguese nation from any unnecessary wound. Meanwhile 
 the development of the Witwatersrand gold fields and the 
 consequent rise in wealth and population of the South African 
 Republic were bringing about a revolution in the fortunes of 
 
 ^ England disputed the right of the Portuguese Government to claim the 
 southern portion of the Bay and the land thence to the Swazi and Tongaland 
 borders. The claims of the two Governments were submitted to the arbitration 
 of Marshall MacMahon, then President of the French Republic, who decided in 
 favour of the Portuguese contention. 
 
 2 The delimitation of the vague Portuguese inland frontiers was rendered 
 necessary by the occupation of a large portion of South-Central Africa by the 
 British South Africa Company, and the consequent foundation of the Colony of 
 Rhodesia. 
 
THE TRANSVAAL AND DELAGOA BAY 115 
 
 the Province of Mozambique, which compelled the British 
 Government to use its " preferential rights " under the Treaty 
 as a means of protecting itself against the attempts made 
 by the Boers, in virtual alliance with Germany and Holland, 
 to obtain political control of Delagoa Bay by purchasing 
 commercial "concessions" from the Portuguese Govern- 
 ment. While the ultimate object of these attempts was 
 the establishment of a German Protectorate over Delagoa 
 Bay, the immediate industrial prize, for which both Germany 
 and the Boers intrigued, was the Lorenzo Marques Railway — 
 i.e., the comparatively short line which was to connect the 
 port of Delagoa Bay with the railway from Johannesburg 
 and Pretoria, then about to be constructed by the Netherlands 
 South Africa Company. 
 
 The history of the Lorenzo Marques Railway is eventful 
 and significant. A concession to construct a railway from 
 Lorenzo Marques to the Transvaal frontier was granted 
 by Royal Decree to Mr MacMurdo, an American, on 
 14th December 1883. MacMurdo himself failed to get the 
 capital needed for the undertaking, but a British company, 
 technically a shareholder in the original company, came to his 
 assistance, and after various delays the line was constructed. 
 On 25th June 1889, however, the Portuguese Government 
 seized the railway in circumstances which made their action 
 of doubtful legality.^ In the following year the matter was 
 referred to arbitration, the British Government claiming 
 ;^l,i 38,500 on behalf of the British company, and the United 
 States ;f76o,ooo on behalf of MacMurdo's widow.^ In the 
 meantime (on 14th September 1889) the Portuguese Govern- 
 ment had come to a tariff arrangement with the Boer Govern- 
 ment, in consequence of which they completed the 9 kilo- 
 metres of the Lorenzo Marques line, while the Netherlands 
 South Africa Company began active work upon the Transvaal 
 railway. In this manner the entire Pretoria-Delagoa Bay 
 
 1 Since the line was surveyed the frontier between Mozambique and the 
 Transvaal had been freshly delimited, with the result that it was placed 9 kilo- 
 metres beyond the point reached by MacMurdo's line. The Portuguese Govern- 
 ment granted an extension of time, but the allowance was quite insufficient for the 
 purpose. On MacMurdo's failure to construct the additional q kilometres within 
 the time allowed, they exercised the right— reserved in the Concession— to take 
 possession of the incomplete railway. 
 
 2 MacMurdo himself died in May i88g. 
 
116 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 line was finished by the end of 1894, and formally opened 
 for traffic in July 1895. 
 
 The claims of the British company and MacMurdo's 
 widow were brought before three Swiss jurists, appointed 
 by the President of the Swiss Republic ; and after prolonged 
 delays the Berne Award, given in 1900, found that Portugal 
 was justified in seizing the railway, but condemned her to 
 pay the sum of 15,314,000 francs by way of compensation 
 to the concessionaires. This amount was at once raised 
 by loan from the Portuguese Tobacco Company, and paid 
 over by the Portuguese Government. 
 
 Up to the date of the Anglo-Portuguese Convention 
 (1891), the only practical results which these efforts on the 
 part of Germany had secured was the formation of the 
 Netherlands South Africa Railway Company. This com- 
 pany had its origin in a concession, giving the sole right 
 to construct and work railways in the South African 
 Republic (the rights of the Government itself only excepted), 
 which was granted in 1884; but it was not constituted in 
 an effective form until three years later. It was nominally 
 a Dutch company, domiciled at Amsterdam, but the greater 
 portion of its funds had been obtained from German sources. 
 The Boer Government was believed to hold more than half 
 of its shares, and in 1896 the estimated value of its share 
 capital and loans was little short of ;£'7,ooo,ooo. To what 
 extent the Netherlands company was intended to be — and 
 in fact was — in time of war the instrument of the Boer 
 Government may be seen from Article XXII. of the 
 Concession. 
 
 "When there is danger of war, in the actual time of 
 war, or in case of internal disorders, the Government, in 
 the interest of the defence or of public order, may have 
 the control of the railway and of everything required for 
 the use of the same, and suspend the ordinary traffic thereon, 
 wholly or partially, and order all such measures as appear 
 to it to be necessary, with reservation of compensation to 
 the concessionary." 
 
 The establishment of this company was a considerable 
 achievement, but from the date of the seizure of the Lorenzo 
 
THE TRANSVAAL AND DELAGOA BAY 117 
 
 Marques Railway by the Portuguese Government up to the 
 time of the Jameson Raid the efforts of Germany to obtain 
 a footing at Delagoa Bay became more persistent and 
 more determined. The German and Transvaal offers to 
 purchase the Lorenzo Marques Railway in particular, arid 
 all manner of commercial and territorial concessions in 
 general, from the Portuguese Government, provoked counter 
 offers from Rhodes personally, and from the Government 
 of the Cape Colony, of which he was then Prime Minister. 
 In 1 89 1 Rhodes made proposals for the cession of Delagoa 
 Bay to the Cape ; in the early months of the following 
 year Lord Rothschild was making advances in concert with 
 the Cape Government for the purchase of the entire posses- 
 sions of Portugal in Africa, south of the Zambesi ; and in 
 April of the same year (1892) Mr Rochfort Maguire went 
 to Lisbon on a confidential mission to make advances to 
 the Portuguese Government for the lease of the Province of 
 Mozambique to the Cape Colony. These and similar offers 
 continued to be made from various quarters up to the end 
 of 1894, when, in view of the almost menacing persistence 
 with which the Transvaal and Germany were pressing their 
 proposals, Lord Kimberley informed the Portuguese Govern- 
 ment that under Article VII. of the Treaty of 1891, it was 
 not open to Portugal "to part with rights which would in 
 any way diminish the value of the preferential claim " there- 
 in granted to Great Britain in respect of the Portuguese 
 territories in Africa, south of the Zambesi. And in the 
 following year, when Dr Leyds was negotiating, with 
 German and Dutch support, for the lease of the Lorenzo 
 Marques Railway to the Transvaal Government, Lord 
 Salisbury caused the Portuguese Government to be warned 
 on 17th September, that they must not lease the line to 
 the Transvaal without first offering it to Great Britain ; and 
 that the South African Republic was precluded under 
 Article IV. of the London Convention (1884) from dealing 
 with Portugal or any other foreign power, except through 
 the British Government. Upon this there followed the 
 attempt of Germany to land marines at Delagoa Bay at the 
 time of the Raid — an attempt which was frustrated only 
 by the prompt and energetic representations made by the 
 
118 EECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 British Government at Lisbon, and by the equipment and 
 despatch to its unknown destination of the Special Service 
 Squadron. None the less secret offers for the purchase of 
 the Lorenzo Marques Railway and for other " concessions " 
 continued to be made both by the Boer Government and 
 by Germany up to the outbreak of the war. And this, in 
 spite of the fact that a secret agreement was concluded 
 between Great Britain and Germany in August 1898, under 
 which the partition of the Portuguese possessions on the 
 east coast of Africa was arranged, as between the two 
 powers, in the event of Portugal desiring to sell them. 
 
 To return to November 1902 : although the annexation 
 of the Transvaal and the consequent possession of the 
 Netherlands Railway had materially improved the British 
 position at Delagoa Bay, it is not surprising that with this 
 record before them, the Imperial authorities should have 
 been undesirous of seeing "foreign" capital employed by 
 the Portuguese for the improvement of that port, or for 
 the development of the resources of the Mozambique 
 Province.^ 
 
 But apart from the political question, the recognised 
 need for a new and direct line from Delagoa Bay to the 
 Rand, vid Swaziland, afforded a valid reason for Lord 
 Milner's readiness to support the proposed line from the 
 Swazi coal fields to the Bay. For it must be remembered 
 that in the construction of the existing line from Pretoria 
 to Delagoa Bay the considerations by which the route was 
 determined were political and not economic. Apart from 
 the fact that the Rand traffic was taken round by Pretoria, 
 the route taken by the line from Pretoria to Delagoa Bay 
 {i.e, through Komati Poort), was longer and less economic 
 in working than the original more direct route through 
 Swaziland, which was surveyed in 1879, at the time of the 
 first annexation, and the superiority of which in these 
 respects was fully recognised.^ 
 
 ' Beyond the district of Delagoa Bay the Mozambique and Portuguese 
 Nyasaland Companies were in operation ; both of these, however, are Portuguese 
 companies, virtually controlled by British shareholders. 
 
 ^ The route of the then proposed and direct Pretoria-Swaziland-Delagoa 
 Bay line, as surveyed by Farrell, ran from the Bay to Umvelosi Poort, where 
 it entered Swaziland, followed the valley of the Umvelosi to a point some miles 
 
THE TRANSVAAL AND DELAGOA BAY 119 
 
 But when some years later the Republican Govern- 
 ment arranged for the construction of the line — built, as we 
 have noticed, by a Dutch company with German capital — 
 there were excellent political reasons for avoiding Swaziland, 
 which was then under the joint protectorate of the South 
 African Republic and Great Britain, and on this and other 
 grounds the existing longer and less economically desirable 
 route was chosen. 
 
 The Swaziland coal line, which Messrs Eckstein were 
 prepared to build, would, therefore, have provided the first 
 section of the direct line between the Rand and Delagoa 
 Bay; and this Hne, as we have noticed, was one of the 
 recognised economic needs of the industrial centre of the 
 Transvaal. Lord Milner had advised the promoters of the 
 line to obtain, first, the general approval of the Portuguese 
 Government at Lisbon, and then afterwards to go into the 
 details of the proposal with the Mozambique Government. 
 In pursuance of this advice Mr " Karri " Davies ^ had been 
 already despatched on a confidential mission to Lisbon. 
 In the negotiations which followed Mr Davies had the 
 approval of Mr Chamberlain and the active assistance of 
 Sir Martin Gosselin, the British Minister. The most ample 
 assurances were given that the rights and interests of the 
 Mozambique Government would be scrupulously safeguarded. 
 Besides offering a right of expropriation, the promoters even 
 suggested that the Portuguese Government should employ 
 the Company to build the line, giving them a lease for a 
 term of years sufficient to reimburse them for the capital 
 outlay, and that in this way the Government would never 
 at any time part with the ownership of the line. But in 
 spite of the liberality of the terms offered, the Portuguese 
 authorities assumed so hesitating and suspicious an attitude 
 
 above the junction of the Black and White Umvelosi, crossed the ridge dividing 
 the Umvelosi from the Usutu, and thence followed the Usutu Valley on to the 
 high veld, where it ran westwards, along the ridge dividing the valley of the 
 Vaal from that of the Oliphants, to Pretoria. 
 
 ^ Mr W. D. Davies was one of the two reformers who refused to obtain their 
 release from Pretoria gaol by signing the "petition of appeal" to President 
 Kruger. They did so, on the ground that the Imperial Government was pledged 
 to secure their safety ; and they were ultimately released by President Kruger 
 as an act of grace. Mr Davies served with distinction in the war, attaining the 
 rank of Major in the Imperial Light Horse and the D.S.O. 
 
120 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 that Mr Davies at length withdrew from the negotiations, 
 leaving Lisbon in the middle of February in the following 
 year with his mission unaccomplished. 
 
 But although this promising opportunity of securing the 
 immediate construction by private enterprise of the Portuguese 
 section of the direct Delagoa - Johannesburg line was thus 
 lost through the needless suspicions or incapacity of the 
 Portuguese Ministers, the undertaking was too important to 
 be abandoned ; and the first Transvaal section of the line 
 (Springs-Ermelo) was, as we shall have occasion to notice, 
 one of the earliest items in the programme of new con- 
 struction adopted by the Railway Administration of the 
 new colonies. 
 
 In the meantime, much good had been done by the 
 personal intercourse between Lord Milner and the Governor- 
 General. While the Portuguese authorities in Europe were 
 destined unfortunately to maintain their previous attitude 
 of unjustifiable suspicion for some years longer, Lord 
 Milner's proposition that the commercial interests of 
 Portuguese East Africa would be best served by the 
 complete co-operation of the Mozambique Government 
 with that of the Transvaal began from this time forward to 
 be accepted with increasing confidence by the Mozambique 
 ofificials. The underlying assurance of this identity of 
 interest with the Transvaal was never wholly lost sight of 
 in the bitter controversies which subsequently arose, when 
 further endeavours were made to apportion on a permanent 
 basis the carrying trade of the Transvaal between Delagoa 
 Bay and the British ports. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES AT THE TIME 
 OF MR CHAMBERLAIN'S ARRIVAL IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 During his repatriation tours of inspection Lord Milner 
 had traversed two-thirds of the Transvaal and half of the 
 Orange River Colony. He returned to Johannesburg from 
 the last and most lengthy of these expeditions on i8th 
 December ; and the cold, which he contracted during the 
 storms of drenching rain encountered in the South-West 
 Transvaal, proved to be exceptionally severe. The entries 
 in the Diary, however, show how little this indisposition 
 was allowed to interfere with the despatch of the arrears of 
 administrative business which had accumulated during his 
 absence. On Christmas Day, indeed, he was too ill to 
 work ; but the entry for the 26th, the day on which Mr 
 Chamberlain landed at Durban, begins : — 
 
 " Cold still heavy. . . . G came and we finished 
 
 together a Memorandum I am sending to Chamberlain." 
 
 And on the 27th his neck was well in the collar. 
 
 " The two days' holiday, during which I was unfortunately 
 very seedy the whole time, is over, and I had a very hard 
 day's work." 
 
 On the 30th, the cold was " still heavy " ; nevertheless 
 this and the following day were fully occupied in making 
 the final arrangements for the reception of Mr Chamberlain, 
 a matter in which he was assisted by the two Lieutenant- 
 Governors, Sir Arthur Lawley and Sir H. Goold-Adams, 
 both of whom were staying at Sunnyside. 
 
 The intention of the Secretary of State for the Colonies 
 to visit South Africa became known to Lord Milner at 
 
 121 
 
122 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the end of September 1902. A few weeks later, the 
 proposal, when publicly announced, met with universal 
 approval both in England and in the over-sea dominions. 
 There is reason to believe that the South African visit 
 was originally formulated in Mr Chamberlain's mind as 
 part of a larger scheme under which he was to pay 
 similar visits, subject to the exigencies of his ofificial and 
 parliamentary duties, to all the over-sea self-governing com- 
 munities of the Empire.^ But in the case of South Africa 
 the immediate realisation of the proposal was all-important. 
 
 In the first place there were a number of questions 
 directly arising out of the political changes brought about 
 by the war still outstanding, which could be decided both 
 more efficiently and more speedily by personal consultation 
 with Lord Milner than by the exchange of despatches 
 and cables. From an administrative point of view Mr 
 Chamberlain's presence in the new colonies at this critical 
 period promised to effect — as in fact it did effect — an 
 immense saving of time and energy, when to save time 
 and energy was of the highest importance. Moreover, Mr 
 Chamberlain, as the minister directly responsible to Parlia- 
 ment for the administration of the new colonies, and for the 
 management of South African affairs in general, naturally 
 desired to see for himself what was going on in this country, 
 and to learn by personal intercourse the character and feelings 
 of the various sections of its inhabitants. 
 
 In the next place the state of Mr Chamberlain's health 
 was such that he required some relaxation from the long 
 continued strain of his official and Parliamentary duties. 
 His recent accident^ had been much more serious than was 
 generally realised. While it was believed that no permanent 
 bad effects would result from the shock and the great loss 
 of blood caused by the injuries which he sustained, yet his 
 capacity for work had been temporarily impaired. In these 
 circumstances his medical advisers and his family both 
 urged him to give himself some respite from his ofificial 
 work, and such a respite was promised by the visit to South 
 
 ' This proposal has since been realised partially by the visit lately paid by 
 Sir Charles Lucas, as Head of the Dominions Department of the Colonial Office, 
 to New Zealand and Australia. 
 
 ^ Mr Chamberlain was violently thrown out of a runaway hansom in Whitehall. 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 123 
 
 Africa, as its scope and purposes were originally planned 
 in Mr Chamberlain's mind.^ 
 
 To facilitate the despatch of urgent administrative 
 business between himself and Lord Milner, and to gain 
 direct personal knowledge of the country making the largest 
 and most anxious demands upon his official attention, 
 were the two objects which Mr Chamberlain proposed to 
 accomplish. But while both of these objects were attained, 
 he was drawn by circumstances to play a more ample rdle 
 than any that he had anticipated. From the moment that 
 he stood before his first South African audience at Durban, 
 he became in all his public utterances a " missionary in the 
 cause of the Empire." ^ To the over-sea British he preached 
 the duty of sharing the cost as well as the advantages of 
 the Imperial system ; to the Dutch and British of South 
 Africa he presented the ideal of racial reconciliation as their 
 settled and inevitable destiny ; to the Island British he gave 
 the thought that the colonies must no longer be regarded 
 as a mere embellishment of the British Crown, but as a vital 
 part of one and the same body politic, and as such no whit 
 less capable than themselves of bearing a due share of those 
 Imperial responsibilities which had hitherto seemed to be 
 the sole concern of the Motherland. 
 
 How far the assumption of such a role as this differed 
 from his original conception of the part which he was to 
 play in the eyes of the public, may be seen from the fact 
 that he had indicated for the guidance of those who were 
 engaged in making the various local arrangements connected 
 with his visit, that it was his desire to avoid platform speak- 
 ing as much as possible. Indeed, it would appear that at 
 this time the only opportunity of appealing directly to the 
 public mind of South Africa that he contemplated, was such 
 as would be furnished by a farewell gathering, when, upon 
 the eve of his return to England, he thought that he might 
 
 ' It is a matter of history that in the event Mr Chamberlain gave his strength 
 so generously to the performance of his task that a directly opposite effect was 
 produced. 
 
 ^ " I observe that one of the Radical newspapers at Home has declared that 
 I am an uncommercial traveller. I don't know exactly what they mean, but I am 
 sure they mean something disagreeable. I should prefer myself to say I am here 
 as a missionary in the cause of the Empire." — Mr Chamberlain at Elandsfontein, 
 8th January 1903. 
 
124 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 usefully place on record the practical conclusions derived 
 from the personal observations and experiences of his visit. 
 
 Both the financial position of the new colonies and the 
 measures necessary to provide them with the elementary 
 equipment of civilised states had been placed before Mr 
 Chamberlain and the Cabinet in the two despatches, which, 
 as we have noticed, Lord Milner made such special efforts 
 to complete at the earliest possible moment. Of these 
 the first (sent off on 8th September, and received on 
 28th September) contained a detailed examination of the 
 revenual resources of the Transvaal, and an explanation of 
 the circumstances which made the immediate issue of the 
 Development Loan a matter of primary necessity ; while the 
 second (sent off a week later) consisted of specific proposals 
 for the construction of new railway lines, and for the im- 
 provement of the existing railway system as a whole. And 
 to this information must be added the " memorandum," for- 
 warded by Lord Milner, as we have seen, to Mr Chamberlain 
 in Natal, in which the Secretary of State was furnished with 
 an account of the general position of affairs in the new 
 colonies at the time of his arrival in South Africa, and a 
 statement of the administrative questions upon which the 
 decision of the Home Government was immediately required, 
 if the work of resettlement, then proceeding, was to be 
 continued without interruption or delay. 
 
 If any one were in doubt as to the value of the services 
 rendered by Lord Milner to the new colonies and to the 
 Empire into which they had now been incorporated, no 
 better method of removing all incertitude upon the point 
 could be found than a study of these two despatches, 
 followed by a comparison of their contents with the actual 
 course of the events which have transpired in the Transvaal 
 and Orange River Colony since they were written. The 
 cardinal necessity in the situation, as Lord Milner saw it, 
 was the immediate provision of funds sufficient to ensure 
 that the economic and industrial development of the two 
 colonies, and especially of the Transvaal, should go forward 
 rapidly and uninterruptedly. In his opinion there was no 
 single agency calculated to secure either the political well- 
 being or the material prosperity of the inhabitants, Dutch 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 125 
 
 and British, wliich did not depend for its efficacy upon the 
 prompt and generous satisfaction of this elementary need. 
 Closely associated with the issue of the Guaranteed or 
 Development Loan, the necessity for which had been long 
 accepted in principle by the Home Government, was the 
 question of fixing the amount of the contribution to the 
 cost of the war to be made by the new colonies — a contribu- 
 tion upon which the English public confidently relied for 
 the material reduction of the £i 50,000,000 otherwise to be 
 added permanently to the National Debt. 
 
 Now Lord Milner's conclusions upon both these questions 
 were perfectly clear, and they were stated with fulness and 
 precision both in the advice which he gave to the Cabinet 
 through the Secretary of State, and in his personal com- 
 munications with Mr Chamberlain. They rested upon two 
 simple and almost self-evident propositions : — 
 
 (i) That the expansion of revenue necessary to provide 
 for a war contribution as well as for the growing 
 needs of the two colonies could only be obtained by 
 a liberal expenditure upon the development of the 
 country. 
 (2) That this expansion of revenue must be derived from 
 an increase in the sources of revenue — the growth 
 of population, industries and business, improved 
 methods of transport, and more productive agri- 
 culture, and not from a higher rate of taxation. 
 From these two propositions it followed that while the 
 Development Loan must be issued at once, and be of the 
 amount required to satisfy the immediate needs of the two 
 colonies, the amount of the war contribution should be left 
 undecided until such time as the necessary expansion of 
 revenue had actually taken place. This was the course 
 which Lord Milner would have preferred : but, if public 
 opinion in England demanded that the amount oi the war 
 contribution should be fixed without further delay, he 
 advised the Cabinet that the payment of the contribution 
 should not begin until a future date — that is to say, a date 
 at which the required expansion of the revenue might 
 reasonably be expected to have taken place — and should 
 then take the form of a sliding scale of annual payments 
 
126 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 increasing proportionately with, and conditional upon, the 
 increase of the revenue. 
 
 "To sum it all up in a sentence," he wrote, "it seems 
 to me by far the wisest course for Great Britain to take in 
 this matter is the generous one of declaring plainly, and 
 at once, that she is not going to impose any fresh 'tribute 
 tax' on the Transvaal, and that, even as regards existing 
 taxation, the claim for a contribution to War Debt will 
 be postponed to the needs of the Transvaal itself both as 
 regards good government and the expenditure necessary 
 for development. If that were laid down as axiomatic, the 
 cloud of uncertainty which at present hangs over the future 
 of the colony, and is the most potent cause of possible 
 estrangement between the colony and the Mother Country, 
 would be removed. And this position having been established, 
 I believe that reasonable opinion here would support any 
 arrangement that would insure that in the case — the very 
 probable case — of the Transvaal entering, not, indeed, 
 immediately, but before many years have passed, upon an 
 era of great prosperity, the burden of the British War Debt 
 should be lightened out of the overflowing exchequer of 
 the colony."^ 
 
 The amount of the loan, which Lord Milner deemed 
 necessary for the immediate requirements of the country, 
 was ;^30,ooo,ooo for the Transvaal, and ^^8,000,000 (subse- 
 quently reduced to ;^S,ooo,ooo) for the Orange River Colony. 
 Of the ;^30,ooo,ooo to be borrowed by the Transvaal, two- 
 thirds would be absorbed in the payment of the liabilities 
 incurred automatically in the change of Government, and 
 one-third was to be applied to capital expenditure more or 
 less of the nature of development. Under the first head 
 came the purchase of the Netherlands and other privately 
 owned railways taken over by the British military authorities 
 upon the occupation of the country (;^ 15,000,000), the con- 
 version of the South African Republic Debt (;:£'2,soo,00o), 
 the deficit of the Civil Administration for the year 1901-2 
 (;,g'i, 500,000), and the Transvaal share of the war compensa- 
 tion due from the new colonies to the Cape and Natal 
 Governments (;^i,ooo,ooo). Of the remaining ;^io,ooo,ooo 
 one-half was required in the current financial year (1902-3) to 
 ' Cd. 1552 (the despatch was [partially] published in April 1903). 
 
THE SITUATION EST THE NEW COLONIES 127 
 
 meet the expenses — in part already incurred — of the repatria- 
 tion, the settlement of British immigrants upon the land, and 
 of the construction of new railways, and other immediately 
 necessary public works ; while a similar amount would be 
 wanted to cover a further expenditure upon the same objects 
 during the two or three years following. 
 
 The ;^8,ooo,ooo required by the Orange River Colony (in 
 the event reduced to ;^5,ooo,ooo) was to be applied to the 
 expenses of repatriation and land settlement, the payment of 
 the war compensation due from this colony to the Cape and 
 Natal, and to the construction of new railway lines. 
 
 The guarantee of the Imperial Government would ensure 
 that the loan would be obtained at 3 per cent.; and 
 adding i per cent, for sinking fund — a point of sound 
 finance upon which Lord Milner insisted — the annual 
 interest payable by the new colonies would be at the rate 
 of 4 per cent, and the annual sum required for the service 
 of the loan would be ;£i,400,ooo plus a few thousands for 
 administrative expenses. Of this sum ;^i,20o,ooo would be 
 chargeable to the Transvaal and ;^2oo,0O0 to the Orange 
 River Colony. 
 
 The revenue of the Transvaal for the year 1902-3 
 was estimated at ;^4,6oo,ooo against an expenditure of 
 ;£3,70o,ooo, and thus showed a surplus of ^^900,000. In 
 the following year (1903-4), Lord Milner believed it might 
 be anticipated safely that while the ordinary administrative 
 expenditure (including the greater part of the cost of the 
 South African Constabulary) would amount to ;^4,ooo,ooo, 
 the revenue would rise to ;^5,40o,ooo, thus affording a 
 balance of ;^i,400,ooo available for the service of the loan 
 and development purposes. The revenue of the Orange 
 River Colony was roughly one-fifth of that of the Transvaal ; 
 but its expenditure was proportionately less, and the sum 
 of ;^i,ooo,ooo required to meet the ordinary administrative 
 expenses (including its share of the maintenance of the 
 South African Constabulary) and to pay interest on its 
 proportion of the loan, could be raised without imposing any 
 undue strain upon the resources of the colony. 
 
 But while the new colonies could pay interest on the 
 Guaranteed Loan and provide for its gradual extinguishment 
 
128 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 in thirty years, neither now, nor for the next few years 
 would their revenues be sufficient to meet the demands of 
 a war contribution as well. In the case of the Transvaal, 
 from which, of course, five-sixths of the total revenue would 
 come, Lord Milner was careful to state with precision the 
 reasons which led him to this conclusion. The information 
 thus laid before the Cabinet may be studied in detail in the 
 despatch (Cd. 1552). Its substance was this. 
 
 The Transvaal was not merely a wealthy country, but one 
 
 possessed of great undeveloped resources. None the less the 
 
 sources of revenue which were at present available for the 
 
 new Government (being with few exceptions identical with 
 
 those enjoyed by the old Government) consisted in the main 
 
 of direct and indirect taxes which were already fixed at the 
 
 highest rate compatible with industrial prosperity. And, 
 
 moreover, these taxes, now as then, fell almost exclusively 
 
 upon the 100,000 or so persons, out of a total white population 
 
 of 300,000, who were the British inhabitants of the colony. 
 
 And in particular, so far from its being expedient, or even 
 
 possible, to raise the rate of the existing taxes upon the 
 
 necessaries of life, or the materials required by the gold and 
 
 other industries, it was urgently desirable alike on political 
 
 and economic grounds that such taxes should be lowered at 
 
 the earliest moment.^ 
 
 ' Lord Milner's statement of the revenue and expenditure of the Transvaal 
 Government (as estimated at the time of writing — i.e., September 1902) was 
 as follows ; — 
 
 " The revenue for 1902-3 .... will, as already stated, certainly reach 
 the figure of ;f4,6oo,ooo, and probably be more. For 1903-4 it may, I believe, 
 safely be put at : — 
 
 1. Customs ...... ;^I, 500,000 
 
 2. Mining Revenue — 
 
 [a) Licenses . . . ;f300,ooo 
 
 {b) Profits Tax . . . 600,000 
 
 3. Stamp duties and transfer duty 
 
 4. Railways 
 
 5. Taxes on Trades and Professions 
 
 6. Posts and Telegraphs 
 
 7. Native Taxes and Pass Revenue 
 
 8. Stand licenses and rent 
 9- Miscellaneous 
 
 "The increase is ap 
 should not like to speal 
 
 900,000 
 450,000 
 1,350,000 
 250,000 
 300,000 
 400,000 
 100,000 
 150,000 
 
 Total . ;<;s,400,ooo 
 
 ^£F\ITIV?^V '^"'' *°«gh all this time beforehand I 
 too positavely about items, I am satisfied . . . that we 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 129 
 
 The second and supplementary despatch, on the vital 
 question of railway development, showed in detail the new 
 lines which were either under construction or projected for 
 construction, and for all of which a " large immediate capital 
 outlay" was required. This railway despatch left the 
 High Commissioner's Office on loth September, and was 
 received in London on 4th October. 
 
 In regard to these new lines as a whole. Lord Milner 
 wrote, that even if they 
 
 "only just paid their way, it would still be advisable 
 on financial grounds to press forward at once with the 
 construction of every one of them, for the sake of the 
 impetus which they would give to the general produc- 
 tiveness, and, therefore, to the general revenue of the new 
 colonies." 
 
 But, on a basis of the present railway rates, they would 
 he was assured by his expert advisers, yield 8 per cent, 
 net profit on the capital expenditure of nearly ;^S,ooo,ooo 
 required for their construction. 
 
 In illustration of the general need for more railways in 
 the Transvaal and Orange River Colony — and generally 
 throughout South Africa — he wrote : — 
 
 " The absurdity of the conditions which cause a country 
 like South Africa to import meat and grain from America and 
 Austraha has become almost a commonplace. Something 
 
 shall certainly get this amount, and are very likely to get more. If we get more, 
 however, it will not be any index as to the future, because it will be due not 
 to normal conditions, nor yet to normal growth, but to the ephemeral expansion 
 of business, which so often follows war, and which is due to the necessity of 
 repairing war waste. ..." 
 
 As against this revenue Lord Milner placed the expenditure of the colony 
 in 1903-4 at ;^4,ooo,ooo, viz. : — 
 
 Cost of Civil Administration . . . . ;^2,75o,ooo 
 
 South African Constabulary .... 1,250,000 
 
 ;^4,ooo,ooo 
 
 This expenditure, of course, was exclusive of the service of the Guaranteed 
 Loan, which, as we have seen, would absorb the greater part of the estimated 
 balance of ;f 1,400,000. 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
130 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 is due to defective farming ; but more to defective 
 means of transport. The country adjacent to the exist- 
 ing lines of railway, not being closely cultivated, does 
 not produce nearly enough to supply the towns. There 
 are great stretches of country, which even under the 
 present scanty cultivation might go far to furnish the 
 balance ; but they are distant from the railway, and 
 other means of transport are too expensive. To take 
 a more glaring instance, mealies, the stock food of the 
 Kafir, can be grown in abundance, and almost without 
 expense, in Basutoland, and the south-eastern parts of 
 the Orange River Colony. Yet because wagon transport 
 is too dear, and too slow, Johannesburg and the Rand 
 rely to a great extent on mealies imported from America 
 and brought up from Durban. Similarly, while fruit 
 can be, and is, grown in profusion in the Rustenburg 
 District, the centres of population in the Transvaal are 
 supplied with it mainly from the coast. Railways travers- 
 ing these districts will bring up their products, and while 
 leading to a great agricultural development, will incident- 
 ally relieve the through lines by taking away the necessity 
 of importing all the staple products of the land from 
 abroad." 
 
 Of the eight lines projected, four were in each colony 
 and five of them formed connections between, and three, 
 extensions of, existing railways. All were ripe for immediate 
 undertaking, but the construction of all of them could not 
 be begun at once, since the resources of the Administration 
 were limited in this respect by two factors-^the scarcity of 
 labour and " the slowness with which the extremely bulky 
 materials required for railway construction could be brought 
 up from the coast on the (then) inadequate and congested 
 lines." The capital required should, however, be included 
 in the proposed loan, as " further borrowing in the next 
 two or three years would probably have to be on more 
 unfavourable terms." 
 
 The remaining paragraphs of the despatch gave details 
 of the physical and industrial characteristics of the districts 
 served by the respective lines, which in conclusion were 
 exhibited in tabular form. 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 131 
 
 Line. 
 
 Length. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 A. Harrismith to Vereeniging . 
 
 B. Bloemfontein to Ficksburg, and 
 
 Sanna's Post to Wepener . 
 
 C. Springfontein to Jagersfontein to 
 
 Kimberley 
 
 D. Vierfontein to Klerksdorp . 
 
 E. Vereeniging to Johannesburg 
 
 F. Krugersdorp to Rustenburg . 
 
 G. Springs to Machadodorp . i 
 
 H. Klerksdorp to Fourteen Streams . 
 Total . 
 
 150 miles 
 
 161 miles 
 
 III miles 
 
 17 miles 
 
 77 miles 
 
 55 miles 
 
 125 miles 
 
 140 miles 
 
 ;£9ao,ooo 
 
 880,000 
 (to complete) 
 
 525,000 
 
 1 20,000 
 
 350,000 
 
 (to complete) 
 
 380,000 
 
 750,000 
 
 850,000 
 
 836 miles 
 
 ;£4,755>ooo 
 
 It is, however, impossible to understand the nature of the 
 arrangements for the Guaranteed Loan and the war contri- 
 bution which were made by Mr Chamberlain in the course of 
 the next few weeks, and duly approved by the Home Govern- 
 ment, without some knowledge of the modifications which the 
 idea of obtaining a contribution to the expenses of the war 
 from the new colonies had undergone, since it first took form 
 in the mind of the Government and public of England. 
 
 The original idea of the war contribution was that arising 
 out of the perfectly legitimate expectation that the Boers, 
 as a conquered people, would be called upon at the close 
 of the war to indemnify the conquering nation for the 
 costs incurred in the successful prosecution of the war. Thus 
 in January 1900, when it was thought that an early and 
 triumphant issue was assured by the despatch of Lord 
 Roberts, with Lord Kitchener as his Chief-of-Staff, to South 
 Africa, the form of war contribution contemplated by the 
 British Government was a charge upon the revenues of 
 the new colonies sufficient to meet (i) the interest and 
 sinking fund of an indemnity loan, and (2) the cost of the 
 
132 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 maintenance of the troops required to be stationed there 
 as a permanent garrison. It was suggested, also, that the 
 amount of the war indemnity might be reduced by the 
 British Government's acceptance of the railways in part 
 payment, and that when satisfactory security for the pay- 
 ment of the indemnity had been obtained, self-government 
 might be granted to the two colonies. 
 
 The events of the next twelve months, bringing with 
 them the second rebellion in the Cape Colony and the 
 unjustifiable prolongation of the war by the adoption of 
 guerilla methods by the Boer leaders, caused the idea of 
 a war indemnity leviable upon the ex-burghers to give place 
 to that of a " contribution " to the war debt of the Mother 
 Country, since it was seen by this time that any sum 
 to be derived from the revenues of the new British 
 Administration would have to be drawn mainly, if not 
 exclusively, from the British inhabitants of the Transvaal. 
 The reason for this was obvious. By the middle of 1901, 
 when Lord Milner had returned to England for the second 
 time and was able personally to discuss the question with 
 Mr Chamberlain and other members of the Government, it 
 had become evident, first, that the Boers must be wholly 
 incorporated into the system of the Empire ; and, second, 
 that before they could be induced to accept this position the 
 systematic denudation of their country, rendered necessary 
 by the guerilla tactics of their leaders, would be so complete 
 as to leave them literally no national assets beyond the bare 
 soil — an asset which must be restored to them upon the 
 establishment of peace, since without it the majority of their 
 people would have no means of subsistence. In these circum- 
 stances the matter resolved itself into a question of what 
 amount could be appropriated from the prospective revenues 
 of the new colonies for the relief of the Home tax-payer, with- 
 out unduly burdening the industrial and almost exclusively 
 non-Boer colonists, upon whose exertions these revenues and 
 the future development of the new colonies as members of 
 the Empire would mainly depend.^ 
 
 ' It should be noticed that at the time when the question of the war contribu- 
 tion was thus discussed, the "Report on the Finances of the Transvaal and 
 Orange River Colony," by Sir David Barbour, dated Bloemfontein, 29th March 
 1901 (Cd. 628), was available. The main conclusions of this report were : (l) 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 133 
 
 Lord Milner's own proposal, which he had advocated 
 both officially and privately a year ago, was one founded 
 upon his Egyptian experience. The annual administrative 
 expenses of the Transvaal were to be fixed at a certain 
 figure, and the surplus revenue was to be divided between 
 the Transvaal Government and the British Exchequer in 
 proportions to be agreed upon. The Transvaal share was 
 to be expended upon development works, and the British 
 share to be appropriated to the extinction of the war 
 debt ; and the position in which the matter stood at the 
 declaration of peace is shown very clearly in a letter 
 written by Lord Milner on gth June 1902, to Mr Davidson, 
 the Secretary to the Transvaal Administration, with reference 
 to the finances of the Colony. 
 
 " As regards the contribution to War Expenditure," he then 
 wrote, " it has always been my view, and so far His Majesty's 
 Government have not rejected it, that this should not be 
 a fixed sum, but a share of the future surpluses, plus the 
 proceeds of the sale of new mining rights. If this principle 
 is adopted, I see my way to complete solvency in the 
 course of 1903-4." 
 
 The months, however, which followed the declaration of 
 peace were marked by a demand on the part of the public 
 in England that a substantial portion of the vast sum 
 added to the national debt by the late war should be 
 
 That on the assumption that the contribution of the two colonies was to be limited 
 to the amount which they could pay without imposing fresh taxation or starving 
 the Administration, it was impossible to specify any definite sum as that which 
 ought to be paid. (2) The recommendation that the Imperial Government should 
 fix the maximum sum which under any circumstances they would require to be 
 paid ; and that such portions of the total so fixed, as it might be found from time 
 to time that the colonies could bear, should be made a charge against them. If 
 in the course of time it was found that the colonies were unable to pay the whole 
 sum, under the conditions as to taxation and cost of administration already 
 specified, the balance should be written off. The portion or portions of the cost 
 of the war which the colonies might at any time be able to bear in the form of 
 debt should be paid out of the proceeds of loans to be raised by the colonies 
 under the guarantee of the Imperial Government. (3) Any sums of money received 
 by the colonies from sales of land owned by the State, or from the sale of mining 
 rights in the Bewaarplaatsen, or in other lands known to be valuable for mining 
 purposes, should be ear-marked and set aside to meet the cost of the war contribu- 
 tion. (4) The Orange River Colony would probably not be in a position to repay 
 any portion of the cost of the war, but if it should be found at any time to be able 
 to do so, there was no reason why it should not be charged with as much of the 
 contribution as its resources would enable it to bear, the balance being charged 
 against the Transvaal. 
 
134 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 charged upon the new colonies, and as large an amount 
 as ;^ 100,000,000 was mentioned with some show of pro- 
 bability as the sum which the Government would require. 
 It must be remembered in explanation of this extravagant 
 expectation that the material destruction wrought by the 
 British Army in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony 
 was imperfectly understood by the Home tax-payer, while, 
 on the other hand, now that the excitement of the contest 
 was over, he had begun to calculate with dismay the full 
 extent to which the permanent burden of taxation had 
 been increased by nearly three years of unstinted military 
 expenditure. 
 
 In the face of this demand the Government hesitated to 
 take any irretraceable step. On the one hand they wished 
 to satisfy the legitimate desire of the British tax-payer for 
 relief; on the other, being better informed as to the economic 
 conditions of the new colonies, they knew that any ill- 
 considered demand might involve the local administrations 
 in grave financial embarrassment, and possibly embitter for 
 all time the feelings of the British colonists towards the 
 Mother Country. What, however, they did not seem to 
 realise was that the prolonged delay in fixing a limit to 
 the liability of the new colonies, thus occasioned, was 
 retarding in an appreciable degree the recovery of the 
 industrial system of the Transvaal from the shock of the 
 war. It was to this that Lord Milner alluded in his 
 despatch to Mr Chamberlain, when he wrote (8th September 
 1902) that the strength of the feeling in the Transvaal made 
 it necessary "to arrive at a definite conclusion with regard 
 to that great over - shadowing and disturbing factor — the 
 amount of the contribution to be made by the new colonies 
 to the war debt of Great Britain." 
 
 The settlement of the financial question, therefore, was 
 urgently required. But there were other directions in which 
 the action of the Secretary of State was only relatively less 
 important. The dilatory and arbitrary methods hitherto 
 pursued by the military authorities in the award and pay- 
 ment of that part of the compensation for war losses for 
 which the War Office was directly liable were causing grave 
 embarrassment to the new Governments in both colonies. 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 135 
 
 It was not merely that irritation and discontent were created 
 among the many thousands of ex-burghers directly affected, 
 but the progress of the civil authorities in the same pressing 
 matter of compensation was, for the time being, barred, 
 since these latter were unable to proceed with the apportion- 
 ment of the funds provided by the Imperial Government 
 for the relief of the necessitous people of the two colonies, 
 until they knew who among them were to be recipients of 
 military compensation, and to what extent each several 
 participant would benefit thereby. Here again, as also in 
 the difficult question of the status of Asiatics and coloured 
 persons, the decision of the Government as a whole was 
 necessary before anything could be done ; while even in 
 regard to matters such as the status of Swaziland, the 
 composition of the Transvaal Legislative Council, and the 
 reduction of railway rates, in which the Colonial Office was 
 especially concerned, the Administration was unable to take 
 any consistent or effective action until it was in possession 
 of the mind of the Secretary of State. 
 
 The need for the prompt disposal of these matters was 
 emphasised by the inherent unpopularity of Crown Colony 
 Government, and by the existence of certain special causes 
 of unrest of which Lord Milner was fully cognisant. To 
 no community in the world could the system of Crown 
 Government have been more obnoxious than it was to the 
 European inhabitants of the late Republics, whether Boer 
 or British. Any form of British administration must 
 necessarily have been hateful to the Boers at this time, 
 as being an alien Government; but the Crown Colony 
 system, with its lofty standard of official purity, its inde- 
 pendence of local opinion, and its ultimate reliance upon 
 an Imperial authority seated six thousand miles away, 
 served to intensify the smart of their lost independence. 
 The British population, and especially that influential 
 section of it which lived in the Witwatersrand district, was 
 composed mainly of men to whom, before they had entered 
 the Transvaal, the freedoms of Parliamentary Government 
 were as natural as the clothes they wore. Moreover, this 
 latter community, which for the moment found itself as 
 completely excluded from political rights as it had been 
 
136 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 before the war, embraced men who, like the late Sir W. 
 Marriott, had sat in the House of Commons, or who, like 
 the late J. W. Leonard, had been Ministers of the Crown 
 in other British colonies ; while among its rank and file 
 were numbered the men of acute intellect and large monetary 
 resources who had made Johannesburg not merely the 
 commercial capital of South Africa, but a factor in the 
 industrial system of the civilised world. That such a 
 community should have chafed at Crown Colony Govern- 
 ment is not surprising ; and within a month of the peace 
 a " Political Association," of which Mr R. J. Pakeman, editor 
 of the Transvaal Leader, Sir William Marriott, Mr James 
 Leonard, and Mr Dale Lace were prominent members, was 
 founded at Johannesburg for the purpose of bringing about 
 the immediate grant of full self-government to the Transvaal. 
 And thus, from the very first, an appreciable section of 
 that very British population upon whose united and un- 
 faltering support any British administration, however con- 
 stituted, might have counted as a matter of course, assumed 
 the rdle of an Opposition, and became the jealous, often 
 bitterly hostile, critics of every act of the new Governments. 
 
 In these circumstances, however benevolent in intention 
 or efficient in action, the entire personnel and machinery of 
 the Crown Colony Administration were destined, as Lord 
 Milner well knew, to be objects of aversion to both Boers and 
 British ; and that this original, and perhaps not unnatural, 
 prejudice should have been largely, if not completely, over- 
 come before the period of Crown Colony Administration 
 came to an end, is a signal proof of the merit of the officials 
 of whom it was composed, and of the remarkable qualities 
 of the man who for the greater part of this period stood 
 at its head. 
 
 At the date of Mr Chamberlain's visit, in spite of the 
 admirable progress achieved in the first six months of Civil 
 Government, not only in the repatriation of the Boers, but in 
 every department of the Administration, the political sky was 
 far from being cloudless in the two new colonies. The un- 
 popularity of the Crown Colony Government had not by any 
 means reached the growth to which it subsequently attained ; 
 but the feeling was already sufficiently in evidence to make 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 137 
 
 it highly necessary to remove any just, or even colourable 
 causes of complaint for vi'hich the system, as a system, could 
 be blamed. For it must be remembered that this autocratic 
 and unpopular form of administration was certainly the most 
 efficient, and quite possibly the sole, instrument for bringing 
 about, within a measurable period of time, such a complete 
 reconstruction of the economic and political fabric of the late 
 Republics as would bring them into line with the older 
 British colonies, and otherwise satisfy the requirements of 
 British policy in South Africa. 
 
 Lord Milner had no illusions on the point. He took 
 for granted that Crown Colony Government must be un- 
 popular; and the most he thought practicable was to 
 maintain the system for the three or four years which would 
 just suffice to build up a permanent administrative fabric. 
 The object to be aimed at, therefore, was not to make Crown 
 Colony Government popular, for that was impossible, but so 
 far to retard the growth of its unpopularity, that, when self- 
 government came, the Ministry would find in both colonies 
 a civil service so efficient and so indispensable, and an 
 administrative machinery so admirably adjusted to the 
 conditions of the country, that public opinion would not 
 tolerate any political action calculated to impair their 
 permanent utility. And to enable this to be done, it was 
 essential that the influence of Lord Milner, and that of the 
 able and distinguished men whom he had associated with 
 himself in the work of administration, should be carefully 
 husbanded ; since it was the respect which these men 
 commanded, and especially the confidence placed in Lord 
 Milner by the political and industrial leaders of the British 
 population throughout South Africa, that made the Crown 
 Colony system workable at all. 
 
 The Home Government, therefore, was required to 
 exercise both caution and address in dealing with the ad- 
 ministrative problems of the new colonies. It must satisfy 
 public opinion at Home, since, after all, it was the British 
 tax-payer upon whom the cost of the war had fallen ; but in 
 doing this it must avoid the danger of laying upon the 
 Crown Colony Governments any instructions, which, when 
 put into effect, would bring them into violent collision with 
 
138 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 1 ocal opinion or sentiment. For the inevitable effect of such 
 collisions would be to impair the influence of Lord Milner 
 and his associates, and to bring the period of Crown Colony 
 Government to a premature ending. It was in view of these 
 considerations that the Unionist Ministry rightly determined 
 to give Lord Milner a "free hand" in the > new colonies, 
 although they were aware that in so doing they would run 
 the risk of incurring the displeasure of the electorate of the 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 As regards the Boer population the great outstanding 
 cause of discontent was the delay in compensation. It was 
 essentially a case in which bis dat, qui cito dat. Yet the 
 Military Compensation Courts were affording a remarkable 
 display of incompetence and tardiness. Owing to the 
 parsimony of the War Office, the number of officers seconded 
 was not sufficient to permit of the work being proceeded with 
 continuously. There were not enough Boards, and the 
 Boards themselves were inadequate, as consisting of in- 
 experienced junior officers who were liable to be constantly 
 changed. An even more serious hindrance to the prompt 
 and efficient discharge of the business of the Boards was the 
 reluctance, or inability, of the War Office authorities to lay 
 down any consistent ruling as to the classes of claims for 
 which they were, or were not, prepared to admit liability. 
 Two months earlier Lord Milner had arrived at an under- 
 standing with the local military authorities, to the effect that 
 they should recognise their liability to pay for everything 
 taken and converted to their use, not being the property of 
 the enemy in the field, whether receipts had been given for 
 it or not. Since then, however, the officers with whom this 
 understanding had been reached had been replaced by others, 
 who neither brought definite instructions nor were able to 
 obtain them from the War Office. In the meantime, in 
 the absence of any clear ruling on the point, while the value 
 of all receipts was being paid, claims for property in respect 
 of which no receipts had been given were being examined 
 and reserved. But not only did the various Compensation 
 Boards differ among themselves in the principles they applied 
 in this examination of claims, but it was quite uncertain 
 whether the whole laborious process might not prove in 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 139 
 
 the end to be merely so much waste of time. In the case 
 of many thousands of the claims of this class, which the 
 Military Compensation Boards had thus examined in the 
 past two years, the War Office had ultimately denied liability, 
 and there was nothing to show that the same course might 
 not be taken in respect of the claims now being examined. 
 These claims were very numerous. At the rate of progress 
 hitherto maintained three or four years must elapse before 
 they would be disposed of; and until they were disposed of 
 —that is to say, until it was known what sum each individual 
 claimant for military compensation would receive — the civil 
 authorities could not proceed to the apportionment of the 
 funds provided by the Imperial Exchequer for the general 
 relief of the necessitous persons in the two colonies. The im- 
 possibility of the civil authorities proceeding with their task 
 before the military compensation awards were completed was 
 obvious. An ex-burgher awarded ;^5oo for the use or destruc- 
 tion of his property by the military authorities would not be 
 qualified to participate in the ;f 3,000,000 grant ; while, on the 
 other hand, one who had claimed a much larger sum, but 
 in the event had received nothing, provided he was otherwise 
 destitute of resources, would be entitled to a share in the 
 pro rata distribution of the fund. 
 
 The situation was therefore very serious, since nothing 
 could be calculated to do more injury to the new Govern- 
 ments in the eyes of the Boers than the action of the 
 Military Compensation Courts. That the Administration 
 should be prevented from apportioning the Imperial Relief 
 Funds for three or four years — that is to say, for a period 
 identical with the probable duration of the Crown Colony 
 system, and one within which, therefore, the whole fabric 
 of the reconstruction must be practically completed — was in 
 itself intolerable. Yet this was only a part of the evil which 
 would have been done if the Military Compensation Courts 
 had been allowed to continue their original procedure. 
 Lord Milner's personal observations during his repatriation 
 tours had convinced him that more irritation and discontent 
 was being produced among the Boer population by the 
 compensation question than by all their other misfortunes, 
 whether in the war or the repatriation. It was inevitable 
 
140 EECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 that the awards should cause disappointment and dissatis- 
 faction ; the more reason, therefore, to get the matter settled 
 and done with as promptly as possible, instead of keep- 
 ing it open, like a festering sore, for year after year. More- 
 over, the position assumed by the military authorities 
 was derogatory to the national honour. The refusal to give 
 compensation for any injury to property whatsoever, unless 
 there was value received, was inequitable. To refuse to pay 
 for general war damage, such, for example, as the destruction 
 of property within a district which, on military grounds, 
 had to be rendered uninhabitable by the enemy, was indeed 
 justifiable and necessary. But the application of the principle 
 to ex - burghers who had faithfully observed the oath of 
 neutrality, and yet seen their property destroyed by the army 
 which had undertaken to protect it, was questionable. And 
 there were, moreover, a certain number of ex-burghers, who, 
 as rendering actual service to the British forces, had received 
 not merely a general undertaking, but a specific promise 
 of protection. When the property of any of these men had 
 been destroyed by the British forces, even though the 
 destruction had occurred in the course of reducing a whole 
 district, and might, therefore, be regarded as part of the 
 general wastage of war, to refuse compensation would not 
 only seem utterly indefensible, but create a feeling gravely 
 injurious to the new Governments, upon whom, although they 
 were entirely innocent, the odium of thus breaking faith with 
 their own friends would fall. 
 
 To meet the situation prompt action was required, and 
 this in two directions. A decision must be given by the 
 Home Government, since none could be obtained from the 
 War Office, as to the classes of claims in respect of which 
 liability was, or was not, to be admitted ; and the capacity 
 of the Compensation Boards must be so far raised as to 
 allow of their business being discharged within a few months 
 instead of a few years. And in regard to this latter require- 
 ment Lord Milner recognised that, since the War Office 
 appeared not to have the necessary funds, the Administra- 
 tion would be justified in taking upon itself the cost 
 of the improved Compensation Boards, provided that the 
 composition of the Boards was satisfactory, and the officers 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 141 
 
 seconded were not to be removed until their work was 
 completed. 
 
 A further and distinct element of unrest, which had been 
 introduced during the last few weeks of the year (1902), 
 was aggravating the agitation and discontent caused by the 
 treatment of the compensation question by the military 
 authorities. This was the return of the more embittered 
 prisoners of war, and of those Boers of the professional 
 classes, including the Predikants, who had left the country 
 voluntarily, or been deported, during the course of the war. 
 Owing to Lord Milner's prudent arrangement that the more 
 conciliatory prisoners and refugees should be brought back 
 first, the earliest and most difficult stages of the repatriation 
 had been carried through without disturbance from racial 
 ill-feeling ; but now that the more hostile classes were 
 returning the attitude of the repatriated Boers, as a whole, 
 was becoming less satisfactory. Nor was this surprising, 
 when it is remembered that among the ranks of these later 
 arrivals were prisoners of war who for months had refused 
 to take the oath of allegiance ; Dutch ministers of religion, 
 deported for persistent, and sometimes treacherous, hostility 
 to the British authorities ; ex-officials, returning sore and dis- 
 appointed from unsuccessful " missions " in Europe ; and, in 
 a word, all the refugees of the literary and educated classes, 
 who had shown themselves in the past the most active and 
 convinced supporters of the cause of Afrikander nationalism. 
 While, then, there was every reason to believe that the 
 Administration would succeed in maintaining good relations 
 with the actual farmers who formed the majority of the 
 Boer population, if they were undisturbed by political 
 agitation, and relieved of any tangible grievances, such as 
 the delay in compensation, it was obvious that the presence 
 among them of even one actively hostile person of the 
 educated classes— Predikant, lawyer, or ex-official — might 
 convert a whole district from acquiescence to discontent. 
 
 In the case of the British population the special and 
 removable causes of dissatisfaction all centred around those 
 hitherto undecided questions, in respect of which the arrival 
 of the Secretary of State now promised to set free the 
 hands of the Administration. The question of the status of 
 
142 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Asiatics and coloured persons, which included the British 
 Indian problem, as it then stood, threatened to accentuate 
 seriously the inherent unpopularity of the Crown Colony 
 system by driving the Administration into a long-drawn 
 conflict with the anti - Asiatic sentiment of the European 
 community. The prevalent South African prejudice against 
 the admission of Asiatics or " coloured persons " to political 
 or social equality was especially strong in the new colonies ; 
 and Boers and British were united in the determination to 
 exclude from the Transvaal all further Asiatic immigrants 
 capable of pursuing any trade or industry that could provide 
 a livelihood for Europeans. To ignore or over-ride this 
 sentiment would furnish the advocates of the immediate 
 grant of self-government with a powerful argument; while, 
 even if the Crown Colony system survived the agitation 
 which such a course would produce, the most that could be 
 done on behalf of the classes concerned would be to postpone 
 the day of reckoning, since the first legislation to be passed 
 by a popularly elected chamber would be measures for 
 regulating the conditions under which Asiatics and coloured 
 people were to live in the colony, and to restrict, or exclude, 
 the entry of any further Asiatic immigrants. Instead of a 
 bald and uncompromising opposition, therefore, it seemed 
 that the interests of the Empire would be better served by 
 a sympathetic appreciation of the point of view of the white 
 population on the part of the Crown Colony Administration, 
 and an endeavour, on the part of the Home Government, to 
 reconcile the requirements of British Imperial policy with 
 the exigencies of the Transvaal. 
 
 In point of fact Lord Milner himself had made proposals 
 for a settlement of the question upon these lines six months 
 before. The legislation to which the Home Government was 
 then asked to give its consent, while avoiding the harshness 
 of the treatment of British Indians under the late Republic 
 — a harshness against which the Imperial Government had 
 protested more than once before the war — and securing a 
 reasonable political status and a full protection of civil rights 
 for them and other coloured residents, would neither have 
 put the coloured man on an equality with the European nor 
 allowed Europeans to be displaced by the Asiatic immigrants. 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 143 
 
 The Colonial Office, however, had refused to approve of the 
 legislation thus proposed ; and in the absence of fresh 
 legislation the Transvaal Government was left to administer 
 the law of the late Republic in its inefficiency, but not in its 
 harshness. The result was a singularly embarrassing position. 
 On the one hand, Indian immigrants were entering the 
 Transvaal in such numbers as constituted a menace to the 
 economic interests of the Europeans ; on the other, the 
 British industrial population was growing restive and severely 
 blaming the Government for its inaction. While, as if to 
 show conclusively that it was the Crown Colony system, and 
 that alone, which was responsible for the deadlock, the Home 
 Government had given its consent within the last few weeks 
 to a stringent measure for the restriction of Asiatic immigra- 
 tion which had been passed by the legislature of the Cape 
 Colony. 
 
 In these circumstances a settlement of the question was 
 urgently required. Concessions to local sentiment were 
 rendered difficult by the fact that the Imperial Government 
 had pledged itself by its pre-war action to have justice 
 done to the British Indians of the Transvaal; in other 
 words, to satisfy the requirements of the Indian Government. 
 Although, therefore, it was unlikely that the Secretary of 
 State would be able to meet in full the views which the 
 white population would lay before him, none the less, in 
 Lord Milner's opinion, a settlement of some sort ought to 
 be made. Such a settlement would, no doubt, give rise 
 to considerable dissatisfaction at the time, but the Home 
 Government having given its decision, the question would 
 not become, as it then threatened to become, a chronic 
 source of friction between the Administration itself and 
 the British industrial population. 
 
 The question of Swaziland was much less menacing, but 
 the absence of any decision as to the future status of this 
 territory placed the Administration in an awkward, if not 
 humiliating, position. Before the condition of the country 
 — which was rightly described at the time as one of " pacific 
 chaos "--K:ould be seriously improved, it was necessary that 
 the innumerable concessions recklessly granted by the late 
 King Umbandine should be examined, and the actual rights 
 
144 RECONSTRUCTION 0¥ THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 of the several concessionaires be legally determined. This 
 work, a necessary preliminary to the effective administration 
 and future development of the country, could not be put in 
 train until the Home Government had decided whether the 
 territory was to be administered by the Transvaal Govern- 
 ment or by the Colonial Office through the High Com- 
 missioner. In the meantime, except that crimes of violence 
 had been suppressed, and order was being maintained among 
 the native population, by a resident Commissioner with a 
 sufficient police force, no progress, administrative or economic 
 was possible. In short, until an authority capable of setting 
 in motion the machinery of a civilised state was constituted 
 nothing could be done to safeguard the legitimate rights of 
 the Swazis, or to enable the Europeans who had acquired 
 dond fide interests in the country to pursue their industrial 
 undertakings ; and even the High Commissioner himself was 
 unable to give either advice or information to men who were 
 in every way entitled to receive such assistance from the 
 British authorities. 
 
 The delay in determining the constitution of the 
 Transvaal Legislative Council was a minor grievance, 
 which had evoked some not unjustifiable complaints on 
 the part of the British industrial community. In this 
 one case, however, the postponement of the Home 
 Government's decision was accompanied by a compensating 
 gain. While the preparation of the most important of 
 the measures to be enacted by the Council — the Gold Law 
 and the Municipal Government Ordinances — had not as 
 yet been completed by the law officers, the experience 
 of the past six months would enable the Administration 
 to make a more discriminating selection of the persons 
 to be nominated for service upon it as unofficial members. 
 At the same time it was most desirable that the constitution 
 of the Council should be fully determined before the 
 Secretary of State left South Africa ; since the measures 
 awaiting enactment were naturally both numerous and 
 urgently needed. 
 
 The reduction of the cost of living to Europeans in 
 the towns was an economic question which touched the 
 interests of the British population only less immediately 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 145 
 
 than the need for an increased supply of African labour. 
 The causes of the abnormal expensiveness of the necessaries 
 of life, and the action of these causes, were too complex to 
 admit of the evil being remedied by a decision of the 
 Home Government. Nor was it certain that a lowering 
 of the railway rates then in force, the specific remedy 
 which the Administration was urged to adopt by the 
 industrial community of the Transvaal, would bring about 
 by itself a reduction of prices to the consumer sufficient 
 to justify the restriction of the Government expenditure 
 upon reproductive works, which would be entailed by the 
 consequent loss of revenue. There was, however, one 
 remedial measure, the efficacy of which was unquestioned 
 — the improvement of the means of internal communication ; 
 but its application awaited the settlement of the all-important 
 questions of the Development Loan and war contribution. 
 The importance and relevancy of this measure, as a means 
 of reducing the high cost of living, will be apparent, if 
 certain then existing conditions of the new colonies are 
 borne in mind. The importation of mealies and forage 
 from America, north and south, and the general use of 
 tinned fruits and vegetables, when there were fertile 
 districts in both colonies, where all such produce could 
 be easily raised, were not to be attributed solely to lack 
 of enterprise or incapacity on the part of the Boer farmers. 
 Energy and the most enlightened methods of agriculture 
 would have been powerless to overcome the initial dis- 
 advantage presented by the circumstance that, with the 
 exception of farms or market gardens in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of the towns or railways, such produce 
 must be carried on bullock - waggons over the most 
 primitive of roads, for long distances, before the market 
 or the railway could be reached. And at the time in 
 question, and for at least a year afterwards, the normal 
 slowness and costliness of transport by road were aggravated 
 by the portentous scarcity of transport animals, due to 
 the wholesale destruction of farming stock during the long 
 war. The improvement of the roads and the construction 
 of new railways were essential, therefore, to the prosperity 
 of town and country alike, since, in the absence of any 
 
 VOL. I, K 
 
146 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 means of cheap and rapid transport, neither the one nor 
 the other could reap the benefit of the food - supplying 
 capacity of even such fertile districts as Rustenburg in 
 the Transvaal, or the Conquered Territory in the Orange 
 River Colony. 
 
 The scarcity of native labour was an even more 
 
 serious obstacle to the prosperity of the British population, 
 
 and a menace to every form of industrial development. 
 
 But in this case, although the importation of Chinese 
 
 coolies had been discussed already, no solution of the 
 
 problem had commended itself to the public mind, which 
 
 could be made the basis of a complaint against the Crown 
 
 Colony system. Moreover, the Administration from the 
 
 first had employed every means at its disposal to remedy 
 
 the evil. The conditions under which the native labourers 
 
 worked on the mines were being improved under direct 
 
 Government supervision ; and, in placing the relations 
 
 between the Mozambique and Transvaal Governments on 
 
 an excellent footing, Lord Milner had done everything 
 
 possible to increase the Portuguese contribution to the 
 
 labour supply of the Rand. 
 
 In other respects the British population of the new 
 colonies had no well-founded grounds of complaint. The 
 Permit system ^ was still in force, but with this exception 
 all the restrictions of martial law had been removed. 
 There was a free and singularly outspoken press. Customs 
 duties on the necessaries of life, once extravagantly high, 
 had been reduced. The existing railway service, while 
 necessarily incapable of satisfying the abnormal require- 
 ments of the moment, was being rapidly reorganised and 
 improved. None the less the same influence which was 
 causing unrest among the Boers of the farming class, the 
 
 1 No person was allowed to enter, or reside in, the Transvaal or Oratige 
 River Colony at this time, and for some years subsequently, without holding 
 a "permit." While this document could be obtained without delay or 
 inconvenience by all ordinary travellers or immigrants, the necessity of obtaining 
 it enabled the Administration to exclude persons who for any reason were 
 deemed " undesirable." It was by a judicious use of this system that the 
 Administration was enabled in the later months of J902 to check the inrush 
 of the fresh Indian immigrants, who by thus entering the country desired 
 to obtain "vested interests" in the Transvaal, which would enable them 
 to evade the operation of the delayed, but inevitable, restrictive Asiatic 
 legislation- 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 147 
 
 return of the more hostile and educated exiles, was 
 stimulating the underlying impatience of the Crown 
 Colony system manifested by the British in the towns. 
 While the Boers of the professional classes naturally 
 exercised most influence in the colonial capitals — Pretoria 
 and Bloemfontein — and in the older country towns, no 
 inconsiderable number of them had gravitated to the Rand. 
 They were careful, indeed, to avoid any display of their 
 own dissatisfaction at the change of Government such as 
 might attract the notice of the authorities or offend the 
 susceptibilities of their British neighbours ; but they lost 
 no opportunity of pointing out unobstrusively and in 
 indirect ways that the British themselves had reason to 
 complain that they were less well-off under the Crown 
 Colony system than they had been under the Republican 
 regime. Although the co-operation of the British of the 
 Witwatersrand with these natural opponents of all things 
 British had a basis in their common dislike and jealousy 
 of the "imported Englishman," it affords an example of 
 democratic waywardness that recalls the reflections of 
 the Genevan philosopher.^ Before the war, scarcely three 
 years ago, this community was complaining bitterly of 
 its subjection to the Boers : the premature withdrawal of 
 the Crown Colony system would leave it once more, in 
 spite of its acquisition of the franchise, at the mercy of 
 a Boer majority. Forgetful of their past servitude and 
 blind to their present danger, the rank and file of the 
 British industrial population were ready to associate them- 
 selves, now and throughout the period of Crown Colony 
 Government, with the educated and dissatisfied Boers of 
 the towns in an agitation for the immediate grant of self- 
 government. The more experienced and responsible among 
 them were sensible of the danger of being swamped by 
 the Boer vote, but even men of this class, relying on the 
 belief that in any case the Home Government would not 
 
 ' "Democracy. . . . Perpetual vacillation between contraries becomes its only 
 mode of progress, because it represents that childish form of prejudice which falls 
 in love and cools, adores and curses, with the same haste and unreason. 
 A succession of opposing follies gives an impression of change which the people 
 readily identify with improvement, as though Enceladus was more at ease on 
 his left side than on his right, the weight of the volcano remaining the same." 
 —Journal Intime. Translation by Mrs Humphry Ward. 
 
148 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 depart from its declared policy in so vital a matter, were 
 not too nice to win political influence by a show of sympathy 
 with the popular demand. 
 
 With a population thus vexed by removable and irre- 
 movable causes of discontent and agitated by political cross- 
 currents, and with no certainty of steady and consistent 
 support even from its professed friends, the Administration 
 was surrounded by difficulties which nothing but the highest 
 statesmanship could hope to surmount. The only course 
 open to it, in Lord Milner's judgment, was the bold one of 
 assuming that all would yet be well, and proceeding full 
 speed ahead with the work of industrial development. The 
 improvement of internal communications and the expansion 
 of existing, and the founding of new, industries would clear 
 the way for the increase of the British population, wherein 
 lay the ultimate security for the permanence of British 
 supremacy ; would largely remove the grievances of the 
 existing inhabitants, and thus give the Crown Colony system 
 a lease of power sufficient to enable it to carry out the 
 administrative reconstruction of the two colonies. 
 
 For the success of this policy two things were necessary 
 — ample funds and the continued presence of Lord Milner. 
 Mr Chamberlain's arrival promised that the first of these 
 primary needs would be provided without further delay ; 
 it was also destined to secure the second. 
 
 Lord Milner's tenure of office as High Commissioner 
 for South Africa and Governor of the new colonies, as 
 matters stood prior to Mr Chamberlain's departure from 
 England, was to continue until the exigencies of the 
 situation should permit him to retire without injury to 
 the public interests. For the first three weeks after his 
 arrival in the Transvaal Mr Chamberlain was necessarily 
 thrown into close personal intercourse with Lord Milner; 
 and, as the result of the full discussion of this question in 
 all its aspects and bearings, for which an opportunity was 
 thus provided, an arrangement was made by which, in spite 
 of many misgivings and a complete sacrifice of his personal 
 inclinations, the continuance of Lord Milner's services in 
 South Africa was secured. Under this arrangement Lord 
 Milner was to take "long leave" in Europe for a badly 
 
THE SITUATION IN THE NEW COLONIES 149 
 
 needed holiday this year (1903), so soon as the progress of 
 the resettlement permitted. He was then to return to 
 South Africa and retain his offices for one year from the 
 date of his return, provided that the state of his health 
 allowed him to do so. The fact that he had overcome 
 Lord Milner's disinclination to retain the High Com- 
 missionership after the conflict of opinion which had arisen 
 between them on the question of the suspension of the 
 Cape constitution was mentioned with satisfaction by Mr 
 Chamberlain, as we shall notice, in more than one of his 
 later speeches. It is scarcely necessary to add that know- 
 ledge of the details of this arrangement was rigorously 
 withheld by both parties from the public, whether in South 
 Africa or in England ; and in point of fact Lord Milner's 
 intention to resign the High Commissionership was not 
 allowed to become known definitely until three months of 
 the date (31st March 1905) upon which he actually ceased 
 to hold that office. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Mr Chamberlain, who had sailed from England in H.M.'s 
 Ship Good Hope by the east coast route, had arrived at 
 Durban on 26th December.^ In Natal, as elsewhere in 
 South Africa, his presence aroused the greatest enthusiasm 
 among the predominantly British population of the large 
 towns, and a lively curiosity, mingled not seldom with a 
 sincere respect, among the Dutch in the smaller towns and 
 villages. The short speech delivered in response to the 
 civic welcome which awaited him upon landing at Durban 
 — his first speech in South Africa — contained, not unnaturally, 
 a reference to the circumstances and objects of his visit. 
 
 " It is, in fact, with the express assent and approval of 
 His Majesty the King," he said, "and with the goodwill 
 of all my colleagues that I am coming here in the first 
 instance to express, on behalf of the King and the Govern- 
 ment and the people of the Motherland, their sympathy 
 with all their kinsmen across the seas, their desire to under- 
 stand them better, and their hope for a closer and more 
 personal intercourse. It is the object of the Government — 
 expressing in this, as it does, the will of the whole of our 
 people — it is their object to cement the near relations, the 
 better relations, which have subsisted, and which have been 
 so strikingly illustrated, in the course of the recent war. 
 ... I have a second object, and that is to gain information 
 with regard to the manifold and complicated problems 
 (that wait solution in South Africa). Although the problems 
 with which the Imperial Government has to concern itself 
 do not arise in this colony, you must feel interest in their 
 solutions. They must be a matter to you of constant study 
 
 ' He was accompanied by Mrs Chamberlain and three private secretaries, 
 Lord Monlcbretton, Mr (now Sir) H. W. Just, of the Colonial Office, and one other. 
 
 150 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 151 
 
 and consideration, and here, I think, therefore, I rnay 
 probably find independent advice and impartial information 
 to aid me in my task. I do not for a moment minimise 
 the difficulties in my way, and, above all, I would deprecate 
 any notion that by the waving of a magician's wand I 
 could settle in my sole capacity all these difficult questions. 
 Time is wanted, the great healer of all wrongs and the 
 great remover of all bitterness. Time and patience, and 
 above all local goodwill. I believe that goodwill will be 
 amply accorded to me. I take the sentiment of this great 
 meeting as expressing the sentiment at all events of the 
 majority, of the vast majority, of my fellow-countrymen in 
 South Africa. I thank you for your welcome, which has 
 heartened and encouraged me."^ 
 
 In his next speech, made at the public luncheon given 
 to him at the same place, the personal note is also 
 prominent. 
 
 "There is one observation from my friend. Sir John,^ 
 which I should like to notice," he said, " and that was when 
 he spoke of the possibility, which I hope is something more 
 than a possibility, that my visit will have some effect in 
 strengthening the hand of that great public servant. Lord 
 Milner, to whom South Africa already owes so much, and 
 to whose ability, firmness, and honesty of purpose we still 
 look to complete the work which he has undertaken, and 
 whom we expect to be as great in conciliation as he has 
 been in maintaining the rights of the Empire and the colony 
 (of Natal)." 
 
 And from this reference to Lord Milner he passed to 
 a vindication of the " Downing Street " which had provided 
 South Africa with Lord Milner, and of which his audience 
 saw rightly in himself the " personal embodiment." 
 
 " For, gentlemen, what is Downing Street ? Downing 
 Street is the greatest and purest service that the world 
 has ever known. Downing Street makes mistakes, as who 
 does not? We are not all archangels, even in Downing 
 Street. But I am certain that I say no more than justice 
 
 ^ I am indebted for the accounts of Mr Chamberlain's speeches given in the 
 text (unless otherwise stated) to the admirable reports of the Johannesburg Star, 
 then under the editorship of Mr W. F. Monypenny. 
 
 " The late Sir John Robinson, Editor and Proprietor of the Natal Mercury, 
 and subsequently first Prime Minister of the colony. 
 
152 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 demands, when I say of the office over which I am so 
 proud to preside that it would be impossible for any man 
 to have found abler men and more devoted assistants ; and 
 if they have made mistakes, you may, I think, trust me 
 when I say that it is not from indifference or from apathy, 
 but only from the necessary difficulty of realising a subject 
 when you are six thousand miles from the place at which 
 the circumstances arose. . . . And let me say, while there 
 is a great deal in being on the spot, and while there is much 
 knowledge to be gained from local opinion, still it is some- 
 times possible — and you should recognise it — that we who 
 are at the centre are able to take a broader and a wider 
 view. We have a larger horizon. We deal with Imperial, 
 and not merely local, politics and possibilities; and some- 
 times, though our policy may be hard to follow, believe me, 
 it may be right, even though it involves certain sacrifices 
 of your opinions." 
 
 One further reference to the circumstances of his visit, 
 which occurs in the first of his two speeches at Maritzburg, 
 may be noticed. After speaking of the desirability of 
 holding frequent conferences between the Home Ministers 
 and the leading statesmen of the self-governing colonies, 
 and then of the suggestion which had been made that the 
 present visit should " form a precedent for many subsequent 
 periodic visits," Mr Chamberlain continued — 
 
 " I should point out to you that there are difficulties, 
 and serious difficulties, in the way. The Minister who is 
 in charge of the Colonial Administration in the United 
 Kingdom is constitutionally responsible to Parliament for 
 every detail of the administration of some thirty or more 
 colonies and dependencies under the Crown, and his absence 
 at critical times might be productive of great inconvenience. 
 Nothing but a serious and exceptional occasion would, there- 
 fore, justify such a step as that which I have undertaken ; 
 but this is an exceptional occasion. We find ourselves at 
 the termination of the greatest struggle in which the Mother 
 Country has been engaged since the French wars at the 
 beginning of the nineteenth century. . . ," 
 
 But in his Natal speeches as a whole Mr Chamberlain 
 forthwith enunciated the two-fold appeal, which, varying 
 somewhat to meet the circumstances of the place and the 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 153 
 
 occasion, yet remained the essence of his public utterances 
 from the beginning to the end of his visit to South Africa — 
 the reconciliation of the British and Dutch in a common 
 citizenship of the Empire, and the better understanding by 
 both of the privileges and responsibilities which such a 
 citizenship entailed. Thus, after a generous tribute to the 
 " glorious history " of the Dutch, he said at Durban : 
 
 "We must show our readiness to welcome our new 
 fellow-subjects to all the privileges of a greater and freer 
 Empire than the world has ever known before. We must 
 give to them equality of all things with ourselves, and we 
 must ask something in return. It is with them now that 
 the easy way lies. We hold out the hand to them, we ask 
 them to take it, and to take it not on the arrihre pense'e, but 
 frankly and in the spirit in which it is offered. Let us try 
 whether out of these two great races we cannot make a 
 nation stronger in its unity than either of its parts would 
 be alone. That is the future of South Africa to which 
 all patriots must aspire, and which is within the bounds 
 of a reasonable aspiration." 
 
 And at Maritzburg (30th December) he combined his 
 appeal for racial reconciliation with an invitation to the 
 Boers to furnish practical evidence of their desire to unite 
 with the British in building up a United South Africa. 
 
 " I make allowance for their feelings," he said, " but I 
 hope the time is not far off when passive will be converted 
 into active loyalty. Till then progress will be hindered 
 and prosperity delayed. With many differences, we are 
 one nation with our late foes. All that is common in the 
 history of the two races is the joint heritage of a united 
 people." 
 
 The passage which followed is interesting as giving 
 an outline of the policy to be pursued in the new colonies. 
 In federation lay safety for the small white population of 
 South Africa, many times outnumbered, as it was, by the 
 natives. But there must be no hurry. A principle must 
 not be accepted until we knew how it was to be applied. 
 Responsible Government in the new colonies must precede 
 federation. This could not be granted immediately. We 
 had a right to ask the Boers for some evidence of their 
 
154 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 loyalty as an earnest of their worthiness for the liberty 
 which would follow. It would be a dereliction of duty to 
 put in power any party to undo the work accomplished so 
 painfully in the past. Nor could the new colonies stand 
 alone, as yet, either in providing for their defence or in 
 furnishing the funds required for the development of their 
 resources. When the new colonies were ready to pay the 
 piper, then, but not till then, they might call the tune. 
 
 Of the high patriotism required of citizens of the Empire, 
 in his first speech at Maritzburg he said : 
 
 "You have proved, and our colonies have proved 
 throughout the world, that the sons of Britain are worthy 
 of their mother, worthy of the history which they have in 
 common with us. The Empire has been united by the war, 
 and we have learned that there is no member of that Empire, 
 however comparatively weak it may be, that will stand 
 alone in any time of difficulty or danger. The wider know- 
 ledge that we have gained, the deeper sympathy, the clearer 
 information, the interest which has been evoked by this 
 great struggle in which we have stood shoulder to shoulder 
 — ttiese must not be suffered to pass away with the war. 
 They must continue and be permanent in peace; and 
 while we continue to pursue our several local interests with 
 the same strenuousness as before, I hope that we shall be 
 able to rise above the mere provincial spirit, that we shall 
 rise to that higher conception of an Imperial patriotism 
 which will lead us to bear one another's burdens, and make 
 us ready and willing to share the claims and responsibilities, 
 as well as the privileges and the glories, of the Empire to 
 which we all belong." 
 
 And in his second speech at the capital he continued the 
 theme. "The Empire," he said, "is based on the idea of 
 community of sacrifice." And a moment later he declared 
 that he was "gratified beyond measure" by the decision of 
 the Natal Government to pay out of the colonial revenue the 
 ;^2,ooo,ooo awarded as compensation for the war losses of 
 individuals within the colony. 
 
 On Saturday, 3rd January, Mr Chamberlain left Natal for 
 the Transvaal. At Charlestown, the last station on the Natal 
 side of the border, he was met at 2 o'clock by Lord Milner 
 and Sir Arthur Lawley, with their respective staffs, and the 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 155 
 
 whole party proceeded in the High Commissioner's train to 
 Elandsfontein. From this point Lord Milner returned to 
 Johannesburg, while the Secretary of State proceeded with 
 Sir Arthur Lawley to Pretoria, where the Residency had 
 been prepared for his reception. 
 
 On the following evening Lord Milner left Johannesburg 
 for Pretoria, where he stayed during Mr Chamberlain's visit 
 with Mr Davidson, the Transvaal Colonial Secretary, at the 
 N. Z. A. S. M. House ; i as his official quarters, the Residency, 
 had been handed over to the Secretary of State and his 
 party. On the next morning (Monday, Sth January) he paid 
 an early visit on Mr Chamberlain, and the question of 
 military compensation was discussed and settled. 
 
 And here an answer may be given to a question which 
 will arise now and subsequently in the mind of the reader : 
 To what extent did Mr Chamberlain contribute personally to 
 the solution of this and the other pressing administrative 
 problems in respect of which the decision of the Home 
 Government was required? The reply is that while he 
 originated nothing, he sometimes said " no " to the proposals 
 placed before him by Lord Milner. The methods of solution 
 adopted, with the one exception of the settlement of the 
 war contribution, were those formulated by Lord Milner. 
 At the same time, even from this narrower point of view 
 Mr Chamberlain's presence brought a very real gain. He 
 obtained the prompt assent of the Cabinet to the solutions 
 proposed, and such of the administrative decisions as were 
 made known were invested with an added weight and dignity 
 by being announced publicly by the Secretary of State in 
 person. And if he added comparatively little to the counsels 
 of the Administration, he performed a service of another kind. 
 By his impressive personality he made the British Govern- 
 ment known to the Dutch of the new colonies, and of South 
 Africa at large, as a virile but withal human and eminently 
 responsive power — a power with which no man need be 
 ashamed to be associated, and one with which it was better 
 to be on friendly than unfriendly terms. To the British he 
 showed himself, in his own phrase, a " missionary of Empire '' ; 
 
 1 The headquarters of the Netherlands South African Railway Company of the 
 old rigime. 
 
156 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 and to both alike he taught — and not without effect — the 
 difficult lesson of conciliation and mutual respect. 
 
 On the same afternoon the Secretary of State appeared 
 as the central figure at a garden party, where addresses of 
 welcome were presented to him from the Town Council, the 
 Chamber of Commerce, and the members of the Hebrew and 
 Asiatic communities. His reply was characterised by a 
 mingling of frankness and caution which showed that he was 
 sensitive to the less friendly atmosphere in which he now 
 found himself. With reference to the expression of a desire 
 that his visit, as being the first occasion on which an Imperial 
 Minister had visited one of the great colonies during his term 
 of office, might be repeated, he said : 
 
 " If you send me away empty-handed, I shall bow to your 
 decision ; but in that case I am afraid the visit is not likely to 
 be promptly repeated." 
 
 And he then confessed that 
 
 " he was sometimes a little appalled by the magnitude of the 
 business with which he had undertaken to deal." 
 
 He added : 
 
 " Still, at the same time I am sanguine that from the spirit 
 all the people have shown, from the kindness that has gener- 
 ally been evinced, that at all events I shall attain greater and 
 better information as to your position, as to your aspirations 
 and wishes ; and probably I may also obtain a clearer idea of 
 the lines on which a satisfactory settlement may be effected." 
 
 Mr Chamberlain remained for an hour after the presenta- 
 tion of the addresses in order to afford opportunities to the 
 numerous guests, among whom were the Boer Generals, 
 to converse or make acquaintance with him and Mrs 
 Chamberlain. The day ended with a dinner at the 
 Residency, to which, being of a private and intimate 
 character, only the High Commissioner, the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, the General-in-Command and Lady Lytteiton, 
 with their respective staffs, and one or two personal friends 
 were invited. 
 
 The following evening (Tuesday) was that fixed for 
 the Pretoria banquet to Mr Chamberlain. In view of the 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN EST THE NEW COLONIES 157 
 
 significance which, naturally, would be attached to his first 
 public utterance of importance in the new colonies, it 
 is not surprising that Mr Chamberlain avoided any further 
 public engagements on this day, and passed the morning and 
 afternoon in reflection. Lord Milner, too, apart from a 
 conference with Sir Arthur Lawley on the position of the 
 " hands-uppers " («>., the Boers who surrendered during the 
 war and were on that account being subjected to great harsh- 
 ness on the part of the "bitter-enders" and returned 
 prisoners), pursued his administrative business in the com- 
 parative quietude of Mr Davidson's quarters. Elsewhere, 
 however, the capital of the new Government, which was also 
 the centre of all that remained of the old Boer rigime, 
 was alive with movement. Every man with a grievance — 
 — repatriated burgher and British settler, Boer leader and 
 British politician — felt that now was the time to air it. For 
 were not the ears of supreme authority, in the person of 
 Mr Chamberlain, within a stone's throw of his door ? More- 
 over Pretoria, as a community, felt somewhat sore because 
 the High Commissioner had chosen Johannesburg, with its 
 more bracing air and greater facilities for the transaction 
 of affairs, as his place of residence. 
 
 It had been arranged that on Thursday Mr Chamberlain, 
 should receive an address from the burgher population ; and 
 the precise nature of the representations which it was to 
 contain, and the choice of the men who were to present it, 
 were being debated to-day with great vigour of language and 
 some mutual recrimination. At a meeting of prominent 
 Boers, held for these purposes in the afternoon, one burgher 
 declared that "the repatriation was a fiasco." If the 
 ;^3,ooo,ooo grant were a free gift to the Boer people, why, he 
 asked, were they not allowed to spend it as they liked? 
 Others demanded that the Government Gazette should be 
 printed in Dutch as well as English, that greater railway 
 facilities should be given for the importation of cattle, and 
 that « blue-backs " i should be recognised. A contemptuous 
 
 The drafts on the late Government, issued by Boer officers in the field 
 in payment of requisitions and supplies, which had been allowed under the Terms 
 ot burrender to be produced as evidence of war losses, but the payment of which 
 at their face value {i.e., as debts binding on the new Government) had been 
 
158 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 reference to the " hands-uppers " brought General de la Rey 
 to his feet with the angry reproof that the deputation was 
 to represent "the Afrikander nation, and they must work 
 for the whole nation and not for a section." General Louis 
 Botha and Mr Schalk Burger, the Chairman of the meet- 
 ing, also endeavoured to restrain the more turbulent spirits. 
 The latter in particular warned more than one speaker 
 that he must be careful of his language. There is, he said, 
 
 " no question of justice or injustice. We simply stand by 
 the peace terms, which we expect to be fully carried out. 
 We are here, not to argue, but to strengthen the hands 
 of the new Government. By doing this we shall get much 
 more assistance than by grumbling. If the new Government 
 had been supported by the burghers, repatriation would have 
 been a success." 
 
 The dissatisfaction akin to ingratitude which prevailed 
 among the ex - burghers was accompanied by a singular 
 display on the part of some British residents in the capital 
 of the impatience with which they regarded the Crown Colony 
 system. The fact that the establishment of self-government 
 was publicly advocated by the British of the Rand within a 
 few weeks of the peace, has been noticed in the preceding 
 chapter. To the explanations of this remarkable attitude on 
 the part of men of education, and, in some cases, of experience 
 in practical politics, then offered, may be added the circum- 
 stance that the machinery of the repatriation and resettlement 
 worked so rapidly and smoothly, to all appearance, that the 
 real difficulties of the Administration, and the pulsating energy 
 by which they were being overcome, were alike hidden from 
 all but the few men who were in a position to survey the 
 whole field of varied and inter-dependent operations that had 
 their centre and inspiration in the mind of one man — the 
 High Commissioner. How, then, could any outside observer 
 know that the slightest relaxation of the unremitting efforts 
 put forth not merely by Lord Milner and the heads of 
 departments, but, with few exceptions, by every subordinate 
 official, would have sufficed to plunge the great majority 
 of the European population of the new colonies into starva- 
 tion, and the colonies as a whole into industrial impotency ? 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 159 
 
 While, moreover, the Boers were satisfied to reserve their 
 complaints until the presentation of their address to the 
 Secretary of State provided with them the appropriate 
 opportunity, these British malcontents, with questionable 
 good taste, seized the occasion of a social gathering to 
 ventilate their unseasonable proposals. 
 
 The Pretoria banquet in Mr Chamberlain's honour — the 
 occasion in question — was held in the Market Hall on the 
 evening of Tuesday, 6th January. Mr Loveday, the Chairman 
 of the Municipal Council, presided, and in addition to Lord 
 Milner, Sir Arthur Lawley, General Sir Neville Lyttelton, 
 Major-General Baden-Powell, Mr Duncan, and the chief 
 official and unofficial English residents of Johannesburg and 
 the capital, the assembly of some five hundred men included 
 General Louis Botha, General De la Rey, General Smuts, and 
 other leading members of the burgher population. The fact 
 that the Boer leaders thus sat at table with their recent 
 enemies, and drank the loyal toasts with every appearance 
 of sincerity, was noted as an incident of special significance 
 on an occasion otherwise charged with promises of good 
 augury for the future reconciliation of the two races. 
 
 The health of Lord Milner, which followed the loyal 
 toasts, was proposed by Mr Greenlees, a Pretoria barrister, 
 by whom it was used as an opportunity for delivering what 
 was in effect a long criticism upon the existing system of 
 administration. He would like to see, he said, "Crown 
 Colony Government with a little less Crown and a little more 
 Colony " in it. What was wanted was " a new administration 
 rather than new legislation." Mr Loveday was scarcely less 
 maladroit. In proposing the toast of the evening, Mr 
 Chamberlain's health, he referred with bitterness to the 
 " constant attempts to remove the seat of Government from 
 Pretoria to Johannesburg," and then proceeded to argue at 
 length the case for retaining the former as the capital. 
 
 Both Lord Milner and Mr Chamberlain tactfully parried 
 these ill-considered and wholly unexpected appeals to enter 
 upon the dangerous sphere of local rivalries and personal 
 ambitions. The latter, in particular, appealed to the 
 audience to "have patience-to give him a little time to 
 study these difficult questions, to discuss them with men of 
 
160 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 all classes on the spot," before they asked him for final 
 decisions. He would, therefore, confine himself that night 
 to "general considerations of principle and policy." 
 
 Having thus cleared the ground, Mr Chamberlain laid 
 down in broad outline the considerations by reference to 
 which the Home Government proposed to deal with the 
 questions of self-government, compensation, and the war 
 contribution. The policy of His Majesty's Government, he 
 said, must be 
 
 "a policy of union and a policy of conciliation, so far as 
 conciliation leads to union. Now this is a somewhat 
 important qualification. Conciliation we all desire ; but it 
 is not conciliation to attempt to meet the views of your 
 opponents if at the same time you alienate your friends. 
 It is of no use to make concessions if they are to be 
 interpreted as a sign of weakness, and if they are merely 
 to be the prelude to further demands. But, subject to this 
 qualification, I say it is the duty and interest of every 
 Briton in this country to do his utmost to secure, not 
 merely an alliance between the two white races that have 
 inhabited the country and will continue for all time to 
 occupy it, but to secure, if possible, a fusion of these races 
 into one African nation." 
 
 The declarations which he then made were admirably 
 adapted to allay the spirit of disquietude and suspicion 
 that characterised the attitude of the inhabitants of 
 both nationalities towards the Crown Colony Government. 
 
 Of " self-government " he said : 
 
 " You have confidence in Lord Milner. So have we. 
 I recognise that any kind of non-representative government 
 in the case of a white race raises all sorts of difficult and 
 delicate problems, and, therefore, on behalf of the Govern- 
 ment of His Majesty, I say that we desire as much as 
 any one can that the time should rapidly come when we 
 should be relieved of the great responsibility which we 
 undertook only as a duty, and not at all for our own 
 satisfaction — that the time should come when we should 
 give to these new colonies that self-government which we 
 have already conceded to the other communities of white 
 races, which in their case, at any rate, has been used so 
 much to their advantage." 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 161 
 
 Of " compensation for war losses " he said : 
 
 " It is perfectly evident that even an arbitrary settlement 
 would be better than prolonged delay. . . . This is a matter 
 which has already engaged the attention of Lord Milner and 
 myself, and as the result of our discussion we have agreed 
 on a scheme which will be immediately submitted to the 
 Government at home. I do hope that if this scheme is 
 accepted we may be able to lay down the general principle 
 for the settlement of all those claims, and we may be able 
 most materially to hasten the payment of claims when they 
 are made." 
 
 Of the " war contribution " he said : 
 
 " I have to discuss this matter during the course of my 
 stay here with the representatives of all classes, including the 
 capitalist class, who no doubt will be the largest contributors. 
 It concerns also the working classes, who, I think, if they 
 at all resemble the same classes in the Mother Country, 
 would almost resent the insinuation that they would wish 
 to shirk their share in such expense. But I will make 
 to-night two declarations. In the first place, and in this I 
 am only repeating what I have already said in the House of 
 Commons in London, it is not the idea or intention of His 
 Majesty's Government in London to do anything which 
 would unduly raise the burden of taxation in this colony, 
 or which would in any way hamper its prompt and reason- 
 able development. Secondly, we want no grudging con- 
 tribution. We want nothing from you which, if you were 
 a self-governing colony to-day, you would not give as a 
 willing expression of your loyalty and patriotism and of 
 your appreciation of your duty to share the burdens as 
 well as the privileges of Empire. And I say to you once 
 and for all that I would rather go back to England 
 empty-handed — as I am told, indeed, by the organs of the 
 Radical press that I shall go back — I would rather go back 
 empty-handed than bear with me an arrangement which 
 was extorted from an unwilling people." 
 
 It will be noticed that in this speech Mr Chamberlain 
 statecj with reference to the question of compensation that 
 he arid Lord Milner had agreed on a scheme which would 
 be immediately submitted to the Home Government for 
 approval. On the morning after the banquet (Wednesday, 7th) 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
162 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 he accordingly sent a communication by cable to the Home 
 Government, in which he explained in emphatic language 
 the gravity of the position, and set out fully the terms of 
 the proposal upon which he and Lord Milner had agreed. 
 This proposal was in its essence that the War Office should 
 hand over a lump sum of £3,000,000 to the Administration 
 in complete satisfaction of all its outstanding liabilities, and 
 that the Administration itself should henceforward carry out 
 the business of military compensation. The Home Govern- 
 ment's consent to this arrangement was obtained in the 
 course of the next fortnight ; and Mr Chamberlain was 
 able to announce at Bloemfontein (7th February 1903) that 
 Lord Milner's solution of this embarrassing and complicated 
 question would be put into efifect.^ The importance of the 
 measure from a political point of view is well indicated 
 in a letter written by Lord Milner at the time to a corres- 
 pondent in England. 
 
 " The great point is that we are going to compensate 
 ' hand -uppers ' who were genuinely and undoubtedly loyal 
 after their surrender for everything we took from them, or 
 for any damage done to their property, receipts or no receipts. 
 I am not sure whether they will get full compensation, but 
 they will get a good lot. . . ." It will show that " we do not 
 forget the difference between our friends and our enemies." 
 
 On the same day Mr Chamberlain was occupied with an 
 examination of certain complaints put forward by the Dutch 
 Reformed Church against the system of Government schools 
 as then established. And later on he discussed with Lord 
 Milner the general attitude of the ex-burgher population and 
 the relations between them and the Administration, in order 
 that he might be put in possession of all the facts necessary 
 to enable him to reply with effect to the points raised in the 
 address which was to be presented on the following morning 
 by the Boer delegates. It should be remembered, also, that 
 during the last three days Mr Chamberlain had personally 
 discussed these subjects with many of the Boer leaders, and 
 had otherwise availed himself of every opportunity of gaining 
 independent information that had arisen. 
 
 • For this detailed statement of the arrangement, see forward at p. 200. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 163 
 
 On the next day (Thursday, 8th January), Mr Chamberlain 
 received the Boer address in the morning, and travelled to 
 Johannesburg in the afternoon, where he found himself in 
 altogether different and more pleasing surroundings. It was, 
 in Lord Milner's words, " a busy and eventful day " ; and 
 his brief record of what took place will serve better than 
 anything else to bring before us the actual scenes that made 
 it memorable. 
 
 " After breakfast," says the Diary, " first , the National 
 
 Scout, then bringing Botha and De la Rey. I went 
 
 straight to the Raadzaal, where all the Boer delegates were 
 assembled to present a memorial to Mr Chamberlain. Smuts ^ 
 was the spokesman. Mr C. made a most excellent and 
 impressive speech in reply. Back to N.Z.A.S.M. house to 
 lunch, then joined Mr C. and his party in a special train, 
 which left Pretoria at 2.20 and reached Johannesburg at 4.30, 
 after a short stay at Elandsfontein. At Johannesburg there 
 was a large and enthusiastic crowd, and a great assembly 
 at the Wanderers', where Mr C. was presented with an 
 address and made a capital speech. The day which had been 
 very wet in the morning, kindly cleared up for the ceremony." 
 
 The meeting of Mr Chamberlain and the Boer delegates 
 at the Raadzaal is so significant an event that the proceedings 
 must be given at some length. The essence of his reply to 
 the address lay in the words : 
 
 " The Terms of Vereeniging are the charter of the Boer 
 nation .... it is a little too early to try now to go behind, 
 or further than, the terms then concluded." 
 
 That is to say, while Mr Chamberlain as the representative 
 of the British Government, was prepared to examine, and, 
 if need be, to remedy any complaints based upon actual 
 or alleged breaches of the Vereeniging Agreement, he 
 absolutely refused, for a second time, to re-open any of the 
 questions which had been directly, or by implication, settled 
 once for all by the Boer acceptance of the Terms of Surrender 
 
 1 General J. C. Smuts, Attorney-General in the late Government, a successful 
 military commander in the war, and Colonial Secretary in the first Ministry after 
 the grant of Responsible Government to the Transvaal. General Smuts has sub- 
 sequently held important offices in the Union Government, and in particular 
 produced the famous Defence Act of 1912. 
 
164 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 therein contained. But neitiier the importance of this speech 
 as a political pronouncement, nor the significance of the 
 proceedings of which it formed part, can be understood, 
 without first calling to mind the movements and actions of 
 the three Boer Generals, Louis Botha, De la Rey, and 
 C. de Wet, during the six months which had passed since 
 the Commandos had laid down their arms, and in particular 
 the remarkable document entitled "An Appeal to the 
 Civilised World" issued by them on 2Sth September 1902. 
 
 It will be remembered ^ that the burgher representatives 
 at Vereeniging, after they had voted the acceptance of the 
 Terms of Surrender, passed a resolution constituting a com- 
 mittee to collect funds for the destitute Boers, and that of 
 the members of this committee these three were instructed 
 to proceed to Europe for the purpose in question. Accord- 
 ingly just a month after the surrender of the Commandos 
 had been completed and the Civil Administration formally 
 inaugurated, Generals L. Botha, De la Rey, and C. de Wet 
 left the Transvaal 2 for the Cape, where they reniained for 
 a week, and then sailed for England on 30th July in the 
 Saxon. Apart from the immediate purpose of their mission 
 — to collect funds for the Boer widows and orphans — they 
 were, no doubt, anxious to consult with ex-President Kruger, 
 Dr Leyds, and the other fugitive members of the late 
 Republican Governments, upon the future of their people. 
 
 At the Cape the Boer Generals met the unrestrained 
 homage of the Bond ; in England they were received with 
 scarcely less popular enthusiasm and with much official 
 kindness. Both at the Cape and in England they found 
 political sympathisers to whom the whole policy of the 
 Unionist Government in South Africa was anathema 
 maranatha, and Lord Milner, as the chief instrument of that 
 policy, infinitely more obnoxious than he was to themselves. 
 The effect of their association with men holding such views 
 as these, was unfortunate. They were invited to believe 
 that to create obstacles to the success of the Administration 
 in the new colonies was in the circumstances a meritorious 
 
 ' " Lord Milner's Work in South Africa, 1897-1902 " p 572 
 » On the 2ist. About the same date ex-President Steyn, Mr Reitz and 
 General Lucas Meyer preceded them in leaving South Africa for Europe 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 165 
 
 course of action, and one which would secure for them the 
 approval and support of a large number of Englishmen both 
 in Cape Colony and in England; and they conceived the 
 not unnatural expectation that, when so many Englishmen 
 denounced the war as unjust, and the terms of peace as 
 ungenerous and impolitic, the Vereeniging Agreement might 
 be altered, even now, in some of those respects in which it 
 failed most notoriously to meet the wishes of their people. 
 
 That the Boer Generals should have been subjected to 
 these influences at this particular moment was the more to 
 be regretted in view of the friendly attitude which they 
 had adopted towards the new Administration and Lord 
 Milner personally during the few weeks directly following 
 the peace. Their readiness to co-operate with the civil 
 authorities — whether due to Lord Milner's firm but sym- 
 pathetic handling of the various questions arising out of 
 the surrender and repatriation, which he had discussed 
 with them from time to time, or to mere weariness of the 
 long drawn struggle — was so marked at the time that 
 Lord Milner advised Mr Chamberlain that a non-official 
 element should be added to the Legislative Councils in 
 both colonies in a telegram of 3rd July. 
 
 "It would, I think," he then telegraphed, "be very 
 desirable to make a public announcement that the Legislative 
 Councils of the new colonies will shortly be enlarged, and 
 that non-officials will be added. I felt at one time that in 
 the case of the Transvaal this would be unworkable, but 
 my present opinion is strongly to the effect that we should 
 seize the opportunity of the present improved feeling 
 between the Dutch and British in the new colonies to 
 commence co-operation between them in the conduct of 
 public business. ... My idea is that the enlarged Councils 
 might meet (say) in September. ... The existing councils 
 would continue in the meantime to pass any urgently 
 necessary laws for completing our administrative machinery. 
 Of course both councils will contain a majority of official 
 members." 
 
 This proposal was approved by Mr Chamberlain on the 
 7th ; but before it could be put into effect the Boer Generals, 
 under the influence to which we have just referred, had 
 
166 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 embarked upon a course of action which was singularly 
 offensive to the British nation. They had arrived in London 
 on i6th August, to be greeted by the cheers of generous, if 
 somewhat thoughtless, crowds. On the 17th, they were 
 received by the King on board the Victoria and Albert off 
 Cowes, and on the i8th, in the company of Mr Abraham 
 Fischer, who had come to England to meet them, they 
 crossed to Rotterdam, where they were met by Dr Leyds 
 and Mr Wolmerans. From Rotterdam they proceeded to 
 the Hague to meet ex-President Kruger. This latter gives 
 no hint in his autobiography^ of what passed between the 
 Generals and himself in the course of the next ten days. 
 But we know that before the 23rd they had decided on an 
 attempt, highly characteristic of the political tactics of the 
 ex-President, to obtain a new agreement in substitution 
 for the document which they had signed at Pretoria not 
 quite three months ago. For on that day they forwarded to 
 Mr Chamberlain a list of the subjects to be discussed at 
 the interview which he had promised to give them in 
 the beginning of September. Among the proposals thus 
 indicated were : a complete amnesty for all rebels ; full 
 compensation for all loss occasioned by the British troops, 
 including payment for the use of properties occupied during 
 the war ; the reinstatement or suitable compensation of 
 officials of the late Republics ; the payment of all war debts 
 of the two Republics ; the recognition of the burgher rights 
 acquired by foreigners during the war ; and the restoration 
 to the Transvaal of the districts of Vryheid and Utrecht 
 now ceded to Natal. To have admitted these proposals 
 as subjects for discussion would have been tantamount to 
 tearing up the Terms of Surrender, and making in place of 
 them, as Mr Chamberlain said, an " entirely new agreement." 
 Fortunately, Lord Milner's precision^ during the whole 
 course of the negotiations, which preceded the acceptance 
 of the Terms of Surrender, had made it easy for Mr 
 Chamberlain to send a conclusive reply to this audacious 
 communication. 
 
 1 "The Memoirs of Paul Kruger. Told by himself." 
 See chap. xii. (The Surrender of Vereeniging) of " Lord Milner's Work 
 in South Africa, 1897-1902." 
 
ME, CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 167 
 
 " It would not be in accordance with my duty," he wrote 
 on the 28th, "to enter upon any discussion of proposals of 
 this kind, some of which were rejected at the conferences at 
 Pretoria; while others, which were not even mentioned on 
 those occasions, would certainly not have been accepted at 
 any time by His Majesty's Government." ^ 
 
 Upon this the Generals, having first protested that their 
 intentions had been wholly misinterpreted, agreed to the 
 condition laid down by Mr Chamberlain that only "actual 
 grievances" or "practical recommendations" should be 
 brought before him. Thus limited in its scope, the inter- 
 view, which was held on 5th September in the presence of 
 Lord Kitchener, resolved itself into a not unfriendly dis- 
 cussion of some small personal grievances, mainly connected 
 with the return of the prisoners and fugitive officials, and 
 to the removal of some obvious but not very important 
 misunderstandings. The only incident of any significance 
 was Mr Chamberlain's refusal to recommend a separate 
 grant for the Boer widows and children. This refusal, 
 which was based upon the ground that ample provision for 
 all classes of the Boer population was being made by the 
 Administration of the new colonies, was received with a 
 displeasure which the three Generals were at no pains to 
 conceal. 
 
 Not long after this interview had taken place the Boer 
 Generals returned to Holland, and on 25th September they 
 issued their " Appeal to the Civilised World." The text of 
 this remarkable document is as follows : — 
 
 " It is still fresh in the memory of the world how the 
 Boers, after a terrible struggle lasting more than two and 
 a half years, were at last obliged to accept through their 
 representatives at Vereeniging the terms of peace submitted 
 to them by the Government of King Edward VII. 
 
 " At the same time the representatives commissioned us 
 to proceed to England, in order, in the first place, to appeal 
 to the new Government to allay the immense distress every- 
 where devastating the new colonies. If we did not succeed, 
 we were to appeal to the humanity of the civilised world 
 for charitable contributions. 
 
 1 Cd. 1284. 
 
168 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 " As we have not succeeded up to the present in inducing 
 the British Government to grant further assistance to our 
 people in their indescribable distress, it only remains for us 
 to address ourselves to the peoples of Europe and America. 
 
 " During the critical days which we have passed through, 
 it was sweet for us and ours to receive constant marks of 
 sympathy from all countries. The financial and other 
 assistance given to our women and children in the Concentra- 
 tion Camps, and to the prisoners of war in all parts of the 
 earth, contributed infinitely to mitigate the lot of those 
 poor sufferers, and we take advantage of this opportunity 
 to express, in the name of the people of the late Republics, 
 our fervent thanks to all those who have charitably assisted 
 us in the past. 
 
 "A Land Bathed in Tears. 
 
 "The small Boer nation can never forget the help it 
 received in its dark hours of suffering. The people of the 
 Republics were ready to sacrifice everything for their 
 independence, and now the struggle is over, and our 
 people are completely ruined. 
 
 " Although we had not the opportunity of drawing up 
 an exact inventory of the destruction done, we have the 
 conviction, based on personal experience, that at least thirty 
 thousand houses on Boer farms and a number of villages 
 were burned or destroyed by the British during the war. 
 Our homes with their furniture were burned or destroyed, 
 our orchards were ruined, all our agricultural implements 
 broken, our mills were destroyed, every living animal was 
 carried off or killed. Nothing, alas, remained to us ! The 
 country is laid waste. The war demanded many victims, 
 and the land was bathed in tears. Our orphans and widows 
 have been abandoned. 
 
 " Besides, it it is needless to recall the fact how much 
 will be needed in the future for the education of the children 
 of the burghers, who are in great distress. We address our- 
 selves to the world, with the prayer to help us by charitable 
 contributions for our widows and orphans, for the nrtaimed 
 and other needy ones, and for the satisfactory education of 
 our children. 
 
 "Not to Inflame. 
 
 "We allude to the terrible results of the war in order 
 to bring to the knowledge of the world our urgent needs, 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 169 
 
 by no means to inflame people's minds. The sword is now 
 sheathed, and all differences are silent in presence of such 
 great misery. 
 
 " The ruin caused by the war is indescribable, so that 
 the small amount which Great Britain is to give us, in 
 accordance with the Terms of Surrender, even were it 
 multiplied tenfold, would be wholly insufficient even to 
 cover the war losses alone. The widows, orphans, maimed, 
 needy, and children, on whose behalf alone we appeal, will 
 receive little of this sum, and in most cases nothing. 
 
 "All contributions will be assigned to a fund to be 
 called ' General Fund of Help for the Boers,' which will be 
 devoted solely to supplying the wants of those for whom 
 we are collecting, and to provide for their future. We 
 solicit the hearty co-operation of the committees existing 
 in the various countries of Europe and America. We are 
 now on the point of visiting these countries in succession, 
 with the object of establishing a satisfactory organisation. 
 
 " (Signed) Botha. 
 De Wet. 
 De la Key." 
 
 At the meetings which they addressed in Holland and 
 Belgium the Boer Generals used equally extravagant 
 language. 
 
 " Of what use is three millions to us," General De la Key 
 passionately demanded at Brussels on 6th October, " when 
 our losses are estimated at seventy-five millions ? It would 
 have been more honest on the part of England to pay us 
 the whole than fling a mere beggar's pittance in our faces." 
 
 And General De Wet at the same meeting declared : 
 " The compensation offered by England is but a drop in the 
 bucket." From Belgium the Generals proceeded to Paris 
 and Berlin, where the same infatuated language was in- 
 dulged in to the great delight of their French and 
 German audiences. 
 
 But the "mission" was nothing more than a succh 
 (testime. The total sum collected in Europe and America 
 was ;^io5,ooo; and of this sum nearly one-fifth, ;^2o,ooo, 
 was the gift of an individual American, Mr H. Phipps of 
 the Carnegie Steel Trust, who stipulated that no part of 
 
170 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 his donation should be applied to any purpose harmful to 
 Great Britain.^ In the Cape Colony, a country with only 
 half a million of Europeans, ;^6o,ooo, almost as much as the 
 whole of Continental Europe had given, was raised during 
 and after the war. 
 
 From ^the Continent the Boer Generals were recalled 
 to England by the announcement of Mr Chamberlain's 
 intention to visit South Africa. On 5th November they 
 listened from the Strangers' Gallery as he recounted to the 
 House of Commons how at that very moment the restoration 
 of the burgher population to their homes was being carried 
 out with unexpected smoothness and rapidity ; and reiterated 
 his belief that at no distant date Boer and Britain would 
 forget the past in the realisation of the larger destiny which 
 was now awaiting them.^ 
 
 One other incident which occurred at this time in 
 London remains to be noticed. When again pressed by 
 General Botha to assign a special fund for the relief of the 
 Boer widows and orphans, Mr Chamberlain had repUed that 
 if the lost funds of the South African Rebublic could be 
 discovered, he would be quite willing to allow them to be 
 appropriated to this object. The funds in question were 
 large consignments of gold in coin or bars which were sent 
 by President Kruger, through German merchants at Delagoa 
 Bay, to firms in Germany, both shortly before and immedi- 
 ately after, the occupation of Pretoria by the British forces 
 under Lord Roberts. The records of the Government 
 departments, which were now in the hands of the ne^ 
 Administration, and the books of the banks which had 
 accounts with the Government, showed conclusively that 
 these large amounts of gold had left the Transvaal. Investiga- 
 tions were made by the British Government both in the 
 Transvaal and on the Continent of Europe ; but no certain 
 information as to the purposes to which they were applied, 
 and no indication of the place in which the unspent balance, 
 
 ' It was reported that up to 28th October 1902, the Boer Relief Fund showed 
 ;^25,i8o from Holland, £6,1 SS i'^o^ Belgium, France, Germany and other 
 countries ( with ;^20,ooo from Mr Phipps), and the Hague House collection said to 
 be ;^3.3S3- 
 
 '^ It was at this time that Parliament voted the ^5, 000,000 further grant (01 
 which ;^3,ooo,ooo was repayable by the Transvaal Government) for repatriation, etc, 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 171 
 
 if any such existed, had been deposited, were obtained. 
 General Botha, in reply to Mr Chamberlain's offer, had 
 declared his willingness to do anything within his power 
 to assist in the discovery of these funds ; but he also 
 denied, then as now, that any such funds were in existence. 
 
 Generals Botha, De la Rey, and De Wet remained in 
 England until 13th December. They had, therefore, only 
 returned to South Africa just in time to take part in the 
 reception of Mr Chamberlain at Pretoria, and in particular 
 in the preparation of the Boer address of welcome now to 
 be presented to him at the Raadzaal. 
 
 The address, which was read by Mr Smuts, stated 
 that the burgher population, in bidding welcome to Mr 
 Chamberlain, desired to bring before him two requirements, 
 the grant of which must be regarded as a condition precedent 
 to the " reconciliation " of the two white races in South 
 Africa. The first of these was a complete amnesty to all who 
 fought against Great Britain, whether Boers or colonial 
 Dutch; and the second, permission for the Boer leaders 
 now in Europe to return to the new colonies. The address 
 further contained requests, (i) that the native population 
 might be informed by the new Government that the change 
 of Government did not bring with it any change in the 
 relative position of natives and Europeans ; (2) that no 
 taxation for the maintenance of the South African Con- 
 stabulary or for the contribution to the war debt might 
 be imposed until representative institutions had been 
 established; (3) that the Dutch language might be placed 
 on an equal footing with English in the government schools 
 and generally, and (4) that the cession of the districts of 
 Utrecht and Vryheid to Natal might be annulled. 
 
 In speaking in support of the address Mr Smuts said that 
 the amnesty question was one which touched the honour 
 of every burgher of the late Republics. They felt that it was 
 not the colonial rebels who were in gaol, but they themselves 
 who had encouraged these people to join them, that were the 
 real criminals. In respect of the language question, they 
 claimed that the same rights should be conceded to the 
 Dutch language in the Transvaal as were conceded to this 
 language in the Cape Colony, and as were conceded to the 
 
172 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 French language in Canada. In supporting the request for 
 the postponement of taxation for the Constabulary and the 
 war contribution, Mr Smuts relied upon the broad principle 
 of "no taxation without representation." On this point, 
 however, he added that Mr Chamberlain's assurance, spoken 
 at the Pretoria banquet, that no burden would be imposed 
 which would hamper the industries of the colony, had given 
 them every satisfaction. The speech concluded with some 
 friendly words welcoming Mr Chamberlain's intention to visit 
 the rural districts of the Transvaal, and declaring that the 
 Boers still wished to co-operate with the Government, unless 
 such co-operation should appear to be impossible. 
 
 In the speech which Mr Chamberlain now made, he 
 did much more than reply to the specific requests and com- 
 plaints of the Boer address. The task which he set himself 
 was to provide an answer to the tone of the address rather 
 than to its substance, and more especially to condemn the 
 attempt made by the Boer Generals, since their appearance 
 in Europe, to disparage the efficiency of the Administration 
 of the new colonies, and to belittle the generosity of the 
 British Government. 
 
 '' I regret," he said, " that I cannot address you in your 
 own language, but I understand that what I have now to say 
 to you will be translated into Dutch and a copy given to 
 every gentleman who is present here to-day.^ I have already 
 had an opportunity of meeting privately many of your 
 countrymen. I hope that this intercourse has done some- 
 thing to remove misunderstandings, and that you are 
 beginning to think, however bad I am, that I am not so 
 black as I have been painted. In these interviews, as to-day, 
 you have spoken very plainly to me. That is what I like ; 
 and I intend to reciprocate by speaking just as plainly to 
 you. I believe that all our past troubles and difficulties have 
 arisen, not so much from real differences of opinion, but 
 because we have failed to understand each other. 
 
 " Now, while I recognise and thank you for the courteous 
 and moderate tone of your address, I must say that I should 
 have had still greater pleasure in receiving it, if it had 
 contained, besides demands and appeals for the future, some 
 little recognition of what we have already done. 
 
 ' An official report of the entire proceedings of the meeting was printed, and 
 distributed among the ex-burgher population, by Mr Chamberlain's instructions. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 173 
 
 " In a newspaper this morning I read a report of some 
 remarks by Mr Botha in which in eloquent terms he expressed 
 his gratitude to those friends on the Continent who had 
 assisted with money the Boers. He stated that in their 
 recent tour they had been able to collect the sum of £100,000 
 for the widows and orphans. I do not for a moment wonder 
 that he should have expressed his thanks for these contribu- 
 tions, but he does not appear to have told you, and probably 
 he did not know himself, that the British Government, 
 representing, of course, in this struggle the party against 
 whom you fought, when they have paid all claims for 
 repatriation and for compensation for war losses, will have 
 spent on behalf of the country a sum of between ten and 
 fifteen millions sterling. I say that never in the history of 
 the world has a conquering nation done so much for those 
 who were recently their opponents. And I think when you 
 give thanks for a hundred thousands pounds, you might also, 
 in your hearts at any rate, recognise that we, who have given 
 a hundred and fifty times as much, are not altogether un- 
 deserving of your regard. 
 
 "Now, on what terms are we to live for the future? 
 I think that those of you who read newspapers and follow 
 the course of public opinion will have seen that there is 
 growing up a certain impatience of all these constant and 
 reiterated demands, that there is an impression that, while 
 the Boer leaders are most excellent people at bargaining, 
 they fail to recognise that when a bargain is once made 
 it should be stuck to. The terms of peace at Vereeniging 
 were the subject of long discussion, they were submitted to 
 all the burghers in the field in their separate Commandos. 
 I do not pretend that they gave everything to the Boers that 
 the Boers desired, but, such as they were, they were the best 
 we could give, and they were finally and loyally accepted. 
 And it is a little too early to try now to go behind, or further 
 than, the terms then concluded. The terms of Vereeniging 
 are the charter of the Boer nation. You have every right to 
 call on us, the British, to fulfill them in the spirit and the 
 letter. And if in any respect you think these terms have not 
 been, or will not be carried out in the future, bring your 
 complaints to us and they will be redressed. 
 
 " In the first place, as regards the amnesty to rebels, you 
 will find in the terms at Vereeniging no allusion to this 
 question. No demand in regard to the rebels was either 
 asked for or conceded. It is therefore a matter outside and 
 beyond what I have called your charter. But, though 
 
174 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 nothing was said in the Terms of Surrender, the British 
 representatives in order that there might never be any future 
 misunderstanding on the subject, put in a paper, which they 
 gave to the Boer leaders before the terms were signed, in 
 which it was stated exactly what would be done. That paper 
 said that rebels would be subject to the laws and decisions of 
 the self-governing colonies against which their crime had 
 been committed, and there the matter might have been 
 allowed to rest ; but we ourselves, without any pressure from 
 you or any one else, have already done a great deal to meet 
 what we knew to be your wishes. The Government of Natal 
 of its own accord have released the greater number of rebels 
 who were in prison in that colony. In other parts of the 
 country, in accordance with the report of the Commission 
 which the British Government appointed, which consisted of 
 some of our greatest lawyers, hundreds have been released, 
 and sentences on others have been largely reduced. This 
 shows that we were not animated by a vindictive spirit, and 
 that we have already exercised without pressure a large 
 moderation. 
 
 "Now you, gentlemen, who, as Mr Smuts has told you, 
 have been members of a free country, and who, I hope, in a 
 short time will be members of a country just as free, must 
 feel with me that there is no more serious political offence — 
 I am not speaking of moral offences — than that of rebellion 
 against a free government. Yet now you come to ask me to 
 act as though this offence, which cuts at the root of all 
 government, were a venial one. I ask you to bear in mind 
 what was your own action. How did you treat your rebels ? 
 You shot them, you imprisoned them, you shamboked them, 
 you fined them. I do not say you were wrong. You were, 
 as you thought then, protecting your own Government. I 
 ask you as reasonable- men to justify us when we try to 
 protect our Government. But that is not all. How are 
 those of your countrymen, who at one period or other of 
 the war either surrendered or in some cases assisted the 
 British — how are they being treated ? Surely you must 
 first show that you are ready to forgive and forget, before 
 you ask us to take the exceptional policy which you have 
 put before us. 
 
 " I wish you to understand that I do not close the door 
 to further amnesty ; but it will not come as the result of 
 pressure. We shall see how the situation develops. If, 
 as we hope and pray, you show the loyalty which Mr Smuts 
 describes as a national characteristic, I shall be glad if the 
 
ME CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 175 
 
 colonial Governments find it in their power to reconsider 
 these sentences. 
 
 " I come now to the question of allowing those of your 
 people who are still abroad to return to' the country at once. 
 I understand that you refer to those burghers who have not 
 fought themselves, but who have served their country abroad, 
 and also to those burghers who are prisoners of war, and 
 who, up to the present, have refused to make the declaration 
 which is a condition of the terms of peace. With regard to 
 these persons, whatever may be the merits of the case, it is 
 altogether outside the terms of peace. No terms were made 
 for them, nor do the names of the classes to which they 
 belong appear in the document which I have called your 
 charter. Now, I do not think we can allow any man to come 
 back who refuses the terms which his own leaders agreed to 
 in his name. As regards the others — those who were in 
 Europe — each case must be considered on its own merits. If 
 we find, or if we think, that in the interests of the peace of 
 the country it is desirable that certain individuals should 
 continue to be excluded from the Transvaal, it is our duty to 
 exclude them, whatever the hardship may be to them. Our 
 great interest is the peace of the country, and if there is 
 reason to think that any persons outside the country will come 
 back to make trouble and stir up animosity, we will keep 
 them out of it. These gentlemen, some of them, many of 
 them, perhaps all of them, declare that they are ready to 
 prove their loyalty. We have asked them to give proof of 
 their loyalty. You know, and we know, that immediately 
 before the war, and during the war, there were sent to Europe 
 large sums of money to be used on behalf of the Boer cause. 
 In so far as that money was properly expended in promoting 
 your cause I have nothing to say about it ; but I think that 
 the new Government, as representing you, have a right to see 
 the accounts, to know that the money has been properly 
 spent for the purpose for which it was sent, and to know 
 also what has become of the balance. We are told that the 
 balance is a small one. We know that immense sums were 
 taken from the banks ; we know that a large portion of these 
 sums were sent to Europe, and we believe that there must be 
 a very large sum still unspent. If we are wrong, nothing is 
 easier than to prove to us that all the money that was sent 
 has been expended. There is no need for keeping secret any 
 longer the expenditure which was incurred during the war. 
 Nobody will be punished for any expenditure of that kind. 
 Nobody will be held responsible. We do not want this 
 
176 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 money for ourselves. We have promised that when 
 we receive it, we will hand it over to a committee on 
 which your leaders shall themselves be placed, and that 
 the whole of the money shall be spent in relieving the 
 widows and orphans and the destitute. We asked those 
 gentlemen in Europe whose duty it was to know where the 
 money had gone to, and what had become of it, to give 
 us the necessary information. Up to the present time we 
 have not succeeded, but we think that a full account of this 
 money, and the handing over to such a committee as I have 
 described of the balance would be a better proof of loyalty 
 than mere assertions. 
 
 " I come now to the question of the annexation to Natal 
 of what was once a portion of the Transvaal. Again I have 
 to remind you that this is a matter which had been settled 
 before the terms of peace were signed, and which was no part 
 of the agreement. A proclamation had already been issued, 
 and the new Government had got to work. It is an act 
 which is now impossible to retract. When I was in Natal, I 
 had an opportunity of seeing a number of farmers who came 
 from the annexed districts. I do not mean to say that if they 
 had had their choice they would have preferred the change. 
 That would have been strange ; but I think they were 
 satisfied. So far as their political condition is concerned, 
 they will enter immediately into the full rights of citizen- 
 ship, which are given to all citizens in Natal. They will 
 therefore be free citizens in a free state, and will be the 
 first of you to occupy that position. 
 
 " With regard to the language question, I understand that 
 it is not entirely a question of self-interest, but one of senti- 
 ment and religion. In the terms of peace it is promised that 
 education in Dutch should be given to the children of parents 
 who desire it. This promise will be kept. Of course, there 
 is an enormous amount of work which has to be done after 
 the war in the administration of a great department like 
 the Education Department. This Department may still be 
 imperfect; and there may be ground for some of the 
 complaints which I have heard. I can, however, assure you 
 of my determination to cancel any faults which may now 
 exist, and to keep absolute faith with you in this respect. 
 It has been represented to me that some of the teachers 
 appointed to teach Dutch are unable to teach it properly. If 
 that is the case, we will certainly take steps to remove a 
 grievance which must be admitted to be well founded. There 
 is also a fear expressed in some quarters lest teachers in 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 177 
 
 schools should interfere with the religion of children. This 
 is entirely contrary to our instructions and intention ; and if 
 any case of the kind is brought to the knowledge of the 
 Government, it will be immediately corrected. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, I come to the question of the relations 
 between the natives and the whites. It is unfortunate, but 
 not unnatural, that the natives, having seen the white races 
 fighting against each other, should show some unrest, but I 
 can assure you that this spirit will be strenuously discouraged 
 by the Government. I observe that Mr Smuts said that you 
 were in favour of justice and fair treatment to the natives ; 
 and more than that cannot be properly asked. For the natives, 
 coming under our rule and enjoying our protection, must 
 obey our laws, and when, as in very many cases, they have 
 accepted obligations, or made contracts either to pay money 
 or to give labour, those contracts must be fulfilled, and the 
 power of the Government will be used to compel their fulfil- 
 ment. I hope that you will recognise that the South African 
 Constabulary is not a garrison to hold the country down, 
 but a police force for your own protection. Whenever you 
 have complaints to make of a breach of contract on the part 
 of the natives, or misconduct in them, you should not hesitate 
 to apply to the South African Constabulary, and to look on 
 them as friends who are there to help you in your trouble. 
 I propose to accept the invitation to visit the country 
 districts, and to learn from the farmers themselves what the 
 Government can do for them. 
 
 " And now, gentlemen, in conclusion I say that I heartily 
 agree with Mr Smuts when he says that we must stand 
 together in the work of resettlement and restoration. The 
 hope of South Africa lies in closer intercourse between the 
 two races. We British and you Dutch are not really 
 separated either in interest or in character. If you go back 
 to our and to your history, you find that in centuries long 
 ago we were kinsfolk ; and now, although we have been 
 separated, the resemblances between us are greater than the 
 differences. The characteristics which we admire, you have 
 — patriotism, courage, tenacity, and willingness to make 
 sacrifices for what you believe to be right and true. Well, 
 these are the qualities which we desire to imitate, and which 
 we believe we share. I believe then that with consideration 
 on both sides, with strict observance of agreements on both 
 sides, with a readiness to give as well as to take, before many 
 years are over, probably sooner than any of us now can 
 anticipate, we shall be one free people under one flag.' ' 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
178 RECONSi.iUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 The short discussion by which this speech was followed 
 was confined to the one question of the missing funds. 
 
 Mr Schalk Burger (the Acting - President of the late 
 Republic), after declaring his readiness to co-operate in the 
 endeavour to recover the money, put forward the contention 
 that the new Government, having possession of all the books 
 of the old Government, could easily find the particulars 
 required. 
 
 To this Mr Chamberlain replied that Mr Burger was in 
 error in stating that the responsibility rested with the new 
 Government. " It is true," he said, " we have come into 
 possession of some of the books of the late Government, but 
 all the books which dealt with the sending of money to 
 Europe disappeared before we came in." 
 
 General Botha then interposed, and, after remarking that 
 he regretted that the subject had been brought up, asked 
 Mr Chamberlain " if this question of money were referred to 
 in the Peace articles ? " To this Mr Chamberlain replied, 
 " Not in the least." As the Secretary of State had laid down 
 with so much emphasis that the Boers were not to go outside 
 their charter, as he called the Terms of Surrender, this was 
 a fair retort ; and General Botha followed up his dialectical 
 success by an endeavour to score another point. If the 
 members of the late Government, now in Europe, he said, 
 were allowed to return, he was certain that they would 
 get the facts from them. But to this suggestion Mr 
 Chamberlain pertinently replied : " There are now members 
 of the late Government here, and if they know the facts 
 and get this money, we are able to do it without bringing 
 anybody here." 
 
 Mr Smuts then rose to express, on behalf of the delegates 
 as a whole, the gratification which they had felt at the 
 manner in which Mr Chamberlain had received them. In 
 doing so, he added that the Boers were not ungrateful 
 for what the Government had done for the people, and 
 that they appreciated to the full the results which the 
 Government had achieved in spite of the difficulties of the 
 situation. 
 
 Mr Chamberlain, in acknowledging this speech, thanked 
 the delegates for having come to see him. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN EN THE NEW COLONIES 179 
 
 " We have had," he continued, " a most interesting, most 
 useful, and, I am glad to say, most friendly discussion. 
 Perhaps I have not been able to avoid mixing some bitter 
 with the sweet, but you will agree with me that it is better 
 I should say what I mean and stick to it afterwards, than 
 that I should say pleasant things which I should afterwards 
 forget." 
 
 It is noticeable that in all his dealings with the Boer 
 leaders Mr Chamberlain, however emphatic might be his 
 language, or uncompromising his statements, maintained a 
 friendliness of demeanour that prevented the occurrence of 
 any feeling of personal hostility. This was certainly the 
 case on the present occasion. He had given hard blows ; 
 but once, at least, General Botha had struck back shrewdly — 
 when he asked if there were anything in the Vereeniging 
 Agreement about the " lost millions." Yet Mr Chamberlain's 
 last words were felt to be cordial and unaffected, and 
 the cheers which were given by the delegates, when, all 
 standing, he left the Raadzaal, escorted by General Botha 
 and followed by Lord Milner and Sir Arthur Lawley, were 
 more hearty than those which had greeted him on his arrival. 
 
 In the morning the Boers — in the afternoon the British 
 of the Rand. At Johannesburg Mr Chamberlain was received 
 at the Park Station by the Town Council, and then con- 
 ducted, under escort of the Rand volunteers, to the grounds 
 of the Wanderers' Club, where the addresses of welcome 
 were presented. 
 
 His reply to that of the Town Council was distinguished 
 by its emphatic appreciation of Lord Milner's services, and 
 by its generous declaration of his belief in the integrity of 
 the British community of the Rand. 
 
 " This is a new country," he said. "It will take time and 
 devotion, and self-sacrifice before you all will be welded 
 into a free nation. It is your mission in Johannesburg to 
 contribute to this object. And I think, and I feel sure, 
 that you will fulfill it. 
 
 " I have come here in the hope that I may be able to 
 strengthen the hands of Lord Milner in the gigantic task 
 to which, during the last few years, he has devoted such 
 conspicuous ability and patriotism. I hope — I know that 
 
180 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 here I shall appreciate the magnitude of the work that he 
 has already done. I see how you trust him. And I hope 
 that when I go back I shall be better able to co-operate 
 with him in the work which he is carrying on. 
 
 " I come to you as a friend. In the darkest days of 
 your adversity, when you were subject to oppression and 
 insult, I supported your appeal for the intervention of the 
 Imperial Government. I thought your cause was just, and 
 I held that no Briton should ever in a just cause appeal 
 to the Motherland, and go away unsatisfied. I have never 
 joined in the calumnies which have been levelled against 
 you. On the contrary, I have, where the opportunity offered, 
 denounced those men who always find their country in the 
 wrong, who attribute every virtue to their foes, and see 
 no good whatever in their friends. You in Johannesburg 
 have been accused of clamouring for war to fill your pockets. 
 That is a false accusation. It has been shown to be so, 
 for you risked everything to preserve those rights which 
 no self-respecting Briton can surrender without humiliation. 
 You have been accused of unwillingness to share in the 
 dangers of a war which you provoked. That reproach was 
 wiped out by the Imperial Light Horse at Ladysmith, and 
 by the gallantry of the contingents which you sent from this 
 city to fight and to die in many of the fiercest encounters 
 of the war. At the same time the courage and cheerfulness 
 with which men, aye and women too, driven from their 
 homes and exposed to want and suffering, bore their troubles, 
 deserved the recognition of their fellow-countrymen through- 
 out the world. 
 
 " What you did in war I would believe you are prepared 
 to do in peace. You will be prepared in peace to take your 
 part, if ever again the call should be made upon you, and 
 it was to me a source of pleasure and satisfaction on my 
 entrance into this city to pass in review the members of the 
 local volunteers who constitute the beginnings of a splendid 
 force, which it will, I hope, be your care and business to 
 increase in still greater proportions. 
 
 "But there is still another calumny in store for you. 
 It has been said that you are prepared to repudiate your 
 share of the expenditure which has been incurred in the 
 war. There are people who say that you, whose interests 
 came first in the matter, while not only the Motherland but 
 your sister colonies have made sacrifices to meet them, you 
 and you alone in the Empire will fail in your duty. I 
 will wait and see. But I do not believe that the men 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 181 
 
 who faced personal danger and personal suffering with so 
 much bravery will now show that they care more for their 
 purses than they did for their lives. 
 
 " Now, while you are considering that subject, I will 
 call you to witness that the Mother Country has done its 
 duty by you. When you appealed for help, did she shrink 
 from the call ? She answered without hesitation. She has 
 poured forth her blood and treasure without stint. I think 
 that in the future, at any rate, it can never be said that 
 she is forgetful of the ties which bind her to her children. 
 She has vindicated her place in the eyes of the world. 
 She has justified her claims to the headship of the British 
 race. And now every Briton, wherever he may bend his 
 feet, will carry with him the proud thought, that — 
 
 " ' Always in toil or fray. 
 Under an alien sky, 
 Comfort it is to say 
 Of no mean city am I.'" 
 
 From the Wanderers' Mr Chamberlain drove, again 
 escorted by a corps of volunteers, to Sunnyside,^ where he 
 and Mrs Chamberlain remained as the guests of Lord 
 Milner during their stay at Johannesburg. 
 
 Although at the time of Mr Chamberlain's arrival Lord 
 Milner held in their entirety the opinions which he had 
 expressed in his financial despatch of 8th September, he 
 had come to feel more strongly than ever the difficulty, 
 almost futility, of fixing the amount and method of pay- 
 ment of the war contribution before the expected expansion 
 of the taxable resources of the Transvaal had actually taken 
 place. He had himself formulated certain detailed proposals 
 for annual payments on a sliding scale, which were to begin 
 at a specified future date, but he regarded none of them as 
 wholly satisfactory ; and he doubted whether any arrange- 
 ment for the payment of a war contribution, whatever form 
 it took, if made at this time, when the Transvaal was, so to 
 speak, in the melting pot, would prove to be permanent. Mr 
 Chamberlain was earnestly, and most properly, desirous of 
 obtaining some relief for the tax-payers of the United 
 Kingdom. He objected, however, to the postponement of 
 
 1 Lord Milner's residence. Mr Chamberlain's staff were provided with 
 quarters in a neighbouring house. 
 
182 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the contribution on more grounds than one, and to the 
 method of graduated future payments for the very practical 
 reason, that however large the amount to be made up by 
 such payments might be, its present value — or in other 
 words, the actual relief afforded to the United Kingdom 
 tax-payers — would be only one-half of the total sum thus 
 ultimately to be contributed. Lord Milner, on the other 
 hand, in spite of his doubts as to the advisability of attempt- 
 ing to fix the amount of the contribution at the time in 
 question, was convinced that to make even a precarious 
 settlement would be better than to leave the colony with 
 its then liability for an undetermined, but possibly dispro- 
 portionately heavy, demand. 
 
 It was in these circumstances, and with this information 
 and advice before him, that Mr Chamberlain engaged in 
 the discussion of the two interdependent questions of the 
 Guaranteed Loan and the war contribution with the repre- 
 sentatives of the industrial population of the Transvaal. 
 During the fortnight that he stayed with Lord Milner at 
 Johannesburg (8th to 22nd January) he was mainly occupied 
 with this discussion, and in announcing publicly the arrange- 
 ment finally concluded, he could state with perfect truth that 
 the matter " had been the subject of infinite discussion, not 
 with one section of the community alone, but with every one 
 whose acquaintance he had made." 
 
 The occasion of the announcement in question was the 
 banquet given in Mr Chamberlain's honour at Johannesburg 
 on Saturday, 17th January 1903. His actual words may be 
 given as providing a succinct account both of the arrange- 
 ment itself, and of the considerations by which he was 
 chiefly influenced in making it. 
 
 " Until a few hours ago I had no authority from the 
 Home Government to deal finally with the matter. And it 
 is only this afternoon that I have received a resolution from 
 a meeting which, I think, from its composition is as repre- 
 sentative of the loyal British population of the Transvaal as 
 it would be possible in existing circumstances for any meet- 
 ing to be. I should like to say, before going further, how 
 great has been my gratification at the spirit in which the 
 question has been met by every one to whom I have spoken. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 183 
 
 Not one man has for a moment attempted to shirk any 
 obligation which might be justly imposed on him, or on 
 those for whom he might be justly entitled to speak in 
 reference to this matter. On the other hand, those whom I 
 have consulted have impressed upon me the great importance 
 of doing nothing which should hinder the development of 
 the country. And I believe their observations have been 
 made quite as much in a spirit of Imperial loyalty as in any 
 regard to any local interests. I have shared these views 
 from the first. I have said ^ that I would not desire to take 
 a penny, if I should thereby prevent that natural progress, 
 that most desirable development which is made not only 
 in the interests of individuals, but which is an essential factor 
 in the return to pacification of the country, in the content- 
 ment of the whole colony. 
 
 " But, having regard to that, the idea which I brought out 
 with me was that the difficulty could best be met by asking 
 from the Transvaal no additional pressure on its taxation, 
 but a contribution from future surpluses, and new sources of 
 revenue, which might be annually applied until it reached a 
 maximum to be fixed. And if that view had prevailed, I 
 should have asked you to fix that maximum at a much 
 higher sum than anything which has been hitherto spoken 
 of: and I should have thought it fair, because, whatever it 
 was, it would have been conditional on the increased 
 prosperity of the country, and would have been proportionate 
 to that increased prosperity. But it was represented to me 
 that, besides the uncertainty which would attend an arrange- 
 ment of that kind, there was always a serious danger that 
 contributions, prolonged, it might be, over a generation, 
 would give rise in the future, when perhaps even the 
 memory of the great war from which we have recently 
 emerged had passed away, to irritation and discontent ; 
 that it might be represented under the odious name of a 
 tribute to the Mother Country ; and that in addition, the 
 attempt to ear-mark and put aside any particular source of 
 revenue would involve and justify an interference on the 
 part of the Imperial Government with what are essentially 
 local concerns and local financial arrangements, which would 
 become in time intolerable to a free population. I felt, 
 gentlemen, that there was great force in these objections, 
 and that if I had pursued my original lines, I should be in 
 danger of injuring the very cause I wished to promote, and, 
 
 ' At the Pretoria banquet given to Mr Chamberlain on Tuesday, 6th January 
 (p. i6i). 
 
184 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 instead of securing the unity of the Empire, I might leave 
 behind me the seeds of dissension ; I might leave a legacy 
 which was certain to result in danger to the union which we 
 all desire. I agreed, therefore, that if possible the question 
 should be settled in a way which would secure a practical 
 and immediate result : that it should be final in its operation, 
 that there should be no ear-marking whatsoever of any exist- 
 ing or possible sources of revenue, and consequently no 
 harassing interference on the part of any one external to 
 the Transvaal. 
 
 " Now, in these circumstances, after continuous dis- 
 cussion, a proposition has been evolved which is, as I have 
 said, satisfactory to those representative associations which 
 met to-day,^ and which I am able gladly to accept on behalf 
 of His Majesty's Government. Let me tell you what the 
 proposal is, and bear in mind that it all hangs together, and 
 that one part cannot be separated from another. The first 
 part is, permit me to say, wholly in your favour. It is a 
 unique and unprecedented act on the part of the Imperial 
 Government. We undertake to submit to Parliament a 
 bill to guarantee a loan of thirty-five millions sterling on 
 the security of the assets of the Transvaal and Orange 
 River Colony, which are to be united for this purpose. I 
 hope you will agree with me that this is a proposal of happy 
 augury for the future unification of the interests of these 
 two colonies. The loan will be raised as soon as Parliament 
 assents to it. I should describe it as an investment loan, 
 for it will be devoted to paying the existing debts of the 
 Transvaal, to buying up existing railways, and to providing 
 for the construction of new lines in the two new colonies. 
 It will allow for the necessary expenditure on public works, 
 and will also provide for land settlement. You will see that 
 in this way the Governments of the Transvaal and of the 
 Orange River Colony will, if the arrangement is accepted 
 by the Imperial Parliament, be immediately placed [in funds 
 which will enable them to provide for the development of 
 the country in the next few years. Then the second part 
 of the agreement is this : That as soon as possible after 
 the placing of the first loan, another loan of thirty millions 
 shall be issued, to be called up in annual instalments of ten 
 millions ; and that this loan shall be treated as the con- 
 tribution to the war debt, secured on the assets of the 
 Transvaal. There is no doubt in my mind, or in the minds 
 
 1 A full account of the bodies represented, and of the proceedings at the 
 meeting, is given in Cd. 1552. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 185 
 
 of any of those with whom I have conferred, that the assets 
 and revenues of the Transvaal will be ample to provide for 
 the service of this debt, but as proof of their faith in the 
 solvency of the country, in which they take so great an 
 interest, that group of financiers, who are specially connected 
 with South Africa, has undertaken to subscribe for the first 
 ten millions without any commission or any preferential 
 security for the remainder of the loan. By this act they 
 have, in my opinion, rendered the success of the loan on 
 the London market a matter which is beyond all doubt. 
 
 " And now, gentlemen, if this arrangement approves itself 
 to you, and if, as far as we can judge, it approves itself 
 to the population of the Transvaal, it will accomplish the 
 object in less than three years from the present day. It 
 will place no undue burden on the resources of the 
 Transvaal ; it will even hasten its speedy development, and 
 it will be accepted, I firmly believe, by the people of the 
 Mother Country as an adequate and as a liberal recognition 
 on the part of this colony of its duty to the Empire at large, 
 of the gratitude which it has so frequently expressed, and 
 which, I believe, it so sincerely feels, towards the nation — 
 the mother nation, which came to its assistance in its time 
 of need. I wojald add one other word. If I know my 
 countrymen at Home as I think I do, they will value 
 even more the spirit in which the offer has been made 
 than they will the relief which it is likely to afford to the 
 exchequer of the country. 
 
 " Now you will have observed that I have said nothing 
 in regard to the war contribution from the Orange River 
 Colony. That colony stands in an altogether different 
 position from that of the Transvaal. At the present time 
 its ordinary revenue is only sufficient to meet its ordinary 
 expenditure. And at the present time it could not pay, 
 and it would be unjust to ask it to pay, anything to such 
 a contribution. But it does not follow that the Orange 
 River Colony will always be in that condition. I am assured 
 that it is possible, and even probable, that new resources 
 will be developed there as here ; and, therefore, I think it 
 would be fair, and I do not think that any reasonable and 
 patriotic man will object to it, that the Orange River Colony 
 should undertake to pay a moderate contribution, if in the 
 course of the next few years its resources will justify such 
 a course. And if they do not, then I am quite sure that 
 no demand will be made."^ 
 
 ' The above is taken from various press reports collated. 
 
186 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 It will be noticed that in the event Mr Chamberlain 
 had returned to his own original opinion in favour of a 
 small but promptly paid contribution, while Lord Milner 
 had allowed himself to be brought round from the opinion 
 expressed in his despatch, and held at the time of Mr 
 Chamberlain's arrival, to the same point of view. In thus 
 yielding to the arguments of the Secretary of State, he 
 was influenced by the consideration that any decision was 
 better than none at all ; but, in any case, his misgivings in 
 regard to the permanency of any arrangement made thus 
 prematurely, as he regarded it, were destined to be only 
 too amply justified. 
 
 The Home Government in their reply to Mr Chamberlain's 
 cabled proposals for the financial settlement, assented to the 
 arrangement proposed both in respect of the Development 
 Loan and the war contribution, subject to the repayment 
 to the British Exchequer of («) the ^3,000,000 grant-in-aid 
 of July 1901, {b) the ;^3,ooo,ooo being the repayable portion 
 of the supplementary vote of ;^5,ooo,ooo in November 1902, 
 and {c) the capital expenditure on the railways (amounting 
 to ;^i, 250,000) incurred by the military authorities. The 
 liability of the Administration for the first two items was 
 perfectly well understood, but the claim of the War Office, 
 contained in the last item, was absolutely denied ; and 
 accordingly it was reserved for future discussion.^ The 
 war contribution, in point of fact, was never paid ; but 
 Mr Chamberlain believed — and, in spite of Lord Milner's 
 warning that no settlement of this question made at that 
 time would prove lasting, was perhaps justified in believing 
 — that the matter had been settled once and for all. Under 
 the influence of this belief, his treatment of his Imperial 
 themes, always finely conceived, was in this speech lighted 
 by a brilliant optimism that raised his audience for the 
 moment at least to his own high level of patriotic 
 endeavour. 
 
 Lord Milner's brief note of the events of the day, with 
 its familiar touches, will form an appropriate conclusion 
 to the foregoing account of what was, perhaps, the most 
 
 ^ For the settlement of this War Office claim, see forward ii. p. 6. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 187 
 
 momentous incident of Mr Chamberlain's visit to South 
 Africa. 
 
 " Late in the afternoon Prince Arthur of Connaught arrived 
 to stay until Monday. At 8.15 we all went to the great 
 banquet to Mr Chamberlain at the Wanderers'. It passed 
 off very well. Some 500 sat down, and there were about 
 100 more admitted after dinner. Also there were a number 
 of ladies to hear the speeches. Fitzpatrick, who proposed 
 my health, I, and St John Carr, who proposed Chamberlain's, 
 
 spoke for 25 minutes between us. C spoke for an hour 
 
 and ten minutes. We got home shortly after 12, but talked 
 for some time. I felt too tired to go to bed till nearly 
 two." 
 
 But although the waywardness of extraneous circum- 
 stances rendered Mr Chamberlain's settlement of the 
 war contribution abortive, his treatment of the question 
 was not by any means useless as a political achievement. 
 The mere fact that he had got the Transvaal British to 
 recognise thus publicly their obligation to contribute to 
 the war debt of the Mother Country, exercised a restraining 
 influence upon the more eager advocates of the immediate 
 grant of self-government, during the years of the Crown 
 Colony administration. And, on the other hand, the action 
 of the Mother Country was kept free from any taint of 
 harshness ; for Mr Chamberlain's arrangement rested upon 
 the assumption that the payment of the ;^30,ooo,ooo could 
 be provided for without trenching upon the revenue 
 necessary for the material development of the colony. 
 When, therefore, the shortage of labour arrested the 
 expansion of the mining industry and proved this 
 assumption to be incorrect, the graciousness of the Mother 
 Country in foregoing its claim was not marred by any 
 sacrifice of political integrity on either side. The 
 ;£'30,ooo,ooo were never paid ; but Mr Chamberlain none 
 the less gained an asset for England in the shape of a 
 moral obligation on the part of the Transvaal, which was 
 perhaps in the long run not less valuable to her and to 
 the Empire at large. 
 
 Although the conferences and interviews incidental to 
 this central matter occupied the greater portion of his 
 
188 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 time and energy, he and Lord Milner found opportunities, 
 during the fortnight (8th to 22nd January) that they were 
 under the same roof, for the discussion of a number of 
 administrative questions upon many of which decisions 
 were arrived at. The subjects thus discussed ranged 
 from the Ethiopian movement ^ to the arrangements for 
 holding those conferences between the different South 
 African Governments on matters of common concern, which 
 helped conspicuously to prepare the way for the union 
 of South Africa. They included bywoner and burgher 
 settlements; the issue of special instructions to the 
 South African Constabulary intended to protect the 
 Boers against insolence or breach of contract on the part 
 of the natives ; education ; the return of Messrs Fischer, 
 Wolmerans, and Wessels (three of the delegates who, during 
 the war, had gone to Europe to procure the intervention of 
 Germany or France) ; Municipal Councils ; the Inter-Colonial 
 Council ; railway policy and administration ; the shipping 
 ring ; the system of purchase through the Crown Agents ; 
 the mines and the labour supply ; taxation and customs ; 
 afforestation and irrigation ; the Transvaal Legislative 
 Council and Civil Service ; the South African Constabulary ; 
 the purchase of the Hatherley Distillery ; immigration of 
 women ; the dual capital ; Swaziland ; Rhodesia and the 
 importation of Asiatic labour ; the South African Customs 
 Union, and Imperial Preference. 
 
 The bare enumeration of these headings must suffice 
 for the moment ; but in the course of the subsequent 
 narrative it will be necessary to refer more than once to 
 the outcome of the conferences that now took place 
 between Mr Chamberlain and Lord Milner at Sunnyside, 
 and later on at Government House, Bloemfontein.* 
 
 The Secretary of State left Johannesburg on Thursday, 
 
 ^ Nominally an endeavour to create an ecclesiastical organisation served 
 exclusively by native African Ministers, but, in effect, a political and social 
 movement tending to assert the complete equality of the black and white races 
 in South Africa. It had caused considerable uneasiness to the Natal Government 
 at this time. 
 
 ' Notably in the case of the Inter-Colonial Council, the main lines of which 
 were laid down by Lord Milner, and approved by Mr Chamberlain, in 
 conversations held at Johannesburg and Bloemfontein. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 189 
 
 22nd January. At 11 o'clock, after "a great scramble of 
 work," to be ready for the occasion. Lord Milner wrote : 
 
 " Mr and Mrs Chamberlain and I, with all the members 
 of our staffs, drove to the station, where the Lytteltons, 
 Sir Arthur Lawley, and Baden-Powell joined us, and took 
 the special train to Potchefstroom. There was a very large 
 crowd to see Mr and Mrs C, and a magnificent send-off 
 at the station, where all the best people in Johannesburg 
 had assembled." 
 
 At Krugersdorp the train halted for half an hour for 
 Mr Chamberlain to receive, and reply to, an address of 
 welcome. Potchefstroom was reached at 5 o'clock, and 
 here the visitors were met by Mr Duxbury, the Resident 
 Magistrate, and conducted to the various quarters which 
 had been prepared for them. In the morning Lord Milner 
 saw the men who were interested in the burgher settle- 
 ment in the neighbourhood of the town, and then picked 
 up Mr and Mrs Chamberlain, who had been lodged at 
 Mr Jooste's house, and drove to the cantonments, where 
 a parade of the troops, some 1,200 strong, was held, at 
 which General Lyttelton took the salute. In the afternoon 
 the whole party paid a visit to the burgher settlement. 
 A heavy downpour of rain prevented the programme 
 from being carried out as arranged, but tea was taken in 
 Andries Cronje's house in the middle of the settlement, 
 and Mr Chamberlain met with a "tremendous reception" 
 from the remarkable assemblage of burghers who had 
 gathered at the camp to meet him. 
 
 The next morning (Saturday, 24th January) was spent 
 in an inspection of the British squatter settlement, over 
 which Mr and Mrs Chamberlain, with Lord Milner and 
 the rest of the party, were shown by Mr Smith, the 
 Director of Agriculture for the Transvaal Government. 
 Immediately after lunch the party separated. Mr and Mrs 
 Chamberlain, with the staff, Major-General Baden-Powell, 
 and Sir Arthur Lawley, started for their trek across 
 country to Mafeking, in which they were accompanied by 
 two members of Lord Milner's staff — Major Lambton and 
 
190 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Lord Henry Seymour. Lord Milner himself, with Major 
 Henley, returned by special train to Johannesburg. 
 
 On the following Monday (26th) Mr Chamberlain was at 
 Lichtenburg. On the way he had met with an excellent 
 reception by the Boers at Ventersdorp, among whom was 
 General De la Rey, who showed a very friendly spirit, 
 and dined with the party in the evening. 
 
 From Lichtenburg the party continued their "trek" to 
 Ottoshoop (27th January), where Mr Chamberlain again met 
 with a cordial reception from the ex-burghers and received 
 an address of welcome. His reply, which was interpreted 
 into Dutch by Mr Roux, contained some excellent advice 
 to the farmers, who were observed to listen with keen 
 interest to the whole of the speech. 
 
 " After all," he said, " we are very much alike — we English 
 and you Dutch. All that is wanted is that we should trust 
 one another and work together. ... I don't think you have 
 made the most of your country up to the present time. 
 Why is that? Partly because during the last twenty-iive 
 years or so you have always been fighting with somebody. 
 Now we have peace, let us keep it, and you will be all the 
 richer. And another reason is that you and your Government 
 have been afraid of new things and new inventions, and new 
 people ; and yet all these things will improve your country 
 and improve your position. Now I hope you will welcome 
 those strangers who come among you to develop your 
 country, because everything that they do will increase 
 your wealth and your prosperity. The country is the 
 country of all who come to live in it, and all must live 
 together in union and in peace, and all must work together 
 for the good of the common country. And you may be 
 sure that your new Government will do everything in its 
 power to assist your efforts, and that it will do everything 
 to respect your feelings, and will secure to you as great a 
 liberty as you have ever enjoyed." 
 
 Mafeking was reached on the following day, Wednesday, 
 the 38th. Here, as the Secretary of State was now in the 
 Cape Colony, the party was joined by Sir Walter Hely- 
 Hutchinson and Sir Gordon Sprigg; while Sir Arthur 
 Lawley, Major Lambton, and Lord Henry Seymour returned 
 to the Transvaal. General Baden-Powell, however, remained 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 191 
 
 and went on to the Orange River Colony. On the same 
 morning Mr Chamberlain visited the Imperial Reserve, 
 where the native chiefs of the Bechuanaland Protectorate/ 
 with their secretaries, were grouped in a semi-circle, under 
 the trees in front of the Resident Commissioner's offices, 
 awaiting his arrival. After the chiefs had been all intro- 
 duced to him singly by the Commissioner, Mr Chamberlain 
 addressed a few words to them, as they stood before him 
 with their heads uncovered. 
 
 " I have come out to see you and hear anything you have 
 to state," he said, " and I shall report what I see and hear 
 to His Majesty's Government and to His Majesty. The 
 King has given me a message to convey to you. He says — 
 ' Be loyal and you will be well protected ; and he wishes you 
 all prosperity.' " 
 
 After this little ceremony was over Mr Chamberlain went 
 in to the Commissioner's office, and saw each chief in turn 
 privately. 
 
 Upon returning to the town he received the address of 
 welcome. His reply opened with a humorous reference to 
 his visit of the morning. 
 
 " Mr Mayor," he said, " if I were in any other country 
 I should condole with you upon the present state of the 
 weather. But when I saw the chiefs of the Protectorate 
 this morning they greeted me, as I left them, with a shout, 
 which, I was told, meant ' May you have rain ! ' Their 
 wishes have been fulfilled, and in the circumstances it would 
 be ungracious of me to complain." 
 
 He then expressed his pleasure at entering for the first 
 time the Cape Colony 
 
 " through the gates of Mafeking, a town which has established 
 itself in a niche in our Imperial history, from which nothing 
 can ever displace it." 
 
 On the 29th Mr Chamberlain held an Indaba with the 
 chiefs of the loyal Baralongs at the " stad," or native town. 
 
 ' The Bechuanaland Protectorate remained under the direct control of the 
 High Commissioner. Part of Bechuanaland, however (including Mafeking), 
 had been annexed to the Cape Colony in 1895, and was therefore administered by 
 the Cape Government. 
 
192 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 In their address the chiefs asked for assurances that their 
 privileges would not be diminished, now that they had been 
 placed under the government of the Cape Colony ; and 
 begged for an extension of their territory. After telling 
 them that Sir Gordon Sprigg, the Prime Minister of the 
 Colony, had promised that their requests would be favourably 
 considered, and reminding them that they had a right of 
 appeal to the Imperial Government, if they felt that they 
 had not been fairly treated at any time, he concluded: 
 
 " I come, as you know, from the great King, and he 
 knows of your loyalty. He has instructed me to thank you 
 for the assistance given during the siege, and to tell you 
 he will always protect you, as long as you are loyal to 
 the Throne." 
 
 The same evening Mr Chamberlain with his party, which 
 now included the Governor and Prime Minister of the Cape 
 Colony, left by train for Kimberley. Nowhere else in South 
 Africa was the coming of the Secretary of State welcomed 
 with greater demonstrations of goodwill and admiration than 
 in Rhodes' town. In the dim morning light of Friday, 
 30th January, he was met at the station by a great crowd, 
 and after a formal welcome from the Mayor, he and Mrs 
 Chamberlain were driven in a carriage, drawn by four white 
 horses and followed by a torch light procession, through the 
 illuminated streets to the Town Hall. In this building, a 
 fine classical structure placed in the Market Place, and now 
 packed with an audience of men and women all standing, 
 Mr Chamberlain replied to the address of welcome in a few 
 impassioned sentences in which he spoke of the greatness 
 of the British Empire, and the responsibilities which this 
 greatness brought to the people both of the Homeland and 
 of the colonies. 
 
 At the conclusion of his speech, every point of which was 
 received with a great outburst of cheers, a silver casket of 
 diamonds was presented to Mrs Chamberlain as a gift 
 from the ladies of Kimberley. This ceremony was followed 
 by the introduction of a number of deputations. That of 
 the Chamber of Commerce, which came first, brought various 
 questions affecting the trade of the town to the notice of the 
 
ME, CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 193 
 
 Secretary of State. A deputation from the Town Guard — a 
 force which had played an important part in the defence of 
 the town — asked for an early payment of the war gratuity, 
 and when in reply Mr Chamberlain referred them to the 
 Cape Government an awkward scene ensued. The deputa- 
 tion declared that " they had no faith in the Cape Govern- 
 ment in such matters." Thereupon, Sir Gordon Sprigg, the 
 Premier of the Cape, who with Mr Graham, the Attorney- 
 General, accompanied Mr Chamberlain, broke in with the 
 remark that " he regarded such an imputation as a personal 
 insult." The next deputation — that of the South African 
 League — referred to matters even more unpalatable to Sir 
 Gordon's ministry. An unfortunate state of things existed in 
 the Cape Colony, they alleged; loyalists were being boycotted, 
 the Peace Preservation Act was being laxly administered, 
 and the present Government pampered the Bond upon which 
 it depended for its existence. To these statements Sir 
 Gordon Sprigg listened in silence. Further deputations from 
 the Irish Immigration Association and the Birmingham 
 Association were followed by one of four Dutch farmers, 
 who complained of the commandeering of cattle in the Cape 
 Colony, and another representing the coloured population 
 and asking for equality with the whites in political and 
 civil privileges. These incidents — in themselves somewhat 
 trivial — have been mentioned as typical of the awkward 
 questions and situations which were suddenly sprung upon 
 Mr Chamberlain throughout his tour in South Africa. 
 Although he was successful in dealing with these situa- 
 tions — not scrupling to use strong language and stern 
 reproof where necessary, and at other times availing him- 
 self of a humorous turn of phrase or thought to repel 
 impertinent or untimely solicitations — yet it must be 
 obvious that the mental strain to which he was subjected 
 during these two months was one of quite unusual severity, 
 even for a man of his great natural ability and long 
 experience of public life. 
 
 The Kimberley reception of the Secretary of State was 
 crowned by a banquet to him, which took place in the 
 evening in the Market Hall, the largest building available 
 for the purpose. Speaking in this place it was natural that 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
194 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Mr Chamberlain should take the opportunity of paying a 
 tribute to the memory of Kimberley's great townsman, 
 Rhodes — who "gave a new start to the Empire," and who 
 "imprinted on South Africa his own large conception of 
 its future destiny." The speech was otherwise distinguished 
 by its clear note of warning to the Cape Dutch. 
 
 " Here in the Cape," he said, " where for long years the 
 freest privileges have been conceded to every white in- 
 habitant, where the full concession of self-government has 
 been made, it is said that self-government has not gained you 
 friends. It is said that self-government has been abused 
 — abused to your injury." 
 
 Mr and Mrs Chamberlain left Kimberley on the following 
 afternoon (Saturday, the 31st) for Paardeburg en route for 
 Bloemfontein. They were accompanied by Sir Hamilton 
 Goold-Adams, who had come to meet them, and travelled 
 across country in Cape carts with an escort of the South 
 African Constabulary. On the way Mr Chamberlain spoke to 
 the farmers whenever a homestead was passed ; and it was 
 noteworthy that many of the Boers, who here and elsewhere 
 had surrendered under the terms of Lord Roberts' proclama- 
 tion of 29th June 1900, drew the text of this document from 
 their pockets, and, pointing to it, declared that it was under 
 this that they had laid down their arms, and not under 
 the terms of Vereeniging. The party reached Bloemfontein 
 on Tuesday, 3rd February, and Lord Milner arrived at 
 the same place by train on the following afternoon.^ 
 
 The Secretary of State was received at Bloemfontein with 
 every demonstration of satisfaction on the part of the 
 inhabitants, both Dutch and British. As at Pretoria, so here 
 representatives of the burgher population had collected from 
 all parts of the colony ; and on Wednesday they proceeded 
 to hold meetings for the purpose of choosing the members of 
 the deputation which was to present their address to Mr 
 Chamberlain, and deciding upon the subjects to which his 
 
 1 With the High Commissioner came Major Henley and Mr Birchenough. 
 The latter, who had arrived on the 30th ult. at Johannesburg from Cape Town, 
 was intending to stay for some months in the new colonies collecting material for 
 the report on the commercial possibilities of South Africa as a market for British 
 manufactures upon which he was engaged. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 195 
 
 attention was to be drawn. At these meetings the three 
 sections, the " hands-uppers," the National Scouts, and 
 the "wild" Boers, met for the first time, and after much 
 heated discussion it was agreed that the delegates' address 
 should contain matters which all three sections were united 
 in regarding as of most immediate importance, but that 
 the " wild " Boer section should in addition to this present a 
 further petition expressive of their own particular point of 
 view. As the result of this arrangement, the delegates' 
 address put the delay in the payment of the compensation 
 claims in the forefront, and referred to the questions of the 
 amnesty for colonial rebels, equality of the Dutch and 
 English languages, the reduction of the Constabulary and 
 other matters, as grievances of secondary importance ; while 
 the petition of the " wild " Boers was nothing less than an 
 accusation of bad faith against both the Imperial Government 
 and the Local Administration in respect of the Terms of 
 Surrender. 
 
 At Bloemfontein the scenes which had taken place at 
 Pretoria were repeated. In dealing with the Boers, " wild " 
 or otherwise, Mr Chamberlain showed the same combination 
 of firmness and personal friendliness which had proved so 
 effective in the Transvaal. 
 
 In replying to the ex-burgher address he again refused 
 to consider the demand for the amnesty of the colonial 
 rebels ; and as at Pretoria he instanced the case of a Dutch 
 minister refusing to receive the National Scouts in his 
 church, to show that the Boers were the last people to look 
 upon rebellion as a trivial offence. With regard to the other 
 questions raised, he pointed out that these were matters 
 settled under the Terms of Surrender. If they wished to 
 repudiate this document — to " tear up the Vereeniging 
 contract" — well and good. But the British Government 
 in this case would be free to make laws irrespective of 
 any conditions whatsoever. 
 
 The address presented by the Bloemfontein municipality 
 contained the statement that, although the war had been 
 ended so short a time ago, there was already a " great and 
 remarkable development of energy and enterprise in the 
 town," and the expression of the hope that Bloemfontein 
 
196 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 would soon become the capital of a federated South 
 Africa.! 
 
 Mr Chamberlain's reply dealt generally with the material 
 and political prospects of the colony. He pointed out that 
 in spite of its well-being the Free State had been, by com- 
 parison, a " backward country." It needed communications 
 and water-storage. To build railways and irrigation works, 
 he said, you must have new capital. But 
 
 "capital is the greatest coward in the world. Capital 
 is always timid, and unless capital has confidence in the 
 security of your institutions it will not flow here as it ought 
 to flow ; and the improvements which we desire will not be 
 secured." 
 
 And so, too, with matters of even greater importance. 
 Under the rule of King Edward they would enjoy not 
 only prosperity, but liberty, personal protection, and a 
 free scope for their local aspirations. 
 
 " In regard to all you hold dear, in regard to your rights 
 and liberties," he summed up, " I hope you will all be in 
 a position to confess that you have lost nothing, that you 
 have gained something, by the change which has taken 
 place." 
 
 The speech also contained some interesting references 
 to the impressions left upon him by his journey across 
 country through the Transvaal and the Orange River 
 Colony. The welcome with which he had met at Bloem- 
 fontein on Tuesday had been " unique." 
 
 " Certainly we have been overwhelmed with kindness," 
 he said, speaking for himself and Mrs Chamberlain, "since 
 we came to South Africa. We have had many receptions, 
 but none, I think, so unique as that which greeted us on 
 Tuesday last, and which we shall always cherish amongst 
 the most agreeable memories of this in every way memorable 
 visit." 
 
 The ex -burgher population had shown a "universal 
 
 1 In the event (1909) Bloemfontein became the seat of the unified justiciary, 
 Cape Town the legislative, and Pretoria the administrative capital. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 197 
 
 kindness," which removed the " initial misgivings " which he 
 had felt. 
 
 " It has been to me," he said, " a most pleasant experience 
 to mix with those who a short time ago were fighting against 
 us in the field, and who are now prepared, after the fighting, 
 to shake hands, and to be, I hope, in the future as good 
 friends as they have in the past been stout and valiant 
 enemies." 
 
 Nevertheless he was struck by the destruction of property 
 The ravages of war had been greater than he had antici- 
 pated ; greater than the people of England had realised. 
 But he added : 
 
 " All that destruction of property has taken place in 
 the later stages of the war. If peace had been made when 
 Pretoria fell, and when the States' Governments disappeared 
 from their respective capitals, then there is no doubt what- 
 ever that nine-tenths of all the suffering, all the losses which 
 we have to regret, might have been avoided." 
 
 On the other hand, there was a favourable symptom of 
 which he had taken note. 
 
 '' I have noticed a very striking and a significant fact. 
 Whether in the Transvaal or in the Orange River Colony, 
 everywhere I have been told by the people whom I have 
 seen, and with whom I have conversed, that the value of 
 their land has doubled, or gone up very materially, since 
 the war. Now is that not a curious fact? Why is it? I 
 must leave you to consider the subject, and to find the 
 answer in your own minds. But one thing I want to 
 impress upon you is this : The rise in price will really go 
 far to compensate for the losses of the war ; because 
 although many people are now without oxen, without cattle, 
 without waggons, and apparently in destitute positions, their 
 capital — the land — that remains intact ; that has been 
 handed to them as it was before. And that, I say, has 
 doubled in value. If you want that state of things to be 
 permanent, you must work with the Government, and not 
 against the Government." 
 
 The speech also contained the promise of a " definite 
 statement " of the new arrangements for the payment of 
 
198 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the military and other compensation claims, which Mr 
 Chamberlain hoped to be able to make before he left 
 Bloemfontein. Nor was the appeal for racial reconciliation 
 omitted. 
 
 " I hope you {i.e. the men of British birth) will recognise 
 that it is your duty," he said in conclusion, " to hold out 
 to your new fellow-subjects the cordial hand of friendship, 
 and I hope that your new fellow - subjects will reciprocate 
 your kindly feelings ; that they will recognise that we 
 treat them as our equals, as our friends, as our fellow- 
 subjects, that we wish for them all the prosperity that we 
 desire for ourselves, and that we intend to give them all the 
 freedom, all the liberty, which we ourselves enjoy." 
 
 On the morning of Friday the petition of the "wild" 
 Boers was presented to the Secretary of State, and the 
 occasion was marked by a sharp passage of arms between 
 Mr Chamberlain and General Hertzog, the Attorney-General 
 to the late Free State Government, and General Christian 
 de Wet.i 
 
 ' Mr Chamberlain's interview with the "wild Boer" deputation was 
 intended to be private. A reporter, however, succeeded in effecting an entrance, 
 with the result that a long but inaccurate report of the proceedings appeared in 
 the Friend — the anti- British newspaper published at Bloemfontein— on the 
 following morning under a sensational heading. In order, therefore, to correct 
 the erroneous impression which would otherwise have been conveyed to the 
 public, a more faithful report was furnished to Reuter's correspondent by whom it 
 was supplied to the press. In speaking at the public banquet, given in his 
 honour on the following evening, Mr Chamberlain made a characteristically good- 
 humoured reference to the circumstance. Those of his audience who had read 
 their morning paper would have been surprised at seeing the statement that 
 yesterday he had had a " stormy interview." " I assure you," he said, " that if 
 your South African storms are no more dangerous than the one I encountered 
 yesterday, in future you need have no fear for your fruits or your crops." He 
 was only "too glad to receive the deputation, since it claimed to represent" a 
 phase of opinion distinct from any represented by the two ex-burgher deputations 
 which he had previously received. Nothing was said by any members of that 
 deputation to which the slightest exception could, or ought to be, taken by any 
 person. "But," he continued, "I did, I admit, complain that at the last 
 moment a document was put into my hands on behalf of the deputation, which I 
 am now aware some of the deputation had never seen, and which others of the 
 deputation have since taken the opportunity of repudiating. But this document 
 which was thrust upon me was so unjust in its terms, so inaccurate in its facts, 
 that I thought it my duty to protest against it. It contained, as you have 
 probably seen, since it appears to have been published for general circulation, no 
 recognition whatever of anything which this Government, or which the Imperial 
 Government, have been endeavouring to do, to restore the prosperity and the 
 concord of the two colonies. There is not a word of the efforts which have been 
 made by the officials, which have involved a labour almost gigantic, in repatriating 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 199 
 
 The Bloemfontein public dinner to Mr Chamberlain was 
 held on the next evening, Saturday the 7th. While the speech 
 of the Secretary of State dealt with the settlement of the 
 military compensation question and the alleged grievances of 
 the Boers, Lord Milner announced the amalgamation of the 
 railways of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, and 
 the constitution of a new administrative body, to be styled 
 the Inter-Colonial Council, which was to be charged with the 
 management of the joint railway system and the Con- 
 stabulary, the service of the Development Loan, and other 
 matters of common concern to the two colonies. The 
 creation of this common administrative authority was a 
 natural sequel to the financial settlement, and one of the 
 most important fruits of the opportunities for the further 
 discussion of the affairs of the new colonies with Mr 
 Chamberlain, which Lord Milner enjoyed at Bloemfontein. 
 
 something like 100,000 people in their homes. Nothing was said of the 
 vast sums which have been expended, or which are still to be expended, in 
 enabling those who have suffered by the war to restore their position, to recover 
 their losses. Nothing was said of the efforts which have resulted in bringing to 
 the schools, and giving opportunities of education to a larger number of children 
 than ever enjoyed those in the palmiest days of the Orange Free State. Nothing 
 was said of the effort — of the genuine and most valuable effort — which is now 
 being made to provide for that landless class, for the "bywoners," who have 
 hitherto had no stake in the community, and whom we desire to place upon the 
 land, whose fertility and production they will be able to increase to their own 
 advantage, and to the advantage of the whole people. All these things were 
 treated as of no importance. 
 
 ' ' But, on the other hand, the document contained charges of bad faith against 
 the Government of the Cape Colony, which are absolutely without foundation ; 
 and it contained a list of grievances from Heaven knows whom and from 
 Heaven knows where, most of which were baseless and some of which had 
 long ago been disposed of. Well, I am perfectly ready to acquit the author of 
 this precious document of any intention to do mischief. But then we know 
 perfectly well that harm is wrought by want of thought more than by want of 
 heart ; and I thought it my duty to challenge those who accepted responsi- 
 bility for this paper to prove the accusations which it contained, and I say 
 that you will see even from that imperfect report that not one atom of proof 
 was given of any report which has already appeared of any breach of faith either 
 against the two Governments or against any of their officials or subordinates. 
 No explanation was given for all these grievances, these imaginary grievances, 
 which were raked up. The necessary examination would have proved them to be 
 unfounded. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, if a statement of this kind had not been contradicted, 
 it might have done harm. What this land wants is rest from political agitation. The 
 people and the Government work together as friends and for the common good, 
 and it is not for the common good that groundless accusations should be made. 
 And I ask you all, British and Dutch aUke, in the future to discourage action 
 of this kind, which is calculated to poison the minds of the people and to destroy 
 that confidence without which the good intentions of the Government cannot be 
 fulfilled." 
 
200 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 The actual words of Mr Chamberlain's announcement on the 
 compensation question were as follows : — 
 
 " Now from the very first, and from my entry into the 
 two colonies, this matter has engaged the attention of Lord 
 Milner and myself, and in consequence of our representations 
 a new arrangement will now be made by which the whole of 
 the responsibility will be taken by the Civil Administration — 
 that is to say, by all those who are in close touch with the 
 people, who are responsible for their future contentment, and 
 who are by their permanence better able to deal with the 
 matter according to a settled principle. The War Office at 
 Home has undertaken to pay a lump sum to the Civil 
 Administration in the discharge of all its obligations, and 
 the Civil Administration will dispense this sum, as well as 
 the other sums at its disposal. Accordingly, Lord Milner 
 proposes immediately to issue fresh instructions. These 
 instructions will deal with what I may describe as the claims 
 of right — claims, that is, which are not based upon any applica- 
 tion for charity, but which are based upon promises made in 
 a proclamation issued. In the first place, there are the 
 receipts given by the military officers in the field. Many of 
 these receipts as you know have been rejected and have been 
 referred to the Civil Administration. Now, all the receipts, 
 except those in respect of which proof is furnished that they 
 are fraudulent, or where the owners have subsequently taken 
 up arms against us, will be accepted as proof of a claim for 
 compensation for the goods mentioned in the receipt. And 
 for all these goods a fair value will be paid. The value will 
 not necessarily be the estimate stated upon the receipt, 
 because that estimate was made by men who in many cases 
 were ignorant of the facts, and in some cases the estimate was 
 too low, and in other cases it was too absurdly high. But in 
 every case an endeavour will be made to make a payment 
 which is fairly commensurate with the value — the average 
 value — of the goods that were taken. 
 
 " Then, secondly, there are the two classes of claims of 
 those who surrendered under the promise of protection given 
 to them, either by the proclamation or otherwise, by the 
 military officers in command, and in the second place of those 
 who, during the war, have rendered active service to His 
 Majesty's Government. In both these cases, whenever the 
 persons indicated have subsequently had their stock taken or 
 their property destroyed, they will receive fair compensation, 
 having regard to the merits of the case and to the funds 
 which are at our disposal ; and their claims will not be 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 201 
 
 investigated by the existing Repatriation Boards. They 
 will be examined by a new Commission, which will be wholly 
 British, and therefore absolutely impartial, and it will consist 
 of the Resident Magistrate of the district and of two military 
 officers specially appointed for the purpose, who will go 
 round the whole of the country and investigate the whole 
 of the claims. And it is our hope, and the hope of the 
 Government, that these claims, as they are settled, will be 
 immediately paid without waiting for the general conclusion 
 of the investigation. There is only one exception ; that is 
 an important one. Whenever we ascertain that the claims 
 which have been made, have been made in a fraudulent way 
 — that they are claims for goods which the claimant never 
 possessed, or that they were claims for values altogether in 
 excess of their true value — in that case, and in that case only, 
 the claimants will be absolutely excluded from all benefit 
 whatever. 
 
 "And now I should add that the settlement of these 
 claims, and the claims of right, are altogether independent 
 of those other claims — which I may call claims of grace — 
 which will be made against the free gift of three millions, 
 which was promised to aid those who are destitute and to 
 restore their position ; and which will go against the fund 
 of three millions which was offered as a free gift at the time 
 that peace was signed. And it is also independent of the 
 further gift of two millions which was promised by His 
 Majesty's Government in order to meet the claims of British 
 subjects. 
 
 " This new arrangement will be started as soon as possible, 
 and will probably be in operation at the end of the present 
 month. They (the Commissions for compensation claims 
 under all three heads) will proceed continuously in a very 
 short time. Therefore large sums of money will be dis- 
 tributed throughout the country to those who are in need, 
 and these persons will be very shortly placed in possession 
 of the funds which they require in order to complete the 
 restoration of their homes, and the purchase of such stock 
 and implements and necessaries as are required in order 
 that they may prosecute their occupations." 
 
 It will be observed that in this announcement Mr 
 Chamberlain declared that, apart from the payment for 
 cattle, or goods, purchased or requisitioned by the British 
 military authorities, the claims for compensation both of the 
 " protected burghers " and the " ex-military burghers " would 
 
202 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 be adjudged by separate Commissions and settled out of a 
 new fund, distinct from the ^^3,000,000 free grant. Thus 
 the arrangement with the War Office promised to remove 
 not only the original dissatisfaction caused by the dilatory 
 procedure and uncertain methods of the Military Compensa- 
 tion Courts, but to soften materially the ill-feeling which had 
 arisen between the majority of the ex-burgher population 
 and the small section friendly to the British Government, 
 Since the root cause of the enmity with which the " wild 
 Boers " regarded the " hands-uppers " was their obstinate 
 conviction that only the Commandos in the field and the 
 prisoners of war were entitled to share in the ;£'3,C)00,cxx) to 
 be received under the Terms of Surrender. The ;£'3,ooo,ooo 
 grant was, of course, distributed impartially by the Repatria- 
 tion Commissions to all necessitous ex-burghers, irrespective 
 of any such considerations ; but the amount of the grant 
 available for distribution among the "bitter -end" majority 
 was increased by the decision to compensate the friendly 
 minority in respect to their exceptional claims out of a 
 separate and additional fund. In the Diary is the following 
 note of the event of the day : — 
 
 " The banquet was held in the Raadzaal at 8.30. Ladies 
 and gentlemen were present. Total company about 400. 
 The thing passed off extremely well. Hall beautifully 
 decorated. Dinner over soon after 10. Fraser^ proposed 
 my health, speaking well and briefly. I spoke for 20 
 minutes. Then the Mayor proposed Mr C, also speaking 
 neatly. Mr C. replied — 52 minutes — one of the most 
 successful speeches he has made. Goold-Adams proposing 
 the health of the Chairman concluded the proceedings. We 
 got home before 12, but sat up for some time talking. Mr 
 C. was interesting on the subject of oratory." 
 
 That portion of Mr Chamberlain's speech, which relates 
 the advantages gained by his personal acquaintance with 
 South Africa, will form a fitting conclusion to the narrative 
 of his visit to the new colonies. 
 
 After remarking that he felt some regret at the thought 
 
 ^ J. G. Fraser, once candidate for the Free State Presidency and leader of the 
 (British) Opposition in the Orange River Colony after the grant of self-government 
 in 1907. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE NEW COLONIES 203 
 
 that this was the last occasion upon which he should have 
 the opportunity of addressing any meeting in the new 
 colonies, and that he was disposed to envy Lord Milner 
 "whose privilege and destiny, he hoped and believed, it 
 was to stay many years among them, and to witness the 
 full fruition of his great policy," he continued : — 
 
 " But though I regret to part, it is some comfort to me 
 to think that the object of my mission has been accomplished 
 beyond my expectations. I came here to learn, and I have 
 learnt much. It is not so much that I have gathered new 
 facts with respect to South Africa, or with respect to these 
 colonies. These I had at my disposal before I came, in 
 Blue-books without number, and in piles of statistics ; but 
 I have now had the advantage of seeing them from a new 
 standpoint — in the light of your local conditions and local 
 aspirations. 
 
 "The other day when we were out upon the veld and 
 in the calm beauty of a summer night, we looked up into 
 the deep blue of your African sky, and saw glorious con- 
 stellations that studded the heavens. We recognised some 
 of our old favourites, but in this pure and clearly defined 
 atmosphere, and in the altered position which they assumed 
 in this southern hemisphere, they took upon themselves an 
 appearance with which we were not familiar, and so it is 
 with your South African questions. They are the same 
 questions as those with which we have been familiar for a 
 long time at Home, but somehow or other in the atmosphere 
 of London they appear to be different from what they are 
 in the atmosphere of South Africa. I for one am grateful 
 for the opportunity which has been given to me, with the 
 assistance which all have offered me in order to correct my 
 old knowledge in the light of your local conditions and 
 your local information. Now, ladies and gentlemen, if I 
 have learned much, will you think me presumptuous if I 
 say that I hope I have taught something. I have tried to 
 put myself in the position in which I can see things through 
 your spectacles, and I hope you are better able to see them 
 through mine. Everything depends in administration and 
 in high politics on the extent to which those who govern 
 and those who are governed are able, in some degree at 
 any rate, to put themselves in each other's places. I hope 
 I am not too sanguine when I say that I think I have 
 been able to convince you, and to convince the people of 
 your sister colony, that the interest which we feel in your 
 
204 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 affairs is not the selfish concern of an arbitrary and un- 
 sympathetic administration ; but that it is the sincere 
 anxiety of the Government responsible for the control of 
 a great Empire, desirous to promote peace and unity among 
 all its members, anxious in each separate case to follow 
 as far as possible the lines of local and popular aspirations, 
 endeavouring to be just to all without respect of person : 
 the Government which, if it may be called upon, as it is 
 sometimes, to refuse demands which seem to it likely to 
 jeopardise the position which we have sacrificed so much 
 to obtain, is nevertheless anxious to win the confidence and 
 the support of the people whose true welfare it has at 
 heart. 
 
 " My visit to these colonies, measured by days, has been 
 a short one. My time has been well occupied, and my 
 visit has combined an almost infinite variety and many 
 phases of your local life. I have seen the strenuous — I 
 might almost call it the feverish — activity of a great com- 
 mercial and industrial centre like Johannesburg. I have 
 seen the steadier and slower, but still deep current of 
 political and social life which runs in centres like those 
 old capitals of Bloemfontein and Pretoria — capitals where 
 national characteristics and old traditions of administration 
 are still preserved, and where the old life moves slowly after 
 the new. I have visited a country town such as Potchefstroom, 
 agricultural villages like Ventersdorp and Lichtenburg, and 
 I have seen something of the mystery and beauty of the 
 solitude of the illimitable veld. I have seen all these 
 things, and they have left pictures on my mind which will 
 never be effaced. I have had interviews by the hundred 
 and deputations by scores, and it will not perhaps surprise 
 you to learn that most of those who have interviewed me, 
 and most of the deputations that I have had the honour 
 to meet, have had something to ask. That is perfectly 
 natural. I am here for that purpose, and I must admit 
 that not infrequently I have had something to ask of those 
 who have come to see me. And, ladies and gentlemen, 
 although I have not always been able to concede everything 
 which has been put before me, yet I think that the result 
 of these interviews, and these meetings, has been good, and 
 that in every case we have parted better friends than we 
 have met. Everywhere I have had to acknowledge the 
 absolute courtesy and the universal kindness of those whom 
 I have come so far to see." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 
 
 The special train provided for the Secretary of State and 
 his suite left Bloemfontein station at noon on Monday, 
 9th February.! Lord Milner, Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams, 
 and the chief officials were present, and they and the public 
 of the Orange River Colony capital bade Mr and Mrs 
 Chamberlain an enthusiastic farewell. On the same evening 
 Lord Milner returned to Johannesburg, where he was met 
 by Sir Albert Hime, the Premier of Natal, who had come 
 to stay at Sunnyside to discuss the new South African 
 Union Customs Tariff,^ and various questions arising out 
 of the transfer of the Utrecht and Vryheid districts from 
 the Transvaal to Natal. 
 
 One other incident may be mentioned before we return 
 to Mr Chamberlain's movements. On Sunday, 15th February, 
 Major - General Baden - Powell called at Sunnyside to say 
 good-bye to Lord Milner. He was returning home by the 
 next mail to take up his appointment as Inspector-General 
 of Cavalry under the War Office. Upon his resignation of 
 the Inspector-Generalship of the South African Constabulary 
 the command of the force was entrusted to Colonel J. S. 
 Nicholson, C.B., D.S.O., who had been second-in-command 
 since its establishment. 
 
 Mr Chamberlain's journey from Bloemfontein to Grahams- 
 town was something of the nature of a royal progress. The 
 
 ' The saloon carriage in which Mr Chamberlain travelled was one built for 
 Mr Steyn, when President of the Orange Free State. 
 
 f The arrangements for holding a meeting of the representatives of the 
 various colonial Governments for the purpose of framing a common customs 
 tariff, and for the consideration of other matters of common South African 
 concern, had been discussed and settled by Mr Chamberlain and Lord Milner. 
 The meeting was to take place at Bloemfontein, in the following month 
 (March). 
 
 205 
 
206 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 special train in which he and his suite travelled was provided 
 with kitchen and sleeping cars, and otherwise furnished with 
 everything necessary for the comfort of passengers by day 
 and night. In front of this ran the train, equally complete, 
 in which the representatives of the press were accommodated ; 
 while behind came a third train carrying a break-down gang 
 with repairing equipment. For many miles outside of 
 Bloemfontein the line was fringed with groups of Kafirs, 
 who cheered lustily as the trains passed them, and at all 
 the stations, which were gaily decorated, crowds had gathered 
 to see the Secretary of State and greet him with their 
 applause. At Edenburg, where a halt was made to allow 
 the down-train to pass, Mr Brand, a son of the late President 
 Brand, and the Resident Magistrate of the district, presented 
 an address of welcome on behalf of the people of the town, 
 to which Mr Chamberlain made a brief but effective reply. 
 At Norval's Pont, where the line is carried over the Orange 
 River and enters the Cape Colony, Mr Chamberlain was 
 met by Sir W. Hely-Hutchinson, the Governor of the Cape, 
 with Mr Graham, the Attorney-General, and Mr Douglass, 
 Commissioner of Works, and one of the Eastern Province 
 members of the Legislature. By request of the Cape 
 Government Kuilfontein station was renamed, being 
 christened " Highbury " by Mrs Chamberlain in memory 
 of the occasion. An address of welcome, presented jointly 
 by the people of Colesberg and Naauwpoort, was read at 
 Colesberg Junction ; and Naauwpoort Junction Station, 
 passed after sundown, was ablaze with illuminations — an 
 impressive contrast to the sombre heights, more than 
 5,000 feet above sea-level, over which the train passed before 
 it plunged into the valley of the Great Fish River, for so 
 many years the boundary between the European colonists 
 and the untamed Kafir tribes. 
 
 Grahamstown was reached on Tuesday morning (the lOth 
 February). This place, founded by the first considerable 
 body of British settlers to be introduced into the Cape Colony 
 — the Albany Settlers of 1820 — the seat of a bishopric and 
 the educational centre of the Eastern Province, is in appear- 
 ance and sentiment the most " English " town in the old 
 colony, and here, therefore, if nowhere else, Mr Chamberlain 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 207 
 
 was certain to meet with sympathy and admiration. Nor 
 was this expectation unfulfilled. The whole town was fully 
 decorated, and in the Cathedral Square, where a triumphal 
 arch had been raised with the inscription, " Welcome to the 
 Settlers' City," a crowd of 6,000 persons — an immense con- 
 course for a district so thinly populated — had gathered around 
 the platform upon which the addresses of the Town and 
 District Councils were to be presented. The arrival of the 
 Secretary of State and his party was greeted by a great out- 
 burst of cheering, which continued long after they had taken 
 their seats upon the platform. The speech in which Mr 
 Chamberlain replied to these addresses contained a definite 
 assurance that Lord Milner would remain in South Africa,^ 
 and a graceful tribute to the history of a community which, 
 first, from its proximity to the chief seats of the military 
 Kafir population, and, second, from its attachment to its 
 British traditions, had paid a heavy toll in the blood of 
 its sons from its first foundation onwards to the late war. 
 After this speech Mr Chamberlain received more addresses, 
 and in the evening he was entertained at a banquet in the 
 Town Hall. In replying to the toast of his health he used 
 a singular frankness. Possibly he felt that in this English 
 town he could speak his mind without fear of being mis- 
 understood ; possibly the growing enthusiasm shown by 
 the public both at Bloemfontein and on his journey to 
 Grahamstown, and the unmistakable warmth of his reception 
 here, had given him a feeling of confidence. Certain it is 
 that on this occasion he spoke with a freedom both of 
 language and of topic that is only to be expected in an 
 atmosphere entirely devoid of distrust. 
 
 " I am a sanguine person," he said ; " but after all in my 
 lifetime I have found that things have a curious habit of 
 coming out very much as I expected them to do." 
 
 ^ As the Bond party did not cease to reiterate that there would be no peace in 
 the Cape Colony until Lord Milner had left South Africa, Mr Chamberlain's 
 statement on this point was one of considerable significance. His words were : 
 "If you have any anxiety still remaining on the subject, I am glad to 
 give you the assurance that Lord Milner is secure in the confidence of his 
 Sovereign and of the British Government, and will, if his health is preserved, 
 remain, if not to complete the work which he has so ably commenced, at least to 
 i-ave it upon firm and established foundations." 
 
208 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 And this note of intimate thought was present in his 
 frank appeal to this community of oversea Englishmen to 
 put their hands in their pockets and pay their share of 
 the upkeep of the Empire's War Ships. 
 
 " I am sometimes inclined to think that our colonies, not 
 one alone, but all of them, are a little provincial. . . . There 
 is a limit to (the expenditure of the Mother Country). . . . 
 I say here, not to you alone — I hope that my words may 
 reach all the self-governing colonies — that while they have 
 long appreciated the privileges of the Empire and while they 
 are beginning to appreciate its obligations, they are not doing 
 all they ought to do." 
 
 Then, from a presentation of the material greatness 
 and moral significance of the British Empire, he passed to an 
 exhortation to the Dutch of the Cape Colony to put away 
 " any aspiration for a separate Dutch nationality," and to 
 the English to forget that the Dutch had ever entertained 
 it ; and ended with an invitation to both to come forward 
 voluntarily to share with the Mother Country in the 
 responsibilities of a common citizenship. 
 
 " We invite you to be partners in one Empire," he said to 
 the Dutch. " It is not only great, it is not only powerful, but 
 it is destined to do a great work of which any one might 
 be proud to have taken the slightest part in. We want to see 
 our new fellow subjects, whether here or elsewhere, coming 
 forward voluntarily to share the common obligation." 
 
 The speech is of fine quality throughout ; and the 
 peroration acquires a special significance when viewed in 
 the light of Mr Chamberlain's subsequent initiation of the 
 Tariflf Reform movement, and of all that has followed from 
 it in the direction of Imperial Unity .^ 
 
 ^ " I turn to another question. I have to congratulate you upon your extra- 
 ordinary — I should think almost unexpected — prosperity. I am not speaking, of 
 course, of individual prosperity, but of the wonderful success which has attended 
 the enterprises of the State. -^ Now you are a spectacle for the gods and men to 
 envy. Your coffers appear to be full to the brim and overflowing. Now here 
 am I, a poor down-trodden tax-payer of the United Kingdom, paying double 
 income tax. Well, every man, woman, and child is paying largely towards 
 the additional sum of thirty millions a year which the war taxation has imposed 
 
 1 The Cape Colony benefited largely through the great use which was made of its railways 
 and ports to carry passengers and goods to the new colonies upon the close of the war. Both 
 customs and railway revenue were abnormally increased in the years igo2 and 1903 through 
 this cause. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 209 
 
 Mr Chamberlain left Grahamstown the next morning 
 (nth February), and reached Port Elizabeth in the after- 
 noon. Here the same scenes were repeated. Numerous 
 addresses were presented to the Secretary of State on a 
 
 upon us. I do not grudge you your prosperity in the slightest degree, but 
 you should at least know your own happiness. I believe that you are the 
 only colony — the only self-governing colony, which, as a colony, has actually 
 profited by this war. Individuals have suffered, but the colony as a whole 
 has done so well, that while other states are increasing their taxation, you have 
 what is in proportion to your resources a gigantic surplus. I do not know the 
 secrets of the Ministry, but I should think they are much more likely to reduce 
 taxation than to increase it. 
 
 " Mr Slater has said that you are members of the Empire, that you are proud 
 to be members of the Empire, and indeed you ought to be. I am sometimes 
 inclined to think that our colonies — I say it in the most firiendly spirit — are, 
 not one alone but all of them, a little provincial. They are so much occupied in 
 their own affairs that they lose sight of the great system of which they are 
 only single stars. What an Empire it is to which we all belong ! To say 
 it is the greatest the world has ever seen, to say that it has a population 
 of four hundred million people, an area of thirteen million square miles, and 
 a large proportion of the cultivable area of the world's surface — that is said 
 merely to bring it before your mind and the countries — not as a matter of 
 boast, because there is always present to me the enormous responsibility which is 
 upon us all. We have a mission of work in the world. ... It is therefore a 
 great privilege to belong to this noble institution that is destined in the Providence 
 of God to mould the destinies of a great portion of the whole human race. It is a 
 great privilege. In a material sense it is a great burden. I don't think the 
 Mother Country has ever been behindhand in recognising its duties. There 
 was a time, no doubt, an earlier period, a generation ago, when the United 
 Kingdom was much poorer than it is now, much less populous, a little timid as to 
 its own powers, and when it felt that the burden was getting too great for it 
 to bear, and that the best thing for it to do was to prepare the way — to give 
 self-government, right and left, here and there, and even to force it upon un- 
 willing possessions, in order that in course of time they might strike out each 
 of them a new line for themselves. That view has entirely disappeared. It may 
 be forced upon us by the action of the colonies ; it will never be forced upon the 
 colonies by our action. And as far as our resources go you may be sure that 
 to the last penny we can spare, to the last man we can give, we will defend 
 the heritage which is ours. It is ours. Yes, but it is also yours. It was left to 
 us and to you by common institutions ; it is due to the sacrifices of those 
 who were your forefathers as well as ours, and you cannot escape your responsi- 
 bilities in this great undertaking. 
 
 " Now what are the plain facts ? Any year — last year — the normal expenditure 
 of the Government alone — not the war expenditure — for the defence of the Empire 
 is sixty million a year. The war cost us something like two hundred and 
 fifty millions, towards which a contribution has been made by the Transvaal, of 
 which you have seen the particulars. Well, we are able to bear it, but there is a 
 limit to this. And I say here, not to you alone — I hope that my words may reach 
 all the self-governing colonies — that while they have long appreciated the privileges 
 of the Empire and are beginning to appreciate its obligations, they are not doing 
 all that they ought to do. I am speaking in a colony here, which only the other 
 day with the greatest apparent willingness and cordiality voted ;^5o,ooo a year 
 towards the naval expenses of the United Kingdom, which amounted to 
 ;£^3I, 000,000 a year. Now I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. 
 I admire the patriotism which agreed to that vote. I accept it as an acknowledge- 
 ment of an obligation. I am not going to criticise it, although, when I saw the 
 other day a statement in one of the newspapers that the splendid new cruiser — on 
 which we made our voyage to these shores — Good Hote was the cruiser of the 
 
 VOL. I, O 
 
210 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 platform erected in the Feather Market,^ while to Mrs 
 Chamberlain were handed bouquets of the Cape flowers, 
 which grow in profusion in the neighbouring country, and 
 a mass of fine ostrich feathers. In the speech, which he 
 then made to the crowds which had assembled to do him 
 honour, Mr Chamberlain dwelt upon the greatness of the 
 Empire and the responsibilities of all its citizens, upon the 
 unifying influence of the war, as shown by the assistance 
 rendered to the Mother Country by the great over -sea 
 British communities, and the satisfaction with which he 
 had observed in the new colonies 
 
 " the temper and spirit of those who so lately were our 
 enemies, and who now," he believed, " were in the process of 
 becoming fast friends." 
 
 Cape — was ' our cruiser,' I could not help remembering that ;^50,ooo a year 
 would not pay even six months' keep of that single cruiser. And that the cost of 
 the South African squadron — a squadron which is especially devoted to the 
 protection of South African interests — the annual cost of that alone is something 
 like ;^400,ooo per annum. 
 
 ' ' Well I know that it is said that in a colony like this, where there are many 
 interests, the first duty is at home. I entirely agree. The first duty is at home. 
 We begin with patriotism in small things, but as we grow our patriotism widens 
 and broadens, until it takes in large notions of responsibility. But then I shall 
 be told, ' This is all very well, but the Dutch would repudiate all interests 
 and obligations in the Empire.' I doubt very much whether that is true. If 
 it is true, I deeply regret it, because my hope of the future is based on the 
 expectation and belief that the Dutch would have become, as I hope and 
 think they will become, one people with us, will feel with us the same pride that 
 we feel in the Empire, which will then be theirs also. What is it that we say to 
 them ? We say, ' Put aside the past. You must feel, however extreme may 
 have been your views, that any aspiration for a separate Dutch nationality in this 
 country is absurd and ridiculous. Put it aside, if you ever entertained it. We 
 will forget that you did so, provided that in the future you will look forward with 
 us to the same objects, will have the same ambitions and aspirations.' This is 
 the invitation which I give in your name. ' We invite you to be partners in one 
 Empire. It is not only great, not only powerful, but it is destined to do a great 
 work of which any one might be proud to have taken the slightest part in. We 
 want to see our new fellow-subjects, whether here or elsewhere, coming forward 
 voluntarily to share the common obligation.' I am not without the hope that that 
 may be, unpractical though it may appear to some of you ; that that contingency 
 may be reached at all events when the present bitterness shall have to a certain 
 extent died out. But be that as it may, my appeal is to you, who are an essentially 
 British community, and I appeal to you with confidence. This war, as Mr Slater 
 has reminded you, is over ; but the whole Empire came to your assistance. The 
 war showed that we were one people. Who knows where the next blow may fall ? 
 We pray that it may never fall at all. But if it does, let us at any rate determine 
 that we of the British race, we who have made ourselves felt in all the four quarters 
 of the globe, we who can only hold what we have by complete union of heart and 
 mind, let us remain one people, let us show that we all recognise the obligations of 
 each to all, and that we are glad, as time and opportunity allow, to prove that 
 these great additions to our world-wide dominions are founded on a general recog- 
 nition that the Empire must be based on a community of sacrifice." 
 
 ' Port Elizabeth is the headquarters of the ostrich feather trade. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 211 
 
 He continued with reference to the less happy condition 
 of the Cape Colony : 
 
 " But you are a self-governing colony. The remedy is 
 in your hands rather than in mine. It is you citizens of a 
 free state who have to work out your own salvation. It is 
 not satisfactory to me to find that animosities, which are 
 dying out in the countries which so recently were the scene 
 of the fiercest conflict of the war, are being apparently 
 intensified in this colony, which ought to be the first to 
 lend its powerful influence in favour of union and 
 reconciliation." 
 
 This was followed by an exposure of the sordid spirit 
 underlying the complaint that "loyalty does not pay," and 
 an unmeasured denunciation of the still worse doctrine 
 that "loyalty is a crime." ^ 
 
 On the day following a public luncheon was given by 
 the town to Mr Chamberlain in the Feather Market Hall. 
 In his speech on this occasion he returned to the political 
 conditions of the Cape Colony — a subject for comic opera, 
 if the questions at issue were not so serious — declared that 
 the persecution of loyalty was " an intolerable state of 
 things, which could not continue," and demanded a specific 
 assurance from some one or other of the Afrikander leaders 
 
 ^ " I have read sometimes a statement which fills me, I confess, with some- 
 thing akin to indignation. It is stated that loyalty does not pay ; as if, forsooth, 
 loyalty were a question of pocket ! No, ladies and gentlemen, we are loyal 
 not because it pays, but because it is right. Not because it pays, but because it 
 is in the blood. But if I hold that it is wrong to speak of loyalty in connection 
 with gain or profit, there is another thing which I hold to be still worse — that 
 is, to speak of, or to treat, loyalty as a crime. Yet, if I am to believe what I 
 see in the papers, or the statements that are made to me, there are men in this 
 colony who actually consider that they are carrying out the work of conciliation 
 and union, when they ask those who took sides against ns, or sympathised with 
 our enemies, to forgive those who are loyal. I for one will never accept recon- 
 ciliation on these terms. Loyalty is a duty. It must not be treated as a crime. 
 And if those who were misled — if those even who were themselves responsible 
 for actions disloyal to their Government and to their own King — if they are now 
 ready to accept the situation — if they are now ready to say to us, ' Let a new 
 chapter of peace and reconciliation be opened in South Africa,' they will find 
 that we are ready to meet them half-way. There must be no talk, however, of 
 persecution, no talk of boycotting those whose only fault is that they were true 
 to their allegiance and to their own Sovereign. We on our part will try to 
 forget all that was wrong in the actions of those to whom we have been opposed ; 
 they on their part must see a proof in this, at any rate, of our full readiness to 
 meet them as friends, if they on their part will cease to be enemies. But the 
 friendship must be in the future no lip-service. It must be a real friendship 
 and true loyalty. We must have practical proof and indication of it." 
 
212 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 that the Dutch unreservedly accepted the idea of a common 
 citizenship with their British neighbours. 
 
 "We want some one with authority to tell us that no 
 longer in the history of this colony shall there be any 
 social, or political, or religious ostracism on the ground of 
 loyalty to its institutions. We want evidence, and I hope 
 it will be forthcoming, that our Dutch fellow - citizens 
 recognise that in the future their destiny is inseparable from 
 ours, and that they are ready to share our pride in the 
 Empire to which we all belong, that they are ready to 
 accept their full share in its obligations as well as its 
 privileges." 
 
 For the rest, Mr Chamberlain's words were characterised 
 again by their perfect candour and fairness ; and the evident 
 sincerity of the appeal for reconciliation with which he 
 closed, produced a profound impression, not only on the 
 audience, but throughout the colony. 
 
 In this speech, and in his Grahamstown speeches, Mr 
 Chamberlain, while denouncing the persecution of the loyalists 
 by the Dutch majority, declared in no less emphatic terms 
 that it was the duty of the British minority to put aside all 
 suspicion of the Dutch inhabitants of the colony founded 
 upon the part they had played in the war, and to accept 
 any definite assurance of their willingness to become fellow- 
 citizens of the Empire. This, no doubt, was a "hard saying" 
 for men who had seen with their own eyes the working of 
 the subtle force which had all but wrested South Africa 
 from the British race. None the less it produced an instant 
 response from Dr (now Sir Thomas) Smartt and Mr (now 
 Sir Edgar) Walton, the Progressive ^ leaders at Port Elizabeth, 
 who, upon reading the reports of Mr Chamberlain's sub- 
 sequent speech to the Dutch at Graaf Reinet,^ stated publicly 
 that if Mr Chamberlain should announce ultimately that he 
 was satisfied with the assurances of loyalty given by the 
 
 ^ Dr Smartt left the ministry of Sir Gordon Sprigg on 28th May 1902, on 
 the Suspension issue. Later in the year the Suspensionists, forming the majority 
 of the British members of the Cape Parliament, were re-organised under the name 
 of "The Progressive Party" ; and of this party Dr Smartt acted as the leader, 
 until Dr Jameson subsequently came forward and was elected to the position. 
 
 ^ Delivered on the day following. See forward p. 214. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 213 
 
 Dutch in answer to his appeal, the Progressive Party was 
 ready to meet them more than half way. At the same 
 time, and in more than one speech, Mr Chamberlain took 
 credit to himself, as he was perfectly justified in doing, for 
 his refusal to suspend the constitution of the colony, and 
 put this forward as practical evidence of his own belief in 
 the willingness of the colonial Dutch to accept the results 
 of the war. 
 
 The effect of this fair and statesmanlike attitude was 
 seen in the friendliness with which the Secretary of State 
 and Mrs Chamberlain were received at Graaf Reinet, their 
 next stopping place — a town notorious both before and 
 during the war as a centre of Dutch-Afrikander sentiment, 
 and hardly veiled disaffection to British rule.^ 
 
 It was by no means certain that in a place with such 
 traditions Mr Chamberlain would meet with a respectful, 
 still less a cordial, reception. But when, on his arrival at the 
 station (13th February), he saw from the character and 
 demeanour of the persons assembled to meet him that he 
 need not have any further misgivings on this point, he was 
 not the man to lose any opportunity which this initial 
 advantage, due to the favourable impression created by his 
 recent speeches, might afford. He had been plain-spoken 
 with the ultra-loyalists of the Eastern Province at Grahams- 
 town and Port Elizabeth ; he was no less frank with the 
 rebels of a year ago and their sympathisers at Graaf Reinet. 
 Nor was there any doubt that he was now to reckon some of 
 these among his actual audience. The persons gathered at 
 the station to welcome him included the solicitor who had 
 lately been engaged in defending all the rebels of the 
 town and neighbourhood ; and among the deputations which 
 he was to receive was one from the Afrikander Bond, and 
 in this Bond deputation were Mr Maasdorp, the member 
 of the Legislative Council for the district, and Mr Te Water, 
 
 ^ In 1795, when a British force first occupied the Cape, the burghers of this 
 district were found to be in open rebellion to the Government of the Dutch East 
 India Company. Here, in 1882, the first and inaugural congressof the Afrikander 
 Bond was held ; and here, too, on 3rd March 1898, Lord Milner ruthlessly tore 
 off the mask of Bond hypocrisy, when he met the conventional protestation of 
 loyalty to the Crown, with the reply, "Of course you are loyal ; it would be 
 monstrous if you were not." For Lord Milner's speech at Graaf Reinet, see 
 p. 108 of "Lord Milner's Work in South Africa, 1897-1902." 
 
214 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the father of Dr Te Water, the author of the notorious letters 
 to President Steyn.^ 
 
 On leaving the train Mr and Mrs Chamberlain were 
 welcomed by the Reception Committee, and outside the 
 station a guard of honour of the Cape Police and the Graaf 
 Reinet College Cadet Corps was drawn up. After inspect- 
 ing the Cadet Corps, Mr Chamberlain, Sir Walter Hely- 
 Hutchinson, Mr Graham, and Mr Douglass (both members 
 of the Cape Ministry), with Mrs Chamberlain and the rest of 
 the party, were driven slowly through the town in carriages, 
 preceded by the band of the Wiltshire Regiment ; and this 
 cortege was accompanied in colonial fashion by a crowd 
 of Cape carts and other vehicles, until it reached the house 
 placed at the disposal of the Committee for the reception 
 of the Colonial Secretary and his staff. Not only on 
 leaving the station, but at intervals along the route, the 
 appearance of the visitors was greeted with an outburst of 
 cheers. 
 
 In the afternoon a garden-party was given in honour 
 of Mr Chamberlain in the Botanical Gardens. Here an 
 address of welcome from the Town Council was read by 
 the Mayor, and deputations from the Afrikander Bond 
 and the Chamber of Commerce were received. The speech 
 which Mr Chamberlain then made contained the following 
 passages : — 
 
 " Unless history is wrong Graaf Reinet gave considerable 
 trouble to the Dutch rulers in the earliest days of the colony, 
 and subsequently, at a very early period of British rule, 
 Graaf Reinet was considered a disaffected place. It is this 
 fact, more than anything else, which gives to me its great 
 attraction. I have not come out to South Africa to see 
 British loyalty displayed in its most effusive form, because 
 I can get that at home ; but I have come out in particular to 
 see what South African disaffection is, to look at it face to 
 face, and to ask upon what it is based, and to find a remedy. 
 And accordingly, when it was at first a question of what 
 towns in the colony I should visit, I said that I would visit as 
 many places as possible, but that there were two places that 
 
 ' For these letters, and the circumstances in which Dr Te Water, then a 
 Minister of the Crown, wrote them, see p. 162 of " Lord Milner's Work in South 
 Africa, 1897-1902." 
 
MR CHAMBEIRLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 2lg 
 
 I would not miss for the world. One was Graaf Reinet — the 
 other I am going to visit later.^ 
 
 " Now, ladies and gentlemen, it is a most encouraging 
 thing to me that the address, which the Mayor has just 
 presented, should contain expressions of your loyalty. 
 Similar assurances have been given to me by the gentlemen 
 who have been good enough to wait upon me to-day. They 
 are most gratifying, and I am perfectly ready to accept them ; 
 but at the same time I do not forget that similar assurances 
 were given to Sir Alfred Milner, and that notwithstand- 
 ing that, when the war unfortunately broke out, it was 
 undoubtedly true that by far the greater portion of the 
 inhabitants of this town and district were anti-British. I do 
 not want to go into the past. I do not want to fling charges 
 of rebellion or disloyalty in anybody's face, but I cannot 
 entirely forget the past. I want to know if what has since 
 happened enables me to accept with more absolute assurance 
 the promise of loyalty you now give than Lord Milner 
 was able to do. . . . 
 
 " I want to know why should our Dutch friends at Graaf 
 Reinet be more irreconcilable, more relentless in opposition, 
 more continuously anti-British than those for whom they 
 fought in the Transvaal and in the Orange River Colony. If 
 those in the other two states have laid down their arms 
 without any bitterness in their hearts, cannot you do the 
 same? 
 
 " I began by saying that you had given me assurances of 
 your loyalty, and that I accepted them. I do accept them, 
 and I ask all of you to give me the proof of them. There 
 are some things which no loyal man can do. No loyal man 
 could do anything which would go to show that loyalty was 
 a crime. Let him be content that his own disloyalty is 
 forgotten and forgiven ; but don't let him add to his offences 
 by attempting in any way to molest, or injure, or to cast 
 scorn upon the man who has been wiser than him, and 
 who was loyal at a time when the Empire needed his 
 services. I say that those of our fellow-subjects among the 
 Dutch, and, thank God, they are a very considerable minority, 
 those who were loyal to us, those who stood by their own 
 Government, those who helped to defend it, I say those were 
 wiser than those who took up their arms and went out on 
 to the veld and fought against them. They were wiser, 
 for they knew what the result would be. . . . 
 
 " In any case I wish it to be clearly understood 
 
 1 The Paarl. 
 
216 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 that the British Government at home and the Colonial 
 Government here will stand by those vs^ho have stood by 
 them. . . ." 
 
 To have delivered this speech in this place, and apparently 
 to have won the approval of his audience — for the newspapers 
 reported that the Dutch hearers applauded this reproof of 
 rebellion as warmly as the British — must be regarded as 
 not the least remarkable of the achievements of Mr 
 Chamberlain's visit to South Africa. 
 
 It is quite true that one manifestation of hostility to 
 British rule, or rather of incivility to the Secretary of State, 
 took place at Graaf Reinet. During the afternoon, and 
 while the garden-party was being held, the streets of the 
 town were paraded by a number of men belonging to the 
 Commando of the notorious rebel, Scheepers,^ who had 
 somehow escaped the sentence of the courts, wearing the 
 rebel colours and their Commando badges. But this display 
 of bad feeling was reprobated by the more reputable Dutch 
 inhabitants, and was subsequently condemned in specific 
 terms by Mr Hofmeyr.^ 
 
 On the following morning (Saturday, 14th February), Mr 
 Chamberlain and his party left Graaf Reinet for Schoombie. 
 At Middelburg, where the train halted for half an hour, an 
 address of welcome was presented, which was followed by 
 a remarkable speech from Mr N. R. De Waal, the Secretary 
 of the Bond Executive and member of the Legislative 
 Assembly for the rebel constituency of Colesberg.^ This 
 address, said Mr De Waal, had an advantage over others 
 presented to Mr Chamberlain, in so much as it expressed 
 "the unanimous sentiments of people who honestly and 
 feelingly appreciated" the Colonial Secretary's policy. He 
 hoped that, now that the strife was over, 
 
 "all would live in unity and quench the dying embers of that 
 strife for the purpose of proving their loyalty by action. 
 Though," he continued, "many of the Dutch had differed 
 from Mr Chamberlain in the past, they had read his 
 
 1 One of the (half-dozen) rebel leaders executed under sentence of the Military 
 Courts. 
 
 ' See forward p. 225. 
 
 ^ On the borders of the (then) Orange Free State. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 217 
 
 recent speeches, and they entirely approved of his con- 
 ciliatory attitude. They were prepared heartily to clasp 
 hands in sincere friendship. All idea of a united South 
 Africa under any but the British flag had entirely vanished. 
 Mr Chamberlain's name," he concluded, " was now a house- 
 hold word in every Dutch homestead." 
 
 In his reply to this address Mr Chamberlain used 
 expressions which showed that he attached great importance 
 to a statement of this friendly character, coming as it did 
 from the Secretary of the Bond — a person whose influence 
 in that organisation was second only to that of Mr Hofmeyr. 
 And the few informal remarks which he made at Schoombie 
 in the afternoon of the same day showed that he believed 
 that he had now got upon terms with the late rebels. 
 
 " Disloyalty here is not as it might be elsewhere dis- 
 loyalty to a foreign rule," he said with excellent effect to the 
 crowd which, in spite of a heavy thunderstorm, had gathered 
 to meet him at the station, " but it is disloyalty to your own 
 constitution, to your own Government, and to your own rule." 
 
 While Mr Chamberlain was holding out the olive branch 
 to the disaffected Dutch of the Cape Colony, he had, how- 
 ever, taken steps to remove one of the loyalists' chief 
 grievances against Sir Gordon Sprigg's government. The 
 Daily Observer, published at Cradock on Monday, the i6th, 
 was able to announce that 
 
 " Mr Chamberlain had received assurances from the Cape 
 Government that all who bore arms for the British during 
 the war would be authorised to retain their arms, and that 
 in cases in which rifles had been lost, or taken away, the 
 owners would be allowed to purchase others at a cost of 
 70s. from the Government." 
 
 This announcement was a source of much gratification 
 to the loyal Dutch, whom it affected much more than the 
 loyal British ; since not only did they prize their rifles for 
 their utility in their daily life, but the privilege of retaining 
 their arms put them in a better position than their rebel 
 neighbours, and thus removed the reproach that they, who 
 had shown themselves the friends of the British Government, 
 
218 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 were being treated no better than men who had sympathised 
 with the Boers or actually fought for them. 
 
 Mr Chamberlain passed the night of the 14th in the train, 
 and then spent a quiet Sunday, his only engagement being 
 a visit to a farm in the neighbourhood of Schoombie. At 
 10 P.M. of the same evening the train started for Beaufort 
 West, en route for the Paarl and Cape Town. 
 
 At Beaufort West, on Monday, the i6th, the Secretary of 
 State was greeted by a crowd of the leading people of the 
 town, including the Mayor, the Resident Magistrate, and 
 some ladies who brought gifts of fruit and flowers for the 
 travellers. In reply to these courtesies Mr Chamberlain 
 made a short speech from the platform of the railway 
 carriage. The appeal for unity and racial reconciliation 
 which here, as elsewhere, formed the staple of his remarks, 
 was distinguished, however, by another reference to the 
 Middelburg proceedings, and in particular to a private 
 conversation which he had held there with Mr De Waal. 
 
 " During the last few days," he said, " I have met with 
 goodwill and co-operation beyond my expectations. Mr 
 N. R. de Waal, who is a great politician and an able man 
 of immense influence, especially amongst the Dutch, and 
 who can do much — and I particularly recommend you to 
 read his speech at Middelburg, the day before yesterday — 
 the 14th — and to bring it to the notice of the Dutch speak- 
 ing population— he has assured us from his place in the 
 House of Assembly that the British flag was alone destined 
 to wave over South Africa. That and other speeches have 
 deprecated any intention on the part of the Dutch to 
 exclude, ostracise, or boycott those who, after all, had only 
 been doing their duty to their flag and to the country to 
 which they owed their allegiance. I have Mr de Waal's 
 personal assurance, freely given to me on behalf of those 
 whose confidence he enjoys, that he and they are willing to 
 work for the common good, and that he personally was 
 prepared to give any reasonable proof of his desire to act 
 as a loyal member of the British Empire. Some of our 
 British friends are too apt to receive assurances with 
 suspicion. I believe that we must act on evidence, and that 
 those assurances must be accepted ; and accepted in the 
 spirit in which I verily believe they are made. The hand 
 is held out, and he would be a traitor to the cause I have 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 219 
 
 at heart who refused to grasp it. I hope you will accept it 
 with the same goodwill as I do." 
 
 The special train left the Beaufort West Station at a few 
 minutes past 2 P.M. That afternoon and all night it crossed 
 the lofty solitudes of the Karoo Plateaux, until on Tuesday 
 morning, in brilliant sunshine, it ran down the fine pass of 
 the Hex River range to Worcester, and thence to the 
 Paarl, the chief centre of Afrikander sentiment in the 
 Western Province — the second of the two places which 
 Mr Chamberlain had placed first among the towns to be 
 visited. 
 
 The party, which still included Sir W. Hely-Hutchinson 
 and Mr Douglass, reached the Paarl at 11.30. At the 
 station the Secretary of State was received by the Mayor 
 and a small gathering of residents, who greeted him with 
 cheers, and the whole party then drove to the Recreation 
 Grounds some three miles distant, where a considerable crowd 
 had assembled. Here addresses of welcome from the 
 Municipalities of the Paarl and Wellington, from the men 
 of the District Mounted Troops of both towns, and from 
 the German inhabitants of the Paarl, were presented, and 
 Mr Chamberlain made a short speech. Subsequently he 
 received deputations from the loyalists and from the 
 farmers of the district, and in the afternoon both he 
 and Mrs Chamberlain attended a garden-party, given in 
 their honour, which was a purely social gathering, and as 
 such attracted the presence of some members of the Bond 
 who had abstained from taking any part in the proceed- 
 ings of the morning. 
 
 It is noticeable that Mr Chamberlain's reception at 
 the Paarl was less friendly than any that he had met 
 with elsewhere in the Cape Colony. There was little or 
 no attempt to decorate the town ; the streets, as the party 
 drove through them to the Recreation Ground, were empty 
 and silent, and only three addresses were presented. In 
 reference to this coldness, Mr Chamberlain remarked in 
 his reply that 
 
 "if he had previously had the opportunity of seeing these 
 deputations and individuals, who were good enough to 
 
220 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 promise to wait on him, he might have known how to 
 classify the people of the Paarl. But at present," he said, 
 " I do not know whether I am to say to the Paarl that 
 it is loyal and contented under the British flag, enjoying the 
 privileges conferred upon it, and rejoicing to work with all its 
 
 fellow subjects for the common good, or whether I 
 
 will not put the alternative." 
 
 His speech was otherwise noticeable for allusions relating 
 respectively to the refusal of the Boer Generals to accept 
 seats in the Transvaal Legislative Council,^ and to the 
 recent disarmament of the loyalists in the Cape Colony.^ 
 
 The party left the Paarl at 7 o'clock the same evening, 
 and the train without entering Cape Town Station ran through 
 to the suburb of Newlands, where Mr and Mrs Chamberlain 
 were to be the guests of Sir Walter and Lady Hely- 
 Hutchinson at Government Cottage. 
 
 On the following morning (i8th February), again in 
 brilliant sunshine, the Secretary of State made his entry 
 
 ^ See forward p. 225. 
 
 ^ In respect of the former he first repeated the warning which he had uttered 
 at Graaf Reinet. The danger to the Cape Constitution did not come from 
 the Imperial Government, nor from the advocates of Suspension, but from those 
 who had " fought against the Constitution, who had shown themselves unworthy of 
 the liberties which were conceded to them." The large minority of the population 
 which signed the Petition for the Suspension of the Constitution, did so "for 
 reasons that appeared to be very similar to those which have recently been given 
 by the Boer Generals as an argument against the concession of even a moderately 
 representative institution — that is to say. Generals De la Rey, Botha and Smuts 
 have shown themselves to be of the opinion that what this country wants is peace 
 and time for recuperation ; also freedom from political agitation : and that 
 in the meantime it might be well for the people at large to trust the Government, 
 who have shown that they can be sympathetic as well as just." The allusion to 
 the disarmament grievance occurred in connection with Mr Chamberlain's 
 acknowledgment oif the address presented by the men of the District Mounted 
 Troops. It was an address, which, as he said, came from " those who had taken 
 their part and done their duty in defending, not merely the countr)', but the 
 Government of their own choosing against lawless men and foreign invaders." 
 
 " I recognise," he continued, " that this district sent a very large number 
 of men for this purpose into the field, and I am delighted to know that, as 
 Mr Mybergh has said, two-thirds at least of them belonged to the Dutch race. 
 Sir [the Mayor of the Paarl], I wish to say that the Government— the Imperial 
 Government — and I know that in this I may also speak for the Colonial 
 Government — appreciate what these men have done, and I say it with the 
 more emphasis to-day, because I know that there has existed some mis- 
 understanding in respect of the recent disarmament. That disarmament, I 
 have authority for saying, is merely a precautionary and temporary measure, 
 and all those who have borne arms on behalf of their country will have those 
 arms returned to them, with a license, as early as possible, and I believe 
 that arrangements have been made to hasten a transaction, which, I admit, 
 seems to have been unduly delayed." 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 221 
 
 into the capital of the old colony, which, like all the other 
 large towns, was profusely decorated and thronged with 
 enthusiastic crowds. The official reception and presentation 
 of the addresses of welcome took place in Green-Market 
 Square, a wide space surrounded by buildings among which 
 stands the Stadthaus of the Dutch East India Company's 
 rigime. Here a crowd of many thousands of persons 
 had gathered, while others hired the windows, and even 
 climbed the roofs, of the houses over-looking the Square; 
 and through the solid mass of humanity a pathway, kept 
 open by troops, led to the raised platform upon which 
 the ceremonies of the reception were to take place. On 
 this lofty stage the Mayors and Councillors of all the 
 Municipalities in the Cape Peninsula, together with the 
 Mayors of East London and King-Williamstown, had 
 assembled in their robes of office ; and behind them 
 were seated or standing the chief personalities, civil and 
 military, of the colony. Among these latter Sir Gordon 
 Sprigg, the Prime Minister, who took his seat while the 
 addresses were being read, was received with loudly 
 expressed sounds of disapprobation. Addresses, in addi- 
 tion to those of the Cape Town and other Municipalities 
 mentioned above, were also presented from representatives 
 of Australia and New Zealand, from societies representing 
 the Scotch and Welsh colonists, and from the Indian 
 community. 
 
 A great outburst of cheers and shouts arose as Mr and 
 Mrs Chamberlain, with Sir W. Hely-Hutchinson, walked up 
 the human lane. This demonstration of the people's good- 
 will was continued long after Mr Chamberlain had reached 
 his seat upon the platform, and broke out again from time 
 to time while the business of reading the addresses was 
 proceeding. Indeed, so great was the eagerness of the crowd 
 to hear him that they could barely contain themselves ; and 
 when at length he rose to speak they filled the air with such 
 long-continued cheers and shouts, that it seemed as though 
 in their very enthusiasm they would have made it impossible 
 for him to fulfil their desire. 
 
 The new colonies, under the firm but sympathetic 
 policy of Lord Milner, were on the road to become "glad 
 
222 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 partners" in the British Empire. But in this colony, he 
 said,' 
 
 "the antagonism, which I deplore, between the two races 
 seems almost to have become chronic ; and while we find 
 rebellion exalted into heroism by men in authority, loyalty, 
 if it is not treated as a crime, is at any rate, discountenanced 
 and ostracised. In the country districts the social atmos- 
 phere is such as to discourage what is the first duty of every 
 citizen — that is, to defend the institutions of his country 
 and the free Government whose privileges he enjoys. And 
 meanwhile an active propaganda is still continued in the 
 press, and I am sorry to say sometimes also in the pulpit, a 
 propaganda whose tendency it is, if it is not its intention, to 
 intensify the separation between the two races that ought 
 to be united ; and in this way the greatest curse of our social 
 and political life is being confirmed and prolonged. . . . 
 
 "Surely the time is propitious, and the opportunity is 
 given to the statesmen of this colony — an opportunity such 
 as they may not receive again. And if I could have the 
 assurance on leaving South Africa that without regard or 
 distinction of classes or races, the population had come 
 frankly to accept the settlement which has followed the war 
 — a settlement which has removed the greatest cause of 
 difficulty and difference between us, which always centred 
 in the Transvaal . . . then, indeed, I should leave South 
 Africa with the happy consciousness that my mission had 
 been fulfilled. . . ." 
 
 Just as Mr Chamberlain's rebukes of the Boers at Pretoria 
 and Bloemfontein had cleared the air in the new colonies, 
 so now this speech with its earnest appeal and its solemn 
 warning — both appeal and warning coming direct from the 
 man who had refused to suspend the constitution of the 
 colony, but who had yet the power to do this, if once he 
 were convinced that such a course was necessary — stirred the 
 leaders of the Bond to exert themselves to check the bitter 
 spirit fomented by their agents in the press and pulpit, and 
 to recommend the more fanatical of the Dutch countryfolk 
 to live in peace with their British neighbours. And here at 
 Cape Town, as at Pretoria and Bloemfontein, the public declara- 
 tions and appeals of the Secretary of State were seconded by 
 the full use which he made of the opportunities for informal 
 discussion afforded him by social intercourse with the leaders 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 223 
 
 of the Bond and their British associates. During this and 
 the next few days the proposal of a Coalition Ministry was 
 discussed, first privately, and then in the press and at party 
 meetings summoned for the purpose. Mr Chamberlain 
 himself had thought that the formation of such a ministry, 
 consisting of moderate men of both the South African (or 
 Bond) and the Progressive (or loyalist) parties, might furnish 
 a solution for the constitutional and electoral difficulties 
 in which the war had involved the colony. Lord Milner, 
 however, had foreseen that the divergence between the two 
 parties on matters of principle was so wide as to make 
 effective co-operation between their respective leaders im- 
 possible. The result was what Lord Milner had anticipated. 
 At a meeting held on the following day (19th February) 
 the representatives of the Progressive Party unanimously 
 declined to entertain the proposal. The decision was based 
 on the conviction that such a Ministry would be controlled 
 inevitably by the Bond, and would be broken up so soon as 
 the term of disfranchisement imposed on the rebels had 
 expired ; and further that, while it would be powerless to 
 pass progressive legislation, such as the Redistribution Bill, 
 which was urgently required, it would also be incapable of 
 putting into effect the measures necessary to allay finally the 
 prevalent antagonism between the two nationalities. 
 
 Another question, which was discussed in the press and 
 at party gatherings during Mr Chamberlain's stay at the 
 Cape, was a proposal that the colony should contribute at 
 once to the cost of Imperial defence in response to the 
 appeal of his Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth speeches. 
 
 There is no doubt that the Dutch leaders were prepared 
 to give their support to some measure of the kind, and that 
 with their support the success of the proposal would have been 
 assured. In the circumstances, however, Mr Chamberlain 
 felt that it would be impolitic to accept a contribution in 
 relief of the Imperial Exchequer thus obtained. The 
 evidence of loyalty for which he had asked the Dutch 
 population of the colony was the abandonment of all 
 manifestations of hatred against their British, or Dutch 
 loyalist, neighbours ; and he was now receiving assurances 
 from the Dutch leaders of their intention to use their political 
 
224 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 and social influence to bring about the desired result. If, 
 therefore, a contribution were voted by the Dutch majority 
 in the Cape Parliament, and the Dutch leaders afterwards 
 failed — as they might do quite possibly, and from no fault of 
 their own — to allay the race-animosity of their people, Mr 
 Chamberlain would have exposed himself to the taunt that 
 he had been led to accept the conciliatory assurances of the 
 Dutch leaders by the promise of a contribution to Imperial 
 defence — in other words, that he had subordinated the 
 interests of the colony to those of the Imperial Exchequer 
 by a "bargain with the Bond." 
 
 On Saturday, 2ist February, Mr Chamberlain received 
 a deputation of 150 members of the South African 
 party 1 at Government House. The Governor and Lady 
 Hely - Hutchinson and Mrs Chamberlain were present 
 during the proceedings. Mr Merriman, who was leader of 
 the deputation, introduced some of the principal delegates 
 to Mr Chamberlain, and then made a brief speech. In the 
 course of his remarks he observed that the members of the 
 deputation came from all parts of the colony, and that, unlike 
 other deputations which had waited upon Mr Chamberlain, 
 they represented not 
 
 " the fluctuating crowd of townsmen who, far from being 
 interested in the welfare of South Africa, thought only of 
 their own particular interests, but were themselves the 
 descendants of the oldest pioneers of the colony, and as such 
 they intended, whatever happened, to identify themselves 
 permanently with the country." 
 
 At the conclusion of his speech Mr Merriman read the 
 address of the South African party. This document was in 
 effect a statement in justification of the policy and action 
 of the Bond and its British associates both before and 
 during the war. After this address had been presented, Mr 
 Hofmeyr read a further statement, to which, as will appear, 
 Mr Chamberlain attached the highest importance. 
 
 After summarising the various grievances of the loyalists 
 
 ' After the war, the Bond and its British associates decided to give their 
 party this name, as a set-off to the name " Progressive," and as less unpleasing 
 than the "Bond." 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 225 
 
 in respect of persecution and boycotting, the leader of the 
 Bond suggested that an extenuating reason for such actions 
 on the part of the Dutch was to be found in the unavoidable 
 bitterness which was necessarily engendered by the violent 
 events of the last three years. Deprecating in most con- 
 ciliatory language all such insults as the parading of rebel 
 colours and badges, he then declared that the Bond leaders 
 were ready to address an appeal to their constituents, in 
 which they would urge the discontinuance of these and all 
 other irritating actions. 
 
 In his reply Mr Chamberlain first expressed 
 
 "a little regret, that Mr Merriman should have thought it 
 necessary to make any invidious comparison between you 
 who live in the country and those who work in the towns." 
 
 The interest of town and country, he continued, 
 
 ■'was really one, and the prosperity of the whole could 
 only be made up by the prosperity of both such parts." 
 
 He then added : — 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, before I come to the address which 
 you have been good enough to present to me, I must refer 
 to what in my mind is a still more important document — 
 the statement which has just been read by Mr Hofmeyr. 
 Gentlemen, I consider that that statement is admirable in 
 its spirit, and is calculated to make more for the peace 
 and goodwill which ought to prevail amongst all classes 
 than anything that has been said or done up to the present 
 time. I accept it as a most hopeful and a most happy 
 augury for the future. . . . The circular, which Mr Hofmeyr 
 has been good enough to promise me will immediately be 
 issued to the Dutch speaking inhabitants of the country, 
 will be certain to produce most excellent results. It is 
 certain to bring to the minds of those who are exacerbated 
 by petty squabbles and difficulties — it will bring to their 
 minds a sense of the injury which their conduct is doing 
 to the country which they profess to serve. And on my 
 part let me say that no endeavour will be wanting to bring 
 home to the British speaking part of the population the 
 necessity of reciprocating." 
 
 On the Monday following (23rd February),Mr Chamberlain 
 was again in Cape Town. He first received a deputation of 
 
 VOL. I. V 
 
226 EECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Dutch loyalists, who were introduced by Sir Henry Juta, 
 and then attended a luncheon given in his honour by the 
 Cape Town Chamber of Commerce.^ In addressing the Dutch 
 loyalists he entered fully into the questions of compensation 
 and boycotting, assuring them in respect of the former that 
 they, the loyalists, would be treated not worse but better 
 than the disaffected, and in respect of the latter that the 
 Colonial Government would do all that lay in its power to 
 lessen this insidious form of persecution. At the same time 
 he urged them to accept the assurances which had been 
 given by the Bond leaders. 
 
 " It is not good policy on your part," he said, " and it 
 would not be generous, to accept assurances which in 
 themselves are satisfactory in any grudging spirit." 
 
 They were right to ask for proofs of loyalty from the Bond 
 in view of the rebellion, but they must wait in order that 
 the evidence they required might have time to appear. 
 
 " When Mr Hofmeyr's words have circulated throughout 
 all the branches of the Bond," said Mr Chamberlain, 
 " throughout the length and breadth of the land, when they 
 
 ' In his speech on this occasion he denounced the materialist view of the 
 Empire embodied in the assertion that it should be " run on business principles." 
 
 "What are business principles?" he asked. "The object of a man in 
 business is to get the largest possible return upon his capital, his skill, and bis 
 labour. Under a principle of that sort he cannot be expected to turn aside at 
 every moment to consider sentimental, or even philanthropic, considerations. 
 But the Empire cannot be run on those principles. There must be something 
 more altruistic in the idea of Empire, if it is to remain what we all think 
 it should be. If we were to open somewhere or other, in an office in Downing 
 Street, a ledger account with every one of our colonies, if we were to write 
 them off as a bad debt, whenever we cannot prove there is an immediate 
 profit upon our mutual transactions, then, indeed, we may be following business 
 principles, but we shall have a very miserable conception of the true Imperial 
 spirit. No, gentlemen, the British Empire is based upon something higher 
 than that. It does not mean braggart declarations ; it does not mean mere 
 pettifogging considerations of profit and loss. It means a spirit infused into 
 the whole race which raises and elevates us above the petty and sordid 
 considerations of ordinary life. The British Empire is based upon a com- 
 munity of sacrifice. Whenever that is lost sight of, then, indeed, I think we 
 may expect to sink into oblivion like the great empires of the past, which 
 always failed in this respect, and which, after having exhibited to the world 
 evidences of their power and strength, died away regretted by none, and 
 leaving behind them a record of selfishness only. Gentlemen, that is not 
 my view of the British Empire. I do not believe it is yours. And it is 
 with that full confidence that you here and in all the British colonies share 
 my feelings in this matter and my hopes for the future that I thank you for 
 your reception, and bid you 'farewell. 
 
ME CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 227 
 
 have had time to permeate into the minds of the people, 
 then we shall see whether or no they are effective for the 
 purpose for which I believe they were intended. . . . Mean- 
 while wait in the most confident spirit that you can possibly 
 assume for the results which I hope and trust will follow." 
 
 In this speech to the loyalist Dutch Mr Chamberlain 
 revealed a feeling of confidence, as regards the future attitude 
 of the Dutch population which was in marked contrast to his 
 first speech at Cape Town and his earlier utterances in the 
 Eastern Province. This confidence was due in the main 
 to the favourable impressions left upon his mind by Mr 
 Hofmeyr's statement of the preceding Saturday, and in 
 general by his recent interviews with him and other leaders 
 of the Bond, with the Progressive leaders, and with Mr 
 Graham, the Attorney-General, and other members of the 
 Government. 
 
 Thus the earlier and less favourable impressions produced 
 by his observations in the country districts had been sensibly 
 modified by his later experiences at Cape Town ; and, in 
 spite of the vigorous terms in which he had condemned 
 the persecution of the loyalists, Dutch and British, and 
 the spirit which he had described as "the exaltation of 
 rebellion into heroism," his final diagnosis of the political 
 temper of the Dutch population of the colony was a hopeful 
 one. He felt that the aspiration for a Dutch South Africa, 
 independent of Great Britain, had in fact perished with the 
 surrender of Vereeniging. Some part, at least, of the social 
 bitterness, attributed to Dutch hatred of the British as a race, 
 he believed to be due in reality to political differences and 
 industrial jealousies which were local and not racial. He had 
 found, indeed, that boycotting and social persecution were 
 practised by the Dutch majority upon loyalist individuals 
 of both races in the country districts ; and it was with a view 
 of diminishing this undoubted evil that he had exercised his 
 personal influence with the leaders of the Bond. But here he 
 could point to definite results. First there was Mr de Waal's 
 speech at Middelburg, with its warm tribute to his con- 
 ciliatory attitude, and its declaration that the Dutch were 
 prepared "heartily to clasp hands" with their British 
 neighbours. Then there was Mr Hofmeyr's emphatic 
 
228 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 condemnation of the few displays of personal discourtesy to 
 which he had been subjected in the course of his visit to 
 the colony, and the promise of his own direct intervention 
 for the purpose of discouraging boycotting in the country 
 districts. Whatever results might be produced by the 
 circular letter of advice which was to be sent to all the 
 branches of the Bond in the country districts, and whatever 
 ulterior motives might lie behind those declarations, he felt, 
 as he told both the loyalist Dutch and the Progressive 
 leaders, that it was good policy on their part to accept 
 them as made in all good faith, and thereby to bind the 
 leaders of the Bond to their words. 
 
 In addition to obtaining these assurances that the power 
 of the Bond would be used, temporarily at all events, to 
 diminish racial bitterness, Mr Chamberlain had set himself to 
 straighten out the constitutional tangle in which the colony 
 had been involved by the breakdown of Parliamentary Govern- 
 ment during the war, and from which it had been extricated 
 only partially by the passage of the Indemnity Act in the 
 short session of last year. In accomplishing this object 
 he used freely his official authority with Sir Gordon Sprigg,i 
 and dealt with him precisely as he might have done with 
 the head of a Crown Colony Executive. 
 
 The position with which he was called upon to deal 
 was this : The existing Parliament was admittedly in no 
 way representative of the electorate, or rather of the persons 
 who would have been qualified to elect its members, if the 
 machinery of registration had not been brought to a standstill 
 by the rebellion, and the consequent rigime of martial 
 law. In these circumstances the Progressive Party naturally 
 desired that a new Parliament should be elected as quickly as 
 possible, but they recognised that, as Sir Gordon Sprigg 
 stated, the register of voters could not possibly be completed 
 earlier than would allow of the elections being held at the 
 
 ' Sir Gordon Sprigg succeeded Mr W. P. Schreiner as Prime Minister in 1900. 
 Early in 1902 the majority of his supporters advocated the suspension of the Cape 
 Constitution, and, as he was himself opposed to this measure, they formed the 
 separate party, since known as "the Progressive Party," of which Sir Starr (then 
 Dr) Jameson became the leader. For the circumstances in which Sir Gordon 
 became Prime Minister, ste "Lord Milner's Work in South Africa, 1897-1902." 
 He died in 1913. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 229 
 
 end of the current year (1903). Unless, therefore, the 
 Government was to have recourse again to the uncon- 
 stitutional method of providing funds for the services by 
 Governor's warrants, it was necessary that the existing 
 Parliament should be called together for the purpose of voting 
 supplies. The Progressive leaders, while admitting this 
 necessity, desired to be protected against the possibility 
 of the existing non-representative Parliament being used 
 by Sir Gordon Sprigg, or by the Bond majority upon which 
 he depended for support, for the purpose of passing con- 
 tentious legislation. They also wished to be protected 
 against the contingency of Sir Gordon, after the general 
 election had been held, postponing the meeting of the new 
 Parliament until late in the year 1904, and thus securing 
 for himself a lengthened tenure of office by irregular means. 
 
 In order to realise the seriousness of the injury which 
 would have been inflicted upon the British population of the 
 Cape Colony, and indirectly upon British interests in South 
 Africa, had the Bond chosen to exert its power to compel Sir 
 Gordon Sprigg to adopt one or both of these courses, it must 
 be remembered that, apart from the fact that the existing 
 Parliament consisted largely of members elected by persons 
 since disfranchised,' the Progressive leaders claimed that the 
 British inhabitants of the colony were under-represented 
 by the then existing arrangement of the electoral divisions. 
 To remedy this evil they required not merely the correction 
 of the old register, by the removal of disqualified, and the 
 addition of qualified, voters, but a redistribution of the seats 
 in both houses in such a manner as would give the British 
 inhabitants of the colony the representation to which their 
 numbers, wealth, and intelligence entitled them. To carry 
 a Redistribution Bill on these lines was, therefore, the 
 immediate objective of the Progressive Party at this time. 
 
 Thus by his decision not to suspend the constitution of 
 the colony Mr Chamberlain had put it in the power of Sir 
 Gordon Sprigg, whether influenced by the pressure of his 
 Bond supporters or by his own natural desire of office, to 
 arrest the normal course of parliamentary government, and 
 
 ^ In many of the Bond constituencies the electors had been disfranchised 
 wholesale for rebellion. 
 
230 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 to postpone, or defeat, the attainment of a just measure of 
 representation in the legislature of the colony by the men 
 who, whatever mistakes they had made in other directions, 
 had at least given undoubted proofs of their preference for 
 British ideals and their determination to keep South Africa 
 a part of the Empire. Whether the fears of the Progressive 
 leaders were well-founded or not, Mr Chamberlain recognised 
 that it was his duty to protect them and the loyalist popula- 
 tion of the colony from the logical results of his own action. 
 It is only right to add that he himself bad never doubted his 
 power to do this. The " sword of suspension " was lowered, 
 but not yet sheathed. He regarded both the introduction of 
 contentious legislation into the present Parliament, and the 
 postponement of the meeting of the new Parliament, as un- 
 constitutional in the peculiar circumstances of the colony. 
 He not only made known this opinion to Sir Gordon and 
 Mr Graham, the Attorney-General, who, indeed, both dis- 
 claimed, on their own behalf and on that of their colleagues, 
 any intention of doing either the one or the other, but before 
 he left the colony he obtained specific assurances from the 
 Prime Minister on these and other points. In such matters 
 the Government were to hold themselves responsible not to 
 the Cape Parliament, but to himself, as Secretary of State. 
 No attempt was to be made to pass contentious legislation 
 through the existing Parliament ; any measure for the re- 
 enfranchisement of the rebels was expressly forbidden, and 
 proposals for amnesty^ were to be confined solely to the 
 release from prison of persons who were not accused of 
 outrage or of other offences not connected with the war. The 
 time and manner of the dissolution of Parliament was also 
 settled. It was impossible, as all parties agreed, for the new 
 Parliament to meet before January 1904,^ but it was to meet 
 at the earliest date practical after the elections had been held. 
 And it was understood that in the event of the Government 
 departing from this course of action in any material point, 
 
 1 Dr Jameson had declared in a public speech that the Progressives had no 
 objection to a measure of amnesty provided that it was granted as a spontaneous 
 act of the Cape Parliament and not as the satisfaction of an external demand (such 
 as had been made upon the Imperial Government by the Boer Generals both in 
 England and in the new colonies). 
 
 ° It met actually in February 1904. 
 
MR CHAMBERLAIN IN THE CAPE COLONY 231 
 
 Mr Chamberlain would be prepared to instruct the Governor 
 to exercise his right of dismissing the Ministry. 
 
 The question whether Mr Chamberlain's decision to refuse 
 to suspend the constitution of the colony was or was not 
 justified in the event, must remain undetermined. It might 
 be argued with some force that when there was so strong a 
 feeling against the Crown Colony system in the new colonies, 
 where it was absolutely necessary, there would have been an 
 infinitely stronger feeling against it in the Cape Colony. But 
 on the other hand it must be remembered that, suspension or 
 no suspension, a large proportion of the Dutch were actually 
 disenfranchised for rebellion, and an appreciable number of 
 the British were virtually disenfranchised by the obsolescence 
 of the register, and the general disorder of the machinery 
 of representation. There is a strong probability that the 
 inclusion of the Cape Colony with the new colonies in a 
 Crown Colony system would have assisted materially in the 
 more complete attainment of the cardinal aims of British 
 policy in South Africa, and in particular that, when a common 
 administration was at length established, there would have 
 been a British, and not a Dutch, majority in the Union 
 Parliament. But from the nature of the case it must remain 
 only a probability, since the decision ipso facto removed all 
 prospect of obtaining the only kind of evidence by which the 
 proposition could be proved or refuted. But be this as it may, 
 it is at least certain that no greater practical interference with 
 the principle of responsible Government could have taken 
 place under a Crown Colony regime than was afforded by the 
 course which Mr Chamberlain was constrained to adopt in 
 his dealings with the ministry of Sir Gordon Sprigg. 
 
 The business and festivities of Mr Chamberlain's visit to 
 South Africa were concluded with a banquet, which was held 
 in the Drill Hall, Cape Town, on the evening (Tuesday, 24th 
 February) preceding his return to England by the Union- 
 Castle mail boat. The utterance which he then delivered 
 was not unworthy of so great an occasion. 
 
 " I came to these shores as an optimist," he said, " and I 
 leave them with the firm conviction that Providence, which 
 out of evil still adduces good, will evolve some consolation 
 for the suffering and the misery which a great war involves, and 
 
232 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 for all the disturbance which this sub-continent has suffered. 
 I leave this shore more convinced than ever that the forces 
 — the natural forces — which are drawing you together, are 
 more potent than those evil influences which would tend 
 to separate you." 
 
 In the new colonies reconcilation was proceeding apace. 
 There Lord Milner was at work. 
 
 " Of course there are rocks ahead ; there are difficulties in 
 the political situation. I have no doubt whatever they will be 
 surmounted, as much greater difficulties have again and again 
 been surmounted in our colonial administration ; and that if 
 the firm and sympathetic policy of Lord Milner is continued, 
 the two new colonies will be amongst the most prosperous and 
 the most contented of the dominions of the Crown. 
 
 " I know there are people who talk of Lord Milner, whom 
 perhaps they have never seen, and with whom I am sure 
 they are not personally acquainted, as if he were a hard man, 
 inclined always to arbitrary and even tyrannical methods. 
 There can be no greater travesty of the truth than that : 
 and if these people had seen him, as I have had the privilege 
 of seeing him, at work ; if they could have seen his patient 
 and personal attention to every grievance that was brought to 
 his knowledge, his devotion to the details of every branch of 
 his administration, his constant endeavour to find new methods 
 of benefiting every class of the population, his earnest desire 
 to help the needs of those who are in trouble, to restore those 
 who have suffered during the war to their old prosperity — I 
 say if they could have seen this, they would themselves have 
 been the first to be ashamed of their suspicions." 
 
 And here in the Cape Colony there was hope that before 
 long " the echoes of the war would entirely die down." 
 
 " Then," he continued in his final words, " I look forward 
 to the growth of a new nation here in South Africa, as loyal 
 in the true sense of the word, as Imperial in the best sense of 
 the word, as any of the possessions of the British Crown. . . . 
 In this larger conception of Imperial duty, local politics, 
 important, no doubt, in their way, will still assume only their 
 proportionate significance ; and larger interests, and nobler 
 ideals, and a wider patriotism will take their place. You 
 may yet see a teeming population of the various races, of 
 divergent interests, that go to make up the British Empire, 
 united by a common bond — one life, one flag, one fleet, one 
 throne." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Mr Chamberlain's influence and action produced a detente 
 in tlie racial and party strife in the Cape Colony, which 
 reacted favourably upon the general South African situa- 
 tion. His settlement of the financial and other pressing 
 questions in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony left 
 Lord Milner free to complete the governmental machinery 
 of the new colonies ; and in the course of the next six 
 months the fabric of administration was rapidly built up. 
 The separate parts of the system were, in fact, raised 
 simultaneously, but for convenience of narration three lines 
 of progress may be distinguished : — 
 
 (i) The creation of an administrative authority — styled 
 the Inter-Colonial Council — for the management of 
 the common concerns of the two colonies and in 
 particular of the great national asset of the State 
 railways. 
 
 (2) The constitution of Legislative Councils in the two 
 
 colonies to supplement the already existing Execu- 
 tive Councils. These were bodies which, though 
 non-elective, contained a representative element in 
 the presence of non - official members, carefully 
 chosen to voice the separate interests of all classes 
 of the community. 
 
 (3) The creation of a system of local self-government 
 
 consisting of municipalities and Urban District 
 Councils. 
 
 In as much, however, as the railways in the new colonies 
 were actually, though not constitutionally, part of the 
 
 233 
 
234 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 general railway system of South Africa, and it was obviously 
 desirable that the new colonies should form part of the 
 Customs Union, it was necessary that their relationship to 
 the rest of South Africa in both these respects should be 
 defined and placed upon a stable and equitable basis, before 
 either their common railway policy or their separate customs 
 tariffs could be finally determined. The Conference of the 
 South African Governments which Lord Milner, with Mr 
 Chamberlain's approval, had invited to assemble at Bloem- 
 fontein in the month of March was, therefore, a necessary 
 preliminary to the effective working of much of this new 
 administrative machinery ; and as such it must first claim 
 our attention. When once, however, the character and 
 results of this gathering have been placed before the 
 reader, the road will be open for the consideration of 
 these new institutions as inter-related parts of the general 
 administrative development of the new colonies. 
 
 Lord Milner, it will be remembered, after seeing Mr 
 Chamberlain start, on gth February, from Bloemfontein 
 to the Cape Colony, had returned to Johannesburg, where 
 he was at once engaged with Sir Albert Hime, the Premier 
 of Natal. The affairs of Rhodesia next claimed the High 
 Commissioner's attention, and during the latter half of 
 February he was prostrated by a brief but somewhat 
 dangerous illness. He had, however, sufficiently recovered 
 by the beginning of March to preside over the Railway 
 Extension Conference — a meeting of official and non-official 
 representatives of the two new colonies, which sat at 
 Johannesburg (3rd to 6th March) to discuss and decide 
 upon which of the proposed new lines should be immediately 
 constructed. The gathering was significant as being an 
 informal meeting of the elements which subsequently assumed 
 constitutional shape in the Inter-Colonial Council. But it 
 will be convenient to defer the consideration both of this 
 aspect of the Railway Extension Conference, and the actual 
 decisions at which it arrived, until the opportunity has arisen 
 for discussing the management and development of the 
 railway system of the new colonies as a whole. 
 
 Early on Monday, 9th March, Lord Milner left Johannes- 
 burg for Bloemfontein, which he reached the same evening, 
 
ADMINISTEATIVE DEVELOP^IEXT 235 
 
 and the Conference, over which he presided, held its first 
 sitting at ii o'clock on the following morning. It consisted, 
 in addition to the President, of five delegates from each of 
 the five British colonies. At the head of the delegates from 
 the two self-governing colonies, the Cape and Natal, were 
 their respective Prime Ministers, Sir Gordon Sprigg and 
 Sir Albert Hime ; while Sir Godfrey Lagden (Commissioner 
 for Native Affairs), Mr (now Sir) H. F. Wilson (Colonial 
 Secretary), and Mr (now Sir) W. H. Milton (the Adminis- 
 trator), were the senior members of the delegations, respec- 
 tively representing the Transvaal, the Orange River Colony, 
 and Rhodesia. In each case the delegates were accompanied 
 by two or more " advisers " in the persons of the managers 
 of the Government railways, directors of customs, or legal 
 or native affairs officials, as the case might be, who were 
 present at the sittings, but had no power to vote. And 
 to these twenty - five delegates must be added Mr P. P. 
 Lancastre, the Director of the Mozambique Customs, who 
 attended, however, only in an unofficial capacity, having 
 power neither to vote nor to bind his Government in any 
 respect. 
 
 Lord Milner, in his brief opening address, dwelt upon the 
 unifying influence which Inter-Colonial Conferences, such 
 as the present, might exercise ; and to understand the 
 significance of the occasion, it must be remembered for how 
 many years past South African statesmanship — whether 
 British or Afrikander nationalist — had taken the union of 
 the separate European communities in a Federal system 
 as its ultimate goaU But while such a system was favoured 
 by most advocates of administrative unity, a considerable 
 body of opinion in the Cape Colony had clung pertinaciously 
 to the idea of " unification " as against federation ; meaning 
 thereby the creation of a central Government with such 
 wide powers that the matters excluded from its operation 
 would be such only as could be left properly to the ordinary 
 machinary of local government. And in the event it was 
 
 ^ This was so from the time of Sir George Grey onwards, the object being 
 to recover the solidarity of the Europeans, which was lost by the "dismember- 
 ment of South Africa" through the policy which culminated in the Sand River 
 (1852) and Bloemfontein (1854) conventions. See "Lord Milner's Work in 
 South Africa, 1897-1902," chap. i. passim. 
 
236 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 this latter form of unity that was attained.^ Before the 
 war, and mainly through the efforts of Rhodes, a distinct 
 advance in the direction of federal unity had been achieved 
 by the establishment of a Customs Union, consisting of the 
 Cape Colony, Natal, and the Orange Free State. But the 
 Transvaal, under Kruger, had obstinately refused to enter 
 this union ; and when the development of the gold 
 industry caused the Rand to become the great purchasing 
 and importing district of South Africa, the non-adherence of 
 the Transvaal had tended in an increasing degree to lessen 
 the influence which the Customs Union would otherwise 
 have exercised as a first step towards a federal union ot 
 the colonies and republics. 
 
 There were many who advocated the bold policy of 
 creating a federal constitution for South Africa at the end 
 of the war by the direct initiative and action of the Imperial 
 Government. And one of the chief advantages presented 
 by the proposed suspension of the Cape constitution was 
 the circumstance that by reducing this colony to the con- 
 stitutional level of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, 
 the immediate establishment of a central administration for 
 virtually the whole of South Africa would have followed as 
 a matter of course.^ The Imperial Government, however, 
 having pronounced against suspension on the one hand 
 and being, on the other, no less decidedly opposed to the 
 immediate grant of self-government to the new colonies, 
 the view that federation must come, if at all, from the 
 spontaneous action of the colonies themselves, and not 
 from any pressure from the Imperial authorities, was left 
 in possession of the field. Consequently all that the High 
 Commissioner could do to further the cause of administrative 
 unity was to prepare the way for a central Government 
 by encouraging the concerted action of the separate Colonial 
 Governments in matters of common concern. And, as in 
 Australia during the fifteen years of waiting for the 
 evolution of the Commonwealth constitution, so now in 
 South Africa the Inter-State, or Inter-Colonial, Conference 
 
 ' In 1909. 
 
 ^ Natal was quite willing to surrender such of its constitutional rights as 
 would liave been inconsistent with the establishment of this Central Administration. 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 237 
 
 was recognised as the chief agency for the accomplishment 
 of this object. No opportunity was lost by Lord Milner 
 for setting in motion this and any other agency that made 
 for union; and we shall have occasion subsequently to 
 consider those examples of inter-state action which occurred 
 in the course of the two years, 1903-5, as part of a policy 
 deliberately pursued to this end, and to trace the degree 
 in which this policy and action contributed to the eventual 
 realisation of South African unity. 
 
 In the present instance, while, as Lord Milner pointed 
 out, the Conference had met for the immediate purpose of 
 framing a common tariff acceptable to all the colonies 
 represented, its scope had been enlarged by the inclusion 
 in the Agenda of two other subjects, the native question 
 and alien immigration, and by the provision that other 
 subjects of common interest might be added, during the 
 course of the proceedings, to this Agenda by the unanimous 
 agreement of the delegates. But these latter subjects 
 differed materially from the first in respect of the nature 
 of the results which might be expected to follow from the 
 discussion of them. By the discussion of the customs 
 question inter-state action of a direct and practical nature, 
 and only waiting the sanction of the legislatures of the 
 several colonies to give it validity, was sought and expected. 
 From the discussion of the native and alien immigration 
 questions the most that could be hoped for was " an agree- 
 ment on the main principles which should govern the 
 action of the several states" in respect of such matters, 
 and, failing this, the advantage which would come from the 
 " mere exchange of ideas, between leading and repre- 
 sentative men," on questions of great importance to all 
 the colonies, and " in an atmosphere so favourable to frank, 
 business-like and unbiased discussion, as that of a Con- 
 ference of this character." ^ 
 
 In the end these anticipations were more than realised ; 
 
 ' The Inter-Colonial Conferences held during the remaining two years of 
 Lord Milner's High Commissionership produced no further instance of inter- 
 state action, since the proposed modification of the division of the carrying trade 
 to the Rand, as between the various South African ports, was not carried into 
 effect, but they were especially fruitful in results of the second class — i.e., in the 
 preparation for future union. 
 
238 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 but the conflict of interests between the coastal and inland 
 colonies was so sharp that more than once it seemed as 
 though an absolute deadlock must result. Indeed nothing 
 but the moderating influence of Lord Milner, exercised now 
 on this side and now on that, and the fact that he placed his 
 great financial ability and experience ungrudgingly at the 
 service of the delegates of all the colonies without distinc- 
 tion, could have brought about an agreement upon the two 
 inter-related questions of railway rates and customs duties 
 — questions of which either, taken singly, contained enough 
 contentious matter to have wrecked the Conference. 
 
 To understand the position it must be remembered that it 
 was greatly to the advantage of the coastal colonies (the Cape 
 and Natal) that the new colonies, and especially the Transvaal, 
 should enter the Customs Union. If this step were taken the 
 former colonies would secure the free admission of their local 
 produce into the great purchasing area of South Africa, and 
 that, too, at a time when the normal purchases of the inland 
 colonies, as a whole, had been swollen to extraordinary 
 dimensions by the eff'ort to repair rapidly the loss and 
 destruction caused by the war. But for this advantage the 
 new colonies desired to receive a corresponding benefit. 
 They asked the coastal colonies to co-operate with them in 
 an endeavour to lessen the cost of living on the Rand, and 
 in other industrial centres within their boundaries, by 
 reducing the railway rates charged on the through traflfic 
 from the ports. This co-operation was necessary ; since the 
 trains which carried the over-sea food and other necessaries 
 from the ports ran, with the one exception of Delagoa Bay, 
 over the Cape or Natal lines before they traversed those 
 of the new colonies. It would, therefore, have been com- 
 paratively useless for the Central South African railways 
 to have reduced their rates, unless there had been an 
 equivalent reduction in the charges levied by the Cape and 
 Natal Government railways. But whereas in the case of the 
 new colonies the loss of revenue resulting from the lowering 
 of the railway rates would be accompanied by a gain to the 
 community at large, the same sacrifice of revenue on the 
 part of the coastal colonies would bring no compensating 
 advantages with it. In point of fact the high rates which 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 239 
 
 they charged on the through railway traffic constituted, as 
 Lord Milner had written to Mr Chamberlain,^ nothing more 
 nor less than a tax levied by them upon their inland 
 neighbours. The new colonies were naturally determined 
 to rid themselves of this indefensible impost ; and fortunately 
 they possessed two weapons which they could employ for 
 the purpose of inducing the coastal colonies to face the 
 necessary loss of revenue. They could threaten to develop 
 the Delagoa Bay route, and thus in large measure divert the 
 through traffic from the Cape and Natal ports, and they 
 could make their entry into the Customs Union conditional 
 upon the reduction of the through railway rates by the 
 coastal colonies. Although the Orange River Colony was 
 naturally by no means so closely interested in the question 
 as the Transvaal, the delegates of the two colonies, owing to 
 Lord Milner's arrangement for working their railways as a 
 common concern under the Inter-Colonial Council, acted as 
 one body, and declared that they would not proceed to 
 discuss the customs tariff until a settlement had been reached 
 on the railway question. A second and supplementary 
 conference, consisting of railway authorities representing 
 the four colonies concerned, was hastily constituted, and it 
 was not until, after much discussion, the required reductions 
 of rates had been granted by the coastal colonies, that the 
 consideration of the tariff was resumed. 
 
 The circumstance that Lord Milner was at the time 
 engaged in writing the notable despatches in which, in 
 accordance with Mr Chamberlain's request, he described the 
 progress of the Repatriation of the Boers and the general 
 resettlement of the new colonies, makes his large personal 
 contribution to the ultimate success of the Conference seem 
 all the more remarkable. 
 
 " I could not have believed six weeks ago," he wrote to 
 Mr Chamberlain on 6th April, "that we should have got 
 through the numerous difficult and conflicting questions 
 which presented themselves to the Railway Extension Con- 
 ference, and subsequently to the Bloemfontein Conference, 
 as smoothly and as satisfactorily as we have done."^ 
 
 1 In the financial despatch of 8th September 1902. 
 
 2 Despatch giving particulars of the constitution of the proposed Inter-Colonial 
 Council. 
 
240 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 But the strain of the double effort appears as clearly in 
 the Diary as the shifting phases of the conflict between the 
 coastal and the inland colonies. 
 
 On the 15 th he wrote : — 
 
 " Very hard at work all day on despatches to the Secretary 
 of State. . . . There is considerable difficulty about the 
 Conference, owing to the probable breakdown of negotiations 
 on the rates question." 
 
 On the 1 6th :— 
 
 " Another day of really fearful drive. I began working as 
 usual before 7 and did not stop, except for meals, till long 
 past midnight. Every moment not devoted to the Conference 
 was spent in completing my long despatch to the Secretary 
 of State, and I kept two shorthand writers at it all day. . . . 
 I went to the Conference from 10 to i. While at lunch I 
 talked business to Hime and Girouard. Conference again 
 from 3 to S, then a steady grind at despatch, till i o'clock in 
 the morning, when it was sent to catch the mail." 
 
 And on the i8th:— 
 
 " I am busy from morning to night with these negotiations 
 and my other work falls considerably into arrear." 
 
 On the 19th the entry reads : — 
 
 "Conference 10 to i. We quickly passed the resolutions 
 on the native question and gave them to the press. On 
 reassembling at 3 we soon got back to the Customs Union, 
 when there was a deadlock, as the Railway Conference not 
 having reported, the Transvaal delegates declined to go on 
 with the question of customs. This led to some heated 
 discussion, but finally they carried their point and we 
 adjourned. I came back to Government House, where 
 Farrar^ and several others came to see me and kept me 
 busy up to dinner time." 
 
 On the following day the Conference met in the morning 
 and again adjourned ; but in the afternoon we read : — 
 
 " The railway men having at last arrived at a settlement 
 we began making some progress with the tariff. On 
 
 ' Sir George Farrar, one of the Transvaal delegates. 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 241 
 
 adjourning I went straight back to Government House, feel- 
 ing very tired, and lay down. I did not go down to dinner 
 . . . and went early to bed." 
 
 On Monday, 23rd March, which rather curiously was 
 Lord Milner's birthday, the end was attained. 
 
 "The Conference met at 10 and sat till nearly 2, and 
 again from 2 to 6. Finally the Convention was unanimously 
 adopted amid cheering and general satisfaction." 
 
 And at 10 o'clock the draft Convention was signed for 
 ratification by the several legislatures by Sir Gordon Sprigg, 
 Sir Albert Hime, Mr Wilson, Sir Godfrey Lagden, and Mr 
 Newton on behalf of their respective colonies. 
 
 Up to the very moment of its ratification by the Cape 
 Legislature, the fate of the Convention was rendered doubtful 
 by the vacillating action of the Cape Government.'- Lord 
 Milner's energy, however, supported by the loyal adherence 
 of Natal to the principle of fiscal co-operation affirmed by 
 the Conference, in the end overcame all obstacles, and 
 the instrument, having been ratified by all the legislatures 
 concerned, came into operation on ist July. It was to 
 remain in force for two years from that date ; but at the 
 termination of this period, or of any subsequent year 
 ending on 30th June, it was to be open to any state to 
 withdraw upon having first given twelve months' notice 
 of its intention to leave the Union. And here it will be 
 convenient to set out the results achieved by this notable 
 example of inter-state action. 
 
 In the first place the principle of Imperial unity was 
 applied in the provision of a rebate, or preference, of 25 
 per cent, upon "goods or articles, the growth, produce or 
 manufacture of the United Kingdom, imported therefrom 
 into the Union," where such goods, etc., were classified 
 under an ad valorem rate, and the remission of the whole 
 duty when it did not exceed 2\ per cent, ad valorem; 
 while provision was made, also, for extending these advan- 
 tages to any British colony or possession which should 
 
 ' It was Mr Hofmeyr's decision to support the Customs Union that ultimately 
 allowed Sir Gordon Sprigg to obtain a majority for this purpose. 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
242 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 itself grant "equivalent reciprocal privileges to the 
 colonies and territories belonging to the (Customs) Union." 
 
 In the second place, the fiscal relations between the 
 new colonies and the Cape and Natal were materially 
 improved. The coastal colonies gave up an amount of 
 railway revenue almost equal to the ;£900,000 to ;^i, 000,000 
 by which the net receipts of the Central South African 
 railways were found to have been reduced in the financial 
 year 1903-4. They also agreed to the abolition of transit 
 duties, and undertook to collect the customs due to the 
 inland colonies from over-sea imports, at the several ports ; 
 receiving in return for this service the rather extravagant 
 payment of 5 per cent, of the revenue thus collected. But 
 against this loss of railway revenue the coastal colonies 
 obtained the legitimate advantage of having their own 
 local produce and manufactures admitted duty free (with 
 slight exceptions) to the markets of the Transvaal and 
 Orange River Colony. 
 
 The Customs Convention was, of course, the main work 
 of the Bloemfontein Conference, but the discussion of the 
 native and alien immigration questions also led to results 
 by no means unimportant. Not only did the Conference 
 resolve to carry out one useful inter-state measure — the 
 constitution of an Inter-Colonial Commission on Native 
 Affairs^ — but the discussion of these subjects led to a 
 pronouncement on the labour question which appreciably 
 strengthened the position of the Transvaal administration 
 when it became necessary to supplement the African 
 labour supply by the importation of Chinese coolies. 
 
 After stating its opinion that an increase in the supply 
 of native African labourers might be promoted by a "still 
 further improvement" in the conditions under which they 
 worked, and recommending that " free shelter, under Govern- 
 ment supervision, where food could be purchased," should 
 
 ^ For the work of this Commission j-M forward, vol. ii. p. 198. The resolution 
 ran that " in view of the coming federation of the South African colonies 
 it was desirable that a South African Commission should be constituted 
 to gather accurate information on affairs relating to the natives and native 
 administration, and to offer recommendations to the several governments con- 
 cerned with the object of arriving at a common understanding on questions 
 of native policy." 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 243 
 
 be provided for natives going and returning to the labour 
 centres, in cases where railway facilities were not afforded, 
 the Conference then put on record, as its deliberate and 
 considered conclusion, that 
 
 " the native population of Africa, south of the Zambesi, 
 does not comprise a sufficient number of adult males capable 
 of work to satisfy the normal requirements of the several 
 colonies, and at the same time furnish an adequate amount 
 of labour for the large industrial and mining centres." 
 
 And, with reference to the proposals for the introduction 
 of the Chinese on the Rand, which were already in the 
 air, it also resolved that, while " the permanent settlement 
 in South Africa of Asiatic races would be injurious and 
 should not be permitted," the introduction of unskilled 
 Asiatic labourers, under a system of Government control, 
 and with compulsory repatriation at the end of their 
 indentures, " should be permissible, if industrial development 
 positively required it." And, lastly, the principle of South 
 African unity was unhesitatingly affirmed. On the con- 
 cluding day of the Conference Sir Albert Hime moved, 
 and Sir Gordon Sprigg seconded, resolutions " hailing 
 with thankfulness the great stride that had been made 
 towards the political unification of South Africa" by the 
 renewal and extension of the Customs Union, and express- 
 ing the hope that " the day might not be far distant 
 when it might be possible to summon a conference to 
 consider . . . the union under one central federal adminis- 
 tration of the whole of the colonies and territories under 
 British rule." 
 
 To say that a " great stride had been made towards the 
 political unification of South Africa," by the Bloemfontein 
 Conference was no exaggeration. To bring the Transvaal 
 into the Customs Union was the cardinal problem, which, 
 from economic as well as political reasons, had hitherto 
 baffled the federationists. The war had removed the political 
 obstacle, since all five colonies were now under one flag. 
 But the economic conflict of interest, especially in the question 
 of railway rates, so far from being removed by the change 
 of Governments, had been accentuated by the large and 
 
244 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 progressive increase in the volume of the Transvaal imports, 
 which had set in with the establishment of the Crown Colony 
 administration. To have brought the Transvaal into the 
 Customs Union in these circumstances was, therefore, not 
 only a service of the first rank to the cause of South African 
 unity, but one which, in all probability, no other man than 
 Lord Milner could have rendered. The preceding pages 
 will have indicated the main directions in which he did, 
 in fact, bring his influence to bear upon the course of the 
 proceedings ; but, to understand the full merit of his action, 
 there must be added a knowledge of the peculiar and complex 
 relationship in which he stood to the Conference as a whole, 
 and to the several colonies therein represented. 
 
 As High Commissioner, then. Lord Milner was President ; 
 and undoubtedly without a man in the chair, possessing his, 
 at that time, unparalleled authority and influence, personal as 
 well as ofificial, no agreement would have been reached. But 
 the fact that the man who, as High Commissioner, was Chair- 
 man and therefore neutral, happened to be Governor of two 
 of the colonies represented — and of two which, by his own 
 policy, had been so far unified as to have a common economic 
 interest as against the others — and might be suspected of 
 partiality on that account, made his position as awkward as 
 it was no doubt powerful. To the economic solidity of the 
 Orange River Colony and the Transvaal was added the 
 influence which he possessed by virtue of his old association 
 with the Cape, as its former Governor. But in spite of the 
 strong cards he held, he would have failed in effecting a 
 reasonable settlement if he had not been completely success- 
 ful in making the Cape and Natal delegates feel that he 
 was really holding the balance even, and working solely for the 
 general good of South Africa and not for the special interests 
 of the two colonies with which he was more directly connected. 
 
 There is another circumstance which gave significance 
 to the Conference as a manifestation of the High Com- 
 missioner's tightened grip on South African affairs. The 
 Portuguese delegate contributed little to its discussions, but 
 Lord Milner attached great importance to his presence, as 
 marking a further advance in the development of the policy 
 which had been successfully inaugurated by the exchange 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 245 
 
 of visits between himself and the Governor - General of 
 Mozambique. His aim was quietly, but effectually, to bind 
 the Province of Mozambique by economic ties to British 
 South Africa so completely that the control of its industrial 
 development would lie in British hands. In dealing with 
 the Portuguese, therefore, he had set himself to allay their 
 fear of Great Britain's supposed political designs upon their 
 possessions, while at the same time drawing them in all 
 other respects into the South African family, and trying, in 
 particular, to make them feel in questions of commerce and 
 communications that they stood on precisely the same footing 
 in the general councils of South Africa as the representatives 
 of the several colonies. In short, what Lord Milner sought, 
 and what in fact he largely achieved, was, while respecting 
 their flag and paying every formal tribute to their separate 
 nationality, to get them in all practical matters to work with 
 the British in South Africa as though Mozambique had been 
 a British, and not a Portuguese, colony. 
 
 The success of the Bloemfontein Conference cleared the 
 way for the creation of the Inter-Colonial Council in more 
 than one respect. The relations of the new colonies to the 
 rest of South Africa were defined, and in some degree 
 regularised, in matters of the highest importance — customs, 
 railways, and labour supply ; and this good result was to be 
 attributed, as was clear to the delegates of both colonies, very 
 largely to the fact that at the Conference they had obliterated 
 their separate interests and acted as one state. Although 
 Lord Milner himself had no need of any such demonstration 
 of the practical value of a piece of administrative machinery 
 which had been taking shape in his mind for many months 
 past, the success of the principle of inter-state action, as 
 applied at Bloemfontein, was undoubtedly opportune. It 
 reconciled the minds of the Colonial Office authorities in 
 England to what was in itself a rather sudden and novel 
 administrative departure, and — a matter of even greater 
 importance — it served to overcome the fears, very generally 
 prevalent among the officials and leading men of all classes 
 in the two colonies themselves, lest the special financial 
 interests of their respective communities should be sacrificed 
 unduly in the amalgamation. Consequently Lord Milner 
 
246 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 felt justified in pressing for the immediate issue of the Order- 
 in-Council necessary to constitute the Council. He had 
 already set out at length, in a despatch of i6th February, 
 the reasons which made the joint Council desirable and 
 necessary ; and he now, in a despatch of 6th April, enclosed 
 a draft of the Order - in - Council prepared by Sir Richard 
 Soloman. This instrument was duly issued on 20th May, 
 forwarded by Mr Chamberlain to the High Commissioner 
 on 23rd May, and brought into force in both colonies on 
 15th June, and the Inter - Colonial Council held its first 
 meeting on the following 4th July. 
 
 The Council thus rapidly brought into being was, in its 
 origin, Lord Milner's device for avoiding the administrative 
 difficulties which would have arisen out of the attempt to 
 apportion either the annual cost of the Guaranteed Loan, or 
 the railway revenue upon which that cost was a first charge, 
 between two communities whose industrial circumstances 
 and financial resources were at once so unequal and so inter- 
 dependent, as were those of the Transvaal and Orange River 
 Colony. As, however, it developed in his mind, it became 
 something much more than this. He saw in it both a means 
 of correcting financial anomalies which had already threatened 
 to become a source of irritation and friction between the 
 two colonies directly concerned, and at the same time a 
 permanent nucleus of inter-state action, capable of being 
 expanded in the future into an administrative union of all the 
 South African colonies. And he was justified in considering 
 it, therefore, as he wrote in his despatch of i6th February,^ 
 
 " the most important proposal, both in its immediate effects 
 and probable consequences, of any that he had ever had the 
 honour to put before the Secretary of State since he had 
 occupied the position of Governor of the two new colonies." 
 
 During the first financial year after the peace (actually 
 the thirteen months, ist June 1902 to 30th June 1903), 
 the administrative expenses and the revenues of each of 
 the two colonies continued to be kept distinct, and were 
 brought into account of the separate budgets of the respective 
 
 * Printed in Cd. 1552, with the memorandum on the loan distribution and 
 proposed common council enclosed. 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 247 
 
 Governments. Thus the proportion of five-sixths of the 
 cost of maintaining the South African Constabulary was 
 assigned to the Transvaal, and one-sixth to the Orange 
 River Colony ; and similarly the profits of the Central South 
 African Railways were treated as arising from two separate 
 concerns — i.e., the profits from the Orange River Colony 
 section of the system were paid to the Orange River Colony 
 Treasury, and those from the Transvaal section went to 
 swell the revenue of the Transvaal. And this, in spite of 
 the fact that the railways had been worked as one concern 
 — they were vested in the High Commissioner, and 
 administered under him by the Commissioner of Railways 
 with a Financial Board of Control — since they had been taken 
 over from the military authorities.^ But neither of these 
 arrangements was quite equitable to the Transvaal. The 
 South African Constabulary served to protect the scattered 
 European homesteads in the country districts of both 
 colonies from aggression on the part of the natives, and the 
 colonies as a whole from the risk of political unrest among 
 the ex-burgher population. The advantages which the 
 Orange River Colony derived from the services of the Con- 
 stabulary in both respects were by no means adequately 
 requited by this contribution of one-sixth to its total cost ; 
 since any disturbance in the Transvaal, either on the part 
 of the natives or of the " wild " Boers, would have reacted 
 disastrously upon the same classes in the sister colony. 
 And for the like reason the Transvaal could not afford 
 to allow the Orange River Colony to be insufficiently 
 protected. Again, the Orange River Colony railways, taken 
 separately, earned a higher rate of profit than those of the 
 Transvaal ; but since this higher profit was due mainly to 
 the charges levied upon the through traffic to the Transvaal, 
 equity required that it should be shared in part with this 
 latter colony. Otherwise it would remain a tax upon the 
 Transvaal exacted by the sister state ; and, as such, it would 
 invite reprisals on the part of the Transvaal in the form of 
 
 ' Both colonies were represented in the Financial Board of Control which 
 was constituted by Order-in-Council of 31st October 1902. Sir Percy Girouard, 
 who was head of the Imperial military railways — as they were called during the 
 war — continued to be head of the Central South African Railways under the title 
 of Commissioner of Railways. 
 
248 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the development of the Natal and Delagoa Bay routes at the 
 expense of the Orange River Colony with its connections 
 with the Cape ports. 
 
 But the apportionment of the annual charge entailed by 
 the Guaranteed Loan presented even greater diiificulties. The 
 appropriation of the _;^3 5, 000,000, approved in principle by 
 Mr Chamberlain during his stay in the new colonies, had 
 been submitted by Lord Milner, in this same despatch of 
 i6th February, for the formal sanction of the Home 
 Government, and, when the necessary legislation had been 
 passed in the Imperial Parliament and the local Legisla- 
 tures, ;^30,ooo,ooo of this loan was issued ^ in the month 
 of May (1903). The method of the appropriation was 
 exhibited by Lord Milner in the following statement : — 
 
 I. Existing Liabilities— 
 
 {a) Deficit of 1901-2 . . . ;^i, 500,000 
 {b) Former debt of the South 
 
 African Republic . . 2,500,000 
 {c) Compensation to loyahsts in 
 
 the Cape Colony and Natal 2,000, 
 
 ;£6,ooo,ooo 
 
 II. Acquisition of Railways . 14,000,000 
 
 III. Repatriation and Compensation— 
 
 {a) Advances by way of loan . ^3,000,000 
 (b) Other charges . . . 2,000,000 
 
 IV. New Development— 
 
 {a) New Railways . . . ;^5,ooo,ooo 
 
 {b) Land Settlement . . . 3,000,000 
 
 (c) Other Public works . . 2,000,000 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 10,000,000 
 
 Total . ^35,000,000 
 
 It was practically impossible to find any principle upon 
 which the charges arising out of many of these items 
 could be apportioned as between the two colonies. The 
 ;^2,ooo,ooo assigned to "compensation to loyalists in the 
 Cape and Natal " represented, as Lord Milner pointed out, 
 the indemnity to be paid by the two new colonies, as 
 successors to the two late Republics, for the damage done 
 
 ' The loan was subscribed for many times over, and the issue was spread over 
 eight months — May to December. The remaining pf 5,000,000 was issued 
 twelve months later. 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 249 
 
 by the forces of those Republics in the war. But who 
 could say what proportion of the damage, which had to be 
 paid for, was inflicted by the respective forces of the Free 
 State or the Transvaal ? Again, in respect of the ;^S,ooo,ooo 
 allocated to "repatriation and compensation," and still 
 more in regard to the ;£ 10,000,000 assigned to "new 
 development," if the burden of the loan were to be distributed 
 between the two colonies in the proportion in which it was 
 actually spent in each, the Orange River Colony would be 
 threatened with bankruptcy. This danger could no doubt 
 have been avoided by cutting down expenditure in the 
 poorer colony ; but it was obviously desirable, on broad 
 grounds of policy, that the people of the Orange River 
 Colony should be placed on an equal footing with the people 
 of the Transvaal in respect of the opportunities for increased 
 material prosperity which the loan promised to secure for 
 the new colonies as a whole. 
 
 The solution of the difficulty was to be found in treating 
 both the expenditure of the Guaranteed Loan, and the 
 charges required for the service of the Loan, as common to 
 the two new colonies. To meet the common liability thus 
 imposed, a common revenue must be provided, and such 
 a revenue would be found in the undivided receipts of the 
 Central South African railways. The existing division of 
 the railway revenue was unjust, because it took no account 
 of the real incidence of the railway rates ; while the attempt 
 to determine that incidence would lead to fresh disputes 
 which would tend to delay, or even obstruct permanently, 
 the development of an effective railway system for the two 
 colonies. It was also impolitic from the point of view of the 
 Orange River Colony. A new through line in the Orange 
 River Colony, as Lord Milner pointed out, though it might be 
 the best and cheapest in the general interest, so long as the 
 existing division of revenue remained in force would be 
 strenuously opposed in the Transvaal, on the ground that it 
 would increase the tax levied on that country by the sister 
 colony. The division of the cost of the South African 
 Constabulary was, as we have seen, equally unsatisfactory. 
 And there were other minor services, being in effect common 
 to the two colonies, such as the Enquiry Office at Cape 
 
250 KECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Town,i the Geodetic Survey, etc., the expenses of which were 
 no less difficult to apportion. 
 
 Lord Milner, therefore, proposed that the net receipts of 
 the whole of the Government railways of both colonies 
 should form a common fund, out of which what were really 
 common expenses should be defrayed. In the first place the 
 interest and sinking fund of the Guaranteed Loan and the 
 charges of the minor common services were to be paid ; and 
 then the balance was to be appropriated to the South African 
 Constabulary. The railway revenue would not be sufficient 
 to pay the whole cost of the Constabulary as well as the 
 service of the Loan, and Lord Milner, therefore, proposed 
 that the deficiency should be made up, so long as it existed, 
 by contributions from the two colonies proportionate to their 
 respective local revenues — that is to say, if the Transvaal 
 revenue, independent of railways, amounted in any given 
 year to ;^ 5, 000,000, and that of the Orange River Colony, 
 similarly independent of railways, to ;^5oo,ooo, then the 
 Transvaal would contribute ten-elevenths and the Orange 
 River Colony one-eleventh of the sum required to make good 
 the deficiency in the railway or common revenue. At the 
 same time. Lord Milner added, it was not improbable that 
 with a reduction in the cost of the Constabulary, the railway 
 revenue would, when the new lines were working, pay for 
 both the Loan and the South African Constabulary. The 
 authority to be entrusted with the administration of the 
 railway revenue was to be a council consisting of repre- 
 sentatives of the two colonies, and, as such, empowered 
 to prepare the joint, or inter-colonial, budget, and generally 
 to deal with matters common to both. 
 
 These were the proposals which were put into effect by 
 the Order-in-Council of 20th May 1903. As thus constituted 
 the Inter - Colonial Council was composed of the High 
 Commissioner and Governor, as President ; the Lieutenant- 
 Governors of the two colonies ; the Inspector-General of the 
 South African Constabulary ; the Commissioner of Railways ; 
 two members from each of the Executive Councils of the two 
 colonies, nominated by the respective Lieutenant-Governors ; 
 
 ' Part of the machinery for regulating the entry of immigrants into the 
 new colonies under the permit system. 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 251 
 
 two members from each of the Legislative Councils of 
 the two colonies, being unofficial members of the same, 
 and elected by the unofficial members of the respective 
 Councils ; and, lastly, two members to be nominated by 
 the Secretary of State, who might, or might not, be 
 members of one or other of the Legislative Councils. The 
 special purpose for which this council of fourteen (exclusive 
 of the President) was established, was stated to be " to advise 
 the High Commissioner and Governor" upon the financial 
 administration of the railways, the expenditure on the 
 South African Constabulary, the expenses of the Governor's 
 establishment in the two colonies, of the Geodetic Survey, 
 of the Permit and Enquiry Offices, and upon such expenses 
 as the Council might think necessary for the proper conduct 
 of its business. And to this list were added (i) any other 
 expenditure common to the two colonies, which might be 
 placed under the authority of the Inter-Colonial Council by 
 the Legislative Councils of both colonies with the consent 
 of the Secretary of State, and (2) any matter connected 
 with the railways, or the Constabulary, or with any public 
 service common to the two colonies, which might have been 
 brought within its authority under the foregoing provision 
 of the Order-in-Council. The Inter-Colonial Council was 
 further directed to hold one ordinary meeting in each year, 
 at which it was to " draw up and approve a Budget for 
 the ensuing financial year." 
 
 The Council, duly constituted in accordance with these 
 and the remaining provisions of the Order-in-Council, met 
 on 4th July at Bloemfontein, and remained in session until 
 the 8th inst. The first Inter-Colonial Budget, which will 
 exhibit conveniently the scope of its administrative duties, 
 was as follows : — 
 
 REVENUE FOR 1903-4. 
 
 Estimated net railway receipts for 1903-4 . . ^2,150,000 
 Part of Surplus of railway receipts for 1902-3 trans- 
 ferred to the Council ... . . 200,000 
 
 Total . ^^2,350,000 
 
252 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 EXPENDITURE FOR 1903-4. 
 (^Approved Estimates^ 
 I. Service of the Guaranteed Loan — 
 
 1. Interest and sinking fund from ist May 
 
 1903 to 30th June 1904 . . . ^1,433,334 
 
 2. Management charges : £2^0 for each 
 
 million .... ... 7)7o8 
 
 Total . ^1,441,042 
 II. Administration — 
 
 1. South African Constabulary . ^1,520,061 
 
 2. Governor's Establishment . 23,550 
 
 3. Surveys 25,550 
 
 4. Permit Office .... 10,550 
 Transvaal and O. R. C. Enquiry 
 
 Office 2,110 
 
 5. Expenses of Council (Salaries, etc. 
 
 and Office Accommodation) . . 5,000 
 
 6. Education Adviser' . . . . 2,500 
 
 Total . 1,589,311 
 
 Grand Total . .^3,o30)353 
 
 Deduct Estimated Revenue 2,350,000 
 
 Deficit to be made up from the separate revenues 
 of the two colonies in proportion to such 
 
 revenues .£680,353 
 
 And to this was added a statement of the revenue and 
 expenditure of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony. 
 
 Estimated Transvaal Revenue, 1903-4 , . . ;£4,5oo,ooo 
 
 Estimated Transvaal Expenditure 1903-4 . . 3,000,000 
 
 Surplus . / 1, 500,000 
 
 Estimated Revenue of the Orange River Colony, 
 
 1903-4 • : • .£S°OjOoo 
 
 Estimated Expenditure of the Orange River 
 
 Colony, 1903-4 500,000 
 
 Surplus . nil. " 
 
 ' Mr Sargant, who was adviser to the High Commissioner, and, as such, 
 an official common to both colonies. 
 
 ^ The approved estimate of the revenue of the O.R.C. was ;^S63,300, but in 
 the event the revenue actually reached ;^840,ooo. The Transvaal estimates were 
 practically identical with the results obtained. The expenditure in the O.R.C. 
 was (about) £(>yifiOQ, and out of the surplus left the sum of ^120,000 was paid 
 to the Inter-Colonial Council. 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 253 
 
 The second meeting of the Inter-Colonial Council, being 
 an extraordinary session, was held at Johannesburg from 
 1st March to the 9th inst. in the following year. As the 
 result of a unanimous resolution then passed. Lord Milner 
 requested the Home Government to enlarge the membership 
 of the Council ; and when the necessary Order-in-Council 
 had been issued (21st April 1904), the members were raised 
 to a total of twenty-five (exclusive of the President), of whom 
 thirteen were unofficial members. The Council thus en- 
 larged, and materially strengthened in the public estimation 
 by the large addition to the unofficial element, met for its 
 second ordinary session at Pretoria on 31st May 1904. As, 
 however, the main business of the Inter-Colonial Council 
 consisted in the administration of the railways, it will be 
 convenient to reserve its further proceedings until we come 
 to consider them as an integral part of the general subject 
 of railway development in the new colonies. 
 
 The constitution of the Legislative Councils of the two 
 colonies demanded neither the administrative experience 
 necessary to bring the Bloemfontein Conference to a 
 successful issue, nor the constructive statesmanship which 
 evolved the Inter-Colonial Council. None the less in view 
 of the great mass of new legislation which was required in 
 both colonies, but more especially in the Transvaal, the 
 composition of these bodies was a matter which called for 
 the exercise of care and judgment. Lord Milner was fully 
 determined that both Councils should be so constituted as 
 to be capable of accomplishing this important duty ; and 
 in particular he took infinite pains in the selection of the 
 non-official members, upon whom the Councils depended 
 largely for local knowledge and for information as to the 
 special needs of the various sections and classes in the two 
 communities. 
 
 Of the two Legislative Councils that of the Orange River 
 Colony, where the economic and industrial conditions of the 
 people were much less complex than in the Transvaal, was 
 the first to be fully constituted. From 23rd June 1903, 
 when the constitution of the colony was promulgated, to the 
 end of the year, the necessary legislation was enacted by a 
 Legislative Council consisting of the Lieutenant-Governor 
 
254 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the Attorney - General and the Colonial Secretary and 
 Treasurer. At the beginning of the new year (1903), this 
 purely official body was enlarged by the addition of six 
 nominated members, of whom four were non-official members ^ 
 selected to represent the various sections of the community ; 
 and the Legislative Council, thus fully constituted, held its 
 first meeting in a committee room of the Raadzaal on the 
 14th January. The proceedings were opened formally with 
 a speech from the President, the Lieutenant-Governor ; and 
 in the course of the sitting Rules of Procedure were framed 
 and some twenty enactments, of which the majority were 
 concerned with the affairs of the farming population,^ were 
 added to the Statute Book. As this was regarded as a 
 preliminary sitting, the Council had met with closed doors ; 
 but when, after an adjournment of some weeks, the session 
 was resumed in May, the press and the public were admitted 
 to its meetings — a practice which was followed in both 
 colonies during the period of Crown Colony government. 
 
 In the Transvaal all legislation was enacted up to the 
 end of April 1903, by a Legislative Council consisting of 
 the executive heads of the Government ; and during this 
 period eighty-three ordinances, many of which were of urgent 
 necessity, were placed upon the Statute Book of the colony. 
 Lord Milner had, in fact, advised the appointment of unofficial 
 members to this Council, as to the Legislative Council of the 
 Orange River Colony, as early as July 1902 ; but various 
 causes combined to keep the composition of the Transvaal 
 Council an open question until the arrival of Mr Chamberlain 
 in the new colonies. Lord Milner's proposals were then 
 submitted in detail to the Secretary of State, and definitely 
 approved by him on behalf of the Home Government. 
 
 The Legislative Council of the Transvaal as thus finally 
 constituted, consisted of sixteen official and fourteen non- 
 official members — a total of thirty including the President, 
 who was the Lieutenant-Governor. The Government thus 
 retained an official majority in the enlarged Council, but 
 
 ^ They were : Mr (afterwards Sir) J. G. Fraser, and Messrs C. 11. Wessels, 
 R. M'Farlane, and J. F. Janse Van Rensberg. 
 
 '^ E.g., diseases of animals, scab in sheep, registration of brands; all 
 matters of vital importance to the repatriated Boers and the new British agri- 
 cultural settlers. 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 255 
 
 the number of the non-official members was so considerable, 
 and the men themselves were so influential and representa- 
 tive, that there was every reason to believe that the interests 
 of all classes would be adequately voiced in its deliberations. 
 Mr Chamberlain and Lord Milner were both anxious that 
 the ex-burgher population should be represented by the Boer 
 Generals, Botha, De la Ray, and Smuts ; and cordial in- 
 vitations to serve on the Council were therefore addressed 
 to them early in February — that is to say, after Mr 
 Chamberlain had left the Transvaal, but while he was still 
 in the Orange River Colony. The Boer leaders, however, 
 after a friendly exchange of letters, and a no less friendly 
 interview with Lord Milner and Sir Arthur Lawley, decided 
 not to join the Council. In the first of the four letters which 
 formed the correspondence — they were published in the 
 press at the time — the Generals stated as the ground of their 
 refusal their conviction that the time had not yet come for 
 the creation of a nominated legislature, still less for " popular 
 representative institutions." They felt profoundly, so they 
 wrote, that all the good work of reconciliation accomplished 
 since the peace 
 
 " might, nay, almost certainly, would be jeopardised by 
 this Legislative Council, which would throw almost every 
 apple of discord in the arena." 
 
 And they added : 
 
 " So long as the Government honestly tries to do its duty, 
 it is bound to be supported by the general population, even 
 though it may occasionally make mistakes. That is the 
 position as it exists to-day, and it may very well be con- 
 tinued for some time to come."^ 
 
 In the case of General De la Rey the refusal was rendered 
 the more disappointing by the fact that it was understood 
 that he had personally assured Mr Chamberlain of his 
 willingness to accept a seat on the Council. Nor was it 
 possible, either in respect of General De la Rey or of Generals 
 Botha and Smuts to prevent a sinister interpretation from 
 being placed upon their action by some among the general 
 ^ These letters are given in chap, xvii. p. 225, vol. ii. 
 
256 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 public. But the suggestion that the Generals' refusal to 
 accept the seats on the Legislative Council was to be 
 attributed to a desire on their part to embarrass the Govern- 
 ment was expressly repudiated by Lord Milner. Nor is 
 there sufficient reason to suppose that any such unfriendly 
 intention was immediately, or even partly, responsible 
 for General De la Rey's change of mind, or for the refusal 
 of General Botha and General Smuts to accept the 
 positions offered them. A year later, as we shall have 
 occasion to notice, the Boer leaders entered upon a course 
 of action distinctly hostile to the Crown Colony adminis- 
 tration. But at the time in question they may well have 
 been influenced by considerations of an entirely different 
 order. The tour in Europe had made General Botha and 
 General De la Rey very sensitive to criticism from their own 
 people. If they had accepted these seats, they would have 
 exposed themselves to the reproach — " You went to Europe 
 and filled your pockets, and now you are going to get ;^Soo 
 a year^ from the Government." And again, knowing what 
 was expected of a member of the Volksraad in the days 
 of the Republic, they may have thought that their people 
 would expect them, as members of the Legislature, to do a 
 great deal for them ; whereas, as they knew quite well 
 themselves, they could have had no power in the Legislative 
 Council, with its official majority and British nominated 
 members, to control the course of legislation, still less 
 to obtain any personal favours for individual ex-burghers. 
 
 Ultimately the twenty-three additional members were 
 duly appointed, by Proclamation of 14th May, to serve 
 for two years, and the enlarged Legislative Council met 
 on the 20th of the same month at Pretoria, and remained 
 in session until the 30th of the July following. In the 
 Council, as thus finally constituted. Sir Percy Fitzpatrick 
 and Sir George Farrar represented the mining industry and 
 Mr Andries Cronje and Mr Van Rensburg the ex-burghers ; 
 while the needs and wishes of the British wage-earning 
 classes, of the British farmers, and of the various commercial 
 
 • The non-official members received this sum as a recompense for the loss of 
 the time taken from their private affairs. They were, of course, all engaged in 
 active business of one kind or another, there being no leisured class. 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 257 
 
 and professional interests in town and country were all made 
 known by some competent voice. Among the thirty-five 
 ordinances past during this first session were a Customs 
 Law embodying the terms of the Bloemfontein Conventioni 
 and providing for the entry of the Transvaal into the 
 Customs Union from the first of July following, and a group 
 of ordinances creating elective municipalities and otherwise 
 preparing the way for the introduction of local self-govern- 
 ment throughout the colony. 
 
 The second session of the Legislative Council, which 
 began on 7th December, and lasted until the 12th of 
 February 1904, was memorable for the enactment of the 
 Asiatic Labour Importation Ordinance. As, however, this is 
 a measure which forms the centre of the Chinese labour 
 question — a controversy so violent and so extraordinary 
 as to demand a full and separate treatment — it will be 
 convenient to leave the Transvaal Legislative Council thus 
 fully launched upon its career of usefulness, and pass on 
 to the consideration of the third of the three main lines 
 of administrative development which collectively form the 
 subject of the present chapter. 
 
 The advantages which the change of government brought 
 to the people of the Transvaal were, perhaps, nowhere more 
 conspicuous than in the sphere of local government. 
 President Kruger objected to local authorities as tending 
 to weaken the power of the Central Government. " I cannot 
 tolerate a government within a government," he said. It 
 was a part of his system to make everybody dependent 
 directly upon the Executive at Pretoria, of which he was 
 the head ; and he desired also to keep in his own hands 
 the disposal of the "town lands," or reserves of public 
 land apportioned to the various Boer townships. In the 
 years immediately preceding the war this latter considera- 
 tion had grown in importance ; since, with the introduction 
 of gold - mining and the rapid augmentation by natural 
 increment of the country burghers, the demand for fresh 
 farms had exceeded the supply, and the number of 
 bywoners and other landless Boers had assumed alarming 
 proportions. The municipality of Potchefstroom created in 
 the annexation period (1877-80) was, therefore, suppressed 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
258 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 and the partly representative body, called the Stadsraad, 
 granted under pressure of the Uitlander agitation by 
 President Kruger to Johannesburg, a somewhat similar 
 body at the mining centre of Barberton, and one or two 
 "Sanitary Committees" nominated from Pretoria, together 
 constituted the whole of the machinery of local government 
 that was provided under the Boer regime. It was no 
 exaggeration to say in the words of the Transvaal Report ^ 
 on this subject that — 
 
 "the towns of the Transvaal before the war had scarcely 
 attained in matters of local government to the point reached 
 by English communities in the early middle ages. . . . The 
 present Administration found a country without a system, 
 and a people without experience, of local self-government." 
 
 In the year which intervened between the commence- 
 ment of Civil Government in the new colonies and the 
 termination of the war. Lord Milner had established 
 nominated Town Councils at Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and 
 Johannesburg, and Health Boards in other towns and urban 
 districts.^ These nominated bodies served a double purpose. 
 They relieved the embryo governments of certain matters 
 of local administration in which local knowledge was 
 eminently desirable, and they helped to prepare the men 
 and communities concerned for the introduction of the 
 permanent elective institutions which were to follow with 
 the full development of Civil Government after peace 
 had been established. First in importance among these 
 nominated bodies in the Transvaal was the Town Council 
 of Johannesburg. Lord Milner had been able to enlist 
 for its service some of the most competent members of 
 a community to which the great rewards offered by the 
 gold industry had drawn not a few men of high scientific 
 attainments or conspicuous business capacity both from 
 within and without the British Empire. It possessed, more- 
 over, in the person of Mr Lionel Curtis,^ a Town Clerk 
 
 1 Dated 14th May 1904. Cd. 2104. 
 
 2 For the progress then made see chap, xi., "Preparing for Peace," of " Lord 
 Milner's Work in South Africa, 1 897- 1 902." 
 
 ' Took up work of Town Clerk provisionally in April 1901 ; was invalided 
 home from February to July 1902, and began work permanently upon his return 
 to Johannesburg, Afterwards Assistant-Colonial Secretary for Local Govern- 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 259 
 
 who combined with youth and indefatigable industry an 
 aptitude for administrative organisation that was little 
 short of genius. Thus equipped the nominated Town 
 Council of Johannesburg set itself in the years immediately 
 preceding and succeeding the peace to collect and formulate 
 the materials out of which a system of local government 
 could be framed ; and the results of its labours were so 
 complete and so well adapted to the needs of the country 
 that it remained for the Legislative Council to do little 
 more than place them upon the Statute Book. The legisla- 
 tion which it prepared for the enlargement and definition 
 of its own powers became the basis of the Municipal 
 Corporations and the Local Authorities Rating Ordinances. 
 Its report on the municipal franchise, the outcome of a 
 careful study and comparison of the various systems of 
 other states both British and foreign, was virtually embodied 
 in the Municipalities Elections Ordinance. More than 
 this, the Johannesburg Town Council, through Mr Curtis, 
 convened a Congress of representatives of all the nominated 
 local government bodies in the colony, in order that the 
 draft ordinances, which had been thus prepared, might be 
 subjected to this wider criticism before they were introduced 
 in the Legislative Council. 
 
 The Municipal Congress met in the temporary Town 
 Council Buildings at Johannesburg on Monday, i8th May 
 1903, when an opening address was delivered by Lord 
 Milner.i It cannot be said that its deliberations added much 
 to the work of the members of the Johannesburg Town 
 Council and Mr Curtis ; but the fact that so representative 
 an assembly had set the seal of its approval upon the 
 proposed Ordinances was accepted by the Legislative 
 Council as a further assurance of the soundness of recom- 
 mendations to which it was otherwise most ready to give 
 efifect. The three Ordinances mentioned above, together 
 with a fourth — the Municipalities Powers of Expropriation 
 
 ment, and subsequently the moving spirit of the "Closer Union" movement 
 which led to the union of South Africa in 1909. Mr Curtis was one of the 
 most flagrant examples of Lord Milner's "kindergarten." 
 
 1 It was on this occasion that he made the bold declaration in which he 
 associated himself formally with the dictum of Rhodes, that civilisation and 
 not colour should be the test of fitness for civic rights. "You must keep 
 the door open to the native," he said. 
 
260 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Ordinance — also directly promoted by the Johannesburg 
 Town Council, were accordingly passed into law during 
 the first session of the enlarged Legislative Council. 
 
 There was only one question upon which the Legislative 
 Council, or more correctly the Government, were inclined to 
 take a different view from that of the Municipal Congress. 
 It was agreed on all hands that the municipal franchise 
 should be as wide as possible; but the Government con- 
 ceived it to be their duty, as being the agent of the 
 Home Government, to give effect to the traditionally 
 generous policy of the latter by proposing to admit both 
 aliens and " coloured " persons to the same municipal 
 privileges as British subjects of European race. Under 
 this influence the official majority was used on 3rd June 
 to carry the coloured vote, during the debate on the 
 Municipal Councils Bill, by the narrow majority of fifteen to 
 thirteen. But Lord Milner, although he was personally in 
 favour of the proposal, recognised that it was a matter in 
 which the public opinion of the colony could not be over- 
 ridden. He felt in this, as in the question of the status 
 of British Indians, that 
 
 " whatever position the Administration might take as repre- 
 sentatives of the Imperial Government, it was impossible 
 to force upon the white population [of the Transvaal] a 
 principle repudiated no less by the British inhabitants than 
 by the Dutch." 
 
 These proposals were, therefore, abandoned ; and in the 
 event the opinions of the Johannesburg Town Council 
 were adopted — that is to say, the Transvaal municipal 
 franchise, while including practically every male and female 
 British subject of European race, excluded both aliens and 
 "coloured" persons. 
 
 In July Mr Curtis ceased to be Town Clerk of Johannes- 
 burg, and was appointed to assist the Colonial Secretary. His 
 special sphere in this department of the Transvaal Govern- 
 ment was subsequently defined by the title of "Assistant 
 Colonial Secretary for Urban Affairs " ; and it was under 
 his supervision that during the remaining five months of 
 the year (1903) the necessary preparations were made for 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 261 
 
 the introduction of the system of local government 
 established under the four enactments thus passed by 
 the Legislative Council. In this transition period the 
 administration of the larger towns and new urban districts 
 was entrusted to the existing provisional Councils and 
 Boards, and by the instrumentality of these provisional 
 authorities the work of compiling the electoral rolls and 
 dividing the larger municipalities into wards was accom- 
 plished. The elections were held in the course of the 
 three months November 1903 to January 1904; and there 
 were thus brought into full legal existence no less than 
 twelve municipalities and twenty -three Urban District 
 Boards. The elections for the Town Council of 
 Johannesburg, held in December, resulted in the return 
 of practically the entire personnel of the old nominated 
 Council,^ and so afforded a striking and gratifying example 
 of the degree in which the Crown Colony Government could 
 succeed in making these nominated bodies actually repre- 
 sentative of the community. Further legislation for adjust- 
 ing the financial relations of local authorities to the 
 Government, 2 for regulating bye - laws, and for dealing 
 with the questions of town lands, municipal boundaries, 
 roads, and other matters arising out of the special conditions 
 
 ' All the nominated members except Mr P. Whiteside, the Labour representa- 
 tive, and one of the two members of the Labour Commission who signed the 
 Minority Report {see forward p. 272) were elected. 
 
 ^ " In thus applying the system of municipal government to the towns of the 
 Transvaal as a whole, it was found that whereas some old but comparatively 
 unimportant towns were well endowed with town lands, no similar provision had 
 been made by the late Government in the case of Johannesburg and other 
 populous but recently founded industrial centres. In these circumstances the 
 necessity for determining what proportion of the national estate and revenues 
 could be properly assigned to the various localities in need of endowments was 
 recognised on all hands. In 1904, therefore, a commission was appointed by 
 the Crown Colony Administration to enquire into, and report upon, the subject of 
 the financial relations of the Central Government with the municipalities or other 
 local government authorities. The question was eminently one in respect of 
 which it was desirable that whatever was done should command the general 
 approval of the inhabitants of the colony ; and action was deferred accordingly 
 until the advent of Responsible Government. Before, however, the Transvaal 
 was merged into the Union, most of the recommendations of the Commission 
 were put into effect by General Botha's ministry." — "Union of South Africa," 
 p. 417 (by the writer). To this must be added that, as the result of an earlier 
 commission(i903-4), substantial justice was done to Johannesburg, under the Crown 
 Colony Administration, by the grant to the municipality of so much of the 
 public land lying within its area as was not required for any immediate purposes 
 of the Central Government. 
 
262 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 of the country, was subsequently passed under the actual 
 guidance of Mr Curtis or upon the lines laid down by 
 him. 
 
 In addition to these elective local bodies, of which thirty- 
 seven in all were created before the end of the Crown Colony 
 Administration, the question of making provision for the 
 establishment of District and Village Boards in the country 
 districts was discussed. It was recognised that the existing 
 state of affairs, under which the town population, in addition 
 to contributing the bulk of the revenue required by the 
 Central Government, was taxed to pay for the local expen- 
 diture of the country districts, was both illogical and unfair. 
 None the less Mr Duncan (the Colonial Secretary), with his 
 habitual caution and sympathy with the rural population, 
 felt that such legislation would be premature, in view of the 
 Boers' traditional dread of direct taxation in any form^ 
 
 In the wholly rural districts, therefore, the original system, 
 under which the Resident Magistrate acted as the local 
 authority for administrative as well as magisterial purposes, 
 was maintained ; and the leading residents continued to be 
 consulted informally by the officials of the departments of 
 the Central Government in matters of road construction, 
 fencing, the prevention of cattle diseases, and the like.^ 
 Under the Education Department, however, popularly 
 elected Boards, with purely advisory powers, were established 
 in the rural, as well as the urban districts of the colony. 
 
 In the Orange River Colony, the elective municipalities 
 or local Boards, existing before the war, were brought at 
 once into full operation upon the establishment of the Civil 
 Government. In the first administrative year (1902-3), an 
 ordinance was passed empowering the Central Government 
 to make advances out of its surplus funds to the munici- 
 
 ' A deputation from the Boer Congress waited on Sir Arthur Lawlejr on 
 25th May 1904, to protest against the measure on the ground of its " expensive- 
 ness " to the rural population. 
 
 ^ Under Responsible Government (and prior to the Union) popularly elected 
 local Boards were constituted in these wholly rural districts of the Transvaal, and 
 the office of Field Cornet was revived. The functions of the local Boards were 
 to advise the officials of the Central Government, as had been done before by the 
 individual residents informally consulted under the Crown Colony rigime. The 
 business of the Field Cornets was— as in the Cape Colony — to assist the Resident 
 Magistrates in securing the proper administration of the law within their 
 respective districts. 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT 263 
 
 palities ; and in this way towns, whose resources were too 
 slender to permit them to borrow in the open market, were 
 enabled to carry out necessary public works. It should be 
 noticed, however, that in the Orange River Colony, which 
 conformed more closely than the Transvaal to the Crown 
 Colony model, the Resident Magistrates, while remaining 
 under the direction of the Attorney-General in respect of 
 their purely magisterial functions, were placed, as adminis- 
 trative officials, under the Colonial Secretary. The general 
 control of the local administration of the country districts, 
 thus obtained, was exercised with excellent results by Sir 
 Harry (then Mr) Wilson during the entire period of Crown 
 Colony Government (1902-7). The elective bodies, as a 
 whole, were suited to the less complex conditions of this 
 colony, but otherwise identical in principle with those of 
 the Transvaal. And thus, before Lord Milner left South 
 Africa, in the great towns and urban areas of the two new 
 colonies the machinery of local self-government had been 
 not merely completed, but completed on lines which, in 
 point of administrative efficiency and public convenience, 
 enabled it to challenge comparison with the systems of the 
 most highly developed European states. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE LABOUR QUESTION] — THE ATTEMPT TO SUPPLEMENT 
 NATIVE AFRICAN LABOUR BY UNSKILLED EUROPEAN 
 LABOUR 
 
 The heart of the economic system of the new colonies was 
 the gold industry, and the gold industry depended for the 
 successful working of the mines upon obtaining from the 
 African natives a cheap and efficient supply of unskilled 
 labour. British South Africa alone, owing to the require- 
 ments of its other industries, could do little even in normal 
 circumstances to provide this supply. In the year 1904 
 the returns of the Mining Commissioner showed that only • 
 15 per cent, of the native Africans then at work on the 
 Witwatersrand mines came from British South Africa. 
 The remaining 85 per cent, were drawn from non- 
 British territories, among which the chief contributor was 
 Portuguese East Africa, or the Province of Mozambique ; ^ 
 and it was for this, amongst other reasons, that, as we 
 have seen, Lord Milner desired to treat Mozambique as 
 the economic and commercial partner of the Transvaal. 
 
 The year 1903 opened brightly. The main work of 
 repatriation was successfully accomplished, the Guaranteed 
 Loan secured the means of providing for the material needs 
 of the two colonies, the ex-burgher population appeared 
 willing to accept the position of citizens of the Empire, the 
 clamour for self-government raised by the British townsmen 
 had died down, and the installation of new and improved 
 administrative machinery in both colonies was rapidly and 
 
 " The Report of the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association for 1903 
 showed that of the 70,000 natives actually employed upon the mines on 31st 
 December 1903, the Transvaal contributed 5.55 per cent,; Natal, 2.56 ; the Cape 
 Colony, 4. II ; Basutoland, 2.30 ; and the Province of Mozambique, 80 per cent. ; 
 while the balance came, with slight exceptions, from other non-British territories. 
 
 264 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 265 
 
 smoothly proceeding towards completion. But as the year 
 drew on the clouds gathered. Not only did a second season 
 of drought — a drought so severe that it transcended all 
 previous records — make it necessary for the Governments 
 of both colonies to maintain the repatriated Boers a year 
 longer than was anticipated, and to do twice over much of 
 the work of restocking the farms, but a deficiency in the 
 African labour supply was revealed which threatened to 
 bring to the ground the entire fabric of the reconstruction. 
 The closing months of 1903 and the opening months of 1904 
 were months of gloom. The gold industry, and with it 
 the whole industrial community of the Transvaal, was in the 
 throes of an economic crisis ; and for a few months it seemed 
 doubtful whether, even with the postponement of the first 
 instalment of the war loan, the administration would not 
 be driven to seek financial aid from the Imperial Exchequer. 
 Conspicuous as was the attainment of the three years that 
 followed the peace, the greatness of Lord Milner's achieve- 
 ment cannot be appreciated at its full value unless it be 
 remembered that this attainment was won in the teeth of 
 economic disaster and political opposition, both of which 
 were not merely unprecedented in degree but unexpected 
 in character.^ 
 
 The accumulated effect of the drought, cattle diseases, 
 and insect plagues, by which the agriculture of the two 
 colonies was visited in the years 1903 and 1904, has been 
 already recorded.^ The shortage of African labour was 
 not confined to the Transvaal. It was felt in all the 
 British colonies of South Africa ; but the gold industry was 
 more disastrously affected than any other industry, and the 
 new colonies, where the general demand for unskilled labour 
 was immediate and imperative, were the greatest sufferers. 
 
 The difficulty of obtaining a sufificient supply of unskilled 
 labour from the native population was a chronic evil in 
 
 ' The drought of 1903-4 was not only the most severe on record, but it followed 
 a previous year of drought — which was most unusual. Of the political opposition 
 to Chinese labour Lord Milner said (at the Extraordinary Meeting of the Inter- 
 Colonial Council, held at Johannesburg in March 1904) : " Knowing that, if need 
 were, there was in other countries than Africa abundant and super-abundant 
 labour ready to come to us, it never occurred to me that half the world would unite, 
 for the most absurd and self-contradictory reasons, to try and prevent our getting it. " 
 
 ^ Chap. V. p. 84 et seq. 
 
266 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 South Africa. Whenever progress in industry was made 
 or contemplated, the European settlers, whether Dutch or 
 British, had been confronted by the labour problem ; and 
 both the Dutch of the Cape Colony, under the Dutch East 
 India Company, and the British of Natal, under the Colonial 
 Office, had been compelled to supplement the native African 
 supply by importing Asiatic labourers — the former from 
 Dutch and the latter from British India. The Asiatic 
 population of the Cape Colony is not distinguished in the 
 census returns for 1904,^ but the Malay population, the 
 descendants of the original labour importation of the Dutch 
 East India Company, alone amounted to 13,907 in the year 
 1 89 1, when the previous census was taken. Indian coolie 
 labour was first imported into Natal, to work the sugar 
 plantations, in i860. In the year 1903 there were 26,223 
 coolies working under indenture, while 15,550 additional 
 labourers had been requisitioned by employers ; ^ and the 
 census returns of the year following showed that the total 
 Asiatic population of this colony numbered over 100,000. 
 
 The importation both of Indian and Chinese labour for 
 the gold industry had been considered by the mining 
 authorities of the Rand before the war; and in 1900 the 
 consent of the Home Government to the principle of the 
 employment of Chinese indentured labour, subject to com- 
 pulsory repatriation, in Southern Rhodesia was obtained, and 
 an Ordinance providing for the recruiting and importation 
 of such labour was passed by the local Legislature, which 
 could be brought into force, if, and when, the Colonial 
 Secretary should be convinced of the necessity of the 
 measure. After the declaration of peace Lord Milner urged 
 Mr Chamberlain more than once to allow the importation 
 of Chinese into Rhodesia to take place. The latter, however, 
 withheld his consent. His refusal was based mainly on the 
 ground that Chinese labour could only be introduced into 
 South Africa at the desire of the majority of the white 
 population ; and that the necessary manifestation of public 
 opinion could not be obtained in Rhodesia, but could be 
 obtained in the Transvaal with its large industrial and other 
 
 1 Cd. 2103. 
 
 " Cd. 1894 (Transvaal Labour Commission). 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 267 
 
 white population. If, therefore, Chinese labour were to be 
 introduced at all, the introduction must be effected in the 
 first place in the Transvaal, and then afterwards, and if it 
 were still necessary, in Rhodesia. 
 
 But the shortage of native African labour experienced in 
 the years immediately following the surrender of Vereeniging 
 was not merely the normal, or chronic, deficiency, but this 
 intensified and aggravated by certain well ascertained causes. 
 In the first place the requirements of all the colonies were 
 raised both by the repair of the material destruction wrought 
 by two and a half years of war, and by the new public works 
 which the South African Governments were constructing in 
 anticipation of the era of development promised by the 
 establishment of British authority from the Limpopo to 
 Table Bay. This double demand for labour — labour to 
 repair and to expand — was greatest in the new colonies ; 
 but the Cape Colony, Natal, and Rhodesia were all alike 
 busy with the improvement and extension of their railways 
 and with other undertakings of public utility. The increased 
 demand would of itself have been sufficient to render the 
 normal supply of African labour gravely inadequate. But 
 unhappily it did not stand alone. To an increased demand 
 was added a very considerable shrinkage of the always 
 insufficient supply. For at this moment, when their services 
 were especially required, the natives showed an unusual 
 reluctance to leave their kraals and engage themselves under 
 European employers. They had been paid abnormally high 
 wages by the military authorities during the war, and were, 
 therefore, in possession of more than their ordinary amount 
 of money in hand. They were disturbed and unsettled, 
 partly fearing and partly despising their former Boer masters, 
 and expecting great things from the British, whose victory, 
 as they believed, would bring a laxer discipline and more 
 generous wages. When they were disillusioned, many of 
 them, rather than accept the old scale of wages, would 
 refuse to work at all and go back to their kraals.^ 
 
 1 This happened in the case of the native "leaders" and "drivers" of ox 
 transport in the Orange River Colony. Having been employed by the military at 
 high rates, they refused to take the normal wages offered for the same services by 
 the Repatriation Department. See chap. iii. p. 50. 
 
268 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 A special cause which affected the gold industry alone 
 was the reduction of the pre-war rate of wages paid to the 
 African labourers on the mines of the Witwatersrand by 33 
 per cent. This measure, adopted in the early months of 1902, 
 though in itself both economically sound and unquestionably 
 desirable in the public interests, was generally held to have 
 had the effect of further reducing the scanty supply of African 
 labour available for the gold industry in the abnormal labour 
 conditions which prevailed in the years immediately follow- 
 ing the declaration of peace. The error on the part of the 
 leaders of the industry was frankly recognised, and promptly 
 corrected. The circumstances are these : the Transvaal 
 Industrial Commission 1 of 1897 recommended the reduction 
 of the rate of wages paid for African labour in the mines 
 as a means of decreasing the excessive cost of living, and 
 as one among other measures calculated to improve the 
 economic conditions of the gold industry and the European 
 population to which it gave employment. In order to realise 
 the significance of this recommendation it must be remembered 
 that the cost of native labour is a factor that enters into 
 every department of industrial activity in South Africa. So 
 far as the European is concerned, it is the determining 
 element in the price of almost every necessary and convenience 
 of life. It enters into the cost of transport, since railways 
 and roads are constructed, and to a large degree worked and 
 maintained, by native labour ; into the cost of house rent, 
 since the unskilled labour used in the construction of houses 
 and of all buildings is native ; and into the cost of food, since 
 it is upon native labour that the farmer must rely mainly for 
 the cultivation of the soil. And the wages and keep of the 
 Kafir " boy " formed a prominent item in the domestic 
 budget of the humblest of the married European artisans. 
 
 It must further be remembered that the rate of wages 
 
 paid then (and now) for native African labour is an 
 
 " artificial " rate. By " artificial " is meant a rate which is 
 
 out of proportion to the cost of living to the native. All 
 
 the world over the rate of wages paid to the unskilled 
 
 ' For this see " Lord Milner's Work in South Africa, 1897-1902," p. 89. It 
 was appointed by President Kruger, and its chairman was Mr Schallc Burger. Its 
 Report was admirable, but President Kruger refused to put its recommendations 
 into effect. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 269 
 
 labourer is, roughly, such an amount as will enable him to 
 support himself and his family in comfort, according to the 
 standard of his class and country. In other countries the 
 labourer works all the year round, and from year to year 
 during the greater part of his life as an adult. In South 
 Africa the Bantu native could earn in two or three months 
 enough money to keep him in idleness for the rest of the 
 year, and in two or three years of continuous service enough 
 to keep him (and his dependents) in ease and comfort for 
 the rest of his life. For, while in other parts of Africa and 
 in the Far East, where the conditions of native life were 
 essentially the same as they were in South Africa, the 
 native earned from 4d. to lod. a day, in South Africa he 
 had come to earn from is. 6d. to 2s. 66} 
 
 The physical and social conditions which prevented 
 white unskilled labour from competing with native or 
 coloured labour in South Africa, joined with the semi- 
 independence in which so large a proportion of the native 
 African population had been allowed to remain, were 
 primarily responsible for the rapid increase in the rate of 
 native wages which took place in the twenty-five years 
 preceding the date of the war. In spite of the Malay and 
 coloured population of the Cape Colony and the Indian 
 coolies in Natal, the native African of the Bantu races 
 had enjoyed a practical monopoly of the unskilled labour 
 market of South Africa from the time when, with the 
 establishment of the diamond industry at Kimberley, the 
 development of the mineral resources of the sub-continent 
 began in earnest. As the result of this monopoly the 
 native who was content twenty-five years ago with los. to 
 15s. per month, now claimed, and received, from ^2 to £^ 
 in the country, and often considerably more in the towns. 
 
 Nor could any economic justification for this enormous 
 increase of 300 to 400 per cent, in the rate of native wages 
 be discovered. The conditions of native existence had been 
 
 ^ The low purchasing power of the sovereign did not affect the wages received 
 by the natives (except in so far as they spent their money upon European clothes 
 and agricultural implements) ; since the food, cattle, and wives, upon which 
 these wages were expended, were grown in the Native Reserves, or in the 
 parts of Portuguese East Africa, where the economic causes which raised the 
 cost of living to the Europeans did not operate, 
 
270 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 considerably improved by the establishment of European 
 control over the Bantu peoples. The slight burden of taxa- 
 tion which this European control had entailed upon the 
 native, had been more than counterbalanced by the increased 
 value given to his live stock and produce by the expansion 
 of the European industrial population. In short, while it 
 required no greater effort on his part to provide himself 
 with the necessaries of life now than it had done twenty- 
 five years ago, he was receiving from three to four times 
 as much for his labour. 
 
 In recommending a reduction of the wages paid for 
 native labour on the gold mines, therefore, the Transvaal 
 Industrial Commission was pursuing an object of the 
 highest economic importance to the whole European popula- 
 tion of South Africa. From the narrower point of view of 
 the industry which was immediately concerned, the measure 
 was calculated to bring a two-fold advantage. It would 
 increase the efficiency of the individual African labourer 
 by making it necessary for him to work for a longer period 
 on the mines, if he were to save the desired amount of 
 money ; and, by reducing materially the cost of development 
 and production, it would make it possible to work mines 
 of low grade ore, whose gold deposits otherwise could not 
 be extracted at a profit. Moreover, the recommendation 
 was actually put in force while the war was in progress. 
 On 9th January 1900, when the most productive mines 
 were being worked by the Republican Government, the 
 wages of the African natives on the Rand were reduced 
 by proclamation to 20s. per month, and employers were 
 forbidden to exceed this sum under penalty of a fine up 
 to ;^5 for each offence. 
 
 In these circumstances there is nothing surprising in 
 the fact that the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines, 
 meeting at Cape Town, where many of its members had 
 gathered in anticipation of the early cessation of hostilities, 
 should have determined to re-start the industry, if possible, 
 upon a more economic basis so far as native wages were 
 concerned. In doing so, however, they did not propose to 
 maintain the low Republican standard of 20s., but resolved 
 that the pre-war average of 47s. id. should be reduced to 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 271 
 
 30s. per month. During the year 1902 the average wages 
 remained at this figure ; but when, after seven months of 
 peace, it became evident that the demand for native labour 
 throughout South Africa was altogether in excess of the 
 available supply, the gold industry in self-defence was 
 compelled to return to the pre-war rate of 47s. Four 
 months later this rate was exceeded, and at the close of 
 1903 the mines were not only paying the African native 
 an average wage of 54s. per month, but at the same time 
 the better food, which, with improved accommodation, had 
 been provided under the British regime, was costing 15s. 
 instead of 8s. lod. per month.^ 
 
 For the actual extent in which South Africa was 
 deficient in native labour during the years immediately 
 following the restoration of peace, we have the findings of 
 two unimpeachable authorities. The first of these, the 
 Inter-Colonial Commission on Native Affairs, was appointed 
 in pursuance of the resolution of the Bloemfontein Con- 
 ference, and it included the whole of British South Africa 
 in the area of its researches. Its Report,^ dated Cape Town, 
 30th January 1905, found on this head : — 
 
 "The calculations which have been made show an 
 estimated constant demand of 782,000, and an estimated 
 continuous supply of 474,472, showing a shortfall of 307,528 
 labourers. 
 
 " Under these circumstances the question naturally arises, 
 how in South Africa agriculture or any industry is carried 
 on. The answer is that when carried on at all, it is carried 
 on under difficulties, as to which there is abundant evidence. 
 The British South African aboriginal native has not fully 
 met the labour requirements of the country. There is no 
 doubt that were these natives alone to be relied upon. 
 South African industries could at present only be worked 
 at half power. Native labour has had to be supplemented 
 by the employment of Africans, imported from other parts 
 of Africa, Indians, and Chinese." 
 
 The second authority, the Transvaal Labour Commission, 
 was appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor of that colony 
 
 ' Speech of Sir George Farrar in the Transvaal Legislative Council, 
 28th December 1903. Cd. 1895. 
 2 Cd. 2399. 
 
272 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 in July 1903, and the area of its enquiries, with the one 
 exception of the railways common to the two new 
 colonies, was confined to the Transvaal. Its Report,^ dated 
 19th November 1903, found that the labour requirements 
 of the several industries, and the respective deficiencies in 
 each case, were as under : — 
 
 
 Estimated 
 number 
 required. 
 
 At work. 
 
 Shortage. 
 
 Agriculture . . . . 
 
 Mining ...... 
 
 Other industries .... 
 
 Central South African railways- 
 Open lines 
 
 New construction .... 
 
 80,000 
 197,644 
 69,684* 
 
 16,000 
 40,000 
 
 403,328 
 
 27,715 
 68,280 
 69,684 
 
 12,402 
 3,848 
 
 52,285 
 
 129,364 
 
 No data 
 
 obtainable. 
 
 3,598 
 36,152 
 
 221,399 
 
 181,929 
 
 * As no data was available on this head, the Commission put in the actual number 
 then employed. 
 
 As against this finding, the Minority Report, signed by 
 two ^ out of the twelve members of the Commission, estimated 
 the total requirements at 259,950, and the shortage at 78,000. 
 And whereas the majority of ten found that there was " no 
 adequate supply of labour in Central and Southern Africa 
 to meet" the requirements of the Transvaal industries, 
 the minority of two placed on record their belief that 
 (i) there was " sufficient labour in Central and Southern 
 Africa for present requirements, although effort would be 
 required to obtain it," and (2) " in many ways the supply of 
 native labour could be supplemented and superseded by 
 white labour." 
 
 It will thus be seen that the Inter-Colonial Commission, 
 consisting of members representative of all the British 
 colonies and basing its estimate upon a field of evidence so 
 
 ' Cd. 1894. One or two of the Boer leaders, including Mr Schalk Burger, 
 the Chairman of the Industrial Commission of 1897, were invited to serve on the 
 Labour Commission, but refused to do so. General Botha, however, and other 
 representative Boers gave evidence as to the extent in which the agricultural 
 industries were injured by the difficulty in obtaining native labour. 
 
 ' Messrs Quinn and Whiteside. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 273 
 
 wide that it included in addition to missionaries, traders, 
 and native officials, practically all persons whose opinions 
 on native affairs were entitled to consideration, after nearly 
 two years of patient research completely confirmed the 
 findings of the Majority Report of the Transvaal Labour 
 Commission as to the great numerical deficiency of African 
 labour and its complete inability to meet the needs of South 
 Africa at this time. 
 
 That part of the finding of the Minority Report which 
 contains the conclusion that unskilled whites should be 
 employed to make up the shortfall of native African labour, 
 brings us to the central issue of the Chinese labour con- 
 troversy as it was carried on both in South Africa and 
 in England. We say " as it was carried on," because it must 
 be borne in mind that the original political considerations 
 with which this question — in itself primarily an economic 
 question — was properly associated became so distorted by 
 party passion that the belief, quite unwarranted by the facts, 
 but widespread throughout the Empire, that the mine-owners 
 of the Rand had been allowed by the Balfour Administration 
 to oust the British working man from a lucrative field of 
 employment by importing Chinese " slaves " to take his 
 place, became the most powerful of all the ascertainable 
 influences which together operated to give the Liberal Party 
 its unprecedented victory at the polls in the General 
 Election of 1906. 
 
 The sequel will show what precise amount of evidence 
 there was to support the belief that white unskilled labour 
 would have sufficed to supplement the native African supply ; 
 but before we relate the efforts made by the mine-owners to 
 obtain additional labour from this and other sources in 
 preference to the importation of Asiatics, it is necessary to 
 refer to certain characteristics of the gold deposits of the 
 Rand which make an abundant and economic supply of 
 unskilled labour a condition precedent to the successful 
 working of the industry. The deposits, although vast in 
 extent, are of such low grade as compared with those of 
 other gold-bearing regions, that they yield only the narrowest 
 margin of profit. The gold mines of Australia, America, 
 India, and New Zealand yield profits varying from 49s. 6d. 
 VOL. I. s 
 
274 RECONST^RUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 to 205s. 4d. per ton of ore crushed ; those of the Rand yield 
 only an average of 12s. per ton net profit.^ Both chemical 
 and mechanical processes of extraction are required to win a 
 harvest from the Banket reef ; and it is only by the strictest 
 economy of working, combined with the highest application 
 of technical skill, that the Rand has become the greatest 
 single gold-producer of the world. The gold deposits being 
 what they are, an abundant and economic supply of manual 
 labour is a necessity for the successful working of the mines 
 of the Witwatersrand in precisely the same sense in which 
 a cheap and ample supply of coal, or of raw cotton or wool, is 
 a necessity for the successful working of the industries of 
 Lancashire and Yorkshire. In determining to obtain this 
 necessary supply of labour from China, when all other avail- 
 able sources had been tried and failed, the mine-owners were 
 serving not merely their own interests, and indirectly those 
 of the Transvaal, of South Africa, and of Great Britain, but 
 they were doing the one thing directly calculated to provide 
 employment for this very British workman whom they were 
 accused of ousting from the mines, both in South Africa 
 and in England. For it must be remembered that it was 
 the establishment of the gold industry of the Witwatersrand 
 that had raised the trade of South Africa from comparative 
 insignificance to the position it then (1903-5) held as an 
 appreciable factor in the trade of the Empire. What that 
 position was, and its significance to the industrial population 
 of the LTnited Kingdom, may be understood from the fact 
 that in 1905 — the first year in which the gold industry, thanks 
 to the introduction of Chinese labour, was able to exceed the 
 pre-war output — the contribution of South Africa to the 
 total trade of the Empire was estimated at ;^83,ooo,ooo in 
 value, Sj per cent, of the whole (;^i, 500,000,000). And of 
 this volume of South African trade no less than 70 per cent, 
 was carried on with the United Kingdom. The maintenance 
 and expansion of the gold industry was, therefore, not merely 
 a matter of vital importance to the Transvaal (providing, as 
 it did, directly or indirectly, two-thirds of the revenues upon 
 
 ' For the basis upon which this figure is obtained see "Transvaal Problems,'' 
 by Sir Lionel Phillips, p. 79. In recent years, however, even this average rate 
 of profit has been reduced — mainly through the increased cost of labour. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 275 
 
 which rested the whole financial edifice of the repatriation 
 and the reconstruction of the two new colonies) and to 
 South Africa, but it was also a matter of direct practical 
 concern to the industrial classes of Great Britain. And this 
 centre of trade activity, which vitalised South Africa and 
 helped to nourish the wage-earners of Great Britain, rested, 
 as we have seen, upon so narrow a margin of profit that a 
 cheap and ample supply of manual labour was the deter- 
 mining economic condition of its existence. 
 
 Attention has been drawn at the outset to the employ- 
 ment thus indirectly afforded by the gold industry to the 
 industrial classes of Great Britain, because it is an aspect of 
 the question which is in danger of being overlooked. But 
 it must not be inferred either that the British working man 
 was excluded from direct participation in the working of the 
 industry, or that an increase in the supply of non-European 
 unskilled labour, whether obtained from China or anywhere 
 else, involved a curtailment or displacement of the skilled 
 British workmen already employed. These inferences, 
 though they are the conclusions naturally suggested by the 
 arguments and general attitude of the political opponents 
 of Chinese labour, would be directly at variance with the 
 facts. Taking the year 1904, during the last six months of 
 which the native African supply was being supplemented 
 by the rapidly arriving shiploads of Chinese coolies, we find 
 from the returns of the Government Mining Engineer that 
 the Witwatersrand mines extracted from 8,063,577 tons of 
 reef 3,648,254 ozs. of gold, of the total value of ;£i 5,496,798. 
 The cost of production was .;^9,824,i33, which left a gross 
 profit of ;^S,672,665 (or 14s. o.8d. per ton), out of which 
 ;^3,877,623 was the available net profit paid in dividends to 
 the shareholders. Of the total cost of production, 61.004 
 per cent, or ;^S,993,I35, was paid in wages, and of this sum 
 while the 70,082 ^ native Africans and Chinese coolies 
 received only £,2,1^0,^0^ (or 36.221 per cent), the 12,957 
 Europeans employed, the great majority of whom were 
 British, received no less than ;^3,822,332 (or 63.779 per 
 cent.). 
 
 The proportion of skilled, or European, to unskilled, or 
 
 ^ I.e., ihe average number for the year. 
 
276 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 dark skinned, labour naturally varied, but with the exception 
 of the years 1902-4, when an excess of skilled, and some 
 appreciable number of unskilled, European workmen were 
 employed,^ the normal ratio was one to eight or nine. Thus 
 in 1 898, the last complete year before the war, an average of 
 73,354 natives and of 9,854 Europeans were employed. In 
 June 1904, just before the Chinese began to arrive, the 
 numbers were respectively 68,174 and 12,730. In June of 
 the year following, with 95,309 native Africans and 41,340 
 Chinese coolies, the number of European skilled workmen 
 employed had risen to 16,158. Roughly speaking, therefore, 
 every ten additional unskilled labourers provided employ- 
 ment for one additional European of the artisan class. Nor 
 does the engagement of the 5,000 additional skilled workmen, 
 whom the 50,000 Chinese coolies ultimately imported placed 
 on the mines, by any means express the sum of the fresh 
 employment which was provided for British artisans and 
 other British immigrants in the Rand district by this 
 increase in the manual labour supply of the gold industry. 
 By the time that Lord Milner left the Transvaal ^ the monthly 
 output of gold had risen to a higher level than any that 
 had been reached before ; and by the end of the year 1905 
 the industry was paying an extra ;^ 1,000,000 a year in wages 
 to the 5,000 additional skilled workmen whose services it 
 required in consequence of its expansion. It is obvious that 
 so large an increase in the Europeans employed on the mines 
 must have augmented the wants of the European community 
 as a whole, and thereby provided employment for additional 
 artisans, tradesmen, clerks, and persons of the other classes 
 by which these wants were supplied. And of these, again, 
 the great majority were of British birth. 
 
 The point which has been here emphasised — viz. : the 
 largeness of the proportion of the total sum paid in wages 
 which fell to the share of the skilled European workmen — 
 leads us back directly to that aspect of the labour question 
 
 ' A number of skilled workmen, not immediately required, were kept on in 
 the expectation that a greater supply of unskilled native labour would be obtained ; 
 at the same time the companies patriotically provided employment for disbanded 
 irregulars, and other unskilled whites, whom the war had temporarily deprived of 
 a means of livelihood. 
 
 ^ and April 1905. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 277 
 
 which has been termed the "central issue." The political 
 fiction that the importation of the Chinese coolies was 
 adopted by the mine-owners as a means of excluding the 
 British working man from employment in the gold industry, 
 to which the anti-Chinese labour agitation in England owed 
 nine-tenths of its vitality, is not to be confused with the 
 belief in the possibility of supplementing the native African 
 supply by European unskilled labour, which was honestly 
 entertained by the original opponents of the measure in the 
 Transvaal. The political fiction has been considered, and, 
 it may be hoped, dispelled in the foregoing pages ; the 
 honest belief of such advocates of white unskilled labour as 
 Mr F. H. P. Creswell.i Mr John Quinn,^ and Mr W. F. 
 Monypennys has a better claim upon the attention of the 
 economic enquirer. 
 
 The facts in dispute may be gathered up into the 
 question — " Did the political and social conditions of South 
 Africa permit or not permit the employment of Europeans 
 at a rate of wages low enough to come within the economic 
 capacity of the gold industry ? " The Majority Report of 
 the Labour Commission, with the great mass of technical 
 and instructed opinion behind it, answered "no" to this 
 question, the Minority Report, and a few able and dis- 
 interested public men, said "yes." 
 
 Taking the year 1904 — a year in which the writer was 
 resident in Johannesburg, and in which as a householder he 
 was necessarily familiar with the economic conditions then 
 prevailing — we find (again from the official returns of the 
 Mines Department) that the 12,957 European employees 
 received in wages an average per head of ;^295 ; while the 
 70,086 natives and Chinese received an average of ;^30, 19s. 6d. 
 per head in wages, and food and maintenance (including the 
 cost of the enlistment, transport, and repatriation of the 
 Chinese) of the average value of ^IS, 8s. in addition. 
 Owing to the fact, however, that 1,038 European unskilled 
 workmen, engaged in manual labour for temporary reasons, 
 
 ' Manager of the Village Main Reef Mine. 
 ^ One of the signatories of the Minority (Labour) Report. 
 ' Editor of the Johannesburg Siar, Resigned on the adoption of the Chinese 
 labour policy by the Chamber of Mines in December 1903. 
 
278 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 or for experimental purposes, and earning, therefore, a much 
 lower rate of wages, were included in the above total of 
 12,957, the average wages per head of the skilled European 
 workman must be taken to have been somewhat in excess 
 of the figure given (;^295) in the official returns.^ In any 
 case we shall be well within the mark if we put the average 
 yearly wage of the skilled European at ;if300, and that 
 of the unskilled native or Chinaman at ;f 50 ; and we may 
 conclude, therefore, that the wages of the skilled European 
 were six times as much as those of the unskilled coloured 
 man. 
 
 But here again, in order to estimate the real value of the 
 ;^300 per annum earned by the European workman, it is 
 necessary to take account of the economic conditions pre- 
 vailing in the Rand district and in a lesser degree in other 
 towns of the Transvaal, which, at the time in question and for 
 the class under discussion, reduced the purchasing power of 
 the sovereign to rather less than one-half of that which it 
 possessed in the United Kingdom. It is necessary to limit 
 the statement by the words "at the time in question" and 
 "for the class under discussion," because it must be re- 
 membered that these economic conditions were subject to 
 change, and that they did not affect all classes in an equal 
 degree. The " high cost of living to the Europeans," which 
 is an inter-changeable expression with the " low purchasing 
 power of the sovereign," had from the first engaged the atten- 
 tion of Lord Milner, and in this year (1904) the reduction 
 in the through railway rates, the fruits of the Bloemfontein 
 Conference, which had come into effect on ist July 1903, 
 in conjunction with the revised customs tariff had already 
 appreciably lowered the price of imported food and other 
 over-sea commodities. But although meat, bread, tea, sugar, 
 and, generally, the most necessary articles of food, as well as 
 imported clothes, boots, and articles of apparel, could be 
 bought in the retail shops for little more than in England, 
 there were other items in the householder's budget which 
 remained abnormally costly. These were, in general, those 
 
 ' I am indebted to Sir Lionel Phillip's "Transvaal Problems" (p. 60) for 
 this correction, which is made upon the authority of the Chamber of Mines 
 Report. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 279 
 
 necessaries of life into which the cost of labour, whether 
 native or European, entered most directly. House rent and 
 "services" of all kinds from the transport of vegetables 
 and milk from the country to the town to the actual wages 
 of the Kafir "boy," employed by all but the very poorest 
 Europeans to do the rough work of the house, were the chief 
 examples. The artisan, who in England would pay j£io to 
 £iS a. year for house rent, was unable to hire a four or five- 
 roomed dwelling for less than £s to £S a month. His Kafir 
 " boy '' cost him ^3 a month in wages besides maintenance. 
 The charges for water-supply, sanitary service, fares by rail 
 or tramway, and for other miscellaneous " services " were all 
 serious items of expenditure, many of which would not enter 
 at all into the budget of the British working man. 
 
 It was the married artisan class in particular, and in a 
 hardly less degree all persons, such as shop assistants, clerks 
 and the civil servants of the lower grades, whose incomes 
 ranged from ;^300 to ;^5oo a year, that were most seriously 
 affected by the low purchasing power of the sovereign. And 
 for this reason. When once what may be termed the primary 
 expenses of living on the Rand — food, housing, and domestic 
 service — were provided for, the additional expenses were, for 
 the most part, either of the nature of luxuries, and as such 
 could be curtailed, or entirely dispensed with, at will ; or they 
 were comforts and conveniences which a prudent householder 
 of the commercial or professional classes could limit and 
 control without injury to his professional or business interests, 
 or neglect of social duties. Persons whose incomes were 
 large enough to furnish a margin over and above their 
 ordinary yearly expenditure were, therefore, less and less 
 affected by the low purchasing power of the sovereign in 
 proportion as this margin was extended ; nor must it be 
 forgotten that a sovereign earned in the Transvaal, if spent 
 in England, or if invested either in England or in the 
 Transvaal, commanded the full equivalent of its nominal 
 value of 20s. 
 
 But making allowance for the low purchasing power of 
 the sovereign, the wages paid to the skilled European work- 
 men on the mines, measured by the British standard, were 
 high both in nominal and real value. They were, none the 
 
280 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 less, only such as were sufficient to enable these workmen to 
 provide for the maintenance of themselves and their families 
 in comfort, according to the standard required of their class 
 by the social and economic conditions of the community of 
 which they formed part. This standard was determined by 
 the belief that the white man in South Africa must show 
 himself the superior in civilisation of the black man. 
 
 To have employed Europeans and paid them at a rate 
 much below these wages, roughly £i per working day, 
 would have violated this standard. But if European un- 
 skilled labour were to be employed at all, the Europeans thus 
 employed must have been paid at a very much lower rate 
 than this ; otherwise the cost of production, in which the 
 wages of the unskilled labour formed so large an item, would 
 have been raised to a point which would have made it 
 impossible for all but a few favoured mines to show any 
 profit at all. The returns of the gold industry for 1904 
 will illustrate the determining factors of the problem. In 
 this year the unskilled labour of 70,082 Kafirs and Chinese 
 cost ;£'2, 170,813, or 36,221 per cent, of the total paid in wages. 
 The net profit was under ;£'4,ooo,ooo. These men cost less 
 than ;^50 per head, as against the ;£300 per head paid to the 
 European skilled (and, in this year, unskilled) workmen. 
 Assume, then, that the unskilled European labourers could 
 live on ^150 a year or los. per working day — that is to 
 say, on one-half of the wages paid to the skilled European 
 workmen ; assume, further, that the place of the 70,000 
 black labourers had been taken by 70,000 unskilled white 
 labourers employed at this rate of wages — how would the 
 industry have stood ? The unskilled labour, instead of cost- 
 ing ;!^2,ooo,ooo, would have cost ^^6,000,000 — an increase of 
 .£^4,000,000 ; and this addition of ^^4,000,000 to the working 
 costs of the industry would have entirely effaced the net 
 profit, rather less than ;^4,ooo,ooo, earned for the year. 
 
 But no one in South Africa seriously suggested that 
 European unskilled labour should be employed in the place 
 of native African labour. The proposal of the White Labour 
 League, and the recommendation of the Minority Report 
 of the Labour Commission, was to employ white unskilled 
 labour to supplement the native African supply ; or, in other 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 281 
 
 words, to do precisely what the Chinese coolies were to 
 do. This proposal — to employ mixed white and black 
 unskilled labour — was obviously more possible from an 
 economic point of view, but it involved new difficulties of 
 a social and political order that made its success seem 
 hardly less remote. 
 
 In South Africa, as we know,^ the native population 
 outnumbers the European in the proportion of four or five to 
 one. In view of this numerical inferiority the maintenance 
 of the prestige of the white man was at this time, 
 even more than it is to-day, a matter of direct political 
 importance ; and it was generally held that the employment 
 of whites in unskilled manual labour, whether separately 
 or in conjunction with the natives, would have the effect 
 of weakening this prestige. To set any considerable body of 
 Europeans to work permanently on the mines side by side 
 with African natives was, therefore, in itself a measure which 
 would be regarded with grave distrust by many influential 
 and responsible members of the European community. 
 But apart from this primary objection, the payment of 
 any adequate wages to unskilled European workmen, who 
 would be seen to be doing the same work as the natives, was 
 a matter of great practical difficulty. The minimum rate of 
 wages upon which European workmen could live has been 
 taken to be ;^iSO a year, or los. the working day — that is, 
 three times as much as the native was paid. Was, then, 
 the white man, simply because he was a white man, to be 
 paid three times as much as the black man for doing the 
 same amount of work? Apart from the grave injustice 
 to the shareholders in general, and the disastrous effect 
 exercised upon many of the poorer mines, such a proceeding 
 would have been demoralising alike to the black and 
 white labourer. Could it be shown, then, that the white 
 unskilled labourer could do three times as much work as the 
 native ? The answer again must be in the negative ; the 
 most that was claimed by the advocates of white unskilled 
 labour was that in the mines three white men by judicious 
 organisation could be made to do as much work as five 
 natives. But the evidence upon which this claim rested was 
 
 ' See chap i. 
 
282 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 always disputed ; and the general opinion based upon the 
 results obtained from white unskilled labour, when employed 
 in competition with natives throughout South Africa, held 
 that the physical conditions of the country gave the native 
 advantages in the given circumstances, which more than 
 counterbalanced any that the European might possess as the 
 result of his superior intelligence ; that, in short, the average 
 native in mere manual labour was the equal, if not the 
 superior, of the European. 
 
 In considering the experiments in the substitution of 
 unskilled European for native African labour made on the 
 Rand, and generally in the new colonies, during the years 
 1902, 1903, and 1904, three circumstances must be borne 
 in mind. 
 
 (i) There was at the time an abnormal amount of un- 
 skilled white labour presumably available for such employ- 
 ment. This was to be attributed in part to the number of 
 whites thrown out of employment by the cessation of the 
 mining and other industries throughout South Africa during 
 the war, and in part to the presence of many Home and over- 
 sea British of the industrial class, who, having fought in the 
 war, had remained in South Africa with the desire of making 
 it their permanent abode. 
 
 (2) The experiments on the Rand mines were initiated by 
 the Mines Department of the Transvaal Government with 
 the co-operation of the mining companies, in the earnest hope 
 that it might be shown that it was economically possible to 
 employ this unskilled white labour in the gold industry. 
 The object sought to be obtained was not merely economic 
 but also political — that is to say, while it was desired by this 
 means to make up for the shortage of African labour, it 
 was also desired to increase the permanent British population 
 of the Transvaal. More than this, an urgent appeal had been 
 made by Lord Kitchener to the leaders of the mining industry 
 to provide temporary employment for men who had been 
 discharged at the conclusion of the war, after serving with 
 the British forces. And it was in direct response to this 
 appeal that permission was given by Messrs Eckstein to Mr 
 F. H. P. Creswell, who had held a commission in the Imperial 
 Light Horse, to make the experiment of employing unskilled 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 283 
 
 white labour on the Village Main Reef Mine, of which he 
 was manager. 
 
 (3) The efforts made to supplement native by white 
 labour were not confined to the gold industry. The joint 
 Railway Administration of the two new colonies endeavoured 
 to employ British unskilled labour for the construction of new 
 lines ; the Repatriation Department of the Orange River 
 Colony sought unsuccessfully to find employment for the 
 ex-burghers of the "poor white" class by inducing them 
 to undertake some of the duties formerly performed by 
 natives ; and, subsequently, when in the year 1904 the 
 commercial crisis, brought about by the stagnation of the 
 mining industry, caused a]considerable section of the European 
 industrial population to be thrown out of employment, the 
 Town Council of Johannesburg endeavoured to relieve the 
 distress by employing white labour for road-making and 
 other municipal works. 
 
 The records of these experiments are full and precise. 
 The subject in general is dealt with in the Reports of the 
 Transvaal Labour Commission^ and the evidence of the 
 witnesses heard. The experiments made in the Witwaters- 
 rand gold mines are to be found in the annual reports of the 
 Government Mining Engineer,^ in those of the Witwaters- 
 rand Chamber of Mines, and in documents and reports 
 prepared for the various companies or groups of companies 
 concerned. And to these official and technical records may 
 be added the account of the labour problem given in 
 chapters ii. to iv. of "Transvaal Problems," by Sir Lionel 
 Phillips,^ whose long experience of mining in South Africa, 
 and recognised political and economic services to the gold 
 industry during the period intervening between the depar- 
 ture of Lord Milner and the establishment of the Union 
 (1905-10), invest his opinions with a very special authority. 
 The story of the attempt to utilise English navvies in 
 railway construction is related in the reports and despatches 
 contained in Blue-book, Cd. 1895. The evidence for the 
 employment of white unskilled labour by the Repatriation 
 
 ' Cd. 1894. 
 
 2 Reports of the Transvaal Mines Department (Pretoria). 
 
 " Published in 1905 (Murray), 
 
284 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Department of the Orange River Colony and by the 
 Johannesburg Municipality will be found in the official 
 Reports of the Department and the Municipality. 
 
 Having by this general description of the character and 
 sources of the evidence put the means of further research 
 at the disposal of the reader, it will suffice to set out here 
 the outstanding facts and the conclusions based upon these 
 facts by competent authorities. 
 
 The experiment of employing Europeans as unskilled 
 labourers on the Village Main Reef Mine was conducted with 
 skill and enthusiasm by Mr F. H. P. Creswell, and at a time 
 when Mr Wybergh, a prominent reformer under the Boer 
 rigime and a pronounced supporter of the white labour 
 movement, held the position of Commissioner of Mines in 
 the Transvaal Government. It commenced in January 1902, 
 and terminated in August 1903. On 4th November 1902 
 a committee of experts reported on the results of this 
 experiment in the following terms : — 
 
 " After careful consideration of the reports and figures, 
 submitted by Messrs S. J. Jennings and F. H. P. Creswell 
 relative to the labour employed by the Village Main Reef 
 Company, and its effect on the general working of the mine, 
 and after a thorough personal examination of the surface and 
 underground workings, we are of opinion : — 
 
 "(i) That to introduce unskilled white labour on the 
 mines in place of natives, in its entirety, is im- 
 practicable, and would mean the cessation of 
 profitable work in most of the mines in the 
 Witwatersrand. 
 
 "(2) Whilst deprecating the universal employment of 
 white unskilled labour, we are of opinion that it 
 can be beneficially used in the following depart- 
 ments, and for the undernoted classes of work. 
 
 " In conclusion, while not agreeing with Mr Creswell, we 
 highly appreciated the thorough manner in which he has 
 endeavoured to augment the limited supply of natives at 
 his command by the intelligent use of unskilled white labour, 
 and we consider that his present ideas for the distribution of 
 this labour underground cannot be improved on, although his 
 efforts in this direction during the past few months have 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 285 
 
 certainly been disappointing, mainly through attempting too 
 much in introducing this labour in departments in which it is 
 impracticable." 
 
 But against this comparatively favourable account of the 
 experiment, we have to put the more precise results obtained 
 a year later, as shown in the condition of the mine as it was 
 found by Mr Blaine, who had then succeeded Mr Creswell in 
 the position of manager. 
 
 From this memorandum we learn that the number of 
 natives required to work the mine efficiently was 2,600. 
 Assuming that the 1,000 natives hitherto available would be 
 retained, and that two white men could do the work of three 
 natives, Mr Blaine found that the employment of mixed 
 white and black unskilled labour on this basis and on the 
 system then in operation would practically double the cost 
 of unskilled labour. The figures of monthly expenditure on 
 this head are shown in the table below. 
 
 1,000 natives at 2s. gd. per shift (26 working days 
 
 per month) .^3.575 
 
 1,066 white men (say I of the remaining comple- 
 ment) at los. per day (26 days per month) . 13,858 
 
 ;^i 7,433 
 2,600 natives at 2s. gd. (as before) .... 9,295 
 
 Extra cost per month ;£8,i38 
 
 Of the industrial efficiency and morale of the white men 
 when thus employed, he wrote : — 
 
 "The possibility of earning 15s. per day, or even more, by 
 close application to work ^ was not sufficient inducement to 
 overcome the reluctance of the labourers to do Kaffir's work, 
 and even when work was accepted the men worked inter- 
 mittently, and they were unreliable. It was no uncommon 
 occurrence for men to throw up their employment and be 
 engaged again several times during one month. 
 
 " I find that from January to September (inclusive) last 
 year [1903] the average number of unskilled whites employed 
 underground was 102, but to maintain this number 947 men 
 
 ' Mr Blaine had introduced a system of contract work in order to stimulate the 
 white labourers to fresh efforts. 
 
286 REOONSTRUOTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 were engaged, who worked on the average only 25 days. 
 Such constant changes and the failure of the men to work 
 steadily day by day could only result in the disorganisation 
 of the underground operations and a material increase to the 
 cost of carrying on the work." 
 
 The figures furnished by the Rand Mines, Limited, exhibit 
 the same characteristic of instability in the unskilled white 
 labour employed in a group of ten mines during the year 
 1904. In that year, out of a total of 5,8 18 white men 
 employed, an average number of only 474 labourers per 
 working day was obtained. And the same defect — the in- 
 stability arising from uncongenial conditions of employment 
 — is noted by the Government Mining Engineer as the chief 
 objection (apart from financial considerations) to the employ- 
 ment of Europeans as unskilled labourers on the mines. In 
 the annual Report for the year ending 30th June 1904, this 
 official writes : — 
 
 " The employment of unskilled whites has had a fair trial, 
 and has, generally speaking, proved unsatisfactory. At 
 present this class of labour is only employed when work has 
 to be done, and coloured labour cannot be obtained. 
 
 "(i) This class of whites cannot be relied upon to work 
 for any continuous length of time. They throw up 
 their employment at short notice, and disorganise 
 the general work of the mine. 
 
 " (2) The majority take to this employment as a stop-gap, 
 and cannot, or will not, do the necessary amount 
 of steady work to successfully compete with 
 coloured labour." 
 
 The statement of the Majority Report of the Labour 
 Commission with reference to the Village Main Reef experi- 
 ment contains a cool survey of the general South African 
 conditions germane to the subject. 
 
 "96. White Labour. — A suggestion to meet the labour 
 difficulty by the introduction of white labourers upon an 
 extensive scale was made by Mr W. Wybergh, Commissioner 
 of Mines, and Mr F. H. P. Creswell, Manager, Village Main 
 Reef Mine. As the white population of South Africa is 
 small, the consideration of this solution is practically out- 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 287 
 
 side the scope of the Commission's reference in so far 
 that it involves, if adopted, the introduction of large numbers 
 of white immigrants from sources outside South and Central 
 Africa. In view, however, of the importance of the subject 
 and the interest it excited, the consideration of this alternative 
 has not been excluded. We consider it undesirable to enter 
 into the controversial aspects of the question ; but the more 
 salient facts relating to the employment of white labour 
 are that, during the period of thirty years, during which 
 mining and other industries have been prosecuted in South 
 Africa, no employers have continuously used white men 
 for the rougher classes of manual labour. It is reasonable 
 to suppose that if the use of such labour was economically 
 advantageous the self- interest of employers would have 
 discovered these advantages within the period mentioned, 
 and a gradual displacement of black by white labour would 
 have occurred. There are facts indeed which tend to show 
 that an exactly contrary displacement of white by black 
 labour has been in progress ; but however this may be, it 
 is certain that the evidence of the past is overwhelmingly 
 and conclusively against the contention that white labourers 
 can successfully compete with blacks in the lower fields of 
 manual industry. This is particularly true of the Transvaal, 
 where the cost of living is high and the conditions more 
 adverse to the employment of whites than in other colonies 
 of South Africa. At the docks and at other industries in 
 the coast towns the natives receive a much higher and 
 the whites a much lower wage than is the case on the 
 Rand. If, therefore, whites cannot compete with blacks in 
 the coast towns it is not likely that they will be more 
 successful in the Transvaal. With the single exception 
 of those handed in by Mr Creswell, all the figures adduced 
 before the Commission supported the view that so far as 
 the Transvaal mining is concerned white labour cannot 
 profitably compete with black. 
 
 " Mr Creswell's figures were disputed by competent 
 witnesses, but it is not necessary to determine their exact 
 value. His experiments were not carried out under test con- 
 ditions, but even if they had been, the results obtained in 
 experiments of this character have little practical bearing upon 
 the proposal to introduce white labourers in numbers for the 
 reason that the profitable employment of white men depends 
 upon the rate of wages paid, and the rate of wages is 
 determined by such items as rents, cost and conditions of 
 living, variations in which completely alter all the factors 
 
288 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 of the experiment. Your Commission cannot, therefore, 
 advise the adoption upon such incomplete evidence of a 
 measure which is condemned by past and present experience 
 as impracticable and impossible." 
 
 Two circumstances led to the attempt to employ British 
 unskilled labour in the construction of the new railways 
 in the Transvaal. In the first place the Government desired 
 to set free, if possible, a portion of the native African labour 
 required by the Railway Administration, with a view of 
 meeting the urgent demands of the mining industry for 
 such labour ; and in the second, the experiment, if successful, 
 promised to provide a new opening for British immigrants. 
 The navvies, 500 in number, who were engaged for a period 
 of twelve months, were brought out early in the year 1903, 
 and were assigned to the Springs-Ermelo section of the 
 proposed direct line from the Rand to Delagoa Bay. On 
 14th November of the same year the Chief Engineer of 
 the Railway Administration reported, after seven months' 
 experience of the men, that the earthwork executed by 
 them was costing 4s. io.8d. per cubic yard, or, "allowing 
 for hardness of soil, four times the amount that the same 
 work would cost" if done by native labour. He further 
 calculated that the navvies, if kept for the whole of the 
 twelve months, would complete 30 miles of earthwork at 
 a cost of ;£'i 56,900, as against the ;^42,ooo which the same 
 amount of work would cost if executed by natives. In 
 order to save the Administration from a part of this total 
 loss of ;^ 1 15,000, the Chief Engineer recommended that the 
 navvies should be shipped back to England at once. 
 Allowing for the fact that the men would do practically no 
 work after they had received the month's notice by which 
 the engagement was terminable, he calculated that a net 
 sum of ;^4O,O0O would, nevertheless, be saved by this course 
 of action. 
 
 In view of the allegations- of hostility to the British 
 working classes so frequently brought against the leaders 
 of the gold industry, it is interesting to note the wholly 
 businesslike manner in which Sir Richard Soloman (then 
 acting as Commissioner of Railways in the absence on 
 leave of Sir Percy Girouard) dealt with this matter. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 289 
 
 " We now have the results of seven months' work," he 
 wrote on i8th November, to the Secretary of the Inter- 
 Colonial Council ; " consequently the system has received 
 a thorough test. You will observe from the Chief Engineer's 
 letter that the facts now before us show that it has been 
 financially a hopeless failure, and that though from the 
 experience gained we might in future agreements arrange 
 to reduce the cost considerably, it would always be 
 financially impossible to construct railways by imported 
 English navvy labour. 
 
 " You will observe that the Chief Engineer points out 
 that if we persist in keeping these men to the end of 
 their twelve months' agreement, we shall raise the cost 
 of the line by ;£i 15,000, whereas if we avail ourselves at 
 once of the clause in these men's contract which enables 
 us to give them one month's notice and return them to 
 England we shall save ;£'40,ooo of the anticipated excess 
 of ^115,000. 
 
 " I therefore beg to urge that I may at once be authorised 
 to instruct the Chief Engineer to send these men back 
 to England in order that we may save the sum of _;^40,ooo 
 which we cannot afford to lose." 
 
 A few days later Sir Arthur Lawley cabled to Lord 
 Milner, who was at this time in England, to obtain his 
 sanction to the course proposed, and the costly and 
 unsuccessful experiment was thus abruptly terminated. 
 
 The results obtained from the employment of unskilled 
 white labour by other Government departments, and by 
 the Municipality of Johannesburg, did not differ greatly 
 from those yielded by the experiments upon the mines 
 and the railways — that is to say, although the wages 
 offered were higher than those paid to natives, and were, 
 in fact, the highest financially possible, the men either 
 refused to accept the work at all, as being Kafir's work, 
 or worked in a half-hearted manner for short periods and 
 then withdrew the moment the compulsion of absolute 
 necessity was relaxed. It was noticeable, however, that 
 both on the railways in 1903, and on the relief works 
 instituted by the Johannesburg Municipality in 1904, the 
 Boers who were thus employed showed themselves better 
 and more capable workmen than the British. Thus it was 
 found that 200 men of the " poor white " class and chiefly 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
290 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Boers, who were employed intermittently in the month 
 of October, 1903, on the Klerksdorp - Vaal section of 
 the western extension of the Rand railway system, 
 earning a mean rate of 4s. 8d. per day of 9 hours, were 
 able to execute the earthwork at only a slight increase 
 over the cost of such work when executed by native labour 
 — i.e. at ;^i,6oo per mile as against ;^i,400 per mile. And 
 the officials who supervised the relief works at Johannesburg 
 reported that the Boers were not only better able to endure 
 the physical strain of road making in the Transvaal, but, 
 as they could live more economically, were more willing 
 to accept a low rate of wages than the derelict British 
 of the working class. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE LABOUR QUESTION — CHINESE LABOUR THE 
 ONLY PRACTICABLE SUPPLY 
 
 In the preceding chapter the reader's attention has been 
 directed to the economic urgency of the need for more 
 unskilled labour in the new colonies, and to the hopeless- 
 ness of the attempt to satisfy this need by trying to induce 
 Europeans to place themselves on terms of industrial equality 
 with the native African labourers. In the discussion of this 
 latter question the main facts relative to the employment 
 of unskilled white labour during the years 1902-4 have 
 been given with some precision. And this for two reasons. 
 In the first place, the allegation that the shortfall in 
 African labour might have been made up by the employ- 
 ment of unskilled whites gave vitality to the Chinese 
 labour controversy in its later and more acute political 
 phase ; and in the second, the discussion of this question 
 throws an illuminating light upon the economic status of 
 the European in South Africa. 
 
 The leading factors of the problem having been thus 
 set out, it is now possible to relate — as nearly as possible 
 in their chronological order — the circumstances which led 
 both the chiefs of the mining industry and Lord Milner 
 to the conclusion that the only practical method of 
 obtaining the required supply of unskilled labour was the 
 importation of Chinese coolies. For this costly and 
 unwelcome expedient was not adopted in any light- 
 hearted manner, or, in fact, until all other possible sources 
 of supply had been tried and found useless. 
 
 Concurrently with the effort to use white unskilled labour, 
 every endeavour that experience could suggest was made to 
 
 291 
 
292 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 increase the number of African labourers on the mines. 
 As we have already noticed, when, after seven months of 
 peace, the reduction of native wages was felt to have a 
 deterrent effect, the pre-war rate was resumed in January 
 1903. But before this error — if error it were^ — was retrieved, 
 certain agencies directly calculated to facilitate the engage- 
 ment of natives and to improve the conditions of their life on 
 the mines, were set in motion. In place of the old system 
 of recruitment by " touts," was substituted the more humane 
 and efficient methods of the Witwatersrand Native Labour 
 Association. The majority of these "touts," or labour 
 agents, were white men of a low class, who, by hanging 
 round the kraals, or intercepting parties of natives en route 
 for the industrial centres, secured native labourers by 
 bogus contracts, and then transferred them for a small 
 sum per head to the mining companies or other bond fide 
 employers. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the abuses 
 to which this system — the pre-war system — lent itself, 
 when worked, as was too often the case, by utterly un- 
 scrupulous persons. The Association was formed in March 
 1 90 1 — that is to say, shortly before the military situation 
 first permitted the resumption of mining on the Rand. 
 Its object was to improve the methods of recruiting and 
 distributing the native African labourers, and thereby to 
 secure a more adequate and efficient supply of unskilled 
 labour for the mining industry. Its membership consisted 
 of the majority of the companies mining both gold and 
 coal, and its importance as a factor in the economic system 
 of the Transvaal may be inferred from the fact that 
 Mr F. Perry resigned his position as Imperial Secretary 
 at the end of January 1903, in order to become Chairman 
 of the Association. Upon its inception a certain number 
 of the best of the " touts " had been employed by the 
 Association, but the less reputable majority, being deprived 
 of their livelihood, naturally did everything within their 
 power by the spread of damaging reports among the 
 
 ' It is by no means certain that the reduction of wages, by lessening the 
 money earned within a given time by the native, did not tend to malce him either 
 stay longer when in employment, or resume work at a shorter interval in the 
 event of his not having prolonged his period of work. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 293 
 
 natives, and otherwise, to hinder the success of the new 
 agency ; and the difficulty of obtaining native labour for 
 the mines experienced in the first few months of peace 
 is to be attributed, in part at least, to the malevolence 
 of these men. Mr Perry's appointment to the Chairmanship 
 of the Association, which was synchronous with the return 
 to the pre-war rate of wages, was marked by the inaugura- 
 tion of a more vigorous and extended system of operations, 
 with large additions to the staff of European agents and 
 recruiters. From this time forwards the machinery of 
 the Association was rapidly perfected, and before Lord 
 Milner left South Africa the whole system of recruiting 
 native African labour for the Transvaal mines had become 
 both more benevolent and more successful. Compounds 
 and rest - camps, in which the recruits found food and 
 shelter, had been established along the routes leading from 
 the native areas to Johannesburg. At Ressano Gar9ia. 
 Waterval Boven, and Johannesburg, large depots, each 
 providing accommodation for 1,500 natives, had been erected 
 for the reception of the labourers from Portuguese East 
 Africa and other areas north of the Zambesi, including 
 the British Central African Protectorate, when making 
 either the inward or outward journey. The Johannesburg 
 depot, which served as the chief receiving and distributing 
 centre for all natives recruited by the Association, covered 
 an area of three and a quarter acres, and contained 
 permanent accommodation for 1,500 native labourers. The 
 compound consisted of brick buildings, with steam cooking 
 plant, modern hospital accommodation, an open air bath, 
 and ample yard space. The depot also contained offices 
 and residential quarters for the staff. In addition to these 
 main depots and the rest-camps on the routes of travel, 
 the Association established in each recruiting district a 
 main receiving station, with numerous sub-stations, each 
 of which was provided with adequate accommodation for 
 shelter and food. 
 
 The periods of engagement varied from four months for 
 recruits from certain parts of British South Africa to two 
 years for recruits from German West Africa ; but the 
 natives from Mozambique — the main source of supply — 
 
294 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 were engaged for twelve months. In all cases the Association 
 insisted upon their agents clearly explaining the terms of 
 the contract to the applicants before engagement, and it 
 was part of its business to see that these terms were observed 
 with scrupulous good faith by the several employers among 
 whom the labourers were distributed. The fact that it 
 reduced the number of desertions among labourers on the 
 mines from 70 to 4 per cent, may be cited as sufficient 
 evidence of the beneficial character of its efforts to improve 
 the relations between the natives and their employers. More 
 than this, advances, either in cash or kind, were made to 
 native recruits who required them for their comfort on the 
 journey ; while in the case of recruits from hot countries, 
 an ample issue of clothing at cost price was made on enter- 
 ing the Transvaal, in order that they might be protected 
 against the bad effects of the change from a tropical or 
 sub-tropical climate to the comparative rigours of the 
 uplands of the Witwatersrand.^ 
 
 Notwithstanding these improvements in the system and 
 methods of recruiting, and the extension of the area of the 
 Association's operations to South Central and Central 
 Africa — and notwithstanding also the improvements in the 
 food and accommodation of the native labourers on the 
 mines, to which shortly attention will be drawn — it is 
 significant that the number of African labourers recruited 
 in the year 1904 showed an advance of only 2,500 over 
 the numbers of the preceding year. The fact that, while 
 85,377 natives were recruited in 1903, when the machinery 
 and organisation of the Association was as yet imperfect, 
 only 87,893 were recruited in 1904, when the improvements 
 introduced by the Association were in operation, affords 
 tolerably conclusive evidence of the reality of the shortage 
 of African labour in the years immediately following the 
 Peace of Vereeniging.^ 
 
 But the introduction of these more humane and efficient 
 methods of recruiting was only part of a general improve- 
 ment in the conditions under which the natives served their 
 
 ' Nearly 6,000 feet above sea level. 
 
 ^ The facts relative to the recruitment of native labour are taken from the 
 Report (for the year ended 31st December 1904) of the Witwatersrand Native 
 Labour Association. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 295 
 
 European employers in the Transvaal, whether on the mines, 
 in other industries, or in domestic service. This was a 
 matter to which Lord Milner had attached the highest 
 importance from the first beginning of Civil Government in 
 the new colonies. In it he saw not merely a question of 
 political justice and sound administration, but a means of 
 removing one obstacle at least to the attainment of that 
 increased supply of unskilled labour which was the para- 
 mount economic necessity of the moment. Before the war 
 was over the gravest abuses of the native legislation of the 
 late Republics had been removed by proclamations amend- 
 ing or repealing existing laws, and by the issue of regulations 
 where necessary. In this way, and at this early date, pro- 
 vision was made for protecting the native against robbery 
 and oppression at the hands of the labour agents ; for the 
 suppression of the illicit liquor traffic, which was the most 
 fertile source of incapacity and insubordination ; for so 
 modifying the administration of the pass system as to save 
 the educated native from unnecessary restrictions or 
 humiliation ; and for securing the native labourers, as a 
 whole, from excessive punishment for venial offences. 
 
 Moreover, as early as May 1902, Dr C. L. Sansom (after- 
 wards head of the Medical Inspectors of the Native Affairs 
 Department) was appointed by Lord Milner to enquire into 
 the food, housing, and medical treatment provided for the 
 native labourers on the mines ; and measures for the removal 
 of the grave defects and abuses revealed in his report were 
 taken by the Native Affairs Department upon the inaugura- 
 tion of the Civil Administration in the following June. 
 When, however, it was found that the death rate among the 
 native labourers on the mines still remained abnormally 
 high, a committee of medical men was appointed by the 
 Department in February 1903, to consider what further and 
 more effective remedies could be devised for dealing with 
 this evil. As the result of the measures recommended by 
 this Committee an appreciable decrease in the death rate 
 was secured from the middle of the year 1903 onwards. The 
 reality of the progress in this respect may be seen from the 
 records of the Transvaal Native Affairs Department, which 
 show that, while the highest death rate per 1,000 native 
 
296 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 labourers for any single month was 112.5 in July 1903, it 
 had fallen to 47.1 in January 1906 (the last year of the 
 Crown Colony Administration), and to 36.23 in December 
 1910. 
 
 When, in spite of these efforts to remove abuses, the 
 Mozambique natives showed reluctance to engage for service 
 in the Transvaal, Lord Milner, as we have seen on the 
 occasion of his visit to Delagoa Bay in August 1902, made 
 personal representations to the Governor-General on the 
 subject. Nor did he allow the matter to rest here. When 
 three months later (20th to 22nd November), the Governor- 
 General paid a return visit to Johannesburg, Lord Milner 
 arranged that this high official, as the head of the Portuguese 
 East Coast Territories which in normal years supplied the 
 Transvaal mines with three-fourths or more of their African 
 labour, should himself visit the compounds, and thus assure 
 himself by personal observation of the satisfactory character 
 of the housing accommodation and other arrangements pro- 
 vided for the Mozambique natives. 
 
 It must be remembered that the well-being of the 
 Portuguese natives, and the interests of the Mozambique 
 Government, were safe-guarded under the Modus Vivendi 
 by the permanent residence in Johannesburg of a Portuguese 
 official appointed for the purpose. But, apart from this, 
 these natives in common with the whole of the African 
 labour employed on the mines were placed, on the establish- 
 ment of the Civil Government, under the supervision of 
 the Transvaal Native Affairs Department ; and it was the 
 special business of the sanitary and other inspectors of the 
 Department to prevent, or correct, any injustice as between 
 natives and their employers, or any departure from the 
 standard of food and housing accommodation required by 
 the medical authority of the department. 
 
 The reality of the improved conditions thus secured for 
 the native labourer on the mines, may be seen from the state- 
 ment made by Sir George Farrar in December 1903, in the 
 course of the debate on the Chinese labour question in the 
 Legislative Council, which has been already cited. Whereas 
 before the war, Sir George then said, the African natives 
 cost 8s. lod. per head to feed for a month, the mines were 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 297 
 
 now spending 15s. on the same account. Nor was the 
 progress achieved in this respect in 1902 and 1903 arrested 
 by the importation of Chinese labour in 1904. On the 
 contrary, the President of the Chamber of Mines/ speaking 
 on 23rd February 1905 — i.e., some six weeks before Lord 
 Milner's administration of the new colonies came to its 
 close — was able to point to the continued improvement in 
 the conditions of the native African labourer as one of the 
 hopeful characteristics of the year 1904 — the year otherwise 
 marked by the impetus given to the gold industry by the 
 advent of unskilled labour from China. In reviewing the 
 progress of the industry in the year just past, he stated that 
 the death rate among the natives had been appreciably 
 decreased, the illicit liquor traffic still further restricted, 
 and the accommodation provided for them improved. 
 
 "We can certainly claim," he then added, "that the mine 
 compounds leave very little, if any, room for criticism. We 
 have conclusive evidence that the natives are better housed, 
 better clothed, and better fed than in their own homes and 
 habitations. The mine compounds are under the super- 
 vision of Government officials, and are, moreover, open to 
 inspection by any one desirous of seeing them. . . . There 
 has always been one policy, and that is to do everything 
 possible to meet the ever-growing demand for unskilled 
 labour by facilitating the employment of the natives of 
 South Africa." 
 
 The degree in which Lord Milner had used both his 
 personal influence and his official authority in bringing 
 about this improvement in the material comfort, and thereby 
 in the economic efficiency, of the native African labourer 
 — as also the practical character of the measures taken to 
 remove all obstacles likely to prevent an increase in the 
 supply of labour from this source — will appear from a letter 
 which he wrote to a correspondent on ist April 1903 — i.e., 
 shortly after the Inter-Colonial Conference had been held 
 at Bloemfontein. 
 
 In this letter Lord Milner agreed with his correspondent 
 (who was a man well versed in native affairs), in thinking 
 
 1 The late Mr Harold Strange. 
 
298 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 that better feeding and accommodation would assist in over- 
 coming the reluctance of the natives to seek employment, 
 and said that he would try to have the railway accom- 
 modation for natives improved. He then gave an account 
 of what was being done in these respects on the Rand. 
 
 " All the companies," he wrote, " are alive to better 
 accommodation. ... As we have now got an excellent 
 Government Health Inspector specially told off to look 
 after this matter, I hope in a little time to see a great 
 improvement. . . . More attention is being paid to the 
 preparation of the farinaceous food, on which as you say 
 the native principally lives, and of his occasional meat diet. 
 A number of companies have taken to growing vegetables 
 on their own property, entirely for the use of their native 
 employes. ... As regards drink, I believe that we are 
 slowly but surely strangling the illicit traffic. Kafir beer 
 has recently been allowed in limited quantities under proper 
 control. . . . There is improvement all round. And the 
 best symptom is that the mine-owners are grateful rather 
 than recalcitrant for the suggestions pressed upon them 
 by the Government through the Chief Native Commissioner, 
 his inspectors, and the medical officer. . . . The condition 
 of things is, in many respects, still very bad. But the 
 spirit of improvement, stimulated no doubt by self-interest, 
 is abroad everywhere." 
 
 The remainder of this letter is of the highest interest. 
 It contains Lord Milner's general view of the problem of 
 the labour supply in South Africa, and it fixes the date at 
 which, for the first time, he had been led to the conclusion 
 that the economic needs of the Transvaal could only be 
 satisfied by the importation of Asiatic labour. As such 
 it will form a point of departure from which we may pro- 
 ceed conveniently to a narrative of the actual circumstances 
 in which, all other sources having been tried without success, 
 recourse was had at length to the expedient of importing 
 Chinese coolies for work upon the mines. 
 
 After again agreeing with his correspondent that the 
 theory of "the idleness of the Kafir" was exaggerated, and 
 the number of the native population south of the Zambesi 
 had been over-estimated, Lord Milner stated none the less 
 his dissent from the view that better treatment alone would 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 299 
 
 cause the natives to supply the labour needs of South Africa. 
 He then wrote : — 
 
 " The ultimate solution, I quite agree with you, is in the 
 increase of the white population, and in getting rid of the 
 idea, as with an increased white population we shall get 
 rid of it, that the white man cannot, or ought not to, work 
 with his hands in this country. But, in order to get that 
 white population at all, we must make things move in the 
 immediate future, and, certain as I am that African labour, 
 with every improvement we can make, will not be sufficient 
 to supply our wants in the early future, I think we must 
 call in the aid of the Asiatics. I look upon this as a 
 temporary expedient, but for the time being essential. I 
 totally disbelieve that with proper regulations it would be 
 impossible to insure the return of Indians or Chinese brought 
 into this country solely for unskilled labour to their original 
 homes. That is what these people themselves desire. They 
 want to go back to their own country with the money they 
 save here, which would carry them a very little way in 
 South Africa, but which would make them comparatively 
 rich men in their own country. . . . The Asiatics whom 
 we all dislike having here, and who get here in spite of us, 
 belong to a wholly diiTerent class. I do not believe that 
 the importation of indentured labourers for work on mines, 
 railways, and so forth, would in any way increase the 
 difficulty which we have to face in any case ... in the 
 constant influx of Asiatic traders." 
 
 We have now seen the nature of the efforts made by the 
 mining industry and the Government of the Transvaal both 
 to increase the supply of native African labour and to supple- 
 ment that supply by unskilled white labour. It was not 
 until these efforts were found to be producing results wholly 
 inadequate to meet the pressing needs of the moment that 
 the leaders of the gold industry at length proposed to do 
 what the wine-farmers of the Cape,^ and the sugar-planters 
 
 ^ Not only had the wine-farmers obtained a supply of Asiatic labour under the 
 regime of the Dutch East India Company, but the Cape farmers under responsible 
 Government had more than once proposed to introduce Chinese labour for agri- 
 culture and other industries. In 1874 a motion by Mr Ayliff in the House of 
 Assembly was agreed to without a division authorising the Goverment to ascertain 
 " the practicability and cost of the introduction of coolies from India and China." 
 In 1876 the Government was authorised by resolution of the same chamber to 
 " enter into a contract for the importation of Chinese coolies . . ." The Cape 
 
300 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 of Natal had done in the like circumstances — obtain an 
 additional labour supply from Asia. But there was a difference 
 between the action of the Transvaal mine-owners and that 
 of their industrial predecessors, which was wholly to their 
 advantage. Whereas the Malays form a permanent addition 
 to the population of the Cape Peninsula, and a considerable 
 proportion of the Indian coolies had remained in Natal, it 
 was resolved from the very first that if Indian or Chinese 
 coolies should be brought to the Transvaal, they should be 
 subjected to such conditions of contract as would make it 
 impossible for them either to settle in the colony after the 
 period of their engagement had expired, or, during that 
 period, to enter into competition with white skilled labour 
 in any shape or form whatever. 
 
 The first practical step in the direction of obtaining 
 Chinese labour for the mines was taken by the leaders of the 
 industry in February 1903 — that is to say, when suflficient 
 time had elapsed to test the efiScacy of the efforts which 
 were being made both to increase the African supply and 
 to supplement it by white labour, and when it had become 
 apparent that the success of these efforts could no longer 
 be relied upon with any degree of certainty. This step was 
 the despatch of Mr Ross Skinner by the Witwatersrand 
 Native Labour Association to California and the Far East for 
 the purpose of enquiring into (i) the conditions under which 
 indentured Chinese labourers should be employed on the 
 mines of the Rand ; (2) the possibility of obtaining such 
 labour ; and (3) its suitability to supplement the inadequate 
 Kafir supply. 
 
 Mr Skinner received his instructions on 14th February, 
 and left Johannesburg for London on the 20th inst. From 
 London, reached on 14th March, he proceeded to California, 
 British Columbia, Japan, the Malay Peninsula, and China. 
 In his report,^ presented to the Association on 22nd 
 September 1903, he gave full information upon all practical 
 matters, such as the accommodation and food, the terms of 
 
 Labour Commissions of 1890 and 1893 both recommended the importation of East 
 Coast African Labour for the Cape, in view of the scarcity of such labour in the 
 colony, and there were agriculturalists at this time who favoured the importation 
 of Chinese coolies. 
 
 ' Published in Cd. 1895. 
 
THlp; LABOUR QUESTION 301 
 
 contract, and the social and physical characteristics of the 
 Chinese whom he had seen employed in North America and 
 the Malay States. And, on the basis of the evidence thus 
 collected, he stated as his general conclusion that the better 
 class of Chinese coolie would be suitable for employment 
 on the Rand, and that, provided the reports sent back to 
 China by the first Chinese labourers were favourable, a 
 sufficient supply of such labour could be obtained for the 
 present and immediate future requirements of the gold 
 industry. 
 
 While Mr Skinner was engaged upon this mission, the 
 Association, strengthened by the appointment of Mr F. 
 Perry,^ made renewed endeavours to obtain a supply of 
 African labour from countries as yet excluded from the area 
 of its recruiting operations. The countries in which negotia- 
 tions and enquiries were set on foot for this purpose during 
 the years 1902 and 1903 were the British West African 
 Colonies, British East Africa, including Uganda, German 
 East Africa, Portuguese West Africa, the Congo Free State, 
 Egypt, Madagascar, Somaliland and Abyssinia, Rhodesia, 
 German West Africa, and British Central Africa. With the 
 exception of the three last named, in all these countries 
 either permission to recruit was definitely refused, or it was 
 reported that the surplus labour, if existent, was unsuitable 
 on physical ^ or other grounds for work on the mines of the 
 Rand. The British Government refused to allow recruiting 
 in the West African colonies and in British East Africa, on 
 the ground that these colonies had not enough labour for 
 their own requirements, and in particular Mr Chamberlain 
 pointed out (under date 3rd April 1903) that the Government 
 had been compelled to import Indian coolies to construct the 
 Uganda railway. The Governments of German East Africa 
 and of Portuguese West Africa refused on the same ground, 
 while the Congo Free State and the French Congo notified 
 the British Consul, through whom the enquiries were made, 
 that the departure of natives was prohibited on account of the 
 " prevailing dearth of humanity " in their territories. Lord 
 
 ' As already noted, Mr Perry gave up the Imperial Secretaryship on 31st 
 January 1903, to become chairman of the W. N. L. A. 
 
 ' The native of the tropical areas could not sustain the cold of the Witwaters- 
 rand uplands in winter time. 
 
302 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Cromer based his refusal to allow the Association to recruit 
 from the fellaheen on the ground that labour was scarce in 
 Egypt, and " he had been obliged to import labour to com- 
 plete the building of the Soudanese railways." Madagascar 
 and Abyssinia required all the labour they could produce for 
 their own purposes, and the Somalis, even if procurable 
 — about which there was considerable doubt — were stated to 
 be " lazy, rebellious, and totally unfit for work on the Rand." 
 
 Rhodesia, owing to the industrial depression in which 
 Southern Rhodesia was plunged in 1904-5, did subsequently 
 furnish an appreciable contingent of African labourers for the 
 Transvaal mines ; but for the immediate present the sole 
 practical results obtained from this effort to secure fresh 
 supplies of labour from other parts of Africa was the per- 
 mission to recruit 1,000 natives in German West Africa, and 
 an experimental contingent of the same number from British 
 Central Africa. The utility of the labourers from this latter 
 source was greatly diminished, however, by their inability to 
 support the comparative rigour of the Witwatersrand winter 
 climate. At first the deaths from pneumonia were appallingly 
 frequent, and it was only by means of the most careful 
 medical supervision that it was found possible at length to 
 retain these Central Africans in the employment of the 
 Mining Companies. Even so, when every provision for their 
 health in the way of warm clothing, and suitable food and 
 accommodation had been made, the death-rate among this 
 class of labourers remained higher than that of the average 
 African natives, and considerably higher than that of the 
 Chinese coolies, employed on the mines. The supply from 
 German West Africa was as uncertain as the Rhodesian, 
 since in times of industrial prosperity this colony required 
 all its African labour for its own development. In point of 
 fact the Association was able in 1904 to distribute 2,362 
 labourers from Rhodesia, having obtained none in the 
 previous year, while it secured 1,190 natives from British 
 Central Africa, as against 941 in 1903, and 298 from German 
 South West Africa, as against 620 in 1903.1 
 
 The active agitation for and against Chinese labour, 
 
 ' Evidence for the above statements will be found in Cd. 1894 (Transvaal 
 Labour Commission), and in the Report of W, N. L. A. for the year 1904. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 303 
 
 which was carried on in the Transvaal from the date of the 
 Bloemfontein Conference (lOth to 23rd March 1903) until 
 the approval of the principle of Asiatic imported labour by 
 the Transvaal Legislative Council (30th December 1903), may- 
 be said to have commenced with the speech delivered on 
 31st March by Sir George Farrar, President of the Chamber 
 of Mines, to the European employees of the East Rand 
 Proprietary Mines at Driefontein. In this, the first public 
 advocacy of the proposal from any responsible quarter, the 
 speaker began his address by giving an account of the 
 work which he and the other Transvaal representatives had 
 accomplished at the Conference. They had insisted on "a 
 substantial reduction in the price of food stuffs, in order that 
 the working men might be enabled to live far cheaper than 
 at present." This had been accomplished by lowering the 
 railway rates, and reducing the duties levied by the common 
 tariff of the Customs Union on food and other necessaries, 
 such as building materials, which directly affected the cost 
 of living for the great mass of the industrial population of 
 the Rand. In fact, he said, " our main effort at Bloemfontein 
 was directed towards alleviating the position of our working 
 classes here." Sir George then passed on to the question 
 of the shortage of native labour, and stated the results of the 
 deliberations of the Conference on this subject. It had found 
 that the labour supply in South Africa was not sufficient for 
 the normal or future requirements of the British colonies, and 
 it had, therefore, affirmed the legitimacy of importing Asiatic 
 labour " under a system of Government control," but only if the 
 " industrial development " of any colony " positively required 
 it." In the case of the gold industry the economic necessity 
 was unquestionable. The efforts made by the Witwatersrand 
 Native Labour Association to obtain a sufficient supply of 
 African labour had been unsuccessful. One source of un- 
 skilled labour, other than Asiatic, remained open to the 
 industry, but that the mine-owners had rejected. If 
 
 " unskilled white labour were to be largely used," Sir George 
 Farrar said, " it means that the price of your unskilled white 
 labour is regulated by the price of your unskilled coloured 
 labour ; therefore it means that we should have to find the 
 cheapest class of unskilled white labour that would be 
 
304 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 prepared to compete. That means subsidising labour, in 
 other words bringing it into this country from all the sources 
 of Europe." 
 
 To the introduction of cheap white unskilled labour from 
 Northern, Eastern, and Southern Europe, there were two 
 conclusive objections in the minds of the leaders of the 
 gold industry. It would have lowered the standard of the 
 European community as a whole, and thereby have caused 
 grave political and social dangers to a country where the 
 black population was four or five times as numerous as the 
 whites ; and it would have displaced the (mainly British) 
 skilled European workmen, " many of whom were here before 
 the war, and bore the brunt of the very anxious times that " 
 they and the mine-owners had gone through ; since such 
 unskilled labour would very soon have become skilled labour, 
 and competed against the existing white employees of 
 this class.^ Sir George Farrar then gave the reasons why he 
 was personally convinced that the only suitable and adequate 
 supply of unskilled labour was that which could be obtained 
 from China, and explained the legal provisions by means of 
 which it would be made impossible for the Chinese coolies, 
 if they came to the Rand, to compete with white skilled 
 labour, or to settle in the Transvaal after the period of their 
 contracts had expired. 
 
 " This question," he said in conclusion, " will not be 
 decided in a day, but it will be discussed up and down the 
 
 ' Sir George Farrar fought through the war with distinction, obtaining the 
 D.S.O. As a matter of fact Italians were employed on a small scale on two 
 occasions, by Mr Creswell in 1902, and again in November 1903. In both cases 
 the experiment resulted in a strike on the part of the skilled British miners. Of 
 the opportunities of obtaining cheap European labour. Sir Lionel Phillips 
 writes: "... The employers might, when the hubbub about the importation 
 of Asiatics was at its highest, have secured a. number of men from Scandinavia, 
 Italy, Portugal, and other countries in Europe, who would have been ready to 
 engage under contracts at wages only slightly, if at all, in excess of those paid to 
 Chinamen. From them there could have been gradually drawn, no doubt, men 
 who would have displaced the highly paid skilled men of to-day, with the 
 possible result that the final working costs would have been lower than they are 
 under the present system. Large numbers of Europeans were offered to them 
 under contract at incredibly low rates of pay, and the only reason that they 
 steadfastly refrained from making an experiment in that direction was that they 
 desired to see the Transvaal developed upon lines which they considered consistent 
 with the true prosperity of the country, in accordance with which the white 
 and black men respectively are kept in their proper spheres." — "Transvaal 
 Problems," 1905. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 305 
 
 reef for many months to come, but I should like before 
 closing to say to you that I always consider that my first 
 duty is to my own men, and to the residents of this district 
 who are so closely interested with us." ^ 
 
 On the following evening (ist April) a mass meeting, 
 organised by the Central Branch of the White Labour League, 
 was held at the Wanderers' Club, Johannesburg, to protest 
 against the proposal now openly advocated by Sir George 
 Farrar. At this meeting only two persons, out of an 
 estimated attendance of 5,000, were bold enough to give 
 a vote in favour of the proposed measure. The grounds 
 upon which the importation of Asiatic labour was condemned 
 in the impassioned speeches then delivered resolved them- 
 selves into three main objections : (i) it was unnecessary, 
 since African labour could be obtained from countries north 
 of the Zambesi, if not from South Africa itself; (2) the 
 Chinese would displace European skilled labour and settle 
 in the country permanently ; and (3) they would be an 
 undesirable and an unprofitable population. 
 
 (i) "North of the Zambesi and south of the equator," 
 said Mr Advocate Hutchinson, "... there are probably 
 100,000,000 negroes and Kaffirs available for recruiting 
 among." 
 
 And again : 
 
 " The payment of Chinese . . . including travelling 
 expenses, policing, etc., . . . will not exceed 25s. per month, 
 as against 45s. to the Kaffir. This is the inducement . . ." 
 
 In short, according to this speaker the shortage of African 
 labour was to be attributed solely to the reduction of native 
 wages in force on the mines up to the end of 1902 ; and the 
 mine-owners, finding that they could not maintain this 
 reduction, now desired to introduce Chinese labour, not 
 because they were unable to increase the supply of African 
 labour, but because Chinese labour would be cheaper than 
 African labour. 
 
 (2) The second ground of objection was one which lay at 
 the root of nine-tenths of the agitation against the measure, 
 
 • Cd. i895. 
 VOL. I. U 
 
306 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 whether in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, or in 
 the United Kingdom. 
 
 " When once we get the Chinamen in," said Mr Quinn.^ 
 '' no amount of contract can get them out again. . . . For 
 my own part, ... I would a thousand times rather walk out 
 of the country for ever, than see one Chinaman brought in." 
 
 And Mr Hutchinson : 
 
 " I make bold to say that, at the end of the first twelve 
 months, there will not be a white man working underground, 
 unless it is a few shift bosses, and not many overground 
 either. It is absurd to say the Chinese will only be employed 
 in unskilled labour. Once they are imported, they will be 
 employed in skilled labour, if they become proficient. . . . 
 The sealed compounds will become China towns, and the 
 Chinese will be living better than the white people. . . . 
 We shall have 300,000 Chinese, as many as the whole 
 white population put together. . . . Sir George, you will 
 remember, has a long list of callings or occupations, 
 some 39 in number, in which he says it will be penal to 
 employ these unskilled Asiatics. The list begins with 
 carpenters and ends with holders of explosive certificates. 
 Sir George Farrar makes a great point that the introduction 
 of Asiatics should be accompanied by such prohibitions as 
 these ... it is simply absurd to suppose that we are going 
 to have Asiatics in this country, and be able to prevent them 
 from following any trade." 
 
 (3) The anti-social qualities of the Chinese as a race 
 figured largely in the agitation carried on against the 
 measure before the Chinese coolies were introduced. In 
 the subsequent agitation for the removal of the Chinese 
 from the Rand, conducted in England in 1905-6, the alleged 
 immorality of the whole transaction provided the rhetorical 
 embellishments which enabled the political opponents of 
 the Unionist Government to gain the ear of influential 
 sections of the British public, who would otherwise have 
 paid scant attention to their arguments ; and the supposed 
 
 ' Mr J. W. Quinn, baker and provision merchant, afterwards served on the 
 Transvaal Labour Commission, and with Mr Percy Whiteside signed the Jlinority 
 Report. When the Chinese coolies were at work on the mines Mr Quinn 
 changed his opinion and made a handsome acknowledgment of his error. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 307 
 
 degradation of the Chinese was execrated as the result of 
 the conditions of employment permitted by the Unionist 
 Government, rather than as an originating source of moral 
 contamination. At this early stage, and on the Rand 
 itself, it was their good qualities, and not their bad ones, 
 that were feared. It was the material, and not the moral, 
 injury which the Chinese would do to the European com- 
 munity — still less the moral injury which the Chinese them- 
 selves would suffer at the hands of their employers — that 
 occupied the minds of the opponents of Asiatic labour. 
 
 " Centuries of recession [? retrogression] has debased 
 them, has made them servile and cruel," said Mr Hutchinson. 
 " The constant and ever-increasing pressure of population, 
 has cheapened their life, so that the Chinaman can be 
 backed to overreach and undersell any other person brought 
 into contact with him. They are industrious, they are 
 frugal to a proverb, they are diligent, and it may be said, 
 ' Why, then, object to them coming here ? ' It is because 
 they are on a different footing to us. . . . They will be 
 in sealed compounds at the several mines, and will be of 
 no use whatever to the traders of the town. Their miserable 
 food and clothing will be indented for from a distance, and 
 not one article will be obtained in the city." 
 
 And Mr Quinn was equally emphatic : 
 
 " The Chinaman will spend nothing here," he said ; 
 "he will actually deny the earth the benefit of his mortal 
 remains." 
 
 The expressions ^ thus used at the Wanderers' Hall 
 meeting have been given for two reasons. In the first 
 place, having once stated the arguments of the White 
 Labour League with some precision, it will be unnecessary 
 to repeat them in relating the later action of the Transvaal 
 opponents of Chinese labour ; and in the second, a definite 
 knowledge of the nature of the original objections urged 
 by the local opponents of the measure (who were the parties 
 directly concerned in the matter) will enable us to realise 
 how materially these objections differed from the fictions 
 
 ' The speeches are given in full in Cd. 1895. 
 
308 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 by which the subsequent agitation in England for the 
 removal of the Chinese was chiefly sustained. 
 
 As regards the arguments themselves, where conclusive 
 answers to them are not to be found in the information 
 already laid before the reader, they may be sought in 
 the terms of the Asiatic Labour Importation Ordinance, 
 in the actual working of the provisions of the Ordinance, 
 and generally in the results produced upon the gold 
 industry and the colony at large by the supplementary 
 supply of labour thus obtained — all of which are matters 
 which will be dealt with in the subsequent course of the 
 narrative. But apart from this appeal to the logic of 
 facts, we shall have occa'sion to notice certain specific 
 replies, which were given by Lord Milner to some of these 
 objections, as we follow the further phases of the great 
 controversy, the issues of which were now fairly joined. 
 
 On 2nd June, a deputation from the White Labour 
 League laid their case before Lord Milner. The arguments 
 employed against Chinese labour were in substance a 
 repetition of those put forward by the speakers at the 
 Wanderers' Hall meeting; they were, however, expressed 
 with greater restraint, and showed a greater regard 
 for the actual facts of the economic situation. Even so 
 the High Commissioner had occasion to correct more 
 than one gross misrepresentation of ascertainable facts, and 
 many wholly unwarranted assumptions in respect of the 
 objects and motives of the advocates of the proposed measure. 
 As regards his own attitude on the question, he told the 
 deputation that he awaited the verdict of the great central 
 body of the community, and this verdict would 
 
 " ultimately be determined by its judgment on a question 
 of fact. That question," he continued, "is whether the 
 development, which this country so sorely needs, and upon 
 which the increase of its white population depends, can 
 be proceeded with — I do not say at full speed — but at 
 anything like a reasonable pace without the assistance of in- 
 dentured Asiatic labour. Should that question be answered 
 in the negative, I think public opinion would end by favour- 
 ing the importation of such labour, if we could get it" 
 
 In answer to the question, " Why should we not go on 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 309 
 
 as we are ? " Lord Milner replied that the small and gradual 
 increase of native African labour only obtained " by a great 
 rise in wages, by greatly increased expenditure in every 
 direction, and by immense and ubiquitous activity in recruit- 
 ing," would, at its present rate of progression, take many 
 years to make this labour supply sufficient for the " actual 
 present requirements" of the colony, "to say nothing of 
 the question of entirely new enterprises, of which there 
 would, if labour could be found for them, undoubtedly be 
 many." It was the immediate expansion of the gold 
 industry that was all-important. What was wanted was 
 a labour supply — and the revenues which it would create 
 — not five years hence, but at the present moment. 
 
 " When I talk of development," he said, " I am not 
 thinking of anything distant and speculative. I am thinking 
 only of those immediate and urgent wants, without the 
 satisfaction of which the Transvaal for years to come may 
 just sit and look at its vast potential wealth. I am weary 
 of reiterating that this country wants almost everything in 
 the way of material equipment that a civilised country ought 
 to have. Johannesburg alone, though it is far better off in 
 this respect than any other place, wants immediately a large 
 amount of labour for tramways, for drainage, for public build- 
 ings. Every other centre of population is in a much worse 
 plight. The other growing towns along the Rand and the 
 country towns have, for the most part, not even a proper water 
 supply, and they have nothing else. Town and country alike 
 want railways, and the districts which cannot have railways 
 must at least have decent roads. How are we going to get 
 all this work done with anything like reasonable expedition. 
 We are already threatened with a dead lock over the very first 
 item of our programme — I mean railways. We have to face 
 the fact that we must either compete against the mines 
 or other nascent industries for native labour, or bring in 
 other forms of labour, or abandon or modify our railway 
 programme. . . ."^ 
 
 As regards the fear that white labour would be displaced 
 by Asiatic labour, he said : — 
 
 " Of all the extraordinary things about this muddled 
 
 1 This necessity for the immediate revenual resources which the gold 
 industry could alone provide was subsequently stated more definitely by Lord 
 Milner in the doctrine of the "over-spill." See forward p. 321. 
 
310 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 controversy the strangest is that white labour and Asiatic 
 labour should be regarded as mutually exclusive. The 
 strongest argument, it seems to me, in favour of unskilled 
 Asiatic labour is that it will open up a field for the employ- 
 ment of a vastly increased number of whites, and of well- 
 paid whites. From that point of view it appears to me 
 that the regulated use of Asiatic labour should not only 
 not encounter hostility, but obtain the enthusiastic support 
 of the White League. I for one do not desire that the 
 wages of the white man — the real wages, I mean — should 
 be lower than they are to-day. Our welfare depends upon 
 increasing the quantity of our white population, but not at 
 the expense of its quality. We do not want a white pro- 
 letariat in this country. The position of the whites among 
 the vastly more numerous black population requires that 
 even their lowest ranks should be able to maintain a standard 
 of living far above that of the poorest section of the popula- 
 tion of a purely white country. ..." 
 
 Of the sources of labour supply other than the, as yet 
 untried, Asiatic sources, Lord Milner said : — 
 
 " Is Central Africa going to help us out of our difficulty ? 
 All I can say is that so far, though tapping at every door, we 
 have met with little but discouragement. With the single 
 exception of British Central Africa, from which we may in 
 a year or so get an appreciable though not large number 
 of labourers, there are so far nothing but vague hopes, which 
 dissolve as you try to grasp them. . . . We have approached 
 the Government of India to find out whether they would 
 be willing to let us have a certain number of Indian labourers 
 with the understanding that they should be repatriated at the 
 end of their time of indenture, so that we might make at least 
 one of the new [railway] lines exclusively with Indian 
 labour. The Government of India is not very responsive, 
 owing to our general attitude to its subjects, and the British 
 Government not only sympathises in that respect with the 
 Indian Government, but is doubtful whether, in view of 
 public opinion here on this question, the Legislatures of the 
 new colonies would approve of such a proposal. My own 
 feeling is that it is always better to assume that one's fellow 
 creatures will be rational until they have proved positively 
 that they are not. And the proposal to get a work of urgent 
 public importance done by workmen from abroad, who will 
 neither interfere with any of us while they are here, nor 
 remain to compete with us when they are no longer wanted. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 311 
 
 rather than to leave that work undone, seems to me such 
 absolute common sense that I for one should be surprised if 
 it met with opposition even from those who, in a general 
 way, are averse to Asiatic labour." ^ 
 
 Not quite a fortnight later (13th June) another deputa- 
 tion came to the High Commissioner. Its purpose was to 
 ask for the appointment of a commission to enquire what 
 amount of labour was necessary for the industrial require- 
 ments of the Transvaal, and how far it was possible to obtain 
 such labour from Central and Southern Africa. The request 
 was granted, and the Transvaal Labour Commission, duly 
 constituted by loth July, reported, with the conclusions 
 already set before the reader, to Sir Arthur Lawley^ on 
 19th November. In'the meantime— z'.e., early in August — an 
 organisation, named the Labour Importation Association, 
 was formed for the purpose of spreading correct information 
 on the labour question, and generally of combating the 
 arguments and efforts of the White Labour League. Under 
 the auspices of this Association, a number of meetings, 
 at which resolutions approving of the proposed introduc- 
 tion of Asiatic labour were passed, were held from this 
 time forward to the end of the year both up and down the 
 Rand district and in other places — Heidelberg, Klerksdorp, 
 Potchefstroom, and Standerton — in the Transvaal. On 14th 
 August a deputation representing the Chamber of Mines, 
 the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Trade, and the 
 Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, went to Sir Arthur 
 Lawley with a request which serves to indicate the increasing 
 strain thrown upon the industrial system of the colony by the 
 shortage of labour. These leaders of the industries and 
 commerce of the Rand asked for nothing less than that 
 
 "all new construction of railways in the Transvaal and 
 Orange River Colony should be postponed for the present, 
 as the drain on the native labour involved therein would 
 be against the interests of the entire community at the 
 present time." 
 
 1 See Cd. 1683, and p. 324. 
 
 ^ Lord Milner was away on leave from 5th August to 19th December in this 
 year (1903). The Reports of the Commission, and the evidence taken, were 
 presented to Parliament in January 1904 in Cd. 1894. 
 
312 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Six weeks later (29th September) Sir Arthur agreed " with 
 great reluctance " that new construction works upon all but 
 "open" lines should be postponed for the present. At the 
 same time the Transvaal Government endeavoured to reduce 
 its demands upon the native African labour supply in other 
 respects. 
 
 " I feel," he wrote, " that by postponing the undertaking 
 of new construction, by reducing the number of ' boys ' upon 
 the roads, and in the Repatriation Department, and by 
 utilising prison labour on 'open' lines, the Government is 
 doing its utmost to assist the various industries of the 
 country, as far as it legitimately can, bearing in mind the 
 urgent demand which exists for the early improvement of 
 railway facilities." ^ 
 
 A week before the sanction of the Government was thus 
 obtained to the temporary withdrawal of African labour from 
 the railways and other State undertakings in favour of the 
 mines, Mr Ross Skinner's Report, showing that an adequate 
 supply of unskilled labour could be obtained from China, was 
 presented to the Chamber of Mines. On 3rd October a meeting 
 constituted of over 300 representatives of 14 scientific and 
 technical societies was held at the Wanderers' Hall, Johannes- 
 burg, at which a resolution in favour of Chinese labour was 
 carried with only six dissentients. On i8th November a 
 draft of the Asiatic Labour Importation Ordinance, prepared 
 by the Attorney-General, Sir Richard Soloman, was forwarded 
 to England for the consideration of the Home Government ; 
 and a week later it was followed by the text of the Labour 
 Commission's Report, the findings of which, however, had 
 been cabled to the Colonial Secretary on the 19th inst, the 
 day on which it reached Sir Arthur Lawley. On 21st 
 November the failure of the British navvies employed on 
 railway construction was reported by cable to Lord Milner, 
 and his permission to terminate their contract, in the cir- 
 cumstances already noticed, was asked and subsequently 
 obtained. 
 
 On 2nd December, the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines 
 formally, and by a unanimous vote, approved of the proposal 
 
 1 Cd. 1895. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 313 
 
 to introduce Chinese labour. Two days later the Chamber of 
 Trade recorded its approval of the measure without any 
 dissentient voice ; and on the 15th the Chamber of Commerce 
 rescinded its former adverse resolution by a large majority. 
 On the same evening a mass meeting, convened by the 
 African Labour League to protest against the proposed 
 employment of Chinese coolies in the mines, was held in the 
 Wanderers' Skating Rink. This meeting — or rather group 
 of meetings — afforded remarkable evidence of the degree 
 in which public opinion had changed on this question since 
 the meeting of ist April was held in the same place. The 
 purpose of the meeting was " to urge the Government to hold 
 a Referendum on the question of the importation of Asiatics '' ; 
 but while a resolution to this effect was declared to have 
 been carried, the speakers who supported it had the greatest 
 difficulty in obtaining a hearing. At the same time, a still 
 more numerously attended meeting^ was held in the open air, 
 at which a resolution calling upon the Government to publish 
 "as soon as possible" a draft Ordinance, providing for the 
 importation of Asiatic unskilled labourers, was declared to be 
 carried by a large majority. And at a third meeting, con- 
 sisting of persons who had left the Skating Rink, a resolution 
 in favour of Chinese labour was carried unanimously. 
 
 In the meantime Sir Arthur Lawley had cabled (6th 
 December) to the Colonial Secretary to ask him for in- 
 structions regarding the first instalment of the war con- 
 tribution loan. As arranged by Mr Chamberlain, payment 
 of this ;^io,ooo,ooo was due on 15th January 1904; but, 
 in view of the financial position both in the Transvaal and in 
 England, the question of postponement had been brought 
 before the Home Government, and the matter was allowed to 
 remain in abeyance for the present. And finally a motion 
 affirming the principle of the Asiatic Labour Importation 
 Ordinance was proposed by Sir George Farrar in the 
 Legislative Council. It was debated during almost con- 
 tinuous sittings on the three days, 28th to 30th December ; 
 and on this last day was carried by a majority of 18; the 
 votes being ayes, 22 ; noes, 4. 
 
 * The attendance at the inside meeting was estimated to be between 5,000 and 
 6,000; that at the open air meeting at 7,000. Cd. 1895. 
 
314 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Lord Milner's^ analysis of the division lists and his 
 comments thereon were telegraphed four days later to the 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 " The unofficial members of the Legislative Council are 
 really representative men, who have from the first shown 
 themselves independent of the Government, while sensative 
 to public opinion. Of these non - official members, 14 in 
 number, 9 voted for the motion, while 4 voted against it, 
 and I did not vote. Of the 9 supporters, 4 were Boer 
 members, who all spoke as well as voted for the motion. 
 The fifth Boer member took no part. Of the other 5 non- 
 official supporters of the motion, 2 are mining men, 2 are 
 leading men of business, and i is a British farmer who has 
 lived in the country for years and possesses in an exceptional 
 degree the confidence of both Dutch and British. Four of 
 the 9 supporters are from Johannesburg, and the other 5 are 
 from the districts of Heidelberg, Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, 
 Carolina, and Zeerust — that is, from the most diverse parts 
 of the Transvaal. The minority was composed of 2 members 
 from Pretoria and 2 from Johannesburg, all of British race. 
 
 " One of the latter is a leading member of the Trade 
 Council, and his vote, no doubt, reflects the feeling of a 
 section of the working class, though not, I think, of the 
 majority. On the contrary, there is every indication that 
 the white miners are now preponderantly in favour of Asiatic 
 labour, while the rest of the artisan class is divided. It is 
 a strong minority of the working class generally, with a 
 number of small traders and a few score of professional and 
 commercial men, who at present constitute the active 
 opposition amongst the public. But they are dwindling 
 in numbers, and show nothing like their former keenness. 
 
 " With regard to the Boer members of the Council it may, 
 of course, be said that they only represent a section, as the 
 most prominent of the Boers who fought to the end did not 
 accept seats on the Council. But on the present question 
 Boer opinion is not divided on at all the same lines as it 
 was on the political question. The one Boer member of 
 Council who belongs to the 'late surrender' class — and he 
 is very typical of his fellows — supported the motion quite 
 as strongly and on the same grounds as his colleagues who 
 surrendered at an earlier stage of the war. 
 
 " All the official members supported the motion, it being 
 
 ' He had returned to Johannesburg on the 19th December. The telegram is 
 given in Cd. 1895. Mr Alfred Lyttelton was then Colonial Secretary. 
 
THE LABOUR QUESTION 315 
 
 distinctly understood tliat they were absolutely free to vote 
 according to their individual convictions. An attempt was 
 made beforehand to discount them as being out of touch 
 with local feeling and lacking in experience of the country. 
 As a matter of fact two of them are born South Africans, 
 four others are permanent residents in the country, and the 
 average residence of those not born in the country is seven 
 years." 
 
 This vote marked the conversion of the industrial popula- 
 tion of the Transvaal to the unwelcome expedient of Chinese 
 labour. An appeal to the white inhabitants of the colony 
 as a whole produced a scarcely less decisive result. A 
 petition in favour of the importation, circulated in the 
 months of November and December was signed by 45,000, 
 out of the total of 90,000, adult white males ; while the 
 attempt to secure a counter-petition was abandoned. As 
 the Boers generally were neutral, and 15,000 Government 
 employees, included in the above total, were excluded from 
 the canvass, it may be concluded fairly that the number of 
 adult whites still opposed to the Ordinance was very small. 
 The resolutions in favour of the importation subsequently 
 passed by public bodies aiiforded further, and in some 
 respects even more emphatic, evidence of the same fact ; 
 but these subsequent expressions of opinion had a different 
 object. They were designed to assure the people and 
 Government of the United Kingdom, and the various over- 
 sea British communities, and not the Transvaal Administra- 
 tion, that the supply of unskilled labour from China was 
 now recognised by the great majority of the people of the 
 colony, both Dutch and British, as an economic necessity. 
 The request for the postponement of the war contribution 
 loan was evidence that the commercial and industrial 
 depression created mainly, though not exclusively, by the 
 shortage of unskilled labour was exercising a direct and 
 disastrous effect upon the revenues of the Transvaal. It was 
 also rapidly reducing the white population of the colony. 
 It was known at the time that an appreciable exodus of 
 British from the Rand was taking place. But the full extent 
 of the loss was not revealed until the South African census 
 was held in the following April. The returns then obtained 
 
316 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 showed that the departures, due to the stagnation of the gold 
 industry in the preceding six months, had cancelled the 
 gain of population, estimated at 30,000, aiiforded by the 
 white immigrants who had entered the Transvaal in the 
 months immediately following the declaration of peace. 
 But the further discussion of this aspect of the situation, as 
 it had developed by the end of the year (1903), and the 
 consideration of the actual financial difficulties by which the 
 administration of the new colonies was confronted in the 
 opening months of 1904, must be postponed for the moment, 
 since they are more directly connected with the events of 
 the last stage of the struggle for industrial salvation. In this 
 final stage the legislative, administrative and diplomatic 
 arrangements necessary to legalise the importation had to 
 be carried through by the Transvaal and Imperial Govern- 
 ments acting in conjunction ; and then, when this laborious 
 process was accomplished, it was at length open to the 
 leaders of the mining industry to put into operation the 
 machinery of recruitment and transport, which in the mean- 
 time they had diligently brought to completion. Thus it 
 was not until six more anxious months had passed that 
 the first shipload of Chinese coolies reached the Rand. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 LORD MILNER AND CHINESE LABOUR 
 
 The introduction of Chinese coolies to work on the mines 
 of the Rand is the cardinal act of Lord Milner's reconstruc- 
 tion of the new colonies. Around it there has gathered a 
 mass of conflicting opinions — favourable, unfavourable, and 
 doubtful. What, however, will not be called in question, is 
 the statement that no one but Lord Milner could have 
 induced Mr Balfour's Ministry to sanction a proposal which 
 evoked so fierce a storm of opposition as did this measure — 
 an opposition not confined to South Africa, but manifested 
 even more generally in the United Kingdom and in Australia 
 and New Zealand. To him, therefore, belongs the praise or 
 blame attached to a measure regarded on the one hand as 
 an act ill-judged to the verge of political immorality, and 
 on the other as the crowning instance of that determina- 
 tion to do the right at all costs, which has made his states- 
 manship a vital force in the development of the British 
 Empire. But whether he be regarded as the evil genius 
 of the mine-owners, or as their dupe, or simply as a dis- 
 interested and far - sighted administrator, every one will 
 desire to know what Lord Milner actually thought and did 
 at this critical period of his administration. It is, therefore, 
 of no ordinary interest to follow the working of his mind 
 upon the labour question, and to trace the degree and 
 character of the influence exercised by him upon the progress 
 and final shaping of the events which enabled the gold 
 industry and thereby the new colonies, and in a lesser 
 degree South Africa as a whole, to emerge successfully 
 from a situation of unprecedented economic difficulty. 
 
 317 
 
318 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 There is another reason for returning to Lord Milner 
 at this point. In the desire to present a connected account 
 of the circumstances in which the importation of the Chinese 
 coolies came to be regarded as necessary by the industrial 
 population of the Transvaal, his name has been allowed to 
 drop out of the later narrative. The explanation lies in the 
 fact that he left the Transvaal on leave of absence on 5th 
 August, and returned to Johannesburg on 19th December. 
 In the course of these months there occurred an event of 
 cardinal importance. In September Mr Chamberlain left 
 Mr Balfour's Ministry on the issue of Tariff Reform, and 
 the office of Secretary for the Colonies was offered to Lord 
 Milner, who was at the time (20th September) taking the 
 baths at Karlsbad. The circumstances in which this offer was 
 made, and the considerations which led him to decline it, 
 will be referred to subsequently ; for the moment it is 
 sufficient to note that when Lord Milner's decision was 
 found to be irrevocable, the Colonial Secretaryship was 
 offered to Mr Alfred Lyttelton, and accepted by him early 
 in October. In the middle of the same month Lord Milner 
 returned to England after only six weeks of broken holiday 
 on the Continent, and the scene of his subsequent action in 
 support of the importation was, therefore, London and not 
 Johannesburg. 
 
 The shortage of African labour was one of the urgent 
 questions set down in the memorandum from Lord Milner 
 which met Mr Chamberlain upon his arrival in South Africa. 
 At that time it had come already to be regarded as a serious 
 menace to the prosperity of the Transvaal ; and the remarks 
 which Mr Chamberlain made on this subject at the 
 Johannesburg banquet (17th January 1903) may be taken 
 to represent not only the fruits of his own study of the local 
 conditions, but the joint conclusions formed by himself and 
 Lord Milner in conference. On this occasion, then, Mr 
 Chamberlain first denied with emphasis the rumour, current 
 in London, that there had been a " bargain " between himself 
 and the mining industry — he, on behalf of the Imperial 
 Government, consenting to the introduction of Chinese labour, 
 and the representatives of the industry on their part agreeing 
 to pay the war contribution. He next discussed at some 
 
LORD MILNER AND CHINESE LABOUR 319 
 
 length both the problem itself and the methods of solution 
 suggested : the possibility of stimulating the natives to offer 
 their services by economic pressure ; the recruitment of labour 
 in Central Africa; and the employment of white men as 
 manual labourers. After thus reviewing the situation, he 
 advised his audience 
 
 " to bring to bear all their intelligence to obtain a solution of 
 the problem, by developing the present supply of African 
 labour, and increasing the efficiency of the white labour 
 employed." He continued, " And, gentlemen, it is not until 
 you have exhausted these solutions, which are the nearest to 
 you, that it would be reasonable that you should turn to that 
 other more drastic remedy of introducing Asiatic labour." 
 
 And from these words he proceeded to set out the difficulties 
 which the adoption of this remedy would entail. The over- 
 whelming popular opinion of the Transvaal was opposed to 
 the importation of Chinese. The other great colonies and 
 the Mother Country would regard it as a retrograde and 
 dangerous step. And even when this mass of adverse opinion 
 had been converted, there would still remain " serious practical 
 difficulties in the way of obtaining a trustworthy supply of 
 labour from the sources which had been suggested." On 
 the other hand, Mr Chamberlain was no less emphatic in 
 declaring that if the majority of the people of the Transvaal 
 did desire Chinese labour, the Imperial Government would 
 respect their decision. A Royal Commission on the labour 
 question, appointed by the Imperial Government, would 
 be able to make a complete enquiry, and its verdict would 
 carry great weight ; but the drawback to this proposal was 
 the " mischievous " delay which it would entail. 
 
 " But, gentlemen," he concluded, " make no mistake. The 
 conditions of this colony are altogether exceptional ; they are 
 recognised by the Imperial Government, and it is our duty 
 and our desire that in every act of legislation we shall follow 
 the trend of that underlying public opinion, which should 
 govern the actions of a self-governing colony." 
 
 These, then, it may be assumed, were the views on the 
 question of Chinese labour which Lord Milner held at the 
 beginning of the year 1903. For the supreme economic 
 
320 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 importance which the importation subsequently acquired in 
 his mind, we must look forward to a passage in the address 
 which he delivered at the opening of the extraordinary session 
 of the Inter-Colonial Council in March 1904. In it he states 
 what may be called the doctrine of the " over-spill " ; and 
 under this figure he exhibits the supplementary supply of 
 manual labour from China as being not only a necessity to 
 the gold industry, but an indispensable factor in that recon- 
 struction of the new colonies upon a higher plane of civilisa- 
 tion, which was the immediate task of British statesmanship 
 in South Africa. The passage begins with a reference to the 
 heavy fall in the railway revenue — a fall directly caused by 
 the stagnation of the gold industry and the consequent 
 industrial depression of the Rand. 
 
 " My point is that, even in these bad times, there is still a 
 big traffic, and a big industry attracting that traffic, and that 
 it is not absolute destitution which is the matter with us or 
 which is the cause of our present gloom. It is the paralysis of 
 the progress which ails us, a paralysis all the more galling to 
 a community which has always been used, and having regard 
 to its resources, and, in all but one respect, its capacities, is 
 fully entitled to expect, to be ever moving forward. The way 
 in which that paralysis affects the Government is this : The 
 Government has means enough to carry on its ordinary 
 business. But in a country situated as the Orange River 
 Colony and the Transvaal at present are, that is not nearly 
 enough. All young communities need the help of Govern- 
 ment in the development of their resources. These colonies, 
 for reasons which it would take too long to go into, but which 
 can easily be expanded, need that help in an exceptional 
 degree, even for young communities. They are extra- 
 ordinarily deficient in those aids to the development of their 
 natural resources which, in the absence of great stores of 
 private wealth, such as exist only in an old country, the 
 Government has alone the power to supply. At the same 
 time they are, for physical and other reasons, exceptionally 
 in need of such assistance. Under these circumstances, it is 
 peculiarly foolish for the wise-acres over-sea who know our 
 business so much better than we know it ourselves, to say : 
 ' Oh ! it does not matter whether you get out your gold 
 quickly or slowly. It won't run away.' It does matter 
 enormously, at what pace we get it out. Conceivably, if there 
 were not so much of it, we might get it out too fast. But 
 
LORD MILNER AND CHINESE LABOUR 321 
 
 under the actual circumstances, we cannot get it out too fast, 
 because in any case the supply will last for many years, and 
 that being so, the faster we get it the greater is the over-spill, 
 if I may use that word, over what is in any case necessary to 
 remunerate the capital invested, and it is that over-spill which 
 benefits the local community and fills the coffers of the State, 
 and can be used for the general advantage of the country. 
 And by the general advantage I mean especially the develop- 
 ment, aye and the creation, of those other resources, which 
 should make and keep South Africa a great and flourishing 
 country when the gold is gone. The faster the gold is won, 
 the sooner will you be able to build up those permanent 
 sources of wealth which will make you independent of the 
 gold, and which, if you won the gold too slowly, you might 
 never have the means of building up at all. From a business 
 point of view, the difference between ;^io,ooo a year for 
 the next hundred years and ;^20,ooo a year for the next 
 fifty years is enormous. It is especially great where capital 
 is rapidly reproductive, and it is mere foolishness to say that 
 it does not matter whether you get the one or the other. 
 
 " The curse of the present position is not that we cannot 
 pay our way. It is that we have nothing to spare, with which 
 to do more than pay our way. I do not forget that the two 
 colonies have liabilities to the Mother Country in respect of 
 the war, which, I believe, no honourable man would dream of 
 repudiating, and that the discharge of these liabilities will 
 compete with the demands of the colonies themselves for 
 reproductive expenditure in the division of any future surplus 
 of public revenue over the cost of necessary establishments. 
 But this consideration, I own, does not greatly trouble me. 
 Great Britain has treated the new colonies with singular 
 generosity so far, and I do not think her disposition will alter. 
 Only let us see the surplus, and I do not believe a fair 
 division will be difficult to arrive at. But before that surplus 
 is apparent, either for the one purpose or the other, a great 
 change will have to come over the present economic con- 
 dition of the new colonies." 
 
 By the side of this passage may be placed the letter given 
 in the preceding chapter, which shows how Lord Milner 
 regarded the labour question, when viewed in its broadest 
 aspect, and as a matter with which all South Africa was 
 concerned. At the time that this letter was written, 
 iSth April 1903, he held the opinion that the ultimate 
 solution of the problem was to be found " in the increase of 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
322 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the white population and in getting rid of the idea, as with 
 an increased white population we shall get rid of it, that the 
 white man cannot, or ought not to, work with his hands in 
 this country." But he realised that before this solution could 
 be expected, the social and economic conditions of South 
 Africa must be materially altered, and that many years must 
 elapse before the changes involved in these necessary processes 
 of re-adjustment had been completed. For practical purposes, 
 therefore, the ultimate solution had to be dismissed ; since 
 what was required was a means of solution which could be 
 applied under the then existing conditions of the country, 
 and not fifty years, or even five years hence. At the same 
 time a supplementary supply of Asiatic unskilled labour, 
 though in itself a temporary expedient, would provide a 
 scaffold by means of which the fabric of the permanent 
 solution could be erected. 
 
 " But, in order to get that white population at all," he 
 continued, " we must make things move in the immediate 
 future, and, certain as I am that African labour, with every 
 improvement we can make, will not be sufficient to supply 
 our wants in the near future, I think we must call in the aid 
 of the Asiatics. I look upon this as a temporary expedient, 
 but for the time being essential." 
 
 The importation of Asiatic labour, therefore, necessary as 
 it was primarily to prevent an industrial deadlock which 
 would endanger the whole programme of the reconstruction, 
 was also necessary to bring about that increase of the white 
 population which was the only means of freeing European 
 South Africa permanently from its economic dependence 
 upon the native African races. 
 
 In another letter, written a few days later. Lord Milner, 
 after mentioning the large attendance at the Wanderers' 
 meeting of ist April, expressed the opinion that, in spite 
 of this unmistakable display of hostility to Chinese labour, 
 a large and comparatively silent section of the general public 
 of the Rand, if not actually converted to Asiatic labour, 
 were more and more turning that way in their thoughts. 
 
 " Not that anybody wishes it," he continued. " That is 
 quite clear. But the position of the majority of thinking men 
 
LORD MILNER AND CHINESE LABOUR 323 
 
 to-day, which, I believe, will be the position of the majority 
 of the whole population presently, is that, if other resources 
 have been fairly tried and failed, we should not reject 
 Asiatics altogether, but devote all our ingenuity to how 
 we can regulate their labour in such a manner that they 
 will not flood us in other industries and trades than mining." 
 
 As regards his own action he wrote that the question 
 was one upon which he deemed it right to maintain an 
 "attitude of neutrality," being "ready to lend assistance 
 to any reasonable experiment but carefully abstaining from 
 any attempt to force public opinion one way or the other." 
 Applying Mr Chamberlain's principle that the Transvaal, 
 though a Crown Colony, should be treated wherever possible 
 as self-governing, he regarded this as just one of those 
 questions which the people must fight out for themselves, 
 and in which the Government should only take action when 
 the trend of public opinion was quite unmistakable. In the 
 meantime he was still prepared to favour any reasonable 
 measure for the introduction of white labour, and to give 
 every facility for getting coloured labour from other parts of 
 Africa. ' The mines, he believed, " would succeed very shortly 
 in getting back to their old numbers, perhaps in somewhat 
 increasing them, but only at the expense of other people." 
 Every other industry, including agriculture, would presently 
 "begin to feel the pinch, and then the advocates of Asiatic 
 labour would be reinforced from wholly unexpected quarters." 
 
 Thus Lord Milner was by no means certain at this time 
 that China was the only, or the best, available source from 
 which the additional labour supply could be obtained. He 
 believed that there was " no one solution," but that recourse 
 must be had to every possible source of supply. He was 
 watching the cost of the English navvies imported for railway 
 construction ; and if the difference between them and native 
 labour had not proved to be too enormous, he had intended 
 to ask the Home Government for permission to increase their 
 number. While he was practically satisfied that little or 
 nothing could be expected from Africa, other than South 
 Africa, with the one exception of British Central Africa, he 
 took care that no stone should be left unturned to develop 
 this one possible source of additional African labour, Details 
 
324 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 of the rate of wages to be offered, the accommodation to 
 be provided, and of an arrangement whereby the interests 
 of the British trading community in Central Africa would 
 be protected and its opposition dispelled,^ were arranged 
 accordingly by Mr Sharpe, the Commissioner for the Central 
 African Protectorate, in consultation with the Native Labour 
 Association, and duly communicated to the Colonial Office. 
 But, although Mr Sharpe himself was fully satisfied with 
 these arrangements. Lord Milner was by no means sure 
 that difficulties might not be raised by the Foreign Office 
 (under which the British Central African Protectorate was 
 administered), and he, therefore, urged the Colonial Office to 
 exert its influence in order that the fullest possible trial 
 might be given to this new and promising source of African 
 labour.^ 
 
 At the same time Lord Milner made a definite proposal 
 for the employment of imported Indian labour on the rail- 
 ways. The coolies were to be exclusively employed by the 
 Transvaal Government ; they were to be brought over under 
 indenture, and returned to India upon the expiration of their 
 period of contract. His views on this subject were embodied 
 in the following document : — 
 
 " What I have to suggest is this : Why should not the 
 Government, in the first instance, make the experiment? 
 We might construct, let me say, one of the new lines entirely 
 by indentured labour from India, as the Uganda line has 
 been constructed. It is of course possible that the Indian 
 Government would refuse to let us have coolies on the con- 
 dition of their returning to India at the end of their period 
 of service. If so, this source I am afraid is closed to us, and 
 the industrial outlook is greatly clouded here in consequence. 
 But I cannot believe that the Indian Government, if the 
 matter was properly put before them, would take what I 
 
 ^ The Central African native earned 3s. a month|: he was to be paid is. 2d. 
 per day, exclusive of food, etc. , and free transport to the Rand and back again ; 
 6d. a day vias to be paid him while on the Rand, and a lump sum at the rate of 
 8d. per day on his return home. By this means more than half of the wages 
 earned would be spent in the Central African Protectorate, and not in the 
 Transvaal. 
 
 ^ Eventually the Foreign Office did give its consent to the recruiting of a 
 limited number of labourers ; but these Central African natives (as we have 
 already noticed) have proved to be too susceptible to the cold of the Witwaters- 
 rand uplands, to make them altogether suitable for work on the mines. 
 
LORD MILNER AND CHINESE LABOUR 325 
 
 cannot help regarding as so unreasonable a line. If they 
 imagine that by refusing to let us have coolies on the con- 
 dition of repatriation, they can force us to admit Indians into 
 South Africa without any restrictions — that is to say, to give 
 up the policy of restricted immigration which has been 
 adopted by the Cape Colony and Natal — they are, I am quite 
 sure, making a miscalculation. The feeling against a large 
 influx of Asiatics as permanent inhabitants of this country, 
 whether as traders or settlers on the land, is simply intense. 
 The European population of both races is solid in regard to 
 it, and they would even be prepared to see industry seriously 
 hampered rather than go ahead at full swing with the aid of 
 Asiatics, if that implied the permanent settlement of a large 
 Asiatic population in South Africa. But why should the 
 Government of India, because it is unable to force us to take 
 some of its surplus population, therefore prevent that surplus 
 population from making money by coming here for a time ? 
 Surely, if they cannot get rid of their coolie population, it is 
 better that they should be rich than poor. The sums which 
 the Indian labourers would take home would be so large, 
 compared with the rate of wages in that country, as to 
 represent a substantial addition not only to their own means 
 of subsistence but to that of all those connected with them. 
 It must be an advantage to India, with so vast a population 
 of very poor people to have a constant supply of money 
 brought into the country and going directly to the 
 maintenance of the very poorest class. 
 
 " Where I do sympathise with the Government of India 
 is in their natural desire to see their emigrants well treated. 
 Now on this point we should be able to give them every 
 possible assurance. That seems to me the advantage of the 
 Government making the experiment, at any rate in the first 
 instance. I am prepared to give every pledge that, if we 
 import a number of coolies for one or more of our railways, 
 their contracts would be observed to the letter, and the 
 greatest possible care would be taken of their health and 
 comfort while here. It is our manifest interest to leave 
 nothing undone to secure these. Our new construction 
 
 engineer, Mr , himself a man of long Indian experience, 
 
 has no doubt whatever of the success of such an importation, 
 if the Government of India would consent to it." 
 
 This proposal, as we have already seen, met with Mr 
 Chamberlain's approval, and was laid before the Government 
 of India. The request was, however, refused on the grounds 
 
326 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 which Lord Milner had anticipated, and thus India, the 
 natural source of Asiatic labour, was definitely closed to 
 the Transvaal.i 
 
 On 2nd June Lord Milner received the deputation from 
 the White Labour League, and publicly defined his own 
 attitude on the Chinese importation question as being one 
 of "awaiting the verdict" of the white population of the 
 colony. Two days before he wrote: — 
 
 " The position is unaltered. S. Africa cannot supply the 
 necessary labour, and other parts of Africa show so far little 
 sign of coming to the rescue. More white labour may help 
 to some extent, but not very much. We must either get, 
 for a period at any rate, Asiatics (Indians, Chinese, or 
 Japanese), or put up with a considerable shortage of supply. 
 This does not mean that we shall lose ground, but that we 
 cannot gain much, and that the great increase of British 
 immigration, on which I had much relied to solve the 
 political problem, will not come off at present. Among 
 thinking men the necessity of Asiatic labour is becoming 
 generally recognised. ... At the same time I must 
 reluctantly admit, that the unreasoning crowd appears as 
 much opposed to the Asiatics as ever." 
 
 But six weeks later he wrote that this latter statement 
 was no longer true. 
 
 " If you polled the ' men in the street' now," he then said, 
 ■' you would find an enormous change of opinion. A mass 
 meeting against Asiatic importation is no longer possible. 
 A mass meeting in favour of it may be possible very soon. . . . 
 For this and other reasons, it is sincerely to be hoped that 
 the Chinese — since they are now our only hope — may come, 
 and come quickly. The mines have exhausted their efforts, 
 by higher wages, better recruiting, and much better arrange- 
 ments on the mines in every respect — food, clothing, sanitation, 
 etc. — to get natives, but, though they have got some 
 thousands more, there are not nearly enough. The fact is 
 they do not exist — not in these numbers." 
 
 ' The substance of the telegrams which passed between the High Commissioner 
 and the Viceroy, and the terms of the Government of India, communicated through 
 Mr Chamberlain to Lord Milner, are given in Cd. 1683. The virtual refusal of 
 the Government of India was communicated by Mr Chamberlain in a despatch 
 to Lord Milner of 23rd May 1903. 
 
LORD MILNER AND CHINESE LABOUR 327 
 
 It was when matters had reached the stage which had 
 brought him to this conclusion that Lord Milner, in pursuance 
 of the arrangements made during Mr Chamberlain's visit, 
 returned to Europe on long leave. 
 
 After a brief visit to the Orange River Colony, he left 
 Johannesburg on 5th August, and, travelling by Delagoa Bay 
 and the East Coast route, reached Trieste on 2nd September, 
 and then proceeded vid Vienna to his immediate goal, 
 Karlsbad, where he arrived early on Monday morning 
 (the 7th). Here he at once saw his doctor, engaged rooms, 
 and that same day began to drink the waters. On Friday 
 the 13th, and before the second week of the "cure" was 
 completed, a stir of excitement was caused among the 
 English visitors by telegrams from London bringing reports 
 of Mr Chamberlain's intention to retire from Mr Balfour's 
 Ministry. On the following morning, with the arrival of 
 last night's Neue Freie Presse from Vienna, came definite 
 news of the Cabinet resignations,^ and two days later 
 Mr Balfour's letter, with the offer of the Colonial Office, 
 reached him by King's messenger. Lord Milner wrote 
 his reply that same night. While he was very sensible of 
 the magnitude of the honour which had been done him, 
 he declined the proposed office on the ground that he 
 could not leave his work in South Africa. Subsequent 
 endeavours, made both by the Prime Minister and Mr 
 Chamberlain to induce him to reconsider this decision, 
 left him unshaken in his determination to see the new 
 colonies through their present difficulties ; and when on 
 13th October he came to England for the last six weeks 
 of his leave of absence, he spent almost the whole of 
 his time and energy in work at the Colonial Office and 
 in the discussion of South African questions with states- 
 men of both parties. 
 
 The situation in the Transvaal, as revealed by 
 communications from Sir Arthur Lawley, the acting 
 Governor and High Commissioner, which emphasised the 
 financial and other anxieties of the Administration, was 
 
 ^ Beside Mr Chamberlain, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Mr Ritchie, and Lord 
 George Hamilton left the Government. The Duke of Devonshire resigned 
 a little later. 
 
328 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 becoming increasingly grave. Mr Chamberlain was opposed 
 to the importation of Chinese labour, and had definitely 
 anticipated that the measure would arouse strong antagonism 
 among the industrial classes in the United Kingdom. 
 Mr Lyttelton inherited the unfavourable disposition of his 
 predecessor, but was at length persuaded with the greatest 
 difficulty to withdraw his opposition. And, apart from 
 his long and frequent conferences with Cabinet Ministers 
 and other officials, Lord Milner made the fullest use of 
 every opportunity presented by social converse to explain 
 the difficulties of the labour question, and to remove 
 misunderstandings on this and other matters affecting 
 the new colonies and South Africa. Among the many 
 influential men with whom he thus discussed the proposed 
 importation were such leading members of the Opposition 
 as Mr Asquith, Mr (afterwards Lord) Haldane, and Sir 
 Edward Grey. As, however, it was not realised as yet that 
 this question was destined to prove an immense asset to 
 the Liberal Party, or, indeed, that it was to acquire any 
 importance at all in the field of English politics. Lord Milner 
 found in these quarters only a very faint interest in the 
 subject. Nor did the remarks of these statesmen afford him 
 any warning of the bitter hostility to the measure which their 
 party subsequently displayed — a hostility which at this time 
 probably they themselves neither felt nor foresaw. But in 
 spite of all discouragement his own invincible resolution, and 
 his now firmly established conviction that this expedient, 
 unwelcome as it was, afforded the sole practical method 
 whereby the financial and economic salvation of the new 
 colonies could be secured, prevailed ; and before he left 
 London he had succeeded in impressing the gravity of 
 the situation upon the Government, and obtained from the 
 new Colonial Secretary a promise that if it were found 
 impossible to carry on the work of reconstruction without 
 Asiatic labour, he would give his support to the measure. 
 Lord Milner sailed for South Africa on 28th November. 
 The sea proved unusually rough, and the Dunottar Castle 
 was several hours behind time at Madeira. Cape Town 
 was reached on 15th December, and two days later Lord 
 Milner left for Johannesburg, where he arrived on the 
 
LORD MILNER AND CHINESE LABOUR 329 
 
 afternoon of Saturday, the 19th. At the station he was 
 received by the representatives of the municipaHty and 
 a guard of honour, and at the Wanderers', where a still 
 greater crowd had assembled, many addresses of welcome 
 were presented to him. His experience on shipboard served 
 to decorate his brief reply with an apt metaphor. When 
 the ship was in a storm, he said, the captain could not 
 leave his post upon the bridge. He must remain until he 
 had taken her, if not safe into port, at least into smooth 
 waters. Hence, in spite of the pressure brought upon him 
 to accept the Colonial Office, he had thought it to be his 
 duty to return to guide the Transvaal ship of State through 
 the stormy waters by which it was now surrounded. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM BY THE 
 IMPORTATION OF CHINESE LABOUR 
 
 Lord Milner'S metaphor was not exaggerated. At the 
 end of 1903 the Transvaal ship of State was labouring 
 heavily, and the six months which followed his return 
 to South Africa brought greater and more continuous 
 anxieties than any that he had borne since the first few 
 months of the war. Apart from the shortage of unskilled 
 labour and the threatened collapse of the financial settle- 
 ment, he had other causes of disquietude. The Irregular 
 Corps, recruited mainly from the British population of the 
 Rand, which had shown such admirable fighting qualities 
 during the war, had been virtually re-embodied in the 
 Transvaal Volunteer Force established by proclamation in 
 July 1902, and a system of cadet training had been introduced 
 in connection with the colleges and schools in both the new 
 colonies, but there was no volunteer force in the Orange 
 River Colony. A proposal to reduce the number of the 
 Imperial troops to 15,000 put forward by the Secretary for 
 War (Mr Brodrick, afterwards Lord Midleton) was defeated ; 
 but it was decided in July 1903 that the South African 
 garrison should be reduced from its original strength of 
 over 30,000 to an establishment of 25,000. Lord Milner 
 disapproved strongly of this, and still more strongly of 
 the further large reduction of the South African garrison 
 upon which the War Office, under Treasury pressure, 
 had now determined ; and he had reasoned against it 
 both in despatches and in his recent conferences with 
 Cabinet Ministers in London.^ It was not that he feared 
 
 ' The news of the "large reduction" of the garrison appeared in the 
 South African papers in February (1904) ; and the disquieting effect of the 
 
 330 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 331 
 
 a rising of any dimensions among the Boers, but he wished 
 to have a force in South Africa, which, in conjunction 
 with the South African Constabulary and the Volunteers, 
 would make the bare idea of armed resistance seem im- 
 practicable to the mind of the most ignorant or irrecon- 
 cilable of the back-veld burghers. His own proposal was 
 that the regular troops in South Africa should be treated 
 as part of the Home establishment ; and he believed 
 that the extra cost of maintenance in South Africa, as 
 against maintenance in the United Kingdom, would be 
 compensated by the strategic advantages offered by the 
 greater proximity of the former country to India, combined 
 with the superior opportunities for training and manoeuvres 
 provided by its wide and sparsely populated areas. His 
 arguments, however, had failed to win acceptance either at 
 the War Office or the Treasury, and it only remained now 
 to see that the best possible disposition of the regular forces, 
 which were to constitute the future South African Command, 
 was made by the War Office. This was the first matter 
 to which he applied himself, when once the necessary 
 business of " settling down " after his long absence had 
 been accomplished ; and in consultation with General 
 Lyttelton he prepared recommendations, calculated to 
 secure the object in view, for submission to the War 
 Office authorities. 
 
 Lord Milner next attacked the financial situation. The 
 results of his investigations, in which he was assisted by 
 Mr Duncan ^ and Sir Arthur Lawley, were compressed 
 into the following telegram to the Secretary of State 
 which was despatched on Sunday, the 28th. It con- 
 tained, as will be observed, a formal statement of the 
 necessity for the postponement of the payment of the first 
 
 contemplated withdrawal of British troops was enhanced by the circumstance 
 that the public announcement followed closely upon the accounts of the outbreak 
 of the Russo-Japanese War. 
 
 ^ While Lord Milner was in London he sanctioned the acceptance by the 
 Transvaal Government of the resignations of Mr Davidson, the Colonial 
 Secretary, and Mr Wybergh, the Commissioner of Mines. Mr Duncan, formerly 
 Treasurer, became both Treasurer and Colonial Secretary, until a year later Mr 
 Hichens, Treasurer to the Municipality of Johannesburg, was appointed to the 
 former office. The Coramissionership of Mines was not filled up until two 
 years later, when Mr Weldon, up to that time Acting - Commissioner, was 
 appointed to the post. 
 
332 EECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 instalment of the war contribution, due in the following 
 January. 
 
 " Since my return I have been engaged in a careful study 
 of the financial question. The position will, I hope, be 
 made as clear to you as it is to myself, by a despatch which 
 is being prepared. I think, however, that it is desirable to 
 let you know the main features at once. 
 
 " The immediate prospect is very bad. There is a com- 
 plete stagnation in commerce and enterprise owing to the 
 labour difficulty, and it affects almost every branch of 
 revenue, especially the railways. The falling off in the 
 gross traffic of the railways is aggravated by high expendi- 
 ture due to temporary causes which the despatch will 
 explain. 
 
 "The result is that taking the Transvaal and Inter- 
 Colonial budgets together we must be prepared for a deficit, 
 which in the present financial year may be as much as 
 ;£^350,ooo. The Orange River Colony is all right, and will 
 be able to make both ends meet, besides contributing its 
 proportion of the increased deficit on the Inter-Colonial 
 budget due to the falling off of railway revenue. 
 
 " As regards the year 1904-5 we cannot in the absence 
 of a complete change in the state of business make our 
 collective budgets balance except by introducing severe 
 retrenchments in the Transvaal estimates, and by reducing 
 the strength of the South African Constabulary. 
 
 " I think it is a matter for the serious consideration of 
 His Majesty's Government, whether it would not be better 
 to defer for a year the raising of the first instalment of the 
 war loan. No one could possibly contemplate such a 
 postponement with greater reluctance than I contemplate 
 it, but it would in my judgment be a grave financial and 
 political mistake to raise the loan before the country is 
 able to pay the interest on it. It would greatly damage 
 our credit, as the terms on which we shall have to borrow 
 in the present crisis would be out of all proportion to our 
 real financial capacity, and all parties in the colony would 
 be united by it in a protest which might in the end go 
 much further than the immediate question. There is, I am 
 perfectly convinced, a strong feeling here in favour of ful- 
 filling the obligation to contribute the thirty millions, even 
 at a considerable sacrifice. Although there will always be 
 some popular opposition and grumbling, that opposition 
 would not, in my opinion, be serious or alienate the loyal 
 section of the population, if the burden were imposed 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 333 
 
 gradually as we became able to bear it. If, however, His 
 Majesty's Government insist on the obligation being carried 
 out at once without regard to the serious, and in itself 
 wholly unforeseen, crisis which has arisen since the obliga- 
 tion was undertaken, it will, I fear, while putting a formidable 
 weapon into the hands of those already disaffected, per- 
 manently injure the strong attachment which undoubtedly 
 exists among the loyal population to the Mother Country. 
 If, on the other hand. His Majesty's Government was to 
 take the initiative itself in postponing the loan, the con- 
 sideration thus shown for the embarrassments of the country 
 would strengthen the desire of the well - affected to dis- 
 charge the obligation so soon as the means were available, 
 and would, I consider, increase the likelihood of its ultimate 
 discharge in full and without a quarrel. 
 
 " I am as convinced as ever of the ability of the colony, 
 under normal conditions, to fulfil all its obligations. I mean 
 by ' normal conditions ' the power to use its present equip- 
 ment for the production of gold without any question of 
 further expansion. But by that is meant our obtaining at 
 least 50,000 labourers, and I can see no prospect of doing 
 that for another twelve months, or even of materially in- 
 creasing our present number in that time. We have reached 
 the end of our local resources, and even if the prohibition 
 of foreign coloured labour were removed at once, it would 
 take several months before we could obtain a single man, 
 and much longer before we could get more than a few 
 thousands. A diminution rather than an increase of revenue 
 is in the immediate prospect, and I do not believe that 
 any considerable recovery can be shown by the revenue 
 before the latter part of the next financial year, even 
 assuming that everything is done to hasten the turning of 
 the tide."i 
 
 The disastrous effects of the shortage of labour were 
 most immediately apparent in the falling off of the railway 
 earnings. The figures for the first five months showed that 
 on the same basis the net revenue for the current financial 
 year (1903-4) would be ;^i,200,ooo as against the ;^2,i50,ooo 
 set down in the estimates submitted to the Inter-Colonial 
 Council in last July. To what extent could this threatened 
 deficit of ;^950,ooo be reduced by retrenchments in the remain- 
 ing seven months, and how could the irreducible minimum 
 
 1 Cd. 189s. 
 
334 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 of deficit, which would still remain in spite of all possible 
 economies, be provided for ? These, Lord Milner saw, were 
 the practical questions to be considered ; and he set himself 
 to the task of finding how they could be answered by 
 a personal examination of the accounts of the railway 
 administration. 
 
 In the meantime the debate on Sir George Farrar's 
 motion, in favour of the importation of Asiatic labour, was 
 going on in the Legislative Council (28th to 30th December). 
 The result of the division — ayes 22, noes 4 — came through 
 the telephone from Pretoria, late on the night of the 30th. 
 On the following day — the last of the year 1903 — Lord 
 Milner met Sir Arthur Lawley and the Executive Council 
 in conference, and the Transvaal Government finally decided, 
 subject to the sanction of the Home Government, to make 
 legislative provision for the importation of Asiatic indentured 
 labour for the mines. The decision was reported to the 
 Secretary of State in the following telegram, which was 
 despatched by Lord Milner, after further consultation and 
 the revision of the original draft of the Ordinance, on 3rd 
 January 1904. 
 
 " I have conferred with the Lieutenant-Governor and 
 the members of the Executive on the situation created by 
 the vote of the Legislative Council on Sir George Farrar's 
 motion. They are all unanimous in thinking that the 
 Government ought without unnecessary delay to introduce 
 legislation on the lines laid down in that motion, and I 
 have agreed to their doing so. A draft Ordinance in 
 English and Dutch will therefore be published and widely 
 circulated next week, and will be introduced in the Council 
 when it meets again. The Council has . adjourned to 
 the 1 8th. 
 
 " I realise the gravity of this decision, but have no 
 shadow of doubt as to its wisdom. There are no signs of 
 an adequate amount of labour being obtained from existing 
 sources of supply. The consequent depression in every 
 kind of business is increasing daily, the revenue is falling off, 
 many people are out of work, and if the situation does not 
 soon change a considerable exodus of the white population is 
 inevitable. On the other hand there is nothing wrong with 
 the mines except insufficiency of labour. They are fully 
 equipped for a production at least 60 per cent, above 
 
THE^ SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 335 
 
 the present, and plenty of capital for further development 
 is assured, if only labour is forthcoming. It appears un- 
 justifiable to refuse to try any remedy not in itself 
 intolerable for a state of things which is causing grave 
 distress to all classes of people in this colony and affecting 
 the whole of South Africa. No one, indeed, any longer 
 supposes that the experiment of Asiatic labour, even if 
 successful, can do more than supplement the local supply, 
 or would justify any relaxation in the immense efforts being 
 made to develop the latter. Anything like a sudden and 
 very abundant influx of Asiatics is out of the question. 
 But in the opinion of the best judges we may hope gradu- 
 ally to obtain an amount of labour from Asia which will 
 substitute steady and substantial progress for the present 
 complete stagnation. . . . 
 
 "The vote in the Legislative Council, in my opinion, 
 faithfully reflects the present state of public opinion and 
 the great change which has come over it. A year ago 
 Sir George Farrar's proposal^ would have found very few 
 supporters in the country. When I left here in August, 
 though opinion was rapidly changing it was still almost 
 equally divided. To-day I consider the scale has turned 
 decisively in favour of imported labour. . . . 
 
 "Significant as the vote is, the debate itself was even 
 more important, and has made a deep impression on the 
 public. I never remember a discussion in which the weight 
 of argument was more completely on one side. The debate 
 turned almost wholly on the evidence given before the 
 Labour Commission, which several of the speakers had 
 thoroughly mastered. That evidence has for some time 
 past been steadily influencing public opinion, but the 
 cumulative effect of it as brought out in the debate is 
 overwhelming, and virtually leaves no room for doubt that 
 the choice lies between a prolonged stagnation of industry 
 and agriculture and a resort to imported labour. It is the 
 recognition of this fact alone which in my opinion has 
 transformed public opinion. There is no change in the 
 
 ' The motion was : " That the attention of the Government be called to the 
 report of the Transvaal Labour Commission ; that the Government be requested to 
 introduce a draft Ordinance providing for the importation of indentured unskilled 
 coloured labourers for the purpose of supplementing the supply of labour on 
 the mines within the Witwatersrand area under such restrictions as will ensure 
 their employment as unskilled workmen only and their return to their native 
 country on the completion of their contracts ; and that, in order to secure 
 full consideration of the important issues involved, such draft Ordinance be 
 published in English and Dutch for a reasonable time before being introduced 
 into this Council." The debate is given in full in Cd. 1895. 
 
336 REOONSTRUOTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 general aversion to Asiatics as permanent residents. But 
 those who carry this aversion to the point of refusing to 
 admit Asiatics as indentured labourers under condition of 
 repatriation, even in the face of a proved insufficiency of 
 other labour, are a small minority both among Boer and 
 British. They were reinforced at first by thousands who 
 were honestly convinced that there was plenty of labour 
 to be had in South Africa if it were only properly recruited, 
 and that Asiatics, if once introduced, would swarm over 
 the whole country in enormous numbers, invading every 
 trade and acquiring a permanent hold on the land. The 
 former idea is now seen to be a delusion, while the proposed 
 legislation will guard against the latter evil. Even before 
 the debate the change of public opinion was evident. On 
 1st April a great mass meeting held in Johannesburg con- 
 demned Asiatic labour with hardly a dissentient voice. A 
 similar meeting held on 14th December was a complete 
 fiasco, and the opponents of Asiatic labour were obliged to 
 fall back on a ticket meeting of 200 people in a small 
 hall. The decision of the Council has been received with 
 loud approval and a general sense of relief, and I see no 
 signs of active opposition to it, least of all in the country 
 districts. Efforts originating from outside the colony have, 
 indeed, been made to work up an agitation against it 
 amongst the Boer farmers, but so far they have met with 
 little success." ^ 
 
 ' Cd. 1895. As regards the rest of South Africa, although there were in 
 all the Colonies "a number of men of unquestionable sincerity who were 
 opposed in principle to imported labour under any circumstances," it was 
 only in the Cape Colony that the opponents of the importation were able to 
 make any appreciable impression upon the public mind. At the time — i.e., 
 during the months of January and February 1904 — the first general election 
 held after the war was in progress ; and adverse references to the proposed 
 importation of Chinese into the Transvaal were common in the speeches of 
 those candidates of both parties who were standing for constituencies in which 
 the 'coloured vote' was a considerable, or dominating, factor. The artificial 
 character of the outcry thus raised against the Importation Ordinance on the 
 part of a colony which not only possessed a long established Malay population 
 of its own, but actually employed Chinese labourers in its ports, and had 
 more than once proposed to import Chinese labour for work upon the farms, 
 has been already noticed. And a striking evidence of the inconsistency of 
 some individual critics of the Transvaal measure was afforded by the fact that 
 an official return of the convict labour employed by the Cape farmers, made 
 at this time, showed that both Mr Merriman and Mr Sauer were among the 
 proprietors by whom such labour was used in the cultivation of their farms. 
 But in any case, whatever practical basis existed for misgivings on the part 
 of the native labourers and white artisans of the Cape was removed by the 
 prompt enactment, by the Progressive majority, of a measure which stringently 
 prohibited the entry into this colony of any Chinaman coming from the new 
 colonies. 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 337 
 
 On the next day (the 4th) the draft Ordinance, as thus 
 amended by the Executive Council, together with the full 
 statements of the financial position of the colony promised 
 by Lord Milner in his telegram of 28th December, was sent 
 by mail to the Secretary of State. But before this could 
 reach him, Mr Lyttelton telegraphed on the i6th, in reply 
 to Lord Milner's cabled despatch, that 
 
 " His Majesty's Government in view of his earnest advice, 
 and the information by which he had supported it, would not 
 withhold their sanction to the introduction of the Ordinance." 
 
 He then made certain observations upon the original draft, 
 and concluded with the statement that — 
 
 " it will be necessary to ascertain the views of the Chinese 
 Government in order that His Majesty's Government may be 
 assured that that Government will accept the provisions of 
 the Ordinance as the basis of the regulations, which they 
 desire to be drawn up in concert with the Chinese 
 Ambassador in London." 
 
 Two days later (the i8th) Mr Lyttelton telegraphed : — 
 
 " His Majesty's Government have come to the decision, 
 after careful consideration of the very serious state of things 
 described in your telegram of 28th December, that there is 
 no alternative to postponing the issue of the ten millions 
 war loan." 
 
 With reference to the deficit anticipated in the budgets of 
 this and the next financial years, the despatch concluded : — 
 
 " You will fully appreciate the grave objection to asking 
 Parliament to impose a further addition to the burdens of the 
 British tax-payer, by whom large sacrifices have already been 
 made. His Majesty's Government, therefore, look to you 
 still further to diminish expenditure, and to secure an 
 equilibrium next year at any rate, if you cannot secure it 
 this year. ... I rely upon you to find means by which the 
 necessary economies may be effected." 
 
 Lord Milner's reply to Mr Lyttelton's announcement 
 of the Home Government's consent to the introduction of 
 
 VOL. I. Y 
 
338 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the Labour Importation Ordinance was cabled on the 
 20th. It ran : — 
 
 " The Ordinance was introduced yesterday. The second 
 reading will be taken to-day and the Committee stage next 
 week. You will have received by mail a copy of the Ordin- 
 ance as introduced. ... I proceed to deal seriatim with 
 your suggestions. ... I trust, with reference to your con- 
 cluding paragraph, that the reference to the Chinese Govern- 
 ment will not involve much further delay. The situation 
 here is of increasing strain, and I foresee that our financial 
 difficulties will be greatly aggravated unless we can begin 
 recruiting soon. An absolute reduction in the number of 
 native labourers was shown last month for the first time. 
 This month, up to date, is even worse.^ An unprecedented 
 number of claims have been abandoned this month, which 
 shows the financial straits of a large number of claim-holders, 
 and involves a further loss of revenue." 
 
 To Mr Lyttelton's telegram reporting the postponement 
 of the first instalment of the war contribution loan, he 
 replied two days later, that the Government's decision 
 "relieved him greatly." As regards next year's estimates, 
 he said, 
 
 " a deficit can and must be avoided. To further demands on 
 the British tax-payer I am totally averse. But to avoid a 
 deficit some reduction in the Constabulary is indispensable. 
 ... I have arranged with the Inspector-General for such 
 a gradual reduction. In the present year the saving will not 
 be great; but it will make a very appreciable difference 
 next year." 
 
 But perhaps the best impression of the seriousness of the 
 financial position to which the shortage of labour had 
 reduced the Transvaal is that to be gained from the opinions 
 expressed by the permanent officials of the Colonial Office 
 after the postponement of the war loan had been accepted 
 by the Home Government. To these able men, who were, of 
 course, far more intimately acquainted with the details of the 
 financial circumstances of the new colonies than the newly 
 appointed Secretary of State, it seemed that even now the 
 
 ' This was due to the faUing off of Mozambique natives. Their reluctance to 
 leave their kraals was caused by an exceptionally abundant harvest— a circum- 
 stance which provided more work, and at the same time more abundant food. 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 339 
 
 most that could be expected was that Lord Milner might 
 " by some kind of miracle " be able to avoid a deficit in the 
 current financial year, and the Home Government thus 
 escape the necessity of asking Parliament to vote a portion 
 of the interest on the ^30,000,000 of the Guaranteed Loan 
 already issued. While, therefore, the Colonial Office, no less 
 than Lord Milner, saw in the postponement of the war 
 loan a "great relief," it was prepared for the disagreeable 
 necessity of asking the British tax-payer to make further 
 sacrifices for the new colonies. 
 
 In addition to the settlement of these two primary 
 questions of policy. Lord Milner was endeavouring to obtain 
 decisions from the Home Government upon two other matters 
 each closely connected with the financial prospects of the 
 Transvaal. With the Colonial Office as his medium of 
 communication, he was continuing the conflict with both the 
 War Office and the Treasury in which he had been engaged 
 in London. With the former he was fighting against the 
 "preposterous claim" for ;^i, 250,000 for capital expenditure 
 upon the railways during the period of military control, 
 which was advanced a year ago as part of the terms of the 
 financial settlement ; 1 and with the latter, to overcome its 
 refusal to allow the badly needed balance of the Guaranteed 
 Loan — ;^5,ooo,ooo in amount — to be issued until the first 
 instalment of the war contribution loan (now postponed) 
 had been raised. As the terms of the Financial Settlement 
 left the colony free to choose its own time for the payment of 
 the ^30,000,000 war contribution, this refusal of the Treasury 
 was in effect a breach of the agreement. And, more than 
 this, as the Colonial Office pointed out, it was bad finance ; 
 for the purpose of the Guaranteed Loan was to enable the 
 Transvaal to develop its resources, and thereby obtain the 
 increased revenue necessary to provide for the service of the 
 war contribution loan. 
 
 Together with this struggle with the War Office and 
 the Treasury, Lord Milner was continuing his personal in- 
 vestigation of the affairs of the railway administration, and 
 devising the methods by which the required retrenchments 
 could be effected without sacrificing work essential for the 
 ^ See chap. viii. p. i86. 
 
340 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 improvement of the existing railway system and for the con- 
 struction of the most urgently needed of the new lines. The 
 details of these matters and the constitutional developments 
 to which they gave rise, must be reserved for consideration in 
 the separate account of the railway administration which will 
 be presented in due course. For the moment it is sufficient 
 to notice that Lord Milner was confronted by an exacting 
 and difficult departmental enquiry at a time when the labour 
 question would, in itself, have absorbed all the time and 
 energy that could be spared from the fulfilment of his 
 ordinary official duties. 
 
 An incident which broke the routine of these latter 
 
 must, however, be mentioned, since it touches the central 
 
 conditions of the reconstruction. On the 2ist Lord Milner 
 
 left Johannesburg by special train for Bloemfontein, where 
 
 he remained until the 25th. The occasion of his visit to the 
 
 Orange River Colony capital was this. The drought, which 
 
 had prevailed in the new colonies for two years, infinitely 
 
 increasing both the labour and the cost of the repatriation, 
 
 had at last broken. On the 17th torrential rains had changed 
 
 the little river — normally scarcely more than a brook or 
 
 " spruit " — which flows through Bloemfontein, into a mighty 
 
 flood. All along its course men and cattle were swept away 
 
 and their habitations destroyed, and in the town itself the 
 
 whole of the riverside quarter was utterly wrecked. The 
 
 Bloemfontein disaster called forth the active sympathy of 
 
 European South Africa, but nowhere else was the assistance 
 
 rendered so prompt or so generous as that of Johannesburg. 
 
 In spite of the fact that Lord Milner was in the thick of his 
 
 telegraphic correspondence with the Secretary of State on 
 
 the labour question, he at once arranged to divert the 
 
 despatches, and to make Bloemfontein his headquarters for 
 
 a few days. In this way he was able to visit the devastated 
 
 area, to aid the sufferers by his presence and advice, and to 
 
 inspire the municipal authorities with the determination not 
 
 merely to repair the injury, but to take the necessary 
 
 measures to prevent the recurrence of any similar disaster 
 
 in the future. 
 
 Other questions there were that each in turn took 
 clamorously its share of Lord Milner's time in these crowded 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 341 
 
 months : the Cape elections/ the enlargement of the Inter- 
 Colonial Council, financial expedients, taxation, the first 
 beginning of the new cry for self-government, parley ings 
 with the Boer leaders on the education question, the plague, 
 Boer unrest, the Volunteers, the Premier Mine, and Swazi- 
 land. But these, interesting and important as they are, 
 must stand aside until it has been seen how the all-important 
 labour supply for the mines was won, and thus the great 
 primary economic need of the Transvaal was at length 
 satisfied. 
 
 The position in which the draft of the Asiatic Labour 
 Importation Ordinance was left by Mr Lyttelton's telegram 
 of the 1 8th was this. The Ordinance had to be passed by 
 the Legislative Council of the Colony in a form which would, 
 (i) satisfy public opinion in the Transvaal ; (2) allow 
 Ministers at Home to defend it successfully from Opposition 
 attacks in Parliament and in the country ; and, (3) be 
 accepted by the Chinese Government as the basis of the 
 " Regulations " to be drawn up, concurrently with the pass- 
 ing of the Ordinance, by the Chinese Ambassador in London 
 in conference with the Foreign and Colonial Offices. 
 
 To harmonise, and then embody in the provisions of 
 the Ordinance, demands so various and conflicting, full 
 and constant telegraphic communication was maintained 
 between Mr Lyttelton and Lord Milner. But much more 
 than this elementary convenience of rapid communication 
 between London and Johannesburg was required. The 
 Colonial Secretary was the " transmitter," so to speak, of a 
 mass of amendments based upon criticisms, which ranged 
 from the wildest denunciations that fanatical hostility or 
 Boeotian ignorance could exhale, to the natural protests of 
 the Australasian Governments, or the friendly advice of 
 colonial administrators, who were themselves experienced 
 in Chinese labour as employed in other quarters of the 
 Empire. He was also the guardian of the reputation and 
 electoral interests of the Unionist Party. Chinese labour 
 was disliked by the rank and file of the Government's 
 
 ' They resulted in Ihe return of a small majority of Progressive candidates, 
 and this party then took office with Dr (afterwards Sir Starr) Jameson as Prime 
 Minister. 
 
342 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 supporters in the House of Commons ; it was exceedingly 
 unpopular in the great working class constituencies. Mr 
 Lyttelton had no illusions on this aspect of the question. 
 " You were right and I was wrong as to the amount of 
 trouble you were likely to have over (the Labour Ordinance) 
 in Parliament," Lord Milner wrote to him on 21st February. 
 " All the more cause have we to be grateful to you for 
 making so strong and successful a fight.'' Ten days later 
 he said ^ humorously in Johannesburg, " Knowing that, if 
 need were, there was in other countries than Africa abundant 
 and super-abundant labour ready to come to us, it never 
 occurred to me that half the world would unite, for the 
 most absurd and self- contradictory reasons, to try and 
 prevent our getting it." And on 14th April, when the 
 Ordinance had run the gauntlet of the House of Commons 
 successfully, Mr Lyttelton wrote, " We should all lose our 
 seats just now over the Chinese, but I am not in the least 
 down - hearted about the matter." Moreover almost the 
 entire burden of defending and justifying the Ordinance 
 in the House of Commons rested upon his shoulders, 
 since Mr Arthur Balfour had no intimate knowledge of 
 South African conditions, and in debate could only enforce 
 the arguments with which Mr Lyttelton's speeches provided 
 him. In ordinary circumstances Mr Chamberlain could 
 have been depended upon to render powerful assistance : 
 but, as we have noticed before, on this question he found 
 himself at variance with the judgment of Lord Milner. 
 The Radical Opposition was pledged to offer a resistance 
 & outrance to the measure. This was only to be expected, 
 but what was hardly anticipated was that Mr Asquith, Sir 
 Edward Grey, and other Liberal Imperialists, with the 
 exception of Mr Haldane and, in a lesser degree. Lord 
 Rosebery, should have shown themselves almost as bitter 
 and unrestrained in their denunciations of the measure 
 as Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman himself 
 
 On all these grounds Mr Lyttelton could not afford to 
 take any risks. He had to make the Ordinance so technically 
 perfect from the Unionist Government's point of view that 
 
 1 President's Address at the special Railway Session of the Inter-Colonial 
 Council, which met at Johannesburg on 1st March. 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PEOBLEM 343 
 
 hesitating supporters could not complain that the pledges, by 
 which their dislike had been overcome, were not fulfilled to 
 the letter. He had to conciliate the House of Commons as 
 a whole, and to soften the asperity of individual opponents, 
 by asking for meaningless enquiries and futile statistics, 
 and by suggesting " safeguards " in the Ordinance and 
 Regulations, which were sometimes quite unnecessary, and 
 sometimes so maladroit that they would have invited the 
 very evils which they were intended to prevent. 
 
 Nor was this all. As if it were not enough to have all 
 the cranks and faddists in the United Kingdom let loose 
 upon him, early in March the Chinese Government un- 
 expectedly assumed an attitude that opened up an endless 
 vista of blackmailing diplomacy and wearisome procrastina- 
 tion. The decision to require a brand new convention, to 
 regulate Chinese emigration, not merely to the Transvaal 
 but to all British colonies, under the treaty of i860, was 
 believed to have been inspired by Sir Halliday Macartney, 
 the European Secretary of the Chinese Embassy in London. 
 However this may be, the demand not only complicated the 
 negotiations, but presented an opportunity for the insertion of 
 a provision requiring the regulations for indentured emigrants 
 to any particular colony to be submitted to the Chinese 
 Foreign Office by the British Minister at Pekin, and await 
 the approval of this formidable institution before the emigra- 
 tion could commence. In the present case the insertion of 
 such a provision would have put it in the power of the 
 Chinese Government in Pekin to have nullified by frivolous 
 objections and endless delays the entire result of the London 
 negotiations. Fortunately Lord Lansdowne was quite alive 
 to this danger ; and, while assenting to the drawing up of 
 the new Convention, he claimed that this document should 
 be a final agreement, and as such contain in itself all that 
 China considered essential to the protection of her subjects. 
 Accordingly Article L of the Convention runs : — 
 
 " .... it is hereby agreed that on each occasion when 
 indentured emigrants are required for a particular British 
 Colony or Protectorate . . . His Britannic Majesty's Minister 
 in Peking shall notify the Chinese Government . . . the 
 Chinese Government shall thereupon, without requiring further 
 
344 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 formalities, immediately instruct the local authorities at the 
 specified Treaty Port to take all the steps necessary to facilitate 
 emigration" ^ 
 
 The Johannesburg demonstrations of impatience at the 
 delay in bringing the Ordinance into effect, useful as they 
 were in helping the Government to get the measure approved 
 by the House of Commons, only served to whet the appetite 
 of the Chinese authorities for diplomatic bargaining. Infinite 
 labour, real skill, and above all a genuine desire on the part 
 of Lord Lansdowne to assist the Transvaal Government in 
 its difficulties, were needed in these circumstances. They 
 were all forthcoming, and in the end they prevailed. But 
 the obstruction of the Chinese Government remained a 
 "terrible anxiety" to Mr Lyttelton up to the very day — 
 13th May — when at last the Convention was signed. 
 
 In the foregoing circumstances is to be found the ex- 
 planation of the rain of telegrams from the Secretary of 
 State, which poured down upon Lord Milner during the 
 months of February, March, and April. So much of them as 
 were made public are to be found in the Blue-books,^ where 
 they fill the space of a respectable volume. Happily there 
 was a cool head to read them. And Lord Milner himself 
 had at his right hand two of the ablest of the very able group 
 of officials whom he had gathered round him for the service 
 of the new colonies — Sir Richard Solomon and Mr Patrick 
 Duncan ; while the best brains of the mining industry were at 
 his disposal to work out the intricate details of fact and 
 figure without which some light-hearted questioner in the 
 House of Commons would have remained unanswered. As 
 we read the Blue-books to-day, the garrulous inquisition of 
 Westminster seems little more than a harmless foil to set off 
 Johannesburg's perfect mastery of fact and figure. But, 
 nevertheless, the strain of constant telegrams, involving more 
 often than not a hasty summons of one or more of the 
 Executive, with or without conferences with half a dozen 
 experts or leaders of the mining industry, would have passed 
 the limits of human endurance, had not Lord Milner felt 
 
 > Cd. 1956. 
 
 2Cd. 1898, 1899, 1941, 1986, 2026. 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 345 
 
 assured — in spite of the falsetto of the wires — that the 
 Prime Minister and Lord Lansdowne were giving him loyal 
 and earnest support, and that Mr Lyttelton, with an almost 
 heroic devotion to duty, was working heart and soul to 
 secure the passage of the Ordinance. 
 
 And then to crown all, just two days before Sir Henry 
 Campbell - Bannerman moved his vote of censure in the 
 House of Commons, the plague broke out in the Indian 
 coolie location at Johannesburg. Never before in South 
 Africa had the bubonic plague penetrated so far inland as 
 Johannesburg. In conjunction with its appearance the 
 proposed importation of Chinese constituted at first sight 
 a double menace. Some — not many — but some of the 
 European population fled from the Rand. The new 
 labourers would multiply ten-fold the Asiatic population 
 of the colony upon which the plague fed most eagerly. 
 Coming from China, what more likely than that they should 
 bring with them fresh seeds of the dread disease ? In the 
 first days of astonishment and alarm not only the opponents, 
 but the most eager supporters, of the Ordinance saw in 
 this unprecedented visitation the end of Chinese labour. 
 Nor was it surprising that Mr Lyttelton should have sought, 
 and obtained, for the House of Commons the assurance that 
 competent medical opinion on the spot declared that there 
 was no risk of the plague being extended through the advent 
 of the Chinese, before he allowed the coolies to go on board 
 the transports which were waiting for them at Hong-Kong. 
 
 The voluminous details of the struggle for the Ordinance, 
 whether in London or in Johannesburg, cannot be transferred 
 from the newspapers and the Blue-books to these pages. But 
 even the bare enumeration of the principal incidents in their 
 chronological order, which is all that can be attempted here, 
 tells something of the anxious work, of the fluctuations 
 between hope and dismay, of the gathering impatience, 
 and of the final glow of renewed vitality, that marked 
 Johannesburg in the months that it waited for the coming 
 of the Chinese. 
 
 In the Transvaal Legislative Council the Asiatic Labour 
 Importation Ordinance passed Committee on 26th January, 
 and its third reading on loth February. Between 28th 
 
346 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 January and sth February the whole of the amendments 
 were cabled in extenso to Mr Lyttelton, who was thus able, 
 by incorporating them into the draft transmitted in Lord 
 Milner's despatch of 4th January, to present the actual text 
 of the Ordinance to Parliament directly it had been passed 
 by the Transvaal Legislature.^ 
 
 On 4th February the draft Ordinance was sent by Lord 
 Lansdowne to the Chinese Ambassador ; and on the nth it 
 was accepted by the latter, subject to certain alterations, as 
 the basis of the Regulations, which he was authorised by 
 his Government to draw up with Lord Lansdowne for the 
 supervision and protection of the Chinese immigrants, as 
 provided for in Article V. of the Treaty of Pekin (1860).^ 
 
 On the 1 2th the Ordinance in its final form was forwarded 
 by the Colonial Office to the Foreign Office for transmission 
 to the Chinese Ambassador ; and on the i Sth the Colonial 
 Office informed the Foreign Office that the Chinese 
 Ambassador's suggested alterations had been telegraphed 
 to Lord Milner, and intimated that, as any alterations of 
 the kind required could be embodied in the Regulations, 
 the proposed Conference of the Foreign Office, the Colonial 
 Office, and the Chinese Ambassador for the drawing up of 
 these Regulations should meet at the earliest possible date. 
 On the 20th Lord Milner telegraphed to Mr Lyttelton that 
 Mr Evans ^ had arrived in Johannesburg, and that he and the 
 Attorney- General (Sir Richard Solomon) would set to work 
 upon the Regulations at once. He added : — 
 
 " I have had a complete list made of your pledges and 
 
 ilnCd. 1898. 
 
 ^ The Chinese Government had been informed in the autumn by the British 
 Minister at Pekin that it was proposed to invite Chinese labour to serve in 
 the Transvaal mines. Article V. runs : — • 
 
 "As soon as the ratification of the Treaty of 1858 shall have been exchanged, 
 His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of China will, by Decree, command the high 
 authorities of every province to proclaim throughout their jurisdictions, that 
 Chinese choosing to take service in the British Colonies or other parts beyond the 
 Sea, are at perfect liberty to enter into engagements with British subjects for that 
 purpose, and to ship themselves and their families on board any British vessel at 
 any of the open ports of China ; also that the high authorities aforesaid shall, 
 in concert with Her Britannic Majesty's representative in China, frame such 
 Regulations for the protection of Chinese, emigrating as above, as the circumstances 
 of the different open ports may demand." 
 
 ' Mr Evans (" Chinese Evans ") had been in China, as the representative of 
 the mining industry, to make the necessary enquiries and arrangements for 
 the recruiting and transport of the coolies. 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 347 
 
 requirements as contained in the various telegrams received 
 from you on the subject ; and care will be taken to embody 
 all of them. Meanwhile it would appreciably assist position 
 here if you could telegraph assent to Ordinance." 
 
 On the 23rd a summary of the Regulations was 
 telegraped to Mr Lyttelton, who, on the 26th, authorised 
 them to be prepared on the lines proposed. 
 
 On the 27th the actual text of the Ordinance, together 
 with a report of the proceedings in the Legislative Council 
 reprinted from the Star, was received by mail at the 
 Colonial Office, and, in the course of the next few days, these 
 and other documents were presented to Parliament in Blue- 
 book, Cd. 1941. On 5th March the Colonial Office informed 
 the Foreign Office that Mr Lyttelton had been in telegraphic 
 communication with Lord Milner on the subject of the 
 five points raised by the Chinese Ambassador, and set out 
 the result of these communications for Lord Lansdowne's 
 information. On the 7th Mr Lyttelton asked Lord Milner 
 to telegraph to him m extenso the text of the particular 
 regulations which embodied his " pledges and requirements " ; 
 and this was done on the day following. On the 9th Mr 
 Lyttelton, who had now the material contents of the Regula- 
 tions before him, telegraphed that he was prepared to 
 sanction the Ordinance subject to the fulfilment of two 
 conditions. He must receive an assurance that Lord Milner 
 was satisfied that the arrangements for the reception and 
 accommodation of the immigrants could be completed in the 
 interval between their embarkation in China and their arrival 
 in the Transvaal. And Regulation 33, which provided that 
 immigrants could bring their wives and children with them, 
 if they so desired, at the expense of the importing employer, 
 must be so amended as to provide further that any immigrant 
 who had not brought his wife and family with him in the 
 first instance, but who wished, after his arrival, to send for 
 them, should have every facility for so doing, and that the 
 employer should in this case also bear the cost of bringing 
 the wives and children from China. On the loth Lord 
 Milner telegraphed that he could give the required assurances 
 on both points. It would, however, be necessary, in order 
 
348 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 to prevent fraud, to require the married labourers to register 
 the names and addresses of their wives and children before 
 leaving China. 
 
 On the same day — loth March — a large deputation, 
 composed of delegates from twenty-eight representative 
 bodies and thirty-seven public meetings held on the mines, 
 waited on Lord Milner at the Wanderers' Hall for the 
 purpose of protesting against the Home Government's 
 delay in sanctioning the Ordinance, and the misrepresenta- 
 tions to which that delay was so largely to be attributed. 
 The composition and opinions of this deputation furnish 
 information of the highest evidential value upon the two 
 aspects of the Chinese labour controversy upon which correct 
 knowledge is most material — the degree in which the 
 people of the Transvaal themselves approved of the Importa- 
 tion Ordinance, and the light in which they themselves 
 regarded the statements upon which the anti - Chinese 
 agitation in England was based. The reader will not 
 complain, therefore, if we turn aside a moment to consider 
 its proceedings. 
 
 The significance of the attendance of the delegates 
 from the mines lay in the fact that the meetings which 
 had appointed them were public meetings of white work- 
 men employed on the mines, and that these meetings 
 covered practically the whole area of the gold industry 
 on the Rand. These white workmen, who a year ago 
 were bitterly opposed to the bare idea of Chinese imported 
 labour, now by the speeches of their delegates protested 
 in the strongest terms against the delay in giving effect 
 to the Ordinance, and showed indignation at the slanderous 
 statements current in England, which, as they considered, 
 reflected upon themselves no less than upon any other 
 section of the British community in the Transvaal. 
 
 " The misrepresentations taking place at Home," said 
 one of these working miners, " are unbearable. I have 
 read the speech of a man who is called ' Honest John,' 
 and who knows all about the requirements of the Transvaal, 
 though he lives thousands of miles away. This gentleman 
 says that the reason we cannot get labour is that the 
 natives are inhumanly treated. I will give that statement 
 
THE SOLUTION OP THE LABOUR PROBLEM 349 
 
 the lie direct. I maintain tliat there has been a great 
 improvement in the treatment of the natives. I am sure 
 that every one here who has worked in the mines knows 
 that the Kafir's day's work is not in any extra way laborious. 
 If he shows anything in the way of frugality, at the end of 
 a year's service he can walk away with ^30 or ^^35 in 
 his pocket. Where is the British unskilled workman who 
 can do that?" 
 
 And another : 
 
 "The unanimous feeling of the mines in the district 
 from which I come is for imported labour. It has been said 
 that this is a capitalistic question, but I consider it is a work- 
 ing man's question. The working men are suffering enough 
 from not being able to get work. We believe that if 
 labourers can be brought from China and the mines started, 
 it will be a great deal better for all hands — for the working 
 classes, not only on the mines but in the towns, for the 
 farmers, and every one." 
 
 In addition to the thirty-seven mines, the public bodies 
 represented were : the Town Council, the Chamber of 
 Trade, and the Chamber of Commerce, of Johannesburg ; 
 the Rand Pioneers, the Transvaal Landowners' Associa- 
 tion, the Municipality of Germiston, the Municipality of 
 Boksburg, the East Rand Vigilance Association, the 
 Prospectors' and Claimholders' Association of the Transvaal, 
 the Mine Managers' Association, the Committee of the 
 Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Licensed Victuallers' 
 Association, the Transvaal Society of Architects, the 
 Urban District Board of Springs, the Boksburg Chamber 
 of Commerce, the Boksburg Licensed Victuallers' Associa- 
 tion, the Salvation Army, the Johannesburg Cabmen's 
 Union, and the Builders' and Contractors' Association. 
 
 The scientific societies and associations of professional 
 men sending delegates were: The South African Associa- 
 tion of Engineers, the Mechanical Engineers' Association, 
 the Chemical and Metallurgical Association, the Geological 
 Society, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the 
 Institute of Mine Surveyors, the Society of Architects, the 
 Society of Accountants and Auditors ; and the Institute 
 of Land Surveyors. 
 
350 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 The Mayor of Johannesburg, in introducing the Deputa- 
 tion, read a telegram in which the Bishop of Pretoria, as 
 representing the Anglican Communion in the Transvaal, 
 stated his regret at his inability to be present on the occasion, 
 and his belief that "the importation of unskilled Asiatic 
 labour under Government regulations was the only solution 
 of the present difficulties." He also said that he had been 
 authorised to make known to the Deputation and to the 
 public, that the Witwatersrand Church Council had sent 
 a message by cable to the Annual Conference of the 
 Evangelical Free Churches then in session at Newcastle 
 in England. 
 
 "The Witwatersrand Church Council at a meeting, 
 held yesterday, embracing representatives of the Baptist, 
 Congregational, Presbyterian and Wesleyan Churches of 
 Johannesburg and district, resolved the following by vote of 
 30 to I : That while expressing no opinion on the economic 
 questions involved, this meeting strongly deprecates your 
 agitation against Chinese labour, and thinks that fuller know- 
 ledge will modify your views as to the conditions of service 
 which are voluntary. Similar conditions have long prevailed 
 in South Africa. We suggest that your utmost efforts be 
 directed to securing perfect freedom for Christian work among 
 Chinese. Please read at annual Conference and publish." 
 
 The resolution which had been passed by the delegates 
 representing these various bodies was this : 
 
 " We desire most earnestly to impress on His Majesty's 
 Government : 
 
 " (a) That it is the interests of the whole white community 
 of this Colony that are at stake, and more especially 
 of the British population engaged in commerce and 
 industry which is dependent on an adequate supply 
 of coloured labour. 
 
 " (d) That so far from the importation of unskilled labour 
 diminishing the employment of whites, it must 
 necessarily augment it. 
 
 "(c) That failing the immediate giving effect to the 
 Ordinance, an increasing number of white workers 
 will find themselves without the means of livelihood, 
 and the present acute financial and industrial depres- 
 sion will be intensely aggravated." 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 351 
 
 Lord Milner, in his very brief reply, assured the deputa- 
 tion that he would not fail to report telegraphically to the 
 Secretary of State the terms of the resolution, and the sub- 
 stance of the speeches by which it had been supported. 
 With reference to the two allegations — that the conditions 
 under which the Chinese would work would amount to 
 slavery, and that the real purpose of the employment of 
 Chinese labour was to exclude or limit fresh British 
 immigration — upon which the political opposition in 
 England to the Ordinance was based, he said : 
 
 " It is a cruel thing that a white British population of this 
 country, standing on the same level of humanity and civilisa- 
 tion, animated by the same profound love of justice and of 
 freedom as their fellow-countrymen at Home, should be 
 wrongly and absurdly accused of a desire to introduce 
 slavery into their midst. I say that it is a monstrous abuse 
 of language to apply that term to the arrangements which 
 it is proposed to introduce here, arrangements which are 
 identical with those which have been introduced, identical 
 with the system which prevails, and has prevailed for 
 years, with the full knowledge and approval of the British 
 Government and people, in many other colonies of the 
 British Empire. And if it is not equally slanderous, it is 
 equally untrue to say that any one, either the Government or 
 the mine-owners, or any of the many important public 
 bodies who are represented here to-day are desirous of 
 substituting coloured for white labour, or of cutting down 
 the opportunities for the employment of white labour in its 
 proper sphere in this country. The very opposite is the 
 truth. This is a misrepresentation which comes home very 
 near to me personally. If there is one thing which is a more 
 intense object of desire to me than any other — if there is one 
 paramount object of my endeavours — it is to increase the 
 white population of this country — not by underpaid labour, 
 but to increase the opportunity of white men to earn a good, 
 adequate wage, and to bring up white families in prosperity 
 and in comfort in this land, which, under proper conditions 
 will present such extraordinary opportunities for doing so. 
 I am perfectly satisfied that an increase in the supply of 
 coloured labour is necessary, under the present economic 
 conditions, not only for the prosperity of the whites already 
 here, but it is an essential preliminary condition for the 
 introduction of any larger number. Unless you can obtain 
 
352 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 that coloured labour, the depopulation of the country, the 
 white exodus which has already commenced, will go on. 
 If you do obtain coloured labour in any adequate quantity 
 the prosperity of the country will gradually return, and there 
 will be employment of a good kind not only for many whites 
 who are idle here to-day, but for many more who will come 
 here. On the one hand you have stagnation and depopula- 
 tion ; on the other hand you have a prospect of a gradual 
 return to prosperous conditions and a large increase in the 
 population of working whites. I reckon, and I stake my 
 reputation on the correctness of the reckoning, that for every 
 10,000 coloured labourers you can obtain in addition to 
 your present supply, you will, within three years, have 
 10,000 whites — men, women, and children — added to the 
 population of this country." ^ 
 
 This demonstration produced an appreciable effect both 
 in England and in Australia and New Zealand. 
 
 " Short of a telephone between the Wanderers' and the 
 House of Commons," wrote the Star,''' " it is difficult to 
 conceive what more could be done to make the mind of this 
 community known to England than was done yesterday. 
 ... In the absence of the machinery of representative 
 Government, nothing more could have been done, than was 
 done, to make the deputation which waited upon Lord 
 Milner an effective instrument for the representation of the 
 mass of the English population of the colony. The message 
 of the meeting to the people of England was the more 
 eloquent of meaning for the brevity and restraint of the 
 proceedings." 
 
 The text of the resolution, with a short account of the 
 character of the deputation, reached Mr Lyttelton late the 
 same night, and on the afternoon of the next day (nth 
 March) he sent the following telegram to Lord Milner : — 
 
 " The Regulations set forth in your telegram of 8th 
 March, No. i, subject to alteration of Regulation No. 33, as 
 agreed in your telegram of loth March, No. 2, satisfactorily 
 fulfil my pledges ; and you are therefore at liberty to act 
 under the suspending clause and to proclaim in the Gazette 
 
 ^ See forward, p. 367, for effect of Chinese labour on the increase of the white 
 population of the Transvaal. 
 
 ^ Johannesburg, nth March 1904. 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUE PROBLEM 353 
 
 that it is His Majesty's pleasure not to disallow the 
 Ordinance." ^ 
 
 The announcement of the Royal assent did much to 
 relieve the tension on the Rand, but before any coolies could 
 be embarked it was necessary that the Chinese Government 
 should approve the Regulations and authorise the Chinese 
 Ambassador in London to sign the new Convention. The 
 text of the Regulations was forwarded by mail on the 21st 
 and reached the Colonial Office on 9th April. Thus, the 
 two events which, as already noted, fell out with such 
 dramatic juxtaposition — the outbreak of the plague, and the 
 Opposition vote of censure — took place in the interval between 
 the Royal assent and the commencement of the final stage in 
 the negotiations with the Chinese Government. 
 
 The official statement that cases of the bubonic plague 
 had occurred in the Indian coolie location at Johannesburg 
 was published in the Transvaal newspapers of Monday, 21st 
 March, and on the same day Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman 
 moved his vote of censure in the House of Commons. 
 This latter, which was in effect a vote of " no confidence " on 
 the ground that the Government had sanctioned the Labour 
 Importation Ordinance, was negatived by 299 to 252 votes ; 
 while a similar motion, brought forward by Lord Coleridge, 
 was rejected in the House of Lords by 97 to 25 votes. The 
 drop in the Government majority affords a measure alike of 
 the unpopularity of the Labour Ordinance in England, and 
 of the courage and loyality with which Mr Balfour's Ministry 
 supported Lord Milner in this grave crisis. Whether it 
 be held that Chinese labour was necessary or unnecessary, 
 nothing can rob the Unionist Ministry of the supreme merit 
 of having, perhaps for the first time in the history of South 
 Africa, refused to allow the realised risk of defeat in 
 Parliament and in the country to deflect them from carrying 
 out a policy which they believed to be essential to the well 
 being of a British colony. The principle which in this 
 matter guided the leaders of the Unionist Party, inspired 
 as they were by the wider knowledge and the more splendid 
 ideals of recent years, was definitely placed on record by 
 
 1 Cd. 1986. 
 VOL. I. Z 
 
354 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Mr Lyttelton in a letter written to a correspondent, and 
 published in the English papers a few days before the date 
 of the Chinese labour debate. In answer to the question, 
 Did he not know that the support of the Transvaal Labour 
 Importation Ordinance would have a bad effect upon the 
 prospects of the Unionist Party in the Constituencies, Mr 
 Lyttelton wrote : — 
 
 " I am aware that the Government's decision will probably 
 cost the party many votes ; but a Government which flinched 
 from what it knew to be necessary in the interests of another 
 part of the Empire in order to avoid losing some supporters 
 at Home would not deserve to retain the possession of 
 power." ^ 
 
 The appearance of the plague placed the labour supply 
 once more in jeopardy just at the very moment when the 
 Parliamentary barrier had been successfully surmounted. 
 How grave was the danger may be understood from the 
 fact that, although the Convention (which embodied the 
 Regulations) was telegraphed on i8th April to the Chinese 
 Government at Pekin, and formal notification of their 
 approval of the text was received on the 22nd, between 
 these two dates Mr Lyttelton had sent this disquieting 
 telegram to Lord Milner : — 
 
 "In connection with questions in Parliament, I shall be 
 glad to know what is the view of your medical experts as 
 to the probable risk of the extension of the Plague epidemic 
 through the importation of the Chinese, and how they would 
 propose to diminish this risk." 
 
 Happily the opponents of the Ordinance in England did 
 not realise that the outbreak of plague at Johannesburg had 
 provided them with a new and well-founded argument 
 against the importation, until all practical danger of the 
 spread of the disease had disappeared. Indeed it would 
 be difficult to find any recorded instance of a similiar 
 visitation in which the risk of an epidemic was so urgent, 
 and at the same time the plague itself was so promptly 
 
 1 Quoted in the leading article of the Star of the morning following the 
 debate (22nd March 1904), 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 355 
 
 and successfully overcome. This fortunate result was due 
 to the fact that the health authorities in the Transvaal 
 were perfectly prepared to meet the emergency. In 1901 
 Cape Town had been subjected to a severe visitation of 
 the plague. In December 1902 a dangerous outbreak had 
 occurred at Durban, and in spite of the prompt action of 
 the Natal Government the disease had spread to Maritzburg 
 before it had been stamped out. To provide against the 
 contingency of the plague spreading from Natal to the 
 Transvaal on this occasion the medical authorities of the 
 Transvaal had constructed a properly equipped plague 
 hospital at Rietfontein, eight miles from Johannesburg. 
 During the last twelve months plague - infected rats had 
 been discovered at intervals in Johannesburg, and the Town 
 Council had decided to expropriate the quarter which 
 contained the Indian, Malay, and native locations, as being 
 an " insanitary area," and remove the inhabitants to suitable 
 sites outside the town. When, therefore, the plague appeared, 
 the machinery for fighting it was at once put in motion, 
 and so completely was this dangerous scourge checked and 
 controlled from the very outset, that after the natural alarm 
 created by the first official announcements and bulletins had 
 died down, the public of Johannesburg showed scarcely any 
 consciousness of the grim visitant, which lingered none the 
 less for some three months in their midst. 
 
 The episode is one which reflects credit upon Dr W. C. 
 C. Pakes, the Government Analyst and Bacteriologist, who in 
 the absence^ of Dr Porter, was appointed Acting Medical 
 Officer of Health for the Transvaal, and upon Dr Mackenzie, 
 the District Surgeon for the Rand, and their subordinates ; 
 and this credit must be shared by the Government of the 
 colony, by the Municipality of Johannesburg, and by the 
 inhabitants of the town — both Europeans and natives ^ — all 
 of whom contributed within their several spheres to the 
 prompt suppression of the disease, 
 
 At 7.30 P.M. on Friday, i8th March, it was reported to 
 the District Surgeon that there were cases of pneumonia in 
 
 ' Through illness. 
 
 " A mass meeting of natives was convened by the Native Affairs Department, 
 at which the nature of the plague, and the remedies against its spread, were 
 explained. 
 
356 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 the Indian coolie location. Early on the following morning 
 the location was visited by Dr Pakes, and the patients 
 were removed to a temporary hospital in the town, while 
 seven coolies who had died were taken away for a post- 
 mortem and bacteriological examination. Late in the 
 evening the police were informed that the examination 
 showed that in three out of the seven cases the cause of 
 death was the plague. That same night the location was 
 surrounded by a cordon of police, which prevented either 
 ingress or egress ; the patients were removed to hospital, 
 and their houses were disinfected. On the next day, Sunday, 
 the 20th, an informal meeting of the Town Council was 
 held at half-past nine in the morning, the plague hospital 
 at Rietfontein was opened, and all patients capable of being 
 moved were carried there from the temporary hospital in 
 the town. On Monday, the 2ist, a special meeting of the 
 Town Council was convened, a Plague Committee was 
 appointed, the bye-laws of the Public Health Act relating 
 to the prevention of epidemic disease were brought into 
 force, and it was decided to remove the locations in the 
 " insanitary area " at the earliest moment that suitable sites 
 could be found for them outside the town. Until this last 
 decision could be put into effect, the whole of the " insanitary 
 area" was put into quarantine, and its inhabitants, some 
 3,000 Indian coolies and Kafirs, were fed at the public 
 expense. But so prompt and effective was the action of 
 the Plague Committee that before the first week had passed 
 these inhabitants had been deported to new locations, eight 
 miles distant from the town, and the process of destroying the 
 houses and buildings, preparatory to the final purification 
 of the whole area by fire and disinfectants, had begun. 
 
 In these circumstances the Home Government's offer to 
 send out medical men had been gratefully refused, and when 
 Mr Lyttelton raised the question of postponing the importa- 
 tion in his telegram of 20th April, Lord Milner was able to 
 make a perfectly satisfactory reply. 
 
 " Your question," he telegraphed on 2Sth April, " is capable 
 of two interpretations, viz. : — 
 
 "(i) That there is danger of the Chinese bringing the 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 367 
 
 plague with them. In reply to this the medical 
 experts point out that the immigrants will be under 
 observation at least twenty-five days before their 
 arrival, will be medically examined at Durban, 
 and will be picked men specially selected for 
 their health and strength. It seems certain that 
 the plague, if it exists, must be discovered before 
 their arrival on the Rand. 
 "(2) That the increase in the number of Asiatics on the 
 Rand may increase the chances of the plague 
 spreading. The reply to this is {a) that the 
 Chinese are not more but probably less susceptible 
 to plague than the Indians ; {b) that given the 
 assurance that the Plague Committee continues 
 and does not relax its vigilance, the increase of 
 the number of the Asiatics does not increase the 
 risk ; (c) that every possible arrangement is being 
 made on the mines to make and keep clean the 
 premises destined for the reception of the Chinese. 
 The mine-owners are of course vitally interested 
 in preventing all risk of plague. It should be 
 remembered in this connection that fifty deaths 
 occurred on the first outbreak of the plague in 
 the Indian location. The whole population of 
 over 3,000 were then moved to a new site, where 
 only one death occurred during the first period of 
 incubation, and none since.^ This seems adequate 
 proof of the vigilance and knowledge of the plague 
 authorities. They are of opinion that the plague 
 will very soon die out, but their vigilance will 
 in no case be relaxed." 
 
 In addition to the difficulty presented by the plague 
 a harassing delay was occasioned at the eleventh hour by 
 Mr Lyttelton, who, in order to fulfil his Parliamentary 
 pledges to the very letter, insisted upon certain alterations 
 in the Regulations, even after the Convention had been 
 accepted by the Chinese Government. The purpose of the 
 most important of these amendments was to insure that 
 the Chinese labourers should not be used to displace, instead 
 of merely supplementing, native African labour. With this 
 
 •' There were a few deaths among the Europeans, but all of these were cases in 
 which direct contact with the Indian patients could be traced— /.e. contact before 
 the disease was known to be the plague. 
 
358 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 object in view, Mr Lyttelton at first insisted upon is. 6d, 
 per day being inserted in the contract as the minimum 
 wage payable by the employer. As against this, however, 
 the agents of the mine-owners in China pointed out that no 
 coolie would work even half-power for a minimum wage, 
 while, on the scale of wages fixed by the Chamber of Mines, 
 any man who was prepared to work would easily earn at 
 piece-work 50 per cent, more than the proposed minimum 
 of IS. 6d. In deference to these practical considerations 
 Mr Lyttelton accepted a compromise proposed by Lord 
 Milner. If within six months of arrival on the Rand the 
 average coolie pay did not equal jr2, los. per month of 
 thirty days — a rate which exceeded the average rate of 
 wages paid to the natives before the war — then the mine- 
 owners would raise the minimum day's pay from is. 
 to IS. 6d. 
 
 While communications were passing upon this and other 
 matters — which included the most minute details of the 
 dietary, medical attendance, and general accommodation to 
 be provided for the Chinese labourers on the Transports — 
 Lord Lansdowne and the Chinese Ambassador, who had 
 now received the necessary authority from his Government, 
 signed the Convention on 13th May. Five days later Mr 
 Lyttelton was able to telegraph to Lord Milner that he 
 was at length satisfied with the arrangements for the con- 
 veyance and reception of the immigrant labourers, and that 
 he was prepared to allow the Transvaal Government to 
 take the responsibility of permitting their introduction in 
 spite of the plague. " You are, therefore, at liberty," he 
 concluded, " to allow the embarkation from China and Hong- 
 Kong to take place, as soon as you are satisfied that all 
 necessary preliminary conditions have been complied with." 
 
 The Ordinance came into operation on the following 
 day, 19th May. The first immigrant ship, the Tweeddale, 
 left Hong-Kong on the 25th, and reached Durban on i8th 
 June. Here the Chinese immigrants were first examined 
 on board ship by the Medical Officer of the harbour, and 
 then disembarked and taken to the comfortable depot erected 
 for their accommodation. 
 
 The actual arrangements made for the transport of the 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 359 
 
 coolies from the coast to the Rand, and for their housing on 
 the mines, were such as to satisfy the most exacting of the 
 pseudo-humanitarian critics of the Ordinance. The popular 
 imagination in England, as fed by the anti-Chinese agitation 
 of the Liberal Opposition, pictured the Chinese labourers 
 toiling in a sad procession, if not actually driven by the 
 lash, to the Transvaal border. In sober fact, after a short 
 delay in Durban, during which their contracts were registered 
 and identification passports issued, they entered the special 
 trains ready to convey them to the mines. Each train 
 held about three hundred men, and suitable arrangements 
 for rationing, and for securing cleanliness, during the journey 
 were provided. The trains ran through to the mine sidings, 
 and the immigrants were detrained on the respective mines 
 in which they were to work. Both the examination of the 
 coolies by the Port Officer of Health at Durban and the 
 entrainment were supervised by Mr Evans, the " Super- 
 intendent" of the Chinese, and the representative of the 
 Transvaal, and (under the Convention) of the Chinese, 
 Government.^ And in point of fact, the arrangements then 
 made for the reception of the Chinese coolies at Durban 
 were more complete and efficient than those which had 
 been made for the landing of the British troops at this port 
 in the course of the war. In the quarters which awaited 
 them on the Rand every necessary provision was made to 
 secure health and comfort. On each mine the Chinese 
 had a separate kitchen and eating rooms, and extra hospital 
 accommodation was added. During the period of their 
 contract the interests of the labourers were carefully guarded 
 by the Transvaal Government. Mr Evans and his inspectors 
 made frequent visits of inspection to the compounds, their 
 pay and their time sheets were periodically examined, and 
 the conditions under which they worked were completely 
 supervised. 
 
 On 2nd July the first contingent, 600 in number, of 
 Chinese began work upon the New Comet Mine. From 
 this time onwards, so efficient were the arrangements made 
 by the mining companies both in China and in South 
 
 1 It was Mr Evans who figured subsequently in the "Chinese Flogging" 
 incident of 1906. See forward chap. xx. p, 360 vol. ii.. 
 
360 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 Africa, and so favourable was the impression produced in 
 China by the terms of the contract, that an unbroken 
 succession of transports, each carrying some 2,000 labourers, 
 continued to arrive at intervals of a fortnight, until the 
 complements of unskilled labour required by the several 
 mines of the Witwatersrand gold industry were made up. 
 
 It remains to give a brief account of the Ordinance itself. 
 
 The characteristic features of the " Labour Importation 
 Ordinance, 1904," — to give the measure its authorised short 
 title — were these: — 
 
 (i) The labourers were placed under supervision of the 
 Transvaal Government from their recruitment to their 
 repatriation. To give effect to this principle the Ordinance 
 provided for the appointment of a superintendent of labourers 
 and a staff of inspectors. Sections 2 and 3 of the Ordinance 
 deal with the appointment, powers, and duties of these 
 officials. 
 
 (2) The labourers undertook, by the terms of their con- 
 tract, not to leave the area of the particular mine on which 
 they were employed without a permit. This condition of 
 the contract to be made between the importer and the 
 labourers is expressed in section 19 of the Ordinance, 
 which reads: — 
 
 " No labourer introduced under this Ordinance shall leave 
 the premises on which he is employed without a permit in 
 the form and containing the particulars prescribed by regula- 
 tion signed by some person authorized thereto by the 
 importer; provided that no such permit shall authorize the 
 absence of such labourer from such premises for more than 
 forty-eight hours from the time when it was issued." 
 
 This section of the Ordinance was effectuated by clause 4 
 of the " Contract of Service " taken together with the first 
 schedule thereto. 
 
 " Each of the said labourers shall, so long as he remains 
 in the Transvaal, be subject to the provisions contained in the 
 Labour Importation Ordinance and the Regulations made 
 thereunder, and more especially to such of the said provisions 
 as are substantially set forth in the first schedule to this 
 contract." 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 361 
 
 That part of the first schedule which refers to this 
 condition of service commences, 
 
 " Every labourer shall always carry a passport which his 
 employer shall obtain for him from the Superintendent." 
 
 Then follows, mutatis mutandis, section 19 of the 
 Ordinance which has been quoted above. 
 The schedule then proceeds : — 
 
 " Any person leaving the premises on which he is em- 
 ployed without such permit or having received such permit 
 remains absent from such premises more than forty-eight 
 hours or goes outside the Witwatersrand District shall be 
 liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds, 
 and in default of payment to imprisonment for a period not 
 exceeding one month." 
 
 This is followed by further paragraphs setting out fully 
 and clearly that the labourer must produce his passport, or 
 permit, when required by a police officer or inspector of 
 labourers, and the penalties which he will incur if he fails 
 to do so. 
 
 It must be added that provision was made for bringing 
 this particular condition of service, in common with all the 
 other terms of the contract, within the full comprehension of 
 the labourer before he signed his contract. This was eiifected 
 by sections 3 and 4 of the Regulations issued by the 
 Transvaal Government. 
 
 " The official mentioned \i.e. an official styled ' Transvaal 
 Emigration Agent,' representing the Transvaal Government, 
 and stationed at the ports of embarkation in China] shall, 
 before any contract is signed by the labourers, explain to 
 them in their own language the provisions thereof, and 
 also the clauses set forth in the first schedule attached to 
 the contract, and shall certify at the foot of the said con- 
 tract that he has done so, and that the labourers who sign 
 the contract did so voluntarily, and without any undue 
 pressure or misrepresentation. 
 
 " No contract shall be registered at the office of the Super- 
 intendent not certified as aforesaid." 
 
 And the next section provides that the contract must be 
 
362 RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 executed in duplicate, and that of the two originals, one must 
 be kept by the Superintendent on behalf of the labourer, and 
 the other by the employer; while to the labourer himself 
 a certified copy of the contract, translated into the Chinese 
 language, is to be delivered by the Emigration Agent. 
 
 It was the presence of this covenant in the Contract of 
 Service that formed the main basis for the charge of re- 
 introducing slavery into the British Empire, which was 
 brought against Mr Balfour's administration by the Liberal 
 Opposition. It is a matter of history that this charge gained 
 some hundreds of thousands of votes for Liberal candidates 
 in the general election of 1906. Yet it is diiificult to under- 
 stand how any educated man, with the text of the Ordinance, 
 Regulations, and Contract of Service before him, could have 
 countenanced, still less himself employed, so gross a mis- 
 representation of the facts. Not only was this condition of 
 the three years period of service accepted voluntarily by 
 every labourer, but it was specifically provided that he could 
 terminate his engagement at will, and at any time, without 
 incurring any penalty other than the payment of the expenses 
 of his journeys to and from the Transvaal. This power, 
 which in itself might have been deemed sufificient to remove 
 any taint of " slavery," was secured to the Chinaman by 
 section 6 of the Regulations, where it is defined in the most 
 explicit terms. 
 
 " It shall be competent for any labourer to terminate his 
 contract of service at any time without (assigning any reason 
 on tendering to his importer the expenses incurred in intro- 
 ducing him and his wife and children (if any) into the 
 Transvaal, together with a sum sufficient to defray the 
 expenditure necessary in returning them to the port at which 
 they embarked." 
 
 But apart from the fact that such a provision completely 
 removes any legal or logical justification for the charge of 
 "slavery," this particular condition of service, with the 
 accompanying undertaking to submit to the rules of the 
 pass system,^ was perfectly familiar and customary in South 
 Africa. A South African would have been as much surprised 
 at an Englishman who applied the word " slavery " to the 
 ' For the working of this system, see vol. ii. p. 175. 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 363 
 
 restrictions placed upon tiie movements of native African 
 labourers employed in the mines, as an Englishman would be 
 if a South African characterised the restrictions placed upon 
 the absence of soldiers from their quarters in barracks, or of 
 assistant-masters from the premises of a public school, as 
 " slavery." And in point of fact the Chinese were better and 
 not worse off than a large section of the African natives in 
 this respect. In Kimberley, where the special circumstances 
 of the diamond industry made a rigid confinement to the 
 mine premises during the entire period of engagement an 
 absolute necessity, the quarters in which the natives live, 
 in addition to lateral barriers, are enclosed overhead with 
 wire netting. And at the end of the six months or other 
 period of service, the natives are carefully searched — a 
 process which includes, if necessary, the administration of 
 an emetic — in order that any attempted theft of the minute 
 but valuable stones may be detected and punished. 
 
 Moreover, the pass system was universally applied to 
 native African labourers employed in industries of all 
 kinds and in domestic service. Its necessity was universally 
 recognised ; its operation gave rise to no complaints and 
 created no hardships. To say, then, that the Chinese 
 were being treated like slaves, because they had submitted 
 voluntarily, and with full knowledge, to restrictions imposed 
 by law and custom in the like circumstances upon five out 
 of every six of the inhabitants of South Africa, was not 
 only to practise a gross fraud upon the electorate of the 
 United Kingdom, but by implication to put upon the 
 European inhabitants of South Africa a grotesque and 
 injurious calumny. 
 
 (3) The Chinese labourers were to be returned without 
 delay, and at the expense of the importer, to their ports 
 of embarkation in China at the end of their three years' term 
 of service, or, in the event of re-engagement, at the end 
 of the new term. During their residence in the Transvaal 
 they were not permitted to trade, or to acquire a lease 
 or hold land, either directly, or indirectly through an agent 
 or trustee. Nor was any person allowed to employ them 
 on any work other than "unskilled labour in the exploita- 
 tion of minerals within the Witwatersrand District." Any 
 
364 KECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 infraction of the Ordinance in these respects either by the 
 labourers themselves, or by any employer, or by any person 
 aiding or abetting the labourers, rendered the offender liable 
 to heavy penalties. The substance of the provisions of the 
 Ordinance dealing with these matters, including a complete 
 list of the forbidden occupations, were stated fully and 
 plainly in the Contract of Service, so that in this, as in all 
 other respects, the coolie knew precisely what lay before 
 him prior to entering into his engagement in China.^ 
 
 (4) The fullest provision was made for the comfort of 
 the labourers both on the mines and during their journey 
 to and from the Transvaal. The suitability of their food 
 and its preparation, their medical attendance and hospital 
 accommodation, the due observance of the customary 
 holidays and festivals of the Chinese year, the precise scale 
 of wages to which they were to be entitled, and lastly their 
 right to be accompanied by their wives and children, if 
 they so desired — all of these matters were treated in detail 
 in the Ordinance and the Regulations, and substantially 
 set out in the Contract of Service. In a word, nothing 
 was left undone either in the scope of the measure, or in 
 the machinery created for giving effect to its provisions, 
 to ensure that the contract into which the Chinese entered 
 should be an equitable one, and that it should be carried 
 out to the letter on both sides. 
 
 The inclusion of the provisions referred to in the above 
 paragraphs (3) and (4), and the completeness with which 
 all the essential conditions, rights, and penalties, attached 
 to the service for which the Chinese engaged themselves 
 were embodied in the form of Contract, made the Labour 
 Importation Ordinance, as a piece of legislation, an appreci- 
 able advance upon any similar enactment hitherto placed 
 upon the statute book of a British colony or possession. 
 The principle that Asiatics were not to be allowed to 
 compete with white men in a British colony was fully 
 recognised and maintained ; but at the same time every 
 safeguard was introduced which was calculated to prevent 
 misunderstandings, and a consequent sense of hardship 
 
 1 These provisions are to be found in §§ 9, 10, 14, and 31 of the Ordinance, 
 and in the Contract of Service. 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 365 
 
 or injustice, on the part of the imported labourers. The 
 Chinese coolies were invited to come for the term of their 
 contract, and not to settle in the Transvaal ; to do unskilled 
 work on the mines, and nothing else. If they did not 
 wish to come on these terms, then they were told quite 
 clearly that they would not be allowed to come at all. 
 On the other hand, if they were prepared to accept these 
 terms, they were assured of good treatment, comfortable 
 quarters, and a scale of remuneration for their services, 
 which would enable an industrious man at the end of his 
 contract to take back a small fortune with him to China.^ 
 
 (5) The conditions of importation and service established 
 by the Ordinance for the Chinese labourers resembled, 
 mutatis mutandis, those regularised by the Modus Vivendi 
 for the supply of native African labour obtained for the 
 mines from the Portuguese possessions on the East Coast. 
 
 Thus, the Modus Vivendi provided for the appointment 
 and powers of an official, styled the " Curator " of Portuguese 
 natives, residing at Johannesburg, whose business it was 
 to supervise these labourers and to protect their interests 
 and those of the Portuguese Government. In particular he 
 was to keep a register of all Portuguese natives imported 
 into the Transvaal and of their places of employment ; 
 and the Transvaal Government undertook to give the 
 Curator "every facility and assistance in its power" to 
 enable him to carry out his duties in this respect.^ The 
 recruitment of labourers in Portuguese territory was carried 
 on only by persons approved by both Governments ; and 
 the machinery for the registration of the labourers, for 
 providing them with identification passports, and for 
 securing their observance of the regulations of the pass 
 system during their residence in the Transvaal, was 
 identical in all essential particulars with the machinery 
 created by the Labour Importation Ordinance in the case 
 of the Chinese.^ 
 
 The contract of employment was for one year's service — 
 in the case of the Chinese labourers, who were brought from 
 
 ^ '^^ '^^^ °^ '^^ Ordinance and of the Convention is given in Cd. 2026. 
 The Regulations, Contract, etc., are printed in Cd. 218?. 
 ^ Article III. •* 
 
 ' Articles 11., VI., and VII. 
 
366 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 a long distance, and were generally without previous ex- 
 perience in mining, three years was held to be the shortest 
 practicable period — and at the end of this period they were 
 to return to Portuguese territory. If a Portuguese native 
 desired to renew his contract, he might do so, and in this 
 case the Portuguese Government was entitled to a further 
 fee. But the Transvaal Government undertook that the 
 Portuguese natives "should be given their discharge at 
 the expiration of the period of contract and that no 
 pressure should be put on them to renew their contract." 
 It also agreed " to use its best endeavours to discourage 
 and prevent the clandestine immigration " of these Portuguese 
 native labourers.^ 
 
 The significance of this agreement in principle between 
 the arrangements made by the Ordinance for the importation 
 of Chinese labour and those already established under the 
 Modus Vivendi^ will be understood when it is remembered 
 that at the time in question and under ordinary conditions 
 the labourers thus imported from Portuguese territory con- 
 stituted 85 per cent, of the total of native African labourers 
 employed on the Rand gold mines. It also affords another 
 and a striking proof of the degree in which sheer ignorance of 
 South African conditions was responsible for the prejudice 
 manifested in England against a measure in itself humane, 
 effective, and of the highest practical utility alike to the 
 country which needed labour and to the labourers who 
 came forward to supply that need. 
 
 The immediate results of the additional labour supply 
 obtained from China may be summarised in a few lines. 
 
 At the end of March 1904, the number of Chinese at work 
 on the Witwatersrand gold mines was nil; at the end of 
 March 1905, when Lord Milner left South Africa, it was 
 
 34-335- 
 
 At the former date the number of British workmen 
 employed in the same industry was 10,240 ; at the latter 
 date it was 13,255. 
 
 At the former date the number of African natives 
 employed was (April) 78,825 ; at the latter date it was 
 105,184. For the importation, so far from displacing the 
 ^ Articles IX. and XII. The Modus Vivendi is given in Cd. 2104. 
 
THE SOLUTION OF THE LABOUR PROBLEM 367 
 
 native, produced a directly opposite effect. With the per- 
 verseness of children, the natives, seeing that they were no 
 longer indispensable, began to offer their services to the 
 white man with increased readiness. 
 
 The output of gold for April 1904 was of the value 
 of ;£^i,30S,43i, or at an annual rate of production of the value 
 of ;^i 5,500,000; for the month of March 1905 it was of 
 the value of ;^ 1,699,991, or at an annual rate of production 
 of the value of ;^20,ooo,ooo. 
 
 In March 1904 it was very doubtful whether the Trans- 
 vaal Government would not have to seek financial assistance 
 from the Parliament of the United Kingdom to enable it 
 to meet the expenditure of the current financial year, which 
 ended on 30th June 1904; on 30th June 1905, when the 
 next financial year ended, the Transvaal Treasurer announced 
 a surplus of ;£347,ooo.^ 
 
 There remains to trace the effect upon the European 
 population. The census of 1904 showed that the gain of 
 30,000 which had accrued in the first few months after the 
 Peace had been lost by the exodus of the six months — 
 October 1903 to April 1904 — immediately preceding it. 
 Between 13th April 1904 (the date of the census) and the 
 end of 1905 it was estimated that the adult white males of the 
 Rand alone increased from 43,000 to 56,000. This estimate 
 was conformed by (i) the voters' lists prepared for the 
 Lyttelton Constitution, and (2) the fact that within this period 
 the Johannesburg Municipality sanctioned the erection of new 
 buildings of the aggregate value of ;^4,ooo,ooo, providing 
 accommodation for 40,000 persons. The census of 191 1 showed 
 that the white population of the colony had increased by 
 123,554, since the date of the 1904 census — i.e. at a per- 
 centage of 41.56 for the seven years. 
 
 The months which passed between the arrival of the 
 Chinese and Lord Milner's retirement from the High Com- 
 missionership were by no means free from anxiety ; but from 
 the moment that the uninterrupted expansion of the mines 
 was secured the question of the financial solvency of the new 
 colonies ceased to trouble him. The industrial development 
 of the country might not proceed as rapidly as he had 
 
 ^ These figures are taken from Cd. 2593. 
 
368 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COLONIES 
 
 desired, but the ultimate triumph of the material agencies 
 which he had brought into operation was no longer doubtful. 
 The fabric of the material edifice being well advanced, he 
 was able to turn his thoughts to the task of laying the 
 foundations of a political edifice which should be no whit 
 less shapely or stable. 
 
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V 
 
 [Based on Cd. 3028 and the chapter on " Compensation " in Mr 
 Beak's ''Aftermath of the fVar."] 
 
 THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE THREE FUNDS CHARGED TO THE 
 BRITISH EXCHEQUER 
 
 I. The ex-Burgher Fund, or _;^3,ooo,ooo Free Grant. 
 
 It is noticeable that the word " compensation " is nowhere used in 
 Article X. of the Terms of Surrender in pursuance of which the sum 
 of ;^3,ooo,ooo, constituting this fund, was granted. The grant is 
 specifically mentioned as a "free grant," and the undertaking in 
 respect of the notes of the Republican Government and the 
 receipts given by Boer officers in the field, by which it is 
 accompanied, is an undertaking not to pay for such notes and 
 receipts but to accept them, if otherwise valid, as evidence of 
 war losses — that is to say, of losses in respect of which the holders 
 of these notes and receipts, if "unable to provide themselves with 
 food, shelter,'' etc., would be entitled to claim a pro rata share in 
 the grant, when distributed, in common with the rest of the 
 necessitous ex-burghers.^ 
 
 As noticed in the text of chapter v., the sums of money dis- 
 tributed by the Repatriation Commissions were regarded as advances 
 against the ;^3,ooo,ooo grant. The scheme of distribution which 
 was adopted by Lord Milner,^ after long discussion on the point, 
 was this; — 
 
 (i) Every person who had proved that he had sufTered war 
 losses to the amount of ;^2S, or less, was paid in full. 
 
 (2) But in the case of persons who had received non-gratuitous 
 relief from the Repatriation Commissions these grants up 
 
 ' For the plea put forward at the negotiation of the Terms of Surrender, by the 
 Boer representatives, for the recognition of these notes (of law i of 1900 of the 
 South African Republic) and receipts, and for Lord Milner's refusal to allow this 
 plea, see " Lord Milner's Work in South Africa, 1897-1902," p. 558. 
 
 " In March 1905. See chap, xviii. p. 298 note, vol. ii, 
 
 VOL. I. 369 2 A 
 
370 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V 
 
 to ;^2S were used to pay off, or reduce, their debts to the 
 Repatriation Departments. 
 (3) The balance of the ^^3,000,000 grant remaining after the 
 payments under (i) and (2) had been deducted, was dis- 
 tributed //-<? rata amongst the ex-burghers who had sus- 
 tained war losses assessed in each case at more than £^i^. 
 
 It was found that if the assessments exceeding ^2^ in amount 
 were reduced by 5 per cent, and the fund was supplemented 
 by ;^4,o53, is. 3d. the balance for distribution would amount to 
 2S. in the £, on the total of the assessed claims in excess ol J^2tj. 
 This supplement was, therefore, made by the Colonial Governments 
 and the whole cost of administration was borne by them. 
 
 As an example of the manner in which this scheme was applied 
 assume that A. B. C. D. claim respectively ;£25, £,^0, ;^ioo 
 and ;£2oo. 
 
 A. would receive his ^^25 claim in full ; B. would receive 
 £,21, los. — i.e., £2^ plus 2S. in the £ on the £2^ balance, or 
 55 per cent, of his assessed claim ; C. would receive ;^32, los., 
 or 32 J per cent, of his claim; and D. ^^42, los. or 21 J per 
 cent, of his claim. The advantage of this system lay in the fact 
 that the poorer and more necessitous of the ex-burghers received a 
 proportionately larger share of the fund than their wealthier and 
 presumably less necessitous comrades. 
 
 In the Orange River Colony 17,747 claims were investigated. 
 Of these 615, amounting to ;^33S,903, i8s. 4d., were rejected, and 
 17,132 were allowed in whole or in part. The total sum claimed 
 under these latter was ;£i7, 827,932, 5s. lod., and it was assessed 
 at ;£8,432,533, 13s. And in the Transvaal the number of 
 claims was much greater — upwards of 45,000, all of which were 
 investigated with much the same results as those obtained in 
 the case of the Orange River Colony. Payment of ex-burgher 
 compensation began on 23rd October 1905. By September 1906 
 it was practically completed in both colonies. 
 
 The general disposal of the fund was as follows : — 
 
 Fund plus supplement added by Colonial 
 
 Governments ..... ;^3,oo4,o5o i 3 
 Paid to Natal on account of the ceded portion 
 
 of the Transvaal .... 100,000 o o 
 
 Paid to Transvaal ex-burghers . . 1,521,316 8 8 
 
 Paid to O. R. C. ex-burghers . . . 1,382,733 12 7 
 
 ^3,004,050 I 3 
 
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V 371 
 
 II. The _;^2,ooo,ooo Grant for British Subjects and Foreigners. 
 
 The number of foreign subjects who sent in claims for 
 war losses was 2,015 \ ^n<^ '^^ total amount claimed was 
 ^1,494,931, 3s. 4d. Of this number only 695, claiming a total 
 of ^47*, 682, 6s. 6d., established both their neutrality and their 
 loss. They were awarded ;£t3S,6i5, 8s. The British Govern- 
 ment treated all foreign subjects, provided they could prove 
 their neutrality, on the same footing as their own subjects.^ 
 No distinction in the methods of investigation or assessment 
 was made between the two classes of claims, nor was any 
 distinction as to priority in the losses themselves recognised, 
 except that bons de requisition, or receipts given by military 
 oflficers in the field, were paid their assessed value in full. 
 The grant was available in January, 1903 ; 6s. 8d. in the £, 
 was paid out in April 1903, and a second 6s. 8d. in the ^ in 
 the July following. Subsequently a further 4s. in the £, was 
 paid, thus raising the total payments to 17s. 4d. in the jQ, or 
 87 per cent, of the actual assessment. 
 
 The Colonial Governments defrayed the entire cost of collecting, 
 etc., the claims made by British subjects, and added the sum of 
 
 ^ Of the 2,015 foreigners who claimed 595 were Germans. With this action 
 of the British Government in South Africa, says Mr Beak (Aftermath, p. 244) we 
 may usefully compare that of the German and French Governments after the war 
 of 1870-71. "The French Government excluded from compensation German 
 property holders in France who had suffered loss during the struggle. These 
 property owners petitioned the German Government, and on July 2, 187 1, Prince 
 Bismarck in the Reichstag said : ' The citizen of a country who exercises his 
 industry or profession abroad and suffers in consequence of a war cannot expect 
 compensation. He ought always to remember that the greatest risks attach to 
 the fact that he is working in a foreign country. This is a principle which 
 particularly applies to distant countries where the law has not the power it has 
 in the States of the Continent of Europe. Business carried on abroad is often 
 more lucrative. It is more profitable, but it is more dangerous. In my view 
 there is no obligation on the part of the Empire to assist a class of German 
 citizens because war waged by the Empire has caused them loss, to which I 
 will not say that we are accessories, although they were caused because we made 
 war, for the losses are part of the calamity of war.'" And, "In 1871, while 
 excluding Germans, France, for the purposes of compensation, admitted all neutral 
 foreign subjects who were property holders to equal rights with French citizens." 
 But the German Government in the case of Alsace-Lorraine provided that war 
 compensation should be paid out of the French indemnity, subject to the limitation 
 that " Compensation would be paid only to such claimants who at the time of the 
 - promulgation of the law (14th June 1871) were domiciled in Germany. If the 
 claimants were not German citizens, then compensation would be paid to those 
 only the Government of whose country promised reciprocity in similar cases." 
 The British Government, Mr Beak adds, "did not; and no British subjects 
 received compensation from the German Government." 
 
£2,000,149 13 
 300,000 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 584,400 I 
 
 2 
 
 423,887 14 
 
 8 
 
 20,357 II 
 
 4 
 
 372 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V 
 
 ;£i49, 13s. sd. to the original grant. The grant, as thus augmented, 
 was distributed as under : — 
 
 Amount of Fund .... 
 
 Native Compensation . . • . ■ 
 
 Paid 17s. 4d. in the £, to British subjects m 
 
 the Witwatersrand 
 Paid 17s. 4d. in the £, to British subjects in 
 
 the Orange River Colony 
 Paid 17s. 4d. in the £ to British subjects whose 
 
 claims were investigated in the Cape Colony 
 
 and Natal . . . . • 
 
 Paid 17s. 4d. in the £ to Foreign subjects in 
 
 the Transvaal, Orange River Colony, and in 
 
 the portion of the Transvaal ceded to Natal II7>533 611 
 
 Amount paid to the Treasury in repayment of 
 
 advances to British refugees . • 52,679 11 6 
 
 £2,000,149 13 5 
 
 III. The War Office payment of £\,$oo,ooo to satisfy military 
 receipts and the British Governmenfs liability to the 
 protected burghers. 
 
 As against the forced contributions requisitioned by the French 
 and German military authorities, the British Army in the South 
 African war followed its traditional practice of paying for all 
 supplies for the use of troops taken from the inhabitants of the 
 country in which hostilities were in progress. ^ But when, with the 
 extension of the area of the war, payment in cash became difficult, 
 the South African Army Order No. 245, 5 was published, under 
 which payments in cash for supplies were ordered to be suspended 
 and receipts on a prescribed form substituted for such payments. 
 While, however, the general effect of this order was to postpone 
 payment for supplies requisitioned by the military authorities until 
 the close of hostilities, certain departments, notably that of 
 Ordinance, Supplies and Remounts, found it convenient to settle 
 receipts during the continuance of the war. 
 
 But the payment of these mihtary receipts was not the only 
 liability incurred by the War Office. Two proclamations ^ were 
 
 ^ In this respect it may be observed, that the practice of the British Army 
 anticipated the conclusions of Articles LII. and LIII. of the Hague Convention of 
 1899. The net result of these Articles was to modify the principle that "war 
 must support war" to the extent of recognising that the " enemy state " and not 
 the " enemy individual " must be called upon to bear the burden. In other words, 
 while as heretofore public property might be appropriated without payment or 
 recognition of indebtedness, property taken from individuals must be paid for in 
 cash, or a receipt given entitling the owner to recover payment in due course. 
 (Beak). 
 
 ' The text of these proclamations is given in Cd. 3028. 
 
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V 373 
 
 issued by Lord Roberts on 14th and isth March 1900, in which 
 protection of person and property was guaranteed, with certain 
 exceptions, to all burghers who surrendered and took the oath 
 of neutrality. The ex-burghers who had availed themselves of 
 these proclamations, and subsequently been subjected to war 
 losses, were recognised as having a special and direct claim for 
 compensation; and on this ground these "protected burghers," 
 as they were called, were assigned an additional grant, which con- 
 sisted, as will be seen, of the surplus remaining out of the War 
 Office payment, after the military receipts had been discharged. 
 
 From the declaration of peace to January 1903 the work of 
 examining and discharging the receipts was carried out by military 
 officers, and an estimated total sum of ;^i, 600,000 was thus paid 
 out. At this date, and while Mr Chamberlain was in South Africa, 
 an arrangement was made,^ as between the War Office and the 
 Administration of the two new colonies, under which the latter, 
 in consideration of a sum of ;^3,ooo,ooo (which with the sums 
 already paid out by military officers since the declaration of peace 
 ultimately made up a total of _;^4,5oo,ooo) undertook to settle 
 all outstanding military receipts, and in addition to compensate the 
 "protected burghers." In pursuance of this arrangement, and with 
 a view of guarding against impositions, the services of some of 
 the miUtary officers previously employed in the payment of these 
 receipts were retained by the Administration. And the claims of 
 protected burghers were similarly subjected to the scrutiny of these 
 officers in addition to that of the resident Magistrates, to whom as 
 the representatives of the Colonial Governments, claims upon this, as 
 upon the other two "compensation" funds, were brought in the 
 first instance for examination and assessment. 
 
 The precise amount available for the protected burghers could 
 not, of course, be known until the full liability for military receipts 
 had been ascertained; but as a prompt distribution of the fund 
 was very desirable, so soon as sufficient progress had been made 
 with the military payments to show that the surplus remaining 
 would provide approximately for the payment of los. in the JC^ 
 on the approved claims of the protected burghers, payments at 
 this rate were made to them on condition of their accepting such 
 payments as a full discharge of their claims. As in the case of 
 the other funds, however, the actual surplus was supplemented 
 
 ' For the precise circumstances in which this arrangement was made, see 
 chap. vii. p. 138, and chap. viii. p. 161 and p. 200 where the actual words in 
 which Mr Chamberlain announced the arrangement at Bloemfontein (7th February 
 1903) are given. 
 
374 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI 
 
 by a sum of ;£7,85o, 8s. 6s. contributed by the Colonial Govern- 
 ments. In this way it was found possible to proceed with the 
 compensation of the protected burghers concurrently with the 
 payment of the military receipts. This latter, which was carried 
 out on the lines previously adopted by the military authorities, 
 was accomplished by October 1904. 
 
 The distribution of the fund was then shown to be as under : — 
 
 War Office payment .... 
 Supplement ..... 
 
 Paid for Military Receipts 
 Paid to protected burghers in the Transvaal . 
 Paid to protected burghers in the O. R. C. 
 Paid to protected burghers in the part of the 
 
 Transvaal ceded to Natal 
 Paid to protected burghers under awards of 
 
 Western Districts Special Commission 
 Paid to Inter-Colonial Treasurer in repayment 
 
 of part of the costs of investigating and 
 
 paying military receipts and claims against 
 
 this fund ..... 
 
 ^4,500,000 
 7,850 8 
 
 
 6 
 
 2,563,623 16 
 
 640,130 
 
 1,157,976 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 66,666 
 
 
 
 30,183 15 
 
 
 
 49,270 16 
 
 5 
 
 ^4,507,850 8 
 
 6 
 
 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE MODUS VIVENDI OF i8th DECEMBER 1901 
 
 The document is printed in Portuguese and English in parallel 
 columns. Its provisions are (in substance) as under : — 
 
 Article I. The engagement of native labourers from the province 
 of Mozambique for the Transvaal and Rhodesia shall be established 
 from now, and shall be allowed by the Governor-General of the said 
 Province while the present Modus Vivendi is in force or until the 
 said Modus Vivendi shall be denounced by one of the parties in 
 conformity with the terms of Article XIII. 
 
 Article II. The said engagement of native labourers shall be 
 made in conformity with the procedure set forth in the Provincial 
 Regulation of i8th November 1897, subject to such modifications as 
 
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI 375 
 
 may be agreed on between the parties now or hereafter. . . . (Then 
 follow provisions referring to the "collectors of labour," and their 
 guarantee deposit and license.) 
 
 Article III. (refers to the position of the Curator of Natives at 
 Johannesburg, and contains an undertaking on the part of the 
 Transvaal Government to give him facilities for the registration of 
 these imported Mozambique natives). 
 
 Article IV. The combined tariffs and classification of goods on 
 the Lorenzo Marques - Ressano Garcia and Ressano Garcia and 
 Johannesburg lines, which were in force before the war, shall be 
 re-established, and shall be in force as long as this Modus Vivendi 
 shall exist, save for the modifications which may be made by 
 agreement between the two parties. It is understood that should 
 the tariffs or classification of goods be modified on the lines from 
 Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town to the 
 Transvaal, during the existence of the Modus Vivendi, the classifica- 
 tion and tariffs on the Lorenzo Marques- Johannesburg line shall 
 be equally modified in proportion and in such a manner as to pre- 
 serve the relation which existed between the tariffs prior to the war. 
 
 Article V. (deals with the allotment of truckage for civil traflSc 
 to the Lorenzo Marques line by the (then) Director of Military 
 Railways in the British colonies). 
 
 Article VI. (The Transvaal Government official at the border 
 (or elsewhere) is to pay 13s. for every immigrated native, and this 
 sum is to cover all charges of the Mozambique Government, except 
 the fee for re-engagement.) 
 
 Article VII. (The Lorenzo Marques Railway is to grant to the 
 (then) Director of MiUtary Railways the same facilities, etc., as 
 before were granted to the Netherlands South African Railway.) 
 
 Article VIII. (The same railway rates are to be charged for 
 natives up to the Transvaal border as are charged from the border 
 to Johannesburg.) 
 
 Article IX. (The contracts of service are to be for one year or 
 under; if there is a re-engagement (which must be entirely voluntary), 
 then a further fee of 6d. per month must be paid to the Mozambique 
 Government.) 
 
 Article X. The provisions of the Treaty of the nth of December 
 
376 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI 
 
 1875,1 will be observed by the Transvaal Colony and reciprocally 
 by the Portuguese authorities. But notwithstanding anything to 
 the contrary in the aforesaid provisions, alcoholic liquors manu- 
 factured in the Province of Mozambique may be subjected on 
 entering the Transvaal to the same duties as, but no greater than, 
 the duties imposed on similar alcoholic liquors manufactured in 
 the Cape Colony and Natal. 
 
 Reciprocally alcoholic liquors manufactured in the Transvaal 
 may be subjected to the same duties on entering Mozambique. 
 
 It is also to be understood that nothing in the above-mentioned 
 treaty shall be held to prevent the entry of the Transvaal or of 
 the Province of Mozambique, or of both, into the South African 
 Customs Union, should such entry take place during the continuance 
 of the Modus Vivendi. 
 
 Article XI. (During the existence of the Modus Vivendi) goods 
 sent in transit from Lorenzo Marques on entering the Transvaal 
 shall have equal treatment with, and shall pay no higher customs 
 duties than, the same class of goods sent in transit from Durban, 
 East London, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town. 
 
 Article XII. The Transvaal Government will use its best 
 endeavours to discourage and prevent the clandestine immigration 
 of natives from Portuguese Territory. 
 
 Article XIII. The present Modus Vivendi shall be in force until 
 the conclusion of a definite convention. It can, however, be 
 determined by either of the parties by means of one year's notice. 
 As soon as the Modus Vivendi is denounced by either of the parties, 
 the engagement of natives in the Province of Mozambique will be 
 ipso facto suspended. 
 
 [Signed, etc., by H. E. Manuel Raphael Goryao, Governor-General 
 of Mozambique, and Colonel Crewe, British Consul-General at 
 Lorenzo Marques, as representing the High Commissioner for 
 South Africa.] 
 
 ' Under this treaty the produce and manufactures of each country were to be 
 admitted free by the Government of the other. 
 
 END OF VOL. I.