I i\ #•% HI -v Y#v/%

BY THE
Rev. JOHN H= i
Rector -of the Cathedra! Church, Lcsur
sometime H.B.M. Acting i
Loufenco Mari

ILLUSTR

ldndom:
1arshauvham1 lt©n, kent & co.,

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

NATIVES UNDER THE
TRANSVAAL FLAG.

NATIVES UNDER THE
TRANSVAAL FLAG.

BY
The Rev. JOHN H. BOVILL,
Rector of the Cathedral Church, Lourenco Marques,
sometime H.B.M. Acting Consul,
Lourenjo Marques.

LONDON :
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND Co.,

1900.
Three Shillings and Sixpence

\n%

RESPECTFULLY ¦tpcbuatti} ta
THE RIGHT REVEREND WILLIAM EDMUND
LORD BISHOP OF LEBOMBO,
WITH WHOM I HAVE BEEN PRIVILEGED TO WORK
FOR OVER FIVE YEARS,
AND WHOSE LABOUR OF LOVE FOR THE WELFARE OF
THE COUNTLESS INDIGENOUS RACES IS WELL KNOWN.

PREFACE.

The extracts from the Native Pass Law and the
Native Liquor Law are taken from the Transvaal
Commercial Guide and Handbook by Mr. Geo.
Dunbar. The quotations from the Transvaal Grondwct
and the London Convention are from the transla
tion by Mr. Papenfus.
Two photographs of Lourengo Marques are by
Mr. Lee, of that town.
To each of these the Author acknowledges his
indebtedness.

LONDON !
HARRISON AND SONS,
PRINTERS,
ST. martin's LANE, W.C.

CONTENTS.

Page
Introduction  -  I
Part I. How Article 19 of the London Covention has
been respected  11
Part II. The Prohibitive Liquor Law for Natives ... 33
Part III. Native Marriage  41
Part IV. Native Labour on the Rand —
(1) How procured  47
(2) Pass Laws  S1
(3) Condition of Natives  57
(4) Where procured  63
Conclusion  69

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Lourenco Marques Landing Jetty Frontispiece FACING PAGE
Natives going off to the Steamer 1 1
Peaceful Tonga Village near Inhambane 33
Native Chief with his four Wives and Children 41
East Coast Natives on their way to a Labour Centre 51
Johannesburg Gaol 57
Inhambane ... 63
Delagoa Bay ... 69

The Marquis of Salisbury said :
" With regard to the future there must be no doubt that the
Sovereign Power of England is paramount ; there must be no doubt
that the white races will be put upon an equality, and that due
precaution will be taken for the philanthropic and kindly improving
treatmetit of those countless indigenous races, of whose destiny I fear
we have been too forgetful. (' Hear, hear.') Those things must be
insisted upon in the future." — Extract from a Speech in the House
of Lords, Times, October 18th, 1899.

The Bishop of St. John's, Kaffraria, writes :
" It may be, I cannot but feel, a holy war. Many as our sins
and shortcomings may be, it is a war resting on the broad question.
Are these natives of South Africa to be looked upon as beasts of
burden or human beings ? "

INTRODUCTION.

Another book on the Transvaal ! Why ?
Since coming to England I have found that
most people have little or no idea of anything
respecting the condition of the native races, in the
Transvaal. To throw a little light on this subject at the
present moment would no doubt be appreciated
by a large number. For the last five years I
have worked in South Africa, in a district from
which a large number of natives are drawn for
work in the Transvaal, and I have gone to the
Transvaal from time to time, and have seen the
natives on the mines living and working under
different conditions to those to which they have
been accustomed in their kraals.
I have been able to view the native question
from the native's point of view as well as from the
Boer's. I am well acquainted with Boers of all
B

2 INTRODUCTION.
classes, members of the Volksraad, commandants,
and the average Boer, but in each and all (with
only one or two exceptions) their prejudices will
not allow them to give the natives even bare
justice. The questions I deal with are but elementary.
The natives are not asking for a Franchise law or
anything pertaining to a voice in the Government
of the land, but merely asking for laws to regulate
the civil life of their community. The will of the
Native Location Superintendent, or of the Execu
tive, or of anyone appointed by them is the Trans7
vaal Native Law at present.
Article 9 of the Grondwet is not only adhered
to, but is exaggerated in its application, viz. : —
" The people shall not permit any equality of
¦coloured persons with white inhabitants, neither
in the Church, nor in the State." This to an
ordinary Boer means that the natives shall not be
permitted to have an acknowledged civil status in
the Transvaal.
(1) He must not own fixed property.
(2) He must not marry by civil or ecclesiastical
process. (3) He must not be allowed access to civil
courts in any action against a white man.
These three principles are so firmly fixed in the

INTRODUCTION. 3
mind of an average Boer that we can never
expect to see anything done by the Volksraad for
the natives in these particulars. In Natal we
have laws for the natives, founded mopg or less on
native customs, stipulating for and regulating the
civil status of the natives in that Colony. Why
the Transvaal cannot or will not formulate a
similar code of laws it is difficult to understand,
unless it be prejudice or interest.
It appears inconceivable that a Government
making any pretence of being a civilised power, at
the end of the nineteenth century, should be so
completely ignorant of the most elementary prin
ciples of good government for such a large number
of its subjects.
Three years ago, when rinderpest and famine
were rampant in the north-east portion of the
Transvaal, I was in that district for two months,
just after my first attack of-Delagoa Bay fever.
I met several Boer officials and talked with them
respecting the state of the natives in that part of
the Transvaal. Each of them seemed to look at
it from one point only, and that was how they
could profit financially by it. Subscriptions were
raised in Johannesburg for the purchase of mealies,
etc., to be given to the starving natives. The
Government at Pretoria sent food-stuffs for them,
B 3

4 INTRODUCTION.
many private firms contributing, and yet the
natives declare that the Government officials sold
the food at exorbitant prices ! Personally, from
my experience amongst the Boers at that time, I
can believe the native reports.
A Landdrost, whom I know well, taking advan
tage of the famine, discharged all his natives who
were getting £3 a month, and sent a labour agent
to get them replaced by natives from the famine
district for ioj. a month. If they had been
engaged in an honest and fair manner, no one
could complain, but to get them by refusing them
food, or by placing prohibitive prices on the food
sent to relieve them is not at all honest.
Moreover, they consented to work on the usual
terms, and the labour agent said he would arrange
terms when they saw the Landdrost. They came
six days' journey to the Landdrost, and were
offered iar. a month, and if they did not take it
they had to refund the cost of bringing them, for
which 30J. was claimed from each. They were
without money or food, and so had to accept any
terms. When a native once accepts work from a Boer
he is practically bound to remain with him, unless
his master wishes to release him. Runaway ser
vants are lashed.

INTRODUCTION. .5
The present chaotic state of the Transvaal
natives is due to want of recognition by law of
the 2 elementary principles governing life and
property. How, the Pretorian Government has regarded
the clauses in the Convention respecting the native
races in the Transvaal may prove instructive
reading. That the 19th Clause has not been
observed, as it was intended, for the " betterment "
of the natives in the Transvaal, is very apparent.
The Native Liquor Law is the only good piece
of legislation done for the native, but still the
stubborn and insane disregard for native marriage
laws and customs prevails in official as well as
in unofficial circles. The "coloured person" of
any nationality, the coloured " Cape boy " whose
intelligence and education is equal to that of the
average Boer, is denied the civil rights of marriage,
because he is " coloured." This premium put on
vice is a constant source of trouble among the
coloured population of the Transvaal.
The Native Labour Question, too, is one which
affects a very large number of people, both white
and black.
If the Industry is hampered and hindered by
useless restrictions affecting the liberty of the
greater bulk of its labourers, and of all the

6 INTRODUCTION.
unskilled labour, it must greatly, affect its develop
ment. The Mining on the Rand is a settled Industry
and will last for a great many years. To get
settled and regular labourers causes, at present, the
greatest anxiety to those who are responsible to
the shareholders of the mines. Labourers ought
not to be scarce, and would not be, if a native
could only feel that he had not to sacrifice every
vestige of liberty. I do not mean to say that a
native is fond of work for the work's sake, any
more than is any white man. He works on the
mines because he likes the money paid him.
What I do assert is, that if he were not so
hampered by Boer officialism, he would remain
on the Rand for a much longer time than he does
at present. These who are interested in the
Mining Industry would do well to bear this in mind,
before the settlement of Rand affairs are entered
upon by our Government. So far the Mining
Industry has been to the Transvaal Government
the hen that has laid the golden eggs. That
Government has kept it penned up, endeavoured
to cripple it, stolen the eggs ; and now that many
Boers have well replenished themselves, and
waxed fat, with hands upheld sanctimoniously
call it the "curse of the country."

INTRODUCTION. 7
Leave them alone to follow their "peaceful
pursuits" say some of our wiseacres, who have
never seen Africa or a Boer. Of course we all
agree with such a sentiment, although their
" peaceful pursuits " when followed amount to
about that followed by a third rate squatter of
some twenty morgen. It is only when those
" peaceful pursuits " are left, and the squatter tries
his hand at legislating against his " brother " that
we object. If he would only go back to his
" peaceful pursuits " and " pastoral life " "my brother
Boer " would be left alone. Their capabilities as
farmers far exceed their capabilities as legislators
for either black or white.
But now we find ourselves at war with this j
Transvaal State. " Do you think our cause is a
just one?" has been asked of me many times.
My invariable answer is, that I do.
For three reasons : —
(i) Their unwarranted oppression of all Euro
peans. (2) The undue taxation of British and Foreign
capital to arm themselves, and to supply arms to
the political Africander Bond — amongst whom arc
many Dutch British subjects — to arm the Orange
Free State, and to endeavour to drive British
supremacy out of South Africa.

8 INTRODUCTION.
(3) Their total incompetency to govern the
coloured races on humane principles.
(1) It is scarcely three years ago since every
European was ordered to take out his pass, similar
to that of a native, in spite of Article 14 of the
London Convention. It was only when our
Government threatened to take extreme measures
for a breach of the Convention that they agreed to
withdraw the operation of this law. If South
Africa should become under Boer rule, this law will
be once again in operation, and Englishmen
especially will be treated with scant courtesy under
the provisions of the pass law system.
(2) That the Mining Industry was exorbitantly
taxed over and above what was required for legiti
mate purposes is only too apparent in our present
conflict with the Boers. Arms and ammunition
have been served out without stint all over the
Free State and parts of Cape Colony. The schemes
of the Africander Bond for a United South Africa,
under Dutch supremacy, have been practically
developed by the taxation of the Mining Industry.
Every day brings fresh evidence of this fact.
(3) Of their incompetence to govern the natives
of South Africa, or any " coloured people " on
humane principles, you will be able to judge for
yourself after reading these pages.

INTRODUCTION. 9
If ever a war could be justified it is the one we
are at present engaged in.
England might have left the Mining Industry to
have taken care of itself, yet the war would have
taken place. She might have closed her eyes to
the injustice and oppression of her subjects, the in
justice would have been aggravated, and the op
pression increased, until the Africander Bond had
ousted British supremacy from South Africa.
We have now to reconquer parts of our Colony
as well as the Free State and the Transvaal. Can
anyone doubt but that the scheme was to get
Africa for the Africander ? No one who knows the
Dutch politician can doubt it.
More than once have I seen in Lourenco
Marques, the Dutch hero of Dundee — a political
factionist and Boer Commandant — at dinner pro
pose the toast, " The prosperity of United South
Africa." He thought he was slim* but all present
were not " verneuked "f by him. The seriousness
of the situation was well known over twelve months
ago in South Africa, if not in England. Kruger is
but a figure-head in the great scheme. The British
demands for justice, or the massing of troops more
than ioo miles from the border of the Transvaal
* Slim = sly, cunning. f Verneuked = cheated.

IO INTRODUCTION.
were only used as pretexts to carry out the scheme
before we were prepared to offer much resistance.
To think that the present war is over political
rights and the Franchise law is to make a very
serious blunder. Granting it was so, our cause
would be just ; and tenfold more so is it just, when
the object of the enemy is to supplant British
supremacy by that of a half-civilised Dutch rule.

CARGO OF NATIVES GOING OFF FROM THE SHORE
AT INHAMBANE TO JOHANNESBURG.

THE LONDON CONVENTION.

" The Government of the South African Republic
will engage faithfully to fulfil the assurances given
in accordance with the laws of the South African
Republic to the natives at the Pretoria Pitso by
the Royal Commission in the presence of the
Triumvirate and with their entire assent : —
"(i) As to the freedom of the natives to buy
and otherwise acquire land under certain condi
tions ;
" (2) As to the appointment of a Commission to
mark out native locations ;
" (3) As to the access of the natives to the Courts
of law ; and
" (4) As to their being allowed to move freely
within the country, or to leave it for any legal
purpose, under a pass system."
Thus reads Article 19 of the London Conven
tion, and it is my object to point out how far the
South African Republic has failed to fulfil the

12 THE LONDON CONVENTION.
assurances given. One would have taken it for
granted that any Government would have been
anxious to do its best to legislate for the well-being
of such a large number of its subjects. To provide
wise and just laws for the building up of a nation
is surely the first function of a good government.
The more varied the character and races of the
people in the State, the greater may be the
difficulties in legislating wisely ; but they are not
insurmountable. To legislate for the civil life of
one race of its subjects, and to brand the rest as
criminals, whom it refuses to regard as forming
any part of its corporate life, is to follow a suicidal
legislation, and can only tend to its own destruc
tion. What would have become of us in our Indian
Empire and our Colonies if we did not maintain
the laws relating to property and marriage? To
assert that any race of mankind is of too low a
type to be permitted any civil rights, such as to the
holding of property, or to marriage laws, is to
stamp the individual or State as incapable of ad
mitting the first and elementary principles of social
life, without which no nation or community can
effectively be established. A proof of the Boers'
incapability to rule is in their withholding these
elementary principles. " A few Mauser bullets is

THE LONDON CONVENTION. 1 3
the best way of legislating for the natives " is the
usual answer one gets from the Boers when speak
ing to them on this question. Candid, but brutal,
and a proof of their invincible ignorance of the
elements of good government !
It is plain to anyone knowing the Boer treatment
of the natives that these four points were the mini
mum that any humane Government could insist
upon being carried out before it handed over to
them the native tribes. It was generally expressed
that the Boers did not intend " faithfully to fulfil
the assurances." Time has proved that the
expression was not far wrong.
(1) As to the freedom of the natives to buy and
otherwise acquire land under certain conditions.
It is well to notice " under certain conditions "
and to learn how the Boer drives a carriage and
pair, or to use a Boer simile, a span of oxen and a
wagon, through them. The "conditions," of course,
refer to the Pitso of Pretoria, but it pleases the
Boer to feign ignorance of anything he regards as
outside the Convention.
To state the case simply. Suppose a native
wishes to buy a piece of land outside the
native Reserve, he cannot legally] purchase it.
He must get some white man to buy it in
his (the white man's) name. Supposing it cost

14 THE LONDON CONVENTION.
£iOO when purchased, during the next twelve
months or so the price of land in that part may
have gone up considerably, owing probably to the
extension of the town, or to some mine sprung up
in the vicinity, or for some other reason. The
white man is offered ^500 for it, and without
consulting the native the land is sold, and lucky is
the native if he gets the £100 he invested, to say
nothing of the ^400 profit. Of course the native
is legally unknown and has no remedy at law. I
should be sorry to say that this was the rule, for I
know of many honourable and noble cases where
the "baas" has profitably invested the boy's
savings, and to encourage his thrift has added
" tips " from time to time, and before leaving the
country has handed over with evident pleasure all
the principal and interest.
Nor yet would I have you to believe it is a
general experience, for whatever may be the
vices of white men, the above is not one of general
occurrence. It puts the native, however, at the
mercy of the unscrupulous, and in the Trans
vaal with its cosmopolitan crowd of all sorts
and conditions of men, the unscrupulous are
not absent. Supposing the native wishes to buy
a little property in the Native Reserve. " Under
certain conditions" then means, that it must be

THE LONDON CONVENTION. 15
bought and held in trust for him by the Native
Location Commission. I have asked natives why
they do not do this, and the answer was : " Because
the Boers would soon get it back from me. On
the slightest provocation I should be brought be
fore the 'baas' (meaning the Superintendent of
the Native Location) and he would fine me, and I
should lose it all, as he knows that I could only
pay the fine that way, and if I paid him otherwise,
it would give him a chance of making me pay
fines again and again until he had eaten me up"
I remember a case of a native possessing a cow,
to which his " baas " took a fancy, and tried to get
the native to exchange it for a much inferior one.
The native would not do it, so the Boer waited for
his opportunity. He had not long to wait. It
happened this way : The Boers " trek " from
their farms on the high veldt in the winter to
the middle veldt to find grass for their sheep
and cattle. The middle veldt is better watered
than the high veldt and the climate warmer. The
native was sent on in charge of the cattle, the
Boer, his vrouw, and some of the family followed in
the bullock wagon. A young son of the Boer's
and a son of the native, about the same age,
drove the sheep some miles in the rear. After
three or four days' walking, one of the sheep be-

16 THE LONDON CONVENTION.
came lame, and fell out as sheep do when in a bad
condition and overwalked. The Boer's son said
he would kill it and have it cooked. So it was
killed, cooked, and eaten before they reached the
middle veldt. The Boer found out that one was
missing, and was told that it fell sick and was left
behind on the veldt. He found out afterwards
that it had been killed and eaten by the two boys.
He then went to the native in a great rage and
demanded the cow in payment for the sheep. The
native demurred and said that both boys were
equally guilty, but he would pay for the sheep.
However, the Boer had made up his mind to have
the cow, so he had it brought over to his cattle
kraal, and the native boy was taken to the Land
drost (magistrate) and charged with stealing a
sheep. He was imprisoned for six months, and
the native's father was fined the cow and costs.
Such is a sample of the protection a native has for
his property "under certain conditions."
This stipulation can be dismissed as not only of
no practical good to the native, but as being posi
tively harmful to him. Unless he has absolutely
the same protection for his property as the white
man has for his, it will always be in a state of in
security whether it be fixed or movable property.
The very fact of this article being part of the

THE LONDON CONVENTION. 1 7
Convention would make the Boer more deter
mined not to give the native the privileges specified,
and to seek all subterfuges and evasions of it, as
they have of other Articles of the Convention.
(2) As to the appointment of a Commission to
mark out native locations :
The native locations question will always be
one of friction between the Boer Government
and the natives.
(a) Because each burgher on attaining his
majority looks to the State to provide him with
3,000 morgens (6,000 acres) of land, for the cost of
survey and transfer fees only. Not that he always
gets it, but such is the provision in the Grondwet
(Article 7) for the disposal of the declared property
of the State. From a burgher's point of view, it is
most unfair that the native should be allowed to
occupy the land which rightly belongs to him !
(b) The native races are not effete, there are no
signs of their dying out, but very much the reverse.
The time will shortly come when the restrictions
to a limited area will become very irksome to
them, and with the growth of the native popula
tion, an extension of reserve necessary. What
will be the result of these two forces ? It takes
no very prophetic person to say ; for the effect of
these two forces is already apparent, in the brutality C

1 8 THE LONDON CONVENTION.
of the young Boers to the native, and the indelible
hatred of the native to the young Boer.
The native location or reserves is a very primi
tive way of dealing with one race of your subjects,
but scarcely an effectual way of doing anything
else beyond putting off the evil day. The longer
it is left unsolved the greater will be the difficulties
to face. The Transvaal law prohibits more than
five native families living on one farm, so that
there is no opening for the overflow in the reserves
unless this is altered. Why a Boer with 6,000 acres
of land cannot have more than five families on his
land is incomprehensible. He certainly only culti
vates 20 or 30 acres of it as a rule, the rest is
grazing land. Under the present condition of
things, a native is not over anxious to live on a
farm because his comparative isolation may lay
him open to petty tyranny by any officious indi
vidual with regard to the intricate pass laws, to
say nothing of a vicious " baas " who dare not
settle his grievances with his vrouw, but deals out
fivefold to the unfortunate native whom he first
comes across that which he dare not deal to her for
fear of retaliation. " Lex talionis " is a law which
a Boer vrouw understands to perfection. However,
native locations have been allotted and marked out
in the north-east of the Transvaal so that this

THE LONDON CONVENTION. 19
part of Article 19 has been fulfilled to some
extent. (3) As to the access of the natives to the Courts
of Law.
If you ask a native he will tell you that access
to the Courts of Law is much too easy, but they
are the Criminal Courts of the Field Cornets and
Linddrosts. He suffers so much from these, that
he cannot entertain the idea that the Higher Courts
are any better than the ordinary Field Cornets'
or Landdrosts'. However, there are times when
with fear and trepidation he does appeal to a
Higher Court. With what result ? If the decision
is in favour of the native, the burghers are up in
arms, crying out against the injustice of a judg
ment given in favour of a black against a white
man ; burghers sigh and say that a great disaster
is about to befall the State when a native can have
judgment against a white man. The inequality of
the blacks and superiority of the whites (burghers)
is largely discussed. Motions are brought forward
in the Volksraad to prohibit natives pleading in
the Higher Courts. Such is the usual outcry.
Summary justice (?) by a Landdrost or Field
Cornet is all the Boer would allow a native. No
appeal should be permitted, for may it not lead to
a quashing of the conviction ? The Field Cornet
C 2

20 THE LONDON CONVENTION.
or Landdrost is his friend, and he can always
"square "him in a matter against a native. It was
only to prevent an open breach with England that
in a limited way these appeals to the Higher
Courts were tolerated.
Under the next section (4) of this Article you
will notice what easy access the natives have to
the Courts.
(4) As to their being allowed to move freely
within the country, or leave it for any legal
purpose, under a pass system.
This reads very well, and to anyone not well
acquainted with the pass system it would appear
to be no hardship to a native. But, alas, it has
been and is a system under which organised
extortion and robbery of the most flagrant kind
has been pursued. Absolute power is placed in
the hands of any burgher, policeman, or official of
the State, to stop any native, especially a native
coming home from working on the Rand, and
enquire for his pass. Their passes are demanded
by any Boer who meets them, they are questioned
even if their passes are in order, and often
threatened to have their passes torn up if they do
not give them a gift.
A native is not allowed to leave his abode
without first being provided with a pass, giving his

THE LONDON CONVENTION. 21
name, date of issue, his employer's name, and any
distinctive mark about him. If he is carrying
anything, or in charge of anything it must also be
specified on the pass.
Three natives were sent with oxen and wagon
to meet me at a railway station in the Transvaal
and were duly provided with a pass. On my
arrival we started on the return journey which
would take four days. On the Saturday we
" outspanned " until the Monday (as Transvaal
law forbids ox wagons trekking on Sundays,
although you may travel by horse and trap on
that day) and on the Sunday morning, one of the
natives asked me if he might go and join some
native Christians who were holding a service in a
kraal not far away from the wagon. I gave him
permission to go, but on his way he was met by a
policeman who asked him for his pass. The
native pointed to the wagon and said that his pass
was there, as it was for the three of them, the oxen
and wagon. In spite of his explanation he was
taken off to the Field Cornet, and charged with
being at large without a pass. He was locked up
in an outhouse until Monday morning, questioned
by the Field Cornet and fined £i or 20 lashes.
He asked to be allowed to go to the wagon with
the policeman and get the money, but was told

22 THE LONDON CONVENTION.
that he would not be permitted, so he had to take
the 20 lashes.
It is not an uncommon occurrence to see
natives stopped in the streets and asked to produce
their passes. Perhaps there is not any more
lucrative way of getting a dishonest living than
examining native passes. Any policeman may
.stop a native and demand to see his pass. The
pass having been produced, the officer holds it,
and questions the boy to find out what he has in
his pocket, and if his clothes are at all decent, he
is asked to produce his receipt as having bought
his clothes from an outfitter. Should the boy fail
to produce this, he is then threatened to be taken
to the " tronk " as having no pass, if he does not
give the policeman ior. or whatever he demands.
Invariably the native 'gives the money demanded,
if he has got it. One day I was walking along
Jeppe Street, Johannesburg, when I saw a native
running as fast as he could, followed at some
distance by a policeman. The native whom I
recognised to be a boy I knew came running up to
me and clung to me for protection very much
agitated. The policeman evidently taking in the
situation turned off at a right angle and went down
another street. It was some time before I could
make anything of the boy's story, he seemed so

THE LONDON CONVENTION. 23
scared, and powerless to speak, but it turned out
to be that the policeman had demanded his pass,
which he produced, and then demanded money
from him, and as he had none the policeman tore
up his pass, and was taking him. to " tronk " when
he ran away and was pursued by the policeman.
Englishmen have found out long ago that it is of
no use making complaints against the Zarps,* as
they are called. There is no redress, and a Dutch
man's word is worth that of a dozen Englishmen
in Johannesburg.
Another case is a sample of a different kind.
An Englishman wished to send one of his natives
an errand after 9 o'clock in the evening, when all
natives are supposed to be in the house. The
master of course had to write the special pass for
after 9 o'clock, if he allows his boy to be out, or
sends him out after that hour. Native boys in
South Africa take such names as Sixpence, Shil
ling, Tickie, Klaas, Sam, Tom, Jack, and names
of like kind, but if the native should have any
bodily infirmity or distinctive mark he is generally
called by some name indicating that infirmity or
mark such as " Boss-eye, " " Bung-eye," etc.
It so happened one evening that Mr. 
wished to send a letter round to his friend living
* ZARP = Zuid (South) African Republic Police.

24 THE LONDON CONVENTION.
about five minutes' walk from his own house. He
wrote the letter, and also a pass for his boy,
Bung-eye, whom he intended to send with it. On
calling for Bung-eye, he found he was busy, so he
sent Tickie, giving him the letter and the pass, not
thinking at the time about altering the name, and
the native could not read. All went well until
Tickie was on his way back, when he was stopped
by a policeman and his special pass demanded.
Then his ordinary pass was asked for, and on com
paring the two, the policeman found out that the
names did not agree, besides, the boy was not
bung-eyed. " You must come to tronk," says the
policeman, "this pass is not yours, you are not
Bung-eye." The boy then realised that his " baas "
had made a mistake, and began to explain. The
policeman only laughed and said, " you must come
to tronk." The boy bolted and reached home in
safety, and told his " baas " what had happened.
The " baas " muttered imprecations against Boers
and Boer laws, but it would have meant £2 in fines
and costs to the native, if he had been brought
before the Landdrost, or probably the making of a
criminal of him, if the fine was not paid.
Besides having an ordinary pass if a native
travels by rail he must buy a travelling pass for
which he pays is.

THE LONDON CONVENTION. 2$
Pretoria Railway Station is the hotbed of an
iniquitous system of swindling. Thousands of
natives pass through this station every month on
their way back to the Eastern portions of the
Transvaal, and also to Delagoa Bay and the East
Coast. The natives have saved some money and
this is the opportunity to fleece them under the
pretence of carrying out the law. All natives are
ordered out of the train at this station, and are
taken into a place over which the Transvaal flag
flies, and which the natives know as " Government
House." They are then examined : first as to
their passes ; secondly, their vaccination papers.
Then they are passed on to make a purchase.
Sixpenny knives are sold for ios., sixpenny briar
pipes for ior., and so on — for the " Government,"
so the natives understand — and all must purchase.
This is done by the officials in the Transvaal under
the eyes of the Government.
Against this pass system I lay two grave charges
which can be proved up to the hilt : —
First : That it is a criminal-making system.
Secondly : That it lends itself as a cover to
various kinds of extortion and injustice by
burghers and officials against the natives.
First, that it is a criminal-making system in its
workings is very evident. No native can leave his

26 THE LONDON CONVENTION.
abode without a pass, even to go a few miles. The
pass must be in perfect order as to date, descrip
tion, etc. Any discrepancies are punishable by
law. The native is fined, and in case of non-pay
ment he is committed to gaol as a criminal.
Any inhabitant of a Transvaal town and of
Johannesburg in particular knows well of the great
number of cases : —
Jantye, for being without a pass, fined £2
or one month's imprisonment ;
Tom, fined £3 or six weeks, for being with
out a pass, and attempting to escape from
custody ;
Sixpence, fined £$ or two months for being
without a pass and resisting the police ;
Sam, fined £2 for being without a pass,
and £3 and 20 lashes for assaulting the
police ;
and so on of almost daily occurrence. If this
does not tend to make criminals I would ask what
would ? It is the outcome of a system which is as
unjust in its principle, as it is pernicious in its
working. My second charge against this system is evident
from the cases I have cited above as samples of
what occurs every day. The native is legitimate
prey for burgher or official. To put it into Boer

THE LONDON CONVENTION. '27
official reasoning, " We only get £6 a month, and
how can we live if we cannot 'make ' something ? "
This pass system gives them the opportunity, and
they never miss it. " My poorly-paid officials " is
often a phrase used by the President, but whilst he
was secretly swindling the mining industry by
extra taxes for war ammunition and secret service
expenses, his" poorly paid officials" were secretly (?)
engaged in swindling the natives to supplement
the poor pay of the State.
After five years' work amongst natives in South
Africa, both in town and country, I ask a per
tinent question, viz., what need is there of a pass
law ? My impression on first arriving in Africa
was directly in favour of the pass system, as a safe
guard against lazy and vicious natives prowling
about, and the nine o'clock Curfew system I thought
extremely admirable. But like first impressions
they are often erroneous, and the old saying,
" experientia docet " proves itself to be an
infallible rule all the world over.
I must protest against first impressions being
accepted as a conclusive proof either for or against.
I frequently meet people who give me samples of
first impressions. " I have had a letter from my
daughter who went out to Africa two months ago,
and she says the natives out there are very bad.

28 THE LONDON CONVENTION.
They steal, tell lies, and are always drunk." Quite
true. Possibly the house boy may be such a
character, and probably he is the only native she
knows after a month's residence out there, yet all
natives are branded by her as bad characters,
because the only house boy she knows is such.
Should we not think that a person had a tendency
to imbecility if a charge was brought against the
English nation of being a nation of murderers,
thieves, and drunkards, because we have a few of
such in our midst ?
Another writes home after four months, " The
natives out here are very good and kind-hearted.
I can leave my children for two or three hours with
my ' boy ' with perfect confidence. He is so kind
to them, and they have taken to him so quickly.
It is a blessing." This again may be perfectly
true, but it cannot be regarded as anything beyond
what it is, viz., information respecting her own
native " boy " and not a proof of the good qualities
of any native race in particular.
Perhaps in the next few years each of those
people I have mentioned may have reason for
altering their opinion, but probably it will only be
an opinion borne of experience with house boys,
much as French matrons may form their opinion
of the English people in general, from their

THE LONDON CONVENTION. 29
acquaintance with domestic servants in their
employ at various times.
We must go further afield than this if we wish
to form a legitimate opinion on the native question
in its different bearings. The " raw " native in his
kraal, the native in and around the towns, the
sophisticated native who has picked up the vices,
in preference to the virtues, of the whites, the un
sophisticated native who has not often seen a white
man, the partly educated or school native, the Chris
tian native, all taken together, make the question
of the general character a very complex one.
When dealing with the general character of the
native races, we must always take into considera
tion their condition in respect to our civilisation.
To summarise generally : a " raw " native is
usually a gentleman in his dealings with white men,
and is law abiding. Natives chiefly around towns
are in various conditions, the greater part being
respectable and law abiding, but some of the worst
types of the sophisticated natives are found. Among
the educated or school natives are found the stamp
of character that one would expect to find where
secular education is given without Christian
teaching. Clever, sharp, and full of resource for
good or evil as it may serve their purpose, would
be a very general summary of their character.

30 THE LONDON CONVENTION.
The Christian native has a very difficult position
to maintain in South Africa. All the misdeeds of
the sophisticated and educated natives are placed
to his account, as well as his own misdeeds, by the
indiscriminating public, who never pause to
consider the difference between an educated and a
Christian native. However, my point is, that the
character of the native Christian, as a rule, is one
of good behaviour and law abiding.
Judging, therefore, the general character of the
native from these standpoints, I ask, what need is
there of pass laws ? Cannot police supervision be
made effective enough, at little or no further cost,
and this criminal-making system abolished ?
In the Portuguese territory we have no pass
system, yet we have nothing like the number of
native criminals they have in the Transvaal where
this iniquitous system is so intricate that few
natives escape the meshes of the law.
I have for the past five years gone about the
town and suburbs of Lourenco Marques (Delagoa
Bay) at all times of the day and night, and have
never been molested by any native, and I can say
further, that during this time I have never heard
of any white man being molested by day or night
by the natives in and around the town. And that
in spite of the fact that there is no prohibition to

THE LONDON CONVENTION. 3 1
the supply of liquor to natives in Portuguese
territory, and that drunkenness is prevalent among
them. Yet with a Native Prohibition Liquor Law
a pass system of a most intricate kind is in vogue
in the Transvaal.
Can one have any doubt as to the reason this
system is upheld? If public safety does not
demand it, then the only reason for its existence
is to gratify the ever-increasing lust and greed for
wealth, that is so inherent in the Boer character,
and which has so largely developed since gold was
found in the Transvaal.
Is it too much to hope that, at the downfall of
the present so-called Republic, we shall see the
downfall of this pernicious pass system ?
If our Government thoroughly grasp the useless-
ness of this system, I am quite sure we shall see
the end of it.

A PEACEFUL TONGA VILLAGE NEAR INHAMBANE.

II.— THE NATIVE LIQUOR LAW.

ONE good piece of legislation for the " betterment"
of the native has been done by the Transvaal
Volksraad of recent years by the passing of the
Native Liquor Law (No. 13, 1897).
For some time on the Rand this question had
been assuming immense proportions, the natives
being uncontrollable under the influence of drink,
and on Sundays their time was spent in drinking
and quarrelling. Frequently armed police have
had to be called in to quell disturbances. Often on
Mondays large numbers were unfit for their work
on the mines, causing great disorganisation to the
work. Many times it was urged on the Volksraad
and the executive, by responsible persons, to take
some steps in the matter. The Johannesburg
Star had columns of evidence gathered at first
hand on the mines. Managers of mines were
interviewed, and were unanimous in supporting
a prohibitive liquor law for the natives on the
D

34 THE NATIVE LIQUOR LAW.
Rand, and still it was refused. However the evil
grew to such dimensions, and assumed such a
threatening form that something had to be done,
and the Native Liquor Law was passed.
By Article 31 of the Liquor Law, No. 13, 1897 :
" A native found in possession of wine, spirituous,
or malt liquors, except when conveying the said
wine, spirituous, or malt liquors in the service of his
master, will be punished with imprisonment for a
term not exceeding three months, with or without
hard labour ; he will also be liable to receive lashes,
not exceeding twenty-five in number. The liquor
found in his possession will be confiscated for the
benefit of the public treasury."
By Article 5 : " No one shall be permitted or
give in exchange to any 'coloured person' any
wine, spirituous, or malt liquors. Anyone con
travening this article shall be liable to punishment.
The words ' coloured person ' shall mean every
African or Asiatic, native, or coloured American
person, coolie or Chinese, male or female."
Article 6 stipulates the penalty for giving or
buying, for or on behalf of coloured people, of
wine, intoxicating or malt liquor, including Kaffir
beer, on mining areas under Government control.
Anyone violating the stipulations of this article
shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £500, or

THE NATIVE LIQUOR LAW. 35
imprisonment, with or without hard labour not
exceeding one year.
This would be a really excellent thing, if the
fine was not so excessive. One year's imprison
ment is not in proportion to the fine of £500. It
over-reaches itself, and counteracts the good it
would otherwise do. The native buyer's full
penalty is three months' imprisonment, and a
liability to receive lashes not exceeding twenty-five.
And to prosecute the matter thoroughly, so that no
illicit dealer shall easily escape, after having
intoxicated the native, Article 49 asserts that
" Public Prosecutors of the various Courts shall be
bound in all cases where natives are charged with
drunkenness, to institute a most searching inquiry
into the cause of the drunkenness and the place
where, and the person by whom the liquor was
supplied, in order to institute a prosecution against
the person for unlawful dealing in spirituous liquors.
Should the native charged with drunkenness refuse
to divulge the name of the person who supplied
him with liquor, or to point out the place where
he procured such liquor he shall be sentenced to a
fine not exceeding £5 or imprisonment, with or
without hard labour, for a period not exceeding
one month, and with or without lashes, not exceed
ing twenty-five in number." D 2

36 THE NATIVE LIQUOR LAW.
There may be differences of opinion respecting
the lashes which enter so largely into all native
penalties, but there can be nothing but admiration
for the real attempt to wipe out the illicit liquor
trade. If a downright honest attempt is made to
carry out this law, and the officials are not so
hopelessly corrupt as some of the officers appointed
under the Morality Law were proved to be, viz.,
levying monthly taxes for themselves from
immoral house keepers, and so make enormous
monthly gains, instead of reporting such houses,
we shall soon see the cases reduced to a minimum.
Why are Boer officials so hopelessly corrupt that
they have no respect even for their own laws ? As
I remarked about the pass laws, it is greed and
lust for gain.
Spirituous liquor of any kind is very detrimen
tal to the native, and the cause of unrest, but ten
fold more so is the bad liquor supplied. It makes
them raving mad. I well remember, before the
passing of the Native Liquor Laws, waiting in
Johannesburg Cemetery for a funeral. I was
talking to the Cemetery Superintendent, when a
native messenger brought a notice of interment
from the Mortuary. " Drink again," was the
Superintendent's remark, as he folded up the
notice. " Several of these every week — the cursed

THE NATIVE LIQUOR LAW. 37
stuff burns their insides, and they never recover
after a drinking bout."
To anyone acquainted with the native question,
this liquor law was received with delight, and hopes
were entertained that other laws for the well-being
of the native might be soon passed by the Volks
raad. But, alas, no ! They regarded this law not
so much for the " betterment of the native," but as
a necessary one to avert what then appeared to be,
and what would soon have become, a very serious
native question — the management of the hordes of
drunken natives on the Rand, and other mining
centres. But whatever may have been the primary cause,
its effect is very wholesome. The spirituous liquor
is not a native drink, but is manufactured in various
parts of South Africa, and is of the vilest kind.
Methylated spirits as a drink is much superior to the
Cape Smoke and Delagoa Bay rum frequently sold.
We can only hope and trust that under the new
regime, which we hope will soon be established in
Pretoria, this native liquor law will continue, and
be properly administered. Under the article in
this book, " Native Labour — How Procured," this
drink question is seen from another and appalling
side in the Portuguese territory, where there is no
Prohibitive Liquor Law.

38 THE NATIVE LIQUOR LAW.
A short resume of the Law affecting natives in
Natal will not be out of place, and will show the
difference between the Natal legislation and that
of the Transvaal.
In Law No. 22, 1878, to prohibit the sale and dis
posal of spirits and other intoxicating liquor to
persons of the native races,
Article 2 reads, " On and after the coming in
force of this law, no person shall within this Colony
sell, barter, or otherwise supply to a native any
brandy, gin, rum, or other spirituous liquors,
or any wine, or any ale, beer, or porter, or any
fermented liquor of an intoxicating nature, or any
mixed liquor containing any intoxicating,
spirituous, or fermented liquors."
Article 3 stipulates the penalties : —
For the first offence, a fine of any sum not
exceeding £10, or in default of payment, imprison
ment, with or without hard labour, for any period
not exceeding three months. For a second
offence, a fine not exceeding £15, or in default,
imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for
any period not exceeding six months. For a third
or subsequent offence, a fine not exceeding .£20, or
in default of payment, imprisonment, with or
without hard labour, for any period not exceeding
nine months.

THE NATIVE LIQUOR LAW. 39
" Provided always that no such penalty shall be
recoverable for supplying any spirituous liquor to
any native in case it shall be satisfactorily proved
that any such liquor so supplied was administered
medicinally." A comparison of the penalties under the two
liquor laws is instructive. The Transvaal law is
brief, and appears to be a very harsh and severe
penalty, "not exceeding £500, or imprisonment,
with or without hard labour, not exceeding one
year." Why such a heavy fine ? Of course, the con
ditions of the two countries must be taken into con
sideration. Natal took up the native liquor ques
tion twenty-two years ago, while the Colony was still
young, and the Transvaal have only just passed
their native liquor law less than three years ago.
The result is that the question has never assumed
the same proportions in Natal as it has in Johan
nesburg. The Transvaal Government did not
legislate until the evil had grown so great that life
and property were endangered by a riotous and
drunken crowd of natives. Then they took it up,
and as an almost hopeless case they applied
strong measures to try to remedy it. Hence the
severe fine, " not exceeding £500." To encourage
information given with respect to any breach of
this law, by Article 56, " the Government shall be

40 THE NATIVE LIQUOR LAW.
at liberty to grant a portion, but not more than
one-third, of the fine inflicted and paid, to the
informer." But the fine is so excessive that it is
better to bribe one or two " badly paid officials "
in your district, and carry on the illicit traffic
under their protection. You can well afford to
give from £20 to £30 a month for this protection,
for the native pays one shilling a glass for stuff
which will not cost the dealer much more than a
penny wholesale, or for a bottle of " smoke," which
costs about one shilling and sixpence, he gets as
much as £1 from the native. The demand for
liquor is great, the sellers few, and the profits
enormous, therefore it pays to run risks, after you
have " squared " the officials of your district. This
is the result of a heavy fine. If the fine was
£100, we should probably hear of more convic
tions, and not so much bribery. Of course, no
laws can be effective if the officials appointed for
their observance are open to receive bribes.
A " native," under the Natal Law, " shall mean
any person belonging to, or being a descendant of,
any native tribes of South Africa, commonly called
Kaffirs." Therefore, in Natal, the law is prohibitive
for natives only, not ''coloured persons," as it is in
the Transvaal State. In Natal an Indian or other
' coloured person " is not included in this law.

CHIEF, WITH SOME OF HIS WIVES AND CHILDREN,

III.— THE NATIVE MARRIAGE LAWS.

THINK what it would mean to our social life in
England if we were a conquered nation, and the
conquerors were to say, " all your laws and cus
toms are abrogated ; your property can be held
' under certain conditions ' ; your marriage laws and
customs are of no consequence to us, you may
follow or leave them as you please, but we do not
undertake to support them ; you may live like
cattle if you wish. We cannot recognise your
marriage laws as binding, nor yet will we legalise
any form of marriage among you." Such is in
effect the present position of the native races in
the Transvaal.
I occasionally spent my holidays in Johannes
burg, and assisted the Vicar, during which time I
could not take any white man's marriage, for I
was not a marriage officer licensed by the Trans
vaal State, but I could take any native marriages,

42 THE NATIVE MARRIAGE LAWS.
as that State took no cognisance of them. A
native may marry, and any time after leave his
wife, but the woman would have no legal claim on
him. He could marry again as soon as he pleased,
and he could not be proceeded against either for
support of his first wife, or for bigamy. And so
he might go on as long as he wished to marry or
could get anyone to marry him. The same is
applicable to all persons of colour, even if only
slightly coloured — half-castes of three or four
generations if the colour is at all apparent. All
licenses for the marriage of white people must be
applied for personally, and signed in the presence
of the Landdrost, who is very cautious, lest half-
castes or persons of colour should get one.
Colour is evidently the only test of unfitness to
claim recognition of the marriage contract by the
Transvaal State.
- The injustice of such a law must be very ap
parent to anyone who will take the trouble to con
sider the matter. It places a premium on vice. It
gives an excuse to any " person of colour '' to com
mit the most heinous offences against the laws of
morality and social order, and protects such an
one from the legal consequence which would
necessarily follow in any other civilised State.
I do not wish to dilate on the unsavoury subject

THE NATIVE MARRIAGE LAWS. 43
of the immorality amongst the " coloured people "
in such towns as Johannesburg, for anything short
of a brutal rape is outside the cognisance of law.
The Banyan or Indian coolie, the Chinaman or the
Turk, the disreputable European or the Cape boy,
take women of the African native race, and keep
them as long as it suits them. One day you will
see a woman living with a Cape boy, and soon
after you will find her living with a Banyan trader,
or with a Chinaman or disreputable European.
To what does this state of affairs tend to?
What becomes of those children who are neither
Asiatic, European nor African? Their foster-
fathers are at one time Asiatic, at another time
European or African.
In Johannesburg I sometimes went to the day
school in connection with St. Cyprian's Church.
The school is for half-caste children and poor
whites. I was greatly struck with the various
kind of features amongst the half-caste children.
I remember one girl who looked about ten years of
age, but probably was only eight, with short, curly
hair like a native, but features unmistakably
Chinese. She was very intelligent, and after I
had finished giving the lesson I asked her where
she lived, and she told me. The place where she
lived was an Indian trader's shop, and her foster-

44 THE NATIVE MARRIAGE LAWS.
father was a Bombay Indian. I spoke to him at
the shop door, and told him how intelligent his
girl was. He replied in broken English, '' Not my
girl, Chinaman's girl, Chinaman gone away, I take
Kaffir woman and pickaninny. I go Bombay next
year, my friend come here from Bombay."
" Are you coming back again ? " I asked.
" Perhaps, by-and-by, perhaps no."
" Then who will look after your wife when you
are in Bombay ? "
" She be my friend's wife," was his reply.
Comment upon such a state of affairs is need
less, except to point out a remedy.
The Morality Law was passed to prohibit im
morality and the keeping of immoral houses.
Soon after the passing of this law, raids were made
on such houses, and a general exodus of " the
social pest " took place. Syndicates for importing
and " setting up in business " these unfortunate
people collapsed, and the Johannesburg streets
at night assumed a different appearance. Few,
except those in league with the officials, were able
— by paying the officials monthly gratuities — to
carry on their nefarious and illicit traffic.
If such a Morality Law was necessary for the
improvement of the white residents, why not apply
a similar measure to meet the requirements of the

THE NATIVE MARRIAGE LAWS. 45
coloured races in the Transvaal ? Personally, I
cannot see why the law should discountenance
immorality amongst the whites, and, through
laxity, encourage it amongst the " coloured people."
What is required is (1) that the civil marriage
officer may legally marry any natives who desire
it, under the same legal conditions as white people.
The Christian native would, of course, always be
married in this way if it were legally permissible.
(2) That also marriage by native custom must be
upheld, at least for the present generation.
It is a very grave matter to interfere with the
social laws of a nation or people. To break down
and not build up has been the policy of the
Transvaal in this matter, but when our turn comes,
do not let us make the same mistake.
From the chaos which exists for want of social
law and order, let us try to build up a native race
who will be orderly and moral. If their position
in this world is only that of " hewers of wood and
drawers of water," let us, at any rate, have respect
able ones.

IV— NATIVE LABOUR, (i).— HOW
PROCURED.

Natives are drawn from all parts of South Africa
and from Portuguese East Africa.
How these natives are procured for work on the
mines will be shown in this article.
There are few or no responsible agents appointed
for this work. The Chamber of Mines, Association
of Mines, and a group of mines, have appointed
accredited labour agents, who are responsible to
them, but these do not by any means meet the
demand for labourers for all the mines, but for
their group only. Unaccredited agents, " free
lances," swarm over all parts of the country and
on the East Coast, where they are the cause
of much vice and unrest amongst the natives.
They generally take up their abode at some can
teen, making that the centre from which they
work, sending out native runners in every direction
to bring any who are willing to go to the gold-
fields.

48 NATIVE LABOUR.— HOW PROCURED.
Here they are " stimulated " by means of Delagoa
Bay rum, and all sorts of advantages are offered to
the native to induce him to go to the Rand. He
is promised a good " baas " who will give him
plenty to drink and fresh beef every day, besides
£4 a month wages. When a sufficient number
have promised, he goes off with them, and pro
ceeds towards his destination. First of all he
does not wish to pay the fee the Portuguese demand
for all natives going out of the country to the
Transvaal, so he has to arrange to " run " them
across the border by night, or take some circuitous
route during the day, and so evade the border
police. The labour agent saves about 12s. each
man by this, but the unfortunate native has to
pay it, and a fine as well, on his return home to
Portuguese territory at some future date.
Having evaded the Portuguese police, the agent
proceeds with them to the nearest railway station,
where they are booked for Johannesburg, or some
other mining centre, taking passes for them as
early as possible. I have frequently seen large
numbers of natives turned out of the train by the
police at Machadodorp for being without a pass,
and marched off to " tronk." The labour agent has
eventually paid, for he cannot afford to lose the
natives for want of a pass, but they suffer many

NATIVE LABOUR.— HOW PROCURED. 49
privations on the way from their homes to the
mines. Having arrived in Johannesburg, being an
unaccredited agent, that is, not engaging labour
for any particular mine, or group of mines, he
goes from mine to mine, asking for the highest
bidder for them. Some of them may offer £3 per
head, others more. He, of course, sells them to
the highest bidder, notwithstanding his promise to
the native to find him a good " baas," and plenty
to eat and drink. I know of cases where the ac
credited labour agent himself has not been able to
take them to the station, and has sent them in
charge of a native " induna," who acts as his re
presentative to hand over the " boys " to the other
accredited agent at the frontier railway station to
have their necessary passes taken, and to be for
warded by train to Johannesburg. They have been
intercepted by an unaccredited agent before they
have reached the frontier, the native " induna " has
been bribed by a gift of £10, which he has spent at
the nearest canteen in getting helplessly drunk for a
week or so, the " boys " have had a glass or two of
gin given to each, and then walked off by another
route to escape the accredited labour agent
at the frontier, and the Portuguese border police.
Two or three stations up the line they take the
train and proceed to their destination to sell the
E

SO NATIVE LABOUR. — HOW PROCURED.
" boys " to the mine which offers him the most for
his trouble.
It may be asked for what reason do the
Government not appoint or recognise accredited
labour agents ?
The answer is simple. We must not prohibit
any of the burghers to supply this native labour
if they wish. If we allow none other but accredited
agents, the burghers will not be permitted to en
gage in it as " free lances."
Besides, the Superintendents of the Native
Locations (who are Transvaal officials) make a
considerable sum every year out of it. Of course,
unofficially. They have practically the monopoly
of the native Reserves in the Transvaal, and they
jealously guard it. There are too many good
pickings to be made out of this, that accredited
agents by the Government or Chamber of Mines
would be opposed by all the officials and their
friends. Thus does Boer officialdom prevent the
introduction of any scheme which would tend to
the improvement of the labour supply. To keep
it as much as possible in their own hands is their
object, and to prevent its coming in from other
sources, such as Portuguese East Africa, is their
aim, so that the labour market shall not be over
supplied.

jfLJL jf

EAST COAST NATIVES ON THEIR WAY TO THE
LABOUR CENTRE.

(2).— HOW THE PASS LAW WORKS.

Extracts from this Pass Law would, perhaps,
prove instructive reading, and would give some
sort of an idea of the legitimacy of the native
objections to work at mining centres.
Article 4 asserts that "the word 'native'" as
used in these regulations shall be considered to be
applicable to all male coloured persons, or coloured
tribes of South Africa.
Article 5 provides that "the native will be
obliged before he enters the service of any
employer to proceed to the office of the Mining
Commissioner or pass official appointed for the
district, and there exchange his travelling pass for
a district pass.
Article 7 provides " besides the district pass, the
pass official shall moreover issue to each native
a metal badge or mark, upon which when issued
E 2

52 NATIVE LABOUR. — PASS LAW.
shall clearly be stamped or impressed the register
number of the native, the initial letter of the labour
district's name, and the year it was issued. " This
badge or mark shall be buckled to a strong leather
strap and must be worn by the native on the left
arm above the elbow, so that it is always visible."
Article 8. — The "said district pass and metal
badge issued to the native shall put him in a
position, and authorise him to look for work
within the labour district where these have been
issued during a period of three days from the date
of issue!'
Article 9. — " If a native fails to find work within
the prescribed period of three days from the date
of issue of the district pass or after dismissal by
his last employer, he shall return to the Mining
Commissioner or pass official who issued the pass
and badge, and he will tlien be allowed anotlter
three days, which must be noted in the said pass
by the pass officer, against the payment of two
shillings. If he does not find work within these
said three days he shall return to the pass officer,
and the pass officer or officers entrusted with the
administration of these regulations shall be competent
to demand the district pass and badge from the said
native which has been issued by him, and to issue
to him in place thereof a travelling pass in terms

NATIVE LABOUR.— PASS LAW. 53
of Articles 8 and 9, and the native shall proceed
to another labour district, or return to his place
of abode."
The italics are mine. They show the manifest
injustice to a native who has been brought
probably 400 or 500 miles to the labour market.
If he is unable to find an employer within three
days he must go to the Pass Office and get a
further renewal of three days. How much of the
latter three days is expended in getting the
necessary permission? Natives have to wait
hours and sometimes days to get this permission.
I have seen the street in which the Pass Office
is situated in Johannesburg, crowded with natives
waiting to renew their passes, and many of them
had to go away without them being renewed that
day to make a similar attempt the day following.
" Insufficiency of staff" is not much of a plea for
the officials to make when the liberty of any man
is imperilled. If the native does not succeed in finding suitable
employment during these latter three days, he must
leave that labour district for another, or else go
home! How considerate of the Transvaal Government
to allow six days in all (part of which time has
been spent in trying to get the necessary per-

54 NATIVE LABOUR. — PASS LAW.
mission) to a native who has come probably 400
or 500 miles. This excess of paternal care for
their welfare takes a great deal to beat.
Why should they always take it for granted that
every native is a born criminal, and that any one
more than six days in search of employment is
not a fit and proper person to reside in any labour
district ? Why should a native have to return
home by foot 400 or 500 miles because he has failed
to get employment in six days? or failing to go
home, why should he be regarded as a vagrant
and punished as if he were a criminal ?
I do not say that it frequently happens, because
natives take any kind of work, for any master, at
any rate of wages, rather than submit to this, but
it is a crying shame that they should be compelled to.
This law is supposed to hinder native vagrancy.
But do native vagrants exist to any extent in the
Mining Centres ? They cannot for many reasons.
Food supplies are dear. Liquor is prohibited, so
that there is nothing to induce him to loaf round
canteens. The Native Compounds in which they
reside are under the direct control of each mine,
which has its Compound Managers and police to
keep order in them.
Besides Mining Centres are not congenial to
men of the vagrant stamp, they have a preference

NATIVE LABOUR. — PASS LAW. 55
for the freedom of the kraal to that of the super
vision of the Boer police.
What is wanted is more freedom from pass law,
and better police supervision.
Can it be at all wondered at that the natives
believe the Boer officials look upon them as legiti
mate prey to rob, plunder, or imprison, and that
the pass law is simply a system to screen their
conduct and give it an appearance of legitimacy !
The unfortunate attitude the Transvaal Govern
ment takes towards the native is fatal to there
being any great amount of native labour supply
on the market. The demand of the Mining
Industry for more labourers will never meet with
the supply until the Transvaal Government is
made to see that the so-called modifying of the
pass law is not the way to cure the native griev
ance, or to establish any confidence amongst them.
This system which stinks so in the nostrils of the
natives can only be modified by its utter destruc
tion.

JAIL, NOW FORTIFIED FOR DEF'ENCE OF JOHANNESBURG.

(3).— CONDITION OF NATIVE
COMPOUNDS.

It can scarcely be said by any upholder (if any
such really exist) of the present system of Native
Compounds on the Mines, that it is at all the best
means of housing natives.
Most Compound Managers will agree that the
present system is only a temporary expedient, and
before long a better system will have to be
arranged if the Mining Industry has to be sup
plied with settled labour. The Compound system
of huddling hundreds of natives in tin shanties is
the very opposite to the free life which they have
been living before coming to the Mines. Speaking
to them on this subject they have said they did
not object to the work in Johannesburg, but to the
way they were housed there. The Rand Mining
is a settled Industry, for it is computed that
for a great number of years the employment will
be regular and settled. If the Rand, then, is a

58 CONDITION OF NATIVE COMPOUNDS.
settled Industry we must have the conditions ot
the labour market settled, and also the conditions
of living. We cannot expect natives to give up
their homes and families for any length of time to
work on the Mines. They love their homes, and
they suffer from homesickness as much as or pro
bably more than most white people. The reason
so many leave their work after six months is
that they are constantly longing to see their wives
and children. Many times have they said to me,
" Johannesburg would be all right if only we could
have our wives and families with us." The ques
tion for the Mining Industry is, " How to obtain
cheaper and more settled labour ? "
What is the result of Compound life ? Morally
the worst possible ! They are the hotbeds of vice
and iniquity. Anyone knowing the system under
which they live knows it to be shocking. Do not
many missionaries oppose their people going to
the Rand on account of the immoral habits
acquired ? But can we expect anything else from
the unnatural state of affairs on a Compound,
where men — some of them in very little better
condition than animals as regards their morals —
are living under unnatural conditions ?
We must treat the native, not as a machine to
work when required under any conditions, but as a

CONDITION OF NATIVE COMPOUNDS. 59
raw son of nature, very often without any moral
force to control him and to raise him much above
the lower animal world in his passions, except that
which native custom has given him. Unless the
conditions under which they now exist are altered
to those more in accordance with their habits and
natural condition of living, we cannot expect to
have a better supply of permanent labourers or
a " betterment " of their moral condition on the
Rand. The plan which I am about to suggest as a cure
is one which for some time has been my firm
belief will be the only way to better the native, and,
at the same time, the condition of permanent
labour supply on the Rand.
Let native reserves or locations be established
on the separate mines, or group of mines, where
the natives can have their huts built, and live more
or less under the same conditions as they do in
their native kraals. If a native found that he could
live on the Rand under similar conditions to those
he has been accustomed to, he will soon be anxious
to save enough money to bring his wife and chil
dren there, and remain in the labour district for a
much longer period than at present is the case.
ft It would be a distinct gain to the Mining
Industry as well as to the native.

60 CONDITION OF NATIVE COMPOUNDS.
(i) The mines would not have to pay such heavy
premiums, year by year, for the supply of native
labour to the labour agents, as the labour would
be more permanent.
(2) It would be conducive to a healthier state of
things among the native labourers, and so improve
the man as a productive labourer.
(3) It would give the natives less reason for
going home after six or twelve months' work (just
when they are beginning to get useful on the
mines) and would give a stimulus to them to be
come settlers, and productive labourers in the
industry. The first of these reasons in itself is sufficient
to warrant the formation of native locations. The
immense sum spent every year for the supply of
labour is a great incubus on the Mining Industry.
It costs £3 to £6 to the mines for each native
brought to its gates. A native may remain for six
months or a year, and then he wishes to go back to
his kraal. He has saved probably from £10 to
£30, for his wages have been £3 to £4 a month.
If you should ask him why he wants to go home
then and not stay longer, he will usually answer
" Johannesburg is no good," by which he means not
Johannesburg itself, nor the climate, nor the work,
but what goes to make up Johannesburg to him,

CONDITION OF NATIVE COMPOUNDS. 6 1
the Native Compound and the Boer police. The
Native Compound, when he has done his work, is
the safest place for him, even though not morally
elevating. To cross the threshold of the Compound
and go into God's fair world, as the native knows
it at his kraal, is to tempt the Boer police to acts
of injustice or brutality. The houses, or rather
shanties, of the Compound are built of corrugated
iron, extremely hot during the day, in fact, often
unbearable, and contrasts greatly with the cool huts
of their kraals. Can it be then wondered at, that
apart from the question of cleanliness, the native
prefers living in his own kind of hut, to that of a
corrugated iron shanty ? Huts could be erected on
a mine, or group of mines, at a very small cost, and
I am sure that the natives would be quite willing
to pay a monthly rent if they were suitably housed.
Their huts, of course, would be the property of the
mines, built on ground belonging to the mines, and
under the supervision of the mines, much as our
miners' houses are in some of cur colliery districts.
It would be impossible for me to enter into details
of a system like this, in the midst of the chaotic
state of native law in the Transvaal. May we
not hope that the better day will soon come, when
Boerdom will be ended ? I tremble to think of the
consequences which would follow if a location

62 CONDITION OF NATIVE COMPOUNDS.
system was established under the present Pretorian
regime, which would not grant to natives the most
elementary rights of men, protection for person
and property.
The danger attending a location system for
married natives would be very great, unless there
was adequate protection for person and property.
Property in this case would mean his wife and
children especially. An efficient administration is
an essential thing, and laws based on Law No. 19,
1891, of the Colony of Natal, or some similar law
to regulate native affairs in the locations is indis
pensable. With good laws and an effective police there
would be nothing to fear with respect to the
morality of such locations. The thing to be
dreaded is a native location under chaotic ad
ministration. Much might be done to make the natives of
South Africa an industrious race of people by
using wisely and well the opportunities which the
Mining Industry affords. As Englishmen it is our
pride to encourage progress in the civilising arts in
our colonies and dependencies, amongst our sub
jects, coloured or white.

INHAMBANE.

(4).— WHERE NATIVE LABOUR
COMES FROM.

Natives are drawn from all parts of South Africa,
Cape Colony, Natal, Zululand, Swaziland, the Free
State, Transvaal, and Matabeleland.
The Portuguese territory on the East Coast
supplies a very large number. Delagoa Bay, In
hambane, Beira, and Chinde are the chief centres
for the East Coast boys. All of them pass
through Delagoa Bay, and consequently it makes
this port a large centre for natives.
Large numbers every day pass to and from
Johannesburg and the Mining Centres. The
Portuguese territory is thickly populated with
natives of various tribes driven there, or who
emigrated there, during the troublesome times of
Chaka, chief of the Zulus. Also later the Boer
incursion into the Transvaal and the many succeed
ing raids made by them on the natives have done

64 WHERE NATIVE LABOUR COMES FROM.
much to cause from time to time considerable
migrations into Portuguese territory. Formerly as
refugees from the tyranny of a native chief many
sought the rich lands of the high veldt under a chief
more humane, and after settling there for some
time they were driven out by the Boer incursion
and raids from a healthy country to the swamps
and sands of the low veldt.
The Portuguese East Africa is not so healthy
nor so fertile as the Transvaal. Malarial fever is
very prevalent, and on account of the poverty and
dryness of the soil, which in appearance is just
like sand, the natives in time of the least drought
are often in a starving condition, through failure
of their crops. The appearance of the soil to an
ordinary European would lead him to believe that
nothing could possibly grow in it, yet it is very
surprising how the natives do produce from it
pumpkins, melons, sweet potatoes, beans, bananas,
mealies, etc., if they get the rain in its season. The
uncertainty of the food crops is, of course, a great
incentive to the natives to offer themselves for
work, and the rate of wages offered in the labour
market is a great attraction.
In the southern portion of Portuguese East
Africa, the paramount Chief Gungunhana of Gaza-
land, a descendant of Chaka, three years ago was

WHERE NATIVE LABOUR COMES FROM. 6$
captured by General Albuquerque, and taken as
a prisoner to Portugal. It has done a great deal
towards opening out the country, and Portuguese
rule is becoming more established every year.
This ought to tend to make it easier for natives
to leave their country and offer themselves for
work. Some sort of an agreement between the
two Governments is necessary as a safeguard to
the native's welfare on the Rand, and a protection
from official wrong and robbery on their way home
which is only too prevalent at present. I believe
that the Portuguese authorities would enter into
any reasonable arrangement with another respon
sible Government.
Delagoa Bay is a port of easy access and egress,
and has frequent communications with the Lim
popo, Inhambane, Beira, and all the ports on the
East Coast. The railway facilities for passengers
are good. Twice daily trains leave for Pretoria,
from which place you can get anywhere on the
South African railway system, including all the
labour centres.
The town of Lourengo Marques engages a large
number of natives for discharging vessels, wharf,
customs, railway, and warehouse work. The
stores, hotels and private houses also engage a
great number, and on account of the demand for
F

66 WHERE NATIVE LABOUR COMES FROM.
labourers on the Rand, high wages prevail, and
often labourers are very scarce.
From Inhambane also hundreds of natives are
sent every month to the labour centres. The
surrounding country is thickly populated. The
Inhambane native is easily distinguished from all
others, chiefly by his head dress. They shave
their heads in patterns, small tufts of curly hair
stand up in semi-circular, oblong, and similar
designs. On the mines they are most useful in
the underground work and are much sought after
by Mine Managers. Some natives object to
underground work, but the East Coast Native has
no objection to it. He is therefore invaluable to
the Mines. It can easily be understood why the
Mines undertake to pay such large sums for boys
from the East Coast. A native from Inhambane
would cost over ^3 for his passage and railway
fare, besides his food on the journey, and ^[ at
least to the labour Agent. This is the minimum,
without the Transvaal charges which vary, and the
Transvaal passes. If they are landed at Johannes
burg for £5 each it is considered to be cheap.
Every one of the Inhambane boys costs this at
least, and when you consider that thousands go
year by year you will be able to understand some
thing of the initial cost simply to supply native

WHERE NATIVE LABOUR COMES FROM. 67
labour for the Mines. It is in the district between
Delagoa Bay and Inhambane that so many
unaccredited native labour agents carry on their
work. It is a part of the country not at all well policed
and a happy hunting ground for some of these
agents. No prohibitive liquor law is in existence
in these parts, or any part of the Portuguese
possessions. Vinho a sort of Portuguese claret is
cheap, and is allowed into the country as a Portu
guese product without any custom duty, and can
be sold by anyone without a license. £1 will go
a long way to provide drink for a large number of
people, and as the vinho of the Canteen is an
attraction to the native and a source of income to
the Canteen keeper, the agent finds it pays best
to locate himself there, and the keeper to encourage
him. It requires no great power of perception
to understand the moral result of such drunken
gangs of men and frequently women loafing about
and quarrelling. Serious disturbances often occur,
and it cannot cause surprise to occasionally find
the agent in the hands of the police. It seems
such a pity that one of the best centres for pro
curing native labour should be so utterly deficient
in accredited labour organisation. Thousands of
natives could be procured from this part if only
F 2

68 WHERE NATIVE LABOUR COMES FROM.
there was a proper organisation for that purpose.
The seriousness of the situation demands it.
The districts round about Beira, Chinde, and
Quilimane have been partly worked, but with very
little result in proportion to the number of natives
available. I have asked some of the labour agents
about the smallness of the number of natives from
these parts, and they say it is the bad repute of
Johannesburg. Natives who have gone up to the
Rand have come back with tales of oppression
and injustice ; thus the chiefs do not encourage
" boys " to go there. I thought probably that the
great distance was the impediment, but they
assured me it was not so.
We can only hope for better times, and a more
humane Government for the natives, to wipe out
the wrong that has been done to both black and
white under a bastard civilisation which has
prevailed in Pretoria for the past fifteen years.

CONCLUSION.

Judging the native question from the points
which I have presented there is a great need of
immediate reform. The question affects thousands
of natives, not only natives who are subjects of the
Transvaal, but those who go there to work in the
mining industry.
It is not difficult to foresee that the present state
of things is detrimental to the growth of any
moral development of those races. Their growth
is retarded, not because they are incapable of any
great amount of intellectual and moral develop
ment, but simply because they are "persons of
colour." What grand opportunities are missed
which will perhaps never occur again to the lot of
that State, to build up the social well-being of such
a large number of their subjects, to teach them
that work is not degrading but elevating, that
their social condition can be bettered by it, that

70 CONCLUSION.
work is a grand discipline for them, to raise
them from a life of sloth and indolence to that
of action and productiveness. It is the psycho
logical moment, which, if once missed, can never be
expected to return. What vast opportunities the
Transvaal Government are losing to help to find a
solution of one of the most difficult problems in their
State. To have placed every inducement in the way
of the native to offer himself for work on the mines,
to have removed anything that hindered them
from coming, to have seen to their welfare while
there by wise and just legislation, to have allowed
them some liberty to move about without innumer
able restrictions, these and many others are the
means a good Government would have adopted.
Instead of this they are not permitted to move
about at all except under an intricate pass law
system, their condition on the Rand is a matter of
supreme indifference, and as to placing any induce
ment in the way to facilitate the native labour
supply, they rather hinder it.
In 1896 a scheme for appointing accredited
agents to provide native labour for the mines was
submitted to the Executive. It was to prohibit
the crowd of unaccredited agents from overrunning
the native locations, whence a great deal of the
labour is supplied, and also to build houses at

CONCLUSION. 71
various distances on the way to and from the mines
where the natives could be supplied with food and
be allowed to sleep at nights. It would have been
of great benefit to the natives, but it was so bitterly
opposed that the Executive would not entertain it.
The reason why it was suggested to build houses,
or " stations " as they were called, was because the
natives frequently complained of being robbed by
the Boers on their way from the gold fields to their
homes. Each station would have been under the
superintendence of an accredited agent, who would
have looked after the interests of the natives passing
to and fro, and would also have been a station for
the engaging of labour. This plan, of course, refers
to the natives coming from any part of the Trans
vaal and the adjoining part of the Portuguese terri
tory where the railway does not exist, in most
cases more than a week's journey on foot.
Such a scheme is very desirable, and one might
say quite necessary from a native's point of view,
that is : —
(1) The appointment of accredited agents
for engaging native labour ;
(2) An arrangement for the protection and
shelter of the native going to and from the
centres of work.
The pass system demands immediate alteration,

72 CONCLUSION.
in fact, abolition. It is at present worse than
any conditions under which slavery exists.
Brand a slave, and then you have put him to a
certain amount of physical pain for once, but penal
ties under the pass law system mean lashes in
numerable at the direction of any Boer Field Cornet
or Landdrost. It is a most barbarous system, as
brutal as it is criminal-making, alone worthy of a
Boer, with an exaggerated fear of and cowardly
brutality towards a race he has been assisted to
conquer. An oppression as needlessly unjust as it
is unnecessary !
An efficient police force is all that is necessary
to keep due order and respect for laws. I cannot
call the police organisation of the Transvaal
efficient, although the police in and around the
larger towns of Pretoria and Johannesburg are in
strong force ; but their anxiety to examine the
pass of every native they meet would make one
think that their sole duty was to examine passes.
It is certainly under the present conditions the
most lucrative part of their work. In the place of
the pass law let the natives have an efficient police
supervision, and it will soon be proved that the
average native is as well conducted and as law
abiding as the average white man.
A scheme to assist voluntary schools in the work

CONCLUSION. 73
of educating the native races is very desirable.
They are as a class — specially those who have
been in contact much with civilised life, as on the
mines, or in large towns — anxious to be educated.
It is beyond the reach of ordinary voluntary bodies
to effectually and efficiently do the work without
being assisted by grants from the Government.
At one night school I know of in Johannesburg
where the natives attend in large numbers the
school fee is one shilling per month, but the pass
to be allowed out after nine o'clock at night also
costs one shilling per month. This is the way the
Government " assists " evening class scholars who
are anxious to be educated. The native who
desires to be educated is taxed a shilling per
month. Is this the way to make education
attractive to him ? Under such conditions it is
surprising that so many go to evening classes.
Education without some moral teaching would not
be of any real use in building up a high tone of
character amongst them, and for this reason I
would suggest that the voluntary religious bodies
should be assisted by grants from the Government
to augment their staff and provide efficient teachers.
As to the syllabus ot subjects taught, Christian
morality should be one of the daily subjects, the
teaching of which should be left to each voluntary

74 CONCLUSION.
body to treat in their own way. There is very
little difference between the two extremes in
teaching the elements of Christian morality, that
the subject could safely be left to be treated by
each voluntary body in its own way. Where we
have such large number of heathen to deal with it
is better to look to the ground of our common
agreements than to our differences, and in the
elementary principles of Christian morality, such
as we need for our primary schools, we have a
common basis. England is a nursery for shibboleths,
political and religious. In the mission field we
learn how to sink these, and yet not cease to
become less patriotic, or the less truer sons of our
Church. Not much beyond what is commonly called the
three R's would be necessary. Reading and writing
are the favourite subjects ; they never seem to tire
of working at these. On the other hand, arithmetic
presents to them the greatest difficulty. Very few
of them seem to possess the gifts necessary to
become mathematicians.
The question of technical education for the
native is one presenting more difficulties, and to
which there is a large amount of opposition from our
artizan class, who think they see that the practical
result of such a scheme would mean competition

CONCLUSION. 75
in the labour market. I do not think the technical
education they would receive would interfere with
the artizan class. The natives I know are such as
have received their training in Natal, and have
come back to Delagoa Bay, where they use their
knowledge amongst their own people, although
they can compete if they like in Delagoa Bay with
Indians, Chinamen, and Portuguese. All work,
except of the roughest kind, is done by European
workmen, if a sufficient number can be secured on
the place, or from Johannesburg.
On the other hand, technical education assists
them to improve their own native industries of
which there are several on the South-East Coast
of Africa. It also teaches them how to improve
their dwellings, and their kraal arrangements.
Those who know anything of the natives who live
round the towns can see a steady demand for this
kind of workman. It does not pay a white man
to do it, and if it did very few white men would
work for a black, so it always falls to the lot of a
native mechanic.
The Rand ought to be the centre of a great
civilising power which will extend its influence all
over Africa, South of the Zambesi. What London
and Paris is to the civilised world, so is Johannes
burg to the South African native. How anxious

76 CONCLUSION.
we ought to be to use the grand opportunity to
find a solution for the native question ; rather
should I say, that if we use our opportunities to
Christianise and civilise them, the question will find
its own peaceful solution.
Of three of the subjects I have treated I only
wish briefly to offer some practical suggestions
First as to the necessity — among all conditions of
men — of marriage laws. We cannot conceive any
race of men living utterly devoid of these laws.
In the Transvaal any persons of colour marry
after their own custom, but the marriage is not
recognised by the Law. What we want is that all
" persons of colour " shall be able to perform their
civil contract in the presence of a marriage officer,
and that such marriages shall be held legal mar
riages. For the natives in particular who desire to
marry according to native custom a law is needed
such as is in force in Natal (Law No. 19, 189 1). If
a Christian native wishes to be married by Christian
rites, why should he not be permitted to do so ?
It is no imaginary grievance, this unjust and bar
baric treatment. It is the treatment we might
have expected from a nation of barbarians, but not
from a nation that professes to follow the humane
laws of the Teacher of Nazareth.
The laws relating to fixed property require

CONCLUSION. 77
amending, so that a native may be allowed to
acquire it by purchase in his own right.
At present if a native wishes to live outside the
reserves he must find a farm where not more
than five native families are located. He must get
permission from the owner of the farm to settle
there. Then he is bound to give two months'
service, free of charge, every year, and provide his
own food. Any member of his family, of working
age, must likewise give his or her services free for
two months each year. This is supposed to be in
lieu of rent. The penalty of any breach of the law
by the Boer farmer, such as allowing more than five
families to reside on his farm, would not neces
sarily fall upon the last comer, but upon any one
or more of the families the Boer wished to turn off
his land. The Boer farmer owns 6,000 acres of
land, and only cultivates 20 or 30 acres. Why
should not a native be permitted to purchase any
portion of the ground, freehold, and be freed from
the servitude of such a law ?
Many natives are now earning and saving large
sums of money, year by year, at the various labour
centres. They return home with every intention
of following a peaceful life ; why should they not
be encouraged to put their money into land, and
follow the " peaceful pursuits " as well as any Boer

78 CONCLUSION.
farmer ? They are capable of doing it. Besides, if
they held fixed property in the State, it would be
to their advantage to maintain law and order, when
they had every thing they possessed at stake.
With no interest in the land, the tendency must
always be to a nomadic life. The alteration of this
law would have a very beneficent effect upon the
native. They are as thoroughly well capable of be
coming true, peaceful and loyal citizens of the
State as are any other race of people. Their
instincts and training are all towards law and
order. Their lives have been disciplined under
native rule, and now that the white man is break
ing up that rule, what is he going to give as a
substitute? Anarchy and lawlessness, or good
government which tends to peace and prosperity ?
It is madness to hope that the rule which now
holds down the native races can last for long ;
nor can it tend to the prosperity of those who are
held down by it. It is the cause of much unrest,
and the time must come when this will assume
greater dimensions. The Government which holds
down such a large number of its subjects, and
keeps them in check by treating them as cut
throats and outlaws, will one day repent bitterly
of its sin of misrule.

CONCLUSION. 79
The tide of civilisation is flowing in, and ex
tending all over the country. Every part of South
Africa is affected by it. It is flowing steadily and
surely into the kraal life of the South-African
native. Scarcely any hut exists which does not
bear some impress of it. Native customs are be
coming obsolete amongst natives living in or near
the towns, the habits of the white man are
imitated, his manner, dress, and style of living is
discussed in every kraal, miles away from the
centre of civilisation.- Birmingham jewellery is
displayed, and Manchester cotton goods are worn.
The rights and wrongs of the English and the
Transvaal are eagerly debated. The husband or
son has just arrived from the mines, and the latest
news soon becomes the property of the kraal and
the adjoining ones.
What effect has this upon the native ? It is an
education to him. We are not always ready to
recognise the influence of the new and strange
things around us, but the difference between a
native who has rarely been in contact with civilisa
tion and one who has often is very marked. We
cannot help educating them in this way, it is the
natural outcome of our contact with them. To
educate them means to make them dissatisfied
with their condition. True, but this need not

80 CONCLUSION.
cause us any fear, so long as we bring to bear our
civilising and elevating influences, in the shape of
good examples and humane treatment.
Educate them we must by our every day con
tact with them, without reckoning the book learn
ing or technical instruction they may receive at
school. Any sort of education means develop
ment, and the more we develop their better
instincts the better it will be for both them and
us ; and as we have learned by our own expe
rience so may we act.
It was from a similar position that England
arose from serfdom to be what she is now. The
process was slow but sure, and having once broken
off the shackles of serfdom her progress was
assured, and under her benign laws we now stand
at the head of all civilised powers. As she has
received so does she endeavour to give, having
once felt the yoke herself the more anxious she
is that the least of her daughters shall not be
under it. With the tenderness of a nursing
mother does she foster her dependencies and sub
jects. To encourage all things that tend to make
for the greatness, prosperity, and welfare of her
colonies and dependencies, to improve and elevate
the condition of her subjects, are her great aim
and ambition. May she long retain her position

CONCLUSION. 8 1
in the world as the most beneficent, humane, and
civilising power the world has ever seen ! The
justice of her cause in the present strife will be
her shield. The God who has called her to fulfil
so high a destiny, to spread her humanising in
fluence in all parts of the world, will give her
strength and courage to fulfil it.
Her best sons have gone forth to shed their
blood for this noble purpose, well knowing that
the path of duty needs much self-sacrifice and
often leads to death. The noble example of un
dying devotion, love, and self-sacrifice for whatso
ever is good, noble, and true, so truly displayed
in the Incarnate life of Christ is the admiration
and inspiration of her sons.
But the mourning of England for her lost sons
is not that of an ignoble and selfish lamentation of
"Ah, my son !" or " ah, his glory!" but of the nobler
inspiration born of love and devotion for a cause
that is just and righteous — the cause of a man
who is unjustly oppressed by his fellow — the
mourning of a noble mother, who although the
sacrifice "pierces her own soul," rises above it,
trusting in the justice of her cause, and the God
who hates oppression and injustice.
May the sons of Britain always be worthy of
their high destiny to spread over the whole earth
G

82 CONCLUSION.
the true bonds of mankind, liberty, equality, and
brotherhood ; the true outcome and realisation of
the Incarnate life !

DELAGOA BAY,
ITS PAST, PRESENT, AND PROSPECTIVE
FUTURE
(with illustrations)

By the SAME AUTHOR.

LONDON :
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT AND CO.

ORDER EARLY.