The Chinese labour question was again raised in the House
of Lords on Friday week. In the course of the debate Lord LansdowL frankly admitted that the introduction of the Chinese was a regrettable necessity, that they were not re- garded as a desirable element to be introduced permanently into South Africa, and that he would have been glad to see the introduction of labour under conditions of a more generous and liberal nature. Lord Stanley of Alderley (better known as Mr. Lyulph Stanley) pointed out that they could not degrade one kind of labour without degrading all labour, and this policy was not only degrading to a British Colony, but humiliating to the country that sanctioned it. A somewhat similar line was taken by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who wished to make it clear that his satisfaction with the assurances given by the Government must be taken only in the limited sense of referring to precautions against moral mischief. As to the alleged necessity for Chinese labour, he could, not himself arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. He could at best accept it as one of the most regrettable necessities that had ever arisen in the history of our Colonial government.
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