Mr. Churchill in his reply demurred to the view that
the Government had receded from the policy announced at the beginning of the Session. The fact that only twelve coolies had applied to be repatriated did not prove that policy to be a failure or a fraud. He could not resist the conclusion that there was no general desire amongst the coolies to leave this work, but that did not dispose of the objections to Chinese labour, or justify any change of policy. The outrages were due to the fact that Chinese workmen held it to be a greater offence not to pay a gambling debt than to commit a murder ; hence when a man could not pay, he must rob, or be repatriated, or commit suicide. This bad been a main cause of the crime which had attended the ill- omened experiment of employing Chinese, and to prevent it they were now relying on the provision of extra police at the cost of the mineowners, and on a more stringent application of the Repatriation Law. He believed that among the British working community disapproval of Chinese labour was grow- ing. Hence if it could be shown by experiment that the mines could be worked by Kaffirs, together with a consider- able proportion of white labour, there was a reasonable prospect that the Transvaal Legislature would see its way to put an end to Chinese indentured labour.
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