On Friday week the question of land settlement in the
Transvaal and Orange River Colony was brought up in the Commons by Sir J. Dickson-Poynder, who urged the Govern- ment to adopt a more vigorous policy, a view which was shared by Mr. Rufus Isaacs. In his reply Mr. Churchill stated that the Government could not be indifferent to the cause of the white settler, but there were serious difficulties in the way. Only thirteen hundred persons had so far been settled in the new territories since the war, at a cost of £2,400,000, or about £1,800 per settler. Arbitrary action on our part might provoke antagonism, and while the Government were under an obligation to existing settlers, no advantage could be gained by pledging themselves to a policy which might be reversed locally hereafter. Subsequently Mr. Mac- karness reopened the question of coolie labour, contending that desertions and crimes had increased since the late Government left office, and that the reforms promised by the Prime Minister in regard to repatriation and the trial of Chinamen had not been carried out. He urged that the Government's agents in the Colony should be in sympathy with the policy of repatriation, so that it might be carried out as soon as possible. The continuance of the present situation exposed the Government to the imputation of insincerity.
Previous page
