LORD MLLNER AS THE PROTECTOR OF NATI V ES. A NY
Englishmen who have been inclined to fear that amid all the anxieties connected with the re- settlement of South Africa, in respect of the relations between Boers and British, the really paramount import- ance of the native question might be lost sight of, cannot have failed to find comfort and satisfaction in a Johannes- burg telegram published last Saturday. For therein they would read a summary of the new regulations controlling native labour in the Transvaal, lately issued under Lord 3.1ilner's authority, which bear throughout, as it seems to us, the decisive impress of a worthy spirit of Imperial trusteeship. Their general point of view is that the native is a child, claiming at the hands of his Majesty's Government protection analogous in principle to that which by the general theory of English Jurisprudence and by the express provision of much of our modern legislation ts given to children. A child in bodily force, of course, the native " boy " is not. On the contrary, when he works with a will he is generally a' very able-bodied man. But in respect of forethought, of capacity to make contracts, and to take steps to secure the observance of their supposed conditions by those with whom he contracts, and also in respect of self-control, the native, speaking broadly, is a child who needs protection, both from those who would take advantage of the limitations of his blow- ledge and. intelligence, and from himself.
Hitherto, in the Transvaal he has not received that protection. On the contrary, he has been in the eye of the law.'ancl under the spirit in which it has been administered, something much more nearly approaching to a slave than a child ; not, indeed, the subject of purchase and sale, but a subordinate creature, out of whom labour agents or "touts," and unscrupulous employers, might get all they could without fear of punishment, and to whom, although nominally prohibited, the sale of the worst spirits was practically unchecked. No doubt there have been mining concerns which treated their " boys " well, both because their directors and managers were fair-minded and humane persons, and because they recognised that it was those companies which had the reputation for just and considerate dealings with their native workmen which would draw the best class of coloured labour into their employ. But such humanity and such long views were by no means universal; and when the native miners were cheated or ill-treated, there was no recognised protector to whom they could appeal. Not only so, but they were liable to be fleeced unmercifully by the corrupt officials of the Transvaal Government when making their way homewards with such gains as they had been able to refrain from spending at the liquor shop. In these circumstances it was not surprising that the supply of native labour on the Rand was often inadequate. It is not, at least not as yet, the habit of the South African native to go with his family and settle down for life, ot an indefinite number of years, in a neighbourhood where industrial employment is to be found. His idea is to make as much money in a few months, or a year or two, as will enable him to live in comfort for a long period in his own village and among his own people. He does not like the work of the mines, nor would he like any other form of steady industry, enough to make him face its inevitable disagreeables and possible risks, as well as those of a long journey to and fro and the separation from everybody he knows and cares about, unlass he thinks there is a very good chance of being well treated while at work, and of bringing home a really substantial reward for the period of toil and exile. If he sees or hears that neighbours and relatives who have gone to the mines return in a state of anger and disgust, little better in pocket than they went away, with their health and strength damaged by hard drinking, and their memories charged with experiences of wrong from brutal or grasping managers, or touts, or State officials, it is small wonderif he decides against making theventure him- self. One who knows the South African natives exceptionally well—Dr. Stewart, of Lovedale—is quoted in the excellent book on that subject which we reviewed on November 16th as saying that information as to bad treatment in the mines or elsewhere "spreads like wildfire, and acts as a constant barrier."
So it has been. So, if Lord Milner can succeed, as we believe he will, in enforcing the regulations he has lately issued as to native labour, it will not be, so far as the Transvaal is concerned, any longer. Those regulations are the result of long consultation between him and some of the most experienced and most justly respected of South African administrators. Sir Richard Solomon was mentioned in the Johannesburg, telegram on the subject. We may be sure that Sir Godfrey Lagden's counsel has also been very freely utilised by the High Commissioner. Sir Godfrey's experience in Basutoland, his government of which has been so conspicuous a success, qualifies him in a special degree for advising both as to the kind of pro- tection which would be effectual for the native labourers drawn to the Transvaal mines, and as to the measures which would be recognised at a distance by native opinion as giving the security requited. The great simplification of the pass system, described in the telegram of which we have spoken, and the abolition of the punishment of flog- ging for contraventions of the law in that respect, cannot fail to operate most favourably on the Kaffir mind. They will serve at once to remove the stamp of humiliating inferiority Which the old Transvaal laws placed upon all natives. The labour agent of the bad old type will exist no longer, for no one will be able to engage in the business of contracting for supplies of native labour without a license, which we may be sure that Sir Godfrey L agden and his subordinates will take very good care to withhold from all persons of doubtful character, and to revoke from any who should prove them- selves unworthy of holding such power. And when the contrmts between native workmen and mining companies haiii%en duly entered into, there will be. under the'neav regulations, inspectors whose business it will be to guard the interests of the natives and see that they are paid in full for the work they do, while, on the other hand, they will -be rightly liable to punishment for breach of the terms to which, with their eyes open, they have pledged themselves. The same officers, as we understand, will be responsible for the protection of the natives against any personal ill-treatment on the part of their employers.
Those interested in the Transvaal mining industry; were said by the Johannesburg telegram to be satisfied with the consideration which had been shown to their legitimate interests, and to recognise that they would really gain more from the rigid suppression, which is also ordered, of the sale of liquor to natives, and from the stoppage of the 'Predatory practices of the labour touts; than they could lose from any of the requirements enforced upon them in the interest of their coloured employs. It is certain that no one could be in so good a position to ensure the loyal observance by Englishmen of a scheme of regulations conceived in the interests of justice; but no more than justice, to the natives working in the Transvaal as the present High Commissioner. Apart from the merits of the particular matters in issue, he has a claim upon the gratitude of all his countrymen in South Africa which is recognised by them all, and to which, as we believe, very many of them would gladly give expression, even at the cost of some sacrifice. But, as a matter of fact, the good name which the new regulations will secure among the natives of South Africa for employment on the Rand will, without doubt, redound powerfully to the advantage of the gold industry, and of any other industries which may in process of time be set up in the Transvaal. From an economic and social point of view the action of the High Commissioner will operate to convert the most reactionary into the most progressive State of South Africa. The Imperial trusteeship recognised in the new labour regulations treats the natives as children, indeed, but not as children who cannot grow up. This is evident, for example, from the provision under which native ministers and others who are able to pais the educational test will be free from the necessity of carrying even the simple, and *to them costless, passport which will, take the place of the expensive pass and metal badge of the old system for ordinary natives. There is nothing dangerous or alarming, even to Boer sentiment, in this recognition of the unquestionable power of a sprinkling of natives to lift themselves above the intel- lectual and social level of their brethren. To give definite encouragement to such capacity wherever it exists is a measure worthy of a Sigh Commissioner whose name, we may be sure, will be known m history as that of one of the truest friends of justice among all the races inhabiting South Africa.
Previous page
