LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE LABOUR DIFFICULTY IN SOUTH AFRICA.
[To TRY EDITOR 07 THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR, —The opinions I formed in South Africa, from which I have recently returned, as to the labour problem in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, and especially as to
the use of white labour in the mines, though they are much opposed to the views held by many persons connected with South Africa, will, I think, interest your readers.
It will be generally admitted that the immediate hopes of the Transvaal are bound up with the prosperity of the gold-mining industry, and yet owing to the peculiar circumstances of the country the incidence of taxation must fall almost exclusively on it. There can be no doubt that for several years to come the necessaries of life must be imported from abroad ; the agricul- tural development of the country is still in a most backward and experimental condition, and it will be years before the application of science to the cultivation of the soil will enable the markets of the Rand to draw their requirements from home-grown produce. In order, therefore, to bring down the cost of living and encourage the speedy growth of a large white population, it is essential that ocean rates, railway rates, and import duties .on all necessaries of life, and on machinery, should be reduced to the lowest possible minimum. I regret that it has been found impossible to postpone the settlement of the war contribution until such time as the assets won by war might have been handed over to the people of the Transvaal together with self-government, and on such repay- ment to the Empire for services rendered as the country might then afford. I fear the immediate settlement of this question and the fixing of a definite amount may tend, though perhaps only to a small extent, to hamper the policy of the reduction of rates. The chief argument in favour of an immediate settlement of the war contribution was that uncertainty was hanging over the Stock Market, and delaying a return of confidence and enterprise. Now I believe this to have been a mistaken argument. A much greater problem remains unsolved,—that is, the labour problem.
The Transvaal and Orange River Colony are now starting under new auspices, and the conditions of life for the residents in these Colonies have entirely changed; in fact, the whole country is being organised on modern lines. The present, therefore, is probably the most opportune moment to adopt bold measures and attempt to solve the labour question once and for all, and place it on a sound and permanent basis. Unless an efficient and adequate supply of labour is forthcoming, the immense mineral wealth of these Colonies must remain undeveloped.
The general public has heard so much of the extraordinary wealth of the Rand that it has lost sight of the fact that the average ore worked is of very low grade. Its great wealth is not in quality but quantity, a quantity more easily gauged owing to the evenness of the grade; and for that very reason the life and profits of these mines can be calculated out to a nicety. The average ore is of such low grade, only 41s. per ton, that it can only be extracted at a profit provided labour is ample and efficient. The consensus of opinion among mining people is that there is not sufficient black labour in the country south of the Zambesi to supply the present demands, let alone those of new discoveries ; it will therefore be necessary to import labour. The cry has already gone up that the most adequate labour available is Chinese labour. It is said that Chinese can be attracted in great numbers to the Rand, that laws can be passed to indenture them to the mines and prevent their entering other trades and com- peting against the white man ; but there will be several Rands in the future, and there will be all sorts of other industries. It is estimated that at least three hundred and fifty thousand natives will be necessary. Are they to be imported from China ? What benefits will the Transvaal derive when the profits of its industries go to European shareholders and the greater part of its wages to China? Will it be the richer or the poorer in fifteen years? Surely every other means must be proved to have utterly failed before such a retrograde step as the importation of Chinese labour is undertaken.
If, then, Chinese labour is not to be considered for the moment, and black labour is insufficient, how is the industry to be successfully restarted ? Certain men of importance on the Rand, and their number is increasing daily, favour the employ- ment in greater numbers of white men in the mines, their conten- tion being that the interests of the country itself must be primarily considered, and that it is necessary to organise this industry so that the maximum of efficiency will be got out of the labour available without the introduction of another inferior race. One great difficulty to be surmounted is the prejudice the white man has of doing manual labour in South Africa. However hard he has been accustomed to work at home, as soon as he reaches African soil his whole status changes, and it becomes beneath his dignity, to do manual labour; in fact, it is common to see the labourer followed by a black carrying his tools. This is a false sentiment. If Africa is a white man's country, the white man must be prepared to do his share of the work. I am no advocate of working black and white labour on equal terms; such contact has proved fatal both to white and black, and has resulted in degradation on the part of the white, and loss of respect on the part of the black. But there is an immense amount of labour which does not require a skilled workman, and yet can be done by a white man without loss of prestige, and thus help to release black labour. An experiment, thanks chiefly to the energy of the manager, is being made on these lines at one mine, and he is demonstrating that white labour plus machinery can in some mines be profitably employed to do work on which black labour has hitherto been exclusively used. It is said that owing to the present high cost of living a man cannot afford to work for less than £18 per month ; but to-day his board and lodging cost him only AS per month, and even including a liberal allowance for extras, the margin for saving is far greater than that offered to labour in any other country.
Let every means of securing white labour be adopted, let every opportunity and encouragement be given to the already over- stocked labour market of Northern Europe to accept work in the mines of the Transvaal, and both the cost of living and the rate of wages will very soon become more normal. No one can realise the immense benefits to be derived, not only by South Africa, but by the whole British Empire, if a great industrious white population should grow up in South Africa. Nothing would help to solve the political and economic question of to-day more readily than a large and prosperous middle class firmly established in the Transvaal. I certainly look forward to seeing South Africa taking advantage of her abundance of coal and iron, copper, and other precious metals, and starting her own manufactories. All that is required is capital, energy, and labour; but it is essential that the labour should be good and cheap. Under the present regime the skilled labour is too dear, and the cheap labour is not only bad, but insufficient.
In order to carry out any genuine experiments with white labour it will, of course, be necessary to reorganise the present system of breaking and handling the ore in the mines, and this would cause delays. It is feared that these delays might upset public confi- dence ; but shareholders need have no fear, the gold would still be there, and the price of it would be unaltered ; and once an efficient white staff was in full working order, it would probably be found that the ore was treated at a much cheaper rate than ever before.
The next question is how to get more work out of the present supply of black labour. This is the most difficult part of the problem. The native's prejudice against work is not based on sentiment, but it has been bred in him. For centuries his ancestors have considered work degrading; his father never considered work a possibility ; he had to live by hunting and raiding, leaving all manual labour to his so-called wives, who were and are to-day nothing but slaves, and can easily supply his wants. It is only necessary for the native of to-day to work till his accumulated wealth is sufficient to enable him to purchase a number of slave-wives. Luckily the native is improvident, and in some cases extravagant, so that it takes him some time to make up his mind to settle down. His greatest ambition is to sit and bask in the sun, and all work bores him to death. It is not, therefore, easy to teach him the importance of efficiency, and in order to hasten his transition from one state of society to another exceptional legislation is undoubtedly necessary; and I think the white population have claims to call on the Government to pass such regulations as will compel the native to do his proper share of work in return for the security given to him by the State. It is clear from Mr. Chamberlain's speech at Johannesburg that the Government are only too ready to meet any reasonable demands put forward by the local people. The day may be a far distant one on which the native will have learned the necessity of his doing his share of the work; but will the lesson be made easier for him when he sees the white man standing off and superin- tending work done by a race inferior, at least in dignity, to his own?
In view of the enormous black population which is sure to grow up in South Africa, the responsibility of starting off on the right lines is so great that I hope every possible experiment will be made with the present supply of native labour before another inferior race is introduced into South Africa; the seeds which are sown now will spring, up and grow to maturity in the future. If South Africa is to take her place among the nations and reap the benefit of her mineral wealth, rich soil, and healthy climate, it is important that a big white population be encouraged to settle there; but it is of far greater import- awe that the white and native population be brought to the highest state of efficiency. Such a retrograde step as the im- portation of Chinese labour must have great influence, and can only tend to put off to some future date the final settlement of the labour question. Surely it is better to face delays to-day and start the industry on sound lines than to do patchwork now and look forward to an inevitable reorganisation later on. All that is required is patience from shareholders, a patience which will, I believe, not only bring its own reward, but may confer benefits on the Empire which would, indeed, be an ample recom- pense for the great losses sustained in the late war.
[Our correspondent knows what he is talking about. Though he writes very guardedly, and does not wish to dogmatise, it is evident that an acquaintance with the facts on the spot has led him to the conclusion that the mines can and ought to employ white labour, and so make South Africa a white man's country in fact as well as in name. We heartily agree with him that cne of the best ways of teaching the black man the dignity of labour is for the white man to set him an example. A propos of the alleged inability of the mines to pay with white labour, it may be noted that in American mines where nothing but white labour and good machinery are used, ore of lower grade than that of the Transvaal is handled at a profit —ED. Spectator.]
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