ASIATIC LABOUR IN THE TRANSVAAL.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
STR,—In support of his previous statements, "R. H." pub- lished in the Spectator of November 28th certain details of the cost of the working of the Roodepoort Mine, South Africa, and the Scottish Gympie, Australia.
According to his figures, the former was worked by coloured labour at a cost per ton of .£1 Os. 11.14d., while the latter wa:s worked by white labour and showed a cost per ton of 18s. 2.52d. Moreover, as the value of the lodes in the two mines was stated to be approximately the same—viz., about 10 dwt.—your corre- spondent went on to argue that the cheaper working of the Australian mine was due to the greater economy consequent oh the employment of the more effective white labour. I wish, in the first place, to point out that the Roodepoort mine has not been worked since 1899, and that your correspondent probably intended his figures to apply to another mine called the Roodepoort United Main Reef. Secondly, either by accident or design, he has omitted any reference whatsoever to the respective width of the reefs in the two mines. As the cost of mining depends almost entirely upon the width of the reef, this omission completely nullifies the value of the figures quoted, and any arguments deduced therefrom. A man working a reef of, say, forty inches, as against one of about ten feet, has to go three times as far in the length of the drive in order to get out an equal quantity of ore. Although I have been unable to ascertain the exact width of the lode of the Scottish Gympie, there is every reason to believe that it is very considerably larger than that of the Roodepoort United Main Reef. The average width of the latter is forty inches, which is considerably above the average width of the other reefs in that district of tho Witwatersrand. As regards the Scottish Gympie, the general manager in his Report to the directors dated July 1st, 1908, and published in their Report at the ordinary general meeting on October 28th last, states as follows: "The year's work has demonstrated that we may look to a continuation of our enormous lodes at increasing depths." This single statement proves that the Scottish Gympie Mine and the Roodepoort United Main Reef are so entirely different in character that no comparison as to their respective cost of working is possible. As illustrating how cheaply these big lodes may be worked by coloured labour, I may mention that a certain mine in Rhodesia with an average value of 4.6 dwt. per ton, and crushing about eight thousand tons a month, had in April last reduced its cost of working to 10s. 0.07d. per ton.
—I am, Sir, &c., G. SEYMOUR FORT. 2 Little Stanhope Street, Mayfair.
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