WHITE LABOUR AND THE TRANSVAAL GOLD- MINING INDUSTRY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—In your issue of August 1st you say that you are " unable to understand why in other parts of the world the gold-mining industry can be conducted with white labour, but not in the Transvaal." May I very briefly suggest the explanation ? Ignoring the difficulty of inducing white men to undertake manual labour in South Africa, the answer would be that a gold-mining industry could be conducted with white labour, but that owing to the added expense it would be on a com- paratively small scale, and would be applied to a limited amount of richer reef only. In such circumstances, all estimates framed with other data as to the future develop- ment of the Transvaal would have to be recast; even the present dimensions of Johannesburg would be too large for the requirements, and the Transvaal of the future would be a country of small things. On this subject one must accept the statements of the eminent mining engineers who have studied the question. Comparisons with poorer ore profitably worked in other places, such as Alaska, where both mineral and mining conditions largely differ, are necessarily misleading. It should be noticed that the terms "white man's land" and "yellow man's laud " are used with reference to South Africa in a very different sense from that in which they are applied to, say, England or China respectively. In South Africa the vast majority of the population is, and seems likely to remain, black or coloured.—I am, Sir, &c.,
R. MAGUIRE.
[We cannot share Mr. Maguire's faith in the mining experts. But even if the matter is to be decided by the experts, it is only a case of choosing experts, for they testify both ways. Unless we are mistaken, there are ores of a lower grade—it does not matter whether gold or other ores—worked successfully by white labour in Australia and in Western America. When the lack of intelligence in the black, and the number of white men required to oversee his work, are taken into account, it is very doubtful if black labour is not dearer than white. The more
• •• Dresa'cL—A military phrase for straighteningthe nuiks. The author was an qthoer in Ringaley's regiment at that celebrated battle, a circumstance that he hopes will excuse the introduction of a few military terms, which he found unavoidable, as he wished to write poetry with accuracy. "
we look at the subject the more clearly it appears to us that, consciously or unconsciously, what is dreaded is not so much the price of the white man's labour as the white man's vote. The white miner claims a right to share in the direction and control of the country in which the mines are situated. The black does not. Hence the capitalist's preference for black labour.—En. Spectator.]
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