The debate on the second reading of the South African
Loan and War Contribution Bill on Monday involved the very important question of imported labour in South Africa. Sir William Harcourt, after an elaborate analysis of the claims upon the new loan of £65,000,000, declared that "this is the beginning of loairs. It is perfectly obvious that the requisites of these countries will demand loans for development in addi- tion to these and far beyond them if anything is to be done at all that is in contemplation." The formidable part of these under- takings is the cost, and the cost "depends upon the question of labour a disputed, and violently disputed, question in the Transvaal." The alleged fact that the mining industry declares that it cannot be solvently conducted except "on the basis of Asiatic labour" makes. Sir William Harcourt asserted, the problem a formidable one, for if the mines are entitled to cheap labour, so are all other industries. He was unable, just as we have always been, to understand why in other parts of the world the . gold-mining industry can be conducted with white labour, but not in the Transvaal. The House had to determine Whether South Africa was to be a white man's or a yellow man's land. He demanded that the Government, which had admitted that the overwhelming opinion of the Colonial population was against Asiatic labour, should declare their opposition to the introduction of such labour.
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