Several of Wednesday's papers contained a disquieting tele- gram from
Johannesburg. It is stated, on the authority of the Central News, that three Chinese overseers were found stabbed to death in their bunks at the Van Ryn compound on Tuesday, and that another overseer was badly wounded. The report ascribes the murders to quarrels on religious matters, and adds that, in view of the growing lawlessness of the Chinese miners, the white employes are arming them- selves with rifles or revolvers. We give the report with due reserve—it has so far been neither confirmed nor contradicted by any other agency—but may note that Mr. Lyttelton, in replying to Mr. Richard Bell, M.P., has confirmed the report that Chinese coolies have been flogged, but asserts that this penalty was inflicted for assault, and that sentences of imprisonment only were inflicted for rioting. Mr. Lyttelton added that the penalty inflicted on coolies for refusing to work had not been reported to the Home Government, but, according to the Daily Chronicle, sentences varying from one to four months' imprisonment with hard labour have been imposed on some sixty coolies for "refusing to work."
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