Lord Milner made an important statement to the Inter. Colonial
Council at Johannesburg on Tuesday, an extra- ordinary Session having been opened to consider the financial situation in view of falling railway receipts. The revenue for the current year, originally estimated at £2,350,000, is now found not likely to exceed £1,600,000, and when certain reduc- tions in expenditure have been made, a deficit of £1,000,000 will have to be met, of which £900,000 will fall on the Transvaal. Lord Milner explained that the estimates had not been optimistic or speculative, but were based on the assumption that the great industry of the Transvaal would soon return to its normal condition. But the increase in the supply of un- skilled labour had not been maintained, and progress was paralysed, as the Government had only means enough to carry on ordinary business, not to assist in the development of the natural resources of the country. "In these circum- stances, it was peculiarly foolish of wiseacres oversea to say that it did not matter whether we got the gold quickly or slowly, because it would not run away. In the actual circum- stances, it could not be got out too fast, and the faster it was won the sooner the country would be able to build up per- manent sources of wealth which would make it independent of the gold, And which, if the gold were won too slowly, it might never have the means of building up at all." Lord Miler's irritation with those who differ from him on the labour question, and his assumption that an immediate boom is necessary, is very much to be regretted. It is a great mistake for a Governor to employ vituperative appellations. If Governors take to "calling names" in public, it will not be easy to maintain our most useful tradition that responsible persons on both sides in politics must combine to protect non- political public servants from the indignities of personal attack.
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