In South Africa the Colour Bar Bill, which General Smuts
has described as a firebrand flung into a haystack, has just been forced through the Lower House. Until 1921 natives were prohibited from doing skilled and semi-skilled work in the mines, but in that year the prohibition was removed as regards semi-skilled work. The result is well remembered—the strike and riots of 1922, which caused chaos and much loss of life. The present Goveriunent in South Africa ever since it took office has hoped to reassert the colour bar in spite of a decision of the Transvaal High Court that any such bar is void. Its Bill displays the Dutch as opposed to the British tradition. We fear that it will prejudice the feeling of the natives about the intentions of the white men just when the way is being prepared for a new policy in the treatment of natives throughout South Africa— by segregation accompanied by large grants of land.
Previous page
