South African logic
pin In his letter to your columns,
Guy Bowden stated that the jour- ney of the Archbishop of Canter-, bury to South Africa was under- taken out of a sense of pastoral care for the oppressed Christians in that country. Did he not also go for the benefit of those Chris- tians who are oppressors? If not, he should have done.
Does no one ever have a good word to say for the white South African racialists? There are in the world people who believe in a vast range of weird and wonder- ful things: that the world is flat, that the End in nigh, that apart- heid works, that writing to the SPECTATOR is worth the effort; misguided they may be, but they sincerely believe in these things, and are human, and thereby worthy of the Archbishop's atten- tion.
I am aware that Jesus of Naza- reth had little time for the Phari- sees, but one should not follow his example so much as the spirit of his teaching, bearing in mind the limited time he had at his disposal, if his teaching is considered to be of any value.
I am constantly being told that the black South Africans are all wonderfully good, while their white masters are irretrievably wicked. Since that Jesus was very keen on redeeming the wicked. per- haps the Archbishop and Mr Bow, den are looking at the problem from the wrong end.
I'm sure Old Nick is giggling with glee at the ramifications.
J. Fendall.
Moyle Cottage, The Fairway, Hythe, Kent Sir: Now that the fuss surround- ing the Archbishop of Canterbury's visit to South Africa has died down it may be worthwhile recalling the words of Lord Milner, when writ- ing to Asquith in September 1897: remain firmly of the opinion that, if it were not for my having some conscience about the treatment of the blacks, T personally could win over the Dutch in the (Cane] Colony and indeed in all of the South African dominions in my term of office. and that I could do so without offending the English. You have only to sacrifice "the nigger" absolutely and the game is easy.'
No one was more concerned about the defence of the Cape than Milner.
C. H. Morris 37 Clyde Road, Manchester
Sir: Douglas Brown has cast gloomy doubts upon `separate development' in South Africa with- out shedding much light upon future trends.
Would not the emergence of separate states for the Bantu meet his call for 'holes in the tarpaulin'? Could not these states negotiate improved conditions for their res- pective 'migrant' workers in the Republic?
If the problem of the Bantu can be thus solved, the problem of the two million Cape Coloureds and 0.6 million Indians needs thorough consideration, since it is likely that in the future the browns will outnumber the whites. Can these three minority races learn to live together or must there be more apartness?
P. Martin Burnard 3 Wet Heath Drive, London NW1
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