CHINESE LABOUR IN THE TRANSVAAL.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Six,—There are one or two points on this question on which I am unable to see that your reasoning in the Spectator of February 13th is logically correct. There are at present working in the mines fully sixty thousand Ka.ffirs, and another sixty thousand would be employed if they could be obtained. These men are, like the Chinese, semi-civilised ; they live, largely at least, in compounds ; and on the expiry of their engagement they return to their native country. Every one of them displaces that white labour which, I take it, we would all prefer if it seemed possible. Yet I have seen no word of protest from you against the employment of these black men, and Mr. Creswell, in the Independent Review, says: " With our present native labour, supplemented by white labour, I contend that the mines can now be run," &c. Why this distinction in eligibility between
men who are black and men who are yellow? You also object to the importation of Chinese on the ground that they would be subjected to slavery. Well, they contract of their own free will to labour for a short term of years for wages which to them seem adequate ; they will, under strict Government inspection, be properly fed and housed ; and at the end of their time of service they will be sent back to their own land. These conditions do not read harshly. Are they essentially different from those on which "Tommy Atkins" engages to
serve his country P—I am, Sir, &c., JOHN CLAPPERTON. 9 Crown Circus, Glasgow, W.
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