The question of Chinese labour in South Africa was brought
up again on Tuesday in the House of Lords by Lord Coleridge, who asked a number of questions relating to the treatment of the coolies, and contended that while the mine- owners' incomes bad increased by three and a half millions in 1904, there was no sign of the growth of subsidiary industries, and an actual decrease in revenue of more than £200,000 as compared with 1903. The Duke of Marlborough, in an optimistic reply, dwelt on the diminished death-rate of the Kaffirs and the " undoubted fact " that since the introduction of the Chinese three thousand more white men had been employed, though the actual ratio of white to coloured was lower. There had only been five cases of flogging, desertions were less frequent, and the comfort of the Chinese was admitted by all observers. In short, he asserted that there was no prediction of noble Lords opposite which had not been totally falsified by subsequent events.
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