BLACK AND WHITE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—Lord Olivier has introduced a new principle into journalism, that of " Every man his own reviewer:' In his letter to you of April 16th he observes of his own book, The Anatomy of African Misery, that " it is on the whole 3 true and pertinent statement of facts which it is important should be understood outside of S. Africa." From the pub- lisher's point of view such a pontifical announcement could hardly be bettered. As to Kitchen Kaffir being " largely the lingua franca of the Cape," I had a pretty intimate knowledge of that Colony from the Sunday's River to the Koonap—from Graaff lleinet to Adelaide—and never heard but twice a farmer talking to his Kaffir boys in Kaffir. A Boer I have never heard sPeak Kaffir. Of course, in the Transkei and west of the Kei Kaflir is used, but there are comparatively few white farmers in that area. I can only repeat therefore that Kaffir is not largely the lingua franca of the Cape, and thousands of Kaffirs speak English as well as the taal. Incidentally,
Lord Olivier in his letter makes another slip by talking of Capefown " boys. There are no people so-called.
Lord Olivier asks me if I can deny that the behaviour of Messrs. Rhodes, Deventer and De Waal, which he records in his book, is brutal. I do not deny it. But I would remind Lord Olivier of the danger of arguing from the particular to the general, and of the unwisdom of bringing an indictment against a nation. I feel certain that he would himself deny that the brutal intimidation displayed during the coal-stoppage in " peaceful " picketing was characteristic of Labour in general. Speaking from many years' first-hand experience of Cape Colony, I also deny that " brutal manners " to the fioffirs are characteristic of South Africans.
In my review of Lord Olivier's book I indicated that it would do harm to South Africa, and I adhere to that opinion. I am not concerned so much with its effect on this country. The title alone is an absurd exaggeration to anyone who knows the Kaffir at hpme. South Africans will resent the book, and will see in it only another instance of English theoreticians' interference—an interference which has in the past cost the Colony the loss of thousands of some of her best inhabitants. • It is to be hoped that Lord Olivier will not also press on South Africa as a solution of its native problem the furiher advice that Europeans and Kaffirs should interbreed wholesale on the ground that such interbreeding would produce (to quote his own words) " a superior human being."
I shall be now quite content to leave Lord Olivier with the list word, if he desire or you permit it.—I am; Sir, &c.,
YOUR REVIEWER.
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