Renter's correspondent at Johannesburg gives particulars of a petition in
favour of Chinese labour, promoted by the Importation Association, and presented to the Legislative Council on Monday. It is stated that the petition has been signed by forty-five thousand one hundred white male adults of the Transvaal, twenty-eight thousand of whom reside in Johannesburg, seven thousand are employed in the mines, and ten thousand one hundred, including a large number of Dutch, reside in the country districts. Of the total white male adult population of the Transvaal, which is estimated at eighty thousand, fifteen thousand, being Government em- ployes, have not signed, and it is thus contended that 70 per cent, of the whole support Asiatic labour. These figures may be correct, but we must be permitted to observe that in view of the tactics adopted by the pro-Chinese faction, examples of which will be found in our correspondence columns, it is impossible to regard this petition as an adequate substitute for an official Referendum. Friday's papers contain the full report of the correspondence between the Governor of New Zealand and the Colonial Secretary on this question. Mr. Lyttelton readily recognises the right of New Zealand to express an opinion on so important a subject, but states that the Home Government are convinced that each State of the Empire is best able to deal with its own problems, and that their policy is to treat the Transvaal as though it were a self-governing Colony, unless a distinct Imperial interest is concerned. To this, however, must be added Mr. Lyttelton's assurance to a correspondent that no decision would be taken until opportunities had been afforded for full discussion in Parliament.
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