5 DECEMBER 1903, Page 18

The minority Report of the Transvaal Labour • Commission was

published on the 27th ult., and was summarised in last Saturday's papers. The findings are as follows :—(1) There is sufficient labour in Central and Southern Africa for present requirements, though an effort will be required to obtain it.

(2) The present so-called shortage in the Transvaal is due to temporary and preventible causes,—i.e., the war, reduction of wages, and the unsatisfactory state of some mine compounds.

(3) Understanding "future requirements" to mean such as, if Satisfied, will benefit the country as a whole, the Commissioners consider that there is also sufficient labour in the territories above mentioned for future requirements. (4) In many ways the supply of native labour can be supplemented or superseded by white labour. The Commissioners, after stating that there is a "fundamental difference between their conclusions and those of the majority," observe that the latter accept in toto the evidence of the Chamber of Mines, which they are unable to do, believing it to support a policy opposed to the growth of a large British working population.