Don't Go to South Africa.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 351, 29 January 1903, Page 5

Don't Go to South Africa.

Africa is a place that a man with ordinary or small means should avoid. At present it is full of discontented Boers, blacks, and millionaires. Trading and agricultural and pastoral pursuits are simply paralysed. No ordinary working man can get work there, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, practically starving. The farming land in South Africa is not to be compared with the land in Aus tralia, more especially that in New South Wales and Victoria, from the coastal point of view, Most of the good land is now practically in the hands of the Boers, and the labor in the towns is mostly done by Kaffirs. For these and other reasons the rush to Sooth Africa is not opportune The Army vote has now given place to a reign of economy, and the Government, instead of offering positions to men, is embarrassed by the number of applications. The South African Constabulary is up to its full strength, and the civil, military, and railway police have been raised above strength to provide for applicants, and still there are thousands of applications left. • There were 9,000 applications for commissions in the South African Constabulary alone. Many Australian officers have been bitterly disappointed. During the war they were offered good positions, but they desired to remain with the fighting columns until the end of the war, thinking they were : sure of at least as good positions as had been offered to them; At present it is between the tides. There are none of the good positions created by the war, nor the bet l er conditions yet to be produced by peace. The advice to any person who wants to go "to South Africa ib—" Don't!"—" Wairarapa ©a% Timta/'