TRANSVAAL LABOUR PROBLEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 257, 3 November 1906, Page 9

TRANSVAAL LABOUR PROBLEMS.

THE COST OF GOLD PRODUCTION. THE CHINESE QUESTION. THE COMING ELECTIONS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) JOHANNESBURG, September 6. la my last letter I mentioned the gold eutput of the Transvaal for the month of July. I said that the rough, labour employed in connection with this industry -was 70,905 natives, and 52,203 Chinese. The question of rough labour is the most vital one affecting the gold mining industry of this country. The elections in the United Kingdom largely hinged on the employment of Chinese on the Rand, and your late Premier, with many other prominent men in New Zealand ond Australia, strongly condemned Chinese labour; in fact, if i I remember rightly, there was very strong feeling throughout New Zealand on the subject a year or so ago. It j obvious that if the. gold return is to | be increased, or even maintained, the' number of rough labourers must not be diminished, and the question really was whether there <~-gvere enough natives in, this country to do the work, or whether an importation from elsewhere was imperative. Some three years ago the former High. Commissioner, Lord Milner,'. appointed a commission to inquire into this subject, and which reported that ■; the local supply of natives was not suf- j fieient. A minority report, representing tvo members of the commission differed from this conclusion, and in the minds of f many of us it is still uncertain whether we can get enough, native labourers. The Chamber of Mines recently issued a leaflet on the subject of the gold production, and it contains a good deal of information, which is valuable, not only to the people of this country, but to* all i who are interested in gold-mining. SOME INTERESTING FIGURES. The average value of each ton of rock treated in the Witwatersrand is 33/, ■ and the average working costs are alittle over 23/. so that of every ounce of gold produced, more than two-thirds is excepted in the cost of production while the remaining onp-third goes to those who found the capital. Of every ounce of gold produced the sum of i.2 13/4 is expended in production, and of the remaining one-third (say £1 6/8) the sum of ten shillings is set aside to pay interest "and sinking fund on the' development expenses in the following proportions:—Twenty per cant (or two shilling's) on labour employed in creej tions; thirty-four per cent (or throe tshil- j. I lings and fivepence) on the purchase of machinery and materials; and forty-' six per cent (or four shillings and seven ' pence) on shaft sinking and develop- j ment. Adding the actual coat of production to the expenditure in development we have a sum of £3 3/4 expended before the mine-owner gets anything from '* his ounce of gold. Approximately £3 | are spent in the country out of "eve/y ! ounce of gold produced. Last month the. output was 491.7930z of fine geld, valued at £2.890,004, and the figures I have just given will show that on this amount! £1.146,517 represents the sum actually! expended i«i the cost of getting, whilst j a. further sum of £325,862 represents a , past expenditure in development, etc. i When we consider that for every ounce ] of gold produced there is an actual expenditure in the country o£ £2 13/4, it is not difficult to realise how momentous a question that of labour becomes, or why people a.re so anxious to see the mines working at their full capacity. THE QUESTION OF LABOUR, The mine-owners theinelves do not profess to invest the problem with any degree of sentiment. Some few do claim that they aTe really interested in the well-being of the colony, but a great majority, who are residents in a number, of European countries, principally the United. Kingdom, France, and "Germany,

are quite indifferent as to what becomes of the country, providing they get the gold. With the people here it is different. When it was proposed some three years aso to bring Chinese, it was never contended that they would b>.; desirable rt-idents. They were regarded as a means to an end, nothing more. It was admitted that they would still further complicate ;i most complicated social condition, and that they would add to the evils of which we already have too many, but what most people looked at was the increased expenditure that their presence would bring about, and thero is no doubt but that this special object has bean accomplished. * In two years' time they have added to the expenditure within the country of something like £500,000 per month, but they have also added to the sense of insecurity which all residents of outlying districts near the Rand experience, and, in many instances, there have been numerous outrages, and some few murderers attributable directly to them. Ware the 52,000 Chinese employed by the mines replaced by native?, it is not very clear that the number of outrages and murders would jbe diminished, the criminal black being 1 quite as dangerous as the criminal yellow : but that is not the point from which j a very great number-of people here now I regard it. When they were asked to as- ' sent to the introduction of Chinese they were promised a great influx of prosperity, the country would boom; instead of that, notwithstanding the enormous expenditure which the gold production has involved, the country is very depressed. There was an inflation immedii ately after the war. People expected an expansion iv all departments of industry : and commerce, and they speculated on ! that expectation with, in many cases, disastrous consequences to themselves. There was an enormous expenditure in ; building. Merchants filled their ware- , houses and shops with goods, and built more warehouses and shops to store the I ever-increasing flow. The sharemarket was booming, everybody appeared to be making money, and then came the slump". Shares went down, the progress of build- I i ings was retarded, men were thrown out jof work, several of the mines reduced j their staffs employed in development ; work. The rush of people from all parts of the world who expected to make for- ' tunes as soon as they got to the Eand, ! congested every class of labour and commerce, and then we had the inevitable reaction. People now say, "You promised us prosperous times if we let you get the Chinese. You got the Chinese, and things are much worse, so we will I not allow you to keep them." As is generally the ease wnen things arc not going well, a scapegoat had to , be set up, and the £eapegoat in this in- i ■ stance was the capitalist, especially in his connection with Chinese labour. Probably there was a good deal of truth iv the charges laid against the mining mag- | nates, but there is a good deal that is . ' not proved. At any rate, he is likely i to suffer for the sins that he has commit-; ; ted, and there seems a general tendency j i to make us suffer in still greater propor- ' tion —that is, of course, always provided we cannot get a sufficiency of black labour. '♦THE ENACTION AGAINST CHINESE. i Sir George Farrar, the chief of the Progressives, and the; same Mr. Leonard of Wanderers' fame, -were refused a hearing at Fordsburg. one of the Johannesburg suburbs, a week ago, and those who I -were particularly noisy in their interruptions did not forget to remind these gentlemen that they themselves had blocked a public meeting about two years or so ago. So far as I can judge, the coming election will give a mandate to the members to stop Chinese labour, and it would seem that the Progressive Press, who are controlled by the Big Houses, have already that fear in their minds, because we now hear suggestions that this matter of labour should be submitted to a referendum. of the people, and that it should be eliminated from the political arena, whilst some make | strong appeals to the people that even ] should they decide not to have Chinese labour, they should not insist on immediate repatriation, but let the men go back when their contract time expires. „_,<