THE NATIVE PROBLEM IN WOUTH AFRICA.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1957, 14 January 1914, Page 6

THE NATIVE PROBLEM IN WOUTH AFRICA.

■The trouble with the Basutos in the Transvaal, is in some respects one of the most ■■■ seri : ous _ features '. of the present South African crisis, for this powerful tribo has gr«at prestige among the whole native population. In his interesting book entitled . The Ileal South Africa, Mm. Ambbose Pratt states that the Basutos alone among the various black tribes and racial! subdivisions of South Africa have ■never been beaten by the ■ whites. ..'"They vanquished the Boers, they. conquered the Zulus, they repulsed nnd withstood the British. It is true that nt last they bowed to Britain and took England for their suzerain, but they did'so voluntarily, and not because Britain compelled them." Besides being great warriors, ; they have proved themselves to be an 'in-' ■teiligttnb and progressive people. They make good farmers.': They use strain ploughs,.harvest their crops by machinery,, and in the tilling of. their lands , they .show.,, that they ,■ know something-;:of the rules of. modern agricultural-'science.-.. They arc also .building-factories and beginning to ..maketheir.own clothes. Mn. Pbatt tells.;us. that the unlettered outer hordes arc looking to Basutoland "with eyes in which-begins to dawn 'a' , light "'-.of hope- an<f emulation. Basutokad is the. shrino . of their dreams, tho Mecca of their pilgrim-

of their liinscjcnfcj inspiration , In spite of the to carry the Basutos ;'in-o;said;;t6,bc.well !)iountc(J and fair■lyjvvoHJ'arnmd,': haying plenty of currifles/, besides a ;fe'\y;<m;u:hinc ; gi;ns. : Their country :Va\jfourid'iiiiproKnable- in the day :whcn.:they.? , fought with the assegai /a'nd%were , ''less than 50,000 strong. . They, aro'now, says Mr. Peatj, seven ■ times more numerous, and they arc armed;'with.;:.the. white man's guns, These, facts)arc quite sufficient to .show that Ja the : conflict between the ;BasLitojV mine-, ■■.labourers and the Europeans -at V Jagersfontein might possibly, have grave consequences. A gen'eiral;;;'native" rising led by this tribe is certainly not pleasant to contemplate, and'it should not be forgotten that .'some of the South African tribes'" do. not look upon the supremacy; of the Europeans as a .final and.permanent position which ■canj;ncyer-'again be challenged....;