The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21st, 1924. A COLOR PROBLEM.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 November 1924, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21st, 1924. A COLOR PROBLEM.

Tns problem of Black versus White in South Africa, Wore which all other social questions in the Union fade into insignificance, is discussed in an interesting letter received in 'Wellington from an ex»New. Z«ilander who has taken up his residence at Vereeniging, the town in the Transvaal where peace was signed after the Boer War. The great question, the writer states, is whether South Africa is to he black or white. At present a small white population of a million and n half is ruling a country with somctliiug like

live coloured men to every white. The question ol unemployment is inextricably mixed 111 > with the colour question. Tlic' ilidiculty is the same as that which confronted America in the days before the Civil War. when the lower part of die white population was degraded by legro slavery and a false aristocracy it poor whites arose in the Southern States wlm would not do •‘slave” or ■•nigger” work, Though slavery has been abolished. Have exists in South Africa the .same false aristocracy. 1 • 11 is so easy to have a native servant, male or female, at .'IDs or lOs per immfh, to do all the dirty jolts, - ' the writer states, “but its means the ruination of the white. One lias to contend with it in one's own home. The youngsters arc s.) accustomed In calling on Mini’ to do this and to do that, that they will shirk all the menial work they can. So long as reliance is placed on the coloured races to do the unskilled and manual labour of the coiintty. the position will never he improved ; it is so pleasant, to have the hard work done bv others, ami al so cheap a figure, that it. is only the few earnest souls wlm look to posterity who want to alter the state of things. Hut the white population is standing still: only the very lowly or the ‘incspoiisiblcs’ amongst the whites have large families to-day, ami ooliirtmiatcly these are just the type «M|c <|oc ; . oo| want in' ica.' il. 'lice native, however, iv virile, lias no thought for the morrow, and increases prodigiously. As for the 'oll-colciured.' who in this question stand with the blacks they arc the result of the while man's sin. and having inherited all the irresponsibilities of their forbears, they. too. place no restraint nil their increase. So that with the diminishing and the standing-still of the white race we have the alarming increase of the black, and unless something is done to increase the white population within a very lewyears we shall In* swamped. The only way is to populate the country so thickly with whites that tho blacks will lie at least cniilitci-balailced, and unless this is done quickly it will never be done at all. Natural evolution will in tin* course of a comparatively short time so raise the black that the poor white will sink below his level. Even now the black is keen on getting education. in book learning, and in learning trades. The result is that he is pushing his wav into all sorts of avenues; wo have black tradesmen—carpenters, -bricklayers, messengers in offices, ohanlfeurs. grooms etc., while the white lads arc looking for work. In Natal the position is iheadl'ul. In that province there are 130.01)0 ‘lndians,’ the losiill of indentured labour to the sugar estates; A few years ago there were 200 white men engaged in the tailoring trade in Durban; to-day there are 10, all badly paid, because of the competition of the Indian tailor. Truly, the Government is faced with a dreadful problem.” Discussing the visit of the Empire Parliamentarians to South Africa the writer of the letter states that they see only one side of the picture in South Africa. “Johannesburg, for instance.'’ he says, “hides a vast amount of misery. Tile* Parliamentary visitors and other distinguished visitors arc generally only shown the beauty sports, and under the stimuli of Mayoral banquets and champagne fizzes all looks roseate. But let them go down into the slums of Vrededorp, where the white outcasts of the race live cheek by jowl with natives. Chinese, Indians, .Malays, and ‘off-colonial.s’ of all .shades, and the Mayoral dinner would not lie inoperative for long.”