"A BLACK MAN'S COUNTRY."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10156, 30 December 1910, Page 5

"A BLACK MAN'S COUNTY." R

MESSRS FISHER AND FOWLDS

ON SOUTH AFRICA

(Received December 29, 9.5 a.m.)

ADELAIDE, December 29. Messrs Fisher and Fowlds are passengers by the Aenaos. Mr Fisher said nothing could have excelled the cordial, kind and demonstrative reception they received in South Afri ca - The people seemed ambitious to make the Union a success. He was not particularly struck with the nature of the land, although ho was informed it was good. The way the mines were managed was worth travelling a long way to see. Wear and tear and loss of life on the Rand was appalling. , Believing representative men of the Dominions knew too little of each other and their countries, ho had extended on behalf of the Government an invitation to the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition to visit Australia. Mr Botha will probably accept at an early date. The division of parties is more political than racial. The recent elections were not on racial lines. There were possibilities for a Labour Government there, but it would always be a black man's country ruled by an aristocracy of white labour.

Mr Fowlds, interviewed, said he had not observed more bitterness between the English and Dutch than he had expected in view of the recent history of the country. The political parties were not more antagonistic than as is usual in British communities. General Hertzog's education policy was responsible for the present acuteness of racial feeling. Mr Fowlds was favourably impressed with the Dutch people. native question was the most perplexing. He was sorry to say many good people in South Africa entertained heathenish ideas about the blacks.