This is the boasted prosperity which was to have come to the country through the introduction of Chinese labour. And yet Mr. Balfour writes to Mr. Herbert Samuel on November 22—vide the correspondence in The Times—that he can see "nothing in the condition of things to induce the Government to reverse a policy which was recommended by an overwhelming majority in the Transvaal Legislative Council, with the approval of the great bulk of the white population."(!)
Many attempts have been made to justify the pledge made by Lord Milner, that for every 10,000 introduced, 10,000 white men would find employment. This is a side of the question which was admirably put by Lord Coleridge in May last:—
The Government's policy seems to be that of the mine owner, or rather to serve that of the mine owner—to get labour as cheaply as possible, and, above all, to keep out the white man for fear he should grow independent. Mr. Lyttelton, speaking at Exeter on May 5, said:—
"The result of the introduction of Chinamen has been that 3000 white men are employed on the mines in addition to those that were employed before the introduction of that labour, and the result is that, in round figures, £500,000 has been received by British artisans."
And so on. That is a completely misleading statement. I say, and I think I shall show, that the employment of Chinese has led to a decrease in the amount of white labour employed. Take the year from June 1903 to June 1904. The proportion of white men to Kaffirs during those twelve months remained practically stationary, at one in six, in round figures. On March 31, 1905, which is the date of the last Return we have, there were 105,184 Kaffirs working in the mines, and at the proportion of one-sixth there would have been 17,530 white men. But the number of white men employed at that date was only 16,235. Following that proportion, if the Chinese had not arrived we should have had at least 1300 or 1400 more white men employed than there are now. In addition to that there are over 34,000 Chinese employed not represented by a single white man, and Lord Milner does not hold out any hope that the proportion of white men to coloured labourers will in future be greater than one in fourteen.
Crime and outrage are all that this degrading policy of Chinese slavery has brought to the country. There is an old text that says, "Be sure your sins will find you out." But rarely does it happen within the space of a year and a half, that a national crime meets with its reward.
Immediately after the war one could not say that the Transvaal was peopled by a happy, industrious community, but it was a veritable heaven compared with the Transvaal of 1905; a veritable paradise of plenty. This has been the social effect of the importation of Chinese labour. The political effect is quite as serious.
It has been said that the ultimate object of our rule in South Africa is the federation of all the states of South Africa into one commonwealth. It was the dream of Cecil Rhodes that South Africa should take her place among the commonwealths of the Empire. A constitution, such as exists in Australia at the present moment, was to be given to South Africa. The states of Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal—all free, self-governing units—were to be welded together into one great self-governing Imperial unit. The introduction of Chinese labour in the Transvaal has rendered this impossible. Until these Chinamen are repatriated there will be no commonwealth for South Africa.
In the first place, one of the essentials for such a federation would be that each state should be a self-governing colony. The mine owner knows, and the Government of Great Britain must know by now, that once self-government is given to the Transvaal, Chinese slavery would be at an end. Therefore the mine owners, who really "boss" the Transvaal, would take care to suppress any agitation in favour of self-government. As they refused the referendum so will they refuse the Boer and the Briton the right of free constitution. Hence the granting of responsible government to the Transvaal is deferred, and hence the federation of South Africa is postponed indefinitely.
Again, Cape Colony would never consent to the federation of the Transvaal unless the Chinese labourers were repatriated. They have stated their opinion in no uncertain language. They would have no desire to enter into a partnership arrangement with a community which was hampered with such a grave social problem as Chinese labour. The Transvaal has done harm enough to Cape Colony, without adding this last straw to the load of evil which the gold mines of the Rand have bred for her.
This is one of the Imperial political disasters resulting immediately from the importation of Chinese labour.
There is another Imperial consideration even more serious.