P A G E

A p p e n d ix A .— G en era l......................................................... .............................................................................................. 5„ B.—Economic Implication of Native Policy................................................................. 11

„ C.—Urban Areas................................................................................................................. 19

„ D.—Juvenile Delinquency................................................................................................. 35

„ E.—Native Education........................................................................................................ 46

„ F.—Native Health.............................................................................................................. 55

„ 6 .—Native Separatist Churches....................................................................................... 61

„ H.—Pass Laws.............................................................................................................. .. 61„ I.—Activities of South African Native Trust.............................................................. 64

r e p o r t o f t h e n a t iv e a f f a ir s c o m m is s io n

FOR THE YEARS, 1939 AND 1940.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR PATRICK DUNCAN, A MEMBER OF HIS MAJESTY’S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL, KNIGHT GRAND CROSS OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED ORDER OF SAINT MICHAEL AND SAINT GEORGE, ONE OF HIS MAJESTY’S COUNSEL LEARNED IN THE LAW , DOCTOR OF LAWS, GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA.

M a y i t P l e a s e Y o u r E x c e l l e n c y :

In terms of the Regulations published under Government Notice No. 2004 of 1920, the Native Affairs Commission begs leave to submit its report for the years 1939 and 1940.

This report deals with sixteen months of the war period. The Commis­sion has to record that during these sixteen mouths the Natives of the Union have displayed an exemplary loyalty towards constituted authority and a law-abiding attitude that is wholly admirable. Subversive propaganda has made no impression upon them. Though they have had to face the same stresses and strains as the Europeans they have been singularly unaffected by them. The official news bulletin issued daily in the Native language by the Native Affairs Department, which is a summary of the press cables reaching South Africa freely from all parts of the world, has been accepted by the Natives as a reasonably accurate statement of events. They realise that their future is just as much at stake in the issues of this war as is the future of the Europeans. Gifts from Chiefs and people in aid of funds for the prosecution of the war and the relief of distress have been both numerous and generous. They have volunteered, in large numbers, for the Native Military Corps; and they have asked on numerous occasions, through their representatives and chiefs, that they should be permitted to play a more combatant part in the war. There can be no doubt that the unanimous resolutions passed by the Natives Representative Council in its sessions of1939 and 1940, expressing “ the unswerving loyalty of the African people to His Majesty the King and to His Government of the Union of South Africa ” and their prayers “ for the victory of the forces of His Majesty and His Allies in this war ” , represent the deep and genuine feelings of the Natives of the Union.

The functions, duties and privileges conferred on the Commission are fully set out in its report for 1936. It is, therefore, unnecessary to retierate them here.

Owing to the state of national emergency, it was decided to suspend further land purchase on behalf of the Trust and no investigations were made except in the Province of Natal where the following Districts were visited: —

Impendhle, Bulwer, Ixopo, Pinetown, Verulam, Stanger, Eshowe, Empangeni, Hlabisa, Nbombo, Ingwavuma, Nongoma, Ngotshe, Vryheid, Babanango, Melmoth, Krantzkop, New Hanover, Greytown, Ms'inga, Pomeroy, Ladysmith, Bergville, Estcourt and Weenen.

This tour completed the inspection of Natal and Zululand which was originally commenced in 1936 and continued in 1937.

In addition to these investigations, enquiries were also made into the conditions obtaining at, and reports furnished on, the undermentioned places: —

Pretoria Urban Locations,Hercules,Alexandra Township,Riverside, Eersterust and adjoining Native settlements. Roodepoort-Maraisburg,Evaton Native Township,Gquna Allotments, Qumbu.

1 orty-nine formal meetings were lield, at all of which the Secretary for Native Affairs presided. The following matters, inter alia, were dealt with: —

(a) Applications for Church and School sites.(b) Native Hospitalisation.(c) Applications for Grants to Hospitals.(d) Applications for excision from, or inclusion in, released areas.(e) Requests by farmers and others for the purchase of land by the

South African Native Trust.(/) Expropriation of “ Black Spots ” .(g) Land Settlement Schemes.(h) Local Councils, establishment of.(i) Maize control.0‘) Occupation of seaside resorts in Native areas.(/c) Pass Laws.(I) Farm Labour.(m) Medical training of Natives.(») Juvenile delinquency.(») Establishment of beer halls in Municipalities.(p) Native Education.(q) Recruitment of Native Labour.(r) Amendments to Acts and Regulations.(s) Applications (65) for recognition by Native Separatist Religious

U AM

Members of the Commission attended the Meetings of the Natives Representative Council. It was represented by one of its members at the Annual Sessions of the United Transkeian Territories General Council and Magisterial Conferences.

To this formal Report several Appendices 011 various subjects by the appointed members are attached, together with Reports by the Native Affairs and other Government Departments.

DENEYS REITZ, Chairman.G. HEATON NICHOLLS J. MOULD YOUNGE. A. CONROY •T. F. T. NAUDE A. 0. B. PAYN

G. DU PREEZ, Secretary.Pretoria, 13th August, 1941.

M e m o r a n d u m by t h e A p p o in t e d M e m b e r s o p t h e C o m m i s s i o n .

APPENDIX “ A

GENEKAL.

The two years under review have been marked by a steady and an appreciable development in the incidence of our national policy of trustee­ship. The hesitations and recessions of Governments during past years, which marred our native development, and which were due to the prevailing doubts about the policy to be pursued, are disappearing. Though, of course, the political and economic development of human society, in the unique form in which it exists in South Africa, raises unforeseen problems requiring immediate adjustment, for which no precedent exists, in so far as a settled Native policy can aid in those adjustments, the Commission can record marked progress all along the line.

The various legislative measures dealing with Native political represen­tation, with urban areas control and Native welfare, and with the purchase of additional land for Natives, together with the extension and development of the Native Reserves, all of which form the basis of our Native Policy, have undoubtedly had an educative effect as much u p o n Europeans as upon Natives. Among Europeans, the new legislation, as was intended, has created an acknowledgment of the responsibilities which lie upon them as citizens of a civilised state which has accepted the guardianship of seven million Bantu subjects. There is everywhere noticeable a quickening of interest in the work of the Native Trust— often found in most unexpected quarters—which is not only confined to those who have made it their special concern to champion the interests of the Native people, but which extends to every Department of State— from the Departments of the Central Govern­ment to the Provinces and the Municipalities. Among the Natives, the educative effect of our Native policy is being demonstrated through the debates of the Natives Representative Council, which is now showing a commendable understanding of the magnitude of the work of Native advance and uplift in which the Department of Native Affairs is continuously engaged.

This Council of sixteen Native members, who alone have voting power, sitting together with the chief officers of the Native Affairs Department and attended by the Native Affairs Commission, meets each year to consider the estimates of revenue and expenditure of the Native Trust, as well as to consider any other matter affecting’ the Native people. The Council is now an internal part of our Native Government. It is presided over by the Secretary for Native Affairs. Tts Native members are thus brought into intimate contact with those executive officers of the Government who are specially charged with Native administration. The Director of Native Agriculture and the Senior Engineer, and all departmental heads under the the Native Trust, are present at each Session of the Council to give a personal account of the work of their departments for the past year and their plans for the coming vear. Opportunity is also taken to invite other heads of Government Departments to discuss the work being done on behalf of the Natives. The Provinces have permitted their Directors of Native Education to" be present to give a review of their policies and to answer any questions asked These explanations are followed by debates, reports of which find their wav by means of the widelv circulated Native press, to the mass of the Native people. These past few years, therefore, have created a much more intelligent realisation of the benefits and future intentions of our Native policy amongst the Native people than was possible before the estab­lishment of the Council; and the continuous work of the Native Trust, charged with the wise spending of monies received from Native taxation, as well as from the general revenue of the country, is being closely watched by all interested.

A more generous understanding of the inherent difficulties which confront the Government in planning a sane and h a p p y development of the hetereogeneous society of the Union will smooth our path for further advances in Native uplift. The first essential lies m maintaining European goodwill and a spirit of generosity in Native Government. This can be fostered only bv the orowth of a national pride among the Europeans in the justice and wisdom of their trusteeship. The corollary is a billing acceptance by the Natives of the sincerity of European intentions. The efforts of those Europeans who, for one reason or another, are continually calling into question the sincerity of these intentions, are not helping the Natives; nor in criticism devoted solely to the sins and omissions of Native Government of much use The complete ignoring of all the positive achievements of our policy which is a common characteristic of much criticism merely destroys its value in responsible quarters. The path of development has been clearly defined Along that path, and in conformity with our national policy, unlimited opportunities lie waiting. To reject these opportunities m favour

\

of some egalitarian ideal which runs counter to the whole political history and outlook of South Africa, and which takes 110 note of anthropological and economic realities, is merly to raise antagonisms which can defeat all advance; and, as happened so often, lead to the adoption of retrogressive measures difficult to overcome.

We have to deal with a Native population which is in every stage of development, the significance of which cannot he ignored. There are numerous tribes in the Union which are not very much advanced. On the other hand, some of the older urban areas can furnish examples of complete detribalisation. Such advanced Natives are comparatively few and general arguments, based on their conditions alone, would be misleading. The vast majority are slowly rising from illiteracy and heathendom. A Native elite, however, is appearing. Each year the Native University at Fort Hare passes out into this developing Native world a number of graduates who have passed in honours ranking equally with those granted by our European Universities. That number is increasing. Forty-three deg-rees and diplomas were conferred on Natives during the academic year 1940.

One of our problems is to provide the opportunities amongst their own people for the use of the talents which these Native graduates have developed under European guidance. The Commission feels that the time has arrived when the policy laid down by General Hertzog when he visited the Transkeian Territories in 1925, at the time the Native legislation was under contem­plation, should be more consistently carried out. The promise then conveyed that Natives should be given the opportunity of filling any office under the Government in their own areas for which they were fitted, is still the guiding rule of the Department of Native Affairs, and wherever possible educated Natives should be given employment suitable to their talents in those areas. The growing universal education— albeit very elementary at present—-and the economic instruction of all sections of the Native people within the Reserves and while working for Europeans, will, if wisely planned, ulti­mately produce a much higher level of living and culture amongst them; but that higher level will not be reached by ignoring anthropological facts. It is not in the nature of the Bantu to hurry. The best progress will be made by steady and persistent march towards the recognition of a Bantu nation within the framework of our South African citizenship, in which the fittest amongst them can find a sphere for their talents and a place for the display of leadership amongst their people. The Native intelligentsia is not yet very sure of its own direction. It is still thinking in terms of an assimilated citizenship with the Europeans, urged, no doubt, to do so by those amongst us who are themselves unable to assimilate with the South African outlook. It has not yet fully grasped the significance of the beneficent change which has taken place as the result of our Native legisla­tion. It does not understand that “ paramountcy of Native interests in Native areas ” , where “ areas ” has a much wider significance than mere territorial limitations, affords for the intelligentsia the opportunity for which it has been trained.

There can be a Bantu nation in South Africa, every member of which can be proud to be a South African; and unless such a pride is created, our Native policy will founder in misunderstanding. The only alternative is a black proletariat, and proletarianism is outdated, even in fiurope. To force the Bnniu down to a denationalised and submerged economic class, to destroy in them the pride of race, and, in the process of their submersion, all the traditions and virtues which enabled the Bantu to conquer and subsist in a savage world, would be a calamity to South Africa— as destructive of the future of the European as of the Native. The ideal is to recreate a Bantu world which shall be enlightened by our religion and ethics, and instructed l)y our economic experience, whether that world lives and works in European areas or whether it is separate from the Europeans as in the Native Reserves; a world in which the interests of each in its own sphere shall be paramount, without detriment to the other. All our legislation aims at doing this. In adopting this idea, Parliament gave evidence that it realised it was creating a new philosophy of government in the world; and that it believed it was justified in doing so because there had never before been an analogous position to that developed in South Africa as the result of the juxtaposition of civilised and uncivilised. Parliament considered that, rightly interpreted and justly carried out, the Native policy, agreed upon only after the most careful study and as the result of years of experience, did promise an escape from the racial oblivion which has overtaken all other experiments in race contacts throughout the centuries.

South African history, however it may be regarded, does not betray any probability that the country is likely to go back on that policy and adopt the tried and discarded assimilated citizenship for black and white. The strongest force in the political and, indeed, in the social life of South Africa to-day is a determination to maintain race purity; and all the forces of the State are directed to that end. It is not practical politics to talk and act as though the inherent instincts of the South African people can be destroyed by arguments drawn from an economic interpretation of history elsewhere,

The existing differences in economic and ethical standards are not the results of economical exploitation. They are due to different anthropological condi­tions. Our Native policy takes heed of those conditions. They are due to different anthropological conditions. It is true that the pursuit of profit and a disregard of the means by which it is obtained, do lead to breaches of the unwritten law of the country in regard to racial mixture in towns and factories and the failure to understand the objectives of Native policy by both employers and Municipalities, most of it unconscious, does create conditions which appear to defy the application of ameliorative measures by legislation. Employers are interested in maintaining a reservoir of Native labour to meet their varying needs, and the effect of this reservoir on main­taining low wages is to their financial advantage. Municipalities are unwilling to shoulder financial responsibilities which will increase their rates, and the obligation placed upon them by legislation to improve the living conditions of the urban Natives often lacks sufficient stimulus from public demand. Nevertheless, decided progress has been recorded, both in raising wage standards of urban Natives and in improving housing conditions.

The Commission cannot fail to realise the full implications upon our Native policy of an industrial development which is becoming nation wide. While the 1936 Census showed that 76 per cent, of the Native population still lives either in the Native Reserves or on European farms, and, therefore, is definitely classed as rural, to which must be added a large part of the remaining 24 per cent, which is in urban areas temporarily, an increasing number of Natives is tending to become permanent urban dwellers._ The secondary industries themselves record an increase of 28 per cent, in the number of Natives employed in 1940 over those employed in 1935. It is a natural industrial urge to increase the efficiency of production by converting casual into permanet Native workers; but it means that the Native urban population will become increasingly large and more permanent each year. That is the position we have to face.

The same influences operate to-day as those set out in the Report of the Native Economic Commission of 1932. The tribal Native, seeking temporary employment in urban areas, and assisted by his tribal assets, which supply him with at least a portion of his primary needs, is not so concerned with the amount of wages that he is paid as is his urban brother. He is not yet dominated by economic considerations. In most cases this type of temporary worker is supplied with food and lodging as well as wages and is fairly content with his lot, which is usually much better than anything he has previously been accustomed to. The Native industrial worker, however, who has become a permanent urban dweller, has to provide for his food and housing, both for himself and for his family, out of the wages which he receives—wages which are directly influenced by the presence of his tribal competitor. Such competition, so universally encouraged both by employers and altruists alike, is disastrous to the urban Native’s standard of living.

The rise of an industrial class among the Bantu, which is becoming permanently resident in all European centres of industry, learning the lessons of industrial combination and agitation from European experts, therefore, cannot be ignored. There are already a number of Native trade unions demanding recognition, which have been organised by Europeans, some of whom, no doubt, see in this form of combination a means of improving the lot of the native workers. It is assumed that the same form of industrial solidarity amongst the Native workers which has proved so fruitful in attaining the position occupied by the trade union world in Western Europe, will prove equally successful in South Africa for Bantu workers. This, we are convinced, is a profound mistake. It is forgotten that trade unionism in Western Europe has succeeded as much by its sagacity and its under­standing of economic facts as by its combination. It has been strongest and achieved its greatest successes in the most advanced countries. Its leaders have been men of experience and outstanding common sense. But amongst a people just emerging from barbarism, with no industrial experience, no elementary acquaintance with economics, it may be doubted if the combina­tions now taking place are the wisest in their own interests. Industrial clashes between Europeans arid Natives must inevitably develop into graver issues.

In the planned order which is slowly growing out of our industrial legislation, it is possible that the Native workers can find a surer shield for their protection than is likely to be afforded by some communist organisation. The Wages Board operating under the Wages Act has already, by its determinations, brought about substantial increases in wages and improve­ment in conditions to tens of thousands of Native workers. Under the Industrial Conciliation Act, the only disability suffered is that Native Trade Unions are not given statutory recognition and are, therefore, not directly represented on industrial councils or conciliation boards. But they are always indirectly represented by Inspectors of the Labour Department who act in collaboration with the Department of Native Affairs, and it is very questionable whether a better method of protecting the interests of Native

workers could be devised. The provisions of an industrial agreement in respect of minimum wages rates and maximum hours of work apply to Native workers. The Factories Act applies equally to Natives as to Europeans. The Native Affairs Department exists to protect Native interests; and no measure is introduced into Parliament which affects the Natives which is not carefully considered and improvements suggested to the Department concerned before the measure is dealt with by the Legislature.

Nevertheless, the existence of a number of Native trade unions demands some form of recognition. The Commission has accordingly advised that this should be given; but such recognition should be in a form which will prevent the Native workers concerned from becoming the dupes of Europeans who seek to exploit their grievances for their own profit. What is necessary is that some official channel shall be established through which Native trade itnions can bring into official cognisance any grievances they are labouring under, and, if well founded, have them remedied, rather than leave them to adopt the dangerous advice of some unbalanced, semi-educated Native or the promptings of disreputable Europeans who batten on Native ignorance and ciipidity.

Meanwhile, in the sphere of Native government, every effort is being made to win the confidence and co-operation of the Natives. The policy of local government through local Native councils, which has proved so successful in the Transkei, is being extended wherever and whenever the Natives ask for it. In a district where there are a number of tribes, each retaining a reverence for its chief and for its traditional tribal government, the consent of the chiefs and people to the creation of local councils is not always easily obtained. Though it is generally known that such councils have the spending of the whole of the local tax raised in their own areas, that lure does not always offer sufficient inducement to bring about local tribal co-operation. Nevertheless, progress is being made, and the last two years can record the establishment of new local councils in the Transvaal and the Cape, at the request of the people concerned.

The_ council system is always adapted to meet the tribal characteristics of the districts they serve. Where there are a number of chiefs, and tribal feeling is strong, the principal chiefs are nominated to the council by the Government in order to maintain their authority and prestige. In other cases, where there is little tribal cohesion, the most advanced commoners of the district are chosen. There is an elective element on all councils so that the opinion of the tribesman in general is always represented. The spread of the local council system to so many districts of the Union is the best proof of its- effectiveness and popularity. The Native Commissioner of the district in which the council operates is always on the spot to assist the council by his advice. The council thus forms a very close link between the Native administration and the desires and needs of the people. Native Commis­sioners handling these councils, become something more than Magistrates; they become, in a real sense, administrators. There is an enlargement of their duties which spread out into wide economic and educational fields It is the Native Commissioners, operating through the local councils and assisted by the technical officers of the Trust, who are primarily responsible for the economic improvement of the Native Reserves. Successful administra­tion demands high qualities of tact, understanding and sympathy, as well as a thorough knowledge of local tribal traditions and custom. In these qualities the Department of Native Affairs is well served.

In addition to the work performed by the local councils and by the Ciskeian and Transkeian General Councils the Trust acts directly through its officers in the development of the Native community as a whole. The work of development in the Reserves has been retarded somewhat by the absence of thirty-seven officers of the Trust who are on active service'; but the programme originally agreed upon is being steadily pursued. It is regrettable that the exigencies of the war have compelled the Government to suspend further purchase of land as provided under the Native Trust and Land Act. This suspension, however, is only of a temporary character and purchases will be continued as soon as circumstances permit. Before the cessation of land purchase, sufficient land had been acquired to relieve the worst cases of congestion in the Reserves. Reclamation programmes were drawn up by competent technical officers of the Trust and these plans have been approved by the Commission and put into operation. Much has been accomplished in the rehabilitation of derelict land, in the prevention of soil erosion, in the delimiting of grazing and arable areas and bv the resiting of villages. All the programmes adopted aim at a proper planning of a Native Reserve economy. Even with the depleted staff, every effort is being made to intensify food production a* a war measure, and the 208 Native Agricul­tural demonstrators are busy throughout the country teaching the lessons they have learned at the Department’ s Agricultural Colleges!

During the period under review Parliament amended the law so as to increase the proportion of Native General Tax accruing to the Trust from three-fifths to two-thirds.

There used to he much criticism regarding the Native Development Account which it was claimed was an account which did not develop. The origin of the Native Development Fund lay in the desire of the Native Affairs Commission of the time to ensure tlie steady development of Native education and of the Native Reserves by earmarking for that purpose the taxation paid by the Natives. As a result of this policy Native taxation which differed in each of the Provinces, was made uniform throughout the Union by the imposition of a general tax of £1 upon all male Natives; and a local tax of 10s. to be paid by each Native living on Crown lands or in a Native Reserve. From the outset the 10s. local tax was set aside to meet the cost of local development in the district in which the Native lived. Where a local council exists, this 10s. tax is paid to the council. Where there is no council, the local tax is expended through the Native Commissioner of the district on development plans approved by the Department. One-fifth of the £1 tax was originally allocated to the new Native Development Account, the remainder going into the general revenue of the country.

The result of this provision was twofold. In the first place it took Native education out of the European political field where it had suffered from adverse criticism whenever the money had to be voted by the Provincial Councils from the general revenue. The same objections could not be urged when the money came from Native sources. Secondly, it brought about an expansion in Native education itself.

This allocation of one-fifth of the general tax to the Native Develop­ment Fund has now grown to two-thirds under the Native Trust, into which the Native Development Account had been merged, that is from £224,531 in 1926-27 to £885,855 in 1940-41. Ultimately the whole of the Native taxation will be paid into the Trust, Account, and thus become available for Native development.

The Trust, also collects various other amounts received by way of rents, forest, revenue, prospecting and mining revenue, grazing fees, and other miscellaneous receipts; and provision was made in the Native Trust and Land Act for sums to be paid into the Fund from the General Revenue from time to time. All money voted by the State for the purchase of Native land is given to the Trust free of interest. It will, therefore, be appreciated that the Native Trust Fund, which began as the Native Development Account, will have a continually growing revenue. As lands are settled and rents on the land are gathered in, the annual revenue will increase; more money will thus become available to meet expansion in education and general development. It is not always appreciated that a huge estate of54,000 square miles of territory, containing immense natural resources, can, under the present policy, bring in a largely increasing annual revenue which will enable the Native population as n whole to meet many of the services which are to-day denied them.

The change from three-fifths to two-thirds of the Native General Tax accruing to the Trust added an additional amount of approximately £90,000 per annum. This sum has been applied to the extension of native schools, to increasing the number of Native teachers employed and to the improvement of education generally. The allocation of the whole amount of the Native General Tax to the Native Trust Fund for ependiture on Native development waits upon the transfer of Native education from the Provinces to the Union — a transfer which was prevented by the objection of the Natal Provincial Council. Native education in the estimates for 1940-41 will absorb 70 per cent, of the total amount of revenue accruing to the Trust Fund from the Native General Tax.

This amount, of course, is exclusive of the sums spent on higher education at Fort Hare College, at Fort Cox Agricultural College and the three Agricultural Colleges maintained by the Transkeian Territories General Council. It is interesting to note that students from our Native agricultural colleges are being increasingly employed in the other African territories and are to be found working under the Administrations of Tanganyika and Kenya.

The provision of hospital accommodation for Natives, as for Europeans, was placed by the Act of Uniou under the Provinces; yet the Commission is continually compelled to give consideration to many applications for relief in regard to existing hospitals. It is true to say that Native hospital accommodation has been everywhere steadily maintained, and, in a number of centres, increased; yet the supply falls far short of the demand. This is due to the rapidly growing change in Native opinion regarding the efficacy of European medical treatment, a testimony to the changing standards of Native life. The spread of elementary edxication, and the advance in know­ledge concerning public health throughout the country, is having its results in a demand for increased expenditure upon Native hospitals.

The Provincial Councils are unable, or unwilling to provide the additional money necessary, and the assistance of the Commission has been sought to effect some relief. It is impossible to give adequate relief out of

the Trust Fund. The Trust Fund was not established for the purpose of relieving- the Provinces of their obligations in this respect, although indirectly, as a res-ult of the rising standards of Native life, for which the Department is to some extent responsible, it is natural that the Provinces should seek to offload their obligations on to the Native Trust. Public health, however, cannot be segregated. It is a national matter which requires national treatment. The Commission has recommended that a conference should be held between the Departments of Public Health and Native Affairs and the Provincial Administrations with a view to deter­mining the needs for the immediate future and for the adequate provision of finance. Meanwhile the numerous native hospitals throughout the country, which have been established by the various missions and which have been subsidised by the Trust Funds in the past, are all applying for further assistance. The sources from which the missions obtained their monies overseas have all dried up as a result of the war, and the Commission has done its best to make available substantial grants to meet the difficulties.

Clinics are being established under the scheme adopted by the Public Health Department for treating- Natives in the Reserves who are suffering from various communicable diseases, and inoculations against syphilis are now common throughout the country. In the Transkei alone 23 clinics have been established, of which 16 are in active operation with Native nurses in charge. Many of these Native nurses have been trained under the scheme initiated by the Trust by which subsidies were made to hospitals for the training of Native nurses. Particular attention is being paid to tubercular sufferers in the Reserves, and steps have been taken to follow up miners phthisis sufferers who have been repatriated by the Chamber of Mines. In order that this may be done it is intended to establish radiographical examination at various hospitals.

In the urban areas the Commission has to record improvements in many places both in housing and in sanitation. There has been abundant evidence during the past two years of the growing awareness in municipal circles of the responsibilities and duties laid upon local authorities by legislation to improve the lot of the Native in their midst. Fuller details of these improvements will be seen in Appendix “ C ” . During the two years under review six of the larger municipalities have adopted sub-economic housing schemes involving an amount of £1,932,424. In addition there are numerous similar schemes either in progress or under consideration. There can be recorded a slowly rising Native standard of living in practically all urban areas. Wage Board Determinations, which have affected many thousands of workers in various occupations, have been made in full view of these costs of living. Though, at the moment, these apply to certain of the larg*er municipalities, there can be no doubt that they must ultimately affect all urban Natives throughout the Union.

Questions concerning Juvenile Delinquency have been studied by a Conference of representatives of the municipalities of the Witwatersrand, Pretoria and Vereeniging, together with representatives of Government Departments and social welfare bodies. This Conference published a report giving its findings and recommendations which were considered by the Commission. Steps have been taken to implement some of the suggestions which were made to alleviate the position.

The past two years also marked the growth of a number of Native organisations for the social improvement and healthy development of the Native people. In the Transkei and the Cislcei there is a Women’s Home Improvement Association and an African Women’s Development Association with 100 branches and a membership of two thousand. In addition, there is an organisation known as the Daughters of Africa which has many branches in other Provinces. These, and similar organisations, are engaged in propagating amongst the Native women the need for improving the home life of their families by introducing a better diet and educating their people to the use of civilised habits in the home. It may be said in this connection that the agricultural branch of the Department of Native Affairs is endeavouring to deal with malnutrition by encouraging the Native people to produce and eat vegetables. The effect of these and other improvements throughout the country can be seen in the improved methods of agriculture and in the gradual transition from the round grass hut stage to the square building, often built in stone when it is available, containing more than one room for the needs of the Native family.

These general remarks cannot fittingly conclude without noting the earnest attention which is to-day being bestowed on all Native matters by the most intellectual sections of the European community. All the Universities are pervaded by a spirit of enquiry into the purpose of our Native policy. Painstaking investigations of all phases of Native life and economics are encouraged] and the scientific journals and reviews contain frequent examples of these researches. The many Joint Councils, and the Race Relations Institute, are engaged in day to day invitation to their public to co-operate in spreading the knowledge of Native conditions; while the churches and

missions carry 011 their permanent task of social uplift. There is, of course, much difference of opinion. There is much sentimentalism which lacks the basis of fact and experience; there is much aggressive realism, which contains little sign of human itarianism; but midway amongst all sections, there is a large body of opinion which is prepared to accept our Native policy as being the best line of development, which is prepared to seize all the good that it offers, and to help to build up a South African conscience concerning our responsibilities to the Native people which will render our liberal trusteeship a matter of national pride.

M e m o r a n d u m b y t h e A p p o in t e d M e m b e r s o f t h e C o m m i s s i o n .

APPENDIX “ B ” .

ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF NATIVE POLICY.The economic welfare of the Native people is implicit in our Trusteeship.It has been well said that no precise line can be drawn between economic

and non-economic satisfactions. This is particularly true of South Africa which has developed a modern economic structure in which the civilised Europeans supplied the capital, the brains and skill, while the uncivilised Africans supplied the unskilled labour; in which one race was largely intent on its economic satisfactions, while the other was only partially concerned in adding to its primitive economy. Many of the early conditions under which the South African modern economy developed still remain; the life of the gold mining industry, the economic fly-wheel of all our economic activities, depends on the continuance of cheap Native labour. That may be rating the gold mining industry to highly, in the long run; but, in the short run, it is decisive; any attempt to alter the existing economic structure by drastic action would bring it into ruin.

While the Commission is fully conscious of the economic disabilities under which the Native worker labours, it believes that their efforts for amelioration will be most fruitful along the lines hereinafter discussed.

During the past decade, while the principles of trusteeship were gaining widespread recognition in the political field, and the need for right action in the economic sphere was becoming more generally understood, the Govern­ment of the day fortified itself by ordering a series of enquiries to be made concerning the economic position of the Native people. Prior to that period, while the old principles of laissez faire were fighting their losing battles with the new labour policies of Wage Regulations, Factory Acts and Hours of Labour, and Industrial Conciliation, which ended in the creation of a Ministry of Labour, a number of economic enquiries were made which included some consideration of the position in industry of the Native people. Such were the Transvaal Indigency Commission in 1906-8, the Mining Industry Commission of 1907-8, the Economic Commission of 1914, the Relief and Grants-in-Aid Commission of 1916, the Low Grade Mines Com­mission of 1920. The conflict of opinion about the place in industry of the Natives, which these reports generated, made any State action on them well nigh impossible. Economic and non-economic satisfactions in our society were too complex for partial treatment and the points of contact between civilised and uncivilised needed much further study.

A considerable advance to a keener appreciation of our economic realities was made by the appointment of the Economic and Wage Commission in 1925, by the first Minister of Labour, at a time when the economic structure of the "Union was undergoing its most serious strain in the post-war depression years. The main object of the enquiry was “ to ascertain and set forth the methods by which, and the limits within which, the State can influence wages ” , an enquiry deemed to be necessary in view of the then currently accepted theory that all that was necessary to achieve eternal prosperity was to increase wages all round—the pump priming method tried out later, with disappointing results in the United States. As was to be expected, the Commission found that the policies of wage regulation—whether by law or trade union action—can have only limited results. The objective of the Commission thereupon broadened out into an examination of the measures necessary to maintain a “ civilized standard ” amongst Europeans, and it declared categorically that the chief determinant of wage levels was the National Income. The standard of living of all could only be raised by an increase in the volume of production.

The Commission laid bare the interpenetration by the Native of every accessible phase of the white community and the total dependance of the major industries of mining and agriculture on Native labour. It showed ' that “ taken in connection with the capacity to pay of industries in the different countries, the rates of wages for skilled work in South Africa were higher relatively than in any other country. Tbe explanation is to be found

in the wide disparity between skilled and unskilled rates Further, it concluded that “ the present level of European wages is due to and dependent on the present level of Native and other wages; and neither can be increased except at the expense of the other unless there is an increase in production per head

The problem, therefore, of improving Native standards, unless European standards were to be lowered, reverted to its simplest terms of increased wealth production, in a country where many natural resources still awaited exploitation; and since the Natives formed the great mass of the workers, the first recommendation of the Commission was that the Government should undertake a complete survey of the economic position of the Native people, about which, at that time, so little was accurately known.

After much consideration the Government appointd the Native Economic Commission in 1930 which presented its Report in 1932. Ranging widely over the whole field of Native life in its various aspects the Commission laid down the foundations of our Native economic policy which has since been followed by statutory and administrative action. It suggested the economic counterpart to the political policy of segregation. It began by recognising in the South African economic sphere, as in the political and social spheres, two separate and distinct races, which neither acted nor thought alike. It was impressed with the harm that had been done to Native economic develop­ment bj the disregard of this simple fact. Europeans appeared unable to comprehend that there could be a progressive Native society, within the framework of the Union economy, which, following and improving its own inherited customs, was neither capitalistic nor individualistic. There was no need to regard civilisation as being synonymous with capitalism and individualism. The more the Economic Commission got at the root of the matter the more clearly it appeared to it that the economic backwardness of the Native was due to the failure of past Governments to realise the essential difference in outlook between Native and European. The Commission premised that since there could be no absorption, i.e., miscegenation, which was ruled out by the ideals of both races, the concurrent development and progress of both in economic spheres required more consideration of the noneconomic satisfactions of both races. Economic action which created ethnic struggles would be disastrous; yet ethnic struggles were inevitable under a policy of “ laissez faire ” .

The problem stated by the Economic Commission was “ how best the Native population could be led step by step in orderly march to civilisation ” , in the unique circumstances of South Africa. Inferential^, it arrived at the same basic conclusion as the Economic and Wage Commission : that is, such a march could only be undertaken by an increase in the National Income. This increase was to be accomplished by the development of the Native Reserves. “ The cure ” , says the report, “ the proper economic synthesis of our wealth-producing factors, lies in a wise, courageous, forward policy of development of the Reserves ” . Not only would such a policy increase the National Income; it would also provide the only remedy _ against the Natives’ drift to the towns which threatened both the economic and socio­logical structure of the country.

To many, this conclusion appeared to shut out from consideration all other Natives except those actually living in the Reserves. It was argued that the Native economic policy aimed at maintaining tribalism in the Reserves in order that the economic advance of the detribalised could be prevented in the towns and on the farms. Nowhere in the report can there be found any justification for this opinion. On the_contrary, if the develop­ment of the Reserves brings about that increase in the National Income, which it must be the obvious aim of all Governments to further, then the rising standards within the Reserves must affect- the whole Native economic position outside the Reserves.

Since the Native Economic Commission submitted its report many independent investigations of isolated phases of Native economic life have been carried out by economists connected with the universities and by the welfare associations, the results of which have been published from time to time. The economic conditions of Natives in urban areas, the rates of wages and costs of living have been carefully studied in many places. The broad result of all this work is to bring out very sharply the wide variations which exist among different sections of the Native people and the danger of generalizing from particulars in the formation of economic policy. _ In this connection the warning conveyed by the Economic and Wage Commission in 1925, is valid to-day.

“ (96) The pseudo-scientific estimates of the amounts on which a worker can maintain himself and a family have no absolute authority or universal validity. They are merely rationalized and systematized budgets of typical wage-earning households which, in the circum­stances of the time and country in which they are made would be regarded as just lifted above the level of want.

The fact is that the transition from the Native primitive economy to the modern economy has progressed very unevenly. We find the same picture in the Native economic field as is seen in the administrative field. A primitiveness which is not far removed from anything in Africa and, on the other hand, a few comparatively wealthy Native farmers signing cheques on the local bank. While there probably does not exist anywhere in the Union all the conditions of the old subsistence economy, it would be true to say that the cases where the subsistence economy does not influence the modern economy are very few; and those few are confined to the relatively small section which may be regarded as permanently detribalised and urbanised, though even in their case the primitive economy operates, since their living standards are vitally affected by the temporary presence of their tribal competitors, who are subsidised by their Reserve assets. It appears important to emphasise that the old economy still plays a great part and a vital part in Native economic standards and must affect all measures taken to raise the Native standards of living, whether in town or country.

The Economic and Wage Commission of 1925, which wrote its report before the principles of trusteeship of the Native people were formulated, either by the British Government or ourselves, came to the laissez faire conclusion that “ it was necessary to contemplate the ultimate absorption of the Native in European industry and agriculture and his assimilation to European economic institutions ; or it must be believed that it is both possible and desirable to keep the Native out of European industry and leave him to develop an independent economy of his own ” . Their recommendations were based on the first of these two assumptions. Lord Hailey, in his African Survey, was more cautious. He says: “ Any Native economic policy, designed to improve standards within the more primitive economic system, must start from certain assumptions regarding both the immediate and ultimate parts which Natives will play in the general economy of South Africa. Differences of opinion, both among economists and among administrators, spring mainly from differences in their assumptions; and these assumptions involve questions of the political and sociological relations of the two races at least as difficult of solution as those that concern their more immediately economic relations. Any general economic policy must assume a view regarding the future independence or interdependence of the two economies. Is the Native economic system a transitional survival, that requires to be kept in languishing existence until the growing modern system has completely replaced it and the two economies have become one? Or is there a permanent place in South Africa for a separate, segregated, Native economy, having inevitable contacts with the modern system, but contacts comparable in scale and effect with those that exist between two contiguous nations. The wisdom of innumerable major and minor decisions must depend on the replies to these questions. But they are not the kind of questions to which this generation can give one binding and irrevocable answer that will guide policy in perpetuity.” On this question, for the time being at any rate, South Africa has determined that there is a middle course. The passing of the Native Trust and Land Act and the expenditure of many millions of pounds in the acquisition of additional land to add to the demarcated Native Reserves, the progressive development of the Reserves by anti-soil erosion measures, by irrigation, by afforestation, by road-making, by wells and dams, by fencing and by the improvement in stock and in the selection of seeds and by the intensive training of agricultural demonstrators m order to improve the methods of agriculture and animal husbandry, all show clearly that the economic policy of the Union is based on the assump­tion that the Reserves are permanent, that the Native Reserve economy can be separate and segregated in its productive activities, yet dependent on the general economy in the exchange of its products, not, indeed, 011 a scale and with effects such as exist between contiguous nations but such as exist between co-operative societies and their profit-making competitors. It assumes that an integration of the primitive economy with the European economy is necessary in the national interests, and that it can be practical in application; that such an integration need not destroy the glood features of the primitive economy nor lead to its absorption in the general capitalistic system. It is the same policy of adaptation applied to Native economic conditions which forms the basis of our political and social policy. It follows the recommendations of the Native Economic Commission in basing its policy on the development of the Native Reserves.

That a ‘ wise, courageous, forward policy of development of the Reserves” will materially increase the National Income is unquestionable. The common deprecatory talk about the deterioration and poverty of the Reserves has tended to obscure the fact that the Reserves, present and potential, constitute a huge territory of 54,000 square miles in the best watered and most fertile parts of the Union. Soil-erosion and veld deterio­ration are not confined to the Native territories. Bad farming and the absence of scientific management has had the same effect in European areas as in Native areas. Under the skilled instruction and practical assistance of the technical staff of the Native Trust, aided by the gTowing* number of Natives educated at the Native Agricultural Colleges, as well as by the

,

agricultural instruction now being given in Native primary schools, it may be confidently expected that the Reserves will play a notable part in increasing the wealth production of the country and in raising the living standards of the Natives residing in them.

To-day, the average income of a Native family of five, living in the Reserves, which it derives from its Reserve assets, is estimated at £30 per annum. This approximation is obtained from a number of sample calcula­tions made in various parts of the Union. Considering only the 10,000,000 morgen of scheduled Native Reserves, i.e., without addition of any land acquired under the Native Trust and Land Act, and taking the 1936 census figures of population at 3,000,000 inhabiting the Reserves, or 600,000 families of 5 each, the gross value of Reserve Income is £18,000,000.

The Economic and Wage Commission gave the net value of Reserve production in 1923 as £7,433,000, or 15 per cent, of the total agricultural production of the country, which it placed at £46,843,000, in round figures at £47 millions. The latest estimate by the economists of the Department of Agriculture places the total agricultural production at £56,000,000, based on the farm prices of products for the years 1933-34 to 1936-37. If, from the estimated Reserve income of £18,000,000, be deducted £1,800,000 for rent, representing the interest of 6 per cent, on 10 ,000,000 morgen valued at £3 per morgen, then the total net production of the Reserves would become £16,200,000, an increase over the 1923 figures of 118 per cent. Put in another way; while the Native Reserves represent 9 per cent, of the total of the farm lands of the Union (i.e., 100,000,000 morgen being European and 10,000,000 Native), they were producing 15 per cent, of the total agricultural production in 1923; and, on the same land, the Reserves are producing 28 per cent, of the total production to-day. These admittedly rough but probably as accurate as most such calculations, have taken no account of the half million of the Reserve population which is at present in mining locations or temporarily employed in urban areas, which were not included in the census of Reserve population, nor do they include the estimated million Natives who are to-day living on the European lands which are scheduled as Released Areas to be purchased by the Trust; i.e., allowing a density of 40 Natives per square mile. On making these adjust­ments it will be seen that the total potential Reserve population is 4J million out of 6|- million, the remaining two millions being divided roughly between farming and urban areas in the proportion of 12 to 7.

So far we have been dealing only with the agricultural possibilities of the Reserves. No account has been taken either of their mineral resources or of the income to be derived from the developing afforestation^ The possi­bility of establishing industries in the Reserves to utilize the Native-grown products as raw material is also a factor to be taken into consideration when studying Native economic policy. In these initial stages the Native Trust has been engaged in planning the rehabilitation of derelict areas, of acquiring additional land and settling it, and in carrying on the usual work of develop­ment. There has been neither the time nor the opportunity to consider the establishment of industries; and, in the absence of capital and in the face of existing prejudices it is not easy. But, as the reason for Native develop­mental policies becomes better understood and public opinion is prepared to support the Trust in financing them, there will undoubtedly be an intensive development of the Reserve industries which will not be competitive with European industry but will be ancillary to and in harmony with those established in European areas. The contribution to the National Income from the Native Reserves may thus increase enormously, and the products from European industry find a ready market in the Reserves to its immense advantage.

For many years the Native Reserves were regarded as useful reservoirs for Native labour. They were mere resting places in which the Union labour force took its holiday in the intervals between its work. Little care, indeed, little interest was evinced in Native developments. Native administrators did undoubtedly do their best to awaken the people from the tribal apathy and stimulate their wealth-producing capacity; but in the absence of any central planning and of any clear conception of a Native policy (which included uncertainty regarding the permanence of the Reserves as places for Native habitation) there was little encouragement for economic effort. Thus, some of the most fruitful parts of the Union which could have added immensely to the National Income have remained undeveloped.

It must be admitted that the failure of a crop was regarded by many European employers as a hopeful indication that more labour would be avail­able at a cheap rate, or that the trading stores would thrive from the increased demand for foodstuffs in the Reserves with the money obtained by the labourers. The primary industries of the Union have often enjoyed an abundance of labour not only because the Natives have had to pay taxes, as is so commonly said, but because the adult working males had to seek money to buy food for their families. That state af affairs was not confined to the Union. It is the Native story of Africa. Improvident husbandry, the

failure of the seasons, alternate floods and droughts, pests, disease and locusts, often left the tribes without food for a part of the year, when the whole population was accustomed to scatter into the veld and the forest to gather the roots and berries and wild fruit which kept them alive until the next crop could be harvested. Everywhere in Africa the Native has lived alternately between feasts and famines, and the population has been kept to bare limits by the elimination of the weakest. Natives of the Union have, for generations at least, been able to maintain themselves less precariously than millions of their brothers on the continent of Africa.

ihe establishment of the -Native Development Account in 1925, ushered into the Union Reserves a new economic era. Primarily the emphasis was laid on a better financial provision for Native education, which had been borne almost entirely by the Missions in many parts of the Union; the crying need for economic development which would soonest unlock the closed doors of cultural advance was not generally understood. It has always been a fight between the educationists and the administrators to wrest from the funds made available to the Native Development Account sufficient to lay the foundations ol a steady economic development. But much has been achieved. Ihe imposition of the iocal tax of 10s., which has been utilised entirely for development in the district in which it is collected, together with the money made available from the Development Account began to establish Native agriculture on a new basis. In those areas where water was scaice dams were constructed and wells sunk, inaccessible parts were opened lip by the construction of roads. W here cattle diseases were endemic dipping tanks were built by the dozen. In consequence the cattle population has increased enormously, ihe cattle in the Reserves to-day number more than the total cattle population of the Union m 1904. To-day the Reserve cattle number 3,898,590 and the Native cattle on European farms 1,417,012, or a total of 5,315,602 against 6,537,134 owned by Europeans. As the land in the Released Areas is acquired by the Trust a large proportion of the Native- owned cattle now shown on European farms w’ill fall under the Reserve economy. It will, therefore, be seen that the Native cattle ownership tends to equal tha,t of the Europeans. Instead of disease taking its annual toll the cattle increase is steadily finding its way to the Union markets and fertilizing Native agriculture by the money obtained. It is on these foundations of promise and performance that the Native Trust could, other thing's being' equal, look confidently to the building’ of a Native economy in the Reserves complementary to the general economy of the country.

Equally, it is assumed that the human spill-over from current agricul­tural needs of the Reserves will supply the labour markets of the Union. In this machine age when the need for skilled operatives in industry is becoming proportionately less with the growing mechanisation of all pro­ductive operations, the temporary character of our Reserve Native labour may be no more of a deterrent to efficiency in many industries than it is in gold mining.

W e have said that while the Reserve economy can be segregated in its productive activities it will yet be dependent upon the general economy in all the mechanism of exchange; and this for the simple reason that the European economy is in its turn dependent on the so-called unskilled labour of the Natives. It is assumed that Reserve spill-over production will continue to glow and find a market in the European areas, m precisely the same way as does the surplus beyond the subsistence needs of the hundreds of millions of peasants m Europe who supply the industrial populations with their food and much of their raw material.

ihe rewards obtained by Reserve Natives from their labour in European industry will also aid in building up the productive activities of the Reserves and in raising the standard of living in them. These processes are, in fact already taking place The Native economic policy of the Union will continue to develop along these lines, for the benefit of all concerned, so long as the Reserves and additional Trust land can maintain their existing population with their natural increase. While the bulk of mining and industrial labour continues, as at present, to be drawn from the Reserves and ultimately returns with its labour rewards to build up the Reserve economy, the policy will be economically effective; but if European industry should draw too largely on the Reserves’ population by converting the temporary single male workers into permanent workers, living with their families alongside their places of work, the whole economic policy will break down, and we arrive willy nilly, at that economic assimilation which was accepted by the Economic and Wage Commission as inevitable. We need not here consider what the probable attitude of the European population would be if it once began to appreciate the full meaning of that. The political and sociological consequences would not be favourable to Native development.

At the moment, the trends are undoubtedly in that direction Though the Legislature unanimously accepted the Native policy, and it is clearly the result of the political and sociological development of years there are many forces in the Union working for its defeat. The legislative attempts

to restrict the entry of Natives to urban areas are only partially successful, though the extent of the failure can easily be exaggerated.

The published census figures of the urban Native population have misled many in that they do not indicate the degree of permanence of Natives residence in urban areas. All natives found within the boundaries ot the local governing authorities on the night of the census are lumped together, and a most erroneous idea of the urban position is thereby conveyed. ̂ Ihe census shows the total Native urban population as being 1,14b,MW; but tills fio-ure includes Natives living in mining compounds on the gold mines, as well as those found in industrial and municipal compounds, the vast bulk oi whom are definitely tribal Natives absent from their families. And this applies whether the Natives are from European farms or from Reserves.

A large number of those who might qualify as permanent urban Nati^ es are among the following census categories: —

Urban residential areas and townlands ............... .390,394Urban locations......................................................... ^ i i ’ onrRural suburbs of towns ...........................................Rural townships......................................................... o'iNative townships....................................................... ol,749

824,459

From this total considerable deductions would have to be made. Domestic servants, who are housed by their e m p lo y e r s on residential and town lands, as well as in rural townships and rural suburbs ot towns, are estimated to number 250,000. A very large proportion of these are definitely tribal Natives; and, of course, a large number who were found on the census night in urban locations are temporary dwellers. But assuming that a large number of urbanised Natives are living outside the boundaries oi urbim areas and were not caught in the general census urban net, they could not outnumber those obviously tribal Natives who would have to be deducted from the above figures. A fair estimate, therefore, of urban Natives, who have been in urban areas for longer than three years would not be greater than 750,000. It is probably less.

The surest indication of the growth of permanence is to be found in the number of females in urban areas. The progressive census figures have been as follows: —

1911: 97,981.1921: 147,293, an increase of 50-33 per cent.1936: 357,283, an increase of 143 per cent.

These figures should not be taken to indicate the doubling of total permanency; they indicate that women from the Reserves have been finding their way to their men folk much more easily than they did in the past. Many of them are undoubtedly visitors from the country who were in town on the night of the census; but the census increase in the urban female population indicates the growth of the Native family population and the presence of children of both sexes.

It must, therefore, be accepted that the permanent Native urban com­munity now numbers 750,000. This is not an excessive figure in a total Native population of 6 ̂ million, or 7\ million if the three Protectorates aie included in the South African economy; that is, 10 per cent, ; it does not indicate, as some suggest, the impossibility of a permanent Native economy.

This ten per cent, includes Natives in all stages of urbanisation and detribalisation. The number who may be said to have become Europeanised are comparatively few; the remainder retain their links with the ajeas fiom which they came; but since they are permanently settled in urban areas they must be regarded as a separate class. The Native Economic Commission considered that this class should be recognised and crystallized in its urban capacity; that is to say, it should be regarded as having separated _ itself from its'tribal assets and as requiring protection from the competition of the casual labour from the Reserves, in order that its urban living standards can be maintained and improved.

In our report to the Minister on Juvenile Delinquency the economic consequences to the urban Native of this casual labour has been fully dealt with 5 see Appendix cc D 5 Here it is sufficient point out that, a tribal Native who ’is a temporary worker in European industry has, in addition to his wa"es, a reserve subsidy of approximately £30 per annum; whereas the permanent, Native urban worker has no such adventitious aid and must keep his family on standards imposed on him by his European environment solely on the wages he receives.

There were two lines of attack on the problem of differentiating the urban Natives from the rural population and crystallizing and improving the class position they had attained. Both were dealt with by the Native

Economic Commission. The first was the acquisition of further Native land and an intensive development of the Native reserves, coupled with a restric­tion on the entry of Natives to urban areas. The second alternative, was the imposition of minimum wages standards in all urban employments which it was thought might close the ranks of the urban class to outside Is atives, much in the same way as a trade union limits the number of its journeymen by regulating the flow of apprentices. The Native Economic Commission rejected the second alternative of wages regulation on the grounds that it would increase rather than diminish the number of new entrants. It stated that “ to attempt to regulate the wage factor, when the labour supply factor is subject to influences which defy regulation, can only have a harmful effect on the economic life of the community as a whole With thisjudgment the Native Affairs Commission unhesitatingly agrees.

In regard to the intensive development of the Native Reserves as a counter measure, which would operate to reduce the migration to the towns, experience has shown that such long-term action may easily be cancelled out by short-term results. The Native Economic Commission carried out its investigations during a depression period when unemployment was wide­spread amongst both Natives and Europeans. The Economic Commission believed that it would be possible to provide that employment for Natives in the Reserves which they were vainly seeking in urban areas. Subsequent developments have shown that even the most intensive development of the Reserves, while it will undoubtedly increase the standards of living to the Natives in them and offer widespread opportunities for social advancement, will not prevent Natives from seeking the novelty, the excitement, the adventures, as well as the money to be found in urban areas.

It was for this reason that Parliament determined that restrictive measures to prevent Natives from becoming urbanised should run con­currently with the development of the Native Reserves, and passed the Native Laws Amendment Act, 1937. Under this Act the responsibility was thrown upon municipalities to see that Natives within their borders do not exceed the number needed to meet their labour requirements, and to submit to the Minister, after the taking of a biennial census, a list of those consi­dered to be redundant to their labour needs. This dual method of improving the conditions of the urban Natives was reinforced by continuous inspections of municipalities by an urban inspectorate of the Native Affairs Department. The obligations resting upon municipalities for the imi>rovement of the welfare and living conditions of the urban Natives is continually being pointed out by this inspectorate; and as a result of this control and the awakening of a public conscience in the matter, conditions are rapidly improving everywhere.

It is obvious, that all such improvements in living standards, in housing, in the opportunities for recreating and the varied activities of the urban areas operate as a great attraction to the rural Natives, apart from the amount of wages paid. All evidence goes to show that measures designed merely to offer a counter attraction to the drift to the towns will fail. Greater compulsion will have to be applied to those 011 whom the responsibility rests to restrict all urban entry, or the State must itself exercise the necessary control.

It must be said that most employers of Native labour, whether they be housewives or business men, or industrialists or farmers are very little concerned with future political and sociological considerations. Such consi­derations are remote from their daily lives until they become urgent. What interests the industrialists is the economics of the industries; and considered merely from an economic point of view, it is obviously more profitable to have readily available an idle reservoir of Native industrial workers than to wait 011 the uncertain recruitment of Reserve Natives or the appearance of voluntary labour coming from rural areas. Much of the work done by Natives in industry, though regarded as unskilled to-day, requires aptitude and a good deal of technical training. Though, as previously suggested, as industry becomes more mechanised, the training required may be less, at present efficiency is sacrificed when industry has to rely solely on the untrained labour from the Reserves and the repeated breaks in service when it returns home after it has been trained.

So far only the Natives living in the Reserves and in the urban areas have been considered. It is necessary to examine the position of the large number of Natives living and working on European farms. The same wide variations exist amongst these Natives as amongst the tribal Natives. A large number of them in the Transvaal and Natal are living where their fathers lived. They are spread over the farms which originally formed the tribal lands, migrating from farm to farm within the area without losing their tribal unity, maintaining much of the old tribal government and customs. There are chiefs recognized by the Government living on European farms still administering the affairs of the tribe. In its last report the Commission emphasised the need for acquiring land on these farms as a tribal centre for the chief, in order to facilitate such administration and

promote harmony between employers and employees. There are other Natives, particularly in the Cape, who have no such traditional reverence for the land, and who live in family units from which all tribal association has long been lost. Economic development on the farms which is leading to the breakdown of the labour tenant system, is favouring the evolution of the separate Native economy in the Reserves.

It is necessary to distinguish between two classes of farm labour. Eirst, the Native squatters who pay rent to European owners and who go out to work on farms or on the mines; these approximate to the Reserve Natives, and, as most of the land on which they reside is adjacent to the Native Reserves, it will ultimately be purchased by the Trust, when they will cease to be squatters. To this class must be added the labour tenant class who, w ith their families, occupy and farm land owned by Europeans and render service in lieu of rent. The second class is that of the farm labourer who is lodged and boarded by his employer and paid the prevailing rate of wage. The first class have their permanent homes on European farms; the second class, like the Natives working on the mines, are mainly drawn from the Native Reserves.

The Native squatters may be expected to disappear, as such, within the next few years. The uneconomic character of the labour tenant system and the growing desertion to the urban areas of the younger members of the family, who refuse the conditions of service imposed under the tenancy by their parents, is leading to its extinction. The position, therefore, regarding iNative farm labour is becoming clearer each year; and in proportion as the employers are driven to the employment of monthly servants on the same basis as the mines, so they will have to depend on the attraction of Natives

ive8el7 e8- w e then arrive at the need for the utmost development oi the Native Reserves, not only for the building of a Native economy but also in order that the Reserves can carry all the Natives who do not belong to the urbanised class. There are large branches of farming in which this condition already prevails. The sugar and wattle industries of Natal the meahe growing industry of the Transvaal, and the fruit growers of the Cape, and many other farmers, all employ Reserve labour in competition with the mines and must provide adequate accommodation and a proper dietary for their employees. The transition of Native farm labour from the traditional family group often having very little connection with economic satisfaction, but anchored to the ground by sentimental ties and affection for the farmer and his family, to the full economic stage of labour for adequate reward may be expected to be complete during the next couple of decades. It will then depend upon how far the State has pursued its policy of Reserve development and extension, whether or not the labour, essential tor European agriculture, as for mining, will be forthcoming.

A laissez faire policy can have only one result; that is, the increasing impetus oi the rural exodus.

The scarcity of farm labour was felt so acutely, three years ago, that the Government appointed a Farm Labour Committee to enquire into the whole position The report of this Committee was published in 1939 and

+u° n erB ^ dlscussed at. any length. It should be observed, however that the Committee was not in any way concerned with Native policy. Its object was to state how best Native labour could be obtained for and main­tained m European employment. It approached the matter as any bodV of intelligent employers would have done. Questions concerning the develop-

i ! in °onf°™rity with general Native policy gaveway to the best method of combing the Native Reserves for Native labour At best, such a policy can only be a short-term one; and, ultimately, it would mean that assimilation with the European which the Native Economic Lommission considered inevitable.

prinSw” o T t fr t X t - Com" ittee-m ,o f,r ,S C0"“rned ths(a) that the development of the material resources of the Union is

outstripping the Native labour resources, even if the Reserves are regarded as serving solely the needs of European industry;

(b) the increasing demands and inducements offered to Native labour by European industry, as well as the natural attractions of urban townsWere g a contlnumg and increasing flight to the

That, m a nutshell is the problem; in the face of these facts to Dlan our development without rendering impossible the maintenance of a Native economy in the Reserves; to maintain and strengthen the <m)wth of a Rqntn Nation in which its intelligentsia shall find a fitting place The alter

£ I concentrated in the towns, divorced from allits tribal heritage in the land; for it must be obvious that if the rural exodus goes on long enough and Natives are called upon to man all the rapid?v «pandm g industries of the country, there will be little need to subsTdise a

Native economy in the Reserves. As the emphasis towards urbanisation grows, the threat to the existence to the gold mines by the drain on their natural labour resources, practically all of which lie in the Native Reserves or in territories beyond the borders of the Union, will be equalled only by the parlous state of European agriculture. It is possible, of course, that the mines and, to a certain extent, agriculture can continue to be worked by recruited extra-Union Natives who would not be permitted to settle in the Union, while the Union Natives drifted to the more highly paid work in the protected industries or the sheltered employment of the urban areas— assuming that wage regulation and other forces raised the wages m them. The Reserve economy of the extra-Union Natives might be preserved in their own countries while they remain Native states. The system of obtaining recruited labour from other African territories which has behind it the support of its own Reserve subsistence may continue to serve the mines so long as the Natives can be induced to serve in them; but in the absence of a Reserve economy in the Union and the consequent assimilation of the Natives into the general economy, the whole labour position of the Union’s primary industry would be affected.

The f uture lies with the choice made by this generation; it will be too late when the Natives have left the Reserves. Parliament has laid down the route to be followed; it remains for administration in all matters to conform to the orders of the march. If the anthropological, sociological and political considerations, which lie at the root of our Native policy were to give way to administrative laissez faire, based on the demands for cheap labour, there would be little purpose in spending millions on the acquisition of additional Native land and in maintaining and developing the Reserves The simplest, most rational method of ensuring the quick assimilation of the Natives into our European economy would be to repeal the protection afforded to the Native Reserves under the Natives Land Act and allow them to revert to tribal ownership with full liberty for their disposal. They would not long remain Native. Under European direction this huge Native state would be intensively developed and result in a considerable increase in the National Income, in which, it must be presumed, all would share. The Natives would then cease to be members of a Bantu Nation and become the labouring class in a thoroughly capitalistic state, depending entirely for their subsistence on the wages they earned, without the political powei or the economic cohesion which would be accorded in a homogeneous com­munity. That is what has happened, under similar circumstances, through­out history. It is precisely that submergence which our Native policy is designed to prevent. It is the essence of our trusteeship. _ The development of a°Native economy in the Reserves, therefore, is the raison d’etre for the establishment of the Native Trust and the Native Council system, and for the system of communal Parliamentary representation accorded to the Native people. The efforts of the Native Affairs Commission are directed to that end This report gives evidence of the considerable progress which lias been attained since the passing of the Native Legislation, both in the acquisition of additional land and in the economic development of the Reserves.

M e m o r a n d u m b y t h e A p p o in t e d M e m b e r s o f t h e C o m m i s s i o n .

APPENDIX “ C ” .

URBAN AREAS.In its previous report the Commission dealt briefly with the historical

development of the Natives in urban areas and the legislative measures which had been taken from time to time to deal with the difficult and complex conditions which had arisen from the unrestrained influx of tribal Natives m search of emplovment and the slum conditions which had been created by their residence at or near their places of work.

The Urban Areas Act of 1923 applied to the urban areas the same principle of residential separation of the races which had been adopted m the rural areas by the Natives Land Act of 1913. It gave legislative effect and enforcement 'to the natural segregation which was everywhere in opera­tion in the towns wherever the element of exploitation was absent It placed upon local authorities the responsibility for setting aside suitable land for Native locations, for Native villages or Native hostels. It gave power to municipalities to compel Natives to live in the accommodation provided and thus imposed on the urban authority the responsibility for cleaning up the scattered slum areas. Obligations were also placed on large employers of labour to provide suitable accommodation for their employees; provision was also made to ensure their employment under fair conditions; all contracts of service between employer and employees could be registered. _ ISy the A m e n d in o - Act of 193T additional powers were given to the municipalities to deal with their r e d u n d a n t Native p o p u la t io n s , a n d an effort was made to keep a check on the incidence of redundancy by the institution of a biennial census of the urban Natives.

Tlie record of achievement in ameliorative measures which the Commis­sion was able to report, two years ago, has been continued, though, perhaps, as a result of the war, on a retarded scale. It was then pointed out that one of the main causes for this improvement was the continuous personal contact which was being maintained between the Native Affairs Department and the local authorities by means of the new Native Urban Inspectorate Branch of the Department. The personnel of the Inspectorate has been seriously reduced owing to some of its members being on active service with the armed forces.

Notwithstanding this handicap, the Inspectors have visited and reported upon a large number of the urban areas of the Union. During these visits of inspection, they have discussed with the local authorities every aspect of their local problem, pointing out defects, suggesting remedies, and, generally, from their almost unique knowledge and wide experience of Union urban conditions, they have tendered advice and given explanations of the policy of the Natives Urban Areas Act where it has been most needed, and thus brought about improvements in almost every centre visited. The volumes of their reports constitute a veritable encycloptedia of the physical conditions of the urban locations. Each report contains recommendations for improvement which can be subsequently reviewed: so that, from time to time, at each new visit, the march of progress is being measured in each centre.

Mostly, of course, improvement depends upon the provision of adequate funds; but it also depends on an understanding of Native policy and on effective municipal control; and when, as in so many cases, control ends at the municipal boundary, and the control within merely accentuates the growing problem just outside, the difficulties become almost insuperable in the absence of effective local governing authority in the peri-urban areas.

These inspections are revealing the grave menace to health and morality, as also to law and order, of the peri-urban problem. This problem is the result of a variety of causes. It is due, in the first place, to insufficient accommodation within the urban area; it is due, secondly, to the complete immunity from all forms of control which the Natives enjoy in the peri­urban districts; it is due, in the third place, to the landowners, chiefly coloured at the Cape and Indian in Natal, who find it very profitable to hire out plots of land on which the Natives can erect their own shacks out of flattened kerosene tins or scrap corrugated iron, or to build blocks of rooms themselves which they can let to individual Natives who sub-let to others. It is due, finally, to the freedom with which Natives can still flock to urban areas where there is no immediate work for them and from which it is impossible for them to return until they can earn money to pay their return fare. So the peri-urban areas contain many unemployed, crowded into rooms with some friend, who for the moment is paying the exorbitant rent, living under insanitary conditions which are a continual menace to the adjacent town and existing on the charity of their friends or on the chance earnings of the casual labourer. It is in these circumstances that illicit liquor and prostitution thrive.

The peri-urban problem is of comparatively recent growth, but its seriousness early demanded attention. The Thornton Commission has inves­tigated the matter and made its recommendations; and the efforts of the Native Affairs Department is effecting continual improvement; but the cure of the evil lies in the co-ordination of control by Provincial, Divisional and Municipal authorities and a stricter limitation of the influx of Natives. These measures depend, in turn, on an understanding of the benefits which the community as a whole will derive from wholesome restrictions.

The peri-urban problem is different in character, though not in kind, from that which has arisen in regard to certain Native townships, which owe their existence to land speculation before the Natives Land Act was passed in 1913. The Act scheduled these townships as Native land. In most of them the original land company which established the townships still exists. Most of the plots have been acquired by Natives, and they are changing hands at prices as high as those paid for residential land anywhere in the Union. These high prices are the measure of the return which the Native purchaser can obtain by renting rooms to lodgers who work in the adjacent urban area. No doubt the attraction to Natives who rent such rooms is the freedom from control which exists in the urban locations; but, in most cases, Natives are driven to seek accommodation in these Native townships because of the absence of accommodation provided by the munici­pality elsewhere. These townships either lie too far away from the European urban area to be included within its jurisdiction, or else the expense oi administration and the provision of town services are too great for the local authority to undertake. By law these townships fall under the Provincial Councils, but since the Provincial Councils have no powers of Native administration, and because they cannot themselves undertake the duties of urban control and management, they are amongst the most neglected, unwanted and troublesome of all urban congregations. The inhabitants are

all very poor and liave a very low taxable capacity. Undoubtedly, the majority of permanent dwellers desire to improve the conditions under which they live; but the provision of necessary services, of sanitation, light and water, the making' of roads and culverts, requires a large capital outlay which it is impossible to obtain from the Provincial Councils.

A particular instance of this character is the township of Alexandra which lies near Johannesburg. This township is very popular with Natives.It contains upwards of 40,000 inhabitants and they are continually on the increase. From time to time difficulties of control of the township have presented themselves for solution. A number of official enquiries, judicial and otherwise, have been made from time to time without any permanent solution being obtained. Recently, owing to the resignation of the European Chairman and Manager of the township matters came to a head. The Administrator agreed that the Native Affairs Commission should investigate the position and make recommendations for the future management of the township. The report of the Commission is attached to this Appendix.

Another similar township is that of Clermont near Durban. In a recent report the Commission stated: “ It is becoming a matter of some urgency that the question of the control of this settlement should be finally deter­mined. The European public bodies throughout the district are much concerned at the maintenance of the existing position, and the company which owns the township is unable to grant transfer to Native purchasers, which constitutes a hardship to the Natives themselves. The tendency, referred to in the previous report, for Natives to flock to that area is growing. It is highly desirable to determine as soon as possible whether the Clermont Township is to be limited to its existing- area or whether it is to be extended in order to meet the demands for individual holdings by Natives in that neighbourhood. Until this question is finally settled,_ and it must depend to a large extent on the proposals of the urban authorities, the Commission is unable to make any recommendation for the acquisition of further land in that area.”

During its various inspections the Commission has been^driven to the conclusion that wherever possible the demands of the urban Natives for the setting aside of suburban areas will have to be met. Some consideration will have to be given to that class of Native which is living under conditions intermediate between the completely rural character of the Reserves and the completely urbanised character of the towns, but which is permanently employed in European industry. The following extracts from the Cornmis- sion’s'Report on Natal and Zululand, 1939, is indicative of the Commission’s attitude on this matter: —

“ 30. The Natives in the Verulam and Stanger District belong largely to local tribes which have been subjected to a hundred years of mission teaching and the economic training brought about by contact with European industry. Many are becoming well educated. Although tribal cohesion still exists among them, the growth of individualism is destroying all tribal sanctions. This does not mean the breakdown of our Native policy in regard to these people. The policy of territorial separation must be adapted to their needs; and the principles adopted should be such as will maintain the community of the tribe, while yielding full scope to the liberty of the individual. The pride of the tribe still exists and Native demostic custom still holds sway so far as such customs can be synthesised with mission teaching and economic necessity. It is, in the first place, as essential here as elsewhere to give the recognised chiefs security of tenure on a piece of land which can form the centre of tribal administration, and it is the more necessary to do this in this area because only _bv maintaining the economic independence of the chief's, and thus with it the respect of their tribal followers, can the cohesion of the tribe be continued. If this is not done; if tribal cohesion, such as still exists, is to give way completely to economic regrouping and combi­nations, the difficulties of administration will inevitably become very great.

“ 31. With these considerations in mind, the Commission feels that it is necessary to provide for the growth of compact settlements which can be cut up into one-acre allotments. There would be attached to these allotments no commonage; they would be allotments on which the wife and family of the casual detribalised urban worker could live and cultivate their small patches while obtaining their ordinary subsistence out of the wages earned outside the settlements. The development of such townships as Clairmont, and the amazing urge on the part of Natives to get possession of pieces of land in such places, notwithstanding the high prices that have to be paid for them, is sufficient proof of the tremendous hunger that exists for this type of settlement. Private enterprise, if it were permitted to do so. would rapidly supply this Native want with great profit to itself. There js, therefore, a clear indication that this type of settlement could easily

be established by the State, and that all money spent on the creation of proper amenities would be willingly repaid by the Native allottees over a period of years. These proposed settlements along the coast lie too far distant from urban areas to fall under any local authority, and would have to be the special care of the Trust.”

Land has since been acquired in the Verulam area to carry out the proposals of the Commission. This rural township will be properly laid out and serviced. It will be under the control of the Department. This much- needed experiment will not only relieve the peri-urban position of Durban, but it will also afford experience as to how this junction of urban demands with economic necessity can best be dealt with.

A large number of applications for sub-economic loans for Native housing has been dealt with in collaboration with the Central Housing Board. At one time progress in this field was held up owing to the uncertainty in the provision of funds, but the Housing Board has latterly been able to proceed with the allocation of loans for this purpose. The following are the more important schemes at present in progress or under discussion: —

Local Authority. Amount Involved.East London ............................................. £796,162Johannesburg .......................... ............... 181,262 Being part of an

allocation of £1,347,340.

B enoni........................................................ 200,000Krugersdorp .............................................. 60,000Pretoria ...................................................... 660,000Somerset East .......................................... 35,000

£1,932,424

A. very important part of the work of the Urban Inspectorate of the Department lies in the examination of the Native Revenue Accounts of the municipalities, which require the Minister’s approval. The Estimates of Native Revenue Accounts of twenty-one of the principal municipalities, particulars of which are attached to this Appendix, show a total revenue of £726,440 and an expenditure of £766,463. The greatest excess of expendi­ture over revenue was incurred in the City of Cape Town, for the year 1939, which transferred £18,123 from its General Rating Account to make up the deficiency; an earnest of goodwill towards the welfare of the Natives in its midst for which Cape Town is to be commended. Seven other munici­palities show an excess of expenditure over revenue received solely from Native sources, with Pretoria leading with £7,539, followed by East London with £7,000; Springs, £6,681; Johannesburg, £6,020; Port Elizabeth, £3,207; Randfontein, £1,775 and Bloemfontein £831. Durban on the other hand shows a saving on the expenditure side of £16,106, while Maritzburg made a saving of £3,992. Durban now has a working balance reserve of £62,000 derived from Native sources.

During 1940 Native locations have been established, or the boundaries of existing locations have been altered, in twenty different centres; in two cases locations were abolished or curtailed. One proclamation for the segregation of Natives was issued for the urban area of Tongaat in Natal, where a model village with well-built, cheaply rented houses has been erected, together with a large recreation hall and eating-house within the enclosed area of an artistically designed, utility market-place. Proclama­tions have been issued in respect of forty-eight other urban areas during 1940. giving them power to restrict the influx of Natives to their areas. A number of other proclamations have been issued from time to time in connec­tion with urban areas control; registration regulations were amended for the Witwatersrand and Grahamstown; curfew proclamations were issued or amended for eight areas. Three local authorities adopted the system of domestic brewing of kaffir beer without permit, but subject to regulation, while five local authorities were granted a municipal authority for sale and supply of kaffir beer. These were Middelburg (Transvaal), Parys, Kimberley. Dewetsdorp and Barberton.

The following is a summary of reports from a few of the principal areas:—J o h a n n e s b u r g .

Housing.—Approximately 186,000 Natives are housed in the four locations and five hostels of Johannesburg. The supply of municipal accom­modation for both married and single falls far short of the demand, the popularity of which continues to grow. Two-roomed and three-roomed cottages are let at a sub-economic rent, varying between 4s. and 5s. per week, and £1 and 1. 5s. per month. Tenancy is not disturbed so long as the rent is regularly paid. Owing to the high building costs, Native rents have not been assessed on the capital cost of the houses, but on the ability of the

tenant to pay. (Since, however, the difference has to be made up out of the Native Revenue Account, what the Natives do not pay singly they pay collectively.) On this point the Manager remarks: “ It will be seen that the Natives’ section of the Department is in an extremely healthy financial position; so much so that it is self-supporting and does not cost the taxpayer anything. The position is particularly satisfactory, in view of the fact that it contributed £4,662 to the Council for indirect administration, took over all grants-in-aid, and gratuities previously paid out of general revenue amounting to £3,870, and contributed £10,654 for medical services rendered on behalf of the location by the Public Health Department.”

The year 1940 shows a very material development in the general upkeep and improvement of the locations. Many miles of roads have been built, some macadamised and gravelled and culverts constructed, trees planted and amenities provided. Part of the £341,000 available out of the sub-economic loan, is to be spent on 750 houses for Natives at Orlando, and on the first section of the Denver Hostel for Native males.

Education.—It is reported that there has been a considerable improve­ment in the provision of facilities for primary education in the locations. Secondary education is to benefit by the establishment of three secondary schools, one each in the three locations of Pimville, Western Native Town­ship and in Orlando. In addition the municipality is establishing a Vocational Training Centre for Natives at Orlando the aim of which, it is stated, is to “ build up character and train youths in useful vocations to enable them to become self-supporting citizens ” .

The need for greater educational facilities for Native children in these locations, coupled with the organisation of their recreation during leisure hours is shown by the fact that the highest standard of education attained by juvenile delinquents dealt with by the Probation Officer was Standard I for boys and Standard II for girls.

Juvenile Delinquency.—On the subject of juvenile delinquency the Manager remarks that the measures suggested by the various bodies to combat this evil “ will be merely palliative unless responsibility for the conduct of the children and their moral upbringing is forced on the parents. We are apt to find too many excuses for them, poverty, malnutrition, lack of schools and leisure-time activities, poor housing, etc. It is true that all these have a considerable bearing on the subject, but the root of the trouble lies in the rottenness of some parents who beget children and allow them to grow up completely uncontrolled. School attendance after the age of seven years, witb tbe same laxity in the child’s home life, does not help much; in fact the child frequently contaminates others at school. In their kraal life this was not so: every child was disciplined from birth, taught the rudiments of wbat was right and what was wrong, and respect for others. This is not an indictment against all the Natives in the locations. Fortunately the majority are a fine body of people, but the evil will spread \inless stamped out ” .

This opinion appears to be supported by the Research and Welfare Branch of the Johannesburg non-European and Native Affairs Department.

“ Juvenile delinquency statistics collected over the last- four years indicate that more delinquents have been drawn from the employed scholar classes than from the unemployed and vagrants. This illustrates the contention that putting a child to school or placing him in employment will not prevent him from becoming a juvenile delinquent. Measures must be taken to provide him with such variation of recreation and facilities as will ensure that the boy, on returning from school or from work, will have opportunities to employ his leisure hours in activities which will not be harmful to the community.

“ The development of the gang system in Johannesburg seems to be following, and not for very different reasons, the development of the gang system in Chicago durinf? the 1920’s. A study has been made during the year, by an African member of the staff, of the activities of the largest gang in Orlando. Most of the members in the initial staees attended school and after the working day, met at one of the township’* shops, which was its headquarters. A leader was chosen ' because of his bravery and quick thinking Playinpr truant marked the early days of the venture, the highest Standard of any boy in the gang being Standard III . To avoid being seen by their parents, the gang did not meet at its headquarters until after school.

“ Dice playing was the chief occupation and in the evenings, children on their way to buy goods for their parents at the shops, were waylaid and the money taken from them. Eventually the gang made use of its headquarters during the day.

“ In the beginning they proved useful to the shopkeeper as they helped to weigh sugar and other groceries, but the shopkeeper soon discovered that he was engaging these boys at a loss. On Mondays,