88 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION F. 



been able to throw considerable liglit on the problem. The 

 results, embodied in a course of lectures delivered in Johannes- 

 burg- earlj^ in 1919, have now been made generally available 

 by publication in book form. 



Macmillan lays stress on the absence of any proper 

 system of land leases in South Africa. The traditional farmer 

 is a freeholder, and those who are not fortunate enough to 

 own land tor their farming often farm on metayage system — 

 that is, they do not pay a fixed money rent, but share the 

 produce of the farms with the owners, in certain stipulated 

 proportions, with no security of tenure beyond the current 

 season. Such conditions place them entirely at the mercy of 

 the landowner, and though no doubt a good deal of neigh- 

 bourly feeling exists, there is no secure tradition of fair 

 treatment like that which has mitigated in practice the 

 unsatisfactory features of English land tenure. The conse- 

 quences are disastrous, for not only are the landless farmers 

 kept down, but an improvement in agricultural methods is 

 rendered almost impossible. Returning to the question of 

 classification, we may distinguish, first, those who own some 

 land, but too little to afford proper support for a family when 

 cultivated according to the traditional methods. Xo doubt in 

 many cases improved agricultural technique would be enough 

 to make such persons comfortably off, and Government has 

 done a good deal towards agricultural education. But the 

 difficulties must not be overlooked. The country folk 

 ordinarily are very lacking in general education, so that it 

 is not to be expected tha^t they should take readily to new 

 ideas, and the customary conservatism of farmers is reinforced, 

 in South Africa, by the uncertainty of agriculture in that 

 country. The rewards are great in case of success, but the 

 risks of plant and stock diseases, of hail, droughts, and so 

 on, are far worse than in Europe, so that farming is some- 

 thing- of a gamble. 



Innovations backed by the authority of experts have 

 occasionally, on trial, led only to loss, and though, it is true, 

 the most conservative farmer sometimes loses his maize crop 

 and sees his cattle perish of drought, failure on the part of 

 the expert naturally makes the average countryman sceptical. 



Next come the landless class who have to hire land from 

 their more fortunate neighbours — called " bywoners " 

 because they live on another man's land. The question that 

 most urgently concerns tlTem is that of leasehold tenure — as 

 it is, they usually receive from two-thirds to one-third of the 

 yield of the ground they cultivate. The proportion varies 

 according to local custom, and according as the owner or 

 tenant supplies stock and implements, but I understand that 

 it is, on the whole, tending downwards, so that the position 

 of the class is deteriorating. Such tenaut farmers, holding 

 only for one season, and liable to be sent away at the caprice 

 of the landowner, cannot be expected to form an enterprising 

 section of the community. 



Thirdly come the agricultural labourers, but they do not, 

 in practice, form a class distinct from the preceding one. The 



