PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTIOX E. 93 



expected, if the two races are to live side bj- side indefinitely, 

 racial mixture is, I think, inevitable. In the Transvaal, 

 Orange Free State and Xatal one is used to the contrast 

 between European and pure-bred natives, and at first sight 

 the boundary line seems one that there is neither risk nor 

 desire of passing, lint in the neighbourhood of Capetown (not 

 the whole of Cape Colony) there is no pure native population, 

 but a large proportion of half-castes — the so-called Cape 

 coloured people. These are useful citizens, who are well liked 

 in their own neighbourhood, and they tend, to some extent, 

 to inigTate to the other Provinces ; there is nothing- to keep 

 them from intermarrying, either with Europeans or with pure- 

 bred natives. Intermarriage may not be frequent, and it is true 

 that sentiment amongst the natives themselves is rather 

 against it. It takes place to some extent all the same, and 

 the Cape coloured people form a natural bridge between the 

 two sections of the population. The fact that they came into 

 existence, despite the strong feeling- against mixture between 

 the JSTorth European races and the natives, shows how unlikely 

 it is for the two races to live side by side without mixing. 



The population described as " mixed and other coloured " 

 in the Cape Province grew', between the 1904 and 1911 

 censuses, by 15 per cent., whilst the total population grew by 

 6| per cent. In the three northern Provinces, where the 

 number of coloured people is still small, they grew bj^ 40 per 

 cent., while the total population grew by 23 per cent. 



Where race mixture is frankly accepted, it comes as a 

 corollary that the humblest-born citizen may aspire, not, 

 perhaps, to the highest positions, but to an advance that will 

 usually satisfy him, and the less fortunately endowed members 

 of the superior race take up unskilled work, no doubt not 

 willingly, but without incurring the contempt of their own 

 people. The distinction of classes is like that, let us say, of 

 Engdand in the eighteenth century, not like that between 

 conqueror and slaves. In these circumstances, the special poor 

 white problem, due to the colour bar, does not exist. 



If nij forecast of racial mixture in South Africa turns out 

 to be correct, it will, of course, not happen in our time. 

 It would take several generations to come about, and the 

 problems facing the country cannot be left to themselves in 

 the hope that they will disappear. The Government and people 

 are no less called upon to take energetic steps to deal with the 

 abnormal destitution among a large section of the white 

 inhabitants, as well as to provide the natives with opportunity 

 for the reasonable progress they are capable of. 



Let us gdance at the statistics of population in South 

 Africa to see what light they may throw on these distant 

 possibilities. How thin the population is will be realised at 

 once from the figure of 13 to the square mile, which is the 

 average density, including all races. Clearly the country is 

 yet to make. 



But a large part of it is very poor agriculturally, having a 

 small and uncertain rainfall. The western part is often known 



