FUTUEE OF NATIVE RACES OF S. RHODESIA. 147 



replace to a great extent the house-boys, and still more, I hope, 

 the nurse-boys at present employed, will feel the same influence, 

 and ^^•ill be able to keep straight. At present, for young natives 

 of either sex location life is a thorough grounding in vice. The 

 question of building cottages in these locations cheaply enough to 

 let at a rental possible to the occupiers-to-be, and at the same 

 time to make a return on the money invested, is not insoluble. 

 This, and many other minor ]:)oints about the semi-rural locations, 

 I have not time now to go into, but of the soundness of the general 

 idea I am convinced. So, and not otherwise, shall we render the 

 town native a support to our civilisation, and not a perpetual 

 menace thereto. 



We come to the third phase of native life, life in the Eesei'ves. 

 At present, and more each year as time goes on, it is a fact that 

 the brighter spirits among the new generations drift towards the 

 towns. There the mind has more to grip, more is going on, life 

 is written Math a capital L, and every day has a freshness and an 

 interest in it that appeals, strongly, as strongly to black as to 

 white. For the young man of an independent turn of mind, of 

 an adventurous spirit, particularly if he has no inherited wealth 

 of cattle, town life offers tremendous attractions. This is especi- 

 ally the type with the greatest possibilities of development of 

 moral strength, in the meaning which I have previously attached 

 to this word ; this type offers the best material for our efforts to 

 add links to the " social heredity " chain of moral attributes, to 

 develop which is to be our principal aim. The very fact of these 

 natives leaving the kraal life betrays a certain amount of origin- 

 ality in their composition. 



Now the main current of native life will always be in the 

 Eeserves, the main current, if not necessarily the most noisy and 

 violen". The larger the water the further run the ripples from 

 the stcne dropped in it. It is most essential that the brightest 

 spirits amongst the natives, the best material for moral develop- 

 ment, the people who we hope will prove the leaven by which 

 our efforts will raise the mass, should not be lost to the Reserves. 

 It is a matter of vital importance to the future of the native races 

 that there should be sufficient attractions, and possibilities, in 

 the Reserves to keep there those who i)Ossess the very qualities 

 we wish to develop. The future of the natives lies in the Reserves ; 

 this must be so, for their good and for oui's. It is on the outcome 

 of development in the Reserves that the fabric of cur civilisation 

 mainly depends. We must see to it that the best material is 

 available in the Reserves for our efforts. 



To this end we must " vitalise " the Reserves. When I say 

 vitalise " I do not wish to be understood as saying that the 

 native in the Reserve at present leads a life of slothful inertia and 

 degradation. Very far from it. I have lived too long in native 

 Reserves not to know that there is, it is not altogether an exag- 

 geration to say, a busy hum of human activity going on continually, 

 and audible to any ear in the least degi-ee receptive. But for the 

 object I have in view, the development of the moral attributes 

 of originality, vigour, etc., and the other object of offering induce- 

 ments to original spirits to stay in Reserves, this activity does not 

 appear to be sufficiently formative. I think it should' be linked 



