THE XATIVES OF NATAL IN' RELATION" TO THE LAND. 24 1 



In past years considerable grants of land were vested by the 

 Government in missionary bodies, and these grants are called in 

 Natal, Mission Reserves. In all. these reserves amount to 313,867 

 acres, and are inhabited by 43.10) natives. There are resident 

 European missionaries on most of them. The native people 

 living on these reserves are not all Christians ; a number of uncon- 

 verted natives have been allowed to reside on them. Formerly, 

 in a few of these reserves, individual freehold title was given to 

 a limited number of allotment holders, but the practice ceased 

 many years ago, and the greater part of the native residents have 

 no title to their holdings. On some reserves the missionaries 

 have made an effort to encourage and teach better agricultural 

 methods ; generally speaking, the natives on the reserves, who 

 are under the ini|uence of the missionaries, have better homes 

 and make ])etter use of the ground than any of those previously 

 mentioned. 



There are a number of native freeholders in Natal who have 

 purchased their farms, either as individuals or as members of a 

 syndicate. Altogether there are 359,708 acres held by these 

 native freeholders. The holdings are not usually df large size, 

 but as they are often contiguous, a considerable continuous area 

 may be owned and occupied by these native farmers. Unless one 

 is acquainted with the details of one of these farm areas, it is 

 (litBcult to estimate the cpality of the farming operations carried 

 on by the actual owner, for they nearly all have copied the Euro- 

 pean in taking on other natives as tenants, and the crops of these 

 tenants are no better than those of the native tenants of unoccu- 

 jtied European farms. It is generally understood that these native 

 landlords charge high rents and deal promptly with defaulters 

 through the agency of the law. Still, speaking generally, the 

 native owner, when he does cultivate, makes better use of the 

 ground than any of the classes we have mentioned hitherto ; 

 there are not a few instances in which the advance is noteworthy 

 and creditable. The maji who has had the thrift and foresight 

 to buy a piece of land is, as a general rule, the man who makes 

 the best use of it. Fundamentally, human nature is the same 

 all the world over. There has been much anxiety evinced in 

 some parts of the Union because of the alleged increasing desire, 

 on the part of natives, to purchase land in the midst of white 

 communities. To prevent this intermixture was one of the 

 objects of the Natives Land Act of 1913. In Natal this fear is 

 not generally entertained. The Europeans ha\e already acquired 

 all the most desirable agricultural and pastoral land, and are 

 being more and more firmly entrenched therein by the adoption 

 of improved methods, which means higher prices for the land 

 ■ and more capital and capacity to work it profitably. In many 

 cases native purchasers ha\'e been unable to retain their land 

 through lack of business ability, foresight, and thrift; and the 

 instalments ]>aid. and the land itself has been lost to them. With 

 Government aid I think it is possible for the native farmer to 

 survive, if his operations are on a limited scale, but I do not 



