THE NATIVES IN THE LARGER TOWNS. 



By J. S. Marwick. 



{Read, July 12, 1918.) 



In attempting to deal with the commonplace subject of the 

 Natives in the larger towns, my purpose is not so much to notice 

 tlie differences which exist between their conditions of living, their 

 point? of view and our own, but rather to give a slight conception 

 of the development which lies beneath their presence in our towns, 

 and to treat of them as a problem, social and administrative, for 

 the solution of which the citizens and the Government of the 

 Union of South Africa are jointly responsible. 



The problem is the regulation of the routine of human 

 existence in our larger towns, so that the Europeans and Natives 

 may live on such terms that mutually satisfactory relations shall 

 subsist between the two races. This foreshadows the necessity of 

 a finely adjusted organisation in which good legislation, good 

 administration, and good citizenship shall each bear a part. 



In 1849, the late Lord Dufferin, speaking of Ireland, said. 

 " Legislation can do nothing when there is nothing for it to act 

 upon " ; and although we need not import any shade of pessimism 

 into this statement of fact, it is well for us to recognise its truth 

 in relation to the question of legislating for the Natives. 



I well remember its being brought home to me some years 

 ago in the Transvaal. A Zulu of the old school was told in 

 Johaimesburg that the \ns\t of a health inspector to the room in 

 which the Natives slept was to result in a prosecution before the 

 Landdrost. because the room did not contain the requisite number 

 of cubic feet. His immediate reply was : " Cannot he suoply 

 them, since he knows of these cubic feet? " The charge conveyed 

 nothing to his mind, and although it was explained to him that for 

 health reasons there should be in ever}^ bedroom a specified cubic 

 air space for each human being, he remained mystified as to the 

 real necessity for a provision, which was wholly foreign to his 

 ideas of hygiene or common-sense. 



In the large class of cases of which this is a type, the func- 

 tions of good administration and good citizenship should combine 

 to prevent the prosecution of innocent Natives, and to promote 

 among those who come to us for employment an improving know- 

 ledge of the conditions to which their residence in towns requires 

 them to conform. 



Diversity of Race. 



For many years the Natives, who first resorted to the towns 

 for employment, or on business, were drawn from the immediate 

 neighbourhood, and all belonged to one race, but the inter- 

 communication afforded by the railway system throughout South 

 Africa, and more recently the distribution of Native labourers 

 between the four Provinces by the employing departments of the 

 Union, have served to impart diversity of race and history to the 

 , already difficult character of the Native population in our towns. 



