THE NATIVES IN THE LARGER TOWNS. 59I 



The gradual disintegration of tribal conditions, and the 

 attachment of some of the Natives to industrial habits, are in- 

 fluences which tend to give an element of permanency to the 

 Native urban population. Hitherto the changing^ character of 

 this population has been maintained by the ebb and flow of those 

 g[oing- from or comings to the town, but in their g-rowing preference 

 for residence in or near to towns, many of the Natives have given 

 a new direction to the lives of their fellows — a development which 

 needs to be guided and regulated. 



If we are to attach a right value to continuity of history in 

 the consideration of the problem by which we are confronted, we 

 must try and understand the rudimentary character of the com- 

 posite population which we have to deal with. 



Reports of Government Commissions appointed to enquire 

 into Native matters are replete with information as to the Native 

 mind and character. One of the earliest, the Natal Commission 

 of 24 members, 1852-3, contains the following unfavourable 

 description:— 



When not effectually restrained and directed by the strong arm of 

 power, the true and universal character of the Kaffirs, as framed by their 

 education, habits, and associations, is at once superstitious and warlike. 

 Their estimate of human life is very low; plunder and bloodshed are 

 engagements with which their circumstances have rendered them familiar 

 from their childhood ; they are crafty and cunning ; at once indolent and 

 excitable ; averse to labour, but bloodthirsty and cruel when their passions 

 are inflamed. They pretend to no individual opinion of their own, but 

 show the most servile compliance to the rule of a despotic chief when it is 

 characterised by vigour and efficiency. 



Cupidity is another strongly developed feature of the Kaffir 

 character; their general habits, like those of other savages, debased and 

 sensual to the last degree ; possessing but a confused, indistinct idea of a 

 future state, and of the existence of a Supreme Being, they cherish a 

 belief in the most degrading system of witchcraft. 



The Kaffirs recognise no moral delinquency in deceit or falsehood, 

 but are remarkable for a disregard of truthfulness and gratitude. 



Personal purity or chastity among the unmarried youth of 



both sexes, in the European sense of that term, has no existence, and 

 married Kaffir men do not confine their attentions to their own wives. 

 On the contrary, the conduct of the married women in this respect is 

 generally correct. 



For the management of these people as servants the Com- 

 mission advised : — 



The only seemly and safe course for the employer is to exhibit a 

 temperate, uniform, and unyielding firmness, to perform to the letter 

 everything he promises, and to avoid all unnecessary intercourse and 

 conversation, which uniformly produce contempt. 



The report of the Natal Native Commission of 15 members, 

 1881-2, records an improved opinion of the Natives: — 



There is, we think, in the Natives not a little which the white gener- 

 ally feel to be attractive, and calculated to win friendliness towards a 

 people with whom they are so closely brought into contact. 



Later reports — ^those of the South African Native Affairs 

 Commission of 11 members, 1903-5, and the Natal Native Affairs 

 Commission of seven members. 1906-7, furnish evidence of even 

 a milder and more sympathetic view of the Native's character. 



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