the natives in the larger towns. 593 



Native Self-Respect. 



In addition to the qualities already referred to, a sense of law 

 and order has proved to be strong-ly developed among^ the Natives. 

 It is a common mistake to suppose that because they are a back- 

 ward people courtesy is wasted on them. In their own com- 

 munications they are punctilious to a degree, and if their attempts 

 to speak our lang^uage are sometimes marred by their delivery, I 

 fear that this is but too often a reflex of our own tone towards 

 them. 



An atmosphere of self-respect and mutual respect is natural 

 to them. 



By a whimsical custom mothers when hushing- children to 

 sleep address them by their surname or family totem, and the 

 same courtesy is observed by a visitor when thanking his host for 

 hospitality. 



Among the BasutO' a married woman upon becoming a mother 

 ceases to be called by the name she has hitherto borne, and is 

 accorded a species of brevet-rank, being dignified by the name of 

 her child with a prefix denoting " mother of." These and other 

 admirable usages aiiford an earnest of the Natives' veneration for 

 custom, which is inseparable from respect for authority and other 

 qualities upon which any great improvement of mankind must 

 find a basis. 



I believe that among all the Native races of South Africa 

 there is good material for the development of a civic sense or 

 consciousness, which, in itself, will form the strongest and most 

 universal check against social disorders on the part of their own 

 race. 



Laws Applicable to Natives. 



The legislation applicable to Natives in the larger towns to- 

 day has been built up by a piece-meal process which has not been 

 without advantage to the Natives. 



The Municipal Corporations Law, under which the older 

 municipalities of the Union are constituted, is modelled on the 

 lines of the Municipal Corporation Act oif England and Wales, 

 1835. and although it endows the Town Council with wide powers 

 (including that of making " all such by-laws as to them shall seem 

 meet," .... for the good rule and government of the 

 "borough "), there is no provision therein for the making of by- 

 laws specially applicable to the Natives. Whenever the necessity 

 for any such by-laws has manifested itself Parliament has had to 

 be aporoached to pass an enabling statute. This course has given 

 time for more mature consideration of the remedies aimed at. and 

 for more careful review of the statute itself than if one compre- 

 hensive statute had been passed to confer upon Town Councils 

 power to make by-laws whenever the necessity might arise. 



In the early history of the towns the presence of Natives was 

 not a matter that called for regulation by positive law, as their 

 numbers were not great, and their duties and obligations were not 

 easily evaded in a small community. 



