t>00 TJtlE NATIVES IN THE LAKGER TOWNS. 



discipline over the Natives was sucn as couia De exercised b}' 

 ■ponce vigilance unsupported by special by-laws, i his led to what 

 iVir. Winston L^hurcnnl once called "" tne "gentie' stimulus of 

 cowhide " being used as an aid to control. 



Ihe third course may be tersely expressed in the words of 

 ex-President Kooseveit: " bpeak gently! but carry the big stick " 

 — and the new Bill is to some extent conditioned by the principle 

 embodied in this short summary of a long experience of afifairs. 

 1 he " big stick " of legislative discipline is for use only when 

 occasion demands, and it is evident trom the framework of the 

 Bill that its primary policy is to " speak gently ! " 



It will be remembered by those interested in the history of 

 the Natal system of municipal administration that the late Sir 

 Theophilus Shepstone, in 1874, initiated the principle of setting 

 apart for the promotion of the welfare of the Native " togt " or 

 day labourers the revenue contributed by such Natives as licence- 

 fees, and that this principle was given a wider application in con- 

 nection with the profits from the monopoly system for the sale of 

 Native beer under Act 22 of 1908. 



The present Bill goes further and aims at the establishment, 

 by every l«cal authority coming under the Bill, of a Native 

 Revenue Account, to which all Native revenue shall be paid and 

 set apart 'for Native purposes. 



Native Urban Areas Bill. 



In this matter and in the provision for the establishment and 

 consultation of Native Advisory Boards in every urban area, and 

 for the establishment of Native servant registries, institutions for 

 the training of Native servants, location building societies, hos- 

 pitals, maternity homes, washing houses, recreation halls, rooms 

 and grounds^ the Bill is conditioned by a policy which, in its main 

 features, should be welcomed 'by the Natives. 



In its other provisions the Bill contains a great deal that will 

 make for the improvement of conditions of living for Natives in 

 urban areas. But if the process of unifying the system of local 

 administration of Native afifairs is to be allowed to take its course 

 by such slow degrees as are indicated in the Bill, I 'fear that the 

 rrieasure will fail in what should be one of its main obiects, 

 namely, the introduction of a uniform system of Native by-laws 

 for all towns, which, if once understood by the Natives, would 

 obviate a great deal of hardship and consequent resentment by 

 the present conflicting laws and by-laws. 



The option afforded to each local authority by the Bill of 

 continuing to govern its Natives under existing legislation, or of 

 adopting the provisions of the new Bill, will perpetuate the pre- 

 sent unnecessarv divergence of system, and should (except in 

 regard to Village Management Boards) be withdrawn. 



A similar effect is to be anticipated from that provision in 

 the Bill which, though it properly reserves by-laws for the 

 annroval of the Governor-General, leaves the form of such by- 

 laws to bfe framed -by -the local authority, thus giving play -to an 



