484 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



ever, there were sufficient employment elsewhere — to be resumed 

 again when a surplus of labour again occurred. Both employers and 

 employed would be benefited by the establishment of such indus- 

 trial reserves. 



But it is perhaps not our business to teach England how to 

 manage her affairs or how to deal with her unemployed, so I will not 

 pursue that any further. It is our business to put our own house 

 in order and prevent the evils of extensive pauperism in this country, 

 if it be possible, and it is to the South African aspect of the question 

 that I shall devote the few remaining words I have to say. 



Till comparatively lately there has been but little real poverty 

 in this country ; the demand for labour in a new country is usually 

 greater than the supply, and except for the complication introduced 

 by the race problem, there would probably have been, and still be, 

 plenty of work for everyone. Still, even here the " Poor White " 

 is not a product of yesterday, and I fear, unless we can find some 

 sound means of dealing with him, will not be a thing of the past 

 to-morrow. Moreover, we are developing, nay, I fear, have already 

 developed, a loafer class very nearly akin to the class we all know 

 well at Home. Some of you will perhaps say, " There you are, that 

 is the impossibility of the problem. The Poor White is ignorant and 

 lazy, and will not do manual work or let his children, because that 

 is Kaffir work and beneath the dignity of a white man — while as to 

 the English loafer he is just as hopeless." Yes, I am afraid you are 

 quite right if you look only to the full-developed .specimen. I doubt 

 if your well-matured individual Poor White, or your thoroughly- 

 developed loafer can be reclaimed, but there is always this comfort 

 about him, that though you cannot even get rid of him by means of 

 the lethal chamber, time will get rid of the individual all right 

 by-and-bye ; it is not the cure of these wasters that is the important 

 thing, it is to see that you do not go on manufacturing more and 

 more of them. The Poor White and the loafer, though perhaps both 

 incurable, are, unlike the poet, made, not born ; they are the direct 

 result of the circumstances under which they exist. Alter the environ- 

 ment, change your system of dealing with the children, and you will 

 find them grow into very different adults. 



How is this to be done? Education is the panacea generally 

 advocated, and I should certainly be the last to disparage education. 

 But the teaching of the three R's, or even the rudiments of classics 

 and mathematics is not going to solve the problem. What you need 

 is work ; there and there only lies the solution. Is it then possible 

 to find work for these people on the lines I have already indicated ? 

 That is, work which in the end will produce an asset to the country 

 equivalent to, or, at least, approximately equivalent to, its cost ; 

 work which will not interfere with the industry of those alreadv 

 employed ; work which will not be unnecessarily costly bv requiring 

 a large expenditure on machinery or plant in addition to the wages 

 paid out ; work which is not derogatory to the dignity of a white 

 man ? 



