PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION E. 149 



could not see ; or to get down and strike matches to sec if 

 the cart was still on the road, and not away out in the veld ! 

 Indeed, until less than a decade ago, persons wishing to travel 

 from point to point in the Territories were compelled to utilise 

 the ox-waggon or the Cape-cart — or else to walk. In the case 

 of the natives the last alternative was the one usually adopted, 

 and so there was not much coming and going. 



((/) The Raihvay. — The discovery of diamonds, and gold, 

 and coal, however, led to the huilding of lines of railway between 

 these places and the coast, and once they were thus made 

 accessible the natives began to make their way thither as 

 labourers. This meant contact with the white man, and 

 the earning of large sums of money, which were brought back 

 to the Transkei or other Native Territories, and spent there. 

 Along the Witwatersrand Reei alone there were last year (1918) 

 some 250,000 Native labourers and 90,000 house-boys, showing 

 what a great part the improved communications by rail plays, 

 both in the matter of race contact, as well as economically. 

 Probably more than i 1,000,000 per annum are thus mad^ available 

 in the way of purchasing capacity. But, most important of 

 all for the purposes of our study, is the educational effect upon 

 the native mind, which the improved communications have made 

 possible. Illustrative of this and highly suggestive is the 

 following passage tjuoted from the Report of the 1903-05 South 

 African Native Affairs Commission, section 326: — 



(i) "The many thousands of Natives constantly employed 

 on farms, railways, and public work, and in mines and work- 

 shops, are inevitably being brought under what is. in the wider 

 sense of the word, an educational influence, and are thereby 

 becoming more useful and productive members of the community. 

 These occupations involve considerable travel, removal for longer 

 or shorter periods form their -home environment, and contact 

 with civilised conditions, all of which have the effect of stimulat- 

 ing mental activity and widening their intellectua loutlook. It 

 appears evident that the forces surrounding the Natives are 

 tending more and more to bring them into the field of industry." 



Into the character of this education we do not propose 

 to enter, since it is sufficient to establish the point that railway 

 communication, by increasing race contact, has great educational 

 value, and operates to break down the old tribalism or com- 

 munism. 



In the case of the Transkei, the railway not only penetrates 

 from the west to Umtata in the centre, but also irom the 

 Natal side communication is established as far as Kokstad. On 

 the northern boundary the rail runs as far as Maclear, and it 

 is hoped that it will shortly be carried on to Matatiele and even 

 to Kokstad. Perhaps in the future we shall see a railway line 

 running inland from Port St. Johns, and St. Johns (the only port 

 along the Transkeian coast) a place of great commercial 

 importance. 



