PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E. 103 



IV. The possibility of the extension of opportunities of 



work for educated Natives. 



We here enter into a region of great difficulty, into mattens 

 that require extreme delicacy of treatment. It may be thought 

 by some of my associates in this important Congress that it is a 

 region and a matter that should be left severely alone. This may 

 be so. Still I think it is due to the Native people that we men 

 of science, who are supposed to look at grave and great questions 

 in a dispassionate manner, should know what thoughts circle in 

 Native muids concerning the limitations that habit and custom 

 and social and economic conditions have placed upon them. 



The wiser and more moderate men realize the reasonableness, 

 from some points of view, of these limitations although they re- 

 gret their existence. It is very, very rarely that any seek to break 

 them down, for the Native is, above all else, an upholder of cus- 

 tom and tradition, even if it be the custom and tradition of 

 another race. He is marvellously law-abiding. For him what is, 

 is! 



But in conversation one gets behind the outposte of his mind. 

 And then we gather the regret there is among the more intelli- 

 gent men that certain doors are closed to them. They cannot 

 rise in the Civil Service above the rank of messengers or inter- 

 preters. The most-educated Native need never aspire to become 

 a magistrate even among his own people. In the larger native 

 schools there is no recognized view which gives him preference 

 over a European. And as regards salary, the disparity is, to him, 

 anything but reasonable. 



Will time break down these barriers : or are they funda- 

 mental; will the years only witness an accentuation of the position 

 that at present exists wherever occupation, or work, or station or 

 salary is concerned? 



V. The political fiiture of the Native. 



If the previous matter was one of extreme difficulty, this is 

 no less so. On this question many men in this land have very 

 strong convictions. I have met men of great prudence, of calm 

 judgment, of much sanity in political matters who say, " Give the 

 Native equal rights with the white citizen of South Africa." 



This was the Cape view, and still obtains among the older 

 men of that Province. I have also met men of wide sympathies, 

 warm-hearted men, men of moral worth, of lofty ideals, who have 

 said to me : " The Native should have no political privileges of 

 any kind. This is a white man's land." 



Between these two opposite and opposing schools of political 

 thought in Native matters the tnith must somewhere lie. 



In the direction of giving to Natives more say in the affairs 

 that affect themselves more immediately, the recent Native Affairw 

 Act of 1920 has been brought into existence by the present Prime 

 Minister. This Act makes possible the creation of councils in 

 purely Native areas where such bodies are demanded by the 

 Natives of that area. These councils will deal with many of the 

 matters now under Divisional Councils or other local bodies. The 

 success which has followed the working of this system in the 



