Tin-. F.XTRRXCllMKXT OF IXDrSTRY. 



Bv Hon. Charles G. Smitfi. 



There are uiiniistakable sipais of a changed attitude on the 

 part of the pubhc of South Africa towards colonial industries. 

 The traditional prejudice against the local article has been con- 

 verted into a feeling of tolerance, and even in certain cases to 

 one of mild encouragement. The lessons of the war have proved 

 to us our unhappy dependence upon outside sources for the bulk 

 of our supplies, and with the full realisation of our industrial 

 weakness, and the ever-growing penalty we pay for it in the high 

 cost of imported goods and rapidly advancing freights, the pub- 

 lic will be compelled to make up its mind whether it is or is not 

 worth while to put some enthusiasm into the question of foster- 

 ing manufactures and trade within the Union. Not the least 

 of the problems which will engage the attention of Parliament 

 is the one of making South Africa far more self-supporting 

 than she is at present. One shudders at the disastrous conse- 

 quences to this .sub-continent if our sea comnumications had been 

 interrupted for any prolonged period. The {patriotic stimulus 

 that the war has given us must not be allowed to die away with 

 the final sound of the guns. While the youthful vigour of the 

 nation is away fighting the battle of Empire, it is for us who 

 remain so to contrive that no shock shall be given to the national 

 welfare, and that our economic system shall be adjusted on such 

 lines as will ensure expanding prosperity to fully re-absorb in 

 peaceful occupations those who have sacrificed home life and 

 material prospects in order to keep the flag flying. We have had 

 the experience of thousands of able-bodied, acclimatised young 

 men leaving our shores because we lacked em])loyment to keep 

 them here, and the conditions of land settlement offered no 

 attractions. No one will dispute that the great need of South 

 Africa is a stream of vigorous white settlers to revivify the 

 sluggish pools and backwashes of the ])opulation. If, then, we 

 allow one single man now wearing uniform to go beyond the 

 .seas through lack of employment in Sc^uth .Africa on conclusion 

 of hostilities, we shall not only have disgraced our patriotism, 

 but we shall have set the seal upon our economic decav. 



It will not do to wait until the men return and are dis- 

 banded. A definite policy must be decided upon, and the 

 machinery for its accomplishment prepared and set in motion, 

 .so that the transition from military to civil life mav take i^lace 

 without delay and without hardshij) or loss to the men. Those 

 who have suffered serious (lisal)lcment by wounds or sickness 

 on active service have done their life's work, and are entitled 

 to a pension on such a scale as will permit them to live in full 

 comfort. Whatever is done in the way of teaching them those 

 occu])ations which their disabled condition permits them to 

 take up .should be entirely supi)lementary, and they should not 

 be dependent i^n their exertions whatsoever for a livelihood. 



