XA'nx'K i;iirt. ATKiN i\ riii; ikanskki. 44c) 



of ilu- L'nivcrsily Hills through rarliaincnt lias created a new, 

 and as yet nndefmed. situation. In the third place, the openinj^ 

 of the South African Native College at Fort Hare, by the Prime 

 .Minister, on the 9th of February, 1916, has marked an epoch 

 in the history of Native Fducation, and appreciably altered the 

 whole position, l-'inally. in view of the Great War, we all ex- 

 pect a o-eneral readjustment of our relationships and responsi- 

 bilities on the restoration of international equilibrium. To catch 

 the flowing tide, let us be prepared. 



As a basis lor this consideration, and for the jnu'- 

 l)ose of greater accuracy, I propose to give, in some 

 detail, the actual position not only as it was, but as 

 it is. Further, we have sufllcient statistics — which will 

 appear in due course — to show what has been accom- 

 plished in the past, and what is being accomplished in the pre- 

 sent. iWhat might be accomplished at present, and what we 

 shall have to face, and to accomplish, in the future, will also be 

 stated ; and when we have exhausted our statistics, perhaps we 

 shall need to remind ourselves of the volume of results which 

 can neither be expressed in black and white, nor tabulated, for 

 life can never find ade([uate expression in formulae and tables. 



The field of enquiry covered by this paper lies within the 

 borders of the Transkei. An effort has been made to confine 

 oneself to these limits in order to show what has been done in 

 the worst possible surroundings by Native Education, and to 

 see what education can and does do in purely native commtmities. 



Unfortunately it has not always been possible to disentangle 

 the statistics on the sul)ject, i)ublished in Blue Books and else- 

 where. Thus, for instance, certain pu])lished figures include 

 th,e natives in the colony proper, and it is not always easy to say 

 precisely w^hat proportion are to be assigned to the Transkei, 

 and what proportion to the Ciskei. Again, in dealing with 

 Ciskeian statistics, we have mission schools and aborigines' 

 schools. As the mission schools are mostly, but not wholly, 

 attended by coloured children, and the aborigines' schools 

 mostly, but not wholly, by native children, and the totals are not 

 differentiated, it is difficult to separate the statistics with accuracy 

 — and this is my reason for not making the attempt. In passing, 

 how^ever, I may say that the Select Committee of 1908 speci- 

 fically referred to this point, and recommended"' not only the 

 abolition of the distinction betw-een mission and aborigines' 

 schools, but also that native and coloured children should be 

 differentiated as soon as practicable in the returns. Much, how- 

 ever, can be statistically established, and our knowledge of the 

 position wall crystallize, provided that care is taken to observe 

 whether the figures (|Uoted apply to the Territory, or the Pro- 

 vince, or the Union. One other word of caution is necessary in 

 this connection. The extraordinarv circmnstances brought aboiu 

 by Union and the (ireat War have hindered the publication of 



* Report of Select Committee on Native Education (1905-08), p. xiv. 



