XATl\i: i;i)l'l ATltiN IN Till-: TRANSKKl. 47 1 



the native on the i^n-oniul of competition is utterly 

 erroneous and unsouiul. It is comparable, in some 

 respects, to the old-time argument ai^ainst the introduc- 

 tion of machinery. We now know that, speaking economically, 

 competition always leads U) increased production, and consump- 

 tit)n increases with competition, and this, in turn, leads to i^reater 

 wealth. After a Ions;- ex])erience in the industrial world we are now 

 fully pre])ared to acknowledi^e that all the riots, which took place 

 in the days when machinery was tirst intri.duced. were hased 

 on a misconception, and the arguments then usee] were (|uite un- 

 sound. 



2. ECONOMIC VAlAl': OF NATUK KDUCAtlON. 



Perhai)S, then, the first result of our experience of Native 

 Education is this, that it proves beyond question the unsoundness 

 of the argument against Native Education. Economically, there 

 surely can be no comparis(jn between an ignorant red heathen 

 man in his blanket, whose requirements from the sho]), generally 

 speaking, are a blanket and st)me ochre, and tobacco ; and. uu the 

 other hand, an educated native needing clothes, tea, sugar, jam, 

 tobacco, tables and chairs. ])cjts. and even other articles of Euro- 

 pean manufacture. The heathen man staying at home becatise 

 his re(|uirements are small, the school native going to work be- 

 cause he has accjuircd tastes for tea and sugar and other things, 

 and must have money to satisfy these tastes. 



And so from other points of view we may make the same 

 comparison always to the detriment of the ignorant savage. 

 Applying this argument in the aggregate, how nnich greater is the 

 force ! 



3. MORAL VALUE OF .NATIVE EDUCATION. 



Further, it cannot be to the interests of any State to harbour 

 a i)rimitive people within its borders, indefinitely allowing them 

 to per])etrate and peri)etuate unspeakable evils; and our South 

 .African nation must be aroused to the situation, and brought face 

 to face with the actual position. I do not propose to sj^eak in 

 this i)a]>er of native customs, except to raise the curtain iiKjmen- 

 tarily in order that those who are truly interested in Native 

 Education may see and understand. There is a general impres- 

 sion abroad that the heathen natives live clean lives, that bound 

 by tribal custom men restrict themselves to their wnves. Since 

 I made my home in the Territories I have found this to be abso- 

 lutely incorrect. 1 learned that the natives have a custom ecjuiva- 

 lent to the sexual act, and ])ractised almost universally — that 

 ])ractically no heathen girl would not consent, if. indeed, she 

 did not take the initiati\e. The difficulty which missionaries 

 have to face is this custom of iikiimetsha, so deeply entrenched 

 in native life and thought that j^ublic nati\e ojiinion thinks no- 

 thing of it. and ])arents take litHe. if any. care to kee]) their 

 boys and girls from coming together in this way. Indeed, the 

 girls are often taught by their own mothers how to accomitlish 

 their purjjose without serious results ensuing. The growing 



