2l8 SOUTH AFRICA. 



secure a situation previously to leaving an endurable 

 existence at home. At present that is to say, 

 early in 1898 no fairly well employed artisan nor 

 unskilled labourer should imagine he will achieve 

 betterment by coming to South Africa, and the 

 same advice applies even more forcibly to 

 mercantile clerks and shop assistants. 



In fact, the supply of labour in these industries 

 very much exceeds any demand likely to arise 

 within the near future. 



Above all means let nothing tempt any intend- 

 ing emigrant of limited means to entertain the 

 idea for a moment of bringing out a wife and 

 family to any part of South Africa if he is not in 

 the situation to place them in a home at once. 

 Preliminary expenses during the time usually spent 

 in search of a billet are ruinous, and generally 

 previously to getting settled a stranger to the 

 country will have to do a lot of costly travelling. 



I may mention, too, that in commercial establish- 

 ments employers generally make it a rule never 

 to employ a married man when a bachelor is 

 available. In the mining centres, in many of the 

 towns, and here and there on farms, a limited and 

 fluctuating demand for skilled labour exists, with 



