i3(> 



The Review of Reviews. 



April m. i»m. 



leaves the barrel. A much heavier charge of powder 

 is necessary to hit a target a mile off than at a hun- 

 dred yards' distance. When a irass vote is taken 

 the range is verv- far off, and the charge is corre- 

 spondingly much heavier than would be justified if 

 the objective were near at hand. All this, it may 

 be said, is a sophistical defence for telling lies. It 

 is, I fully admit, dangerous doctrine, but that there 

 is something to be said no honest casuist who is 

 versed either in the methods of the nursery or the 

 historv of religion will be disposed to deny. It is 

 true also that, if Liberal candidates overstated the 

 case against the late Government about Chinese 

 labour, they understand the case against them about 

 the war; so that on the net balance the Jingoes 

 have no real reason tc complain. 



The 



Decision of the 



Qovernment. 



Ministers, confronted by the diffi- 

 culty of satisfying the passionate 



feeling aroused against Chinese 

 labour which animates the majority, 

 and the obligation to abide by the contracts en- 

 tered into by their predecessors, felt their way out 

 with considerable dexterity. The great curse of 

 South Africa has been the facility with which Bri- 

 tish Governments have broken their promise. They 

 have broken it to the British, to the Boers, and to 

 the Kaffirs in turn. It would be monstrous to break 

 it also to the Chinese. The utmost that we can do 

 in the shape of repatriating the men who contracted 

 to work in the mines is to offer to free them from 

 their contract if they find the conditions of the 

 Ordinance intolerable. This the Government has 

 decided to do. Anv Chinaman who wishes to ter- 

 minate his engagement will be sent back to China 

 at the expense of the British taxpayer. Meanwhile, 

 in order to reduce the rush of coolies wishing to go 

 home, the conditions of their employment are to be 

 modified. They are no longer to lie tried by men 

 appointed bv their employers, flogging is to be 

 strictlv forbidden, and in every other way that is 

 practicable the taint of slavery is to be removed. 

 That is all very well. But Ministers have, I fear, 

 erred in deciding that they will not incorporate in 

 the new Constitution the old veto which was in- 

 serted in the Conventions of Sand River, Pretoria, 

 and of London forbidding slavery or apprenticeship 

 of the nature of slaverv- in the Colony. The official 

 excuse that the Governor, acting for the King, would 

 veto any measure that might be passed establishing 

 s'.averv in anv modified form, increases our regret 

 that the danger is not to be nipped in the bud by a 

 clause in the Constitution. Mr. Rhodes always used 

 to sav that Colonies are willing to abide by the 

 rules of the game when they are laid down at the 

 .-'tart, but if thev are left free to try it on taey will 

 risk the chances of a confixt with t'.ie Crown. The 

 danger that " slaven-, or apprenticeship partaking 



MCJEOWXBE: "16,000 licenses rushed throngh at the last 

 minute! The new Government will have its hands full if it 

 tries to revoke . . ." 



Daily Chronicle,'} 



' Tit for Tat 



of s'averv. 



be es-.ab"ish;d in South Africa is 



Mr. A5QniTH (breaking in on his transports) : " Tee. my 

 friend, to revoke the licenses might be difficult, but a less 

 difficult task is tj transform Clause XIT. from a dead 

 letter to a reality by providing dissatisfied coolies with 

 repatriation expenses out of Imperial Funds!" 



by no means chimerical. Mr. Esselen, for instance, 

 franklv expresses the sentiment of the Boers when 

 he said that " if the Chinese were necessarv' he was 

 utterlv opposed to the impossible proposal that they 

 should come to the Transvaal as free men. That 

 would never be tolerated." This renders it all the 

 more necessarv that the Constitution should lay 

 down in advance the principle that unless they come 

 as free men thev must not come at all. 



jde In the discussion of the basis of 



Representation representation in the two Colonies 

 of the assumption has been common 



the Kaffirs. (q i^Qfj^ gj^j^g jjjat no one but a 

 white man must be al'.owed to vote. I hope that 

 Ministers will refuse to accept this conclusion. 

 What was promised by Kitchener was a Constitution 

 like to that of the Cape Colony. In the Cape 

 coloured men have votes. We can, therefore, pro- 

 perly insist that the principle of enfranchising 

 natives has been accepted by the Boers. At the 

 same time, it is probable that there would be less 

 difficulty in the way of introducing the system by 

 which the Maoris are allowed to have representa- 

 tives in the New Zealand Legislature. Everj-one 

 admits that the native question is the most difficult 

 and dangerous of all the questions with which the 

 new- Legislatures will have to deal. If there is any 



