xvii LABOUR 167 



amount to slavery, or would, at all events, inflict 

 unparalleled hardship. In this connection it strikes 

 one as somewhat curious that when work is mentioned 

 as touching our fellow citizens in England, it brings 

 up such phrases as " the dignity of honest toil," " the 

 joy of achievement," or, in contempt, " the idle rich," 

 " the Do-nothing Duke " ; indicating, one would 

 presume, that work is praiseworthy, idleness con- 

 temptible. On the other hand, in connection with our 

 black brother, the former becomes slavery, the latter 

 ideal. Surely we are getting fairly close to humbug ! 

 Does anyone suppose that the mass of our own people 

 work for love ? Of course not. They work because 

 they are forced to work — not, certainly, by direct fear 

 of whip or prison, but through keener incentives. 

 The spur of actual hunger urges on the main body, 

 while the comparative few whom good fortune — or 

 their own efforts — have made independent work to 

 keep the position they have acquired or to retain the 

 respect of their fellows. This state of things is the 

 result of the highest civilisation we know ; that civilisa- 

 tion must and will see to it that the native does his fair 

 share of work with the rest of humanity. 



Probably at the present time our Protectorate stands 

 in as good a position for native labour as any part of 

 Africa. In the Highlands alone, as we have seen, 

 there are 2J millions of natives, and considered as a 

 whole they are strong and intelligent. It may be taken 

 as quite certain that if the adult population worked for 

 three months in every year, it would be many years 

 before the labour supply could be insufficient. Never- 

 theless, in the past we have had our labour difficulties, 

 and one may be quite certain that they are not yet 

 over. Many causes naturally contribute to this, but 



