Native Life in South Africa Part 5

Now, then, if this suspension clause becomes law, what is going to happen?

It is simply this: That the whole land policy of the Union of South Africa is the land policy of the Orange Free State, and it will be as difficult to abrogate that suspension as it is difficult to recall a bullet, once fired through some one's head, and resuscitate the victim.

Our object then should be to prevent the pistol being fired off, as prevention is infinitely better than cure." One paper that he was quoting from was (Mr. Schreiner went on to say) pleased, because it believed that this Bill was going to Select Committee.

There was another native paper, published in Natal, which acknowledged the efforts which the missionaries had made on behalf of the Natives in regard to this Bill. There was a native paper, published at Dundee, which said that, if the Bill were in the interests of the Natives, and the Government were actuated by a sincere regard for them, they would not have hesitated to publish it broadcast, instead of being in such haste to push the matter through the House.*

-- * All efforts to induce the South African Government to circulate translations of the Natives' Land Act among the Natives of the Union have proved fruitless. -- Author.

Mr. Schreiner (continuing) referred to the resolution pa.s.sed by the Natal Missionary Conference, and the views expressed by the Chairman of the Transvaal Missionary Conference in opposition to the Bill. He mentioned that it had been decided in Johannesburg to call a meeting of missionary societies throughout the Union, to determine what action could be taken in case clause 1 was proceeded with.

He had also received a telegram from the Wit.w.a.tersrand Church Council, stating that a telegram had been sent to the Minister strongly protesting against section 1 being enacted before the proposed Commission had thoroughly investigated the whole question of alternative areas.

Mr. Schreiner urged that, if they proceeded with this Bill, and pa.s.sed clause 1 of the old Bill, and appointed a Commission, these restrictions with regard to purchase and sale, which the Natives had feared, and which the missionaries, on behalf of the Natives, feared and protested against, would become a fact. For that reason, he said they should rather put off the Bill.

Every one was feeling the pressure of their legislative duties. Was this the time, therefore, for pa.s.sing a measure of such a far-reaching character, and where every clause demanded the most careful consideration and scrutiny?

Was it the right thing because he had a majority at his back for the Minister to say that they must get this Bill through this session?

He held that this was not right. It was not fair to those who had the solution of the question at heart. (Cheers.)

SIR E. H. WALTON (Port Elizabeth, Central) said he entirely supported the amendment of the hon. member for Queen's Town. He had a telegram from a ma.s.s meeting of Natives held in Port Elizabeth, in which they hoped that the House would postpone decision on this question until the Commission had sat and reported. That seemed to him an entirely reasonable request, and it seemed all the more necessary that this should be done on account of the very large alterations that it had been found necessary to make in the Bill.

They had native protests from all parts of South Africa against this measure, and when one saw what was proposed in this Act, they could not wonder at these protests. (Hear, hear.) Therefore he put it that these protests should receive fair consideration from members on all sides of the House.

Legislation of this kind was unfortunate from the point of view of the Natives. The more intelligent of the Natives in this country were asking for time. They said: "You are putting this thing upon us, give us time to consider it. Allow this Commission to get to work, allow this Commission to put before us the provisions you are going to make for us, and when this is done we will submit to anything that is fair."

No man, and the Native was just a man like the rest of us, liked the old arrangements to be disturbed, because it upset him, and the Native might oppose it, because he was frightened.

They must admit that they had not given the native leaders and chiefs an opportunity to come down to Cape Town and give their views.

It was unfortunate that this measure had been more or less rushed.

There was no mention of it in the Governor-General's speech, and therefore the Natives were not prepared for the consideration of the question.

MR. M. ALEXANDER (Cape Town, Castle) said he was still of opinion that a very dangerous principle was introduced in the Bill, especially so far as the Cape was concerned. In the speech delivered by the Governor-General at the opening of the session there was not the slightest reference to the present measure, which apparently had been brought in as an afterthought, and something must have occurred after the Governor-General's speech was delivered, otherwise one could not conceive of such an important Bill being omitted from the speech. As it was the Bill would simply hang things up until the Commission reported, and now the House would be legislating in the dark. The vast majority of Natives had declared themselves to be against the Bill. He had had no desire whatever that party capital should be made out of the measure -- (hear, hear) -- but he desired to see a measure which would bear the mark of statesmans.h.i.+p, and not of panic and hurry. Their Commission could report before next session, and then in the early stages of the session a Bill could be introduced and be adopted on its merits.

In the interests of South Africa, in the interests of the Natives, and in the interests of just legislation let the Government withdraw the Bill, and appoint a Commission, and then justice and not injustice would be done.

(Hear, hear.)

DR. A. H. WATKINS (Barkly) said that there was a tacit understanding that the Minister would refer this Bill, if he were not prepared to accept a purely temporary measure, to a Select Committee.

During the three years of the Union Parliament every matter practically dealing with Natives had been brought before the Select Committee on Native Affairs and their opinion had been asked.

For some reason, which it was difficult for him to understand, the Minister had not seen fit to carry out that course.

Sixteen days had elapsed since the second reading of this Bill was taken on which the Select Committee could have sat morning after morning and dealt with the Bill.

The necessity of pa.s.sing only a temporary measure instead of appearing to pa.s.s a measure which would permanently deal with this question, was more evident to-night than when they took the second reading.

MR. H. M. MEYLER (Weenen) said that he would support the motion of Sir Bisset Berry. He thought it would be a great injustice to the Natives, and especially the Natives of Natal, who really knew nothing of this measure, to force it through now.

Since the second reading, his attention had been drawn to certain provisions in this Bill, which made it more dangerous still to hurry legislation, because he found that, although there was an exemption in the Bill as regarded agreements lawfully entered into, the vast majority of the agreements at present in force amongst the Natives of Natal were not strictly lawful, according to their Statute law. As they had no less than 380,000 Natives squatting on private lands in Natal, according to the Minister's own figures, it would be a fatal mistake to do anything to upset these people, until they had something ready to provide for them instead.

The difficulty was that under the Natal law no oral contract was binding for more than twelve months, and many of those squatters had not got oral contracts, but were more or less on sufferance on the farms.

It would be a great danger to pa.s.s legislation which would lead to the moving of a large portion of these people before they got an inch of land provided for their use. He objected to legislation being brought forward too hurriedly, and when they had got 4 1/2 millions of Natives, only an infinitesimal portion of whom could possibly know the nature of the Bill, and seeing that it affected them as well as the white population, they had a perfect right to have it explained to them by the Government officials and let their members of Parliament for the divisions in which they lived give their opinions on the question.

That would take months, and it was impossible to get a proper opinion of the Natives until hon. members had been away from the House for some time. The Right Hon. the Prime Minister admitted they should stand as the guardians of the Natives, and admitted that they should go slowly, and he hoped the hon. Minister would be willing to reconsider the Bill and allow it to be put off, and let them have an interim report, at any rate, from the Commission, before they were asked to pa.s.s legislation in that matter.

The Bill was contested at every stage and numerous divisions were challenged.

In each instance, the Speaker would put the Question, and the "steam-roller"

would go to work with the inevitable result. The division lists ranged from 17 against 71 to 32 against 60, the majority in each case being in favour of repression. It would be just as well to give at least one of these division lists. The English names in the majority are those of some Natal members (Ministerialists) or representatives of purely Dutch const.i.tuencies: --

DIVISION

Dr. A. H. Watkins (Barkly) called for a division, which was taken with the following result.

AYES -- 32.

Andrews, William Henry Baxter, William Duncan Berry, William Bisset Blaine, George Boydell, Thomas Brown, Daniel Maclaren Creswell, Frederic Hugh Page Duncan, Patrick Fawcus, Alfred Fitzpatrick, James Percy Henderson, James Henwood, Charlie Hunter, David Jagger, John William King, John Gavin Long, Basil Kellett Macaulay, Donald Madeley, Walter Bayley Meyler, Hugh Mowbray Nathan, Emile Oliver, Henry Alfred Quinn, John William Rockey, Willie Runciman, William Sampson, Henry William Schreiner, Theophilus Lyndall Searle, James Smartt, Thomas William Walton, Edgar Harris Watkins, Arnold Hirst

Morris Alexander and J. Hewat tellers.

NOES -- 57.

Alberts, Johannes Joachim Becker, Heinrich Christian Bosman, Hendrik Johannes Botha, Louis Brain, Thomas Phillip Burton, Henry Clayton, Walter Frederick Cronje, Frederik Reinhardt Currey, Henry Latham De Beer, Michiel Johannes De Jager, Andries Lourens De Waal, Hendrik Du Toit, Gert Johan Wilhelm Geldenhuys, Lourens Graaff, David Pieter de Villiers Griffin, William Henry Grobler, Evert Nicolaas Grobler, Pieter Gert Wessel Joubert, Christiaan Johannes Jacobus Joubert, Jozua Adriaan Keyter, Jan Garhard Kuhn, Pieter Gysbert Lemmer, Lodewyk Arnoldus Slabbert Maasdorp, Gysbert Henry Malan, Francois Stepha.n.u.s Marais, Johannes Henoch Marais, Pieter Gerhardus Merriman, John Xavier Meyer, Izaak Johannes Myburgh, Marthinus Wilhelmus Neethling, Andrew Murray Neser, Johannes Adriaan Nicholson, Richard Granville Oothuisen, Ockert Almero Orr, Thomas Rademeyer, Jacobus Michael Sauer, Jacobus Wilhelmus Serfontein, Hendrik Philippus s.m.u.ts, Jan Christiaan s.m.u.ts, Tobias Steyl, Johannes Petrus Gerhardus Steytler, George Louis Theron, Hendrik Schalk Theron, Petrus Jacobus George Van der Merwe, Johannes Adolph P.

Van der Walt, Jacobus Van Eeden, Jacobus Willem Van Heerden, Hercules Christian Venter, Jan Abraham Vermaas, Hendrik Cornelius Wilhelmus Vintcent, Alwyn Ignatius Vosloo, Johannes Arnoldus Watt, Thomas Wilc.o.c.ks, Carl Theodorus Muller Wilts.h.i.+re, Henry

H. Mentz and G. A. Louw, tellers.

Chapter III The Natives' Land Act

I blush to think that His Majesty's representative signed a law like this, and signed it in such circ.u.mstances.

Rev. Amos Burnet (Chairman and General Superintendent of the Transvaal and Swazieland District, Wesleyan Methodist Church).

Up to now we have dealt with the history of the Land Act from its commencement, and all the speeches and official doc.u.ments we have mentioned hitherto say nothing about restricting Europeans in their owners.h.i.+p of land. And no matter what other principles one might read into the Act, it would be found that the principles underlying it were those of extending the "Free" State land laws throughout the Union -- an extension by which Natives would be prohibited from investing their earnings in land whereon they could end their days in peace.

There seems to be good reason for believing that the Government were advised, by the legal advisers of the Crown, that the Natives' Land Bill would be cla.s.s legislation of a kind that would never be allowed by His Majesty's Government. The originators of the Bill, however, were determined so to circ.u.mvent the const.i.tutional quibble raised by the legal advisers as to seal our doom; and by adroitly manipulating its legal phrases, it seems that it was recasted in such a manner as to give it a semblance of a paper restriction on European encroachment on native rights. But cla.s.s legislation the Act is, for whereas in his travels about South Africa, since the pa.s.sing of this Act, the author has met many a native family with their stock, turned out by the Act upon the roads, he never met one white man so hounded by the same Act, and debarred from living where he pleased.

The squatters form a particular section of the community specifically affected by the Land Act; and there is no such person in South Africa as a white squatter. Although it is insistently affirmed that the law applies both to Europeans and Natives, the conclusion cannot be avoided that it is directed exclusively against the Native. This is the naked truth that turns all other explanations of the fact into mere shuffling and juggling.

And the reader will find that in Section 11, at the end of the statute which is here reproduced (whether the omission of Europeans was a mistake of the Parliamentary draftsmen, or the printers, we know not), it is expressly stated that "this Act may be cited for all purposes as the NATIVES' Land Act, 1913." Who, then, will continue to argue that it was intended for Europeans as well?

== No. 27, 1913.]

ACT TO Make further provision as to the purchase and leasing of Land by Natives and other Persons in the several parts of the Union and for other purposes in connection with the owners.h.i.+p and occupation of Land by Natives and other Persons.

Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate and the House of a.s.sembly of the Union of South Africa, as follows: --

1. (1) From and after the commencement of this Act, land outside the scheduled native areas shall, until Parliament, acting upon the report of the commission appointed under this Act, shall have made other provision, be subjected to the following provisions, that is to say: --

Except with the approval of the Governor-General --

(a) a native shall not enter into any agreement or transaction for the purchase, hire, or other acquisition from a person other than a native, of any such land or of any right thereto, interest therein, or servitude thereover; and

(b) a person other than a native shall not enter into any agreement or transaction for the purchase, hire, or other acquisition from a native of any such land or of any right thereto, interest therein, or servitude thereover.

(2) From and after the commencement of this Act, no person other than a native shall purchase, hire or in any other manner whatever acquire any land in a scheduled native area or enter into any agreement or transaction for the purchase, hire or other acquisition, direct or indirect, of any such land or of any right thereto or interest therein or servitude thereover, except with the approval of the Governor-General.