their
livelihood--and President Kruger is a total abstainer!

The effect of this liquor trade is indescribable; the loss in money
although enormous is a minor consideration compared with the crimes
committed and the accidents in the mines traceable to it; and the
effect upon the native character is simply appalling.

Much could be said about this native question apart from the subject
of drink, for it is one which is very difficult of just appreciation
by any but those who have had considerable experience of and personal
contact with the natives. It is one upon which there is a great
divergence of views between the people of Europe and the people of
South Africa. South Africans believe that they view it from the
rational standpoint, they believe also that Europeans as a rule view
it more from the sentimental. The people who form their opinions from
the writings and reports of missionaries only, or who have in their
mind's eye the picturesque savage in his war apparel as seen at
Earl's Court, or the idealized native of the novelist, cannot
possibly understand the real native. The writer holds South African
views upon the native question, that is to say that the natives are
to all intents and purposes a race of children, and should be treated
as such, with strict justice and absolute fidelity to promise,
whether it be of punishment or reward: a simple consistent policy
which the native mind can grasp and will consequently respect.

With this in mind it will, perhaps, be believed that the recital of
certain instances of injustice is not made with the object of
appealing to sentimentalism, or of obliquely influencing opinions
which might otherwise be unfavourable or indifferent. The cases
quoted in this volume are those which have been decided by the
courts, or the evidence in support of them is given, and they are
presented because they are typical cases, and not, except in the
matter of public exposure, isolated ones. The report of the case of
Toeremetsjani, the native chieftainess,{48} is taken verbatim from
one of the newspapers of the time. The woman is the head of the
Secocoeni tribe, whose successful resistance to the Transvaal
Government was one of the alleged causes of the annexation. A good
deal could be said about the ways of Native Commissioners in such
matters. Much also could be said about the case of the British
Indians and the effect upon the population of India which is produced
by the coming and going