IsiXhosa Intellectual Traditions (IsiXIT) Digital Archive

DISTRESS AMONG THE NATIVES. THAT farmers, and of all far- mers, the farmers about Kei Road, should be seriously concerned about the gloomy prospect that lies before the Frontier Natives on account of the drought and prevalent distress ; and that they should pass resolutions calling the attention of Government to this contingency— will appear to not a few as a sign of the times. We suppose the farmers, whose head-quarters may now be regarded as fairly established at Kei Road, would not take it as an offence if a Native ventured to say that there was not much love lost between them and the Natives, as the drift of their utterances has made this clear long ere now. But that the movement to call the atten¬tion of Government and of the pub¬lic to the grim future towards which our people are being carried by every new day, should begin at Mrs. THOMPSON'S Hotel, Kei Road, will be noticed in the report of the meeting held on Saturday week, which, after the usual monthly lecture on the foibles of Natives by Mr. LANDREY, often supplemented by the tem¬perate and practical suggestions of Mr. COOPER, unanimously passed a resolution That the President be ' instructed to bring to the notice ' of the Government the fact that ' owing to the failure of the crops ' of mealies and Kafir-corn in this ' part of the country a native ' famine was inevitable.' This move originating with the farmers will be regarded by some as dictated by the instinct of self-pre- servation which is always upper- most in human nature. Neverthe- less this fact does not in the least affect the circumstances in which stick, and concur with Mr. COOPER that 'if the Government ' could give £15,000 towards an ex- ' hibition they could do something 'to relieve the distress.' Gov- ernment is not asked to assist a lot of people lying idle after the fashion of the proverbial boy who was too lazy to get up to take the sixpence handed to him by a gentle- man, but would have the gentleman put it in his pocket for him. ' There ' were many reproductive works,' Mr. COOPER rightly observed, ' such ' as dam-making and tree-planting ' that would offer work to the men ' so that they might live.' No- body would have them relieved without working. We trust the Government will take this matter into its most serious consideration. In our humble com- prehension the work of a paternal Government does not begin and end with purely administrative work, of which the making of a good balance-sheet is of supreme import- ance in these hard times. We take it that Government should not com- plain if its balance sheet should serve the ends of a weather- gauge to represent the true condi- tion of the country. And even should the Treasurer of the Colony, after his efforts at hoarding, suc- ceed in striking a balance to the good, it will be meaningless to the public in general while famine and distress stalk through the land. This opportunity might be utilized in pointing out to the Natives the consequences of sauntering about kraals and canteens while they should be hard at work and laying something by for the uncertain future. We understand that there are cereals that would grow and be ready for use in six weeks; if so, Government might, without going beyond its legitimate functions, as- certain the reality of this fact and introduce such grain among the people. This, moreover, is the right month for planting winter crops of potatoes, and the people might be encouraged to plant these in abun- dance. At present they are in dire straits, and we gladly join our far- mer friends in bringing the matter to the attention of the Government and the public.