One of the consequences of upholding Native law was the introduction of a system of labour known as the _isibalo_ or modified corvée. This system originated about the year 1848, on the occasion of the road between Durban and Pietermaritzburg being in a bad and impassable state. The Lieutenant Governor, in his capacity as Supreme Chief, thereupon called out a party of Natives, who were paid fair wages, to effect the necessary repairs. Owing to certain political excitement, the system was discontinued shortly after 1854, but, on its resumption in 1858, it remained continuously in vogue until 1911, when the Union Government, instead of introducing regulations to correct the prevailing abuses, merely refrained from using the power of requisitioning labourers, which still, however--the people being as uncivilized as they are--rightly exists in the law. During the Zulu regime, it was customary for the king to call at any time on young men to serve on public works, such as building royal apartments, erecting cattle enclosures, hoeing and weeding crops. Under the new order of things, the necessary authority being vested in the Supreme Chief, steps were taken, from time to time, to call youths out for service on public works, notably those connected with roads, the difference between the old system and the new being that, whereas in former days Natives received no remuneration whatever for their labour, they were, under European government, paid a fair wage, even though somewhat less, as sometimes happened, than what was obtainable in the open market. Notwithstanding that excellent and plentiful rations were supplied, and the hours and conditions of labour all that could be desired, the _isibalo_ became unpopular, owing largely to the favouritism shown, in later years, by Chiefs,[31] and to the ease with which some of these officers were induced to accept bribes from those anxious to be exempted. Abuses of this kind could, of course, have been effectually put a stop to by modifying the system and controlling it with better-framed regulations.