Cape Colony, which was more intimately concerned with the welfare of the Transvaal than any other portion of the Empire, passed a resolution in the Cape Parliament, "That this House, taking cognizance of the resolution passed at the recent Conference held at Bloemfontein on the subject of the qualified approval of the importation of Asiatic labour, desires to express its strong opposition to any such importation as prejudicial to the interests of all classes of people in South Africa." This last resolution had been sent to the Government as long before as July 1903, when the first steps were being taken to pave the way for yellow slavery. But of all these protests the Government took no notice whatever. They met all questions with a statement that the Transvaal was to be allowed to decide on its own internal affairs; and when the Opposition demanded that the opinion of the Transvaal should be taken, so that these principles could be carried into effect, they replied that a referendum, the only means of ascertaining this opinion, would take six months, during which time the Transvaal would be ruined. Never was the logic of any of the characters in _Alice in Wonderland_ so unanswerable. In the Transvaal itself loud and indignant protests were made against the proposal. But the Rand lords asserted their supremacy with ruthless severity. The _Transvaal Leader_, the _Transvaal Advertiser_, and the Johannesburg _Star_ all opposed the introduction of Asiatic labour. Their respective editors, Mr. R. J. Pakeman, Mr. J. Scoble, and Mr. Monypenny, were compelled to resign because they refused to sacrifice their opinions for their proprietors. Some idea of the pressure that was brought to bear, may be seen in the valedictory editorial which Mr. Monypenny wrote on retiring from the editorship of the Johannesburg _Star_:-- "To the policy of Chinese immigration, to which the Chamber of Mines has decided to devote its energies, the present editor of the _Star_ remains resolutely opposed, and declines in any way to identify himself with such an experiment. To the ideal of a white South Africa, which, to whatever qualifications it may necessarily be subject, is something very different from the ideal of a Chinese South Africa, he resolutely clings, with perfect faith that whatever its enemies may do to-day that ideal will inevitably prevail. But as the financial houses which control the mining industry of the Transvaal have for the present enrolled themselves among its enemies the present editor of the _Star_ withdraws." It is not difficult to read between the lines here and see the determination of the mining magnates to crush every opposition to their will.