This was in June 1903. Somewhat unexpectedly Lord Milner at this juncture refused to echo the gloomy forebodings of the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines; in fact, his tone was joyously optimistic. "The production of gold," he said, "even now is greater than in 1895 or 1896, when the Transvaal really was, and had been for some time, the marvel of the world in the matter of gold production. The world progresses; but whatever was fabulous wealth years ago is not abject poverty to-day. Not only that, but the rate of production is steadily increasing." What he said was quite right. The output of gold in the district of Johannesburg in 1900 was 237,000 ozs., and there were 59,400 Kaffirs employed. But for six months the agitation continued. It was put forward as a theory that the only chance for the Transvaal was to employ Chinese labour. The supporters of the Rand lords hailed the theory with delight, as if it was something new, something that they had never imagined before. Clearly this was the direction in which prosperity lay. They must have Chinese labour. Then shares would go up, dividends would become enormous, and everybody would be wealthy and happy. The Transvaal would be something like a Mohammedan heaven, with Great Britain as an annexe. White men were to pour out to the colonies--not to labour on the mines, for that work was only fit for Chinamen; besides, white men it was said could not do it--and the Rand was to be prosperous and life was to be a veritable bed of roses. Was England to be denied the fruits of her victory? For what had the war been waged if the Transvaal was to be left a barren, unproductive corner of the Empire? Were the fruits of victory to be Dead Sea apples? By such arguments did they appeal to the British public. The dummy figure of despair and ruin that they had set up served a very useful purpose. It frightened the monied classes into the belief that their investments were not secure. It frightened the patriots into thinking that the war had been waged in vain. Few people troubled to make inquiries as to whether the statement of the Rand's impending ruin was true or not. There certainly was a slump in Kaffir shares. This was held to be indicative of the state of the gold industry. It apparently did not occur to anybody that just as Kaffir shares were made to fluctuate during the war--when the mines were not being worked--so they could be made to slump if only the Rand lords wished.