The Transvaal from Within: A Private Record of Public AffairsFitzpatrick, Percy
History
The Transvaal from Within: A Private Record of Public Affairs
Fitzpatrick, Percy
Jameson's Raid, 1895-1896; Transvaal (South Africa) -- Politics and government -- 1880-1910
but, alas! not in fact) improve the condition of the Uitlander. The
following letter appearing in the London _Times_, on October 3, 1896,
although dealing with a period some months later than that under
review, explains the position with authority and clearness--a
position which has not been materially altered, except for the worse,
during Dr. Mansvelt's _regime_. It will be noted that the last-named
gentleman coupled with his 'liberal' provisions the suggestion that
all schools, except those of the State, should be suppressed. Such a
suggestion reveals very clearly the aim of this 'Reform' measure.
SIR,
I trust you will allow me a little space with a view to enable me to
correct, by the application of a little wholesome fact, the erroneous
impression which has been created in England with reference to the
education of Uitlanders in the Transvaal by recent crude and
ill-considered expressions of opinion, notably by Mr. Reginald
Statham and Mr. Chamberlain.
Mr. ----, in a letter addressed to one of your contemporaries,
informed the British public that in view of a liberal Government
grant of L4 per head per annum, the Transvaal Uitlander had nothing
to complain of in respect to education. As Mr. ---- claims to be
completely informed on Transvaal politics, he can only have been
guilty of a deliberate, if not malicious _suppressio veri_ when he
omitted to say that, like most of the legislation of this country,
which has for its ostensible object the amelioration of the condition
of the Uitlander, this measure, which looks like munificence at first
sight, has been rendered practically inoperative by the conditions
which hedge it round. Take, for example, a school of 100 children.
Strike out ten as being under age, ten as having been too short a
time at school, twenty as suspected of being of Dutch parentage. Out
of the sixty that remain suppose fifty satisfy the inspector in the
Dutch language and history, and you have as your allowance for the
year L200--a sum which is insufficient to pay the Dutch teacher
employed to bring the children up to the required standard in that
language. It is small wonder, then, that most teachers prefer to
dispense with this Will-o'-the-wisp grant altogether, seeing that the
efforts of some to earn it have resulted in pecuniary loss. The
actual sum expended on Uitlander schools last year amounted to L650,
or 1s. 10d. a head out of a total expenditure for education of
L63,000, the expenditure per Dutch child amounting to L8 6s. 1d.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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