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Page 278 effects of unco-ordinated development and lack of foresight: for example, the railways were long neglected and are now inadequate to the economy; too many unimportant secondary industries were started; the immense coal resources at Wankie were slackly developed. All these things have been realised and are now being taken in hand. There is a tremendous housing shortage both for Europeans and Africans, aggravated by the colour bar in the building industry. Some ingenious experiments are being made with new building materials. As far as I could judge houses cost about twice what they would in England. On the average, general prices seemed about the same as in England.
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5. One of Southern Rhodesia's main problems is white population. If they build this up fast it imposes a great strain on their resources: but if they do not, their potential resources cannot be developed. In recent years they have somewhat restricted immigration by insisting upon a high standard of quality and upon deposits by each immigrant. At the current rate South African immigrants outnumber British immigrants by 2 to 1. This is much discussed and argued about in Southern Rhodesia. It is hard to analyse the motives behind the immigration from the Union and there are no figures about its make-up. A fair proportion are British South Africans and not Afrikaners. Some of these and some of the Afrikaners, too, are leaving a country whose policy and Government they do not like. Not every Afrikaner by any means is a bad immigrant; indeed, the loyal Afrikaner who accepts King and Commonwealth is an admirable citizen. Most of these immigrants probably came in for simple economic reasons. Land is relatively cheap and tobacco is a quickly profitable crop; farmers and employers find it much cheaper to bring in a man from the Union than from the United Kingdom; also much easier to send him back if he is unsuitable. Many who come to work for others soon settle down on their own. There is, however, an element in this immigration (no one can say how large) that is political; various organisations in the Union deliberately foster immigration in order to bring Southern Rhodesia increasingly within South Africa's sphere of influence.
6. Sir Godfrey Huggins, the Prime Minister, spoke to me about this. He said that he had resolved to tackle the matter radically. He wanted to allow unrestricted immigration from Britain (with an assisted passage scheme) and to impose quotas on all other countries (in fact South Africa). He had not yet put this to his own party-but would soon do so. If he does bring this forward it will cause great controversy in Southern Rhodesia. I myself met many different views on this matter. It will certainly greatly annoy South Africa. Huggins had got the agreement of his Cabinet to his policy.
7. As far as I could in the time I went into the question of native policy in Southern Rhodesia. I saw Native Reserves and many schools, hospitals and housing schemes for Africans. I also discussed the question with all sorts of people. There is certainly a genuine distinction between the native policy of Southern Rhodesia and the Union. There is nothing in Southern Rhodesia to compare with the racial hatred and tension in places like Johannesburg in the Union. There have been some strikes by African workers but these have been purely economic and conducted in an orderly way. As in the Union, a good deal of money (almost all raised by taxes on the whites) is spent on African education, health and housing. All the officials I met concerned with these things impressed me. African food production in the Reserves and from farms and market gardens is relatively much higher than in the Union and makes an important contribution to the country's food supply.
Southern Rhodesia has largely been able to avoid the urban native problem that has arisen in towns like Johannesburg in the Union and steps are being taken to prevent it by building separate African townships that will have complete local self-government.
8. The Southern Rhodesian Government and its officials are well ahead of public opinion. Although one can meet people whose views are indistinguishable from the Nationalists in South Africa, they are not dominant. The general attitude, I think, is one of kindly superiority the Africans must be helped but must keep in their places. There is a vague but widespread apprehension about the future when there will be increasingly large numbers of educated and trained Africans. At the moment, the vast majority of Africans are primitive and illiterate and ridden with superstition7 Only a very small number is educated on politically conscious. Only some 30 per cent. attend even primary schools. About 4,000 were qualified