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Page 285 Minister of the two. He is much cleverer than Strydom and more supple and adroit. one is grace. But he is extremely bitter and would always be He can put on a reasonable working, by however indirect means, to make South Africa completely Afrikaner. Strydom is much more direct and fundamentally honest. He, too, is extreme and might well do a number of foolish things, especially at first. But I think he would learn in the same way that Malan has, and one would know where one was with him. It is most important that he should be prevailed upon to visit England. I worked on him (and on his wife) and I think they will in due course respond to an invitation.

Though I think Strydom would be the better of the two from our point of view the prospect of either is very disquieting.

If Dönges and Strydom deadlock for leadership or shrink from splitting the party, it is possible that Sauer may get the Prime Ministership. He is the most human of the Nationalists and a man of considerable ability. But it is hard to say what sort of a leader he would make. He would probably be relatively "moderate" and aware of South Africa's position in the world.

I was much impressed by Strauss, the new leader of the United Party. He has long been overshadowed by Smuts and is much under-rated. He does not try to imitate Smuts, but he is developing his own character, which is confident, calm and farsighted. He will never be a great orator or world-figure-but he is rapidly becoming a leader with in some ways greater moral courage and directness than Smuts. He stands head and shoulders above the rest of his party, which is most undistinguished.

There are a few good Civil Servants who are likely to play an important rôle. Outstanding amongst these is Forsyth, the Secretary for External Affairs. He is the child of British and Afrikaner parents and is a solid man, very friendly to us.

28. The South African policy towards African Natives is fundamentally different from Southern Rhodesia's. It is based on the theory of permanent exclusion of Africans from any share in government or political rights. In theory Apartheid involves the material and social development of the Africans and to some extent this is carried out in practice. For instance, African school-teachers, nurses, &c., receive considerably higher wages than in our High Commission Terri- tories and (so I was told) in the Colonies. Very considerable sums (almost wholly raised by taxes upon the Whites) are spent on the material welfare of Africans. Very large areas are set aside as Native Reserves. In these, extremely costly anti- erosion work is carried on--hundreds of miles of wire-fencing at £100 a mile.

The officials of the Native Affairs Department are mostly keen and devoted workers, who clearly do not like the policies of the present Government. They treat the Africans as permanent children-but they put great energy into their welfare and development. Most of the Africans in the Reserves are still very primitive with very low standards of cultivation. Faction fights of great fierceness are fairly frequent and sometimes result in a good many deaths.

Treatment of the Africans by these officials in the Native Reserves is wholly different from the treatment in the towns like Johannesburg, which I have already mentioned.

29. It was hard to form an opinion about the attitude of Africans in the Reserves. I saw some who were extremely primitive and seemingly happy and unconcerned. I saw others who were being trained in agriculture and domestic science and those seemed at least eager to raise the standards of their own people. I was introduced to one Chief in the Transkei-Chief Poto, who is regarded as rather a show-piece and who co-operates very well in anti-erosion work and runs his court_competently. His proudest possession was a picture of The King and Queen. I got him to myself for a moment and asked him his attitude to the High Commission Territories. He said that Africans in South Africa regarded the inhabitants of the Territories as having superior rights and we must on no account let them be incorporated until conditions were as good in the Union.

I also asked Chief Poto about Seretse. He said we had taken the only possible

course.

30. I spoke with African political leaders in Johannesburg and Indian leaders in Durban. The Union authorities knew that I was having these talks but the talks themselves were private and confidential and the confidence has been strictly kept. Both sets of leaders impressed me by their moderation and responsibility. With alPage Babe fad to put up with one might expect them longe extremties and

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Page 286 bitter men. They are firmly anti-Communist and believe in constitutional methods. Although denied all political rights, they do indeed possess some means of expressing their views mainly through their press, which is free. The very wealthy Indian leaders in Durban and Natal get much that they want by bribing Councillors and officials.g

The African leaders talked to me mainly about the High Commission Terri- tories. Their information about economic and social progress in the Territories was out of date and they were inclined to assume that it was our intention to yield them up. I did my best to reassure them.

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The Indian leaders were mainly concerned about the Group Areas Act (which enables the Government to set up by law segregated racial areas). They were con- vinced that this Act is primarily aimed at the economic destruction of the Indian community in order to force them to repatriate themselves to India. They all said that they would, under no circumstances, go to India, where economic con- ditions were far worse than in the Union. They emphasised that they were South Africans. If there were no social segregation in economic affairs they would them- selves be quite prepared to arrange voluntarily that all Indians should reside in special areas.

Both the African and Indian leaders wanted His Majesty's Government to intervene in one way or another on their behalf, and I had to explain the limita- tions imposed by the conventions of Commonwealth relations. I have since had appreciative letters from both sets of leaders.

31. Owing to the ever more acute labour shortage in all Southern Africa it is quite possible that the material standards and education of Africans in the Union will be improved. Only by improving the output of Africans can the labour shortage be solved. This will, of course, make it increasingly difficult for the Whites to hold the Africans down. I saw, however, no signs of violent opposition. I doubt whether the Africans are, or for long will be, capable of any sort of organised underground movement. If there is violence it is more likely to take the form of a sudden spontaneous blood-letting by the Africans of the Reserves and the slums.

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32. I spent some time looking at a Compound on a Rand gold mine, as con- siderable numbers of Africans from Bechuanaland and Basutoland work there. The compounds are extremely efficiently run, with excellent food supplies and kitchens, water-borne sewage, baths and provision for recreation. Every African recruit is X-rayed, and if any of them lose 5 lb. of weight in a month he is at once medically examined. The hospitals provided are very good. If gold is to be pro- duced at all, and if this is to be done by workers who are separated from their women, it is hard to think of a better way than these compounds to which many of the workers return many times during their lives. As far as we are concerned it would not be in our interests were married quarters substituted for compounds as this would depopulate the High Commission Territories. We have an arrange- ment by which the interests of High Commission workers in the mines are looked after by our own agents a proportion of the wages earned is paid to the worker after his return to the Territory. This has largely done away with the drift of our workers from the mines into the great cities; it also brings considerable sums into the Territories and ensures that the wives have a chance of getting their fair share.

So long as we need to supply this labour, the present system works well. Our policy should be to help it work, and steadily to reduce our need for this labour- outlet by developing the economic resources of the Territories.

33. Our High Commission Territories (and for that matter Southern Rhodesia too) are largely dependent on the Union for the secondary and higher education of Africans. The ban recently imposed by the Union on all non-Union Africans entering their schools and Universities threatened us with very grave difficulties. The ban has been suspended for three years and may not be reimposed. We must, however, prepare alternative forms of education, though this will cost money. I discussed with Sir Godfrey Huggins an idea he put forward for an African University to be established in Francistown (in Bechuanaland) to be jointly financed by the two Rhodesias and the three Territories. The High Commissioner is now sympathetically considering this idea amongst several others.

Page 486isited our naval base at Simonstown. In view of what Erasmus, the

Page 286 Minister of Defence, said whilst he was in London and of a factual memorandum

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