DIAMOND LEGISLATION.—RESUME OF SIR H. BARKLY’S PROCLAMATIONS.—EPITOME OF
THE ORDINANCES OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF GRIQUALAND WEST.—REVIEW OF
THE ACTS PASSED BY THE CAPE ASSEMBLY.—DESCRIPTION OF THE TRAPPING
SYSTEM.—ADOPTION OF THE “ONUS PROBANDI” CLAUSE BY THE ORANGE FREE
STATE.—THE SEARCHING DEPARTMENT.—THE COMPOUND SYSTEM.
When the diamond mines of Griqualand West, viz. Du Toit’s Pan,
Bulfontein, De Beer’s and Colesberg Kopje, (now the Kimberley mine), got
into full work, diamond diggers soon found out that they were being
robbed to an enormous extent. Unfortunately but too many white men were
to be found ready to receive the stolen diamonds from the thieves, who,
at all events in those days, were almost exclusively natives.[42] A
strange infatuation seems always to have possessed those engaged in the
pursuit of “the trade” as it is euphemistically termed, which even the
stringent penalty of a possible fifteen years’ hard labor, the
culmination of repeated legislation, does not seem to have sufficed to
overcome. The first attempt to put a stop to these robberies by
legislation was contained in a proclamation issued by Sir H. Barkly, on
May 30th, 1872, in which every unauthorized buyer or seller was made
liable to a fine not exceeding three times the value of the diamond or
diamonds so bought, and in default of payment to imprisonment with or
without hard labor for any period not exceeding two years.
Soon after, further precautionary measures were introduced, and the
traffic in diamonds between the hours of sunrise and sunset and on
Sundays was forbidden (_vide_ government notice No. 69, July 29th,
1872). On Aug. 10th of the same year, Sir Henry Barkly issued a further
proclamation, diamond stealing by natives and the purchase by
unprincipled white men having immensely increased, in fact having become
at this time even the curse of the Fields. By this proclamation, any
dealer in wines, spirits, or malt liquors was unable to hold a license
to trade in diamonds. This was amended on Sept. 17th, canteen-keepers
only being disqualified, and not wholesale dealers. There was a further
enactment that no person could be registered as the holder of a claim,
unless he produced a certificate from a magistrate or justice of the
peace certifying to his character; this, however, was always a mere
form, and was never refused. Provision was also made for the
registration of all servants, while power was given to any master,
without the assistance of a constable, or for any constable without a
warrant, to search the person, residence and property of any servant
within two hours of the time he left the claim or sorting table; but on
Sept. 17th this proviso was amended, and it was made lawful for a master
to search his servant at any time whatever. If diamonds were found upon
him, it was presumed that they were his master’s, and the punishment to
which the servant was liable was imprisonment with or without hard labor
for any period not exceeding twelve months, or to receive any number of
lashes not exceeding fifty, or to such imprisonment and such whipping.
At the time this proclamation was issued native labor was in great
demand on the fields, and consequently the power given to the master by
law was seldom if ever exercised, as he knew the almost certain result
would be the loss of all his servants. A change was made by this
proclamation of Aug. 10th, 1872, so far as unauthorized buyers were
concerned, their punishment upon conviction being fixed at a fine not
exceeding £100 sterling, or to imprisonment with or without hard labor
for any period not exceeding six months. The crime of inducing servants
to steal was punished more severely. Lashes not exceeding fifty were
provided for in the proclamation, and the imprisonment increased to a
period not exceeding twelve months, or to such imprisonment and such
whipping. Many white men received lashes under this clause, and amongst
others a German, who on coming out of prison, retired to his native
country with over £30,000!
The increasing desire for drink among natives was considered by the
authorities in those days one of the greatest causes of the development
of their thievish propensities, and the canteen keeper who bought a
diamond of a native, or took diamonds in payment or pledge for liquor,
in addition to the punishment already stated, forfeited his license and
became incompetent to hold one in the future. A further discretionary
power was given to the court by which any such person might be
convicted, of forfeiting his right to any claims and expelling him from
the territory; but the last proviso was laughed at by men who had
contravened this law, as no punishment for returning to the province had
ever been inserted by the framers. If stringent laws had been properly
drafted and enforced in the early days of the Fields, the abominable
illicit traffic might have been nipped in the bud.
A great deal of animosity toward the natives existed about this period.
Part of this feeling was originated, I think, from many white men not
possessed of claims being jealous of their black brethren digging at Du
Toit’s Pan and Bulfontein, while the facility for dealing in stolen
diamonds, afforded by their possessing a digger’s license, was also a
factor in the ill-will felt and expressed.
A great mass meeting was held in the Market Square, Kimberley, on
Friday, July 19th, 1872, to bring pressure to bear upon the three
commissioners who administered the government, and get them to take away
all claim licenses from black or colored men.
Two of these gentlemen, weakly desirous of popularity, gave way to the
general outcry and suspended all claim licenses to natives by a
proclamation issued on July 24th, which contained a reservation
certainly, (which may be taken for what it is worth) allowing the issue
of such licenses on production from the various digger committees of
certificates of character and fitness; but this was a prerogative they
were little likely to exercise owing to the strong feeling then
existing.
John Cyprian Thompson, to whom I allude elsewhere, the dissentient, a
good lawyer and a thorough Englishman, did not compromise himself by
joining in this most illiberal proclamation. The subsequent action of
Sir Henry Barkly tended to prove the correctness of Mr. Thompson’s
opinion, for as soon as the proclamation reached Capetown his excellency
canceled it by another of Aug. 10th, 1872. In this he stated that “as it
is inconsistent with justice that persons against whom no specific
charges have been brought should be deprived of their rights and
properties, I do hereby revoke, cancel, and make void the said
proclamation, and do declare that the same shall be of no force or
effect whatever, and that all licenses suspended under and by virtue
thereof shall be returned and the holders thereof placed, as far as
possible, in the same position as if the said proclamation had not been
issued.”
The question of granting licenses to natives, and other matters of the
same kind, then attracted little attention from government until some
time after Governor Southey’s arrival, when the due constitution of our
own legislative council having taken place, an ordinance was passed (No.
21 of 1874) dealing more strictly with licensed dealers and brokers.
Dealers’ licenses were increased, at the suggestion of certain of them
who thought by this means to monopolize the trade, to £50 and brokers’
to £25 per annum; dealers were obliged to buy in licensed offices, and
brokers could not get a license without a magistrate’s certificate,
proving that they were not under tutelage, and producing two sureties.
By another short Act (No. 31 of 1874) diamond dealers were compelled,
under a penalty of £50 or in default three months’ imprisonment, to
properly register and record all their purchases.
Again, while Sir J. D. Barry was acting administrator, another ordinance
was passed (No. 4 of 1877) repealing 21 and 31 of 1874, re-enacting the
main clauses but increasing the maximum punishment for a first offense
to a fine of £500 and three years’ imprisonment, and for a second to
£1,000 and seven years.
The most interesting point to observe in connection with the diamond
trade ordinances is the gradual increase in their stringency, obviously
the outcome of, and in direct ratio to, the growth of this illicit
traffic; to bear this out, in 1880, when Mr. Rose Innes was
administrator, the punishment of this crime was again increased to a
maximum of five years’ imprisonment and £500 fine for the first, and ten
years and £1,000 for the second offense, with six and twelve months in
addition respectively if the fines were not paid.
I was vice-president of the legislative council of Griqualand West when
this ordinance (No. 8 of 1880) was under discussion. At the time it
seemed monstrous to me (these cases being left to the discretion of a
single magistrate) that on the opinion of one man, without a jury, a
fellow creature, possibly innocent, might be consigned to prison for ten
long years. I spoke strongly on the matter, but it was argued that with
a jury, the illicit traffic having so many ramifications (as the Spanish
proverb has it, “by the parson’s skirts the devil gets into the
belfry”), it would be almost impossible to gain a conviction.
To meet this emergency I proposed a three-judge court (the same
principle that has since been adopted in Ireland with reference to the
“Crimes act”), which suggestion was supported by the government, and now
under the title of “The Special Court” criminals of this class appear
before a just and strictly impartial tribunal
In 1880 (previous to high court with three judges being constituted) a
special magistrate was appointed to act in conjunction with the
Kimberley and Du Toit’s Pan magistrates to form the special court, but
since our high court has been formed, and the Diamond Trade Act 48 of
1882 has become law, this office has been done away with, and one of the
three judges now sits in turn as president of the special court.
The act just mentioned (48 of 1882) when it passed the Cape parliament
might have been at once extended to the whole colony, but it was
enforced by the government in Griqualand West only, consequently any one
could buy or possess diamonds with impunity in the Cape Colony proper.
As again in the Free State, although an ordinance was passed in the same
year (No. 3 of 1882) of even greater severity, providing maximum
penalties for its contravention of £2,000 fine, twenty years’ hard
labor, 100 lashes, and last but not least the power to expel from the
State all moral lepers in the shape of persons convicted outside the
State in Griqualand West of I. D. B., their judges interpreted it not to
extend beyond six miles from proclaimed diamond diggings; therefore so
far as that State was concerned the free trade in diamonds was owing to
an omission in and not a permission by the law.
[Illustration:
FREE TOWN.[43]
]
The judges there seem to have been actuated by the sound legal principle
that penal laws should be strictly or rather restrictively construed.
Again in Natal and the Transvaal no law connected with diamonds existed
except one in the latter State, forbidding the purchase of diamonds or
gold without a special license, or from a native, under a penalty of
five years’ imprisonment, £1,000 fine and confiscation, an ordinance
practically null and void, for these might be purchased without question
from any white man on paying a duty of five per cent.; consequently the
main illicit trade was done outside the confines of Griqualand West,
where there was no danger of interference from the detectives when
diamonds once were safely transported across the border.
The Volksraad, in the Transvaal, I ought not to omit mentioning, also
passed a clause in their extradition laws against all offenders charged
with contravening our diamond act, which, however, they expunged on May
26th, 1886, out of pique, because the Cape colonial government would not
take off the tax on tobacco and produce; consequently Christiana, a town
situated close to the borders of Griqualand West, is again the seat of
much illicit trade.
Natal, however, like the Transvaal, wants some good “quid pro quo”
before it will assist the Cape in suppressing this infamous trade.
During the session of the legislative council 1885–86, when the
“Post-office law amendment bill” was under discussion, in which power
was asked to detain and open certain letters, great and unhappily
successful opposition was made by certain members, Mr. Binnes, a rising
legislator, terming the clause this “jesuitical clause,” and two other
members expressing surprise at the “mean, sneaking power” which the
government by a “sidewind” wished to gain. For a time at least,
therefore, Natal has converted herself into a “thieves’ highway.” Again
in the present session, 1886–87, a similar bill has been thrown out.
This conduct on the part of Natal politicians is attributed to some
ill-feeling with respect to custom dues, and was wholly unjustifiable,
so much so that the sister colony by thus protecting the leeches that
suck the life’s blood of our great industry, lays herself open to the
charge of wilfully becoming _particeps criminis_.
These causes led to the most palpable, systematic and barefaced
robberies, as may be readily imagined. So long as the Kafir thieves and
white fences could in half an hour drive from Kimberley to the Free
State, where no _onus probandi_ of legal possession lay with the holders
of diamonds, and whence a seaport could be reached without passing
through any part of Griqualand West, the trade continued to thrive. Now,
however, the injustice under which we were laboring is greatly
diminished, first by the Free State Volksraad passing a law during the
last session containing the much desired _onus probandi_ clause, and
second by our own parliament awakening to a sense of its duty and
passing an act applying restrictions over the whole colony.[44]
The principal points in the Diamond Trade Act of 1882 are: (1st) That it
shall not be lawful for any person to have in his possession any rough
or uncut diamond, without being able to legally account for it; (2d) the
punishment of those convicted under the act is increased to a maximum of
fifteen years, the governor having at the termination of five years the
power to remit the remainder of the sentence, on condition of the
prisoner leaving the territory, with the alternative that if he return
he can be rearrested and imprisoned for a term equal to the portion of
his sentence unexpired at the time of his release; (3d) that none but a
licensed person can export or import diamonds; (4th) that the chief of
the detective department or police can stop any package in the
post-office supposed to contain diamonds illegally, and warn the owner
to be present at the examination, when if any unregistered diamonds be
found, the owner is liable to the full penalty already mentioned; (5th)
that a person finding a diamond must deliver it to the government, but
to receive ten per cent. of the proceeds when the diamond is sold; (6th)
that power under warrant is granted to detective officers and policemen
to enter and search any suspected places, and in any highway, street, or
public place, to arrest and search any suspected person, the _onus
probandi_ of legal possession resting on the suspected party if any
diamonds be found; (7th) that diamond cutters must be licensed; (8th)
that special permits must be obtained for washing débris; (9th) that
every person is required by law to keep a register and to forward it
monthly for examination to the chief of the detective department; (10th)
that a special board be formed for protecting mining interests; (11th)
that an accessory either before or after any contravention of the act
can be charged and dealt with as a principal; (12th) and that a
registration fee of one-half per cent. be levied on all exported
diamonds.
These are the main additional clauses introduced into the law which is
now in force; the remaining are not so important and refer to minor
requirements, which have been reintroduced from repealed ordinances.
To go back a little, an ordinance was passed in July, 1880, when Mr.
Rose Innes was administrator, providing for the searching of natives and
others employed in the various mines. Owing to the want of unanimity
between the four mining boards, no action was taken under this act until
Feb. 1883, when the various mines were inclosed with wire fencing,
searching houses at different outlets built, and a staff of men engaged
to act as searchers.
These remained until February, 1884, under the detective department, the
expenditure falling upon the different mines, the half per cent.
registration fee on exported diamonds and the proceeds of those captured
defraying a portion. The searching officers when under the detective
department were excessive in number and extravagantly paid. The number
and expense was ridiculous, eighty (80) searchers were employed in the
four mines, and the expense was nearly two thousand pounds per month,
for which they were supposed to examine all persons, white or black,
leaving the mines, but this was done so hurriedly that the inspection
became a mere farce. In January, 1886, the chief of the detective
department reporting on this department gave it as his decided opinion
that it had no effect on the theft of diamonds, and advised its
discontinuance. Since this was written, however, great improvement in
this department has taken place under Major Maxwell.
I am able to give my readers some statistics comprising the searching
and detective expense of the four mines which are interesting, showing
the cost of the detective department for the first twenty-seven months
after the promulgation of the act, and that of the searching department
for twenty-two months after its inauguration:
September, 1882, to November, 1884.
1 Registration Fees £38,145 14s. 2d.
3 Detectives’ Salaries 24,906 19s. 6d.
2 Captured Diamonds (sold) 30,671 12s. 3d.
4 Cost of Trap Stones (net) 4,011 8s. 7d.
5 Bonuses to traps 2,130 9s. 0d.
March, 1883, to November, 1884.
1 Searching Department £39,578 14s. 6d.
I have good authority for stating that the value of the diamonds seized
in searching amounted to less than £200. It will, however, be argued
that “prevention is better than cure,” and that the searching was to
prevent the abstraction of diamonds from the mines. This, however, it
failed to do, it only altered the channel by which they passed from the
elevated to the underground railway, or in other words, from the pockets
of the Kafirs to their stomachs.[45] In February, 1885, the various
mining boards took the searching arrangements under their own
supervision, and retrenchment is now the order of the day.
When Act 48 of 1882 was before the Cape assembly, its provisions were
minutely discussed. Being at that time one of the members for Kimberley,
I had the opportunity of bringing my influence to bear. I did not oppose
exemplary penalties being enacted for this increasing crime, but I
decidedly objected, and in this I was supported by Mr. Saul Solomon, to
flogging being inflicted for what was not a crime against the person but
against property. I was so far successful that such brutal ideas were
expunged from the act. Mr. Scanlan (now Sir T. Scanlan), who was then
premier, kindly assisted me, though I was at the time in opposition, in
passing through the house the “ticket of leave” system, which I
introduced into the second clause. In getting this inserted, I acted on
the assurance of some diggers, and these, too, the most determined to
stamp out I. D. B., that the object of their wish for increased length
of punishment was not revenge for the loss that they had sustained (for
which motive they were credited by many), but a desire to rid the place,
for as long a period as possible, of men who were reducing Griqualand
West simply to a hot-bed of thieves.
I should not be giving my readers an idea of all the legal machinery
brought to bear in order to root out and bring to justice this class of
criminal if I were to omit a description of the trapping system as now
in vogue. The detective department is one entailing immense
responsibility on its chief. When it is remembered that “the thief, the
robber, the assassin, the harlot, the murderer, and every other
conceivable criminal flourishes” on this sneaking crime, it may be
asked, seeing none are trapped but those who are well known to be in
“the trade,” why the parrot cry of its un-English-like character is
raised by many against so necessary a routine.
The detective service consists of a chief, about twenty-five natives,
chosen for their shrewdness, nine white men, known to the public as
detectives, and several engaged on special secret service. These
officers are all well paid, not only to secure the services of reliable
men, but to compensate them for the risk they run, though as a rule, the
diamond thief is the veriest of cowards.
When a man is daily seen drinking, gambling and riotously living,
without any visible means of subsistence, when his character can be
gauged by the company that he keeps, and the detective department
receives private information, _that_ man is trapped; but not before he
has bought three times do the detectives “run him in.”
Such, at least, is the system, as it has been explained to me by those
who should be thoroughly acquainted with it. On the other hand, I know
of a case of a young ex-officer of volunteers, who in a drunken moment
bought a stone not intended for him, and was brought to trial. The
detectives all swore that he had never, so far as they were aware,
purchased an illicit diamond before in his life, and the court, taking
that view, sentenced him to only eighteen months’ imprisonment. He was,
moreover, released before the expiration of his sentence.
The plan is as follows: The native who acts as the “trap” is thoroughly
searched and then supplied with a diamond by the department. He starts
on “his mission of mercy” followed by two or three detectives, who place
themselves in different positions, so as to command a view of the
premises where the transaction is expected to take place.
What follows is generally simple enough, the illicit buys the diamond
and pays for it, when the Kafir gives a signal, and the detectives rush
in and seize the man who is pointed out as the purchaser. The “trap” is
again searched, when, as corroborative evidence, no diamond is found on
him, but in its place, the money he has just received in payment for the
“stone.” Convictions, however, are occasionally obtained when no money
has passed, in which case, however, the evidence of the traps is
required to be very strongly corroborated.
Black “traps” and white are employed by the detective department. The
black trap is generally a native who does the dirty work purely as a
matter of business, and is thoroughly honest; the white trap on the
contrary is generally one who has been in the illicit trade himself, and
either from avarice or motives of jealousy and revenge sells some former
comrade to penal servitude and the breakwater.
In January, 1887, an instance occurred, showing that in spite of all the
elaborate machinery of a rigid searching system, probably general if not
universal, and the existence of the severe ordinance in question, etc.,
the native continues to steal diamonds. In a compound at Du Tot’s Pan,
only a few months ago, the body of a native who died suddenly under
suspicious circumstances was opened and a diamond of no less weight than
sixty carats discovered therein.
The necessity for the extensive machinery and the enormous cost of the
searching and detective departments will to my mind be done away with if
the “compound system” inaugurated by the Central Co. in the Kimberley
mine be carried out by other companies. In April, 1885, this company
opened their buildings for native servants. I attended the opening
ceremony, and to my surprise found a large yard some 150 yards square
inclosed partly by buildings and the remainder by sheets of iron ten
feet high. Within this inclosure were sleeping-rooms for 500 Kafirs, a
magnificent kitchen and pantry, large baths, guard-room, dispensary and
sick-ward, store and mess-rooms. There is no doubt that this arrangement
will be the means of greatly decreasing the thieving by natives, but it
opens up a great question connected with the business of the place, with
respect to the “truck” system which must follow, and has yet to be
threshed out.
During the fifteen years I have been on the Fields, I can
conscientiously say, I have never known one single man found guilty who
did not well deserve his punishment, though I have known many escape
through the laudable determination of the judges to require most
incontrovertible evidence before convicting.
I do not attempt for one moment to extenuate the crime or treat lightly
the social ulcer which so undermines the moral health of the community,
but I cannot help drawing attention, in connection with the subject of
this chapter, to the 450 carat diamond which has just flashed like a
meteor across the London market.
This is well known to have come from Jagersfontein. A whisper had never
been heard of a diamond of such weight, such color and such brilliancy
having been found there or in any other mine in the country, but a Port
Elizabeth house quietly shipped it, and it was bought in London for
£20,000 by a syndicate composed of men knowing the diamond fields
intimately.
The actuality of this diamond came prominently before the public in a
suit before the High Court of Griqualand West in October, 1886, in a
case wherein the chief of the detective department was called to give
evidence. During the course of this gentleman’s examination one of the
judges said: “Do you know where that very large diamond produced in
London some time ago came from?” “I do; from information received I
could give your lordship the whole history of that stone from the time
it left the ground until it reached Messrs. —— Bros.” This led to
another question by one of the other two judges comprising the bench,
which clinched the matter: “Was it a Griqualand West stone?” “No, it was
not, my lord.”
These, perhaps, like the Pharisee, “thank God, that they are not as
other men are.” But the question I would ask is this syndicate not the
buyer, second hand, of stolen property?
“Conscentia mille testes.”
Even in England the crime of receiving stolen goods is heavily
punishable, but in a case like this the worthies know well that it can
never be brought home to them.
The charge has frequently been brought against the diggers that they had
very considerably themselves to thank for the extent to which I. D. B.
had spread. Had they taken proper precautions, it was urged, thefts
would have minimized, and it was further pointed out, that though it
might be true that if there were no receivers there would be no thieves,
it is obviously true that if there were no thieves there could be no
receivers. I cannot myself entirely acquit the diggers of the charge of
culpable negligence. On the other hand, within the past three or four
years there has been less ground for the accusation, as an elaborate
searching system has been introduced. All the employés of the companies
or individual diggers, white men under the rank of manager and colored
men universally, are liable to be searched at any time. The white
overseer even does not know when this may take place, as the order is
secretly given from headquarters whom to search.
In connection with the searching of white men I may mention a lamentable
occurrence that took place in the early part of 1884. A fiat went forth
that they should be compelled to strip naked, and a natural feeling of
indignation arose, as many of the overseers had been themselves pioneer
diggers, and the majority of miners were men of undoubted
respectability. A most regretable amount of ill-feeling arose between
employers and employés, and though I believe the former were willing to
forego the condition that absolute nudity would be required, yet the
proviso that the boots should be removed was distasteful to the latter.
At length a strike took place, to which, it is asserted, but with what
amount of truth I cannot say, the men were urged on by unscrupulous
outsiders, who had their own ends to serve. The first strike was of
brief duration and passed over quietly, but the second, though also
lasting a comparatively short time, was attended with fatal
consequences. Briefly the circumstances were as follows: A considerable
number of men were proceeding to the edge of the Kimberley mine to
compel the French company to draw their fires. The men all distinctly
assert they had no intention whatever of damaging the machinery or
hauling gear of the company. A barricade had been erected by the
servants of the company, behind which were armed policemen and certain
diggers, etc., who had been sworn in as special constables. Various
accounts are given as to how the affray began, at all events, though the
police did not fire a single shot, the special constables shot dead on
the spot four of the unfortunate men, who were buried next day, and
another, who was an old patient of mine, died an hour or so after in my
consulting-room, where he and a comrade who died a week after had been
carried.
Great fears were entertained of a general riot; the canteens were
ordered to be closed, the men who had fired the fatal shots were removed
for safety to the jail, the government removed all firearms from the
gun-stores, a corps of mounted specials was organized, while all save
those whose passions were inflamed on one side or the other deeply
deplored the sad events, and looked forward with the gravest
apprehension to what a day or night might bring forth. The funerals of
the fallen men were most impressive, hundreds, indeed I might say
thousands, attending them, following most on foot, in slow procession to
the solemn strains of the “Dead March in Saul.” Happily, however, there
was no further bloodshed, and before a fortnight or three weeks were
over, with but few exceptions, the men had returned to work and an
amicable conclusion arrived at.
To proceed to the searching of natives, though there are certain
differences in different mines, generally speaking the system is as
follows: On arriving at the searching house they are compelled to divest
themselves of their ordinary garb and pass through a central compartment
in _puris naturalibus_, after which they assume working suits, needless
to say absolutely pocketless. Their work over, they are first searched
in the claims by the overseers and then are examined by the searching
officers. They are stripped perfectly naked and compelled to leap over
bars, and their hair, mouths, ears, etc., etc., carefully examined—no
particularly pleasant duty for the searcher when the thermometer stands
at perhaps 100° Fahrenheit in the shade.[46] There are grave doubts
occasionally expressed as to the efficacy of this costly system, as
comparatively few diamonds have ever been found in the searching houses,
and the thievish native exercises an almost supernatural ingenuity in
concealing his plunder, but the question is what diamonds have been
prevented from being stolen rather than what stolen diamonds have been
recovered.
Another system in which the supporters express a firm belief is that
known as the compound system, which is shortly as follows. I have
already described the Central Co.’s compound, but I will go a little
more into detail: A company’s boys, instead of being allowed to wander
about the town at their own sweet will, to feed at Kafir eating-houses
(which are too frequently the favorite resorts of black I. D. B.
runners, and whose proprietors are not invariably above reproach) and to
drink at low canteens or smuggling dens, are confined to a company’s
compound for two months, the period for which they now contract.
They are comfortably housed, and being unable to obtain the deleterious
and adulterated liquor which has proved so many a native’s poison and
death, are in the main much healthier than their uncompounded brethren,
who spending two-thirds of their wages in drink on Saturday and Sunday
are almost inanimate the following day and unable to work. It is
needless to say that this system has aroused considerable opposition
from the Kafir store-keepers, canteen-keepers and others whose
purchasers are mainly natives, together with, it goes without saying,
the I. D. B. gentry and a few who are neither I. D. B.’s, Kafir
store-keepers nor the like, but who conceive that the system will tend
to ruin the commerce of the town.[47] It is urged that the principle of
“live and _let_ live” was never more flagrantly outraged; that the bread
is taken out of honest men’s mouths; that it is not by Kafirs, not even
mainly by Kafirs, that diamonds are taken from the mines, and that it is
a direct interference with the liberty of the subject. The last reason,
however, is not a very cogent one against the subject, as the native
agrees of his own accord to the contract, and philanthropists declare
the compound to be an unmingled boon to the Kafir.
That it involves something allied to the “truck system” is apparently
plain, as of course the necessities of life must be purchased in the
compound, though it must be remembered that the legislative enactments
which forbid the system in England were introduced to protect the
employé whose wages were diminished by the unfair profits and the
exorbitant interest charged by the “tommy shop,” _not_ to protect the
shopkeeper whose business was interfered with. Again, the wages are paid
in cash, and the company’s store can in the event of the native failing
to pay up at the end of the week merely, as I surmise, recover it by
ordinary civil process. The companies disclaim all intention of making
any profits for their shareholders by their shops in the compound, and
are prepared to accept outside price-lists and distribute the profits
among such institutions as the free hospital and the public library.
That those who have sunk their money, large or small, in the erection of
Kafir stores and native bars feel the system a grievance I can readily
understand, and for my part, on the principle of self-preservation being
the first law of nature, am not disposed to blame them very much, if at
all, for endeavoring to protect their interests by getting a bill
introduced into parliament to abolish not the compound system, but to
render it almost null and void by limiting the period during which the
Kafirs can be kept in the compounds, through a clause principally to the
effect that no goods can be vended there. A bill was introduced into the
Cape parliament last year with this object, but a compromise, which is
perhaps only temporary, was effected, and the bill withdrawn.
Most probably the matter will be brought before the house again next
session, but I scarcely think it has much chance of passing; meanwhile
the mining union has undertaken not to compound any white men, and to
limit the period during which they keep the native compounded to two
months only.
In concluding this chapter I shall take the opportunity of expressing my
own views on the progressive legislation by which the late legislative
council of Griqualand West and the Cape assembly since annexation have
attempted to cope with this crime. After a long and thorough
acquaintance with all classes of this community (for which, to a certain
extent, I have to thank my profession), I have come to the conclusion
that the punishments now inflicted are not adapted to the requirements
of the case. The present judicial procedure of sentencing this class of
prisoner to a long term of hard labor, during which its members learn
advanced lessons in crime, and then turning them loose, further
accomplished, upon the unfortunate digger, is to my mind not only a tax
on the country, but also a calamity to Griqualand West. In my opinion a
shorter period of imprisonment would suffice, but to this I would add a
sequestration of all the culprit’s movable and immovable property, and
banishment from the colony for at least twenty years, under pain of say
fifteen years’ imprisonment with hard labor should he return previously.
Criminals of this class, again, are tempted by the extra chances of
sudden fortune which it presents.
Cases in which second convictions have taken place are numerous, in fact
there seems to be a peculiar fascination which irresistibly attracts its
devotees, and seems to render the majority of them almost incorrigible;
consequently one of the best methods of protecting the mining community
against these vampires is that they should be entirely beyond the reach
of a species of temptation that they are unable to withstand.
There is one point, in addition, which I must not omit to mention in
closing this chapter, and that is the readiness with which the present
ministry (1885–86–87) recommend the governor of the colony to grant
pardons to I. D. B.’s. “Petition-mongering, too, is a highly respectable
business, for legislators of the land condescend to handle and flutter
the interesting documents in the faces of sympathizers; cabinet
ministers are not averse to joining in the game, and the stamp of the
very highest authority is secured for it when his excellency the
governor is persuaded into opening the doors of the jail and bidding the
exultant illicit go forth once more, to lay his roguish hands on the
hard-earned gains of the diamond digger.”
I have known cases of the most extraordinary character, one I will
mention in particular. On the prisoner’s first conviction, he received a
sentence of five years’ imprisonment, but was liberated after fifteen
months’ incarceration, when, at once resuming the same sneaking kind of
theft, he was caught again, and seven years awarded to him to ponder
over his outrages. _Mirabile dictu!_ thirteen months saw him, through
his excellency the governor’s kindness, a free man once more; but with
well-earned experience, as he now, the third time of asking, makes Free
Town, in the adjoining republic, not Kimberley, the safe base of his
dishonest operations. The hammer which shivered this man’s links must
have been heavily weighted indeed! As he told me, one hammer, which of
itself was not heavy enough to complete the work, weighed £850.
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