THE ATTITUDE OF NATAL.
cases; (2) that no child of Hollander or Dutch South African parents, or a child under six, could earn a grant. The effect of this in one school in particular, at Bloemfontein, was that of the 120 children attending it seventy were Dutch and twenty under six, and of the remaining thirty, some would fail to pass. So it was not surprising to know that that school did not earn a sufficient amount from the State to pay it to employ a qualified teacher in the Dutch language. The law passed in 1896 did nothing to mend matters, and, further, under the regulations imposed, the teachers in the State schools must be Hollanders qualified to teach English—by three months' residence in England. In March last an important meeting was held in the Chamber of Mines, at which it was stated that there were over 3000 children on the Rand without sufficient facilities for education, although parents were willing to pay for it. At that meeting, and subsequently, over 100,000l. was subscribed for the purpose of starting a scheme of education for the children of poor Uitlander parents on the Rand, and most of the mine-owners assessed themselves in a large sum of money—a fact which was very gratifying.
Natal's attitude.In other remarks, speaking of Natal, Mr. Brassey said he had sought to discover the reason for the very strong line which the people of this small but very prosperous Colony had taken on the South African question, and said he found that it was because they were exceedingly disgusted with the anti-British attitude adopted by the Transvaal Government for so many years past. The Dutch people in the Colony of Natal, who, until recent years had been loyal subjects of the Queen, had now become in many cases disloyal,253
