It is true that certain prominent Natives of the educated class have
protested strongly against this policy, but it is not true that these
men have spoken on behalf of the Natives as a whole; indeed, it is safe
to say that the vast bulk of the Natives of South Africa have even now
no clear knowledge of the legislation that has been made recently in the
pursuance of this policy. The protests that have been made from the
Native side, moreover, have been directed against the hardship caused
through harshness in carrying out the Act in certain places, and against
the relative smallness of the areas proposed for Native occupation, and
not against the principle itself, and there can be no doubt that the
statement quoted from the Report of the Native Lands Commission conveys
the true feeling of the large majority of the Natives.

These are some of the objections that have been raised to the policy of
territorial separation, but the gravest danger to the successful working
of that policy remains to be mentioned. It is the possibility that the
cupidity of the whites may lead them to remove their black neighbour's
landmarks in the event of the discovery of new fields of gold or other
valuable minerals within the Native areas. The danger of such a lapse
from the righteousness that exalteth a nation can only be averted by the
constant exercise of the public conscience of the whites themselves.

No reasonable person will expect that this policy will do away entirely
with all the little troubles that arise from the clashing of opposite
racial interests. In the white areas the Native, who can come there only
as a labourer or visitor, not as a settler, will remain subordinate to
the whites, but his unavoidable competition in trade and industry may
nevertheless lead to friction now and then, and the continuance of the
present pin-prick policy of enforcing humiliating pass-laws and similar
racial restrictions will certainly lead to trouble. But if tolerance and