W®mhW) SERVICE EXHIBITION.Patron: His Excellency the Earl o f Clarendon, Governor-General o f the Union o f South Africa.

G e n e r a l C o m m i t t e e :

C H A IR M A N :T h e B i s h o p o f J o h a n n e s b u r g -

S E C R E T A R Y :R e v . E . W G r a n t .11 P L A N T A T I O N R O A D .

A U C K L A N D P A R K . J O H A N N E S B U R G .

•PH O N E . M A Y F A I R 196.

T R E A S U R E R :M r . H . H . M c E w a n .B OX 6 3 2 , J O H A N N E S B U R G .

M a n a g e m e n t C o m m i t t e e :

C H A IR M A N :

R e v J . D e x t e r T a y l o r , d . d .

19 E L E A N O R S T R E E T .

T R O Y E V 1 L L E . J O H A N N E S B U R G

•P H O N E . J E P P E 103.

R e v . E . W . G r a n t ,

R e v . R a y E . P h i l l i p s .R e v . T . R , T e a g u e .

April 13th, 1931

Dr A.B.Xuma, 104 End St. Doornfontein, Johannesburg.Dear Dr Xuma>

Thursday, May 7th, is to he non-European day at the Exhibition, not that they will not be admitted on other days, but we are making a special half-rate admission charge that day and hoping to secure a large Native attendance. Rev. J.L.Dube has promised to come up and give the opening address and we want very much for you to take the chair. We have an official opening each day at 10 a.m. with Chairman and Speaker. Will you just send a card saying that you will do this for us, or call me up on the phone. We must get our programme to the printer this week.

Yours sincerely,

T E L E P H O N E :

« C E N T R A L 1 2 6 7 . C O N S U L T I N G ROQJVI; jp

M F W r H f lM R p R QD r . a . B. XUMA.

R E S I D E N C E :

49. T O B Y S T R E E T S O P H I A T O W N . J O H A N N E S B U R G .

1 ^ N F W S T R F E T SOUTH,

S O P H I A T O W N , J O h A N N t b b U K t i . J O H A N N E S B U R G .

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REV. C. C. H A R R I S . P rin cip al.

Clarkebury Institution.

D epartm ents :

TRAINING SCHOOL

SECONDARY SCHOOL

PRACTISING SCHOOL

CARPENTRY DEPARTMENT

SHOEMAKING DEPARTMENT

TINSMITHING DEPARTMENT

TAILORING DEPARTMENT

HOSTEL FOR BOYS

HOSTEL FOR GIRLS

METHODIST MISSION INSTITUTION,

C A P E P R O V I N C E .

28 April 1931

Dear Dr. Xuma,I have your letter of 16th inst

and would like to congratulate you on your forthcoming marriage,

We shall he pleased to arrange a Reception for you and your Bride. The Institution re-opens after the Holidays on 27 July 1931.As you know the Students do not all come hack on opening Day - so the first week in August or thereabouts would suit us very well.

Rev A.J.Lennard,Lawrence Street,

Grahams town C.P. is the address you asked for.

By to-days post I return the photo as desired. l;any thanks for letting us have it. The C.O.Bs. photos should be about Post Card size approximately.

Y/ith best wishes,Yours Sincerely,

Dr. A.B.Xuma Johannesburg.

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HISTORICAL AND LITERARY PAPERS. REQUEST SLIP.

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Accession Number: . M M . 3 ................................................................................................................. .................................. - .............................................................................................................

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Years:.................................................................................................................. ...........

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)ACO j>Lt-J<- •

Johannesburg Sitting 5. 19 3 1

Major H.S. Cooke, Director of Native Labour for the Union, and Chief Native Commissioner for the Witwaters- rand, dealing with the question of putting Native Locations in the vicinity of a Mine Property says there is a tendency for even the efficient labourer to rely more on the illicit products of the family by way of liquor selling and other methods, rather than the efficiency of his own labour. There is thus a greater amount of immoderacy in the way of con­sumption of liquor; a higher percentage of venereal disease; and these factors react on the efficiency of the labourer in the actual compounds adjoining these places.

(Page 722&)

Johannesburg Sitting 5. 5. 1931Major Cooke, dealing with a report that policemen

had been standing at the gates of the Bantu Sports Club looking to find whether Natives had passes or not, says he had addressed an official communication to the Commandant of Police, whose reply was that the Police were, on this particular occasion, examining the conditions as to certain notorious places where liquor was obtained by Natives, situated a matter of some 200 yards away from the entrance to the Bantu Sports Club; that all the Natives arrested had been arrested for liquor offences and all convicted; and that in no single instance, had a Native entering or leaving the ’ Bantu Sports Ground been stopped or asked for his pass.

(Page 7295A)Major Cooke has not been able to form any opinion

as to the effect of education in producing teetotallers /among the Natives; he is afraid he could not, from personal observation, subscribe to the theory that almost all the educated Natives are teetotallers.

He would not recommend that Natives should be allowed to brew their own beer on the Rond, mainly because \ it simply gives a cloak to the illegitimate brewing of beer for which there is, or would be, an enormous market, and he thinks it would merely augment rather than ameliorate the position in regard to illicit traffic in liquor.

Under the Urban areas Act the domestic brewing is only allowed, as the term implies, for the use of the family; the unattached young man is the trouble.

Major Cooke is asked whether in referring to illicit traffic he is speaking chiefly of noxious concoctions, and he replies not in these circumstances, because he thinks if there were even domestic brewing of kaffir beer, it would help to cut the trade in these illicit concoctions, which are very harmful, but he is afraid it would lead to a tremendous amount of consumption and sale of liquor by the people who had permits to brow for their own consumption.

He thinks it would have the effect of reducing the consumption of the noxious things, and would go so far as to say it is worth considering from that point of view.

With regard to the sale of kaffir beer we are un­doubtedly making an offence of what the Native cannot regard as an offence, and also it is a bit like gambling, when most of the people who are in immediate control of the Natives themselves have a largfe. amount of sympathy v/ith the Natives having a certain quantity of kaffir. beur, op long as they do not exceed the reasonable limits. That, again,rcactn 011 administrat­ion, because it becomes a matter of degree.

- The -

The Location Superintendent will often say that he winks at a gallon or two of kaffir Deer in the hut where he thinks it is for the consumption of the family and he only intervenes when he is of opinion that it is being: sold. &

Major Cooke is asked whether he thinks giving the Native the right to brew and sell ordinary Native beer alone might not oring aoout an improvement in the whole liquor situation; whether if anybody can make leaf fir beer com­petition will certainly make it something in which’there is no excessive profit, and he replies that that would virtually mean making a man take out a licence to sell kaffir beer and withdrawing the licence if he broke the regulations; as a matter of fact that is the method adopted by the Germans in German East Africa with quite fair success bat it was mostly in the country, he has no experience of its effect in a place like Dar-es-Salaam, but in the rural areas it worked quite satisfactorily. There they issue a licence to brew and sell, he forgets if there was any limit­ation on the number of licences but he thinks there was.

0 90urse? one of the bedrock features of the thing is.the economic position of the Native in the locations; and so long as he is economically depressed as he undoubtedly is < today, he will explore methods of increasing his income; and if this scheme were adopted, which might be sound in essence ox allowing Natives to sell kaffir beer, the economic duress* on the location dweller will press him to find something that will attract the Native, to add to his own income. Major Cooke thinks there is much to be said for the idea that the brewing and the selling of kaffir beer might be done under some regulated system, similar to the European liquor licence.

He thinks having both domestic brewing and also the Municipal, saleof beer would weaken the administrative control. The i an who was selling would allege that he was brewing; for domestic purposes and so on.

He agrees cordially that Native beer should not be treated as a thing that requires any particular control at all Kaflir beer itself, properly brewed and of the proper alcoholic percentage is really a very inocuous beverage indeed.

He thinks a proportion of the Natives would still want these stronger concoctions, whether they could have kaffir beer or not, but does not think the proportion would increase, but would probably decrease. The taste, so far as the Native people are concerned, is already developed; it is not a matter of creating an entirely new taste." So far as the British South African Native is concerned he has already developed the taste for kaffir beer, and’today we^are^trying to cut him off from what he is used to - - which is a mistake. As regards the Portuguese Native who comes here, a fairly large proportion of them are. used to wine and even stronger drinks up there, but they will take their kaffir beer on the mines; not one per cent of them he thinks, fail to do it; they certainly appreciate it.

Major Cooke thinks a certain proportion of those tuning skokiaan now would revert to kaffir beer if it could easily be nad, he thinks the Native prefers kaffir beer. Unfortunately, if one passes anywhere near where kaffir’beer is being made for 24- hours, and if one has a nose at all one can find it. The result is the Native cannot brew it with impunity, so that tlu— Limitations put on kaffir b^r merrily ha.4—the effect of inculcating a worse vice; kaffir

- beer -

beer is not a vice, but looking on it as one, we have inculcated a worse vice. He agrees that actually we nave not solved the problem that we have set out to solve and have in addition created a more difficult one.

Some of tne money that is now spent on enforce­ment could bu very profitably spent on education as to the effects of alcohol, he knows"that "eduCaTion halrm o-reat aeal, it nas certainly fielpenr g'Feat deal with Europeans in Europe in the last few years; there is a very familiar sound about some of the complaints in Natal, - men spendinj tneir money on pay day on municipal beer and the wives having nothing for home necessaries. One has always to scrutinise these representations very carefully; like in America, some of the chief supporters of teetotalism are the liquor runners. (Page 7301/6)'

Phom-h T^l3'3rer> Native Labour Adviser, TransvaalChamoer of Minas, referring to the question of changes in Native customs, says even at beer drinks you will find the women drink stuff today much more than 25 years ago. Women ana girls were never allowed to sit with the men; -they had* to have theirs a distance away. (Page 733*1)

A Statement by Mr. H. Britten, Magistrate of Johannesburg, dealing with the effects upon the Natives of absence from home, to take up employment, says the results are not always beneficial. »A liking for strong liquor witn tne accent on the strong is frequently developed." (Page 12 of Statement)

-*i1 • Britten says he has seen the Durban system. Personally he believes in the Natives having kaffir 1G tn.eir.-Satural. beverage; it is a very healthy drink -

3 /J°Uf it* Total Prohibition has com- pletdly failed and he is inclined to think - although he is not quite sure - that the time has arrived to acknow­ledge tnat total prohibition has failed and that what has taken place might be prevented to the aunnlv nf.-k-n.ffir h.,.,T ana c v o n Jline. Mr. Britten would prefer that the Stateshould control it. He thinks if any profit is made it should go to the benefit of the Natives. He would not advocate tne^establishment of canteens throughout the country straight away. He would recommend that the Government estaolish these canteens in one district as an

Pr3fGrably 011 the Witwatersrand. it would not be difficult to pick out a district like Germiston, or boksourg, or 3enoni, or one of those other districts and try it out for a year perhaps, or even two, but it would need to be tried out where there are all the varied con­ditions of the Reef - the Mine Compound, the Mine Location also the domestic Native and so on. He thinks the ’experiment would be worth trying. (Page 735^/9)

■n +*, + Mr Britten agrees that at present, prohibitionrather tends to promote the consumption of noxious concoc-

^ Personally, that if Native beer couldy Natives freely there would be a considerableconHnmpti^p ^ uf r h~+

l is lf11Iic'aft to say until the experiment has been+J 18 P°ssible that, once having tasted stronger

stuff, they may not be satisfied with their own beer - al-i\ S3JmS t? Work satisfactorily in Durban. He thinks xf Native beer could be had freely, and severe

yenalt |_gg jngre attached._to the possession of other "liquors it would have a tendency to stimulate the'consumption of ’

- Native beer -

Native boor; it may bo necessary to stiffen up the penalties, of course, in regard, to the noxious concoctions.

Mr. Britten had taken the Court at Booysens every Monday morning for several weeks - the cases wore mainly mine Natives with a very large percentage of drunks. The penalties for illicit liquor selling take the form of a fine with the option of imprisonment. The fine is paid in a good many cases, the payment of a fine is more common than imprisonment. There are organisations in some parts - some of the slums - where the fines are regularly paid through the organisation when they are found in possession, a sort of insurance. Trapping sometimes creates the difficulty^ that this payment of the fines may be looked upon as the licence for carrying on a dangerous game. The trapping creates the impression that they are allowed to have liquory

The profits made out of liquor are very high.The scale is rather difficult at present, on account of the position under Section 3/14-5 of the Criminal Procedure Act.Any fine up to £5 involves an option of imprisonment for seven days; which means that, in many of these cases, they prefer to go to gaol rather than pay the fine. The pro­posed amendment to the Liquor Act will get over that difficulty as far as the liquor cases are concerned if the Bill goes through this Session.

The penalties are very stiff for possession of skokiaan; it is usually a penalty of £10, - but then, of course, that means an option of 14- days imprisonment.They usually do the 14- days imprisonemnt. The European liquor, brandy or sherry, is usually round about £ 1 a bottle,

(Page 7360/2)Johannesburg Sitting 6. 5» 1931

Doctor P.K.I. Seme, representing the African National Congress, complains of "discriminating legislation" and instances the liquor laws. He says the best principle to lay down would be total prohibition for all, because, otherwise, it is only a farce to prnhjhi ti nn canbe enforced for the Natives alone. As a result of this discriminating bit of legislation, Parliament has created a imtojj^us class of cjjminails amongst the Blacks as well as the WhitesT He can assure the Members of the Commission that within a stone's throw of Marshall Square, no Native is short of a bottle, Sunday or no Sunday. He does not wish to be understood to say that he favours wholesale and immediate removal of the present good liquor restrictions for the Natives; what he does say is that total prohibition would be the best policy. (Page 74-02)Johannesburg Sitting 1.5« 1931

Mr. S.S. Tema, on behalf of the Joint Council of Europeans and Natives, referring to the statement that the health and physique of the town Native is not as good as that of the rural Native, mentions that one of the factors in town arise from the obnoxious concoctions which Natives drink. They live in close areas, congested places, and they drink a lot of stuff which is not good for their health, whereas the country Native does not make those obnoxious concoctions; he makes the ordinary Native beer which he does not drink to excess, whereas the Natives in town, if they are living there for some considerable time, have too much indulgence with the result that their health suffers.

- One -

One does not usually find a man who is excessively drank from the ordinary Native beer in the kraal, but in town they get only a little to drink which makes them dead drunk. (Page 7 4g>)Johannesburg Sitting 11. 5. 1931

A Statement by Archdeacon W.F. Hill, represent­ing the Church of the Province, says that many women fall into the temptation to make and sell liquor, in order to supplement the family income. (Page 3 of Statement)

The above remark is repeated on .... (Page 7566)Miss D.R. Maud, representing the Church of the

Province and working at Ekutuleni, says the women manage to come out on ii-1/6 per year for clothing, but they get into debt tremendously and over and over again they have to supplement their income by brewing skokiaan and other liquor. (Page 7611)

A Statement by Commandant J.L.P. Erasmus says, under the heading "Liquor Question" that he is in favour of strong drink for Natives, sale of good wines and beer to them will benefit the wine industry too.

(Page 1 of Statement)Mr. A.J. Hoffman, formerly in the C.I.D., now

Intelligence Officer with the Chamber of Mines, says his own opinion is that the law as it stands d9es rather more In the direction of making criminals than in tne direcTfon of prevention of crime; he says ao for the reason that one section of the community is allowed to have as much liquor as it can possibly want, whereas the other section is under total prohibition. The white man is allowed to get 11 bottles at a time from any one bottle store; but he can go rrom^orfe bottle store to another and at the end of the day he can have accumulated a nice quantity of liquor; that liquor he can store and in many cases it is sold to Natives. He maintains that the Native has no difficulty whatever in obtaining liquor; he can obtain it almost anywhere in Johannesburg. There is a large number of white people who sell to Native suppliers, and they again sell to their customers, either in bottles or by the tot. The greater portion of the liquor so sold is sold by the bottle. The result is this; a Nattva iR_.hannad from having liauor^in his possession, and he is afraid of being found with it in his possession, so he drinks that liquor as quickly as he can; if that liquor were ordinary wholesome liquor, that is to say brandy, for instance,such as we buy in our bottle stores, it would not matter so very much, and the Native would get over his drunkenness in good time, but the liquor which the Native does get is very bad stuff indeed; in 19 out of 20 cases they got a mixture, a concoction, which is sheer poison; they get a mixture which is made up of either bluestone, or tobacco juice, the cheapest brandy, methylated spirits and anything that may be put into the liquor to give it a bite and a kick.

As a result of drinking that sort of liquor, the Native is poisoned; it does not only just make him drunk - it poisons him and lays him out; it stupifies him; there are hundreds of cases of Natives who are brought to Police Stations every day so drunk that they have to be locked up and kept in these stations until they have sobered up and recovered their senses. Mr. Hoffman is speaking now of the bottled stuff which is sold to the Natives. The man

- who -

who buys from the bottle store mixes the drinks. It is the illicit liquor dealer who does that; the bottle store keeper sells 1 1 bottles of liquor to a man who comes in to buy - a white man. That is the largest amount he is allowed to sell to anyone. Mr. Hoffman has seen it him­self; he has seen these illicit liquor dealers go in and buy their eleven bottles and then go off to mix the stuff. They take that liquor and empty it“all into a big bath, and in that bath they mix tobacco juice and all kinds of other ingredients; they will get a roll of tobacco which they boil up and they put that in with the brandy; and then they add so many bottles of methylated spirits. An ordinary bottle of brandy costs 7/6 and a bottle of me­thylated spirits costs 1 /3; the brandy, methylated spirits, tooacco juice and bluestone are all mixed up together; when the concoction is bottled again one may reckon that only half of the stuff is brandy which comes from the original bottle - that is all that comes from the bottle store, the rest is added. Therefore the Native gets a most unwhole­some and even poisonous drink, for which he probably pays as much as 10/- or even more. It depends on the dealer what he is charged, but in the majority of cases he can obtain that bottle for 1 0/-.

Then there are many other concoctions such as skokiaan for instance; other things are khali, and there are other drinks as well, which are made by the Natives them­selves and not by the dealers. There is for instance "skikiviki" - that is another drink also made by the Natives themselves. These are concoctions which are prepared by the Native women; they make these things out of roots and herbs and plants which they get on the veld; they prepare their own mixture. They also use yeast to a very"large extent; skokiaan, for instance, is made out of bread yeast which they prepare themselves. Khali is a concoction of ’ boiled sugar and golden syrup together with a quantity of certain kinds of roots. There is a large root which grows to the size of a Christmas pudding which they get in the veld, and which they use to a very large extent for their drink. That root can be seen if one goes through a ploughed field. They do not confine themselves to that root, there are others as well which are used, but this one being so big, it is like a big sweet potato, is cut up and allowed to stand for a while and then yeast is added to it.It makes a very fine yeast. This yeast is put into the boiled sugar or into the golden syrup and then it is allowed to ferment; after fermentation the liquor is ready for consumption. Skokiaan would take from about three to four hours to prepare, and khali would take anything from 1 $ to 2k- hours; that is one reason why skokiaan is more popular, because it is quickly made. They also add methylated spirits to these concoctions and potatoes, and they even put in carbide; the carbide seems to give the stuff a bite; the Natives get drunk on it and it has a far quicker effect on them than kaffir beer has.

These concoctions have been in vogue for quite a number of years; they have given the Natives an acquired taste, but Mr. Hoffman would s?y that the ordinary kraal Native likes his Kaffir beer best; he is brought up in the kraal on it; when he comes here he tries to get his >sffir beer but he is forbidden to drink it and he is driven to these other poisonous concoctTonsT''""''— —

As far as kaffir beer is concerned Mr. Hoffman personally is in favour of establishing Native canteens under proper supervision, either Government or Municipal supervision.

He thinks it would be far better to have it under Government control, a better control would be kept that way.He would not advocate the licensing of kaffir beer places under the present kaffir eating house system; he thinks that is open to abuse, but he does think it should be under Govern­ment or Municipal control, that would be the best way. He would allow women for the making of the beer; he thinks the kaffir women is better in the making of the liquor. He would allow them in for drinking. They have been used to the drinking oi ko.fiir boor as well &s the men in their own homes, and he really does not think that kaffir beer would do them very much harm. He thinks it would probably be better to have a separate canteen for the women it would load to bettor control, because ho is afraid that if the men ana tne women have their beer at the same time and place the system would be open to abuse and it would lead to prostitution. In allowing Native women to brew beer his experience has been this - that where Native women have not been allowed to brew liquor, they are continually doing it now, but where the Native women are allowed to brew, and where the beer is sold by them to the men, there is always a certain amount of pros- tituion carried on. Those Native women who sell be or- grostitiitua, and this is the state of affairs right through dnd tnercfora ho contends tncit it should toe under proper control and supervision, and it should not be browed by Native women in the locations.

Mr. Hoffman thinks prostitution amongst the Natives is connected chiefly with the drink traffic, prostitution will always go on, it will be difficult to stop it; but what he means is this, that if liquor is to be allowed to be sold a numbor of ^ eopLe-will take up the making and selling of beer wno are not at present doing it; and once a man has liquor in him, suggestions are made and the daughters and wives of these people are open to be tempted.

Probably the illicit brewing of beer would still go on even if there were a Municipal or a Government beer canteen; quite a lot of illicit brewing would still go on, certainly for sometime; but he does think that if a municipal ce.nteen is brought into being and the police continuetiieir_j it4vijLii2.s i-n rogancLjto illicit 1 iquor''s ITiirrr 'rt 'Wjrl'r'come to a certain stop. A largje~number or tne ■r;oh''",who are today illicitly buying from the women will go to the canteen and got their beer there, and those illicit places will automatically lose all their custom in the long run. He thinks it will make the difference as between a problem which the police can handle and a problem which is beyong them; no thinkg illicit liquor is bound to go on for some time, but probably it will be eliminated in the end. It is a difficult question as to whether it will or not. Total prohioition in America has shown that it cannot be stopped.Once liquor is forbidden or even curtailed, a boy will go rather to a forbidden place than to his own place where he can get as much as he pleases.

Asked if it is his opinion that the problem of controlling tne sale of liquor in Johannesburg is beyond the powers of the police, Mr. Hoffman says there was no qontrol. There was the liquor law in existence] but it was beyond the police to enforce it; they did their best, but they could no deal with it. They were very active all the time, but they could not stop it. (Page

Mr. Hoffman thinks the percentage of crimes, as regards liquor, having regard to the Native population as a whole, was very small. it is a serious thing to have these

- cases -

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cases of poisoning going on with the liquor. He is of opinion that it is sufficiently important to justify providing them with kaffir beer shops. He thinks that the illicit trade in liquor is extending every year. His personal opinion is that it is getting bigger and bigger every year, instead of getting less, and he thinks Kaffir beer shops would improve the position. The illicit liquor traffic is increasing in kaffir beer and other concoctions too. He cannot agree to the suggestion of allowing kaffir beer to be made by the women in their own homes. He is of opinion that if kaffir beer is allowed, a lot of the women who are notbrewing kaffir beer today and who are leading at present good lives will be brought into the liquor trade.It must be remembered that the Native economic position at present is this. A NaJii^e gets_a small wage and he i^\ brewing to eke out a living aria' a lot of the women who are not now brewing will then be tempted to go in for it. He I really thinks that the payment of low wages has to do with / the present illicit traffic. He thinks that women brew ' liquor simply for the sake of making both ends meet. He thinks that a reasonable improvement in the level of wages should do something towards reducing the trouble. If there were an improvement which would make it possible for the Natives to come out on their wages, that would probably have a substantial effect in reducing the amount of illicit liquor traffic, but there would always be a temptation still for the Native women to make liquor to add something to the wages. Even when they have money they are always out to add to it and to make as much as they can.

Poverty, due to low wages drives the women into supplementing those low wages by taking up illicit liquor, making and selling beer and other things as well. He does not know, if wages were improved, whether the women who are now engaged in the trade would be the only ones who might continue it, but he says that the temptation would always be there to make a little more money irrespective of what they get. Even if the wages were raised they would still want to make more.

Mr. Hoffman doubts if the men would drink less if they were better housed and if they had better food, it seems, with Europeans, that the man who has the highest wages drinks most.

Whatever system is adopted, if it is permissible to get beer, some provision will have to be made for the single men to get it as well as the married men. In the ordinary way, the men cannot spare the time to do the brewing. His suggestion is that municipal beer shops should be established for him.

Mr. Hoffman does not think that the educated Native as a class drinks as much, or wants to drink as much, as the Native who comes- straight from the kraal, far as kaffir beer is concerned. He thinks that the kraal Native drinks far more kaffir beer than the educated Native. If the educated Native wants a drink, he does not generally drink kaffir beer, he generally goes in for brandy or for wine or for something else like that. On the whole he thinks there is less drinking among the educated Natives than among the uneducated.

He thinks that if home brewing were allowed more women would be tempted to go in for it; it is doubtful whether, if home brewing were allowed, the market would be smaller to start with. A Native can drink a large amount

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of^kaffir beer and he probably goes from house to house and gets a skinful. He will go from one house to another and drink everywhere. If he has to get a certain proportion, he will probably be satisfied with that, but if he can go / from house to house — and the price of beer will probably be low - it will simply mean that, in the long run, he will drink a great deal more.

He thinks there would be a larger amount of drinking if free brewing were allowed, and not only that, but in the case of free brewing, the question is what control would the police have over these women? They would have no control whatever, so far as he can see. A woman would probably be allowed only, say, eight gallons, but how can that be con­trolled? Every woman would be allowed to have eight gallons but would she stick to that? She would probably brew sixteen5 gallons and ask her neighbour or somebody else to keep the other eight gallons for her, and there would be no control at all.

It is quite possible that, if the Native could get kaffir beer freely, after a time he would take these noxious drinks less, but it must bo remembered that the Natives have already acquired a taste for that sort of thing and a lot of them will only ask for that and only drink that in preference to good kaffir beer.

An East Coast Native would rather drink any of these other noxious drinks than the kaffir beer. They can get any amount of kaffir beer in the compounds. They get a good ration of kaffir beer, especially on Sunday morning but in spite of that, those Natives will still go out even after they have had their kaffir beer, and they will go and get these other noxious drinks if they can got hold of them.

This applies to the others as well, they all have a taste for it. It does not so much apply to the Zulu who oomes from the kraal, and the Xosa; they prefer kaffir beer the Union Native still prefers his kaffir beer to a large ’ extent, but these East Ooast Natives,1 and also the Natives from the Northern Transvaal, they are very fond of those other concoctions and they prefer them to kaffir beer.

Apparently the hotter the country they come from the hotter they like their drink. In the Portuguese Territory of course, they can get any liquor they like. They have acquired the taste for these concoctions, they get wine there and not being allowed to get wine here, they want something else, they get skokiaan and khali and any other concoctions they can get hold of. That is not so with the Zulus and the Union Natives as a whole when they come from the kraal; then they still prefer their ordinary kaffir beer above anything els8‘ (Page 7655/60)Johannesburg Sitting 12. 5. 1911

Mr. G. Ballenden, Manager of the Municipal Native Affairs Dspartment, City of Johannesburg, dQaling with the trades carried on at the Salisbury and Jubilee Compound mentions that there are mahau makers there, and adds that mahau is really sour porridge. (Page 7695)

Mr. Ballenden, asked if he has seen any diminution in crimes and drinking since games for the Natives were started says he would not say there has been a diminution in crimes but there has definitely been a diminution in drinking and in

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the outcome of drinking, that is, in assaults on each other.At the Wemmer, since he took over and organised sports there which are largely played in front of their homes, there has been a great decrease in the number of Natives who were usually fuddled over the week-end - the decrease has been at least from 70jo to S O H e attributes that to -;ome occupation being given to them. (Page 7719)°

With regard to Native beer, Mr. Ballenden makes the following statement

"The first question in your questionnaire is, 'Is "beer brewed and sold in your locations?' My answer to that "is very definitely yes. And then you ask 'Is brewing for "home consumption allowed?* It is not. You ask then 'Are "the Natives satisfied with your present system?' They are "not satisfied with it. Then you ask 'If not, what are "their objections?' Well, their objection is to the restrict­ion of the manufacture and the consumption of kaffir beer."

Mr. Ballenden goes on to explain that the present system in Johannesburg is total prohibition for the Natives, except on the Mines and Works. The Mines and Works have the right to brew kaffir beer and to supply their employees 'With 11;, but outside those places, it is a crime either to be in possession - of it, to^make it or to consume it. And the Native population feels that' fhey are constantly asking for home brewing in the Native Townships, but that has not been granted. Mr. Ballenden will be quite candid and say that he personally has recommended against it being granted, on the grounds that there is here a very large industrial population, single men, and if home brewing is permitted in the Native townships, those townships will merely become shebeens for these men. All these men will be attracted to the townships and there will be constant trouble, fights, brawls etc. Kaffir beer today has become a very highly commercialised article in the towns"and although a number of the families, if given permission to brew for their own personal consumption, would honestly do so, unfortunately there are many of them who, for various reasons, either in order to augment their income, or with the hope of gain, would sell beerT Definitely they would attract an undesirable element into the home lives of those resident in the townships. If some means could be found whereby that could be avoided, then he can see no harm in giving them the privilege of brewing at home.

On the general question whether kaffir beer should be made available, subject to whatever safeguards may be considered necessary for the Native, Mr. Ballenden asks to be excused from giving his personal views. His instructions in reply to that question, are that the Johannesburg City Council, after considering the question is definitely opposed to tne establishment of kaffir beer houses by the Municipality or the Government in any one of their townships,, and they are definitely opposed to allowing anyone to supply kaffir beer fo money. The present Council are definitely opposed to the Native having kaffir beer at all. That view has been recorded at the last two or three meetings of the Council.

As to the question whether some form of cont and supervision by the Native residents themselves in that particular area could be devised, which would throw the onus on them if they want to maintain the privilege of home brewing, to see that the privilege was not abused, Mr. Ballenden says he can tell what will happen in those circumstances. It is quite hopeless to expect any body of Natives to carry out

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any form of espionage on other Natives in regard to the manufacture of kaffir beer. In the Western Township and in the Klipspruit Location there is what is called the Civic Guard; that is merely to stop assaults or affrays of any description for the protection of the residents, but if those men were asked to report brewing in these places they simply would not do it.

The objection to reporting where liquor is concerned is common to every race ... the danger is that if the privilege is granted to the whole of the residents, or to certain residents and then taken away from certain- residents, it is very difficult to control it if it is allowed to a large percentage of the people. The secretion of beer would simply take place, not in the man's own home, but in the house of the next man who may have the privilege. There is this restriction which could be put on it, the prohibition of the sale or supply or the possession in the township of the malted grain. What Mr. Ballenden means is this - allow them to malt their own grain. They have to do that and it is obvious / that if the grain is purchaseable only from the location office/, so that there is a check on the amount of grain which is used^y there will be a certain amount of restraint on them, but even so we should be oeaten; we are beaten today on prohibition.

Mr. Ballenden would not say that there is a large number of Natives who do not drink kaffir beer in the townships, but there are many Native who do not, they belong to every class; they are not all educated; many uneducated Natives today do not drunk. The number of Natives, in proportion to the total Native population, who get drink is large; he would say a large percentage, that is to say a larger percentage of Natives get the worse for liquor over the weekends in propor­tion to their numbers than would be found in a White community.It is difficult to say the percentage, but he would say round about 107 . _ A greater number get the worse for liquor in the town than in kraal life - of course he is not referring now to feast days. That is generally right the year through.

That is not due to the fact that as far as the Town Native is concerned, his drinking is almost necessarily con­fined to the weekend, it is largely due to the poisonous concoctions which they drink. He will say this, that if they drank pure kaffir beer and if they drank ir in a certain amount of comfort, if they drank it under natural conditions he feels sure that there would be a great deal less drunken-’ ness. They would prefer that; the Native when he comes here is not educated to these fancy drinks at all.

As far as the Johannesburg Urban Area is concerned, the Police are not able to cope with the drink problem amono- Natives.

The Mines introduced kaffir beer into their com­pounds partly to provide them with certain vitamins, to supply that need in their system, and partly to prevent their Natives from going outside and getting drunk. They have reduced the absences through drink on Monday mornings by the introduction of kaffir beer by something like gO%.In spite of these facts the City Council are not impressed.

(Page 7720/25)±Mr. Ballenden says the Eastern Native Township is

extremely popular, principally because of its nearness to Johannesburg; it is a more comfortable township in many ways it has not got the same liquor element as there is in the West'' in the other portion of the town.

(Page 7731)

Johannesburg Sitting 1 5 . 5. 1911A Statement on behalf of the Alexandra Township

Ratepayers' Association says there is, among other grievances, the question of Native beer or jwala. It seems that in places like Alexandra Township where the Native is living on his" own he should be entitled to the same privileges as he is entitled to in his own home. As is well known Kaffir beer is a food as well as a drink, and is looked upon as such by the Native, who has learned to use it from his very earliest childhood and it seems, without going into the question of prohibition to Natives, that in respect of jwala at least there is no need to enforce prohibition on Natives living in the locations.

(Page of Statement)Mr. E.P.M. Zulu, on behalf of the Alexandra Township

Ratepayers' Association, says by law they are not allowed to brew their own Native beer, but the people complain bitterly about that. They wish to have liberty to make their own Native beer. It is the general law of the land which prevents them. The local authority has no power to over-ride the law of the land, but seeing that they have the privilege of making regulations for controlling the management of certain of their domestic matters, perhaps the authorities might entrust them with the privilege also of regulating the making of Native beer, so that there would be a minimum of abuses.

(Page 7917)Mr. Zulu is asked whether they have any difficulty

with illicit beer brewing - Native beer or other intoxicating drinks, - and replies that there is difficulty but he thinks° it is oecause of the restrictive laws applying to the brewing of Native beer that there is that evil... He could hardly tell the extent of it, but he knows it exists; and he knows that, becuase of the restrictive laws to which ha has referred, the makers of these intoxicating beverages always do their best to make some drink which will ferment as quickly as possible, so as not to attract attention. This brewing is both for their own use, and for sale. He supposes if he felt very much indeed like a drink and he had an opportunity like that of buying some, and felt he would not be detected, he would buy it, because he is not allowed to make his own. He does not think that there is any difficulty caused by Natives coming from else?/here to buy beer there, because he has observed that Natives living outside the township go there (outside?) for the purpose of getting these drinks. He thinks they could keep the township in order if it were given the power to control the brewing of beer, and its disposal. He thinks that could be done by allowing each plotholder the privilege of making so much beer in respect of such and such a period; and he thinks also by making a stipulation that at no time should more than a particular quantity of beer be in any one home, for instance, four gallons. He thinks if the same rule were adopted in regardto adjoining properties, the risk of attract­ing to the township, especially at weekends, large numbers of Natives from elsewhere, would disappear. Paople who invite their friends to join them over a pot of bejr very soon have many friends, beer-drinking friends; and it may even spread so far as to attract persons willing to buy. Mr. Zulu thinks, speaking generally of the Transvaal, it would be a good thing were the authorities to allow Nativesliving in areas where there are many Natives to brew their own Native beer. The experiment would succeed if it were not confined to one area, because one who heard of beer being available at Alexandra Township, and who was able to get there, would go there and that would spoil the experiment.

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Collection Number: AD843

XUMA, A.B., Papers

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