March 10.
Tax departure of the last indent tured Chinese coolie from the Transvaal, recorded in our columns last week, recalls the strange history of an industrial undertaking once successful and abortive, When the proposal to obtain Chinese coolies for the gold mines of the Witwatersrand was first made, the industry was threatened with a serious shortage of labour at a critical moment. The mines had only recently resumed work after two years' cessation brought about by the war, and apart from the losses caused by enforced idleness of large amounts of capital, there were material dame to be repaired at considerable cost. No adequate supply of labour, however, was forthcoming, for the army of native workers employed before the outbreak of war had melted away and, scattered over the coun try, had been able to reap a valuable harvest from the lavish pay introduced during the abnormal circumstances of military occapation. The former incetitives to seek work no longer existed; the majority of the natives had enough money for their immediate wants and only when it was exhausted would it be necessary to upply for means of livelihood. Even
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.