§ MR. STAVELEY-HILL (Kingswinford, Staffordshire)I beg to ask the Under Secretary for the Colonies, whether he will state the number of Chinese labourers employed in and on the Witwatersrand mines, on 1st January, 1906, and 1st January, 1908, on skilled labour and on unskilled labour; the number of white men employed, on the same dates, on skilled labour and on unskilled labour; and the number of natives employed, on the same dates, on skilled labour and on unskilled labour, respectively.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe official Returns show the numbers employed on the last, and not on the first day of the month. The total numbers employed on the Rand gold-mines on 31st December, 1905, were: Whites, 17,248; natives, 195 84,254; Chinese, 47,267. On 30th November, 1907, the latest date for which official statistics are available, the numbers were: Whites, 16,918; natives, 116,832; Chinese, 40,055. It will be seen that an increase of 32,578 natives is to be set against a decrease of 7,212 Chinese. It is true that there has been a small reduction of 330 in the number of whites employed; but to appreciate the true significance of these figures it must be remembered that in consequence of the strike, the number of whites fell to 15,118 on 31st May, 1907, since when there has been a continuous increase, amounting to 1,800 in six months. All the Chinese employed are said to be engaged upon unskilled labour. In the cases of white men and natives the numbers employed on skilled and unskilled labour respectively are not distinguished.
In reply to a further Question the right hon. Gentleman said the 31st May figures represented the low-water mark of white employment, but since then the increase had been steady.