was in his element when he was shooting down an unarmed religious sect, or ferociously bombing a native village which had complained about a dog-tax—actions of which the kindly, much maligned Malan would be utterly incapable.
The situation has deteriorated only in so far as the comparatively superficial matter of legislation is concerned; from a human point of view it has vastly improved. I was astounded, after thirty years of exile, to find myself being doctored on the same platform in the Putermaritzburg Town Hall last year with hundreds of colored students, who were receiving degrees along with Indians, Zulus, and Cape Colored who were equally applauded by whites, Indians, “coloreds,” and natives, and to discover all races sharing the sidewalk equally. Such things were impossible forty years ago. Mr. Gibbs’ greatest mistake is to underrate the Boers’ understanding of the native character. Mau Mau would be impossible in the Union, because the Boers are not so stupid as the Colonial Office. They would never bring about such a state of affairs as that in Kenya to begin with; but if they did, they would know how to handle it. roy Campbell
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