Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-23T13:32:28.964Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Underground Route to Mining: Afrikaners and the Witwatersrand Gold Mining Industry from 1902 to the 1907 Miners' Strike*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Elaine N. Katz
Elaine N. Katz
Affiliation:
University of the Witwatersrand
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This paper challenges the conventional view that the 1907 miners' strike constituted a landmark in the history of Afrikaner employment in the Witwatersrand gold mining industry. According to this view, the participation of Afrikaners during the dispute, as first-time miners and strike-breakers, gained them a permanent and proportionally large niche in the industry, for the first time. In sharp contrast, this paper demonstrates that Afrikaners already constituted a substantial percentage of white underground workers, particularly as a discrete category of workmen, the miners, well before the strike had even begun

The Afrikaner miners lacked training and mining skills. Yet, like the overseas professional miners, most of whom were British-born, they were classed as skilled workmen, eligible for skilled wages. This anomaly occurred because the so-called skills of the overseas professional miners were fragmented by the labour practices peculiar to the Rand. The expertise of the foreign miner derived from his all-round capabilities and experience. These were exclusively defined to constitute his so-called skill, and hence his skilled wage. But on the Witwatersrand, the overseas professional miners were required to draw on only one of their numerous accomplishments in a ‘specialized’, but only semi-skilled, capacity. They were employed either as supervisors of Africans, who performed drilling tasks, or as specialist pit men doing a single pit task among many: pump minding, pipe fitting, timbering or plate laying. Such fragmentation of the foreign miners' a11-round skills facilitated the entry of lesser trained men as miners, notably the Afrikaners.

To become a miner, more specifically a supervisor, the Afrikaner needed only a brief period of specific instruction, which he acquired in one of several ways: through mine-sponsored experiments with unskilled white labour, rather than black; through the informal assistance of qualified miners; and through management-sponsored learner schemes intended to provide a core of compliant Afrikaner miners who would break the monopoly of skills and collective strength of the overseas professional miners. Such training enabled the Afrikaner to earn the compulsory, but readily available, blasting certificate, the award of which was confined to whites. Although most Afrikaners possessed this certificate, the hallmark of a skilled miner, they could not earn the customary white skilled wage because they were obliged to work under a System of contracts and not on day's pay.

The incompetent Afrikaner miners nevertheless obtained billets easily, partly because of the industry's growth, but mainly because the overseas pioneer miners were decimated by the preventable occupational mining disease, silicosis: the locally born simply filled their places. The Afrikaners, of course, were also vulnerable to silicosis; but it was only from 1911 onwards that this gradually developing disease claimed them in significant numbers too.

The overseas miners shunned the Afrikaners not only for ethnic reasons but also for material ones: they feared that the local miners, who were inefficient and had not been trained in the lengthy apprenticeships traditional in the industry, would undercut skilled wage rates. Management also scorned them because of their incompetence. Despite their relatively large numbers – they comprised at least one-third of the miners – the Afrikaners, who were unsuccessful, isolated and spurned, made little impact on the socio-economic and cultural fabric of the industry's work-force, either at the time of the 1907 strike or during its immediate aftermath.

Type
South African History
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , November 1995 , pp. 467 - 489
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 See, for instance, Jennings, H., The Mining Industry: Evidence and Report of the Industrial Commission of Enquiry, with an Appendix (Johannesburg, 1897), 218;Google Scholar and Cornubian (18 Oct. 1901).

2 For these and the following statistics, plus their method of calculation, see Katz, E., ‘Miners by default: Afrikaners and the gold mining industry before Union’, South African Journal of Economic History, VI (1991), 63–5.Google Scholar

3 Browne, R. E., ‘Working costs of the mines of the Witwatersrand’, Journal of the South African Institution of Engineers, XII (1907), 332–3.Google Scholar Cf. Richardson, P., and VanHelten, J. J., ‘Labour in the South African gold mining industry, 1886–1914’, in Marks, S. and Rathbone, R. (eds.), Industrialisation and Social Change in South Africa: African Class Formation, Culture and Consciousness, 1870–1930, (Burnt Mill, Essex, 1982), 82–3;Google ScholarDavies, R., ‘Mining capital, the state and unskilled white workers in South African, 1901–13’, J. Southern Afr. Studies, III (1976), 68Google Scholar, whose categories of surface and underground workers are as wrong and confusing as the conclusions they draw from them. For a corrective, see, for instance, Transvaal Government [TG] 11–1908, Minutes of Evidence of the Transvaal Indigency Commission, 1906–1908, 404, statement by the Council of the Mine Managers' Association.Google Scholar

4 Katz, E. N., A Trade Union Aristocracy: A History of White Workers in the Transvaal and the General Strike of 1913, (Johannesburg, 1976), 38Google Scholar, n. 72, 55–6, 339, 464. See also Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (South African Republic) [ZAR], Wetten, (Laws), 1893, no. 3, section (65), 1896, no. 12, section (89), 1897, no. 11, section (89), 1898, no. 12, section (87).

5 See, for instance, Grey, P. C., ‘The development of the gold mining industry on the Witwatersrand 1902–1910’ (D. Phil. thesis, University of South Africa, Pretoria, 1969). 291;Google ScholarRichardson, and Van-Helten, , ‘Labour’, 81;Google Scholar and Fourie, J. J., ‘Deel 1: 1886–1924’, in Stals, E. L. P. (ed.), Afrikaners in die Goudstad, (Pretoria, 1978), 85.Google Scholar

6 Yudelman, D., The Emergence of Modern South Africa: State, Capital, and the Incorporation of Organized Labor on the South African Gold Fields, (Cape Town and Johannesburg, 1984), 75.Google Scholar

7 Thorpe, K. L., ‘Strikes on the Witwatersrand gold mines (1886–1907), with specific reference to the 1907 strike’ (M. A. thesis, University of Stellenbosch, 1986), 508.Google Scholar

8 Katz, , Trade Union Aristocracy, 132.Google Scholar See also Report of the Government Mining Engineer [GMEAR]… 30 June 1907, 48; Transvaal Chamber of Mines Annual Report [TCMAR], 1907, 38Google Scholar, letter; and Public Record Office [PRO], Colonial Office [CO], despatches, 291/119, Deputy Governor of Transvaal to Lyttelton, 9 Sept. 1909. Thorpe, , ‘Strikes’, 496–7Google Scholar, also makes this point, as does van Onselen, Charles, ‘The Main Reef Road into the working class’, Studies in the Social and Economic History of the Witwatersrand, 1886–1914 (2 vols.), Vol. 2: New Nineveh, (Johannesburg, 1982), 142–3.Google Scholar Cf. Yudelman, , Emergence, 75.Google Scholar His percentages, which show only a ‘slight’ fall-back in Afrikaner numbers after the strike, derive from different kinds of data bases, which should not be used, as he has done, to draw direct statistical comparisons with one another.

9 Calculations based on the following, either singly or in combination: Final Report of the Mining Regulations Commission [FRMRC], 1910, vol. 2, 241Google Scholar, Dr Irvine, L. G.; GMEAR … 30 June 1907, 13;Google Scholar and TCMAR, 1907, 38.Google Scholar

10 Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (07 1905), 9, W. Cullen, inaugural address.Google Scholar

11 Katz, E. N., The White Death: Silicosis on the Witwatersrand Gold Mines, 1886–1910, (Johannesburg, 1994), 209–20 and passim.Google Scholar

12 Union Government [UG] 19–1912, Report of a commission … to enquire into the prevalence of miners' phthisis and pulmonary tuberculosis …, 13, para. 23.

13 TG 2–1908, Mining Industry Commission, Minutes of evidence with appendices and index, 227, 481, 1245, qq. [questions] 2203, 5406, 18, 239–41, J. B. Roberts and J. Coward; TG 11–1908, 344, 345, qq. 8454–6, 8517–19, H. Hay and J. H. Johns.

14 Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (04 1912), 410, J. M. Phillips.Google Scholar

15 Katz, , Trade Union Aristocracy, 56–8.Google Scholar

16 See, for instance, TG 2–1908, 891, q. 12,992, W. T. Anderson.

17 See, for instance, TG 2–1908, 162, qq. 1435–6, E. J. Way.

18 See, for instance, Merriman Papers, 1914, no. 274, enclosure, ‘The Economic Commission’; Cd. 1897–1904, Reports of the Transvaal Labour Commission, 403–4, paras. 15, 21; TG 2–1908, 1462, q. 21, 067, F. D. P. Chaplin; and Parliamentary Select Committee Report [SC] 9–1913, Select Committee on European Employment and Labour Conditions, 326, q. 2231, R. N. Kotze.

19 van der Horst, S. J., Native Labour in South Africa, (London, 1971), 205–7.Google Scholar

20 SC 9–1913, 3, qq. 40–1, H. R. Skinner; Katz, , Trade Union Aristocracy, 63, 78, 354.Google Scholar For a comparison of the wages of unskilled whites and blacks, see Davies, R. H., Capital, State and White Labour in South Africa: An Historical Materialist Analysis of Class Formation and Class Relations, (Brighton, 1979), 59, table 4.Google Scholar

21 TG 2–1908, 316, 489, 518, 699, qq. 2917, 5547, 6072, 9000–8, S. S. Crowle, J. Coward, E. Moore and F. Crean.

22 Transvaal Chamber of Mines Archives [TCMA], file W6(c), Creswell, F. H. P. to Secretary of the Transvaal Chamber of Mines [TCM], [Sept.] 1902;Google Scholar TG 2–1908, 342, qq. 3344–5, C. C. Smith.

23 TCMA, file W6(c), Creswell, F. H. P. to Secretary of the TCM, [Sept.] 1902.Google Scholar

24 Katz, , Trade Union Aristocracy, 72.Google Scholar

25 TCMA, file W6(c), Britten, T. J. to Secretary of the TCM, 29 08 1902;Google Scholar TG 2–1908, 226, q. 2178, J. B. Roberts. See also Katz, , Trade Union Aristocracy, 72–3.Google Scholar

26 Katz, , Trade Union Aristocracy, 19–20, 109–52Google Scholar and passim;, Katz, E. N., ‘White workers’ grievances and the industrial colour bar, 1902–1913’, South African Journal of Economics, XLII (1974), 152–3.Google Scholar

27 Charles van Onselen's stimulating essay ‘Main Reef Road’, 111–70Google Scholar, concerning the Afrikaner proletariate on the Reef, is indispensable reading.

28 Fourie, , ‘Deel 1’, 73–4;Google Scholar SC 9–1913, 355, q. 2466, P. G. W. Grobler.

29 PRO, CO, despatches, 291/86, J. Brown to Selborne, 9 Oct. 1905.

30 TG 11–1908, 336, q. 8228, Capt. R. M. Crawford; SC 9–1913, 26–7, qq. 280–6, H. R. Skinner.

31 See, for instance, TCMA, file W6(c), T. Leggett to Secretary of the TCM, 26 Aug. 1902; Letterbook of City Deep Limited, 1910–11, (in the private possession of E. N. Katz), J. Whitford to Rand Mines Ltd, 24 Feb. 1911; Corner House Archives [CHA], White Labour File [WLF] (now housed, but as yet unsorted, in the Barlow Rand Archives), TCM circular letter, 12 Sept. 1905; and SC 9–1913, 3, qq. 40–1, H. R. Skinner.

32 Calculations based on the following confidential letters in TCMA, file W6(c), addressed to the Secretary of the TCM: Leggett, T. H., 29 08 1902Google Scholar, Hellmann, F., 29 08 1902Google Scholar, Britten, T. H., 5 09 1902Google Scholar, Creswell, F. H. P., [Sept.] 1902Google Scholar, Denny, G. A., 9 10 1902.Google Scholar See also TCMAR, 1900–01, 63.

33 TCMA, file W6(c), T. H. Leggett to Secretary of the TCM, 29 Aug. 1902.

34 Cf. Grey, , ‘Development’, 232;Google ScholarRichardson, and Van-Helten, , ‘Labour’, 81;Google Scholar and Davies, , Capital, 53.Google Scholar

35 TG 2–1908, 899, qq. 13,164–5, R. N. Kotze.

36 TCMA, file W6(c), T. J. Britten to Secretary of the TCM, 11 Sept. 1902, file A1 (b), Secretary of the TCM to J. Erasmus, 15 June 1907, enclosure, confidential letter from the Association of Mine Managers, 6 May 1905; CHA, WLF, L. P. Cazalet to L. Phillips, 27 Oct. 1906; TG 2–1908, 826, 899, 999–1000, qq. 11, 931, 13,164–5, 14,777, R. Raine, R. N. Kotze and G. H. Somers; SC 4–1914, Report of the Select Committee on Working of Miners' Phthisis Act, 1912, 99, q. 581, J. Hindman.

37 Calculations based on the following, either singly or in combination: TG 2–1908, 83–4, annexure, Weldon, E. H.; Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (12 1906), 173;Google Scholar and TG 11–1908, 403, statement by the Council of the Mine Managers' Association.

38 Katz, , Trade Union Aristocracy, 78–9.Google Scholar

39 Creswell, F. H. P., ‘The Transvaal labour problem’, Independent Review, II (1904), 124–36Google Scholar and passim;, Fraser, and Jeeves, , All That Glitered, 190, L. Phillips to J. Wernher, 13 Apr. 1908.Google Scholar

40 See, for instance, Fraser, and Jeeves, , All That Glittered, 190, L. Phillips to F. Eckstein, 13 Apr. 1908.Google Scholar

41 PRO, CO 291/42, despatches, Milner to Chamberlain, 1 Sept. 1902, telegram; TCMA, fileW6(c), T. Leggett to Secretary of the TCM, 26 Aug. 1902; TG 2–1908, 990, qq. 14, 692–5. J. Davies.

42 TCMA, file W6(c), ‘Report of the Special Committee’, [Oct.] 1902, T. Leggett to Secretary of the TCM, 29 Aug. 1902.

43 PRO, CO 291/42, despatches, Milner to Chamberlain, 12, 15 Sept. 1902, telegrams.

44 Cd. 2183–1904, Further Correspondence Relating to Labour in the Transvaal Mines, 5, no. 10.Google Scholar

45 Duminy, A. H. and Guest, W. R. (eds.), FitzPatrick: South African Politician: Selected Papers, 1888–1906, (Johannesburg, 1976), 344Google Scholar, FitzPatrick, J. P. to Wernher, J., 8 09 1902;Google ScholarTCMAR, 1902, 118.

46 TG 11–1908, 343, 344, qq. 8451, 8481–4, H. Hay.

47 Ibid., 67, 71, qq. 1655–7, F. H. Hodgkinson.

48 See, for instance, TG 2–1908, 316, 329, 376, 495, 519, qq. 2973, 3181, 3876–86, 5666, 6984, S. S. Crowle, T. Willis, F. Coward and E. Moore.

49 West Briton, (6 06 1907).Google Scholar See, for instance, Mining Industry, 1897, 41, 47Google Scholar, S. J. Jennings and J. P. FitzPatrick; Report of the Council of the Association of Mine Managers, (23 02 1903), appendix 4Google Scholar; West Briton, (6 06 1907);Google ScholarBrowne, , ‘Working costs’, 332–3;Google Scholar and Barlow Rand Archives [BRA], Hermann Eckstein [HE], (134), S. Evans to R. Schumacher, 20 Nov. 1905.

50 TG 2–1908, 1225, q. 17, 875, J. H. Johns.

51 TG 2–1908, 826, q. 11,925, R. Raine.

52 Transvaal Archives Depot [TAD], Secretary of Mines [MM], 649/05, memorandum by H. Weldon, 13 Apr. 1905.

53 PRO, CO 291/02, despatches, Selborne to Elgin, 20 Aug. 1906. See also TG 2–1908, 617, 826, qq. 7553, 11,914–26, W. T. Hallimond and R. Raine.

54 TG 11–1908, 344, q. 8463, H. Hay.

55 Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (05 1909), 390, W. S. Price.Google Scholar

56 TCMA, file W6(c), T. Leggett to Secretary of the TCM, 26 Aug. 1902. See also ibid., T. J. Britten, 11 Sept. 1902, G. A. Denny, 9 Oct. 1902, and F. Hellmann, 29 Aug. 1902.

57 Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (05 1908), 349, C. B. Saner; TG 2–1908, 922, q. 13,624, P. Harvey.Google Scholar

58 Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (05 1909), 390Google Scholar, W. S. V. Price; BRA, HE, (138), L. Reyersbach to A. Dodd, enclosure; TAD, MM, 649/05, memorandum by H. Weldon, 13 Apr. 1905; TG 2–1908, 611, q. 7382, W. T. Hallimond; Duminy, and Guest, , FitzPatrick, 346Google Scholar, J. P. FitzPatrick to J. Wernher, 8 Sept. 1902; Katz, , Trade Union Aristocracy, 79–80;Google Scholar TCMA, file W6(c), F. H. P. Creswell to Secretary of the TCM, [Sept.] 1902.

59 TG 2–1908, 611, q. 7383, W. T. Hallimond; TG 11–1908, 344, 345, qq. 8466, 8513, H. Hay.

60 TG 2–1908, 976, q. 14,503, J. Davies; TAD, MM, 649/05, memorandum by H. Weldon, 14 Apr. 1905.

61 PRO, CO 291/02, despatches, Selborne to Elgin, 20 Aug. 1906; TAD, MM, 1883/06, minute 2439/06, by H. Weldon to Secretary for Mines, 9 Aug. 1906; TG 2–1908, 227, 643, 985, 1011, 1361–3, qq. 2208, 8022, 14,645, 14,940–1, J. B. Roberts, R. Raine, J. T. Turner, J. G. Hancock and F. Hellmann; Fourie, ‘Deel 1’, 39.

62 TG 2–1908, 976, q. 14,503, J. Davies; TAD, MM, 649/05, memorandum by H. Weldon, 14 Apr. 1905; SC 4–1914, 99, q. 581, evidence of J. Hindman. Calculations also based on UG 19–1912, 51, tables XIV and XV.

63 TG 2–1908, 823, q. 11,856, R. Raine. See also ibid., 611, 643, qq. 7383, 8023, W. T. Hallimond and R. Raine; and TG 11–1908, 344, q. 8463, H. Hay.

64 TG 2–1908, 193, 641, qq. 1870, 7967, G. E. Webber and R. Raine.

65 Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (10 1906), 111–12Google Scholar, Saner, C. B.; FRMRC, 1910, vol. 2, 14, 153–5, 236Google Scholar, T. Mathews and M. Trewick, J. Yates and Dr L. G. Irvine; South African Mines, Commerce and Industries, (17 03 1906), 3.Google Scholar

66 Katz, , Trade Union Aristocracy, 56–8.Google Scholar

67 Browne, , ‘Working costs’, 297–8.Google Scholar

68 Katz, , Trade Union Aristocracy, 56–8.Google Scholar See also FRMRC, 1910, vol. 2, 14, T. Mathews and M. Trewick.Google Scholar

69 TG 2–1908, 891, q. 13,010, W. T. Anderson.

70 Council minutes of the Association of Mine Managers, 6 Aug. 1907; TG 2–1909, GMEAR … 30 June 1908, 45. See also Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (04 1912), 412, J. M. Phillips.Google Scholar

71 South African Mines, Commerce and Industries, (17 04 1906), 3. See also SC 9–1913, 28, q. 294, H. R. Skinner.Google Scholar

72 Calculations based on the following sources: GMEAR … 30 June 1904, 54;Google ScholarGMEAR … 30 June 1905, 63;Google Scholar and GMEAR … 30 June 1906, 62.Google Scholar

73 TG 2–1908, 381, q. 3968, T. Willis.

74 FRMRC, 1910, vol. 2, 14Google Scholar, T. Mathews and M. Trewick; TG 2–1908, 700, 924, qq. 9049, 13,659, Crean, F. and Harvey, P.; London Mining Journal, (19 10 1912), 1015;Google ScholarJournal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (05 1908), 349, C. B. Saner.Google Scholar

75 CHA, WLF, Selborne to L. Phillips, 13 Jan. 1906, enclosure.

76 Fraser, and Jeeves, , All That Glittered, 164Google Scholar, L. Phillips to Wernher, Beit and Company, 18 June 1906.

77 See, for instance, TG 2–1908, 646, q. 8039, R. Raine; Fraser, and Jeeves, , All That Glittered, 164Google Scholar, L. Phillips to Wernher, Beit and Company, 18 June 1906; and TG 11–1908, 240, 344, qq. 8464–73, 8513, T. B. Gilchrist and H. Hay.

78 TG 2–1908, 646, q. 8039, R. Raine; SC 9–1913, 130, q. 965, Dr L. G. Irvine. See also Fraser, and Jeeves, , All That Glittered, 164Google Scholar L. Phillips to Wernher, Beit and Company, 18 June 1906.

79 TG 2–1908, 663, q. 7790, S. A. Smit; SC 9–1913, 129, 130, qq. 962, 964, Dr L. G. Irvine. For details on the western suburbs of Johannesburg, see TG 11–1908, 240–1, q. 5369, T. B. Gilchrist.

80 TG 11–1908, 344, qq. 8472–73, H. Hay.

81 PRO, CO 291/102, despatches, Selborne to Elgin, 20 Aug. 1906; Fraser, and Jeeves, , All That Glittered, 164Google Scholar, L. Phillips to Wernher, Beit and Company, 18 June 1906.

82 PRO, CO 291/102, despatches, Selborne to Elgin, 20 Aug. 1906; TG 11–1908, 240, J. B. Gilchrist.

83 Fraser, and Jeeves, , All That Glittered, 190Google Scholar, Phillips, L. to Eckstein, F., 13 04 1908.Google Scholar

84 SC 9–1913, 330, Kotze, R. N.; Fraser, and Jeeves, , All That Glittered, 164Google Scholar, L. Phillips to Wernher, Beit and Company, 18 June 1906; PRO, CO 291/102, despatches, Selborne to Elgin, 20 Aug. 1906; TG 11–1908, 240, J. B. Gilchrist.

85 See, for instance, Fraser, and Jeeves, , All That Glittered, 164, L. Phillips to Wernher, Beit and Company, 18 June 1906.Google Scholar

86 TG 11–1908, 344, qq. 8464–70, H. Hay.

87 Fraser, and Jeeves, , All That Glittered, 164Google Scholar, L. Phillips to Wernher, Eckstein and Company, 18 June 1906.

88 Calculations based on TG 11–1908, 403, statement of the Council of the Association of Mine Managers; and TG 2–1908, 121, 1352, q. 964, L. J. Reyersbach and F. Hellmann.

89 TG 2–1908, 887, 992–1002 and passim, q. 12,919, W. T. Anderson and G. H. Somers.

90 TG 11–1908, 344, q. 8485, H. Hay.

91 TG 2–1908, 442, 627E, qq. 4815, 7686, T. Mathews and S.A. Smit; BRA, HE, (138), S. Evans to W. Bradford, 8 Mar. 1905.

92 TG 2–1908, 442, 629, 629, 999–1000, 1013, qq. 4815–29, 7711, 7686, 14,777, 14,975, T. Mathews, S. A. Smit, G. H. Somers and J. G. Hancock.

93 TG 2–1908, 444, qq. 4863–4, T. Mathews.

94 TG 2–1908, 442, 627E, qq. 4815, 7686, T. Mathews and S. A. Smit; BRA, HE, (138), S. Evans to W. Bradford, 8 Mar. 1905.

95 TG 2–1908, 999–1000, G. H. Somers.

96 Ibid., 998, q. 14,765, G. H. Somers.

97 BRA, HE, (138), S. Evans to W. Bradford, 8 Mar. 1905.

98 Fraser and Jeeves, All That Glittered, 163–4, L. Phillips to Wernher, Beit and Company, 18 June 1906.

99 TG 2–1908, 952, 1495, qq. 14,240, 21,601, G. J. Hoffman and W. W. Mein.

100 Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (04 1912), 409Google Scholar, J. M., Phillips. See also Fourie, ‘Deel 1’, 86; and London Mining Journal, (19 10 1912), 1015.Google Scholar

101 London Mining Journal, (19 10 1912), 1015.Google Scholar

102 For details of the contract System, see Katz, , White Death, 83–6.Google Scholar

103 Truscott, S. J., The Witwatersrand Goldfields' Banket and Mining Practice: With an Appendix on the Banket of the Tarkwa Goldfield, West Africa, (London, 1898), 291–2, 361–2.Google Scholar

104 TG 2–1908, 442, q. 4819, T. Mathews.

105 CHA, WLF, L. Phillips to Selborne, 18 Jan. 1906; SC 9–1913, 29, q. 302, Skinner, H. R.; Rand Daily Mail, (17 12 1910).Google Scholar

106 Mining Industry, 1897, 251, T. H. Leggett.Google Scholar

107 UG 12–1914, Report of the Economic Commission, January 1914, 56, para. 106, table 21; Merriman Papers, R. Barry to J. X. Merriman, 11 Dec. 1913.

108 Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (10 1906), 111–12, C.B. Saner.Google Scholar

109 Taylor, W. P., African Treasures: Sixty Years among Diamonds and Gold, (London, 1932), 217.Google Scholar

110 TG 2–1908, 311, 316, 338, 352, qq. 2905, 2972, 3500, S. S. Crowle and C. C. Smith.

111 Katz, , White Death, 88–9.Google Scholar

112 Katz, , Trade Union Aristocracy, 48, 252–3.Google Scholar

113 Katz, , White Death, 83.Google Scholar

114 Ibid.

115 TG 2–1908, 162, 165, qq. 1434, 1530, E. J. Way. See also ibid., 690, 1225, qq. 8846, 17,872, F. Crean and J. H. Johns; SC 9–1913, 320–1, q. 2168, Kotze, R. N.; and Mining Industry, 1897, 42, E. J. Way.Google Scholar

116 Calculations based on the following: TCMAR, 1905, 1906, 1907, 221, 385, 380, ‘Distribution of white employees’.

117 Katz, , White Death, 192–3.Google Scholar

118 Johnson, J. P., ‘The miners' phthisis problem’, South African Medical Record, (11 11 1916), 334.Google Scholar

119 Katz, , ‘Miners by default’, 75–80.Google Scholar

120 Transvaal Leader, (29 08 1910).Google Scholar

121 Katz, , White Death, 122.Google Scholar

122 TG 2–1908 315 q. 2946, S. S. Crowle.

123 See, for instance, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (01 1907), 230Google Scholar; Transvaal Medical Journal, (07 1908), 324;Google Scholar and Bailey, W. C., Brown, M., Buechner, A., Ichinose, H. and Ziskind, M., ‘Silico-mycobacterial disease in sandblasters’, American Review of Respiratory Disease, CX (1974), 115–25.Google Scholar

124 UG 19–1912, 36, table 1, ‘All Miners’.

125 van Niekerk, S. V., ‘Miners' phthisis on the Witwatersrand’ (M.D. thesis, University of Aberdeen, 1914), 111–31 and passim.Google Scholar.

126 Report of the Miners' Phthisis Commission, 1902–1903, XXI, paras. 71, 72.Google Scholar

127 Katz, , White Death, 152–76 and passim.Google Scholar.

128 See, for instance, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (12 1906), 186, Dr D. Macaulay and Dr L. G. Irvine.Google Scholar

129 UG 19–1912, 23, para. 23; SC 4–1914, 99, q. 581, J. Hindman.

130 For fuller details, see Katz, , White Death, 78–81.Google Scholar

131 TG 11–1908, 344, qq. 8474–80, H. Hay; TG 2–1908, 630, 631, qq. 7736, 7763, Smit, S. A.; Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (07 1909), 14, T. Johnson.Google Scholar

132 TG 2–1908, 444, q. 4865, T. Mathews.

133 Ibid., 633, q. 7789, S. A. Smit.

134 Ibid., 193, q. 1870, Webber, G. E.; Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, (10 1906), 112, C. B. Saner.Google Scholar